Making light of and shining light on human tragedy is an equation that this play displays in raw swages.
I must congratulate La Mama for partnering with Alliance de Francaise, such an awesome space in the cellars in the Alliance’s Grey Street St Kilda mansion. It is such a hive of art and culture and the use of this space for theatre and performance art is genius.
The background story to this play is a true story focusing on the deaths of Robert’s parents and police and the very personal insight into the relationship he had with one of the victims of his reign of terror.
It is the story of a serial killer who somehow speaks to us all about the human condition in a terribly non-flattering way.
Ben Schumann’s portrayal of Zucco was chilling, yet so humorous, he reminded me very much of a young Malcolm MacDowell and Robert De Niro and the whole drama unfolds in a dungeon like space surrounded by the audience, an experience you must have, so real, so violent and so sad.
Such a different theatre experience for me, and there was a raffle…La Mama are such a special bunch of creatives.
‘Killers never do look like killers. Killers go for quiet little
strolls in the crowd just like you and me..’
It was a thrilling show that had me spellbound, the action was unrelenting and the use of scene introductions added that almost painful sense of suspense as to when this story will resolve.
Spatial designer Efterpi Soropos had the Alliance cellar moodily lit and created such a believable effect on the changing each scene’s apparent set.
Robert was an escape artist from the asylums, prisons and consciousness of anything we think normal, something happened to him and out came a narcissistic, self-absorbed psycho killer. Scarily real, Schumann thrashed his character out in raw bloody insanity.
The final scenes are exquisitely directed, but from scene one you didn’t know what was going to happen next and there were 15 scenes set to explain this tragic life – a microscope and reflection on the dysfunction within our society.
There were so many flawless performances from the cast and many taking on several roles, Elizabeth Thomson, her portrayal of a wealthy mother with a brat child, entranced yet comically demeaning and I found that when Zucco shot her child there was a disconnect.
Although I laughed very loudly with the actors in one scene and there were many humorous moments during the play I found some moments where things became a little uncomfortable, very dark humour that occasionally just missed the mark. I’d like to see this again towards the end of the season to see how the ensemble settle into this difficult plot.
Emina Ashman plays the cherished youngest sister in a dysfunctional family, who falls into Robert’s dangerous charm. Her family’s obsessiveness about her being special is well played out by surly father Matthew Molony, her nagging sister, Belinda Misevski (who also plays as one of 3 prostitutes in a scene with Alice Bishop and Elizabeth Thomson) and over enthusiastic brother, David Kambouris, also as a ‘comically’ bearded mother of the young girl drive her towards Robert Zucco for a tragic result.
Written by Bernard-Marie Kolte’s
Translated by Martin Crimp
Directed by Alice Bishop
Performed by Emina Ashman, Alice Bishop, Michael F. Cahill,
David Kambouris, Belinda Misevski, Matthew Molony,
Elizabeth Thomson and Ben Schumann
Spatial design by Efterpi Soropos
Roberto Zucco continues its season at Alliance Française, 51 Grey Street, St Kilda until November 13th.
Show starts at 7:30pm
Information and Bookings: www.lamama.com.au
Inspired by the true-life story of Italian serial killer, Koltès’ comic brutal masterpiece was his last play, written in 1989. Koltès is a playwright of rare genius who alleviates the bleakness of the human condition with humour and tenderness but never shies away from truth-telling. The translation is by well-known British playwright Martin Crimp who has become almost as famous for his excellent translations of French plays as he is for his own original work, which is regularly performed on British stages and
around the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Succo
