Defiance Review
May 15th 2008 15:04
Defiance Review
Ashleigh Dollin
“This place is really spooky” Berynn Schwerdt says, eyes wide as the bus bumps its way down towards the North Head Quarantine station.
We arrive, the lights aren’t on, Sydney twinkles in the distance and I am immediately immersed in the isolation of this place.
“Apparently this is one of the most haunted sites in Australia” Berynn Schwerdt, actor in Defiance, fills me in as we look for a light switch.
Berynn leads me into the authentic laundry room, the lighting is dim, atmosphere cold, the floor boards are worn, old driers and a washing machine lines the walls.
I imagine the steam and stifling air, the racket and fear and despair of isolation and disease.
The laundry room is where act one of the new live theatre production Defiance, produced and directed by Carlton Lamb productions, takes place.
Starring Damian Rice, Rebekah Moore, Berynn Schwerdt and Lucy Miller, Defiance is called immersion theatre as it immerses its audience into the real stories of people who were sent to this Quarantine station, often wrongfully diagnosed.
It covers Spanish influenza, the plague, small pox and avian flu.
Audience members get to watch stories being replayed in the original venue that they happened in.
There is a presence in the laundry room. I asked Berynn if he has experienced any ghosts.
“I don’t feel any presence of ghosts, although the spookiness could make you think that quite easily, Lucy Miller sits back here (back stage) for quite a while by herself and she gets spooked,” says Berynn.
“Our lights flicker at the half time, they go on and off and they don’t do it at any other time… we don’t know why. Sometimes we jokingly talk to the spirits and ask them questions and have the lights flicker in response. Surely it’s a power surge we say to ourselves” laughs Berynn, “I am here for four months and I am totally looking forward to seeing some sort of supernatural thing.”
Just as we were talking about this…
“There you go,” says Berynn suddenly pointing to the lights behind me “did you flicker? Flicker again for the guest, go on, could you please show us that you are flickering and there is a spirit affecting the electricity, go, flicker,” but no such luck.
Apart from flickering lights Defiance is technologically advanced bringing the place and stories alive with the use of visual and sound effects that evoke atmosphere and make the machinery in the laundry look like it’s still running.
The play takes place in two venues, the laundry room, where actors use the authentic washing machine and heavy driers, and the re-built replica hospital, the original having burnt down in 2002.
Our bubbly usher leads us into the cold laundry room, still without the modern comfort of heating.
She has had a ghostly experience since working at this place. She told me how she suddenly became short of breath and her breath was ice cold.
Act one introduces us to the main themes of the play, despair, disease, entrapment, deadly mistakes and unfeeling authority.
There is something powerful about watching the stories being retold in the actual place that they occurred, you don’t have to try hard to imagine what it would’ve been like.
The second act commences in the rebuilt hospital. The hospital is different to the laundry room, it is all squeaky clean and new.
Both venues are intimate, capable of holding 100 people. I sit close enough to see a tear trickle down Lucy Millers cheek when she finds out that her baby has died from Small Pox, I can feel the actors pass by me.
Technology is used more in the second act and blends well with the new venue. In a way the new venue does more to bring to life the stories of the time as it is what it would’ve been like when it was running before the ravages of time had worn the boards and rusted the bed heads.
In the second act we look into the future with the possible outbreak of avian flu in 2020. This is all done with news flashes projected on a screen. It sends a chilling message to audience members as they witness what may very likely occur in the future
Act one and two usually splits the audience, often with the younger generation liking act two the best and the older liking act one. They are both very different and both very powerful. Personally, although I did enjoy both, I fitted right into my demographic preferring the second act over the first.
All in all defiance is much more than a couple of ghost stories and tricks for tourists. It is a powerful tale of human spirit and the fragility of life. I came away from it thinking life is precious.
copy right ablereporter
Ashleigh Dollin
“This place is really spooky” Berynn Schwerdt says, eyes wide as the bus bumps its way down towards the North Head Quarantine station.
We arrive, the lights aren’t on, Sydney twinkles in the distance and I am immediately immersed in the isolation of this place.
“Apparently this is one of the most haunted sites in Australia” Berynn Schwerdt, actor in Defiance, fills me in as we look for a light switch.
Berynn leads me into the authentic laundry room, the lighting is dim, atmosphere cold, the floor boards are worn, old driers and a washing machine lines the walls.
I imagine the steam and stifling air, the racket and fear and despair of isolation and disease.
The laundry room is where act one of the new live theatre production Defiance, produced and directed by Carlton Lamb productions, takes place.
Starring Damian Rice, Rebekah Moore, Berynn Schwerdt and Lucy Miller, Defiance is called immersion theatre as it immerses its audience into the real stories of people who were sent to this Quarantine station, often wrongfully diagnosed.
It covers Spanish influenza, the plague, small pox and avian flu.
Audience members get to watch stories being replayed in the original venue that they happened in.
There is a presence in the laundry room. I asked Berynn if he has experienced any ghosts.
“I don’t feel any presence of ghosts, although the spookiness could make you think that quite easily, Lucy Miller sits back here (back stage) for quite a while by herself and she gets spooked,” says Berynn.
“Our lights flicker at the half time, they go on and off and they don’t do it at any other time… we don’t know why. Sometimes we jokingly talk to the spirits and ask them questions and have the lights flicker in response. Surely it’s a power surge we say to ourselves” laughs Berynn, “I am here for four months and I am totally looking forward to seeing some sort of supernatural thing.”
Just as we were talking about this…
“There you go,” says Berynn suddenly pointing to the lights behind me “did you flicker? Flicker again for the guest, go on, could you please show us that you are flickering and there is a spirit affecting the electricity, go, flicker,” but no such luck.
Apart from flickering lights Defiance is technologically advanced bringing the place and stories alive with the use of visual and sound effects that evoke atmosphere and make the machinery in the laundry look like it’s still running.
The play takes place in two venues, the laundry room, where actors use the authentic washing machine and heavy driers, and the re-built replica hospital, the original having burnt down in 2002.
Our bubbly usher leads us into the cold laundry room, still without the modern comfort of heating.
She has had a ghostly experience since working at this place. She told me how she suddenly became short of breath and her breath was ice cold.
Act one introduces us to the main themes of the play, despair, disease, entrapment, deadly mistakes and unfeeling authority.
There is something powerful about watching the stories being retold in the actual place that they occurred, you don’t have to try hard to imagine what it would’ve been like.
The second act commences in the rebuilt hospital. The hospital is different to the laundry room, it is all squeaky clean and new.
Both venues are intimate, capable of holding 100 people. I sit close enough to see a tear trickle down Lucy Millers cheek when she finds out that her baby has died from Small Pox, I can feel the actors pass by me.
Technology is used more in the second act and blends well with the new venue. In a way the new venue does more to bring to life the stories of the time as it is what it would’ve been like when it was running before the ravages of time had worn the boards and rusted the bed heads.
In the second act we look into the future with the possible outbreak of avian flu in 2020. This is all done with news flashes projected on a screen. It sends a chilling message to audience members as they witness what may very likely occur in the future
Act one and two usually splits the audience, often with the younger generation liking act two the best and the older liking act one. They are both very different and both very powerful. Personally, although I did enjoy both, I fitted right into my demographic preferring the second act over the first.
All in all defiance is much more than a couple of ghost stories and tricks for tourists. It is a powerful tale of human spirit and the fragility of life. I came away from it thinking life is precious.
copy right ablereporter
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