After a show-stopping, highly successful 2023 season for NUTS, the theatrical group has kicked off its 2024 season with a memorable student-written show that will leave its mark.
Hell or High Water’s directors and writers, Divya Nandyal and Julian Kumar, demonstrate a thorough appreciation of pop culture-depicted pirates. From thrilling sword fights to entertaining dances, audiences are given a taste of the high-tide life that feels familiar yet fresh. Continuing with the trend of postmodern direction that has been present in recent NUTS shows, the show depicts piracy in a way that is understandable and accessible in this age. Furthermore, they do not shy away from including things that matter to the NUTS team, touching on themes of cultural diversity, and normalising the casual development and presence of queer relationships in a way that is primarily given to straight romances historically.
In the intimate, all-black setting of Studio One at the Esme Timbrey Creative Practice Lab, it’s a difficult feat to truly convince your audiences of the world created. However, the costumes and makeup handle this challenge. Larisa Cronin’s costumes bring the different groups to life through elemental consistency, colour coordination, and individuality for each character, making them feel unified and identifiable on stage. Green is used for the ship crew Hades and red for the privateers to boldly distinguish them against the dark backdrop, highlighting their presence on stage. Additionally, the spooky vibe of the living dead (half-alives) is accomplished with their dull, washed-out appearances and colour palette, juxtaposing starkly against the Hades crew and creating visual diversity. Abigail Pierce’s lifelike scar work on the cast is the pièce de résistance, definitively making the characters feel real. Cronin and Pierce have captivated audiences with their high-quality, detailed creations and helped physicalise the play with the simple power of materials.
Melinda Knight and Kristy Siauw’s sharp, rugged set pieces are also a gorgeous factor that helps to visualise the show, with the ship’s crow nest acting as the central piece that grounds the setting. The little details like a rope ladder and functional sail make the ship feel operational and tangible. Susannah Pretty’s contributions as props master undeniably elevate the set and use simple elements to give shape and vision to the malleable performance space.
The spectacular work from the lighting and sound crew — River Kim, Edward Joseph, Sasha Bilanovsky, and Henri Collyer — is what brings the production together. Time flows seamlessly with the colouring of the stage — including an utterly beautiful night sky effect — and the profound presence of soundscapes places the audience on the ship with the crew. The use of red lighting with slow-motion movements contrasting against the fast-paced choreography to signal death during the final battle and the occasional use of music to enhance the tensest of moments are two particularly standout elements.
Overall, it is clear that lead designer Elle Fitzgerald has facilitated these admirable, stunning contributions to the show to construct her clear, detailed image of a rough yet entertaining pirate’s world where united groups work day after day to navigate a dog-eats-dog society on their ships.
The individual and ensemble strength of this cast is a significant aspect that makes the show so functional. Plenty of familiar faces return in this cast, such as veteran performers Zoe Berg, Anastasia Dougenis and Caitlin Beckwith, and rising newcomers Jack Wormald, Pretty and Pierce. But we also have fresher faces that gel easily and effectively with this stellar cast, making the on-stage connections feel comfortably organic. Although there are plenty of humorous and exciting moments driven by strong acting, it is the more emotional moments that pack the biggest punch. Gemma Hudson’s overwhelm and despair over her abducted lover; Pretty and Patricia Chandra’s distraught outrage as piracy victims; Dougenis’ frustration as a burnt-out crew member; Wormald’s unexpected loss. These displays deviate deeply from what audiences are familiar with and give depth to many elements within the show. It takes audiences out of the fun every so often to give them a taste of the brutality and remorselessness of a pirate’s life.
Overall, Hell or High Water honours the capability theatre has of taking audiences to another world and containing a universe inside a room. It is a starkly impressive directorial and writer debut supported by both familiar and new performers who have given it their all. With dazzling production quality from all crew members across the board, the show feels truly loved and cared for. It is a testimony of the passion and love those involved have for theatre as a craft. Undeniably, this production marks what will be another fruitful, successful year for NUTS and continues to lay down a truly remarkable legacy within the society’s history.
If you missed out on your chance to see Hell or High Water, come along to see NUTS’ slot 2 production, Prickly Love, which will run in Studio One from the 9th to the 13th of April.
Lily Carter is a Secondary Education and Arts student, specialising in Theatre and English. From a young age, she has loved film, music and literature, and in her maturity has grown to love in-depth discussions about anything related to said mediums. You’ll often catch her writing her own fiction for hours on end in her spare time.
