Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley presented by the Queensland Theatre
Directed by Lee Lewis
Playhouse, QPAC
31st-14th November, 2020
Dr Gemma Regan
Mouthpiece is a brilliantly crafted, yet disturbing study of the power of class appropriation
With great jubilation and relief Queensland Theatre finally broke the 7 month live-theatre famine at the QPAC, opening with the winner of the 2019 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, Mouthpiece by Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley. Due to the Covid-safety restrictions it was a buzzing half-full audience, relieved to return to live theatre. Despite the theatres being closed Queensland Theatre has continued to entertain the audience through these trying times of isolation with monthly live readings via Zoom. These have been enjoyed by many, but nothing can replace the thrill of sharing the rollercoaster of emotions and moral dilemmas that Mouthpiece exerted on the QPAC audience.
Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley wrote Mouthpiece as a response to the apparent contradictions in Edinburgh, describing it as “basically the plot of Pulp’s Common People,” a popular alternative rock song released in the UK in 1995 protesting against class tourism. Lee Lewis, the Artistic Director for Queensland Theatre describes Mouthpiece as “a remarkable play which invites us to probe where the lines should be drawn”. The story is easily translated around the world and the dialect has been adapted to Australian from Scottish by Phil Spencer.
Libby, played adroitly by Christen O’Leary (Antigone, Twelfth Night), is a desperate middle-aged, middle-class, washed-up playwright looking for inspiration when she is rescued from the precipice of a cliff-face and her suicidal despair by Declan, brilliantly played by Jayden Popik (Macbeth, The Shape of Things), as an awkward, lonely and deprived teen. Declan’s escapist artworks and dire circumstances inflame Libby with the mission to be a mouthpiece for Declan and tell his story through her own words. However, Libby’s desire to re-create Declan’s life and predict the inevitable outcome backfires, and her selfish motivations are horribly exposed.
Christen O’Leary recreates a manipulative middle-class motherly figure who quickly takes advantage of “poor” 17-year old Declan, played by Jayden Popik in his incredible Queensland Theatre debut. The simple black stepped-set with audio visual text to set each scene made the perfect backdrop to highlight the incredible energetic synergy and sense of familiarity between the two actors. Both lead the audience through a trail of comforting and disturbing scenarios as the power play slowly shifts and character perceptions phase in and out. The insights into theatre plot composition from Libby’s character were enthralling and provided an interesting narrative to the play. Jayden was so convincing as Declan that I forgot I was watching a play and was about to jump to his aid when he smashed through the fourth wall looking for support from the audience.
Mouthpiece is a brilliantly crafted, yet disturbing study of the power of class appropriation and the issues of teenage suicide, both extremely topical in this year of chaos when a voice is continually given to the voiceless without allowing them to be heard.
The Queensland Theatre has launched their fabulous 2021 programme and is now taking bookings. Mouthpiece was funded through the Queensland Government’s $22.5 million two-year Arts and Cultural Recovery Package.