Review: The Distance From Here

The Distance from Here
Stables Theatre
Until 25 April
Tickets $23-$30
Bookings (02) 8002 4772
Critic’s Rating 5/10


US playwright Neil LaBute has such a distinct way of writing that his surname has entered the vernacular to describe plays that portray the disturbing lives of those who sit outside the norm.

And The Distance From Here is about as LaButeish as you’re going to get.

Darrell (Anthony Gee), son of a gulf war veteran, is pretty angry with the world. With his mate Tim (Benn Welford) at the local zoo, they antagonise the monkeys by yelling and spitting at them. It becomes a pretty obvious connection as you ask who really is the beast.

Then you get introduced to Darrell’s family and you enter the world of the trailer-trash US lower class with chain-smoking stepmother Cammi (Jeanette Cronin), her boyfriend and Gulf War veteran boyfriend Rich (Andy Rodreda) and his half-sister Shari (Laura Brent). It’s a family where no one is related by blood but is tied together by impoverished circumstances.

Recalling other anti-war plays, The Distance From Here makes the correlation between states at war and the violence war promotes within society.

But for LaBute to convincingly shock an audience, he needs to be delivered with more menace rather than the angry stereotypes we see played out in this production.

Director John Sheedy has recruited an excellent cast but they appear to be dying to get LaButeish with the text.

They aren’t helped by a set design which acts as a barrier and slows down the action nor the constant smoking on stage.