Review: A Desire To Die With Dignity Drives A Family To Deal With Their Ruptured Relationships in CRUNCH TIME.

Wednesday 19th February 2020, 8:15pm, Ensemble Theatre

David Williamson rounds out over half a century of putting Australian stories stage with his final work, CRUNCH TIME. Directed by Ensemble Theatre's Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry, the political issue of assisted suicide laws are placed in the spotlight with a backdrop of the trauma of past parenting styles and fractured families.

As with a number of Williamson's other works, including the penultimate FAMILY VALUES playing across the harbour at SBW Stables, CRUNCH TIME looks at the lives of an upper middle class family finally forced to face their broken relationships, this time because the patriarch is terminally ill and wishes to manage his death on his own terms. In his heyday, Steve (John Wood) built a successful engineering company but the cost was his relationship with his family. He was a man of his generation to a large degree, expecting boys to like sports, and did not know how to deal with a son with whom he shared little in common with aside from the inability to read emotion and temper their impulsive habit of being brutally honest, regardless of the effect on the recipient. This has ultimately led to a deep rift between father and eldest son, the socially inept but incredibly smart Luke (Guy Edmonds) and it comes down to the women of the family, mother Helen (Diane Craig) and sister-in-law Susy (Megan Drury), who set the wheels in motion for father and son to meet before it is too late.

While the work spans a number of years and multiple places, expressing the lead up to the situation where grandparents have never seen their grandchildren and the journey to Steve's final moments, set and costume designer Lauren Peters has chosen to keep the focus of the work as Steve and Helen's well appointed comfortable home. Kilmurry presents the other scenes predominantly forward of the living room space and Williamson's text is sound enough to make these location and time changes clear. The costume design draws on contemporary fashions with a good expression of Luke's transition from dorky nerd in high waisted baggy "dad jeans", outdated digital watch and terrible haircut to stylish modern man after a makeover from his more popular brother. The quibble with costuming comes from the selection of dress for Luke's gold digger wife Lauren (Emma Palmer) who's body-con dress is ill fitting and cheap, a choice that is incongruous with Luke and Lauren's income. For someone that is still on the hunt to 'trade up' it is understandable that she'd show off her assets but it would be presented with a better cut of dress.

While Williamson's FAMILY VALUES sees the mother have the fractured relationship with her children, CRUNCH TIME has the trauma of parents picking favourites shifted to the father figure and John Wood presents this portrayal well. He delivers a naturalness for the man that avoids emotion and engagement with the difficult things, including the firing of his son from the family firm. There is an arrogance as he asks incredible things of his family, blind to what it may mean for them. He presents a father who, whilst criticising his son for poor social skills, is even worse at judging other people's reactions to his words and actions leading to a standoff where it isn't completely clear that Steve is truely contrite but rather deciding now to try to appease his son with hollow words. Guy Edmond's expression of Luke captures the imbedded trauma that has been festering since youth as the now 40 something son failed to register his father's love. He captures an unwavering remembrance of events that prevent him from moving on from the past. As favoured son Jimmy, Matt Minto exudes the confidence of a one for whom things have always come easy, from friendships, the attention of the opposite sex and most importantly and his father's affection. He has a cockiness and an insensitivity that makes it believable that he'd happily orchestrate removal of his brother from the family business because he sees his intellect as a burden and also think that he can get away with affair after affair, charming his wife into forgiving him yet again.

Diane Craig presents mother and wife Helen as a steady force in the family but Williamson has her as a passive participant in the family politics as she doesn't pull Steve up on his behaviour till too late, allowing his selfishness to go unchecked. As Jimmy's wife Susy, Megan Drury delivers a good expression of a psychiatrist who doesn't know when to stop as she tries to open Steve eyes to the situation he has created but is met with resistance from the family, particularly her husband. Emma Palmer's presentation of Luke's wife ensures she is seen as a manipulative gold digger with no redeemable traits from the start which reinforces the 6 of Jimmy finally taking pity on his brother and sharing some of his 'secrets'.

While the catalyst for the family coming together revolves around Australian laws around assisted suicide which remains illegal for most states and territories apart from Victoria (from 2019) and Western Australian law to come into effect in 2021, the heart of CRUNCH TIME is shining a spotlight on the family dynamic that possibly prevailed in many middle class Australian households in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Whilst this work could potentially be tightened and removal of opening night nerves relax the work, it is a good relatable expression that will hopefully inspire families to open up and have discussions before it is too late.

https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/crunch-time/

Photos: Prudence Upton