| A Single Act
Jane Bodie
(Melbourne Theatre Company)
Judges report
Jane Bodie’s A Single Act is an intimate, intense depiction of the disintegration of two relationships in the context of a catastrophic act of terrorism in an Australian city. Two couples, connected, yet unknown to each other, share the space. One story moves forward in time, away from the act. The other story is played out in reverse, as we watch a relationship, marked by terror and violence, rewound to its source. This fractured chronology effectively mirrors the psychic dislocation of the characters, whilst unanswerable questions of politics and morality suffuse the play, infecting all like toxic dust.
This is an actors’ play, rich in its dialogue, and intricate in its architecture. It is tough in its realisation of arbitrary circumstance, yet at the same time sensitive to frailties of heart and mind. Restrained, poetic and unnerving, violence is unseen though ever-present in this chilling work. |
