The Daylight Atheist
Produced by Sydney Theatre Company

Cast: Max Cullen

Book: Tom Scott

Publicist: Wesley Slattery, Patrick Shand

Australian Premiere: Wharf 1, Sydney. January 8, 2005.


The Lowdown:
The first show of the Sydney Theatre Company's 2005 subscription season.


AussieTheatre.com Review:
About half-way through the second act of The Daylight Atheist, my mind began to wander. I started to think about what the Sydney Theatre Company's aims and goals were in general, let alone what their plans for 2005 may be. This was partly because the play was losing my attention, but I like many others was hoping this year would be much better than last for Sydney's leading theatre company.

The company's official profile says they are a major force in Australian drama and that "Sydney Theatre Company produces theatre of the highest standard that consistently illuminates, entertains and challenges."

I pondered that for a while, before coming to the conclusion that the Sydney Theatre Company is quickly losing it's stance as the best of the best. Sure, The Daylight Atheist is an enjoyable play, but the quality of the writing probably suits one of Sydney's leading independent theatres as opposed to a fully professional and respected theatre company. To put it bluntly, STC is getting lazy.

The play is performed solo by Max Cullen, who can't be faulted, and focuses on Dan Moffat, an Irish born no-hoper who eventually settles in New Zealand with his wife, who he calls Dingbat, and his children. He develops a serious drinking problem and from there the story is pretty typical: work problems, family problems and the crumbling of everything he holds close.

What isn't typical is the ending - there's no "overcoming the odds to lead a happy life", instead Moffat is ultimately confined to his room where he wittles away the remaining days of his life. He took things too far for them to ever be repaired.

There's a message in the text that is dying to escape but it doesn't get out. Instead the play loses its audience mid-way through the second act and by the time it ends the applause is more one of relief than gratitude. If the writing was a little tighter, this just may have worked, because there's nothing wrong with the story itself and Cullen is brilliant. The staging, too, deserves to be commended.

If this play had been staged at the Old Fitzroy Theatre or the Darlinghurst Theatre, I would leave it at that, but the fact that one of the most professional theatre companies in the country staged this production concerns me greatly. Is this the best they have to offer? If the rest of the 2005 season follows this path, then it could be worse than what was an awful 2004 season, with a one or two notable exceptions.

As for The Daylight Athiest, don't go if you're expecting an enlightening play with a happy ending, because you'll get neither. There's certainly no happy ending, and apart from one or two poignant scenes, there's no real substance and the entertainment factor remains in first gear.

Let's hope the next one is better.


Production Shots: