THEATRE: ELLING
- Author:
- Amelia Groom
- Posted:
- Tuesday, 9 June 2009
We open with two single beds on stage. One has meticulously clean, tucked in sheets; the other is rumpled and stained with sweat and filth. We meet Elling, a neurotic over-thinker, and Kjell, an under-washed under-thinker. The two lost souls forge an unlikely bond after ending up in the same room at a mental hospital, and when they get out into the real world they realise just how much they need each other.
I often feel that great stories about the power of friendship are more moving than those of romantic love, and Elling has one of the biggest hearts of any recent production. The script comes via the film adaptation of the cult novel series by one of Norway’s most popular contemporary writers, Ingvar Ambjørnsen, and with Pamela Rabe’s fine direction and excellent casting this is a potent and irresistible entertaining piece of theatre.
With so many novels, films and plays retaining pessimistic focus on the institutionalisation of mental health, Elling offers a fresh and hopeful take on what happens after the asylum, as these two misfits on society’s fringe (re)learn to function. Charming yet unsentimental, it walks the tragic-comic tightrope with perfect balance.
Until July 12. Sydney Theatre Company, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay. $30-75, 9250 1777 or sydneytheatre.com.au
Photo by Tracey Schramm
Story posted on Tuesday, 9 June 2009, filed under Theatre & Performance. Follow responses via the RSS feed.
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