Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Oct 27 – Nov 11, 2023
Playwright: Stephen Sewell
Director: Kim Hardwick
Cast: Annie Byron, Helen O’Connor, Louisa Panucci, Noel Hodda
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Theatre review
Eve is as terrible a wife as she is a psychoanalyst, yet has strangely been able to maintain both a marriage and a career for decades. Stephen Sewell’s The Lives of Eve is deeply mercurial and academic, inspired heavily by the work of psychiatrist Jacques Lacan (1901-1981). The characters are fanciful, never actually authentic in their manifestations, with narratives that struggle to resonate. Sewell’s real interest however is in Lacan’s writing, which he attempts to recontextualize and expound. For those unfamiliar with that obscure domain, there is a four-and-a-half-thousand word document in the foyer to help one prepare for the show.
Direction by Kim Hardwick tries to introduce a sense of believability, especially in more pedestrian scenes, during which Eve is seen to be fighting alternately, with her patient and her husband. Depictions of Eve’s dysfunctions are persuasive, although coming to an understanding of her problems seems to require enthusiasm for and prior familiarity with the Lacan material, which is probably too arduous a proposition for most.
Atmosphere for the production however is calibrated beautifully. Hannah Yardley’s set design delivers a dose of surrealism, with an abundance of crimson Persian style rugs enveloping surfaces of the performance space. Lights by Martin Kinnane introduce nuance and intensity, as do sounds by Jessica Pizzinga, both intricately and sensitively rendered, to communicate with accuracy the increasingly passionate temperaments being explored.
Actor Helen O’Connor is convincing with her submergence into the immensely cerebral qualities of the titular role. We may not always comprehend what she is tasked to convey, but Eve certainly appears to be enthralled by her various crises. Other cast members are understandably less assured, considering the often bizarre ways their characters are made to speak and act.
Not every work of theatre is meant for everyone. Art should always encourage idiosyncrasy, particularity and peculiarity. The Lives of Eve emerges from somewhere that seems detached from many contemporary realities, thus reflecting our artistic landscape’s admirable capacity for diversity. Art that does not do enough to connect however, could have a fraught relationship with its audience, or worse, one characterised only by apathy and nonchalance.
Suzy Goes See 