Theatre / The Drawer Boy, by Michael Healey, directed by Zac Bridgman. At Belconnen Arts Centre, until August 30. Review by ALANNA MACLEAN.
Canadian play The Drawer Boy is a good find. On an imaginative but spare set by Chris Baldock, drawn images of cows and a farm frame the kitchen of a house with a few secrets.
Two ageing friends, World War II veterans, live there. The dour Morgan (Richard Manning) takes care of Angus (Chris Baldock) who suffered a wartime head injury. Now it is 1972 and Miles (Callum Doherty) a young aspiring theatrical, knocks on the door, wanting to find out all about farming so he can turn it into a theatre piece.
The script takes its time, gradually revealing stories and developing characters. Miles, all bounce and 1970s curls, is daunted but not put off by farming life and stories of tragic love and wartime experiences, all of which he keeps notes on.
Manning’s Morgan is gruffly carrying the burden of the past and of lost loves and of the farm but he lets the inquisitive Miles stay, making the city boy work his way.
Baldock’s Angus is in a wonderful struggle with his injury. It’s the idealistic and poetic Miles who brings him out of himself and causes the deeper truths to come out.
It’s not a story that needs its ending revealed. It’s enough to say that there are excellent performances all round of what turns out to be an absorbing tale of loss and love.
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