Review: Bondi Dreaming

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POSTED: 20 SEPTEMBER 2009

Bondi Dreaming, by Sam Atwell

(bite & Actors Anonymous | Seymour Centre, Chippendale, Sydney | Until 10 October)

I’ve sat for 10 minutes staring at my blank computer screen. How on Earth do I do justice to Bondi Dreaming? There are many phrases that spring to mind, but I desperately want to say more than “Australian theatre at its very best” or “powerful, innovative and raw”, although that’s a start.

Writer/director Sam Atwell has revamped his original script, first performed nearly a year ago to critical acclaim at Newtown Theatre. I didn’t see Bondi Dreaming the first time around, and entered this production with little preconception or knowledge of the story, other than its genesis from cases such as the Bali Nine.

I certainly had no idea how profoundly I would be affected. Wow.

Charlie and Frankie (Greg Hatton and Toby Levins) are Sydney Westies who had a dream — a beachside flat in Bondi, surfing all day, bars all night, and chicks! Wall-to-wall chicks!

Ways for blokes to make the sort of money needed for that lifestyle are scarce in Blacktown. With the aid of Macca (Marcel Bracks), a shortcut to Bondi is planned via some drug smuggling in Bali.

The entire production takes place in the cramped jail cell which Charlie, Frankie and Macca inhabit after the plan goes pear-shaped. Awaiting the ultimate penalty for their very poor decision, they act out moments from their past and dream of the lives that might have been.

This device has a double function. We see how they got to this point. The characters immerse themselves in memories and fantasy to pull back from despair. Within their bleak confines, it is amazing how vividly they can recreate life beyond their cell. You can almost smell the beer and hear Jimmy Barnes screeching in the background.

Almost imperceptibly, as their end draws nearer, the memories shift to the futures they’ll never see. It is here that the true muscle of this story hits. Atwell wisely refrains from casting judgements on his characters, their deeds and the implications of their actions. What comes through most strongly is the men’s humanity, friendship — and ordinariness. Each of us could know someone such as Charlie, Frankie or Macca.

Hatton, Levins and Bracks are superb. Theatre this close-up and emotionally draining relies on powerful, charismatic and brave performances. These men deliver in spades.

Alon Ilsar’s musical and sound design perfectly complements the production. Some may remember him as the drummer in Keating! The Musical. In Bondi Dreaming, Ilsar truly gets to display his enormous talent and versatility. Surrounded by an astonishing array of percussive objects, he seamlessly shifts the sound scape from incidental to forefront.

Tom Bannerman’s set design evokes darkness, heat, and oppression. The positioning of Ilsar in his little pagoda-like structure, separated from the cell by a disturbingly realistic sewerage drain, is inspired.

Have I enthused enough? Do what you can to experience this. Bondi Dreaming is poignant, funny, brutal, devastating- and unforgettable. Okay. Now I’m done.

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