Clybourne Park

Company: Melbourne Theatre Theatre
Venue: MTC Theatre, Southbank, Melbourne
Dates: to 26 October 2011

“Why are white women like tampons?” Zahra Newman asks, her arms crossed as she smugly anticipates the havoc she is about to wreak. “Because they are both stuck up c*nts.”

Daring, provocative and devastatingly hilarious, Clybourne Park opened in 2010 and has run with increasing success, recently opening for a brief season at Melbourne Theatre Company. Winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it is the story of racial integration, bigotry, love, loss and the everlasting bonds of family.

Act One takes place in 1959, when an upper middle class older generation couple, Bev (Alyson White) and Russ (Greg Stone), decide to sell their house in the wake of their son's tragic suicide after his return from the Korean War. White's portrayal of Bev is so real it will break your heart; her posture is rigid and her appearance is clean and tidy, but her disposition is shattered. Stone's grief is almost frightening, as he is very nearly shaking with repressed grief and fury. Luke Ryan plays their local preacher, sent to comfort them in their time of need, an elusive comfort that can never be obtained.

During these tribulations, some neighbours arrive to deliver the news that Bev and Russ have very inconsiderately sold their home to an African American family. Patrick Brammall is superbly arrogant as Karl and Laura Gordon is sweet and subdued as his heavily pregnant and well behaved wife. They provide the crux of the story, a time when Clybourne Park was populated only by white folk, and allowing blacks to infiltrate it will not only supply a risk to the neighbourhood, it will also decrease property value. To contest the argument with the polite oppression, are Francine and Albert, Zahra Newman and Bert LaBonte respectively.

Act Two takes place some fifty years later in the same house, when a peculiar social reversal has occurred. Clybourne Park is now a black neighbourhood and the very same house is now being bought by a young white couple. The actors reinvent themselves as new characters, but they are still very familiar. The issue of race is now addressed with today's political correctness, but escalates quickly into an aggressive situation. The house, which has by now fallen into disrepair, has an air of sentimentality to it, as do the characters as they are, it is revealed, related to the original occupants.

Christina Smith has done an outstanding job on set design. The interior of the house is grand and sweeping, with a large staircase and soft pastels complimenting plenty of timber. An old radio plays lilting fifties music an antique telephone ads the final touch. At intermission, the entire stage rotates to show the house as it is in 2009: damaged and unloved but still standing strong. Smith has also created an exceptional effect with her use of costumes; every last item of clothing or jewellery speaks volumes about the characters' personality and personal history.

A superb director, Peter Evans has done an incredible interpretation of Bruce Norris' play. Norris is known for his controversial contemporary work, and though Clybourne Park is no exception, it has gone above and beyond in its theatrical achievements. Grippingly powerful, it tackles many issues and explores their continuity from the fifties to the present day. Norris touches on the issue of gender and the role of the wife versus the role of the husband, a topic that is vociferously juxtaposed between the two time periods. Race is an obvious issue, but it is explored implicitly as well as explicitly. The issue of still birth is touched on as well as the shame of suicide and the psychological trauma of soldiers and families alike.

Hilarious, crushing and delightfully offensive, Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park runs at the Melbourne Theatre Company until October 26.

Corina Thorose