A Man With Five Children

What is 'celebrity'? What is 'reality' and how do we put it on the tele? To what extent is the onlooker, the man behind the camera, or the camera itself a faithful documentary maker, or the creator of its own fictive world?

Nick Enright's A Man With Five Children is a compelling narrative of Gerry, a filmmaker, who undertakes a project to film five children for one day of their lives each year from when they're seven to when they're 21. It's to be a faithful account of how people change; an unadulterated account of life in Australia from 1972. The key word is "faithful", as the voyeur makes and breaks his faith with those children, and they with him, time and again over their lives.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company's production paints this picture tremendously well. Their use of large-scale projections to fracture temporality, to superimpose the kids' young dreams over their tragedies, was masterfully done. The actors were authentic at all ages, whether they were young rapscallions meeting at the zoo, unsure of how to put one foot in front of the other, or mothers and fathers dealing with loss. Jeremy Waters (Gerry) gave a touching rendition of one man's struggle between documentary and creation. All at once he would remain distant from the kids, a camera between them and himself, but his voice would override distance, poking and prodding the story into something more than the lives he was given.

A Man With Five Children is tantalising, interesting, and a pleasure to watch.