AGNES OF GOD by Desert Wine

“The truth is out there”

Reviewer: Christian W. Huber
Performance: 27 May 2018

Entering the cold theatre auditorium to witness a production of John Pielmeier’s Agnes of God, this reviewer is puzzled that there are only about 20 audience members in the 388-seat theatre on the final performance. But Desert Wine’s effort to perform in a more professional environment is valiant, and far more deserving of bums on seats than other amateur productions of late.

Dr. Martha Livingstone (Tan Rui Shen) is a court appointed psychiatrist determined to assess the mental stability of Sister Agnes (Lee Jie Ying), a young nun accused of killing her secret newborn child. However, Agnes denies the existence of the child and says that the police had made the whole story up. She is fiercely protected by Mother Miriam Ruth (Tanya Ang), who views Agnes as a rare innocent who is exceptionally close to God. The play goes on with wordy debates between faith and science, and makes the audience choose whose truth they want to believe.

It’s clear that the power of the script trumps all other elements, and the no-frills staging works fine for a company on a tight budget. The minimalist set features Agnes’ simple room in the nunnery on stage right and Livingstone’s office on stage left. Sound and lighting design are kept simple.

With respectable performing credits in other productions, the three actors try their best to perform in front of a sparse auditorium. Tan is too young to play a psychiatrist going through menopause, and Ang is way too young to play a Mother Superior who has grandkids, however their commitment to the piece helps bring some believability to them. Lee’s age best matches that of her character and she brings out the innocence and naivety of Agnes well in the first half, but she is not as convincing when portraying the raw, damaged, and sexually abused side of her character during the hypnosis scenes in Act Two.

An interesting directorial choice is the use of a ‘double’ for Agnes during the hypnosis scene – where Lee reenacts what had happened at the convent, while another actor playing the ‘double’ remains in the doctor’s office miming what she feels in the convent through body convulsions. It is an effective and engaging way to stage this scene, and succeeds in making this reviewer feel unsettled.

That this production has the ability to give this reviewer goosebumps shows that this mystery/thriller can still engage, and sometimes, less is more.

But that the show was only attended by a handful of people is a crying shame.