Women - Black Martini Theatre (10 June 2016)

Inject modern day attitude and vernacular into a period setting and you get a funny reimagining of the novel Little Women. Set at the end of the American Civil War this iteration of the March family isn’t quite as genteel as one might expect. Of course, the conceit of transporting a sitcom style quartet of sisters to the past is the wellspring for the humour.

At its best this production honours that premise as the sisters played by Shannen Precious (Jo), Cat Perez (Meg), Claire Tebbutt (Amy) and Virginia Cole (Beth) crackle and fizz off each other to amusing effect. When they are separated through (did they have spoiler alerts in the 19^th century?) death and the lure of prospects further afield from dreary Concord, Massachusetts, the play loses a lot of its driving force until the surviving members are reunited at the end. That is more a testament to the chemistry of the core foursome than a reflection of the supporting cast who have important roles in creating the context of the world our heroines have stumbled into.

In essence the play revolves around which sister will become the pre-eminent member of the family and achieve their dreams once Marmee has left to be by their ailing father’s side. Perez brings tremendous sass to her role as Meg with plenty of razor sharp quips and asides. Occasionally though she would appear to address her remarks to the audience with very specific eye contact. That breaking of the fourth wall felt more unintentional rather than a stylistic choice and something to be mindful of. Her main ‘rival’ for ascendancy, Jo, is drolly portrayed by Precious and the contrast in styles worked well. Jo dreams of becoming a writer and her attempts at cajoling her siblings into impromptu performances of original plays sets the tone early.

Tebbutt’s ditzy Amy is played with affectionate naivety in another clearly delineated role. The mock concern for Beth’s fading health is wonderfully zany as she lurks on the fringes of the stage unwilling to come any closer. Cole is all tragic beauty and fragility as Beth succumbs to her fate. It is, by necessity, the most muted role with the exception of a cheeky moment as coughs turn into a beatbox jam.

Surrounding this core are characters that are far more grounded which allows room for the zaniness to work. Notable amongst these are Maddy Jolly Fuentes whose Marmee is maternal concern writ large in a turn that does fit the period in question. Matthew Abercromby is an earnest, kind-hearted Mister Brooke who suffers the moods of the hyper-kinetic Meg in essentially a straight man role. Will Moriarty also lends a certain solemnity as Professor Bhaer. Michael Casas, however, tackles his various characters as if he was indeed in a sitcom and they tended to slide into caricature, given away by an impish grin.

Which leaves Hock Edwards as Laurie to provide the main object of attention as the other great conceit of the play is that none of the sisters has ever met a man before, no, not even a cousin. His is a character that is oddly caught between the archetypal period love interest and a more modern, conflicted interpretation. Edwards has a strong moment when romantic desire turns to humiliation as Laurie is rebuffed by Jo causing the character to flee the country. As you do.

Director Jessica Serio keeps the pace humming along as befits the style of humour. Scene transitions are quick with the stagehands adeptly redressing the set to represent the March household and a few other key locations. The various Perez monologues as Meg ‘reads’ letters to her sisters are more effectively staged when we see the other characters acting out what she imagines is happening in places like New York.

Overall this was a funny production that worked best when the four sisters were together with the banter running thick and fast. This is Black Martini Theatre’s second comedy for the year and it is a niche they are comfortably occupying in the Murdoch theatre firmament.  

Boise, Idaho - Black Martini Theatre (31 March 2016)

Have you ever sat in a cafe sipping a latte gazing across the room at all the other customers wondering who they are, where they’ve come from and what the future might hold? Perhaps you’ve witnessed a demonstrative couple and speculated what the cause of their angst might be; maybe a loving couple sponsors romantic thoughts... or morose ones depending on your mood; and then there’s the body language of a silent pairing that may speak volumes. We imprint our own experiences and desires on anonymous strangers who simply happen to be in the vicinity. If you’re a writer it’s pretty much an occupational hazard.

But what if the targets of your musings knew of the imaginary narrative you were building for them? What if they started to play along, to actually become the alternative versions you conjured? How do you react if your fictional hold becomes so great they come to believe they are the characters in the drama fabricated in your mind? This is the premise for Boise, Idaho, a snappily written 30 minute play produced by Murdoch University’s Black Martini Theatre and directed by first-timer Luke Gratton. 

In a cafe that may be in Paris but certainly isn’t in Idaho a man (Hock Edwards) narrates a tale of love, infidelity, and dead rodents using a couple at a nearby table (Launcelot Ronzan and Tijana Simich) as his inspiration. The couple become aware of his verbal ‘big print’ and soon begin to play along until things get out of hand as the salad flies and the dry cleaning bill mounts. Even the waiter (Tay Broadley) is sucked into this surreal mix of reality and fantasy like the Millennium Falcon caught in a tractor beam. It is clever, funny, and well written as a series of distinct sequences unfold.

Edwards is very good as the Narrator. He dominates the early proceedings delighting in the purple prose used to create a fully realised fantasy world that is exaggerated and absurd. He exhibits good comic timing and underplays the funnier lines to great effect... for no apparent reason.

