KEY POINTS:
There can be no doubting the ambition behind Penumbra - with 40 characters, dozens of scene changes, two intervals and an epic inter-generational saga that swoops across continents and through time zones. The publicity notes invite comparison with the seminal theatrical experiments of Robert Lepage.
Unfortunately the gap between the vision and the reality is large enough to accommodate the phantom train that haunts the set of this sprawling story.
Many of the problems stem from regrettable programming decisions. It is easy to see that the show was a valuable exercise for the drama students who helped to create it, and if it were pared down for presentation in an intimate studio space it might have been a moving theatrical experience.
But the cavernous SkyCity Theatre swallows up many of the play's visual devices and the improvised material seldom approaches the standard expected of a headline work at an international arts festival.
The story begins on an upbeat note with the development of a cross-cultural friendship between a pair of young air hostesses played with infectious enthusiasm by Jessie Alsop and Katlyn Wong.
It switches to a Wairarapa farmhouse where Madeline McNamara delivers a convincing portrayal of a 1950s housewife. Her encounters with the Queen have a surreal quality, though the effect is spoilt when the Queen is given a voice like a goose with a Chinese accent.
The play's problems are exemplified by its treatment of the Bastion Point occupation. These scenes are narrated with a bland news story emanating from a transistor radio. The drama is distilled into a romance between an idealistic Pakeha student and Maori chippie. It is a promising device, but the relationship cuts straight to the post-coital moment before disintegrating when the chippie returns to his marae while the Pakeha remains true to the cause.
For the eviction scene we return to the transistor. A group of protesters sing a waiata which is drowned out by police loud-hailers, and the climactic image is a Powerpoint slide that provides statistical information on the ethnicity of those arrested. It is difficult to conceive of a less imaginative way of presenting events that are so rich in dramatic potential.
However, the design team has created a stylish setting and the large cast all deliver strong performances. Sam Selliman provides a comic highlight with her bold and brassy seduction of a laconic taxi driver.
