Jarrad West as Garry. Photo Jane Duong
This is a long but rather magnificent 1940s
play by Noel Coward about the theatre and the people in it, most notably the
egotistical Garry Essendine (Jarrad West), pretty clearly based on Coward
himself.
There’s been a bit of editing and the gender of some of the roles have been swapped, and it’s a lengthy evening but there is much to enjoy.
Garry’s on his way to Australia (Africa in the original play) for a theatre tour but his life is being complicated by various would be lovers, and his separated but not divorced wife Liz (Crystal Mahon) seems still very much a controlling force in his life. He’s not getting any younger either, and there’s a certain angst about that.
There is a degree of elegance in the setting and a lot to appreciate but I’m not sure that the gender changes always work for the play, despite a luminous performance by Callum Doherty as David, the very young thing who falls under Garry’s spell early in the piece.
From left, Joanna (Karina Hudson) and Crystal Mahon as Liz.
Photo Jane Duong,
Tracy Noble is brisk and efficient as Monica,
Garry’s secretary, keeping the paperwork and the people under control. Crystal Mahon is calm as Liz, still in Gary’s
life, organising and advising but never
quite getting round to a divorce. Joe Dinn as
Morris and Amy Kowalczuk as Henrietta
bring to bustling life two more of the entourage without which Gary cannot
operate. The urbane Fred (Leonidas Katsanis) takes a calm control over day to
day domestic worries and the sinister Swedish Miss Erikson (Jenna Roberts)
takes what looks like a slapdash anecdote laced control of the cleaning.
Apart from the idealistic David the other visitors include the frankly predatory Joanna (Karina Hudson), and the harbinger of future styles of theatre, Roland Maule (Michael Cooper), who writes plays of a sort that don’t chime well with the style of Garry.
West does a great job as the exasperated self centred Garry, who has to referee and survive all of the resulting chaos.
The set (Karen Vickery and Michael Sparks) bristles with silver, multiple doors, alcohol, and opportunities to light up a cigarette.
It’s a show that proves that Noel Coward is always worth revisiting.
Alanna Maclean
