By Katie Barnes
Unless your last name is Kidman, Crowe or you were cast in recent television hit shows House or Lost, it is rare to hear the Australian accent boomerang through the acting business of LA.
Yet booming from the stage of Springboard Theater’s production of Beautiful Souls is an Aussie story of human consequences that emerge from attempting to smuggle drugs while backpacking in Thailand.
Based on true events in 2003 that made national headlines Down Under, it is a bleak reality that execution often awaits those who are accused or convicted of such a serious crime in a non-western country.
Written as a one-act by Sven Swenson, three fellow travelers find themselves thrown into a Thai jail with nothing but prison walls between them. In lieu of death-by-hanging or a miraculous release to freedom, each realizes the mental and emotional barriers that have blocked their way toward true human interaction, love and intimate disclosure.
That these interpersonal ideas may have sealed their fates long before their physical arrests is a deeply sad and tragic revelation about the ironic and intricate nature of our inner lives- how often we are unwilling to open to each other in love and human spirit until we are about to lose ourselves and our loved ones for eternity.
The production is supported by ANIDA (Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art) and stars Australian drama school graduates Luke Wright and Emma Dean. The third role is played by rising young American actor, Jake Robards, who deserves special mention for his ability to produce an almost flawless “down under” drawl.
The cast is young, talented and believable in their roles and it would be interesting to see the production develop given the chance to play an extended run while at the Hudson Mainstage, one of Hollywood’s better known and most successful small theaters on Theater Row.
With set design and lighting serving to further isolate the characters from themselves and yet unite them in their plight with the audience, the final moments were a chilling indictment on the harsh terms laid out for detainees involved in such a case.
But the provocative use of a sweet yet haunting singsong melody was the note that confirmed the production’s tug at one’s heart, leaving solemn and bewildering questions as to how three young people had made decisions while vacationing, that ultimately cost them their lives.
Photo credit: Michael Gottlieb
