Youth Theatre at Its Best.

 

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Youth present The Outsiders, based on the play adapted by Christopher Sergel from the novel of the same name by S.E. Hinton, it enjoyed a run of six shows across four days. A theatrical production directed and produced by Jacqueline Hornjik, The Outsiders gathered a group of young theatre enthusiasts, each bringing their unique skills and interests, ultimately building the low-budget project from scratch to its brilliant completion.

The Outsiders tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis, a ‘greaser’ like no others, he’s smart, sensitive, loves writing and films. As a young boy growing up in a rough neighbourhood in the midst of an ongoing conflict between the ‘socs’ and ‘greasers’, his brothers want him to keep his nose down and out of trouble. Yet somewhat inevitably, his story escalates to a path of love and tragedies.

Though the show has ended its run, there are still some spoilers ahead for those of you who may want to read the novel. So a fair warning is advised.

As the audiences took their seats, the very first thing they notice would have been the artworks featured on the screen, drawn by Romer Macapuno and supplemented with detailed, exquisite animations such as the unlocking of Ponyboy’s phone, one of the many details included in the modern adaptation of a novel from the late 60s. Accompanied by youthful, energetic songs such as that of David Guetta’s Titanium, we sat in anticipation as the lights dimmed down and a single focal point shone on Ponyboy’s seat in the centre of the stage.

With an almost indistinguishable, minor hiccup Sam Nass (Ponyboy) manages to deliver his first soliloquy with distinct dictation and thereby establishing the setting effectively. Following which a duo of socs make their appearance, attempting to give Ponyboy a fair beating, only to be interrupted by the Curtis brothers and their fellow gang mates. An instant contrast could be seen between the costumes of the socs and the greasers; sporting whites and light neutral colours, the socs seem like well groomed teenagers who have too much time on their hands; On the other hand the greasers were clothed in darker, more practical and rougher colours.

Moving into the family scene we were introduced to the second brother Sodapop (Jack Marsden), Darry the big bro (Brody Davidson) and Soda’s girlfriend (Tania Vukicevic) as well as Dallas Winston (Chris Yaacoubian), the hood of all hoods and Two-Bit (Konrad Ryzak) the joker.

With such an array of supporting characters, it’s inevitable that some will receive less lines and therefore become somewhat underdeveloped, one specific example is the character of Two-Bit whom though perceived as the ‘funny guy’ doesn’t really get the chance to deliver his humour due to the tight arrangement.

The set design was quite clever, especially the use of a squeaky door to signify the entrance into the Curtis household, upon which the warm light was directed onto the simple furniture and pieces of laundries lying around to represent a boys’ home.

One of the particularly notable performances in Act 1 was Sodapop’s fraternal dialogue with Ponyboy to convince him of Darry’s true, kind and caring nature, where actor Jack Marsden was able to deliver a performance representing his character of certain solicitousness for his brothers, complementing Sam Nass’ confused yet sensitive and wondrous Ponyboy perfectly.

The humour in the play is subtle and often well executed, while the emotional lines are often conveyed with expertly crafted recitals.

Aside from Sandy, there were two other central female characters, Marcia played with distinct perkiness by Erica Em, in contrast with Cherry Valance as portrayed by Ariel Kozelj to be an insightful and sophisticated girl able to understand the discordance between the socs and the greasers.

Though some scenes may be somewhat singular in their purpose and progression, the well acted subtle expressions more than entertains the audiences within that time. Such as Ivan Hui’s near-stuttering tone, demonstrating his fragile character adequately and develops well into Act 2, directing audiences’ attention towards Johnnycake- perhaps the most brittle character of the story.

As with most plays, there were some minor timing problems, one such scene was when Ponyboy missed his curfew one night after falling asleep in the park, as he rushed home, expecting the full wrath of Darry one would have expected him to pause at the door a bit longer before dashing in hastily, which could have let the dual-stage setting sink in a bit more to avoid any confusion.

However there were also several immediate actions that were effectively delivered in an unexpected manner, such as the slap from Darry to Pony which built the foundation of Pony’s subsequent actions, leading to the pivotal scene.

 

In the fountain, Pony and Johnny encountered the two socs while planning to run away from their families. Thomas David Dobson (who I must say resembles Jude Law in some bizarre way…) playing the part of Bob, though short lived before being assaulted and eventually killed by Johnny in a well-choreographed fight scene complemented by intense flash of striking lights, demonstrated a distinct presence on stage, especially his affinity to acting drunk.

