Strobe no warning

Live dangerously. Strobe light. No warning. So we joked in the car as we drove home. Megan and I had just seen two short plays, God and Pool (no water) performed by the Everyman Theatre Company. This is local theatre, performed in a small space, the Courtyard Theatre, for a small audience, and thank God/s that this theatre exists. It’s a place for experimentation, challenge, humour, even if it does have its rough edges. The two plays were quite different, but the commitment and thought was evident.

God is an early Woody Allen play. It starts with playwrite Hepatitis and slave/actor Diabetes planning how to win a drama competition. Then through interactions with audience from Gunghalin and a quest to the King and the arrival of Zeus as the veritable deus ex machina to the accidental murder of the doll-God. It’s obviously corny and jokey but also sited in its relationship to Ancient Greece and it even deals with some meaty issues of courage and protection and perhaps adulthood in metaphor. The cast did a great job with lots of energy, slapstick presence, audience proximity and mock involvement and some minor props. I wondered how the script had changed for the original (was a phone call to Woody Allen in the original? Northborne Avenue and Gunghalin certainly weren’t). Nice to see a fellow workmate on stage, too, but it’s not the first time. God was written by Woody Allen, directed by Duncan Driver and performed by Jarrad West (Diabetes), Duncan Ley (Hepatitis), Wayne Shephard (Trichinosis), Euan Bowen (King and a Fate), Amy Tinycray Dunham (another fate), Zach Drury (guard). Three others (who came from the audience) are not mentioned in the brochure, Steph Roberts (Diabetes’ girlfriend) and an unnamed other.

Pool (no water) is a weightier production dealing with jealously, success, schadenfreude and such. Four unsuccessful artists visit a fifth who had been part of the team years back, but in now rich and successful amd owns a pool. They party and, later in the night, go to recreate their skinny-dipping exploits, but, in the dark, the successful woman dives into an emptied pool and is seriously injured. The four photographically record her time in hospital and recovery over several months while enjoying the wealthy lifestyle, then destroy the photos after the successful one turns them into a sellable exhibition. The successful one derides the failures and they end happy in suburban life, presumably accepting their artistic failure. The characters and carry on are not likeable or attractive. You can understand the frustration and subsequent pleasure in misfortune but, of course, you don’t admire it. There’s an awareness of failure by these four. It’s not conscious, but spelt out in drugs and sex as they delude themselves. Drugs and sex thus strobes and Hendrix, and skinny-dipping thus (discrete) nudity. This was performed with lots of energy, with four actors playing fives parts, with considerable drama and evident innocence. I was satisfied with the plot finale of settling to family and suburbia although I was uncomfortable that it came so suddenly after the successful one’s climax speech. But the presentation was involving and the theme was challenging. Pool (no water) was written by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Duncan Levy and the cast was was Jarrad West, Steph Roberts, Amy Dunham and Zach Raffan.

Everyman Theatre Company performs the repertoire (Richard III was mentioned) as well as these lesser known works. This was quirky and intelligent and relevant theatre and that’s how I like it.

Amongst the bushes

Speaking in tongues is the theatrical show that became the film Lantana. Much to the disappointment of my wife, I’m not a great film-lover, but I was mightily impressed by Lantana when I saw it. For once, this was an Australian film with a decent script, set in modern Australia, with an intriguing and adult-oriented plot and that wasn’t merely visual.

A play has to be presented differently from a film. This was. It’s a complex plot, with scenes happening in various locations and ongoing unexpected crossings of path by the various couples making up the cast. The first part shows us two couples working through the outcome of one consummated and another unconsummated liaison. It’s cleverly portrayed with unison speeches that highlight predicaments in modern marriage. One couple works it out, the other’s less successful, and paths variously cross when couples negotiate and male and female partners meet in different bars and clubs. The second half sees three more couples: one broken relationship with a pining male and non-committing female; one pained with a wife damaged by a history of child abuse and who then goes missing; the husband of another relationship who is questioned for the murder of the woman who’s disappeared. It’s complex and convoluted and thematically rich. It plays with your expectations and presumptions and leaves topical matters undecided. It even leaves the ultimate resolution undecided, although by implication the plot resolution is clear. The core theme was trust in marriage but there’s more: how people love, how they communicate, rekindling passion, giving emotional support. It’s also noticable that all parties were essentially good-willed despite the affairs. And that they were muddling through, although often not a textbook fashion. It’s a plot of tortuous interactions that explores themes by action and dialogue rather than overt discussion, and I’m still mulling over that title. I also imagine it’s a play for mature audiences with years of marriage under their belts. That’s not to say younger audiences won’t understand it, but I doubt they would feel it quite the same way. A stimulating play and well pesented by Canberra Rep, our local amateur theatre society that is now in its 80th year! Congratulations and best wishes to our august theatre company.

Speaking is tongues was directed by Ross McGregor and featured Rob de Fries (Leon), Helen McFarlane (Sonja), Duncan Ley (Pete), Lainie Hart (Jane), Bridgette Black (Valerie), Eliza Bell (Sarah), Sam Hannan-Morrow (Nic), Raoul Craemer (Neil) and Zach Raffan (John).