A taboo exploration of teenage sexuality set in 1800s Germany makes for an evocative experience. The musical is utterly progressive for the time in which the first conception of the play was written. It explores coming of age themes that defy the church, in terms of adolescents wanting sex for enjoyment; as well as dealing with issues of suicide and abortion.
The play is split between young girls who are curious about how babies are made and being giddy over their crushes on the boys, meanwhile the adjacent group of boys who still attend school are desperately trying to repress their sexual urges and dreams.
However, the outlier of this production is the radical progressive and leading man Melchior Gabor (Joe Gill). Gabor is different to his fellow classmates, he’s learnt about sex through reading, so it must be true. He is painted as a do-gooder with women’s best interest at heart, but when an encounter with Wendla Bergmann (Shannon Hood) turns sour, the perception flips as Gabor realises he may be no different than the rest.
Gill is the absolute stand-out of this cast, breathing life into the role of Melchior Gabor so much so it seems this was the role he was born to play. He possesses the range to go from sweet and sensitive to intense and defiant.
As an ensemble the vocals had a tendency to be pitchy. But the opening number of ‘Mama Who Bore Me’ was fantastically lead by Hood and the female ensemble. The casting for each role seemed to work perfectly and each person embodied their role, but both leads seemed head and shoulders above the rest vocally and dramaturgically.
(3 stars)
By Melissa Findlay
Spring Awakening, theSpace – Surgeon’s Hall, 22:05, Aug 9-10
