Shepherd

Liam Maguire’s is a voice that cannot be ignored. His absurdist humour has a razor-sharp edge that's equal parts threatening and hopeful.

Sincerity is a foreign language to millennials and Gen Z. The farce and satire that characterised a lot of the 20th century is also too broad stroke. Living in a realm of relentless memeification, the complex cynicism and use of inversion to confront the bleakness of reality, is confounding. Shepherd is reminiscent of this. It too is confounding.

Five of the six characters in Shepherd seek to relieve themselves from the fuckedupness of the world. (It’s understandable — we suffer neofascism, neoliberalism, violence in many forms, and existential threats of AI and climate catastrophe.) Their chosen coping method? Escape it. Seek bliss in ignorance. Anna (Grace Victoria) is the leader of a cultish getaway. Dressed in flowing white, she has her followers drink from a water bowl, the sacred mixing with the profane in images reminiscent of both the Eucharist and a thirsty dog lapping away in the backyard. Mark (Adam Sollis) is a longtime follower/devotee. Lewis (Mark Paguio), Elsa (Cece Peters), and Kate (Rose Riley) are newer disciples who are missing something, or overwhelmed by something else, and seeking help. Nick (Jacob Warner) has arrived trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Kate.

Warner and Riley give outstanding, riveting performances. Warner colours Nick’s emotional and turbulent outbursts with hilarity due to innovative and shamelessly effective shifts in pitch and tone. Riley takes us with her every step - she is firm and cold, lovesick, actually sick, and defiant. In her performance we see a real piece of ourselves, lost and looking for answers but sceptical of anyone offering them too readily. As Anna, the benefactor of these answers, Victoria is a commanding presence.

While this production showcases writer/director Maguire’s flair for the theatrical and his intimacy with the hyper-absurd, it’s not as cohesive as his 2018 hit Wrath. Abstract and absurd — and executed with undeniably great acting, direction and design — it’s hard to feel well-situated or properly orientated. Thrilling stage images and characters who invite real curiosity are troubled by a script that leaves the audience looking for a good foothold. This being said, the characters are all lost and looking for meaning, and what’s to say that the show shouldn’t make the audience emulate this bewilderment. It’s hard to know which way’s up and down in 2020 but it’s not hard to soak happily in the lunacy of Maguire and Aya Productions’ Shepherd.