Footprints on Water
A Play by Matt Cameron.
Directed by Peter Houghton.
(Sydney City Hub, November 1999)
Cast: Marta Dusseldorp (Edie), Jerome Pride (Gunther), David Roberts (Noel), Richard Sydenham (Errol), Helen Thompson (Lena) & Sarah Woods (Agnes).
At the Stables Theatre, November 1999.
The Book of Revelations remains one of the most influential texts of Western culture, an inspiration to poets, writers and philosophers alike, and furnishing the symbols we most closely associate with the end of the world. D. H. Lawrence called Revelations "the death-wish of the gospels", the place where the Christian God of love shows His other side.
Hot on the heels of winning a prestigious British Council award, Matt Cameron's Footprints on Water is centered on the apocalypse, and chronicles the gradual dawn of the Last Days over a small town of an undisclosed country. Yet the destruction (in this case symbolised by a flood) is more a result of the downward psychological motions of the inhabitants than of any supernatural agency.
In the first act we meet Noel, a shoemaker and "Man of God" who secretly lusts after the whores in the town's red-light house. There's Errol, a slow-witted but good-natured man who is in love with Lena, a prostitute married to the violent Gunther, who owns the red-light establishment. The ensemble is completed by Edie, a whore who refuses to have sex with her clients, and Agnes, a filthy mad woman who is bent on emptying the river of all its water. The second act of the play is markedly more intense as the layers are peeled away and the audience is taken on an often disturbing rollercoaster of violence and secrets disclosed. As the flood begins, with days of uninterrupted rain, Noel feels vindicated in his vision of the town as a cesspool of sin, and the events precipitate rapidly, to a climax where the souls of the characters are laid bare.
The play traverses broad emotional terrain, exploring, among other themes, redemption, the nature of desire, and xenophobia. Tight both structurally and thematically, the writing is punctuated by recurring images that become pivotal at certain stages of the narrative, like the Zen riddle of a duck in a bottle and the image that gives the play its name. The bare stage effectively casts into relief the struggle between and within the characters, a nakedness at times plainly existentialist in its voidness and universality. The performances were impressive and of a consistent standard all around. If I had to pick my favorite it would have to be David Roberts' subtle and energetic portrayal of Noel. Although he is presented at first as a religious buffoon of sorts, Noel gradually reveals a complex and sensible nature.
This is the inaugural production of Neonheart, a new independent theatre company. If they can maintain this remarkable level, they are bound to go places
Andres Vaccari
posted by Andres Vaccari @ 2:36 PM