As a true friend of the show, dear reader, you well know that we of Scoop Central delight as much in unearthing raw talent as we do in grooving among the great. And this month in Newtown, there will be lashings of both as the New Theatre hosts Light the Torch Productions’ uncompromising take on Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind.
Unbeknownst to director Johann Walraven, this newshound had the secret pleasure of sitting next to him throughout the entire emotional cataclysm his cast have made of Shepard’s polite scream of a play.
Walraven clasped his hands and suffered through every hammerblow delivered by the playwright and an audacious cast of graduates from Actors Centre Australia.
And the hammerblows certainly come on thick and fast in this American allegory of the mid-80s, and really only accelerate through the back end of a near two hours of desperate humanity and sublime bluegrass.
I’m no devout follower of Sam Shepard, pretty much since he was perversely miscast in the wildly inappropriate and absurdly obvious Homo Faber (Voyager in English), where director Volker Schlöndorff has Shepard sail around the world in a three-piece suit, endlessly shagging Julie Delpy, who also turns out to be his daughter.
Fortunately, A Lie of the Mind skirts the incest, but revels in the violent juices of two aimless, high country American families with intertwined fates and a shared history of cruelty.
Opening with a pathetic ferocity that only metastasises and spreads through the remainder of the poverty stricken Murphy’s and the Montana-bound Miller’s, Walraven’s cast sets the language on fire before soothing into each scene with some really quite gorgeous harmonies.
A Lie of the Mind demands an avalanche of choices from its characters, its audience and particularly its director.
Terrible things happen slowly. Slow enough to demand a response from all the apathetic bystanders.
The original off-Broadway production, directed by Shepard himself and with no less than Harvey Kietel, Jessica Lange and Aidan Quinn kicking about, provides an older lens with which to view – aghast – at the American condition of today.
As Walraven says, “It’s such a powerful piece of writing, and has a great story arc for all characters, which is why I eventually chose it.”
“It’s particularly timely viewing America from afar in today’s current climate of obfuscation and deceit, blatant lies and untruths, and even non-cognisant self-delusion. We see that in the macro on our phones and TVs, and this play presents the same theme in the micro – in the context of the breakdown of the familial dynamic.”
And somehow, despite all the wretchedness, A Lie of the Mind is also painfully funny.
Intensely sympathetic performances abound from a young cast. Ticking all the boxes, from accurate American accents to convincingly ageless white trash, the eight performers share a near full album of folk music, making each transition a pleasure.
Lily MacNevin brings it for the brutalised Beth. Both Murphy brothers, played by Finn Couzner and Amos Walker, are savage and infantile. The entire ensemble clicks and crackles with energy and charisma. I’m loath to call anyone out, but Indiana Jamie’s impossible bitchface of a mother will likely be hardest to forget.
A Lie Of The Mind is presented by Light The Torch Productions in association with New Theatre. It runs to 24 January at New Theatre, 542 King Street Newtown NSW 2081.
Tickets are available here.
Website: https://newtheatre.org.au/a-lie-of-the-mind/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/lightthetorchproductions/
Photo credits: Josh Merten
