ajhlovestheatre

THE BLEEDING TREE

by Angus Cerini

directed by Sophie Drake

Southwark Playhouse Borough, London – until 22 June 2024

https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/the-bleeding-tree/

Poetic beauty and unmitigated revulsion coexist in this remarkable 2015 Australian play, receiving its British premiere in an abstract, note-perfect production by Sophie Drake. A trio of fine actresses (Mariah Gale, Elizabeth Dulau, Alexandra Jensen) play a mother and two daughters who take the ultimate revenge on the drunk, abusive patriarch that makes their home life a domestic hell.

It’s not a particularly original premise but it’s the raw, bare bones that fuels classical tragedy, and the execution -a tantalising combination of revenge thriller, verse play and female empowerment at its most extreme- makes it horribly, compulsively watchable. Angus Cerini’s writing sometimes feels hemmed-in by his decision to have the women speak in verse, but for the most part is vivid and compelling. It runs for a mere hour but that is all we need, and possibly all we can take.

The acting is unflinching and truthful. Southwark’s smallest auditorium doesn’t allow for much in the way of artifice, and there is a ruthlessness yet also a grace about the work of Gale, Dulau and Jensen that takes the breath away. Gale and Dulau are particularly impressive with simplicity and detail at morphing into the men who intrude on the story, the latter excelling as the rural policeman who discovers the women’s crime, and whose reaction comes as a bit of a surprise. There’s a grim satisfaction in the fact that the last living being to come into contact with the bodily remains of the appalling man whose demise lights the touch-paper on the whole drama, is the canine parent of a litter of puppies this human monster kicked to death….and of course she’s female.

Every ounce of horror (be warned that the descriptions of a decomposing human body are extremely graphic) and dark humour is extracted from Cerini’s text, and the overall impression created by Drake’s staging is that we are watching a sort of dark ritual as much as a piece of storytelling. The oppressive, dusty heat of rural Australia is powerfully evoked, as is the sense of elemental fury that is unleashed when women are pushed to breaking point.

Iskandar R Sharazuddin’s movement direction is an important component to the general air of sweaty threat: note the way all three women flinch simultaneously as a violent noise ricochets through the auditorium (outstanding sound and composition by Asaf Zohar). Jasmine Swan’s design, redolent of earth and blood, feels exactly right, and is moodily lit by Ali Hunter.

The Bleeding Tree is strong stuff: brutal, essential, and highly theatrical. It’s a feast of terrific acting, intelligent production choices, bold writing and female-driven righteous rage. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but if you go you’ll probably be processing it long after it’s over.