Cover Image: Georgia King and Mark Storen (Whiskey & Boots) performing real stories of friendship death from members of the community of Melville. Image by Daniel Grant.

WHISKEY & BOOTS WITH THE LAST GREAT HUNT

AT THE CITY OF MELVILLE MAIN HALL

Saturday April 11

Whiskey & Boots are a Perth-based theatre company that specialise in ‘Headphone Verbatim Performance’. This type of work explores ‘the challenges and contradictions of the human condition’ via interviewing people about their experiences then presenting them verbatim on stage. Their latest production, For The Best, presented in collaboration with The Last Great Hunt Theatre Company at the City of Melville’s Main Hall last weekend (April 9 to 11), took this process one step further.

Instead of a verbatim performance with headphones, the stories, provided by residents of the Melville community, were broken apart and scripted together by Jeffrey Jay Fowler (Last Great Hunt) then, delivered by three performers, Georgia King and Mark Storen (Whiskey & Boots) with Alexandra Nell, to an ambient soundscape by guitarist Luke Dux (The Kill Devil Hills).

The theme of the show was ‘dead friendships’: that is, once close relationships that, for various reasons, often unexplained, have abruptly or gradually ended. The stories examined the emotional response to the split and the reasons, or lack thereof, surrounding it. A near universal experience, the theme proved rich in resonance. Add in the twist that the people who contributed the stories were seated in the audience and the stage was set for a powerful night’s theatre.

The actors sat side-by-side and read out the stories. Sometimes they spoke in unison to deliver common themes, and at other times, they independently told individual stories. Some stories were told in full, others reduced to a few pertinent lines to reinforce a theme or parallel situation.

Although this was the premiere season, the project previously underwent two stages of creative development. Presented in Maylands and Midland, these earlier iterations were based on stories provided by residents of those communities and presented to a closed audience. As well as trialling the concept, part of the intention was to gauge how the show would go down when presented to its contributors.

The first stage of the current iteration was a call out to the Melville community to, either submit stories online, or be interviewed. The response was so strong (ten interviews, fifteen written submissions) that the original two member cast was extended to three. As there were more women’s stories than men’s, it was decided to enlist another female performer, Alexandra Nell. As Nell was also a contributor, her own story was included in those she delivered.

Luke Dux’s improvised score was highly effective. His ethereal, oblique and meditative guitar was reminiscent of English new wave band The Duritti Column. Although working from a loose guide to the tone of each scene (dark, light etc.) and bare bone sketches of musical ideas, he essentially improvised the score as the show unfolded.

The overall impact on the audience was powerful. Not only were they able to empathise with the individual stories and trace the patterns between them, but they were often prompted to think of their own dead friendships and consider what may have gone wrong.

It would have been fascinating had there been two differing accounts of the same spilt, after all there are always two sides to any story but, as Georgia King pointed out, that would have made for a different type of show. Still, it was notable that in nearly all instances it was the other person’s ‘fault’, even when it was the story-teller who abruptly blocked them out.

A brilliantly conceived, scripted, developed, directed and executed show, with strong performances all round, it made for a fascinating night’s theatre.

After the success of this sold-out season, the collaborators intend to remount the work with new stories in other communities. As yet, though, no dates or locations have been set. Keep an eye out should it come to your neighbourhood. Not only does For the Best give insight into a common human theme, but it allows a glimpse into the things that go on behind closed doors in your home town. Hot stuff!