This is a brilliantly inventive, totally engaging piece of theatre, written by Mark Rogers and directed by Solomon Thomas.
It’s a rock opera. Sort of. Unlike most operas, the fourth wall has fallen. But it does have surtitles – with some terrifically funny graphics.
Ostensibly, it’s the story of a love triangle between young friends Michael (Rogers), Brooke (Ashley Bundang) and Andy (Liam ‘Snowy’ Halliwell), and the consequences when Michael makes a dreadful mistake.
It’s about the desire to correct errors, to smooth the rough. Hence the title.
Michael has a portal. He uses it to go back a moment or two in time to fix things. I don’t think we’re being asked to take this idea seriously. (Though the song that introduces the conceit is absolute gold.) The portal operates as metaphor for our wish to perfect our lives.
We’re told that “In opera, it’s easy to get lost in the story.”
Which I doubt.
What’s being flagged is that the piece itself is about storytelling.
Michael tells a story about several performances he’s given. A story about stories, if you will. (Perhaps it’s also an exploration of narrative therapy, of how we’ll tell ourselves a story …. about ourselves …. in order to lull pain, to quiet conscience, to silence Truth.)
And the chosen form draws further attention to storytelling. Songs – very cool and lyrically exciting ones – are performed with tremendous energy and exuberance by Rogers, Bundang and Halliwell. Yes, performed. What I mean is that the usual conceit of operas and musicals (that people just sing) is abandoned. The conceit is it’s a concert, and we are the audience. (Yes, I know we’re always the audience, but there are audiences and there are audiences.)
Also pulling us out of any representational realism is nostalgia. By reminding us of the blind obsessions and ferocious loyalties of pop culture, we’re invited to gently laugh at our youthful selves. Similarly, the love triangle narrative is set in regional NSW. The Wagga Wave might only come through at 5, but it will come through at 5 forever.
Though gloriously intellectually playful, the piece has also got real emotional impact. It’s like being invited to a crack-fuelled dinner party with Socrates, but with the chance of being speared in the stomach by a Spartan hoplite (which is a pull-out quote I expect to see splattered all over social media, and on the side of buses when the show gets the international tour it deserves.)
I admit, the piece makes no actual reference to ancient Greek philosophy. Instead it spends stage time on more topical issues, like the value of hip-hop (a riff which includes one of the funniest lines I’ve heard in contemporary Aus theatre.)
I could finish with Plato. Auto-tune, our desire to tame wildness, does evoke the Cave and the shadows we watch, while all reality lies behind us, unruly but unnoticed. (Yes, I know, I’ve flipped Plato; he seems to have thought we really should be paying attention to the auto-tune.)
So I’ll finish with Mark Rogers. Performer, composer, writer – it’s an absolutely extraordinary achievement.
Paul Gilchrist
AUTO-TUNE by Mark Rogers
currently playing at the Sydney Opera House until 7 September 2024, as part of UnWrapped
www.sydneyoperahouse.com/theatre/unwrapped-auto-tune
Image by Ravyna Jassani
Theatre Red 