Performance - December 2007
Date: 20-Dec-07
Author: Valley Artists
Like most of my wife's sterling efforts to involve me in activities that do not involve my couch and the teev, attending the play initially met with some resistance. I was not immediately swayed either by her insistence that she couldn't do a review of the play (being the OON Coordinator) or that the deadline was too close for her to engage one of the 87 MILLION creative talents dwelling behind every rock, bush and tree in the valley.
Happily, she ignored my protests and through the application of some carefully targeted selective deafness and not really subtle emotional blackmail, I found myself seated 5 rows back in the left wing of seating as the lights went down and the fun began.
Ably directed by Fiona Burless, Absurd Person Singular examines over three Christmas's the changing fortunes of the three couples that make up the play's cast.
As the couples steadily swap places on the societal ladder over course of the play, the cast are given ample opportunity to explore a gamut of emotions ranging from Sidney (Darren Philip) and Jane's (Shea Thommeny) desperate eagerness to impress in the first act through to the similarly desperate attempts by Geoffrey (Stephen Pembroke), Eva (Karen Butler-Hues), Ronald (Neville Newman) and Marion (Bronwyn Duncan) to avoid exposing themselves to the success of the younger couple in the third.
Bronwyn Duncan and Neville Newman portray Marion and Ronald's stone dead loveless marriage very nicely and had Bronwyn been breathalysed immediately after the show I'm fairly confident she would have blown off the scale such was the quality of her performance as the permanently inebriated Marion.
Stephen Pembroke gently underplayed what would have been a character very easy to go over top with and it was nice to see how Geoffrey changed through the play.There was very nice interplay between him and Karen Butler-Hues throughout but particularly in the chaotic second act during which Karen spoke very little but communicated brilliantly the length and breadth of her (happily poorly executed) suicidal stumbling. Seldom has a snapped pencil spoken so clearly.
There was nothing underplayed about Darren and Shea's portrayal of the aggressively ambitious and eager to impress Sidney and Jane whose roles demanded nothing short of single minded head down bum up go forward in the best traditions of a bulked up Australian forward pack.The manic party game finale in which both Sidney and Jane extract a measure of revenge for the other's previous poor attitude is executed hilariously by both.
Added to the performances of the main actors was the high production values for which local productions have been previously known and I personally got almost as much joy from identifying the different (constantly changing) components of each set as from the actors sterling performances.
And Tim Reeks - fantastic barking in the wings.
Matt Thomas
Coming in April 2008
Valley Artists present
The much loved Australian Play
by Michael Gow
AWAY
At times funny and yet painfully truthful, Away exposes the comedy and tragedy of three Australian families thrown together by a storm during the summer holidays of 1967/68.
This is a superbly written play that captures the Australian spirit, makes us laugh at ourselves and tugs at our hearts.
Away will be directed by Bob Philippe (Come to Bits,The Removalists, Hotel Sorrento,Aladdin, Honour,The Importance of Being Earnest and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.)
Traditionally the play has a cast of 7 actors who double up on a number of roles.Valley Artists, however, can offer the opportunity to 12 actors to play the characters who range in age from 18 to 55 years.
The characters include:
