Theatre in Preview  

Hold the Berocca, this play is like a blurry boozy night out on the town but without the killer hangover. ‘Rabbit’, directed by Daniel Evans, written by Nina Raine and starring Amy Ingram as Bella, can be described as a one-night stand without the threat of a sexually transmitted disease, a trashy photograph that won’t be tagged on Facebook and an epiphany without the need for hallucinogenics or a trip to India. Basically, this play could reveal the meaning of your life, in the space of two hours, without any nasty side effects.

Dan Evans, local theatre-maker, performance teacher, resident comedian at Metro Arts and all round  fast talker, is at the helm of this production that is being staged mid July. He is also one of the busiest boys in Brisbane, having completed various works already this year with more in the pipeline. “Phew! I’m just coming out of ‘FreeRange’ at Metro Arts and then obviously I’ve got ‘Rabbit’ next and then was in Melbourne for another piece I’m working on. You know when it rains it pours, and when it doesn’t – it’s an effing drought! So you say to yourself ‘ I’ve got to push myself because these opportunities won’t come again.’” Aside from being a slave to the arts and traveling the globe for his craft, Dan has managed to stay in one place long enough to produce a fine piece of theatre, ‘Rabbit’ is funny with an acidic edge and witty with a side of wisdom.

Speaking of existential crises, Dan segues into the ‘Rabbit’ spiel. “It’s funny that you mention your dilemma because that’s kinda where Bella (the central character) finds herself. She is turning 29 and next year she will be 30. So there is that conundrum of arriving at the end of your twenties like a return of sorts. You’ve finished the university degree and now you should be working and a fully functioning human being. Instead we find Bella at the end of her twenties and the realization that party for her has to end.  She has been pushing herself so hard and so fast through her twenties and had daisy chain relationships, some sexual, some genuine love and now wakes up on her 29th birthday and needs to change.

“She has been a huge partier and so decides to invite all her friends, who don’t know each other because she’s kept them at a distance and separate from one another, saying, ‘let’s have a party, let’s go down to this bar and get completely shitfaced.’”

The drama unfolds over the night, the play being performed mostly in real time so you will live with these characters for two hours and feel the agony and ecstasy of getting older and knowing a deathly hangover is looming. Dan paints the picture quite succinctly, “As you’re watching, you begin to get to know Bella and her friends and find out that they are quite ugly people and in getting to know all their faults, you as the audience, are going to discover their Achilles heels.” Add to this, tension and drama because Bella is hiding a massive secret from all her friends and at the same time, trying desperately hard to keep it all together. Dan explains the result, “By the end of the night she has to learn to accept responsibility and realize that she does actually have to grow up. The twenties where she just went out and got drunk, had casual relationships and was reckless with people’s feelings – that has to stop.”

If it’s all sounding too close to home, then this play is the tonic you need. Dan speaks so passionately, it is clear that as a director, he is a knowledgeable about the problems facing Gen Y and the pressures felt to achieve everything, all at once, right now. “We are all so gung-ho. We go to school, we travel, we go to university, we get the PhD; it’s like we’re all delaying growing up. It’s a Peter Pan/ Lost Boys/ Wendy syndrome. This play is like Bella growing up and leaving Neverland finally. She does have to sail away and have to grow up.”
The timing of a theatre production can often impact its success but Dan is confident that Brisbane is ready for ‘Rabbit’. “At the moment in theatre there are a lot of serious heavy productions, surreal works and ‘Rabbit’ is arriving in Brisbane on stages when people are ready for a bit of a laugh, a laugh with a bit of a nice jab as well. The beauty of Nina’s writing is that it’s so bitchy and it’s so mean, it’s a comedy of errors melded with theatre of cruelty and it really slaps you. But everything is said with a smile and there is no holding back, not at all.”

 â€˜Rabbit’ is staged at Metro Arts Theatre from July 12-28.