Nugget of gold in natural setting

I AM A LAKE Mudlark Theatre Royal Backspace, Hobart March 16-17

WITH the exception of some beautiful work, too long ago, by Richard Bladel, the Tasmanian theatre has by and large ignored the megafauna in the room, that is, the whole logs-and-jobs versus rivers-and-trees debate/war that has been fought, with greater or lesser distress, for generations in the green hills of the West and on the green benches of Parliament.

Cameron Hindrum’s play, set in Queenstown, touches on the issues within the context of a domestic drama: a town dying, family members pulling in opposite directions, a local who feels like an outsider, and a longburied and bloody secret.

Jane Johnson’s production comes with all the embellishments of Mudlark’s characteristic Gothic-ness: a refined, brooding sound design, intricate atmospheric lighting, a deftly handled undercurrent of unease, and a heaviness of movement — all of which, when you think about it, is kinda characteristic of Tasmania itself.

All this darkness is tempered by the painful and pained humanity of the people caught up in this drama. They are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events — nothing new there, that’s the stuff of 99 per cent of domestic drama — but Hindrum’s ear for dialogue and obvious compassion for his characters hauls them out of the ordinary on to a poetic plane that elevates but never over-glosses.

Travis Hennessy is outstanding as the small but tough Nugget, and Polly Grove capably handles the stylistic and narrative challenges.

Jane Taylor completes this strong trio, though her role of “Mum” is rather predictable, and the weakest element in this otherwise effectively written drama.