Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company has opened the WA premiere of Jada Albert‘s 2014 debut play Brothers Wreck. An intimate family drama that tackles trauma head-on, Brothers Wreck is directed by Yirra Yaakin Artistic Director Maitland Schnaars, and features a solid ensemble cast of both familiar faces and up-and-comers.
Brothers Wreck tells the story of a Darwin family who suffers multiple losses but who ultimately pulls together to find hope and grow stronger. The opening scene begins with a confronting revelation that triggers a deep trauma response in the show’s central character Ruben. The play’s events unfold around his trauma response to his cousin’s death and chronicle the family’s efforts to bring him away from self-destruction towards healing and connection.
Portraying that central character is the truly gifted young actor Tyren (Tre) Maclou. Maclou gives an extraordinary performance, especially in the show’s climax with a masterfully delivered monologue. He digs deep to imbue Alberts’ words with visceral, truthful emotion and leaves everything, including his tears, on the stage. Somehow he gathers himself together enough to help with the scene change that comes immediately after his catharsis.
Maclou is without a doubt a shining star on the rise, but here he’s grounded by his stage family which includes Della Rae Morrison as Ruben’s aunt Petra, Jessie Ward as his sister Adele, Mark Nannup as his sister’s partner Jarrod, and Rubeun Yorkshire as his counsellor David. The ensemble shared a visibly genuine connection, most notably when Nannup shared the stage with Maclou and Ward – Nannup seems to bring out the best in his scene partners. Yorkshire’s involvement in the production extended to fight choreographer, which was deftly executed. A few scenes would have benefitted from a tightening of the pace to keep the show’s momentum rolling steadily, but it was clear that Schnaars’s intent was to give his actors the space to connect with the sometimes painful, but always poetic and image-filled text.
Sometimes the staging and some directing choices worked against the text, such as during the scenes between Yorkshire and Maclou; Maclou seems to have been directed to deliver lines to the front while Yorkshire delivered his lines towards Maclou, forcing a disconnect in their relationship. Ostensibly this was meant to be symbolic but it actually created confusion in the viewer as to whether the characters were actually in the same scene together or not. The downstage table tended to visually upstage the upstage scenes, and the actors seemed to occasionally lose their bearings as they traveled around it.
The choice to create the optical illusion of a tilted, skewed set also felt a bit thematically forced and perhaps somewhat too static and inflexible. The Subiaco Arts Centre stage presents unique design challenges for every production, as the creative team has to deal with a not-quite 3/4 round, not-quite thrust, not-quite proscenium space. Here, these challenges weren’t fully resolved, but in the end, the success of this show lies in the truth of Alberts’ words and the actors’ way of living them truthfully on stage.
CICELY BINFORD
Brothers Wreck runs until 20 July 2024 at Subiaco Arts Centre. For tickets and more information visit here.
