AK09 review: Back Story - The Ensemble Project

Rachel Foreman and Natalie Medlock. Photo / Supplied

Back Story is a high energy devised work that takes the pulse of the city with improvisations around material that was collected by asking randomly selected citizens to provide a story for a play.

It is an intriguing process that has produced tales of anxiety, loneliness, frustration and yearning.

The characterisations are all easily recognisable stereotypes, but the interview technique has given each role the quirkiness of a particular individual.

Sam Snedden establishes a strong presence as an earnest maths nerd searching for the formula of love and effectively switches into an amiable Countdown manager trying to break off an unfulfilling partnership.

Fern Sutherland engagingly carries off the role of a shy librarian reluctantly drawn into a cute romance with an intense young man. Dan Musgrove provides a humorous injection of Pirandello-inspired madness as a gobsmacked actor who repeatedly finds himself waking up inside a play without knowing what part he is playing.

Johnny Bright shows a nice line in deadpan humour as an anonymous office worker who runs a Sharon O'Neill fan club, and Rachel Forman gives a convincing portrait of a neurotic mother trying to resurrect an atrophied marriage.

Two of the stronger characters were well beyond the age group of the cast and the actors were forced to rely on heavily accented mannerisms that often seemed artificial.

Nevertheless, Natalie Medlock delivered a fascinating study of a crotchety old businessman trying to come to terms with his godson's suicide and record collection while Bree Peters gave a moving account of an elderly Samoan immigrant who is tormented by losing his ability to hear God.

Spinning the material together into a coherent story is a tall order that has been accomplished by splicing the disparate fragments in an anarchic collage that includes 80s pop songs, mathematical equations, snippets from classic movies, television game shows and existential philosophy.

The whole shebang is tied together with a dose of String Theory, nicely illustrated with a ball of string that entangles the actors and the audience.