by Thomas Connelly
Nihil
humani a me alienum puto
On
a night when the heavens
themselves seemed to be weeping in sympathy for us stupid apes I took
myself to see Murder
at
the Playhouse Theatre in Hobart. I had heard that it was a powerful,
confronting work. I was also intrigued by the use of puppets in the
play. So I took my seat in the balcony and looked down upon the
stage, like an Olympian watching the clots of gore.
There
were many things to like about this production; the music of the Bad
Seeds, the way the space was used and the stark use of pulsating
lighting. The puppet masters were of great interest. Black burqa clad
ninja blobs that seemed to appear and disappear, flitting about the
stage like shades of the dead warriors confronted by Odysseus during
the Nekuia. These puppet masters, like priests and shamans of old,
controlled much of the action in the play and brought to mind
questions of free will. Are we in fact free or are we controlled by
these anonymous forces? All in all an interesting and powerful use of
alienation techniques that propelled the action along and left the
audience breathless. Added to the bubbling hexenkessel was the
physical presence and voice of Graeme Rhodes who was able to pour out
a rich roiling spew of tortured words. There was much to like in this
production.
