OBSERVER: The Heart Beats In Counts Of Eight
Monash Uni Student Theatre’s (MUST) production The Heart Beats in Counts of Eight by Madeleine Willshire, merged dystopia with science-fiction, dark comedy and body horror.
Under Esmé Stripp’s competent direction (assisted by Ava Toon), Willshire’s fascinating play tells of a post-synthetic-revolution society.
Three synthetic beings living quietly in a small apartment, Lou (Eleanor Cooney), Jamie (Farah Abdul-Rahim) and Taxon (Lucas Lines), are strictly controlled by programming and software. When an intruder disrupts their peace, Lou is forced to confront the harsh realities of their dystopian world.
Elsewhere in a laboratory, rogue organic engineer Calida (Thimuthu Dassanayake) is obsessed with surgically and biologically remaking her physical form – at any cost. Here we also meet A-31 (John Burgess), Steph (Alisha Rangwala), Macey (Tatum Anderson) Keva (Ai Lin Tan) and Devis-ers (Anna Manton, Marianne Dubois and Aabshaar Ahmad).
Contributing to the show’s strong production values were Angel Aguinaldo’s splendid set design (assisted by Maya Bergman), Robbie Tatham’s lighting (assisted by Caelan Rogers and Baz Holmes), audio visuals designed by Lisa Baker (assisted by Wynonna Januardi Wibowo), Isla Hickey’s graphic design, Patrick Leong’s musical compositions, sound by Parker Diener, Alice Hengel’s costumes (assisted by Aine Tuohy), and hair, make-up and sound effects by Chloe Sykes (assisted by Jo Granell).
Bravo on the impeccable unison of actors’ choreographed movement in the laboratory scenes, and the perfectly synchronised projected electronic text
The cast presented some good performances, particularly John Burgess (A-31), Tatum Anderson (Macey), Eleanor Cooney (Lou), Thimuthu Dassanayake (Calida) and Lucas Lines (Taxon).
Although expressively delivered, unfortunately some characters’ dialogue was inaudible.
Unnecessary repetition of the ‘F’ word was disappointing, unimaginative and lowered the tone of a creative script.
The Heart Beats in Counts of Eight is described as ‘an allegory for the diversity of experiences of neurodivergence.’
Congratulations to playwright Made-leine Willshire for succeeding in creating awareness of the issues and realities for autistic and ADHD individuals who ‘navigate a world built for neurotypical people.’
Review by Cheryl Threadgold