David Lynch, Diana McLean and Eloise Snape in AIR. Photo: Mansoor Noor
There is so much to like about this new Australian play. Written by Joanna Erskine and performed at the artist-run Old 505 with a great ensemble cast, it is full of life, occasionally laugh-out-loud hilarious, and all about death!
Ultimately, it’s how different people deal with grief, but AIR takes its time to tell Annabel’s story and it’s a twisting, turning story, full of surprises that keep the audience engaged. The direction (Anthony Skuse) is crisp, the set design (Kelsey Lee) makes good use of the small space and, another thing to like is the number of women who are part of the cast and crew of this production. (Nothing against the men, you understand, just that it makes a pleasant change.)
Diana McLean and Eloise Snape in AIR. Photo: Mansoor Noor
Annabel (Eloise Snape) works the graveyard shift at a community radio station, aptly named 2RIP, and she spends the night reverentially reading that day’s death notices. The studio is almost as quiet and dark as a grave and the last thing Annabel expects, or wants, is a phone caller disturbing her own melancholy. Estranged from her family after her father’s death, Annabel just wants to be left alone but the pesky caller persists and sets up an example for other lonely souls to follow.
Among them is nerdy Johh Dean (Tel Benjamin) who wants to talk about his own dead father; feisty Mabel (Diana McLean), who isn’t exactly lamenting her freshly dead spouse of many years; and Kevin (David Lynch), whose reasons for contacting Annabel are far more complex.
Either way, the dead don’t seem to want to lie down and die; they, or their survivors, want to talk to Annabel at Radio 2RIP. So too, does Susan (Suzanne Pereira), Annabel’s estranged sister, who wants to affect a family reconciliation before it’s too late.
Almost imperceptibly, the stakes get higher as the play progresses. Somehow, without ever belittling the heartfelt themes Erskine is writing about – as she says in the program, ‘We all have grief. And we all will grieve. And we will all be grieved’ – humour, empathy and hope keep it buoyant and fresh.
To say more will be to give too much away but here’s one little question that might intrigue you: What did happen to Mabel’s Bobby? Is he buried under her husband’s tomato patch? (You’ll have to see AIR to find out!)
AIR is at the Old 505 Theatre, Eliza Street, Newtown until 30 June.
