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Sunday - Sydney Theatre Company (NSW)
Sydney Theatre Company presents Melbourne Theatre Company's Sunday, written by Anthony Weigh
A beautifully rendered and emotionally charged portrait of an extraordinary chapter in Australian art history
Reviewed by Juliana Payne
Drama Theatre, Opera House
Until December 14
After an acclaimed run in Melbourne, Anthony Weigh’s evocative and captivating play Sunday has arrived at the Sydney Opera House. The work delves into the complex and intertwined emotions arising from a menage a trois, covering moments from the characters' first meetings, through to the years until they parted. It's always difficult for a playwright to render a story that is well-known in its generalities and historical ‘facts’, and to tease out and portray a plausible human reality. Of course we all know that no-one will ever have the ‘fly on the wall’ verbatim script of what they actually said and did, however Weigh's script brings a thoughtful and compelling version of these people’s stories to life.
I was lucky enough to see Nikki Shiels play Blanche in Streetcar a few months ago in Melbourne, and she is truly a rising star of Australian contemporary theatre. With her gorgeous purring contralto voice, and her exquisite poise and control, she can turn on a dime from alluring to vengeful and back to just sad. Shiels elevates Weigh’s script, which can be both lyrical and colloquial, capturing the essence of Sunday Reed’s multifaceted personality and the intensity of her relationships. Matt Day gets all the best one-liners as John Reed, the genial, patient patron/husband to both Sunday and their other proteges. He channels David Lynch’s Blue Velvet which adds rich darkness and saltiness to the portrayal of their marriage. James O’Connell is younger and has less to work with in the Nolan character but adds a solid heft of emotion to the structure of love, loyalty, and betrayal. It’s notable that Weigh chooses only Joy Hester (played by Ratidzo Mambo) and Sweeney Reed (played by Jude Hyland) to be present on stage with the main trio, as these are key to understanding some of Sunday’s emotional triggers.
Photography by Prudence Upton
Sarah Goodes’ direction puts Sunday Reed front and centre, allowing Nikki Shiels’ natural talent and charisma to draw all eyes on her. Goodes triangulates her leads around the stage to throw their palpable chemistry into high relief. Anna Cordingley’s set is majestic and stunning in the first act, giving us frames within frames, and resists the urge to oversaturate the place with Sidney Nolan’s paintings. Paul Jackson’s lighting integrates and complements the set perfectly, providing senses of flowing water or of sweet, bright morning sun. Jethro Woodward’s soundscape is almost another character on stage, helping us to understand the visceral and sensory experience of “art” over which Sunday and Sidney have their existential battle.
There’s plenty of mid-twentieth-century gender politics to remind us of how far we still have to go, and of course this is a play about rich white people and their antics. Without having to go too far down that path, it is nevertheless a deep exploration of the sacrifices made in the pursuit of art and the balance between love and ambition, loyalty and desire. The text brings to life the passions, conflicts and creative fervour that defined the Modernist era in Australia connecting the universality of these very human dilemmas, regardless of race, identity or gender.
Sunday is a beautifully rendered portrait of an extraordinary chapter in Australian art history. And god knows we see little enough of any of this country’s history on our stages or screens, so this is well worth the price of a ticket.
Director Sarah Goodes
Set Designer Anna Cordingley
Costume Designer Harriet Oxley
Lighting Designer Paul Jackson
Composer & Sound Designer Jethro Woodward
Voice & Dialect Coach Geraldine Cook-Dafner
Intimacy Coordinator Amy Cater
Fight Choreographer Lyndall Grant
Assistant Director Sonya Suares
Assistant Sound Designer Beau Esposito
Cast Matt Day, Jude Hyland, Ratidzo Mambo, James O’Connell, Nikki Shiels
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