CW: This review discusses themes of sexuality, misogyny and on-stage depictions of murder.
I have a confession to make. In my four year university tenure I have never attended a SUDS production but last Thursday drag make-up, death drops, voguing, betrayal, rotten egos, a raunchy jail guard and a fight for masculine dominance christened my maiden voyage.
Walking into the Cellar Theatre, I was greeted by the three actors on stage, one sensually dancing to Todrick Hall’s “Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels” whilst the other two stood frozen in the corner. Intrigued by the oppositional energies, the show commenced with a greeting by the Director, Zoe Le Marinel and we were ready.
The latest production of Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS) gave us Deathwatch — a friction filled absurdist tale of a struggle for power, provoked sexuality and the brutal consequences of jealousy.
Running from April 24 until May 4 the production is directed by Zoe Le Marinel and produced by Rubba Fatima and Alex Ma with an impressive creative crew of dramaturgy by Kat Butler who assisted mediatingthe French cultural and linguistic origins with a contemporary adaption.
Originally written by Jean Genet in 1947, the French absurdist play has been translated and adapted many times but SUDS’s take on Deathwatch challenged the borders of gender and masculinity with the use of drag make-up and buoyant lighting composition.
The play focuses on three prison inmates, Green-eyes (Olivia Castree-Croad), Maurice (Stephanie Kemple) , and Jules Lefranc (Stephanie Kemple) who have an oscillating time as they reckon with the reality of Green-eyes’ impending execution by guillotine and the surmounting question: Who will fill the void of “the man” of the prison? Maurice and Lefranc have an interesting submissive dynamic, who unlike Green-eyes’ murder sentence, are imprisoned for minor crimes. Each character takes turns climbing under the skin of the other, searching for a wound they could jab or a desire they could satiate, making for a fascinating on-stage sexual chemistry.
In and amongst the ego-driven battle to rule the prison, the fight over a mysterious “the girl” manifests as a claim for Green-eye’s attention and the notoriety of being the most revered criminal. Green Eyes, played by Olivia Castree-Croad, was a standout character with a bellowing stage presence that demanded no lapse in attention from the audience.
The production skillfully navigates the absurdity of love disguised by masculine envy with Lefranc eventually surrendering to the intrigue to the solitude and melancholy of Green Eyes’ and sealing his fate. The opposing energy of the hedonism of each character’s stake in seeking validation against the violent nature of their crime was a testament to Le Marinel’s attempt to bring the indulgent feminism of drag-queens to the stale tone of prison relationships. The set design was barren and minimal with only the box that Green Eyes retreated to when in distress, a cloth to symbolise a bed and a stack of three books with one of them titled “homosexuality”. In this creative choice, the audience were left to cross examine the character’s motivations and mannerisms during their unravelling paranoia.
Ultimately, the jarring nature of the character’s desire for power was challenged by the impressive make-up and costuming where each character’s hue was mirrored by the lighting. Eventually, the prison hierarchy emerges and a sultry prison guard, played by Taylor Barret Fair, contributes to the eventual demise of the inmates, teasing and alluring the characters to release the building tension.
When I think of absurdist theatre I think of Ionesco and Beckett — often mimicked and reproduced without any testing of ingenuity however much like the opening scene of self-serving dancing, SUDS’ production of Deathwatch rejected convention