Of Mice & Men | Ad Astra

Ad Astra's put on an intimate and moving retelling of the American classic Of Mice and Men (written by John Steinbeck, and directed by Jesse Richardson) in their little theatre in the middle of Fortitude Valley. The performances from the two main characters were stand-out and the tragedy of the story still hit hard even though I knew it was coming. 

The story follows Lenny and George, two men moving from job to job during the great depression, trying to gather up enough money to buy themselves a piece of land. They want to escape the cycle of loneliness and hard labour and set themselves up for a future where they are safe and can provide for themselves. 

There is something very emotionally compelling about watching two people search for home, especially when their circumstances and the systems around them are violently preventing them from finding it. I think that theme is pretty timeless and it made it easy to connect with the characters on an emotional level. Georges rambling about the house and the rabbits and the smoke house they’ll have definitely mirror some conversations that I’ve had with friends and community about how to set up stable futures for ourselves and our families. 

For George's performance in particular, the way that he stood in silence during the ensemble scenes communicated just as much as when he was talking. Sitting so close to the stage made it easy to see where his attention was held and it really added to the tension in the conflict scenes being able to see him stew and think things over and shoot warning glances at Lenny or the other characters. 

The set up of the stage also made the conflict scenes more intense. It wasn’t just like watching a room full of men speak through clenched teeth at each other and then break out into violence, it was like being in a room full of men about to break out into a fight which truly verged on unpleasant for me. It definitely kept me deeply invested but it also kind of made me want to hide. 

The theatre was very small and had a very small but responsive audience. There were a few people around me oohing and aahing at particularly pointed lines from the main characters and I think that's another testament to the quality of their performances. I definitely saw a few people wiping away tears when leaving as well. Even though I knew what happened at the end of the story, the final scene was still really tragic and I surprised myself by having to blink away some tears of my own. 

Ad Astra created an intimate space that invited me warmly into the world of the characters and this telling of Of Mice and Men really demonstrated the value and timelessness of the story. 

Images supplied by Ad Astra.