The Bloomshed’s transformation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost is a messy, hilarious play, bringing the story of Adam (Edan Goodall) and Eve (Elizabeth Brennan) into a contemporary context. This fall of man, by way of KPIs and corporate bureaucracy, comes when archangel Michael (Emily O’Connor) announces at a conference of ‘angel investors’ that humans will replace angels as the servants of God. Michael swiftly creates Eve out of Adam’s rib, as the story goes, and then tries to instruct them on what sex is. It sounds crass, and could have been, but all three actors involved in this scene have a refined sense of comic timing that makes it work. Adam and Eve’s depiction as a smug, tracksuit-wearing young couple, at first gleefully attending to their duties in paradise, is bold and subversive, and the satirical elements, which parallel the hierarchy of heaven with the absurdities of late-stage capitalism, feel original and scathing. There’s also an inclusion of John Milton himself (James Malcher), who is also God, whose deadpan narration is routinely hilarious.
The humour is strong and frequent throughout, with twists on Biblical stories and jokes reliable sources of laughs. Gags about contemporary happenings in Australian news feel a touch tacked-on, but are effective more often than not. The humour is generally risky and high-concept, which is to be commended, but there are a few painful moments of repetition: the first joke referencing John Milton’s blindness is funny, but the rest just feel backwards. The performances are also deeply impressive from the young actors: particular highlights include Elizabeth Brennan’s nuanced performance of Eve, which packs a metaphysical punch in the closing minutes of the play, and James Jackson as Satan, who is a master of facial expression and evokes a curious kind of pathos. While the script does feel a touch overpacked, with an ending that feels uninspired and abrupt, the quality of the gags is good enough that these flaws don’t do much to take away from the sheer fun of the piece.
Paradise Lost is an exciting play from The Bloomshed, and its subversive, absurdist take on Adam and Eve is a glowing success.
