Time is certainly on the mind of all involved with this
production of Joanna Murray-Smith’s examination of a once vibrant relationship
now defunct. How the passage of time changes who we are and how we relate to
others, particularly our significant other. But also in the major device in the
construction of this two-hander – Isabel (Katrina Murphy) has requested exactly
ninety minutes of her about-to-be-remarried ex-husband’s time.
William (Gino Cataldo) is less than enthused on his arrival at
her artist’s residence but after the initial sparring they soon reminisce about
the high and low points of their time together. The production plays out in
real time for that hour and a half with flashbacks to how they first met; their
honeymoon in Europe; the birth of their daughter; and the tragedy that
ultimately dooms the marriage.
In many ways this play reminds me of Scott McArdle’s Coincidences at the End of Time where
two former lovers meet and relive their relationship as the world crumbles
around them. In that play though, time is about to end forever so there is urgency
to the remembrances with considerable weight to the revelations that are
ultimately teased out. Here the faux ‘ticking clock’ of the ninety minutes feels like a gimmick that has more to do with the running time then any
mechanism to generate urgency and stakes as time ticks down. More importantly,
I didn’t understand what Isabel’s goal was to ask for such a specific block of
time – it seemed like a lot of extraneous hard work to set up such an
artificial device with no actual purpose. They spar, they remember, they part.
The writing was particularly stylised and oftentimes I did
not believe that two people – people who had, it turned out, experienced so
much together – would talk to each other like that (“You promised me ninety!”).
Then again, Isabel is an art restorer and William is a newly minted Golden
Globe winning actor so there was a sense of artifice to the many art and
theatrical references with the occasional curious, dated pop culture references
thrown in (Bozz Scaggs anyone?). Of course, William is significantly older than
Isabel having been her teacher so there is naturally a disparity in the
comparative frames of reference.
The use of the ‘restored painting metaphor’ was heavy-handed
as well – as layers are peeled away we ‘see’ who the subjects of a painting
really are. Finally there are times the characters appear to be addressing the
audience more than they are each other – this was odd as it robbed us of
intimacy and insight as if they were simply regurgitating memories instead of
experiencing them.
My biggest problem with the play though is that it was
performed at the same pace and measured tone during its length. Murphy was a
warm and engaging presence but was so throughout – it is suggested that Isabel
is the far more sexually adventurous of the two but I never saw that edge of
‘danger’ nor any passion or ‘spark’ between them. William is an award
winning actor but Cataldo never gives him that sense of theatricality – there
were moments that could have been played ‘big’ and even the stylised dialogue
could have really been emphasised as a ‘performance’. This meant that when his
final monologue comes – a time when all artifice should be absent and we see
true grief and rawness – it doesn’t have the same impact.
There needed to be more gear changes along the journey to
earn the emotional climaxes for both characters. It would have also helped with
characterisation - William largely comes off as a prick. When he tells Isabel in
the early going why he doesn’t love her anymore he doesn’t just run over her
with the bus he reverses the damn thing and steamrolls the poor girl’s prone
body a few times in a verbal outburst that was quite shocking. Now, if he was
being an ‘Actor’ I might have forgiven the excess but here it made it almost
impossible for me to identify with the character.
The one sequence that did work well is when Isabel, the
young female student, rings her teacher William and propositions him for sex. He
is the reluctant one and amusingly, Isabel tells him that he should be
‘stalking’ her. When he does turn up at her flat she initially denies all
knowledge of the call. This sense of play needed to be used more to break up
the ‘sameness’ of the production. The actors had a beautifully designed set to
perform in as the artist’s loft was lovingly rendered and the lighting cues
certainly helped with the flashback sequences.
For me the writing was problematic but this is the sort of
play that needed to be far more adventurous within the conceit that was set up
to really work.
Directed by Brendan Ellis, Written by Joanna Murray-Smith
and starring Katrina Murphy and Gino Cataldo, Ninety’s final performance is
tonight at the Garrick Theatre.
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