A visceral tale of violence and revenge

The Bleeding Tree
Southwark Playhouse, London, until June 22

Sinister occurrences in remote Australian locations have been a rich source of drama since Picnic at Hanging Rock – the story of a group of schoolgirls who disappear on an outing – and A Cry in the Dark, the Meryl Streep film about a dingo that seemingly made off with a couple’s baby in the outback.

Angus Cerini’s The Bleeding Tree is a startling addition to the genre, focusing on a mother and her two daughters who are finally driven to murder the brutish man they have suffered in silence for too many years in a small town miles from anywhere.

The production marks the directorial debut of Sophie Drake and she is clearly a remarkable talent. This is an imaginative and compelling rendition of a tale that directors with significantly more experience would almost certainly have found challenging.

She has coaxed performances of mesmerising intensity out of her three actors. Mariah Gale is superb as the matriarch hovering only just this side of sanity. As her children, Elizabeth Dulau and Alexandra Jensen make the most of their respective journeys towards the acceptance of an horrific act. Asaf Zohar adds to the sense of unease with some great sound design.

There are shades of the three witches out of Macbeth in the intent of the women and the actors double up rather brilliantly as a succession of inquisitive locals who come to see what has happened to the women’s victim.

Drake is shrewd enough to leave the real horror of the story largely to the imaginations of the theatre-goers and letting her actors’ expressions – rather than the words – communicate a great deal of the mounting sense of menace.

Jasmine Swan’s set and costume design, together with Ali Hunter’s lighting, make this a stylish and good-looking production, but it’s Drake’s assured hand on the tiller that makes it work so terrifyingly well.