‘Empire’ – Tamarama Rock Surfers

EMPIRE: TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS – BY TOBY SCHMITZ
DIRECTED BY LELAND KEAN
TAMARAMA ROCK SURFERS – BONDI PAVILION
29 AUGUST – 28 SEPTEMBER 2013

Lea: What was that ending?
Sybil: Schlock horror.
Lea: Jesus fucking Christ.
Sybil: It was lazy.
Lea: I didn’t know what to do at the end. What shall I do at the end?
Sybil: You gave lots of clapping. You were overly enthusiastic (she says quite amused).
Lea: All my woos and my clapping were for the cast – who are actors of calibre – who persevered through a script that was not worthy – doing a month long season – at Bondi Pavilion – when the Sydney Fringe is on. Everyone must have been like – “It’s a Toby Schmitz play. The people will come.” But no, they’re not, because… what the fuck was that?
Sybil: It felt like he (Toby Schmitz) was building this lovely story, that was really interesting, actually not really that interesting, he was building a vaguely interesting story, and then…
Lea: He didn’t know what to do with it.
Sybil: And so he killed everyone and put their guts up on the stage.
Lea: Oh that was appalling, and you saw the guts before they came out unfortunately. That wasn’t helpful, because that ruined the whole effect. But it wouldn’t have been great anyway. And the whole idea of who this guy was; who was the murderer; there was no great reveal.
Sybil: Because you knew at the end of the first act! Look I thought the performances were…
Lea: Commendable.
Sybil: Commendable is a great word. I was struggling to say above average, but commendable is good.
Lea: Because they were doing the best they could.
Sybil: Commendable.
Lea: (with a desperate sob) Oh Toby…
Sybil: I thought the direction was really good.
Lea: (sadly) Toby…
Sybil: I thought the first half showed promise.
Lea: Yes, it showed promise *embarrassed giggles*.
Sybil: The second half didn’t.
Lea: There are people in this cast who are stellar performers.
Sybil: There were some very, very good performances.
Lea: Is that not Ben Wood? The guy who played the ship’s steward, who was sick the whole time.
Sybil: Yeah, he was good.
Lea: Wait til you see him in the program, because it’s the guy we loved in Henry 4.
Sybil: Yes it is, you’re right. He was very good in this too, but I didn’t understand why he committed suicide. Well I did later because he had been poisoned and knew he was dying.
Lea: From the contamination from Bang’s cargo.
Sybil: Something to do with Orville and Wilbur Wright and German warfare.
Lea: Which was all a little bit – too much, too late.
Sybil: It was like Toby was throwing a whole bunch of solutions at us…
Lea: Maybe this one, maybe this one, maybe this one… maybe that one?
Sybil: No. It’s the guy that you revealed at the end of the first act. And now he’s going to kill everyone.
Lea: And in the second act he’s still doing the same thing he was doing at the end of the first act, with no fabulous revelation
Sybil: There was no reveal.
Lea: Or a sense of why, of his sad story. I didn’t get that trenches stuff with him burrowing through to the German on the other side.
Sybil: Look, I thought that was well told.
Lea: It was well told, but it didn’t explain anything.
Sybil: It was his first experience of enjoying killing.
Lea: We could link it all – something about his Dad, something about the war – but it wasn’t written well. A lot of the lines themselves are really good, but the plot wasn’t pushing through. Like during some of the key plot developments, maybe there was too much going on. Like when Mr Frey was saying “I killed my Dad, and then I killed that, and then I killed that…”
Sybil: No, no. You got it. That’s what happened. He killed everyone.
Lea: But…
Sybil: That’s what happened. You just recited the lines.
Lea: (resigned) I did. I wanted some more meaning behind it.
Sybil: I think the meaning behind it is, (amused) is that he killed everyone.
Lea: He got a taste for it.
Sybil: He killed everyone. He liked it.
Lea: He was fucking into it, he was like YEAH!
Sybil: And then he cut off his own penis.
Lea: He just liked pain, and shit, and cut up his own junk.
Sybil: *massive laugh*
Lea: Until he cut it too far. That’s what I was left with – the only way he could get vaguely get off was to by seeing someone die in front of him, that he had killed.
Sybil: (breathlessly) Possibly.
Lea: So it’s all down to phallic male bullshit.
Sybil: Maybe. I think that’s a long bow.
Lea: There were elements of the writing I loved. There were performances I loved.
Sybil: I loved the direction and do you know what, the set was really good. Do you know what I really loved about the set, did you see how everything tilted when the boat exploded?
