In medieval iconography the instability of human life was described as the Wheel of Fortune. Metro Arts presents a disturbing and dark experimental play revolving around sex, scandals and lies. Written by four local writers; Troy Armstrong; Richard Jordan; Jacki Mison and Krystal Sweedman, the play is loosely modeled on the controversial La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler from 1897. Wheel of Fortune portrays the lascivious couplings of ten Brisbanites using a clever interaction between both film and live theatre.
Described as ‘A revolving door of sexual encounters’ the play uses ten local actors who each pair up in sexual liaisons. The wheel of fortune motif is created by only one pair being present on stage each time, with the play divided into ten scenes and one different member of the cast following on to the next scene. Some characters participate in more than one sexual encounter in a carnal relay of lust and debauchery during the heat of a Brisbane Summer.
The first encounter involves an American marine (Richard Lund) following a transgender female (Meg Bowden) from a club resulting in a homosexual tryst on the banks of the Brisbane river. The now supposedly sexually satiated marine is next seen at another bar with a young Au Pair (Jacqui Maclaren), whom he rapes outside the bar after she questions his motives and sexuality. The Au Pair then returns home to seduce the 17 year old school boy (Brenden Lorenzo) who is in her charge. The nature of each scene is confronting and disturbing, as each scene involves a sinister web of lies, manipulation, drugs and violence for each character to achieve their own sexual objective. The play focuses on the carnal lusts of young and older adults and their willingness to risk anything to satiate their libidinous needs.
The production is led by actress Veronica Neave, who plays the Stage Actress who sexually manipulates a younger starry eyed politician (Stephen Hirst) in order to improve her own ratings. The standard of acting varied with some convincing roles from the more mature cast members including Elise Grieg as the photographer. However, some of the acting from the younger members was unconvincing and the American and Irish accents were dubious to the point that it was difficult to ascertain the character’s geographical origin. Timelines also seemed confused, as the wheel of sexual liaisons turned between the characters, one expected the timeline of the play to be linear, but it seemed muddled. The school boy claimed to his Au Pair that he had been in love with his new Biology teacher (Jaqui Story) for weeks. In a subsequent scene he has sex in the showers at the gym with the Biology teacher who then returns home to a suspicious husband (Ron Kelly) only hours later. The jealous husband exclaims that he has been waiting for her return to celebrate with her after her first day teaching at the new school.
Despite some flaws, the creative use of film with live theatre was interesting, where a character leaves the stage and then re enters the scene in the film and continues to interact with the remaining character on the stage. The play also encourages the audience to scrutinise the sexual morals of the characters living in Brisbane and subsequently their own. If a true depiction, it is an alarming and pessimistic observation of sexuality in modern Australian society.
The Lumen Room, Metro Arts, Produced by Troy Armstrong (TAM Presents)
30 May - 9th June
By Dr Gemma Regan
Photo Credit: Deelan Do