AMANDA by playwright Mark Langham explores notions of birth and the experience determining who we are and what we do. Even in death, the play suggested there were no resolutions for Amanda (Amylea Griffin), Officer Kovac (Elizabeth Macgregor) and Senior Sergeant Hood “yes, Robin Hood” (Mark Langham). The play’s impetus seemed to be more concerned with the audience finding solutions, which proved a challenging goal with a dubious outcome.
The concept of AMANDA was interesting: put a hoodlum in a room with two cops and explore what got her there. Throughout the play, each character told us “we must love each other or we die”, and while Hood thought it was an insightful quote and Kovac thought it a painfully honest depiction of human nature, Amanda only repeated the phrase because it was a lie. The tensionin AMANDA was palpable and contributed to developing a sense of intrigue, however the execution of the play was overwhelming; in the seventy-minute performance, not only did we get Amanda’s life story with flashbacks, but also heard about Hood’s troubles – he watched his brother be run over by a truck– and Kovac’s, “turns out you can get pregnant the first time”.
These tragedies were briefly spoken about, hardly discussed and identified only as a reflection on theories about nature and nurture. The issues were not given thoughtful consideration or respect, which meant that controversial lines on death, suicide, prescription drug abuse and rape remained offensive and insensitive rather than insightful. They appeared attempts to criticise the system but as flippant remarks, they seemed to confuse dramatic and comical effect.
As the play progressed, relationships between characters appeared unrealistic and strange, opening with a police interrogation in which Amanda kissed Officer Kovac and Kovac slapped Amanda.These relationships, which consistently explored power structures, only made sense on the performance’s conclusion when it was established the setting was in a kind of afterlife. Elements of absurdism were introduced with a disappearing door and references to the theory of molecular transfer, which added humour but confused the plot, and made it difficult for the audience to follow what was going on.
Langham provided the most consistent and believable performances as Senior Sergeant Hood, while Griffin played a very deliberate and articulate Amanda. In the greatest demonstration of Macgregor’s talent was a musical interlude in which she sung a ballad, however it seemed incongruous with the play’s style. When they were not involved in a scene, the actors remained silent on stage. This provided a reflective setting that also alluded to the audience’s involvement, providing an omnipresence thatsuggested that all life stories are connected, reinforcing Amanda’s theory that “bits of them became bits of me”.
Overall, AMANDA provided unclear and varied reflections on life and death. Towards the end of the play, there was an emphasis on hope that left the audience wondering whether we were supposed to change our positions on nature and nurture theories or whether Amanda had changed hers. This conclusion seemed inconsistent with Amanda’s characterisation and the audience were left questioning how or why such a resolute and creepy character would end her story like this. While the plot was confusing, it was the careless treatment of serious issues that was problematic and most disappointing.
Reviewed by Lily Mei
