Return to the Dirt presented by Queensland Theatre
Billie Brown Theatre
16th October-6th November 2021
Writer Steve Pirie
Directed by Lee Lewis
Dr Gemma Regan
Pirie’s semi-autobiographical play evokes a dichotomy of emotions with witty asides and a sombre and confronting examination of the realities of death
When the heavy velvet curtain of the funeral parlour fell, the Billie Brown Theatre reverberated with a raucous standing ovation on the opening night of the World Premiere of Steve Pirie’s Return to the Dirt. Steve Pirie is the winner of the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2020–21 for his dark emotive comedy based on his experiences of working in a Toowoomba funeral parlour at the impressionable age of 25. In its 20th year of the Queensland Government’s commitment to the Arts, his win guaranteed a staged production by the Queensland Theatre on a taboo topic of our mortality and how we deal with the confronting and practical issues of death.
Directed by Lee Lewis, the play describes a year in the life of Steve as he embarks on a new career as a funeral director to fund his upcoming wedding to his fiancée Claire. Steve’s easy-going can-do attitude rapidly spirals into depression and self-harm as he is confronted by corpses and the grieving families. Fortunately, he has a mentor in the experienced pragmatic colleague Deb, who brings much-needed levity to many a morbid situation. Jeanette Cronin was incredible as the sassy, facetious Deb. Her matriarchal rapport with the young cock-sure Steve was genuine and delightful.
The chiselled and handsome Mitchell Bourke made a stunning debut with Queensland Theatre. His portrayal of Steve was outstanding, despite the precarious and unusual position of sharing the stage with Steve Pirie as his younger self! Bourke sparkled with energy and optimism in the first Act and was convincing as he gradually became more introspective and depressed as the job wore him down in the second Act. Sophie Cox played Steve’s fiancée Claire, obsessed with the wedding plans and when getting little input from the groom-to-be, she seemed to respond to a troubled Steve with apparent disregard for his tragic situation and seemed very unsympathetic to his sacrifices.
Steve Pirie was onstage most of the time as the Playwright, with comical interjections and situational insights, he had an infectious aura of excitement for his inaugural Queensland Theatre production. However, it does not seem possible after Pirie’s exuberant enthusiasm on the opening night, that he would be able to maintain the energy for the remainder of the season. The writing was excellent at treading a fine balance between exposing the audience to confronting and horrific real-life situations, and the necessary humour and indifference sometimes displayed by the jaded funeral directors.
Disappointingly, many of the promised insights were omitted involving the mechanics of how the funeral homes handle the corpses such as the ashes of cremations being a mix of individuals. Perhaps due to a funereal code of secrecy and discretion, but there was an amusing use of an animated diagram of a body similar to the Operation game, which demonstrated how formalin is injected into the body.
Chris Baz’s expertise and versatility shone as he played Steve’s hideous controlling boss Greg, amongst many other minor roles. Miyuki Lotz also displayed her multi-faceted acting styles as the minor characters of Lucy, Jess and as part of the ensemble.
A simple projection of the title or season preceded each scene, working rather like a chapter heading of a book marking the progression of time effectively. Visual media also displayed some poignant photographs from Pirrie’s real life, which worked well with Renée Mulder’s simple curtained set for the funeral home. A revolving stage introduced a dynamic element to the stage enabling fluid movements of the actors. The lighting and sound designs of Ben Hughes and Julian Starr also helped to emphasise some of the more difficult and confronting scenes.
As the audience filed out afterwards, some were jubilant and excitable whilst many others dabbed their eyes in memory of those they have lost. Pirie’s semi-autobiographical play evokes a dichotomy of emotions with an upbeat, often hilarious first half full of witty asides from Pirie himself as the narrating playwright, then a sombre and confronting examination of the realities of death in the latter half.
Return to the Dirt is a revealing and witty insight into the taboos surrounding death which will confront you with your own mortality and will have you questioning how much you want to prepare for your demise. After winning the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2020–21 for one of his three submissions (new rules are that only one submission is allowed per entrant), Pirrie has a promising future as a talented local playwright.