CUTTING WIT: NOT TO BE MISSED |
 |
) Photo: Stephen A'Court Written by Douglas Carter Beane Directed by Willem Wassenaar Designed by Daniel Williams at Downstage Theatre, Wellington From 7 Nov 2008 to 29 Nov 2008 Reviewed by Mary Anne Bourke, 9 Nov 2008 |
And who wouldn't laugh to see such fun? This biting New York satire of showbiz hypocrisy has inspired Wassenaar and Co to turn on yet another hugely spunky entertainment.
Take the set, which is an emblem of the energy and flair of this production. It's as though the director and his designer, the colour/space wunderkind Daniel Williams, have lifted the word HOLLYWOOD from its hills (like, with a helicopter crane) and smashed it against the concrete wall of Downstage. They thereby claim the space to a degree which I, for one, have never seen done so emphatically. What 'the star' (Richard Knowles) then goes on to do to it needs to be seen to be appreciated.
This dazzling comedy is about the problem of being gay in showbiz - hey, it's much harder there, where it really counts. A male star falls for a bi-sexual rent-boy who, amazingly, starts to love him back. This could destroy the star's career if it gets out. Never fear, the star's agent is having none of it. But another artful story strand is about the impossibility of such a story being made into a big-budget movie, so the stories converge in a delightful frisson of meta-theatre. I'm still smiling when I think of the scene where the agent and the star negotiate over lunch with a prickly writer - who is always just off screen - for a property just like this one. Naturally, there will be changes ...
The intriguing thing about this production is the tonal risk it takes on its way to hitting the dramatic high notes, and hit them it does. A breezy camp style sustains a false gaiety, which means when true feeling breaks through, it is all the more searing. This is most marked in Sophie Hambleton's performance as Ellen, the betrayed girlfriend. No slag in the sexploitation stakes herself - Ellen goes clubbing on her sugar-daddy's credit card - Hambleton creates one of several genuine heart-stopping moments when she suddenly 'gets real'.
But this is a beautifully orchestrated ensemble piece. Witness Kip Chapman: he threaten to steals the show - or at least his first scene - with his tarty Manhattan schoolboy poses, but it's all part of the plan; he soon drop-kicks it back to the others. So that, by the end (which is brilliantly conceived) - and in the best possible way - you'd be hard-pressed to say whose story this is. (NB. That's a hint. And a trick question.)
Richard Knowles has lovely moments as the straight-acting heartthrob Mitchell Green, whose closet desire sparks the story. Playing the part with a seemingly artless realism is an excellent foil to everyone else's posturing and preserves the power to shock when he shows his true colours. I'd only question: whether the upbeat directorial approach allows this character to plumb the abject state (drunk, confused, hungover) and make for greater contrast with this potentially life-changing experience.
Last, but far from least, Renée Sheridan is a comic delight whenever she sashays on as the Machiavellian talent agent, Diane, who brings the law of Tinseltown to bear upon these innocents. Played not as a fusty back-room ten-percenter, but a foxy star manqué - always playing to the audience while selling someone down the river and swotting up the legalese to make it stick - this character manages to take Beane's cutting wit beyond cynical and back to funny again.
Not to be missed.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News.
See also reviews by:
Jackson Coe (Salient);
Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post);
Lynn Freeman (Capital Times);