As published in the Sun-Herald
Concussion
Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company
Until 4 April
Tickets $25-$45
Bookings (02) 9250 1777
Critic’s Rating 8/10
Like a Coen Brothers film, Melbourne-based Ross Mueller play presents us with a handful of characters with no apparent connection. Over the course of 90 minutes, Mueller cleverly brings them together, shifting between reality, fiction and the dark recesses of memory in a play of suspense and black humour.
Caesar (Terry Serio) is the city's last honest cop, who’s suffering concussion after a late night run-in with someone.
Word on the street (and in chat rooms) is that he beat up a homeless veteran. But Julia (Rachel Gordon), his lover and doctor and Katerina (Belinda McClory), his legal rep, tell him it isn’t so.
Throw in Caesar’s young son, Julia’s jilted ex husband and Katerina’s lover and the stage is set for a plot that twists, turns and unsettles with questions over what is the truth and who is making it up.
Directed by Brett Adam, Concussion is a wonderful and rare collaboration between Griffin Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company (the last being in 1994). Such a partnership needs to happen more often.
But despite the quality and skill of this new Australian play, the overall effect of it is diminished by Mueller trying to be that little too clever - adding in a conceit where the characters show an obvious awareness they are in a play.
It’s a shame because the plot, performances and design are tight enough to keep audiences guessing in a play that is yet another feather in the cap of excellent new Australian works.
