Commentary → State Theatre Company SA
Tuesday 25th August, Dunstan Playhouse
FIVE STARS
It's rare that a work is this unafraid to unapologetically hold a mirror up to artists and call out the the ethics and controversies surrounding power amongst creatives. I walked out of Commentary thinking, oofft, that knew how to bite. It forces us to question complicity, the facade of ourselves we give to the public eye, and who actually holds the power over our individual narratives. Playwright Ash Flanders described the play as “vicious,” and indeed it is. Commentary is a gripping 90s minutes of secrets and scandals, leaving the audience to question can the art ever be separated from the artist?
As the lights dim, Gyton Grantley’s voice swells throughout the theatre as our protagonist Nick, gives a director’s commentary for his previous film Low. The work’s conflict centres around a single video that destroyed Nick’s career: His colleague Hamish filmed a teenage girl through her bedroom window.
Behind the glass windows that divide the stage emerge Nick and uni student Genevieve, performed by Shardae Santos, (who is making their mainstage debut!). Their relationship is a mutual exchange, each receiving something for their benefit, and the choice to have this as the opening scene instantly places the audience to be wary of Nick. We feel slightly icky in his presence now, but oddly, assume his innocence. He launches into a vent about the film, explaining he now finally has the chance to re-write himself out of the controversy at an upcoming film festival.
Santos as Genevieve is your archetypal “arts student:” woke enough to call out people’s morals but sly enough to sleep with her lecturer to get ahead. She encapsulates how many people today have no issues moving the line to suit the circumstance. Santos also doubles as Frankie, the daughter of Hamish. A simple costume change indicates her new persona, and Santos nails this troubled girl in search of answers. This character doesn’t get the full attention of the plot despite her father being the paedophile who ruined multiple lives. Nonetheless, Santos’ performance is sincere and evocative, so much so that I feel like one could do a spin-off play that just follows Frankie’s side!
Initially, Grantley plays Nick to appear misunderstood, but his layered facade slowly strips away to be someone we thought not. We watch Nick try to worm his way out of the controversy, whilst the women surrounding him fire the constant counter-attacks to his carefully constructed version of events. Anna Steen and Kate Cheel also take on dual roles, switching between characters who have their own connections to Low or its fallout. Together, their perspectives expose the gaps in Nick’s retellings, challenging his tendency to cast himself as the victim. These women gradually reveal how much of the past has been reshaped to suit the story Nick wants to tell.
Cheel is a hoot as Saskia, a breakout LA actress who made her debut on Low, contrasted expertly with her stern portrayal of Clea, the Film Festival Director. Saskia’s character arc leans into the narrative that “we suffered for our art, and that’s just how it was.” There is a scene over Zoom between Cheel and Grantley where they joke about their days on the set of Low. Saskia recalls a time when she endured a dangerous stunt on set, trusting that obedience to the director would ultimately pay off. We laugh along too, until we let out a collective ‘oh’ in horror— it's as if Flanders is using their exchange to test where our “line” is.
Anna Steen doubles as Mish, Nick’s wife, and Anna, the relentless journalist. Steen and Grantley’s interview scene is one where the cracks start to show and shocking plot twists are revealed to us all. Steen wickedly fires questions like a Tracey Grimshaw from your nightmares. She makes jokes that the public controls the media now, and she’s just here to give the people what they want, she “cant even put puns in a headline anymore because people don’t understand them!” So, in no way is she interested in clearing Nick’s name.
I must also comment on Dan Thorpe’s composing and sound and video design. Alongside Petra Kalive’s direction, I admired the creative choice to have multiple scenes take place on a live video call— the actors on either side of the glass across the stage— metaphorically representing different sides of the truth. The quiet looming soundscape in the background of pivotal moments added to the audience’s reactions to the play’s pivotal tensions.
As Nick gradually becomes the predator he once tried to escape, he finds new mediums in which to spin his story in an attempt to find what sticks. One moment he is free from his past, the next he is “cancelled” because of it. Throughout the work, we heckle with “ohhs” and gasps, and are forced to sit in the discomfort of Nick’s reality. This is how Commentary unapologetically puts a (spot)light on the inescapability of truth.
~ By Sophie Tsoulos
Show Run: till 5th September
Tickets: https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/commentary/
Discounts: Under 30 $39 // Blak Tix $26
Theatre: Dunstan Playhouse
Photography: Matt Byrne