Lovelock's Dream Run
By David Geary
New Theatre, Sydney, until April 5
Review by Brendan Doyle
David Geary's play tells the story of Howard, unhappy pupil at a New Zealand boarding school, who is obsessed with his school's sporting hero, Jack Lovelock, a veteran of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Howard, who rebels against the macho style of this small-town private school for boys, escapes to a fantasy world that takes him to Hitler's games and Lovelock's sporting triumphs.
Director Ken Boucher has chosen a totally open set for this dynamic production, where the action moves fluidly between the school and 1936 Berlin, aided by slide projections showing Lovelock in various periods of his life, including as Olympic champion.
An all-male cast of nine do a good job of recreating the claustrophobic world of the boarding school, well-known to the playwright, where Howard is punched by a sadistic senior prefect on his first day for not marching properly. There are scenes of ritual humiliation, too, where Howard and his close friend Nick are beaten by the others for homosexual behaviour. Howard is in love with Nick, a Maori boy.
As fantasy overtakes Howard, who must escape the painful world of school, he is shown meeting his hero in Berlin. But when his realises that Lovelock was not a homosexual as he had believed, Howard becomes disillusioned and runs away from school, and identifies instead with a famous woman flying ace.
But Howard has learned one valuable lesson from Lovelock — "laugh when you lose". This stands him in good stead when he returns to school where, instead of trying to be a sporting hero, he puts on a play about Lovelock, which becomes a great success among the other boys.
This is an adventurous production that has many disparate elements and merges reality and fantasy in a freewheeling way. It's a style of theatre that hovers between comedy, drama and sheer fantasy. Boucher's use of space and the lighting design are outstanding. My only reservation is that I did not feel greatly involved with Howard's situation, which keeps flying off into theatricality.
This aside, I recommend this production of a play that boldly takes on issues of homosexuality, everyday repression and striving to become who you really are, as opposed to some hero you worship. It's a play that says much about growing up as a male in a macho society.