Orphans

Company: Red Stitch
Venue: Red Stitch Actors Theatre, St Kilda, Melbourne
Dates: to 5 November 2011

Written in 2009 by English playwright Dennis Kelly, Orphans is a confronting story of a cataclysmic night in a suburban household. It has played across the United Kingdom for two years and now, under the direction of Imara Savage, it has come to Melbourne for an intense season at Red Stitch Theatre.

As always, Red Stitch has done an amazing job on their tiny set. Peter Mumford has constructed a stage that works as the living/dining area of a middle class couple's house. Every last detail is in place; the soft couch, the ultra modern lamp, the pristine glass dining table. The people in this house are clearly trendy, but the potential warmth of this scene is tarnished by what is about to happen. When the first act opens, a dark figure stands forbiddingly behind the couple enjoying a meal together. This figure is Liam (Paul Ashcroft), covered head to toe in blood. His sister Helen (Erin Dewar) is seated at the table with her husband Danny (Philip Hayden) and they stare at him in horror as he dazedly tries to explain how he came to be in this state.

Liam's tale is dramatic, but he tells it from the point of view of the hero. He stumbled upon a man in the street who was injured and tried to help him. The victim, severely beaten and repeatedly stabbed, fled from him, assuming him to be an attacker. Danny and Helen question Liam, whose hysteria renders him incoherent at times as he tries to get a grip on what he has just witnessed.

As the plot thickens, however, we learn more about Liam's instability and his tragic history of violence. Orphaned as children, Helen and Liam were brought up in foster care, with only their love for each other seeing them through. Helen's protectiveness of her brother is overwhelming and stems from immense guilt. It flies on the face of his crimes as she fights any opponent that threatens him, irrespective of his indiscretions.

Dennis Kelly has created something that is twisted and confrontational. Orphans employs dark humour and dire consequences to explore the ties of family and what human beings are really capable of when somebody they love is in danger. The best part of Orphans is not just its severe social commentary or its lessons, it is that it is frightening.

Paul Ashcroft is outstanding as Liam, a man so haunted by his inner demons, he becomes a monstrously nefarious version of himself; someone he cannot control, no matter how hard he tries. His love for his family is unquestionable, but he continues to place them and himself in harms way as he staggers through the nightmare that his life has become.

Erin Dewar is wonderful as the neurotic and controlling Helen, the big sister who has been more of a mother her whole life, shouldering the burden of her brother's unpredictable nature and becoming a resentful adult long before her time. The only problem with this is that Dewar lets herself down with an inconsistent accent, dropping in and out of English and going back to her Australian twang. This doesn't prevent her from embodying Helen, however, who is every bit as manipulative as her brother, just more subtly so.

And then there is Danny. Philip Hayden is loveable and sweet as the man who married into a family with much more baggage than he could have ever anticipated. He is the voice of reason as he tries to rationalise his decision to involve the authorities, despite the fact that his wife pressures him to keep silent for her sake. The question she throws at him rings in the air and neatly summarises the point of the play: “Can you please decide how much your family means to you?”

A horribly confronting and frighteningly accurate portrayal of Britain's current social climate, Orphans is as scary as it is poignant.

Corina Thorose