On a red velvet throne sits a lazy and leather-clad rock god – with a fawning female at his feet. Set in an American wasteland, this is the story of Hoss – a much adored rock god who is told of a gypsy challenger, Crow, who will usurp him.

A fairly simple story with worthy messages of ‘pride comes before a fall,’ ‘fame is transient,’ ‘every dog shall have his day.’ And there are some cautionary sentiments in the play that remind that when you are at the top of your game, expect competitors who are also at the top of their game.

But before I dive/weigh in – some context:

For an excellent examination of the work of Sam Shepherd please check out Kevin Jackson’s response here.

For some interesting questions check out Jason Blake’s review here.

It’s been a week since I saw this show.

It’s been sitting with me this week, as I have been thinking about many of my initial responses to the production, and thinking how I may write about it given the surrounding context of the production. Sydney audiences have had two doses of Sam Shepard on the stage in the last year – Fool for Love (B-Sharp, Belvoir) and True West (Sydney Theatre Company) and an additional momentary reading of a speech by John Malkovich this year from Buried Child (Sydney Festival). So he is definitely in favour right now.

Interestingly, this production had been scheduled for early last year – before the two productions were due for rehearsal – however a development was had instead and so a year later The Tooth of Crime is presented by ATYP’s Under the Wharf program, produced by Arts Radar. The anticipation for this production has been great… and so I was keen to attend the opening, as I have not seen Harmon’s work beyond a short play presented as a part of his Theatre Forward venture at NIDA, The Sneeze. So I was keen to see/hear/acquaint myself with his ideas, aesthetic and interests.

I think choice of play is vital. Every play contains within it a message designed to provoke or interrogate or inspire an audience. I can see why this play is attractive to a director in his first five years since graduating from NIDA’s directors course – it may be an assertion of the new/young guard taking on the established heroes of their industry – after all it was written in the 9th Year of Shepard’s playwriting career.

But for me, perhaps more importantly is the timing of the production – and unfortunately this seems to happen that sometimes a zeitgeist hits the Sydney theatre scene and it appears as though none of .. the literary managers or Artistic directors talk to each other – and so we get a glut of similar ideas or writers at one time. The unfortunate thing for The Tooth of Crime is that only upstairs similar ideas are being presented by the Sydney Theatre Company in Baal… but perhaps to a more sophisticated degree… well.. no, that’s not fair… not so much sophistication but financial degree.

I must insist that the production looks great – and the sound is inventive and appropriately sits in the realm of grunge/acolyptic trance. However – I had no idea about the story. I heard none of the words, I couldn’t understand what was going on for a good 10 minutes – once I had surrendered to “ah, this is a Macbeth type story” notion that popped into my head, I just sat back and admired how beautifully produced the production was (yes a ‘Play with Songs’ ie a play with musicians and appropriate/adequate equipment doubles the demand of the producer) – I also remarked how attractive the costumes were – and how the lights were well thought out and I’m sure fun to colour. I also thought what a stunning acheivement this is – visually -everything is there. The production looks great. All the production elements are well sourced and well facilitated (that’s a huge thumbs up to Sam Hawker/Arts Radar). However, I found it nearly impossible to make out any of the words as the acting was so heavy and muffled. I also thought that perhaps the adrenilin/amphetamine high of the rock’n’roll lifestyle would have helped this production along, but instead it lolled about and was somewhat laboured.

That being said – the pace, and the clarity of the show can be adjusted and solved through out the run of the production, and with a limited time for bump in, these things are sometimes only discovered on opening night (which is annoying because that’s when reviewers come in). So I am hoping that with the remainder of the run these things (already mentioned by other reviewers) will be remedied – and that the show would support the magnificent-looking production built around the performances.

My personal aesthetic favours acting/clarity/simplicity/writing above design – and I think that all theatre (especially independent theatre) should always make sure that the heart and nuts and bolts of the craft of performance (not the craft of production) should be the primary priority. Yes a bit Grotowski of me… but it’s how I roll.