[THEATRE REVIEW] BERLIN @ The MC Showroom Review (2023)

Sometimes I find that there are a special theatre shows that so quickly draw you into the story at hand that you forget that you are watching a work of fiction. That happened to me last night as I sat in The MC Showroom watching Berlin – the latest production from director Erica Chestnut.

A friend who had seen the last production of Berlin in Melbourne warned me that I would be captivated by the story of hand and as it turns out they couldn’t have been more right because this well-written play, from the pen of Joanna Murray-Smith, took me on an unexpected journey of suspense and intrigue.

The story is deceptively simple. Tom (Lachlan Hamill), an Australian tourist in Berlin, has flirted with barmaid Charlotte (Georgia Latchford) while she is working, and she has decided to bring him back to apartment. Their chosen foreplay is discussions on the things that make them tick and the various artistic endeavours they enjoy. But it was lies underneath that really takes the audience on a journey and that soon bubbles to the surface.

To be honest I never predicted where the storyline of Berlin was going to end up. At the beginning I was marvelling how well Joanna Murray-Smith had managed to capture that awkward moment when you first arrive back at somebody’s place.

I have found in the past that less skilled playwrights often write these kinds of scenes in an unbelievable way because they try to write out anything that may appear awkward. They forget that moments like that are supposed to be awkward and by leaving the dialogue the way that it should be made me feel that the script was completely natural, and I think that was what helped me fall into the world of Charlotte and Tom.

As a playwright myself I also found myself marvelling at the way that Murray-Smith didn’t sign-post what was going to happen later on in the play, and she certainly didn’t over-write anything to ‘fill in’ time to get that moment. Every piece of dialogue, every line, in Berlin gives the audience important information about the characters we are watching. I found as an audience member that early on I began to feel that something wasn’t right between these two but I never for a moment guessed that it would end up with story that we had at the finale.

While I don’t want to giveaway any spoilers, I did want to highlight the fact that Murray-Smith’s script goes into some deep topics that are rarely discussed in society. Having a close friend from Germany I can honestly say that some of themes explored in Berlin are things that many Germans think and worry about frequently, so it was good to see these topics brought out into the open.

I also found what drew me into this play so easily were the performances of Georgia Latchford and Lachlan Hamill. They both seem to become their characters so well and they play out what is on the page so well. Both show the awkwardness between the two characters early on, without over-acting it, and then portray the closeness that the characters create between them as the play goes on.

While some of that must be put down to great directing from Erica Chestnut a lot of it also comes down to how well Latchford and Hamill understand their characters. Both performers here are brilliant and I can only hope that in the future I get the opportunity to see them more theatre performances and perhaps on screen, as both have the talent to do so.

Adding to the natural feel of Berlin is the set as well. In way it is minimalistic but, in another sense, it made me feel like I was right there in Charlotte’s apartment. Given that some of the set becomes part of the plot later credit must be given to the set design in working the way it does and to the lighting team who are very good at getting their audience to look where they want them to.

Berlin is one of the most surprising theatrical gems of 2023. It is brilliantly written and is brought to life by a director and cast that are unique in their ability to make the audience feel like they are witnessing an actual event. Georgia Latchford and Lachlan Hamill deliver two of the best performances that you will see in theatre this year while the subject matter of Berlin will have you thinking about it for a long time to come.