This was the first time I’ve been to the Phoenix Theatre in Coniston, a southern suburb of Wollongong. It’s an intimate space, seating maybe 30-35 in a cabaret layout of tables and chairs.
Tonight, there were just half a dozen or so paying customers to see the opening night of a three performance season of The Ledge, Damon Bishop’s first full length play, directed by the playwright.
It’s a two-hander, centred on two young men – Nathan, played by David Newton, and Kyle, played by Ryan Scott – on the roof of a ten storey building. Nathan is apparently on a lunch break eating a sandwich when he’s joined by Kyle, who has come to commit suicide by throwing himself off.
That’s quite a set-up for what’s described as “an absurd dark comedy”.
Indeed, the opening exchanges between the pair feature some potentially funny zingers, especially from Nathan. They fell rather flat, however, partly because a small audience tends not to react very much and partly because it takes some skill to deliver lines that are killer – in more ways than one.
I have to say Newton and Scott each displayed some shortcomings in tonight’s performance. Nathan is a cynical, sarcastic loudmouth, at least initially, but Newton was less than convincing. It’s a tricky part that requires a lot of depth and conviction, more than Newton could bring. Scott as Kyle was more believable but lacked the basic technique of projection, his lines being sometimes inaudible even in such a small theatre.
Between them, the verbal fencing and eventual bonding as they revealed their back stories just didn’t deliver what the script demanded.
Which is a shame, because Bishop has crafted a piece of theatre that has great potential, treading a fine line between black humour and the very real pain of mental health and family dysfunction.
The physical setup is that the lip of the stage apron, raised only slightly above audience floor level, represents the ledge of the building’s rooftop. Audio of traffic passing below helps to reinforce the setting.
Now, we know that no-one is going to be seen to jump to their death from a height of two feet, so all the drama (and comedy) has to come from the interplay of the two protagonists.
That’s a tough call that the two young actors weren’t quite up to on opening night. It’s there in the text and full credit to Bishop the playwright for creating tension, building genuine character development, and introducing some unexpected and moving plot twists. But as a director, he should have pulled more out of his two actors.
There are some intense moments when the actors rise to the occasion, but in a one-act one hour play, the task is to build momentum and sustain the drama through the less dramatic moments – especially when we know the purported climax can’t happen.
Bishop’s direction was sound as far as blocking and making use of the available space to create some physical dynamics, but the required “magic”, the tension between the two characters, their confrontations, and their eventual understanding of each other, was lacking.
I’m sure first night nerves were a contributing factor, and I’m equally sure Bishop will encourage his actors to go all out for the two remaining performances of The Ledge, which I encourage anyone in the Illawarra with an interest in emerging theatrical talent to attend.