REVIEW: Stay Woke by Aran Thangaratnam at Darlinghurst Theatre
Image: Photo: Phoebe Powell
In Stay Woke, older brother Niv (Dushan Philips) invites his younger brother Sai (Kaivu Suvarna) to a chalet in the mountains for a skiing weekend in an attempt to heal past tensions between the Sri Lankan siblings.
Niv’s non-binary partner Mae (Brooke Lee) is there with Niv, and Sai is bringing his new girlfriend Kate (Rose Adams) withhim.
They are all in their 20s, highly opinionated, hormones raging, and trying to find their way in the world.
But tensions emerge that threaten to destroy the brothers’ relationship and leave all of them with a bitter taste in their mouths.
In the program notes, playwright Thangaratnam issues a kind of warning to anyone in their 20s contemplating a weekend away:
“Going away for a weekend in your 20s is like playing back alley poker with the mob. You could win big or lose it all… You look forward to a chance to get away, have some fun. You aren’t yet wise enough to know that it may destroy something inside of you irreparably…”
Stay Woke could be called a “black comedy” as it shifts rapidly from crossfire arguments and accusations (that remind you uncomfortably of your own!) to witty lines that leave the audience in stitches.
The Urban Dictionary says “To be ‘woke’ means you’re not ‘in the dark’ about other societies and cultures whose past has been edited and censored to make you think it wasn’t as bad as it actually was.”
Poor Kate is definitely not “woke” as she repeatedly calls Mae a “she” or “her”, forgetting that “they” is a non-binary person.
Director Bridget Balodis did a fine job of herding the actors in some very chaotic scenes. Matilda Woodroofe designed a set that looked the part of a chalet with its pine furniture and fittings, and Daniella A Esposito wrote the expressive score.
