Mile High (FringeTIX)
Stella Green Productions @ Holden Street Theatres (The Arch)
10:30pm, Sun 24 Feb 2008
We meet a young couple, travelling from Sydney to New York, as they prepare to board the plane. He’s travel-weary and world-wise, she’s younger and excitably worried. They’re faced with 23 hours in Economy-Plus seats.
The first thing I notice walking into The Arch is the set – it’s extremely simple, but impressively effective… a couple of seats, a strip of carpet, and a wooden frame in the background that creates just the right semblance of constrictive space. The actors are, appropriately, confined to their seats for the vast majority of the performance, which consists of a series of scenes – some extremely brief, others much longer – that flesh out the characters, their relationship, and the flight.
He’s a (flawed) anti-consumerist; she’s a populist consumer. He’s a poor traveler; she gets pissed whilst waiting for food, then is horrified by the food’s presence. There’s laughs at the rants, furtive giggles at the titillation of mile-high sex, sober thought at the almost flippant mention of eating disorders, and tension when the plane hits turbulence – both physically and emotionally. And whilst Sebastian Goldspink is solid as the weary Dan, Megan Alston’s Daisy is superb – pensive, elated, excited drunk, angry drunk, sobering drunk, hungover, expectant, glum, and everything in between. Utterly convincing.
Was Mile High perfect? No – there were a few stumbles, and the lighting techie slipped up a few times. But it was a bloody enjoyable performance – familiar to all travelers, there’s plenty of laughs and even a teensy bit of poignancy. All-in-all, well worth the effort.