Review: Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘An excellent piece of direction’

Lowri Mathias has proven herself. This one-hour production of Picnic at Hanging Rock was a chance in her Bristol Old Vic Theatre School course to show off her directing style – and she rose to the challenge magnificently.

Based on the classic Australian novel, the play tells the story of a school trip gone horribly wrong. Setting off from a girl’s boarding school for an outing, four schoolgirls and a teacher leave the group to climb Hanging Rock.

Only one girl returns. Three of the others are never found. The fourth, discovered alive sometime later, swears no knowledge of what happened on the trip.

BOVTS Directors’ Festival, Picnic at Hanging Rock, directed by Lowri Mathias and designed by Matthew Cassar – photo: Craig Fuller

In a flawless first half, the long monologue of the script is transformed into an engaging display of shared storytelling. The five actors (Eve Pereira, Tanvi Virmani, Carlie Diamond, Rebecca Hyde and Louise O’Dowd) dart around the stage, turning school tables and chairs into a wagon, stepping stones and the crags of Hanging Rock.

The lines pass quickly between them, told with energy and a sense of fun. Characters are brought to life with gusto (and varying success at mastering the Australian accent).

Driving the action on is a soundtrack evocative of the Australian outback. It starts innocuously, morphing without fanfare into the ever-more-ominous ticking of a clock.

Picnic at Hanging Rock – photo: Craig Fuller

The transition to danger happens without the audience realising until it is well underway, in much the same way that walkers in trouble do not realise their plight until they are halfway up a mountain with the weather beginning to turn.

The rest of the play follows the fallout of the picnic, from the discovery of one of the girls to the psychological impact on the other students. Yet there is a narrative that stands askew from the events at Hanging Rock, involving the bullying of student Sara by her cruel teacher. The non-relation of this subplot to the rest makes it seem odd, and has the audience guessing in vain how it will all tie in to the central plot.

Meanwhile, in the story that underpins the play, well chosen theatrical devices are deployed brilliantly, particularly in the fragmentary and disturbing second half, where the tropes of the schoolroom are given unsettling new life.

Picnic at Hanging Rock – photo: Craig Fuller

Desks light up the lost girls with eerie glows, and blackboard chalk is used to scratch cryptic messages on the floor and walls. The bright lighting of the first half is now overtaken by a dark and ill-lit stage, cast with pale spotlights. Torches are used to great effect.

The performances deserve credit all-round for skill, liveliness and invention in delivery. In particular, Rebecca Hyde as the cruel Mrs Appleby and Tanvi Virmani in a variety of roles bring extra stage presence and passion to their performances.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is an excellent piece of direction by Lowri Mathias, and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Picnic at Hanging Rock – photo: Craig Fuller

Picnic at Hanging Rock runs as part of the Bristol Directors Festival 2022, taking place at The Wardrobe Theatre on May 5-7 and 12-14 at 7.30pm, with some 2.30pm matinee shows. Tickets are available per double bill, or for the whole festival, from www.bristololdvic.org.uk, where you can find full details about each of the plays being staged.

Main photo: Craig Fuller

Read more: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School presents its 16th annual Directors’ Festival

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