Sunday, Sydney Theatre Company/Melbourne Theatre Company, Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House, 28 Oct-12 Dec

 

Anthony Weighs's play covers about thirty years of history between a mix of characters who were all associated with the titular Sunday Reed and the art commune she created in a rural property near Melbourne, and particularly focuses on her relationship with one of the artists, Sydney Nolan - though the non-linear storytelling goes back to her initial meeting with her eventual husband, John Reed, and forward to the final parting between her and Nolan. Sarah Goodes stages it on a mostly simple stage with a gap in the back where dates are projected, as artistic and personal passions become mixed and questions become raised about who's the true creator of the work, patron or artist. 

The story is very much focussed, as the title suggests, on Sunday - to the extent that some of the other famous accomplishments of those around her, in particular, her husband John - but it's a good chance to get focus on a figure who might otherwise be backgrounded in other versions - we get a strong sense of Sunday as an engaged, passionate fighter for her opinions and right to live her life how she likes. Nikki Shiels is magnetic and compelling, witty, powerful, and with an undercurrent of instability which means you're never sure just where she's going to turn next. Around her everyone else is a bit of a bit-player - James O'Connell fares best as Nolan, emerging from a hat factory to develop his own artistic style, his byplay with Sunday becomes more sensual as the story develops until he finds the need for his own independance. Matt Day as John is witty but shows the passion hiding under the surface. Ratidzo Mambo suffers the most as Joy, a character who largely exists to serve plot functions such as to represent the multiple other artists at Heide and to deliver a plot twist late in the play. Jude Hyland as the fifth member of the cast is there largely for the intro and to setup the story to come. 

Anna Cordingly's set design is all large grand brush strokes and fine details up until a finale coup de theatre, and Harriet Oxley's costumes capture the 30s-40s-50s dress sense exactly. It's a long play, covering all the histroy it does, and yet when you research after you feel like it's somehow an incomplete introduction to a very complex character, but it's compelling while it lasts.