Lea: Oh I didn’t!
Sybil: I didn’t realise until later, but you know the portholes, they all tilted and the big windows each side tilted.
Lea: No. Stop it! I missed that.
Sybil: Yeah, so the whole boat was tilted and sinking. You know, I was waiting for Toby to bring the clever. And he didn’t bring the clever.
Lea: Parts of it were written beautifully.
Sybil: Some sparkling dialogue. Some. Not all. Some.
Lea: More than some writers are capable of, so I still believe in him. Bless you Tamarama. I still believe in you. I still believe in Toby.
Sybil: It’s better than Robots vs Art.
Lea: Oh GOD!
Sybil: But you know what? I’m going to struggle to give it a three.
Lea: But you know what the problem is? It feels like it was rushed to stage. Don’t you think?
Sybil: It feels like he had this great concept but didn’t have an idea.
Lea: But I think I Want to Sleep with Tom Stoppard was probably at this stage once and then Toby actually spent time working on it and probably did some readings…
Sybil: Maybe?
Lea: And I feel like this is rushed off the back of the success of his last play here.
Sybil: Maybe…
Lea: Maybe Tamarama Rock Surfers – maybe they commissioned him. He had this idea. He’d already written some of it? Hadn’t written the second act?
Sybil: You’re totally coming up with excuses!
Lea: I am!
Sybil: This show was a developed, and performed show, for us. This is a finished product – on for a month – at one of the best independent theatre companies in Sydney. Stop making excuses. It wasn’t good.
Lea: It’s so true.  But it wasn’t a train wreck. Except the end!
Sybil: Except for the end! *big laughs*
Lea: The first half was promising! I clutched you quite a few times in the second half going – really?
Sybil: I know!
Lea: “Sybil – are you with me right now?”
Sybil: I know! So out of 5? I don’t have a lot more to say about it? Do you have much more to say about it?
Lea: I’m on the page with you. I’ve nothing more to say. I was struggling to give it a three. I’d love to give it a three but it probably has to be a two and a half.
Sybil: I think that too. Sorry Toby.
Lea: Sorry performers. It’s not the performer’s fault.
Sybil: But as a show, as a piece of entertainment, as a piece of art… 2½ . Maybe 2.
Lea: It was ambitious.
Sybil: I haven’t read any reviews all the way through but everything I’ve read about it says – it’s ambitious! *big laughs* Ambitious is probably code for…
Lea: “You tried, but… bah bow (sound effect).” *giggles*
Sybil: It’s lovely to aim for the stars…
Lea: It was kinda like with these ingredients – Tamarama, stellar cast, some excellent lines, great writer – you would expect it to deliver.
Sybil: Great director too (Leland Kean)  – we need to keep an eye out for more of his work.
Lea: I expected to be blown out of the park, and I wasn’t. Like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Sybil: So why is this the same?
Lea: Because our expectations were high.
Sybil: Yes…
Lea: And they weren’t met.
Sybil: And?
Lea: And Toby was part of both?
Sybil: No, no, no… no. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern probably came slightly under. This came SHITLOADS under.
Lea: At interval we were much more optimistic. But when it came to the end of the show…
Sybil: I feel like I was waiting for it to soar.
Lea: That’s really true actually.
Sybil: And you know what? It was LONG. And that would have been worth it if the payoff had been good.
Lea: And the payoff – there was none.
Sybil: It just felt lazy. Unless all along he decided he wanted to write a schlock horror and got the set-up really wrong.
Lea: The cast performed it as if it was to a full audience. My hat’s off to that because it didn’t feel like a cast of 15 performing to an audience of less than 30. At no point did you feel they were pulling back.
Sybil: They weren’t dialling it in at all.
Lea: They played it to the back of the theatre.
Sybil: They did. Totally.

IN SUMMARY

Lea: The play is ambitious 😉 and could do with an edit, more moved readings and therefore more drafts. But, as always, Toby has something worth exploring in there, and it could work. Even though I was exasperated at the end, it made an impression and incited discussion. Life is drama. Even bad drama.
Sybil: Didn’t love it. Wanted to but just didn’t. Maybe we went on a bad night… good performances, good direction but just didn’t hit it for me.

WHERE WE HAD POST SHOW DRINKS: Bondi Pavilion Theatre Bar.
OUR HANGOVER STATUS: Sybil was so fresh,as she’s still detoxing. Lea was a little dusty.
MORE INFORMATION:
http://rocksurfers.org/empire/