Overall, Act 1 was well developed and serves up ‘the hook’, baiting us in with the narrative in motion.

Act 2 begins as Johnny and Pony escapes with the help of Dallas into the countryside where they found an abandoned church for temporary residence. As red lighting shrouds the interior drawing of the church, one becomes naturally drawn into the world of hurt and regret of these two young men. Yet within such a world the relationship between Johnny and Pony became apparent to us, that they were the best of friends in a world unfamiliar to them, from birth they never belonged in strife yet now they must cope with the burden of a lost life on their shoulders. Sam Nass continually delivers his monologues of fervour while Hui maintains the nature of his character, except now with a hint of daring after the incident.

The relationships between Sodapop and Sandy, Two-Bit and Marcia are two noteworthy pair of interactions. Both have great chemistry and both are well-executed subplots interesting enough to entertain.

The character of Darry, as featured more prominently in the second act has a great, intimidating height which Brody Davidson uses well, by closing in on other characters he conveyed a swiftness of actions and his status as the leader.

Dallas makes his trip into the country to visit Pony and Johnny, from which we see another superb example of the splendid mix between classical stage performance, clever prop design as a round coffee table becomes a driving wheel, and mixed media animations. Dallas’ relentless nature and witty side was also focused and demonstrated wonderfully by Chris Yaacoubian.

Upon returning from a restaurant named so adequately as the ‘Insiders’, the trio found the church to be on fire, the hastiness of the scene and the impetuosity of Pony and Johnny’s decision to rush into the fragile building to save the trapped children were well performed. Joyce Mondalek and Concey Bosco respectively as Mrs O’Briant and Jane, also appear to bring a certain educator’s touch for the audiences to appreciate their attentiveness for their students and for Pony and Johnny who were then considered heroes.

As the final rumble between the ‘Socs’ and the ‘Greasers’ closed in, Randy as played by Thomas Burt delivered his frustrated insight into the ‘war’ of the town with a melancholic tone as well as an intricately offered handshake to Pony, perhaps to symbolize the end of all his prejudices, offering us, and perhaps for Pony too a closure of the incident.

Revealed to be severely injured, Johnny’s significantly gory burn make up was of notable success, one could hear the gasps in the audiences as we observe his wounds closely. During the hospital scenes we were also introduced to Natalie Baghoumian as the attentive nurse and Sophea Op as an unflustered doctor, capable of contrasting the overcharged emotions of the gang when they see Johnny.

Though the fight scene could at times be confusing due to the many narrating lines Ponyboy needed to push out in order to maintain the intensity, the use of POV shots as a film rather than live action does bring a distinct spice to the play, furthermore it did allow Sam Nass to deliver yet another awesome monologue while punching ‘socs’ on the screen.

The rumble has ended and the greasers emerged victorious, yet Johnny’s death undeniably overshadows all other scenes to be the pivotal point, a well developed tear-jerking segment never hurt anyone.

Dallas’ contradictory and shattered nature was superbly acted as his frustration and desperation reach their wretched, inconsolable peak, the negative aura and his ominous actions seemed to be heading down a dark path…. And it did. Though the gunshot could have been a bit louder to offer the impact in its entirety, we certainly knew what had become of him.

The ending tied off nicely as we return full circle back to the beginning, as Pony sat down in the desolate centre of the stage, under the lone focal light he began to recite his memories that would eventually become a tale of frightening dismays, familial loves and a young boy’s journey as an outsider.

As the cast fares goodbye, one realises the sheer energy and passion of these young actors and actresses is enough to make the play a pleasure to watch. It’s a general principle that ‘you can’t make a bad play good, but you can always make a good play bad’, and these young stars truly demonstrated their talent and made a good play better.

Though this particular production of the Outsiders has ended its run, you should consider checking out future events and programs organised by CPAC on their website, Facebook, Instagram and other social medias.

Also keep an eye out for these up and coming actors/actresses in their future shows.

Joyce Mondalek   Natalie Baghoumian   Ariel Kozejlj   Concey Bosco   Thomas Dobson   Erica Em

Sophea Op   Thomas Burt   Konrad Ryzak

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Jack Marsden   Tania Vukicevic   Brody Davidson   Chris Yaccoubian

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Ivan Hui

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam Nass

 

 

 

 

 

Watch an interview with them below.

-Henry Pan

An overzealous film critic wannabe, Henry Pan makes a trip down cinema lane once a week, in order to decrease his ever-increasing massive watch list.