Is God Is, Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company, Wharf 1 Theatre, 15 Sept-21 October

 

"Is God Is" is a modern revenge tale, as two twin sisters, both scarred by the past, are reunited with their mother and sent off by her on a revenge mission against the man who hurt all of them. But revenge, as always, has a way of rebounding against those who practice it....

This is a show where I like the idea of more than the execution. I usually enjoy reading the dense plots of Jacobean playwrights and their revenge tragedies, full of grim doings and unspeakable actions. But somehow this never quite connected to me - despite the strength of the two sisters, played wonderfully by Henrietta Enyonam Amevor and Clare Chihambakwe, who are at the centre of the narrative. It may be the early scene with the mother, which looks beautiful and has a fine religious image, but keeps that image too long and ends up feeling like very static exposition. Perhaps it's that the violence in the play isn't staged with precision so it ends up feeling too safe and comfortable (it's a challenge to stage violence that is safe for the performers but looks risky to the actors, but it's a challenge that has to be met if you're going to sell stage violence effectively).

Whatever it is, it's a production that ultimately doesn't connect across the footlights to me, and as such it's a missed opportunity. Somehow the team of Zindzi Okenyo and Shari Sebbens, so good when staging "Seven Ways of Killing Kylie Jenner" a year ago, haven't nailed this one as well - whether it's limitations in staging a production at the Sydney Theatre company compared to the Darlinghurst Theatre Company or challenges in staging something far more in-your-face in its presentation, this didn't quite come off as the great revenge tale it was seeking to be.