James Wardlaw’s performance in The Fever at La Mama is a driven monologue that left me feeling terribly feverish myself.
Sitting in the front row of La Mama Carlton facing a stark white stage I felt the full force of this relentless almost 2-hour denunciation admonishing the values of middle class society and the random unsettling eyeball to eyeball connection the actor made with me and other audience members, uncomfortably dragging us directly into the dilemma many of us own.
Almost 2 hours of non-stop demanding, relentless, evocative tearing down of the ideals of our elite Western, market riven ‘democracy’, of our righteous self-belief in the right to rule, abuse, disenfranchise the lesser within personal reach.
Director Tom Healy 25 odds years after Wallace Shawn wrote and performed The Fever draws the plays relevance to our current society that is brimming with more parasites than we can count and reflects on us the bitter deception and pain we cause through self-indulgence and greed.
Written by Wallace Shawn
Performed by James Wardlaw
Directed by Tom Healey
Set design by Dagmara Gieysztor
Lighting design by Bronwyn Pringle
Stage Manager: Jess Keepence
Image by Dagmara Gieysztor
February 22 – March 5
Wed 6.30 | Thur – Sat 7.30pm | Sun 4pm
Approximately 90 minutes
La Mama Theatre
205 Faraday Street, Carlton
$25 Full | $15 Concession
Available via www.lamama.com.au or 9347 6142
