Written and performed by Max Cullen
Directed by Caroline Stacey
The Street Theatre 25 May - 1 June, 2013
Review by Len Power 25 May 2013
‘I wasn’t always a journalist. I used to be normal.’ Lennie Lower, Australian journalist and humourist
of the 1930s and 40s, is the subject of Max Cullen’s one person play. According to the program notes, Lower’s one
novel, ‘Here’s Luck’, published in 1930, became a classic of Australian humour. As for Lower himself, he was small, dark, nervous
and described as ‘serious’, ‘melancholy’, ‘morose’, a marvellous talker and a
legendary drinker, all challenging character traits for an actor/writer to work
on.
Caroline Stacey’s production at The Street Theatre is generally
well-staged on a clever cartoon-like set with great visual projections both
designed by Margarita Georgiadis. The
lighting design by Nick Merrylees and sound design by Seth Edwards-Ellis
complement the action very well.
Making it clear from the opening that we are watching an
actor doing a play about Lennie Lower created an unfortunate barrier between
the audience and the character.
Max
Cullen gives a strong and sincere performance of a person described as someone
‘one could never get close to’. Maybe he
has been too successful as it was difficult to feel any warmth towards Lower. He is inebriated and rather pathetic much of
the time and his humour also seems dated and not very funny. The stream of
consciousness writing for the character needed more variation to maintain
interest.
Lennie Lower was said to be very careful about avoiding
facts about his private life. As
presented in this production, he continues to remain elusive.
Originally published in Canberra City News 29 May 2013