Our Town

Overview

When we see the world of Grover's Corners, the titular town that will be the focus of the play, we are expecting a huge and populated set after the Stage Manager (Darren Gilshenan), who acts as a narrator for the entirety of the action, has given the audience a lengthy description of all the characters and the places that we will see. The curtain rises, and the stage is bare.

Don't confuse this lack of set with a lack of action in the play. Our Town is up there with Shakespeare in the American theatrical canon and so has an epic history of performances, going back to when Thornton Wilder first wrote the thing back in the 1930s, that any new productions have bearing down on their shoulders. Luckily, like a well roided-up Atlas holding the heavens above his head, the Sydney Theatre Company have done it justice.

Our Town really is as simple as its name implies. It's the story of two generations of the inhabitants of one small American town and the small daily lives that they lead. The important part of this play is that nothing really happens, no major events or arguments or dramatic occurrences. That's the point, however. Our Town was written to highlight both the banality and the nostalgic sweetness of small-town life. That's why we're allowed to see the theatrical set-up, because actually we've seen the world the characters inhabit many times before.

Darren Gilshenan is a personal favourite on stage and pulls off a solid turn as the Stage Manager. His interaction with the audience may end with the odd random question being thrown our way, but with his breaking down of the illusion of theatre by directing characters in their actions and ordering intermissions, we're constantly made aware of the artifice of the situation. It's a simple yet highly effective device on the part of Wilder. As is the sound design. Very little soundtrack is used throughout the play, instead an onstage actor creates the sound effects like an old-school radio play with bottles and baseball gloves, much to the delight of the audience.

As an American classic, the play can only be set in America and thus American accents are compulsory. While not everyone pulls this off without a hitch, the majority carry it along. Funny, sweet, wry and poignant, Our Town is all these things and more, with a little spattering of the theme song from Neighbours. Check it out.