Adapted (and directed) by Declan Greene into a one-woman - the woman is Zahra Newman - show that starts with the uncanny spectacle of a bear (suit) adorned in 'Lead Council of NSW' hat and t-shirt stumbling unhealthily across stage, transitions into Newman directly addressing the audience and telling a story about encountering racism while talking about the lead poisoning of children in Broken Hill, and then slips into the suffocating story of Wake in Fright itself, deliberately anachronistically rendered with its 60s setting preserved (as evident in the references to pounds and shillings) but the music, projections and some of the acting choices - eg Newman's use of Usain Bolt's thunderbolt gesture - calling attention to the play's contemporary staging, as well as aspects of the direction which highlight black-coded imagery, adding another layer to the critique of toxic white Australian masculine culture. It's quite a tour de force.
(w/ R and Cass)
(w/ R and Cass)
