Ruben Guthrie
08/10/09 20:00
Theatre Company: Silo Theatre Company
Writer: Brendan Cowell
Director: Shane Bosher
Actors: Andrew Grainger, Ellie Smith, Peter Elliot, Dean O’Gorman, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Toni Potter, Oliver Driver
Location: Herald Theatre
Black comedy with a big drunken heart.
Ruben Guthrie is flirting with the brink. He's the Creative Director of a cutting-edge advertising agency, engaged to a Czech supermodel and drinking like he invented it. He pours himself a drink to celebrate, a drink to work, a drink to sleep and one spectacular night he drinks so much he thinks he can fly. Given that the demons of self-destruction are hovering, Ruben steps toward a life of sudden sobriety - one day at a time.
But this is no community service announcement - Brendan Cowell lines up the shots for us in a heady cocktail of fizzy humour and epiphanic poignancy. Spiral high, crash hard and go to AA with you mum.
This powerful production, brilliantly performed by the entire cast - especially Oliver Driver, certainly left me with a lot to think about. Its primary focus was addiction. The main character attempts to solve his problem using the standard 12-step method (through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)). The “white-knuckle approach” works for a while but, after a crushing rejection from a girlfriend, he spirals downwards again. The final words of the play “Hi, my name is Ruben Guthrie and I am ...” made me wonder whether the playwright believes the only hope there is for solving an addiction is to learn to be self-reliant enough to be able to experience whatever it is the addiction helps you to avoid. But I also can’t help but wonder how much he believes addiction he believes addiction is physiological - rather than psychological.
Writer: Brendan Cowell
Director: Shane Bosher
Actors: Andrew Grainger, Ellie Smith, Peter Elliot, Dean O’Gorman, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Toni Potter, Oliver Driver
Location: Herald Theatre
Synopsis (From Promotional Material):
Black comedy with a big drunken heart.
Ruben Guthrie is flirting with the brink. He's the Creative Director of a cutting-edge advertising agency, engaged to a Czech supermodel and drinking like he invented it. He pours himself a drink to celebrate, a drink to work, a drink to sleep and one spectacular night he drinks so much he thinks he can fly. Given that the demons of self-destruction are hovering, Ruben steps toward a life of sudden sobriety - one day at a time.
But this is no community service announcement - Brendan Cowell lines up the shots for us in a heady cocktail of fizzy humour and epiphanic poignancy. Spiral high, crash hard and go to AA with you mum.
Thoughts on this Production:
This powerful production, brilliantly performed by the entire cast - especially Oliver Driver, certainly left me with a lot to think about. Its primary focus was addiction. The main character attempts to solve his problem using the standard 12-step method (through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)). The “white-knuckle approach” works for a while but, after a crushing rejection from a girlfriend, he spirals downwards again. The final words of the play “Hi, my name is Ruben Guthrie and I am ...” made me wonder whether the playwright believes the only hope there is for solving an addiction is to learn to be self-reliant enough to be able to experience whatever it is the addiction helps you to avoid. But I also can’t help but wonder how much he believes addiction he believes addiction is physiological - rather than psychological.