Highs and lows at Hanging Rock...

Adapted into a play by Laura Shamas, “Picnic at Hanging Rock” is based on the 1967 novel by Lady Joan Lindsay and was made into a film by director Peter Weir in 1977, released in N.A. in 1979.

Set in 1900 the weather is beautiful outside but everything is not always sunny inside a private boarding school for a group of Australian schoolgirls as a romantic Valentine's Day outing ends in intrigue. The girls are taken on an excursion to a picnic to Hanging Rock in Victoria’s Mount Macedon. Four girls wonder off but only one returns. A teacher also disappears. It is a mystery how they went missing and why the one survivor remembers nothing.  The constable and many of the townsfolk try to solve the mystery of what has happened to the three students and the mathematics teacher on top of the jagged peaks of Hanging Rock? A delicate look at crisis, greed and honesty at the turn of the century it is a hauntingly ironic play showing that what seems pristine and
proper on the outside may not be free of moral corruption on the
inside. The final climactic twist is shocking and bittersweet, with an impact that is unforgettable.

Directed by Barbara Kelly and acted in by Dawson’s third year Professional Theatre students.

-Website:  www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca

The 'highs' of the production are: A first act that starts off well paced and choreographed introducing the audience to the large array of characters. Mrs. Appleyard, the matron and headmistress of the college who nips brandy on the sly, is brilliantly portrayed by Stephanie Costa with a 'spot on' performance she interprets her role to perfection. The beautiful young French teacher Mademoiselle De Poitiers, who may know more than she will say to the authorities, is played by Nadia Elena Radu with a measured comedic touch and mystery. The costumes by Elizabeth Cognard are very appealing as well.

The 'lows' and there are many to enumerate: Starting with the accents used by the actors that are undefinable for the better part, and which unfortunately quickly remind the audience that they are watching a 'student' production. The blocking choices by directing the actors to endless treks through the audience, behind the upstage set, and laborously climbing up or down the stage mote to depict the distances traveled by the characters is condecending to the audience at best. And the click clack of high heels on the plywood set, echoing throughout the space, sound nothing like climbing on rocks. Finally, the endless blackouts between the multiple scene changes in act two are not only distracting but dizzying to the eye. Act two suffers from rushing to the end of the story making the audience more anxious to get the experience overwith than to discover 'who done it?'.

There is a musical version of this play, which at first inspection seems to be the right vehicule to interpret the story based on the above production that lacks content and consistency. The music could serve as the missing element needed to weave the story and enhancing the quality of the production to a more entertaining and audience pleasing play.

The musical
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGqyruGh1W0