(finger)prints

Reviewed by Sarah Gates

The Channel 9 Kevin Crease Studios offer a large, blank canvas on which the cast of (finger)prints paints a compelling tale of friendship, death, devastation, and lies. Writer Chloe Eckert was the winner of the 2012 Flinders University Young Playwrights Award and went on to produce Sage in the Adelaide Fringe 2013, an extended version of the winning script. This year she returns with young director Hannah Fallowfield, a colleague from their work together with Urban Myth. They bring a new play, with a fresh creative team, to this year’s Fringe.

(finger)prints uses only four characters and therefore four actors: Kennan Haynes as lazy but likeable Max, Harrison Breese as the love interest Ollie, Emma Kew as the best friend and artist Sammi, and Maddy Herd as the wildly unpredictable Esther. It is just five minutes into the play that the audience discovers Esther’s fate; death in a car crash containing the other three friends. But who was responsible? Who was driving?

The play unfolds as Ollie and Sammi convince Max, who has no memory of the night before, that he was behind the wheel when Esther died. It is an intense scene, but well balanced  by the humour of the three remaining friends. The script is fantastic, with interesting intersections between flashbacks and the current trauma of losing, and killing, Esther.

The production also utilises choreography to heighten the emotion and blur the line between real and surreal. In the scene where Esther’s body is discovered, for example, the actors transform into news reporters, Facebook friends, and Tweeters expressing their less than sincere regret for and shock of Esther’s death. It is an ingenious, humorous moment; alleviating the stress of previous scenes.With such a strong script and directorial concept, the play required a strong cast to pull it off. Unfortunately, Kennan Haynes as Max is not as strong as one would hope, dragging down the energy, intensity and believability of some scenes. However, Emma Kew more than makes up for it, with a dynamic portrayal of a truly complex and fascinating character. Harrison Breese and Maddy Herd are strong performers, producing performances which are professional and well executed.

The set is  commendable, with rope laid out like a floor plan, separating the house on stage into three bedrooms and a living room. All the action takes place within the characters’ shared living space. The three living characters treat the rope like walls, except for the ghost version of Esther. This is a great effect and, in addition to the minimal props, brings a symbolic aspect to the performance to match its title. (finger)prints is a physical and metaphysical exploration of the parts of oneself that are left behind, in relationship and death, and how each life moulds the people around them.

(finger)prints is a great contribution to theatre in this year’s Adelaide Fringe. It is simultaneously amusing and heartbreaking. The themes are intriguing and the techniques used to execute these ideas are layered and subtle.  (finger)prints is a fresh, innovative work of young Adelaide performers at the beginning of their careers.

(finger)prints has now finished its run as part of the Adelaide Fringe 2014.