Stupid F***ing Bird, presented by The Sydney Actors Playhouse

There’s so much to love about The Sydney Actors Playhouse production of Aaron Posner’s Stupid F***ing Bird, a retake of Chekov’s The Seagull that it’s hard to know where to start. From the intimacy of it being performed at Desire Books & Records (3/3 Whistler St Manly) to the freshness of the talent, all new faces and each one brave enough to perform in a small space where any misstep would be amplified, to Mike Booth’s direction, it was pure joy from start to finish.

Just as The Seagull was trying to do something new back in 1895, its reimagination takes doing something new to even newer heights and it gives the bird to Belvoir Street and STC too because there are no gimmicks and no technology – it’s an ensemble cast of seven people using only their talent, a brilliant script and great direction to keep the audience enthralled. Each actor displayed perfect timing, energy and intensity. The backdrop of Desire Books felt perfect. It felt as if the actors and the audience were occupying the same stage and when the actors threw out rhetorical questions you wanted to answer them – that’s how participatory it felt. The shop’s front door was a common entry and exit for the actors and the sound of the street filtered in adding another layer of grit to an already gritty play.

Oh so you want to know what it’s about. Well, it’s all very Russian! There’s Emma an aging and successful actress whose son Conrad aspires to produce new and exciting plays because he’s sick of his mother’s generation’s efforts and there’s Nina, Conrad’s nubile love obsession whom he casts as the lead in his play and who enchants Trig, Emma’s successful novelist boyfriend. There’s Dev, Conrad’s friend, who is in love with Mash who in turn loves Conrad who is unaware of this. Sorn, Emma’s brother, a doctor harbours his own secrets and things get particularly tense when Emma realises that Trig’s interest in Nina is not purely artistic. And let’s not get started on how that goes down with Conrad. Are you keeping up?

When Conrad braves putting on a performance of his play for this motley crew his mother, Emma is so loud in her derision that Con puts a stop to the play. He is devastated by his mother’s condemnation and aggrieved by Nina’s return of Trig’s affection. Mash now hopes Conrad will fall for her which makes life very hard for Mash- obsessed Dev who is also struggling to keep Conrad from taking Nina and Emma’s rejection to a very dark place. Whew! In short, it’s a play about people at their best and worst trying to achieve the most elusive of things – happiness and acceptance.

Bravo to The Sydney Actors Playhouse for this brilliant must-see production – it’s edgy, raw, compelling, funny and hugely entertaining. I’ve had memorable experiences in similar spaces in Brooklyn, Chicago and London and Stupid F***ing Bird at Desire Books in Manly is right up there with the best of them. I can’t wait to see it again.