Theatre
by Finegan Kruckemeyer
Blue Room Theatre
25th of January
Review by Alex Tate

 Time and love: two notoriously intangible, immeasurable (don’t fool yourself) and often downright infuriating concepts that we as human beings struggle with on a daily basis. Well, maybe not all of us, but I’m pretty sure my clock is wrong.

But the good news — as the watchmaker will tell you from his shop-front window in Paris — is that time is elastic: it can stretch or contract, can be lost and found. And, as with love, it can cease to exist.

Winner of the 2014 Blue Room Theatre Award following a sold-out season, director Adam Mitchell has combined with Jo Morris (A Streetcar Named Desire), Renée Newman-Storen (Virgie) and Logie Award nominee Ben Mortley to present prolific Tasmanian playwright Finegan Kruckenmeyer’s three-person, eleven-character production Those Who Fall In Love Like Anchors Dropped Upon The Ocean Floor.

While Alain (Ben Mortley) the watchmaker waxes lyrical on the temporal powers of love whilst Brigit (Renee Newman-Storen) stands frozen in his mind, elsewhere in space-time a pair of Appalachian teens with skin (and accents) as thick as the backwoods try their luck at rabbit hunting, but Terri Case (Jo Morris) is as sure a shot as any and certainly isn’t there for Marco’s shooting tips.

Years away, a Cold-War Russian submarine lies in wait beneath the ocean. On board and bored, Alina and Eva inform their cynical Captain that they have no choice but to put their love on hold until their return to the uncertain surface above. Back (well, forward) in Perth, Kirsty faces her own uncertainty regarding her blind date Brian. Is he or isn’t he a complete idiot? Meanwhile, outside her co-worker’s apartment at an unreasonable hour, one woman finds that love can sometimes turn out one-sided.

While each storyline is set months and years, miles and countries apart, they’re bound by the common thread of emotion that humans have shared across the ages. Mitchell and his team of actors deliver outstanding performances that celebrate the beautiful insignificance of it all.

Not everyone finds love, and not everyone finds time. But if you have any of either to spare, don’t miss watching the Anchor’s slow descent towards the sea floor.

Those Who Fall In Love Like Anchors Dropped Upon The Ocean Floor runs from  Tuesday 27 January to Saturday 31 January at PICA in the Cultural Centre.

Check it out in the Fringe Program here.