Birthdays and more lost

Now, this was a strange thing, No-one actually knew Wanda June, at least no-one in this family. She was in Heaven. It was her Birthday cake that appeared sometime during the first act. It was on sale and bought for a lost husband's birthday. WJ had just died in an accident and her parents hadn't picked up the cake. This was a play by Kurt Vonnegut of Slaughterhouse 5 fame and more. KV had been a POW outside Dresden when it was flattened by Allied bombing so he was early to be concerned with mass killings. The story was set in 1972 and some scenes some time before and in Heaven where time is immaterial. Apparently shuffleboard is all the rage there, with Wanda June and various military types. 1972 is just post hippies and Summer of Love and Vietnam so it was inevitable there was at least one peace necklace being worn, by a new-age doctor, Norbert Woodly. He's to be engaged to Penelope Ryan. PR has a son, Paul. Her husband, Harold, had been pronounced dead after being missing 15 years. He had been a seriously male ex-soldier and game hunter. PR was also being pursued by Herb Shuttle, a very successful vacuum cleaner salesman. He's the one who bought the cake ... for Harold's birthday. Harold had been lost in South America with his helicopter pilot buddie, Looseleaf Harper, famed for dropping the A-bomb on Nagasaki (the actual pilot was Charles W Sweeney flying the B-29 bomber called Bockscar). Suffice to say Harold and Looseleaf arrive home unexpectedly and all manner of unhappiness ensues. Strange play. Nicely done by our longstanding Canberra Rep company at Theatre 3 with sickly 70s-coloured scenery and costumes and relevant musical cues. But strange; interesting but strange. There's a final dust-up between Norbert and Harold, Harold the clever and confident man of arms and Norbert the new man carrying the power of words and emotions. It's not surprising (or, for that matter, convincing) how it turns out, but no spoiler. Perhaps the most touching part, in a play that speaks with irony rather than heart, is Looseleaf's turning at the end. And Penelope's singular strength and independence. So there's some good even if the world tends to death and Heaven.

Canberra Rep presented Happy Birthday Wanda June, a play by Kurt Vonnegut. Performers were Jess Waterhouse (Penelope Ryan), Nick Dyball (Paul Ryan), Michael Sparks (Harold Ryan), David Bennett (Looselead Harper), Rowan McMurray (Herb Shuttle), Peter Holland (Norbert Woodly), Jemima Phillips (Wanda June), Iain Murray (Major Monigswald) and Antonia Kitzel (Mildred Harper) under Cate Clelland (Director).

Fate and the Bard

It was a week of Shakespearean coincidences last week. I viewed a video remake of Macbeth from the BBC ShakepeaRe-told series then attended a Canberra Rep production of Humble boy, a recent play on a Hamlet theme. But the strange thing was meeting Duncan during the interval who warned me of naming “The Scottish Play”. Spooky! Not really, but the plays were interesting.

The Macbeth was one of a series of four BBC TV plays. These were retellings in modern guise, with new script, in different surroundings, but basically following the plot of the original. And as you’d expect from today’s Britain, this was clever and engrossing. Joe Macbeth is the sous chef and Ella, Joe’s wife, is Maître d' for the Michelin 3-starred restaurant of celebrity chef Duncan Docherty. Committed chefs Joe and Billy Banquo are upset that Duncan gets the credit and his son Malcolm will get the business. Three rubbish collectors appear with predictions and deaths follow, and Joe must beware of head waiter Peter Macduff. Ring any bells? Beautiful stark imagery, clever interpretation and clear parallels. With TV like this you can really believe in a Cool Britannia.

The Hamlet derivative was an award-winning play that premiered in London around 2004. Felix Humble’s father has died. His mother, Flora, is planning an overhasty marriage to George Pye (the future Humble-Pyes). She was an ex-model with a taste for the good life who married a bright but mild schoolteacher with training in biology and who kept a well weeded garden and had a passion for bees. Felix, estranged from his mother, is an astrophysicist with a nervous stutter. There are various twists around old lovers (presumably Rose as Ophelia, but much more steady), an unknown daughter, the father’s ashes (Yorick’s skull?), the meek neighbour Mercy (Polonius?), Jim the gardener as the ghost and references to bumblebees and black holes and even to Glen Miller. It was entertaining and sometimes touching, and clever, especially if you know its source, Hamlet. The cast was James Scott (Felix), Naoné Carrel (Flora), Helen Vaughan-Roberts (Mercy), Jason Savage (Jim, the gardener), David Bennett (George Pye) and Jodi McAlister (Rose, George’s daughter). Humble Boy was written by Charlotte Jones and directed by Corille Fraser for the Canberra Repertory Society. Another clever piece of English literary art.