REVIEW: Yours The Face
Image: Photo: Liz Arday
At only 60 odd minutes long, this play is a partial memoir, a symposium on commercial beauty, a comedy of awkward love and a reflection on loneliness. Fleur Kilpatrick’s play about the transient romance between a young American supermodel and an Australian photographer is a simple and straightforward story with lots of subtext. It is performed by one actor – in this production, by the engaging Daniela Haddad.
Haddad plays Emily, the supermodel, and Peter, the photographer, often having to toggle between accents, posture and attitude in quick succession during interactions between the two characters. Perhaps predictably, she portrays Emily more successfully than she does Peter, although Emily is a fuller, more complex character. Haddad’s non-androgynous appearance and slightly caricatured rendition of the blokey Aussie makes Peter less convincing and relatable – or maybe that’s the way we are meant to perceive him?
There is no set as such, just a stool as an occasional prop, however the entire back wall is used as a screen for frequently changing projections, mostly abstract images, that provide mood and context. Music and sound are also used to fill out the the atmosphere on stage.
It’s a play that gains momentum as it progresses and Haddad clearly becomes more energised and invested in the characters. An unseen “Nan” to whom Emily writes postcards helps take us away from the closed, insular world of the photographer and model and helps highlight how claustrophobic Emily’s life in particular, is.
The intimate space of the Blood Moon theatre is the perfect setting for this production, and the time and length make it an accessible theatre treat.
Until May 12. Blood Moon Theatre, World Bar, 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross. $15-$30. Tickets & Info: www.lza-theatre.xyz
Reviewed by Rita Bratovich
