Engine is about relationships that are shattered as a result of an unexpected traumatic event. The event in this case is the death of Stevie, brother of Natasha and grandson of Grumpop, in a car crash. Engine was developed by playwright Janis Balodis and director Julian Louis in response to a fatal car crash in northern New South Wales. In essence, the play attempts to explore how a family responds to the all-too-familiar Australian crisis of the death of a young man by car.

Natasha in her grief is obsessed with finishing the car that Stevie was creating prior to his life being cut short. Grumpop, a retired mechanic, is reluctant to assist her. Natasha’s parents cling to memories of Stevie, wishing him back, through a haze of pill-taking and miscommunication. Natasha cannot speak of her loss openly. Rather she retreats into a cycle of self-harm. Grumpop just want to put it all behind him.

The play unfolds in a family garage and centres upon the lives and reactions of two characters – Natasha (Stevie’s sister) played by Melanie Zanetti and Grumpop (Natasha and Stevie’s grandfather) played by Bob Baines. Other characters are woven through the story such as Natasha’s mother and father, the family priest and Stevie’s best mate. We also glimpse Stevie in flashback.

Engine is not verbatim theatre nor is it docu-drama. The playwright and director have used the circumstances of a real event and created a fictional dramatic world in which to explore the aftermath for the individuals, friendships and families resulting from a tragic car crash. It is difficult to label the type of theatre that Engine is. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but in this case what the play suffers from is a confusion of genres. It could be classed as a Theatre in Education (TIE) work in the classic style of issues-based theatre. It could be classed as adult main-stage work. Yet it achieves neither of these genres successfully. The somewhat predictable and didactic response to the topic combined with a mostly declamatory acting style leaves little room for the audience to enter the work or generate a personal response.

The shining light in the production is Melanie Zanetti who deftly handled the playing of multiple roles (mother and Stevie) as well as Natasha with some lightening quick changes in physical and vocal delivery. Zanetti has an engaging and visceral presence in the work. Unfortunately, the multiple characters played by Bob Baines do not work. Baines copes with the demands of creating a grumpy grandfather and priest well as both are close to his own age. However, when Baines plays Stevie and Stevie’s best mate the physical body betrays the believability required for the teenage characters.

Baines’ awkwardness in the teenage roles was amplified through the use of predictable teenage male costume tropes of black t-shirt, hoodie or cap. The community outside the immediate family and Stevie’s friends are played by a chorus of four student actors drawn from three Brisbane high schools. The three groups rotate between performances throughout the season. The student actors support the action vocally and physically with confidence and clarity. They blend in with the action. However it must be asked, if the production explores the lives of young people why were the student actors not given the roles of Stevie and Stevie’s best mate to enhance the realism of the piece as portrayed through the dialogue? This is a real opportunity missed.

Engine has the potential be cast in the mould of The Property of the Clan (later Blackrock) which also began its life as a dramatic response to a community in grief after the death of a young girl on a beach in Newcastle. The Property of the Clan allowed space for a New South Wales Central Coast community to heal and reconcile. The program notes for Engine state;

“When Julian took up his position at NORPA the community was still torn by the loss of young lives in an horrific car crash. He wanted to do something that investigated and reflected what goes on with young people in cars.”

Unlike The Property of the Clan moments of reconciliation or revelation are fleeting. The narrative arc is rather flat in structure, again pushing the audience to a position of passive observer, not active investigator. Thankfully, the production does not try to attribute blame for the crash on speed, alcohol, over-powerful cars clutched by inexperienced drivers. But it doesn’t say anything of substance about the issue either.

It is interesting to note that not too far from La Boite at Kelvin Grove in Brisbane where Engine played another production exploring the same issue was in season at the Scenic Rim Arts and Cultural Centre in Beaudesert. Crash by Goat Track Theatre Company explores similar circumstances of events leading up to a tragic car crash and the impact of the event on people in a small regional town.

Clearly this is an issue and widespread experience for Australian families and their young people that demands attention and dramatic exploration. You only have to drive around large cities, regional towns, highways and country roads to see the increasing number of improvised road-side memorials to young lives lost to high speed motor vehicle accidents. Sadly, Engine doesn’t run on all four cylinders.

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