The inevitable change of gears comes mainly through Simich whose character twigs to the conceit and then is the first to embrace it. She plays well off Ronzan as they work through the initial confusion of their new personas to displaying real emotions of hurt and betrayal as the lines become blurred between fantasy and reality.

Ronzan is largely the straight man here until inhabiting his new identity with quite some exuberance leading to a dark climax that is sensibly undercut with a lighter denouement. Along the way there are some surprising moments that give Broadley’s waiter a genuine reason for cleaning up during final bows.

Simply staged and briskly directed to suit the punchy writing this was the equivalent of having a nicely made coffee with a good muffin or piece of cake at your favourite cafe while daydreaming about that intriguing couple in the corner booth. Just, whatever you do, don’t order the soup and salad. Seriously, trust me on this!

Written by Sean Michael Welch and Directed by Luke Gratton, Boise, Idaho is on at Studio 411 on the Murdoch campus until 2 April and stars Hock Edwards, Launcelot Ronzan , Tijana Simich and Tay Broadley.

Back to Eden - Black Martini Theatre (14 August 2014)

I remarked earlier this evening that I appear to be spending a fair bit of time at universities lately – Curtin with strong and interesting productions at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs; Edith Cowan’s Mount Lawley campus, home of course to WAAPA; and Murdoch which houses a few student theatre companies. I have already seen a couple of productions each from Second Chance Theatre and the Murdoch Theatre Company but tonight it was Black Martini Theatre’s production of Back to Eden at the Drama Workshop, written by Yuri Baranovsky.

The story, in short, revolves around Adam and Eve surrogates Michael and Samantha who are in a place they know not where, having arrived there they know not how, with their memories seemingly wiped. There is, however, a single white door. Through which bounds God-like businessman Andy Corvell who convinces Michael to sign a contract that promises him everything. Except things don’t go as expected for Michael and Samantha who end up getting married and having a child called Rose who rapidly grows as time has no meaning here, or is sped up, or… something. Yes, it’s all a little perplexing with plenty of talk about control and choice and life and suchlike with digs at religion along the way.

Now, for this review we have to discuss the writing before we get to the performances and Black Martini’s work. I had not heard of Yuri Baranovsky before tonight and I struggled with the first act – I didn’t understand the rhythms, I was unclear on tone, and the writing indulged in a lot of wordplay and trying to be clever but it fell flat for me. It also felt quite elliptical and downright obtuse at times. The acting, as a result, was also puzzling in a lot of cases. It was only in the early going of the second act when two armchairs were dragged on stage that it hit me like a freight train – this is, I swear to Corvell, a sitcom script not a stage play. 

Then it all started to make sense. I inserted my own canned mental laugh track and suddenly the odd, verbal riffing, the strange entrances and exits, the ‘guest appearances’ like the mother, the literal ‘mugging to camera’ acting for many characters, and the way it was staged began to work for me. I was in the audience for a live filming of a one-camera situational comedy set in a single location where an unwitting couple fall prey to the whims of God played as a corporate businessman.   

 

Michael Casas as Michael and Amelia Dee as Samantha struggle valiantly but they are playing the ‘straight men’ who don’t know what’s going on in this crazy construct. They have to do so much heavy lifting with Casas the earnest one and Dee the more questioning of the two. The problem here is that when the ‘crazier’ characters are off stage the play flattens out as they are too similar tonally and you can only play variations of “what’s going on?” for so long. There are bursts where Dee’s Samantha in particular seems about to cut loose but they are basically the ‘every-person’ couple trying to comprehend (as the audience is) events and their meaning.

The showy part of Corvell is entertainingly played by Philip Hutton who gives him a larger-than-life persona and after a strange entrance becomes the weird energy that drives the play. This is felt most clearly in his absence for a large part of the second act where we sorely miss his antics. Shannon Rogers is good as the ditzy secretary Jane and, alongside a cute running gag, does have interesting wordplay because it comes more from character not just the writer being clever. Then there’s Darren, one of Corvell’s employees, played by Andrew Trewin, who is, to all intents and purposes, our Kramer in this little sitcom which explains the over-the-top style he uses.

The ensemble is made up of Jessica Serio, Justin Crossley, Karen Hansord, Ryan Partridge, and Tijana Simich. They get to ‘nod and wink’ at the audience outrageously at times and even indulge in a little Pythonesque-style madness as we discover that Michael is indeed “not the Messiah”.

In all I found this an odd play but that was predominantly to do with the writing. It reverts to more traditional form towards the end where a choice finally needs to be made by Michael and Samantha – will they or won’t they walk through the door - and there are amusing parts along the way. I also enjoyed the cheekiness of the programme which included a section for Andy Corvell’s signature!

Directed by Thomas Dimmick and starring Philip Hutton, Amelia Dee, Michael Casas, Shannon Rogers, Andrew Trewin, Jessica Serio, Justin Crossley, Karen Hansord, Ryan Partridge, and Tijana Simich, Back to Eden has three more shows at the Drama Workshop, Murdoch University, 7.30pm Friday and Saturday with a 2pm matinee on Saturday as well.