At the bottom of the garden

A dark and mysterious backyard dominates the space of Night Garden. Viewed from either end of CarriageWorks’ cavernous Bay 20, the centrepiece of this stunningly realised stage environment is a small shed in which all of the walls are transparent—a glasshouse, seemingly itching for stones. Surrounding the house is a shadowy lawn incongruously populated with sun lounges, a clothesline and a backyard tennis game that spins lazily around when hit. The audience peers into the backyard through a scorched skeletal wall, and stars glisten far in the distance. Despite the suburban trappings, there’s no sense here of the proximity of any other houses. The building and yard form an island, one in which the inhabitants may not be entirely safe.


Read the rest of my article, published in the print and online editions of RealTime #90, here. Image by Heidrun Lohr.