2001: Steaming by Nell Dunn

Steaming by Nell Dunn.  Canberra Rep directed by Liz Bradley at Theatre 3, February 23 - March 17, 8pm.

    Steaming is a celebration of women, by women, for all of us.  It's a great beginning to Rep's 2001 season.

    No-one surely could fail to respond in kind to Lesley Smith's joyous Dawn, to worry for the sanity of Jennie Vaskess' Mrs Meadows, to feel the loneliness underneath Margaret Magner's sensible Jane, the strength of Judi Crane's Violet, the relief discovered by Naone Carrel's Nancy, and the glory of Bronwyn Grannall's Josie.  This is a remarkably balanced cast, at ease with themselves and their director.

    Superficially a small-scale modern classic about the local politics of closing some delapidated Turkish baths, in a 1970's London of the working poor and pensioners, Nell Dunn's characters continually create shifting planes of light as they reveal their stories, their physicalities and their emotional bonds with each other. 

It's true, yet it becomes a minor point, that the issues in the play are just as relevant in today's "liberal" we-must-be-more-competitive regime as under Thatcherism.  It certainly warns us how far backwards our government marches on.  But the universal in the play - and brought out very well in this production - which enlarges our understanding, is about how we are all vulnerable and can find strength in sharing our experiences.  How we are all different, and by coming to appreciate our differences we find how we are all the same.

The value of this production is the sincerity of the commitment of the women performers to the theme of women's freedom.  Every man, woman and child needs to experience the warmth of feeling coming off the stage and enveloping the audience - just like the steam of the Turkish bath, which relaxes body and mind in a space separated for a short while from the frozen world outside.  We all need theatre like this, just as the women will fight on to keep their baths.

First night was good, but the performance will without doubt become more energised and connected through the season.  If the rest of this year from Rep is this good, you may as well take out a subscription now.  Ring 6257 1950.

© Frank McKone, Canberra