THEATRE REVIEW: THE WRITER
3.09.2022 Q Theatre, Auckland
Immediately, a deconstructed set. A set that we know is a set. We can see the wooden foundations and scaffolding holding up three faux walls. And so we can see this is a play, and even more, we can see this is false - a human made construction. I know I’m in for a treat when I see the set as a set.
The Writer is built around the concept of “unbuilding”- of deconstructing and destroying. Each section pushes itself further away from tradition, breaking down the conventions male storytelling. We start off with a performance between a Young Woman and a Man. She speaks with burning passion and authenticity. But the more she burns, the more he stands back and watches her, smirking. They fight and while she sees a revolution, he sees flirting and foreplay. The writing of this was so genuine. On the edge of my seat, watching as they argued and then…wait, what’s happening?
The Writer is built around the concept of “unbuilding”- of deconstructing and destroying. Each section pushes itself further away from tradition, breaking down the conventions of male storytelling.
The actors stop and suddenly two more people arrive on stage - the Writer and the Director. They set up their chairs while the audience is watching in silent confusion: It is a Q&A panel and the Writer, Director and Actors begin to dissect what we have been watching, asking for audience feedback. This was all a show. Everyone in the audience starts laughing, realizing that they have been duped. The energy of this performance is chaotic and completely unapologetic. Playwright, Ella Hickson, draws us into this argument and then right at its climax she says: No, it’s false, this is theatre, this is life. We step back and we are forced to consider what we have just experienced.
The dialogue in this performance is so real. Much of the Director and Boyfriend’s dialogue is exactly, word for word, the same things men have said to me. The linguistic markers and gendered language is so natural and genuine: The way the Director has an unbearable loudness but the Writer says “Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt you”. I was able to see myself, and my language use, from the outside. I talked to my partner later that night and caught myself saying “Sorry, am I talking too much?”. And suddenly that phrase coming from my mouth, one I use far too often, felt foreign. The show had dissected these gendered markers of my identity. It made me rethink my existence within language and within conversation. The Writer is a revolution.
The absolute strength in this show is in its structure. Hickson injects rage and anarchy into the bare bones and structures of this piece. She creates something new by rejecting the masculine format of theatre. When men write women, they are written to be violated, subdued and to be taken apart on the stage. We often talk about the overhaul of political structures, but what about the overhaul of storytelling and theatre? Our convention of storytelling has served the male gaze, male ideas and male stories. Our act structures, our obsessions with “what is this doing?”, the strange conflation of dramatic tension with sexual tension (There is a fantastic scene where the Director cannot fathom sexual or dramatic tension between two female characters, only between a male and female character). The Writer doesn’t just talk about these topics, it becomes these topics.
We often talk about the overhaul of political structures, but what about the overhaul of storytelling and theatre? Our convention of storytelling has served the male gaze, male ideas and male stories.
My absolute favourite section is in the forest. Finally there is nothing to dominate and to be dominated by. The body is seen as a body that walks and vomits and bleeds. It is a body that exists beyond the male gaze. And it is fitting that this act considers the interplay between queerness and power dynamics. Queerness is an electrical pulse beneath each word spoken on stage. The final act as a reversal of the Writer and Boyfriend shows us the same scene but with the Writer and Girlfriend. But in their sex is still a power dynamic. There is still privilege and discrimination and a language that benefits one more than the other.
The Writer is a new form of media, a new way of telling stories, a new language. At the core of this work is interrogating how can woman, queer and BIPOC people use a language that has been simluatneously used to subdue us? How can we tell stories through the same format that has been used to ridicule us? And the truth is: we can’t. We make our own language, our own stories, our own performances.
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You can book your tickets for The Writer here!
Playwright: Ella Hickson
Direction: Sophie Roberts
Featuring: Sophie Henderson, Ashleigh Williams, Matt Whelan, Stephen Lovatt
Design: Dan Williams, Rachel Marlow, Kristin Seth, Paloma Schneideman