‘Two Weeks’ by Siobhan Doran-Chaston made its Wollongong debut at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre last night. As part of the MerrigongX Program, where artists and creatives are encouraged and supported to develop their craft for the stage, ‘Two Weeks’ is a deeply intimate and inviting experience for everyone trying to figure out how to live and grow in this world.
Set across a period of two weeks, the audience is invited into the home of a young couple as they live out the good, the bad, the mundane and everything else in between. It took me a moment to place what the countdown was for in the background, which I feel a little silly admitting in public, but I was so focused on the actors that I couldn’t tell at first whether it was counting up or down. There were so many different elements collaborating to bring this story to life. The countdown across the back, the frame over the fridge dictating when a different day was starting or ending, as well as portraying medical charts and tests, and the seemingly never-ending amount of props kept out of view until they pierced what could’ve been overwhelmingly heavy moments. The audience was in stitches over the intermittent Facebook doomscrolling projected onto the big screen, and the use of both characters phone screens and messages was so incredibly clever. It had us believing one thing and drawing conclusions all the way until the end.
If you’ve read some of my work, you’d know that I’m very big on staging and sets, as I am a firm believer that a set can make or break a performance. This set was so well done. It was messy in all the right places and homey in all the others. The duality of it being a living room, a kitchen, a doctor’s office and an airport all without moving any furniture and yet being so believably immersive is just outstanding.
I have to commend both Jess Spies and Nathan Langworthy for delivering such authentic performances. I was sitting close enough that I could see every expression and little glance, which was so odd to see in the theatre as it’s typically an over-exaggerated setting to ensure that even the people the furthest away are still able to follow along. I don’t know whether those moments were conscious decisions or just how it happened in the moment, but it made me feel like I was watching a movie that was clawing out of the screen and coming close enough to for me to touch, which is so rare in the theatre, especially when there’s only two people on the stage. It was so authentic and it really did feel like we were just watching two people trying to figure out how to live life in amongst all the outside pressures and the garbage that comes with chronic illness and capitalism.
Grief is never easy to portray as it looks and feels different to everyone, but I adored the conversations and the theories around where people go after they die. It was so sweet and light-hearted whilst still projecting the undercurrent of sadness and loss. I just love the dynamics of this show, and I truly believe this will go on to tour and be well-loved and well-received all over the country and the world if they wanted it to.
Well done guys. I am utterly unravelled by you.
‘Two Weeks’ is only at the IPAC for two more shows and is part of MerrigongX’s Pay What You Feel experiences, so make sure to reserve your seat ASAP at https://merrigong.com.au/shows/two-weeks/
To book tickets to Two Weeks, please visit https://merrigong.com.au/shows/two-weeks/.
Photographer: Tracey Leigh Images
