For many in the Perth theatre scene, Spring Awakening has been a highly anticipated production, with many performers passionate about the material.
The story centres on a group of young teenagers discovering their sexuality in a world where adults have led them to live rather sheltered lives. Covering themes of suicide, sexual violence and abuse viewer discretion is advised before attending.
Centred on Melchior (Joshua Hollander) and Wendla (Escher Roe), the pair navigate their budding feelings and the awkward first times that come with it. Roe – who also doubled as costumer – shows great naivety while Hollander brings a soft tenderness to his character that complement each other well. Together the pair work as a solid anchor for the performance. Direction from Taylor Broadley cleverly uses their arc as a mirror for the wider cohort who are all experiencing similar feelings.
Luca Daniel impresses as Moritz, the anxious classmate desperate to please his father – giving a very heartfelt performance in taking some strong themes. Ella McCaughey is the brooding and outcasted Ilse, another excellent casting with a fantastic voice, well suited to the show’s folk like style. Her performance of The Dark I Know Well, together with sister Marta (Ella Monaghan) was a highlight, both sung and performed excellently.
The real magic of this show is in the wider ensemble. Built up of actors who easily could, and have, lead productions themselves they all worked well together to flesh out the story and serve as the listening ears of the young school group. Personal standouts were Blair Price-Morgan as Georg who gave an incredible rendition of Touch Me and whose character provided great light in a very heavy show. Lukas Perez and Gab Sharra were also endearing as Ernst and Hanschen. Benn Austin, Tashlin Church and Abbey McCaughan worked overtime as the myriad of adults throughout the show, with Austin particularly showing great diversity between his many characters.
The music in this show is hauntingly beautiful. Led by Mathew Leak, the ensemble singing is flawless – with closing number ‘The Song of Purple Summer’ a memorable moment. Leak also leads a seamless orchestra, one of whom I was advised learnt the show in less than a day having to step in due to sudden illness but you wouldn’t have noticed at all. Unfortunately some sound imbalances often made it hard to hear soloists, which saw some exposition missed but you were still able to follow with context clues.
Jordan D’Arcy’s choreography is well thought out and executed by cast. Though it’s certainly not a dance show, the movement compliments the wider story well without impeding the critical moments, and makes great use of the multi level set (Craig Delbridge and Abbey McCaughan).
On the note of set, while clever use of levelling made it the stage feel spacious, there were a few scenes that felt quite compacted, especially at times where there were multiple different moments playing out simultaneously.
Admittedly, the ending fell a little flat for me. Without spoiling the story, I felt the final scene relied a little too much on audiences needing to use their imagination to piece plot points together and further set dressing (particularly to help indicate location) could have assisted in making this a more impactful moment. The final costume change was also a little jarring and removed me for the story despite being a vocal highlight.
With plenty of offerings in Perth theatre currently, I implore you to see this production. Having known very little about what to expect, I thoroughly enjoyed this show, a heart breaking yet beautiful story that is wonderfully executed by all involved.
To book tickets to Spring Awakening, please visit https://drpac.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/163791.
