Brisbane review - So Many Splintered Parts: Thought Provoking and Experimental

By Lilian Harrington

Production: So Many Splintered Parts

Writers: Elaine Acworth, Shaun Charles, Robert Foster, Kathryn Marquet, Aidan Rowlingson, Sita Walker, Grace Wilson

Company: Assembly of Elephants 

Location: iane Cilento Studio Door 3, at Queensland Theatre, 78 Montague Rd. West End.

Season: August 9-23 7 :30pm.

Bookings: https://queenslandtheatre.com.au (07) 30107600

Opening to the music of Tyrone Noonan, and two actors Nick James and Zoe de Plewitz doing warm ups and costume changes on a minimalistic set and props, So Many Splinter      ed Parts commenced its inaugural season at The Queensland Theatre’s Diane Cilento Studio. It is an inspiring new form of experimental theatre which encourages fresh perspectives and performance style. It is relevant because it voices modern day concerns, discusses world crises and issues that affect Australians and beyond, from the lives of the elite to those who live more modestly or the less fortunate.

Assembly of Elephants lead by their inspirational producer/directors Shaun Charles and Elaine Acworth, have brought together seven writers: Elaine Acworth, Shaun Charles, Robert Foster, Kathryn Marquet, Aidan Rowlingson, Sita Walker and Grace Wilson. All the writers represent different backgrounds. Their scripts, are a sharp poignant comment on politics, personal matters, comedy, despair, rage, and hope. All combined into an eighty-five-minute theatrical ensemble performed by two actors.

All the writers were given a provocation which said: “It’s happening all over the damn place, all over the world…fracturing of everything …nations, ethnicities, races, genders, the environment into so many splintered parts. They were asked to consider: “What they saw from their vantage point in Brisbane?  What did they see /think/and feel when they look out at the world? What does the world think when it looks back? Writers both emerging and established came up with seven different vantage points with a focus on Brisbane. The script is now   workshopped in depth and our local Brisbane has been carefully examined.

The cast of two are very competent and talented actors who have committed to these very challenging roles. They have shaped and given depth to the various characters they play and displayed good team work and comradery. Their team work was very natural in “Education” (parent meetings with the new teacher and the experienced P. E. coach) and in The Watch Tower, where a school boy strives to find freedom in the Himalayas.

In contrast, writer Aidan Rowlingson, deals with rude racist behaviors, and bullying on social media and the internet, which affects so many people and this was performed as shadow puppetry; it contrasted with The Night Thoughts of an Artist, ruminating in the early hours sleepless, unable to rest; the set was so dimly lit, it was hard to concentrate or hear the actor easily.  

There were contrasts and shocks in each script so audience reaction was thoughtful. The actors moved easily over the levels in the set and they changed their own props and costumes as needed. It made for an interesting theatrical experience and it kept audience interest.  

The writers’ concepts and perceptions were expressed clearly through the well-thought-out direction given by Elaine and Shaun, and through the music and support performance of Tyrone Noonan, who played his original scores between the scene action.

The scenes flowed together with fluency, pace and energy, as well as scenes with carefully built -up tension, such as “The Checkout,” when a busy state politician’s wife, caused an uproar when there was an incident at the checkout and she lost her cool. The different scenarios that the writers drew on and the concept of the ensemble created good theatre; this show would be especially of interest to senior teenage students and tertiary students.