Type – Event Theatre, Literary Adaption, Mystery
If you liked – The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Wes Anderson, Deadloch and bizarrely Slava’s Snow Show
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: an immersive and thrilling feast for the senses
I went into Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead completely blind, which can be a dangerous undertaking. Somewhat anxious to attend a nearly three and a half hour show, I realised the concern was for nothing – this show is a masterpiece that never drags. More than that, this might be a new crowning jewel in the Australian theatrical canon.
Belvoir Street Theatre’s Artistic Director Eamon Flack has adapted this work from Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s mystery novel. Set over roughly a year in rural, modern day Poland, it tells the story of Janina Duszejko. Duszejko is a woman trying to unravel the mysterious deaths of a handful of powerful men that had died in curious and seemingly beastly ways, while the work also gives a poignant message about advocating for the voiceless and often defenceless creatures with whom we share a planet .
As the impassioned and capricious ‘Mrs Duszejko’, Pamela Rabe gives a tour de force of a performance. Watching Rabe on stage always feels like witnessing living history, like getting to consume one of those performances that sometime long in the future, (hopefully, don’t read the devastating environmental program notes too much), people will say “I was there.” Rabe is a national treasure. If it hasn’t been said before, Pamela Rabe is our very own Meryl Streep.
Joining Rabe are an team of masterful performers that include Paula Arundell, Marco Chiappi, Gareth Davies, Alan Dukes, Nadie Kammallwerra, Arky Michael, Colin Moody, Daniel R. Nixon, Ziggy Resnick, and Bruce Spence – each of whom works in unison with Rabe to deliver the epic piece which flicks between long form monologue and dialogue without ever feeling didactic.
At this performance, Meg Hyeronimus was standing (and prancing) in for Emma Diaz. While the audience was told she may carry a script, it was rarely visible, and Hyeronimus blended seamlessly with the machine of the show. The entire piece feels lived in. The cast are so comfortable in the text and context of the world they’re residing in, they’re able to almost play with the audience without breaking the tension and fierce energy of the piece. While an ensemble piece, a particular mention should be made of Spence’s Oddball and Nixon’s character, two of Mrs Duszejko’s ragtag friend group.
What takes this production to another level of the theatrical stratosphere is the atmosphere crafted by designers Romanie Harper (set), Morgan Moroney (lighting), Ella Butler (costume), and Alyx Dennison (composer and sound). Mirroring the unison found in the company of actors, these four, the creative team have worked utter magic into this production. It’s Belvoir like you’ve never seen it. While I’d never considered what a Wes Anderson film might look like on stage previously, this production answered the question.
Flack finds clever ways to translate more complex sequences and transitions of the text, not afraid to lean into the whimsy or meta-ness of theatre. For example, sequences set in cars are amusingly performed as an actor controls a toy car, or leaf blowers are enlisted to help manipulate the joyfully ludicrous amount of fake snow. The piece also feels like a resounding rebuttal to the notion that to retell an epic piece of literature on stage you must have floating screens playing feedback loops of one actor as all the roles.
The placement of intervals themselves deserves recognition and dissection. They’re less full stops on thoughts, instead it feels as if Flack has found moments in the story to allow us, the audience, to place the book face down on a coffee table and grab a drink, and when the action starts back up, it doesn’t happen with a bang. The action just continues, saving the audience dramaturgical whiplash.
A few of my fellow reviewers had thrown around the words “no spoilers”. Seeing that I’d opted to deny my screaming neurodivergent desire to ingest the entire Wikipedia page on the novel, I’m so glad I did, and I beg you to do the same. That’s as much as I can say without giving too much away.
There seems to be a steady stream of Australian theatrical offerings taking flight from our shores and landing in theatre capitals around the world lately. I beg international producers to take this work, (and Ms Rabe) around the world too – to share this tremendous piece of event theatre on the international stage.
Is Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Worth Seeing in SYDNEY?
This might be the first truly unmissable play of the season. Don’t let the show’s extended run time dissuade you, it’s a production that will stay with you for a long time. Between Rabe’s outstanding performance leading a tight ensemble and breath-taking adaptation of Tokarczuk’s gripping mystery that Flack has found every moment of humour, heart, joy and theatricality in. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a piece of event theatre that I expect to have a big future ahead of it.
Tickets and Practical Info for Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead in SYDNEY 🎟️
Playing at Belvoir Street Theatre until May 10
CREATIVES
Eamon Flack: Adaptor and Director
Romanie Harper: Set Designer
Ella Butler: Costume Designer
Morgan Moroney: Lighting Designer
Alyx Dennison: Composer & Sound Designer
Charmene Yap: Movement Director
Nigel Poulton: Fight Director
CAST
Pamela Rabe: Mrs Duszejko (Janina)
Bruce Spence: Oddball
Daniel R. Nixon: Dizzy
Colin Moody: Bigfoot / Commandant
Paula Arundell: Mrs President & Ensemble
Marco Chiappi: Commandant & Ensemble
Gareth Davies: Black Coat & Ensemble
Emma Diaz: Good News & Ensemble
Alan Dukes: Wnetrzak & Ensemble
Nadie Kammallaweera: The Gray Lady & Ensemble
Ziggy Resnick: Policewoman & Ensemble
