RIOT (Owl & Cat) – theatre review

A confronting new play from the co-artistic director of the Owl and Cat Theatre, Thomas Ian Doyle, RIOT concerns a 30-year-old bisexual anti-establishment druggie whose life is just drifting.

Jim (Jonathan Peck) works in a fast food restaurant because he needs the money. Otherwise, he wouldn’t, as the job means nothing to him. His former girlfriend, Janette (Caitlin Berwick), who cultivates “pot” plants, broke up with him and is frustrated because he won’t leave her alone, allowing her to get on with her life. Jim hooks up with a 19-year-old unemployed guy, Gavin (Gareth Trew), at a gay rally. The irony is that he has just finished telling his boss, Kate (Stephanie Valenzuela), that he isn’t homosexual and has no interest in attending the event. Next thing you know, Jim is also getting down and dirty with a 24-year-old waitress, cum aspiring actress Lola (Jennifer B. Ashley). She is more into him than he is into her because his true heart appears to lie with Gavin, although their relationship, like all those he has, is prickly, fraught and fragile. Jim also frequently wants to rebel, to break free of societal constraints, but it all seems to be talk.

What’s this all about? As I see it, vulnerability … and there is a surprise reveal at the end of the play that lays the theme bare. Jim (and the others) just plod through life, doing what they do. There is no grand plan here, simply getting by each day – some better than others. The primal urge to have sex is a mainstay, but more than that it is to establish emotional connections, which Jim struggles to do. At various turns he is sensitive, embittered, angry and apathetic, mostly the latter.

As the above description would suggest, adult content, nudity, sex scenes and drug references are integral components of the repertoire. RIOT also employs strobe lighting and uses a fog machine.

I spent much of my time trying to figure out what the play was trying to say and hoping to build a connection to the characters, with which I grappled because I didn’t really care about them too much. Jim’s persona, in particular, I found quite repellent and he – after all – is the central player. I thought he was simply a lightweight without anything important to impart. The play enforced the idea that life can be – indeed, more often than not is – hard and is anything but straightforward. Then there was the issue of nudity, with which I am totally comfortable. Why, oh why, did only one of the actors (and, no, it wasn’t Jim) strip naked when the others who were engaged in sexual acts did not, remaining semi or fully clothed? What the? Was it prudishness on the part of the performers or did the playwright and/or director have some reason for it? I wish I could give you a rationale, but regardless, it didn’t gel with me.

I also question the casting of Trew as a teenager when he looked far older. In other words, credibility was lacking.

RIOT has been accepted into the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, an annual event held in Valdez, Alaska that focuses on playwriting. There it will be workshopped in June by the director Gabrielle Savrone (who is also co-artistic director of the Owl and Cat) and Doyle in front of industry professionals. The conference’s mission is to develop new voices and provide the opportunity to interact with some of the luminaries of American theatre.

Perhaps they can make more sense of RIOT than I did.

With a running time of 1 hour 20 minutes without interval, it is on at 34 Swan Street, Richmond until 13th June and scores a 6 out of 10. For bookings, go to www.owlandcat.com.au.

Alex First