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POSTED: 27 JUNE 2011 The Coming World, by Christopher Shinn | Directed by Caroline Craig Two Birds One Stone | Darlinghurst Theatre, Potts Point, Sydney | Until 3 July This is a three-character drama from the pen of Christopher Shinn, who is one of the most probing and provocative American playwrights writing for the modern theatre. Dora (Cheree Cassidy) is a Blockbuster Video employee, in her late 20s and living in a coastal New England town. She arrives at the beach to meet her ex boyfriend Ed (Ian Meadows). It turns out he owes $10,000 to the local gangsters after an ecstasy deal went pear shaped, and Dora is drawn into his desperate plan to repay his debts. Later we meet Ed’s twin brother, Ty, also played by Meadows. Whereas Ed is rough and edgy and misdirected, Ty is quiet, introverted, lives alone and has a successful career as a website designer. This deceptively spare work addresses the major themes — truth, love and loss — and is set against a backdrop of imminent change that technology will bring. The narrative is episodic in structure and parallels relationships between the old fashioned America and an America which is moving into unexplored territory of the future technology. There is an ever-shifting emotional underscore, which at times is clunky and repetitious, but the clumsy, naturalistic dialogue is underscored by the weight of the unspoken. This subtext invokes a mostly silent landscape that takes on an extra dimension when it poses the big questions that move tidally, in and out of the characters’ lives. Jack Audas-Preston’s lighting subtly assists the rendering of the moving tides on this bare bones staging, in which the emptiness emphasises the characters loneliness and isolation. The swimming scene is moving and sensual under the astute direction of Caroline Craig, who elicits authentic performances from her cast. Ian Meadows, recently seen on our small screens in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, deserves special mention for his excellent portrayal of two contrasting and diverse young men. This is a brief production — a mere 60 minutes — but one which manages to tackle epic themes in an intimate way.
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