Culture

The latest Stage South reading to grace the Fortune Theatre Studio stage is Hero, directed by Erica Newlands. A haunting and beautiful play by Arun Subrmaniam, a New Zealand playwright, Hero takes us on a journey to Malaysia, where the first political assassination took place.

Patrick Davies plays the father of the family and successful politican. The character is beautifully written – a different man according to each character, who never shows his true self to anyone, not even his family. He is described as both a monster and a hero, unable to control how he is perceived. His son, played by Luke Agnew, is a 13-year-old genius sheltered from his father’s work life and infidelities by his mother, played by Nadya Shaw Bennett. The mother is the most intriguing and complex character, and I found her consistently engaging. She portrays complex feelings through her jumbled English, and makes observations that strongly echoed the themes of the text.

With the father already dead at the beginning of the play, our viewpoint shifts from his after-life self, observing the present, to memories of his life, when the family unit was still complete. A lot of characters tell stories or relive past moments involving the father without him being there, so we only see him portrayed through others’ eyes, most poignantly when his most violent moments are told through the eyes of his wife. The contrasting characters were really enjoyable to watch, with the narrative building interesting, complete characters who were still able to surprise us. The variety of monologues and conversations was also a highlight, with conversations taking many different forms at the same time, such as acting out memories in the middle of someone’s story to demonstrate a point.

Hero was enjoyable to watch as a reading, and I left feeling satisfied. However, I can’t help but think about what it would be like as a full production. With a cast of four it is an achievable goal, and would bring diversity to any theatre’s season. Perhaps we could see it put on in Dunedin some time soon? With the American elections a hot topic of conversation, the parallels between the world of the play and our own are hauntingly similar, and made me reflect on politics in general. Oh, I know, how boring. But this play truly made me question how we take things at face value – we’re taught to trust those in power without really knowing them as people. Hero shows us that the person on the podium can be a very different person to their wife, their children, and their friends. Obviously we all have different masks we put on for different people, and Hero simply portrays a more elaborate version of that, but it gets you thinking nonetheless. Though this play is specific in terms of setting and era, its core is crafted from basic human instincts and emotions. Very satisfied with this pick, Stage South. Until next time!