College Play - "Ruben Guthrie"
Confronting, thought-provoking drama
Ruben Guthrie is on the top of his game and drinks like it. He's 29 years of age, the creative director of an award-winning advertising agency, in love with a European supermodel ... What more can he ask for? But after one night where he goes too far and jumps from a hotel building with the belief he can fly, his girlfriend walks out on him and his mother forces him to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Ruben struggles with loneliness as he tackles his personal issues, reaching back to a troubled childhood.
Ruben Guthrie is a black comedy that delves into the contemporary issues of substance abuse, confused identity and lack of communication. The play was written in 2005 by Australian actor, director and screenwriter, Brendan Cowell. Cowell openly acknowledges that the play's inspiration comes from his own struggle with alcoholism.
The St Mark's College production was delivered with a remarkable fine balance between comedy and compassion. Director Nikita Oddy has pulled off a coup in terms of skilfully adapting and staging this personal, emotionally raw, yet hilarious piece of theatre.
Nic Conway, in the title role as Ruben, performed with a genuine approach to the issues at hand. The role of Ruben is definitely one of the more challenging ones in recent Australian theatre. Nic took on the role with great versatility and he very accurately conveys the depth of the struggle his character is engaged in.
Ruben is surrounded by a quirky mix of characters. His mother (Lizzie Arnold), an abandoned and insecure middle-aged mother, and his father (Jonathon Hamer), an inappropriate, alcoholic basket case, both attempt to coax him back to alcohol. Lizzie pulled off the mother role with great accuracy and fitting charm. Jonathon adds to the play an element of dark humour, delivering his lines with impeccable comic timing.
Rebecca Hahn was fantastic as Virginia, Ruben's AA sponsor and lover. She conveyed with perfect execution the airy-fairy, hippy, yet at the same time highly strung, all-round energy vampire. Zoya, Ruben's 19 year old Czech supermodel fiancée, is superbly acted by Harriet Schuyler, who expresses the dual elements of pain and pleasure in her disturbed relationship with Ruben with great authenticity.
Craig Gartley was simply brilliant as Ruben's pushy, long-term, gay friend Damien. Craig's performance elicited many laughs from the audience, with his engaging comedy as Damien. Mark Healy played Ruben's boss, Ray, and, despite having a smaller role, was able to make the audience shiver with his authentic portrayal of the selfish boss wanting to get Ruben back on the booze to restore his creative genius and thus sales revenues.
Supported by a terrific stage crew led by Esther Lang, Nikita Oddy has done an all-round fantastic job with Ruben Guthrie. The St Mark's production was simply a first rate piece of theatre. There were moments of laughter aplenty, in addition to, for some members of the audience, a few tears.
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