Melissa Bubnic’s play STOP.REWIND explores the life choices of a group of office workers. Their choices are brought into focus by the terminal illness of a co-worker. They question the value of thirty years spent in an office and then to be diagnosed with a debilitating cancer, before achieving those cherished lifelong dreams.
For the first twenty or thirty minutes I struggled to follow the dialogue. Most of the actors could not project their voices into the modestly sized Glen St Theatre, and rushed their delivery. Exacerbating the problem were the ambient sounds, designed to add atmosphere, that were competing with the dialogue.
The play discusses profound questions about how to live a life of worth and value. Is it through relationships? Is it through varied and enjoyable weekends? The weekends of this group are relived on Monday morning and are richer and more fulfilling in the retelling than in the life lived. The success or failure of your football team is a critical part of this Monday ritual.
There were some entertaining scenes such as the forwarding of gossipy emails that were meant to be confidential but spread like viruses for the office workers’ amusement. Tim Ross’s character gives an impassioned speech about the drudgery and futility of working life. Ian Rooney, as well as playing the manager, often adopts the role of the narrator and with his rich, resonant voice is well suited to this role.
Various characters at times make comments on the others’ existential angst. This will sometimes be to voice what someone is really thinking rather than what they are saying, or to explain that what someone apparently said was actually the opposite. It is a device that works well and adds to the audiences’ understanding of the characters and their dynamics.
STOP.REWIND, directed by Anne Browning, directed by Anne Browning, has an effective high tech design by Peter Mumford with sound design by Andrew Harrison. The cast includes Olga Makeeva, Dion Mills, Ian Rooney, Tim Ross, Sarah Sutherland, Andrea Swifte and James Taylor.
STOP.REWIND opened at The Glen St Theatre on Wednesday 3rd July and plays until Saturday 14th July, 2012.
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- STOP.REWIND, Melissa Bubnic, Olga Makeeva, Dion Mills, Ian Rooney, Tim Ross, Sarah Sutherland, Andrea Swifte, James Taylor, Glen Street Theatre.
