Flat Out Like A Lizard | Robert the Cat presents the play by Norman Price
Image: Geoff Squires
Flat Out Like a Lizard is a play that will have you feeling, though you have to spend some time untangling what it is that you are feeling and why. Presented by Metro Arts and Robert the Cat, it is a confronting piece of theatre that is minimalist in its execution and leaves nothing in the way of performer connecting straight to audience.
Co-directors Lisa O’Neill and Anatoly Frusin describe the text as the “valedictory work by a writer [Norman Price] looking back at his life and career”. This makes sense, as I saw before me some of the thoughts and feelings shared by many of the artists around me trying to make a life telling stories. Our central character, Lazarus White, is desperately attempting to share his short stories with a committee of experts. They are displeased. They don’t think it’s marketable. They don’t understand it. There’s just not an audience for the work. They don’t have much time. There is just enough time for us to connect with each story before the committee interrupts, the lights turn clinically bright, and they criticise and question the work. The short stories are darkly funny to begin with, though the darkness goes on to outshadow the funny as the stories play out themes of dark impulses, murder and violence against women. These disturb the audience and the committee of experts alike, and ask questions about the role of stories in our society - to artists, to audiences, and to cultural gatekeepers.
Image: Geoff Squires
The work is performed by Tafe Queensland graduate actors Katy Cotter, Amy Hauser, Darcy Jones, Peter Keavy, and Thea Milburn. Each takes their turn to play Lazarus White, joining the table of the committee of experts when switching out for another actor. Multiple actors playing the same character can be a tough one. It works for this show, as it is so episodic in nature. Lazarus White is a representation of so many storytellers and artists - it seems natural that the torch was passed around. Each of these actors are able to channel this highly stylised text into life on stage in their own unique ways. It is a testament to their performances that, although I didn’t always know the meaning behind what they were saying, I always felt the meaning.
This play can be hard work, though there’s nothing wrong with eating your theatrical veggies, sitting in a dark room and meditating on life with a bunch of strangers. It is often an obtuse text, though I can’t fault it for that. It is self aware enough to assure you that it is part of its point. “Worked it out yet?”, Lazarus White would often ask us. Yes, the stories become self-indulgent as the play goes on, but this indulgence is a tantrum at the committee of experts who don’t seem to actually like art anyway. They are the result of a storyteller who needs to tell their stories in order to process their memories - real or imagined.
Flat Out Like a Lizard is playing at Metro Arts’ New Benner Theatre at West Village until 12 December. I highly recommend that you get along and see these wonderful creatives delivering a stellar production of a great Australian play.
Image: Geoff Squires
