A promising start never quite delivers in a play that has many sub plots but no obvious central idea. Summary
Rating
Ok
Siblings Josh and Keira (played by Elijah Lifton and Anoushka Cowan, who also take writing and production credits) are in Luxembourg to reconnect with their roots and spend time with their parents, although those roots are that their dad settled there for tax reasons. But when granddad is rushed to hospital, plans change and the pair are forced to spend more time together than they have likely done for many years, to confront all the home truths that have clearly laid dormant for some time.
Perhaps if 2.36 had stuck to being a story about how siblings cope when they are born into family money, along with the vastly different expectations and nurturing of sons and daughters, this could be a promising story. Instead, it feels as if at every turn something new is thrown into the mix and leaves us floundering around to decide quite what the show actually wants to be. Just as we are getting a steer on the pair’s fractious relationship, and how Josh’s whole upbringing has been about eventually taking over the family business, suddenly it’s all flipped as he makes a monumental revelation about financial woes. But then we are flipped again with a different story of Keira’s desperation to find the birth mother she has never met. Oh and there may or may not be a side story about Keira’s boyfriend needing money and casting doubts on their relationship: does he truly love her or just her money?
It’s a lot of sub plots. More than enough to fill a couple of hours, let alone its current 50-minute run time. But with so many sub plots the truth is that it’s never clear which one should be our main focus, and none are given nearly enough attention before another idea is dropped into the mix.
Outside of a script that needs some serious attention, there are some promising aspects. Cowan’s performance as the overlooked sister is scene stealing as she craves attention and validation in a family that favours the first-born son. She gives her character ebbs and flows, which is something that Lifton could do with copying. His Josh is too monotone; even in the rare moments his anger comes to the fore his voice hardly changes.
Guy Rapacioli and Jessie Millson’s joint directing also provides some nice touches, especially in the snappier early scenes. As the siblings drink together there are clever scene transitions; clearly defined and yet instant, each bang of the glass on the table jumps us further through the night. This simplicity only adds to the overall effect, to give us a sense of time passing.
If, as seems to be the case, this is a first draft for 2.36 then one would hope a second draft would attempt to find greater focus on what it really is the writers want their play to be. Perhaps it would work best as a study of sibling dynamics in a family where one will always be favoured above the other. Then maybe it could dispose of some of its numerous sub plots to allow that central idea to come to the fore.
Written and produced by: Anoushka Cowan and Elijah Lifton
Directed by: Guy Rapacioli and Jessie Millson
Dramaturgy by: Ruby Isaacs
Sound design by: Belle Bao
Costume design by: Izzy Rigby
Presented by: Marigold Productions
2.36 plays at Etcetera Theatre until Sunday 3 August.
