Tag Archives: Ensemble Theatre

84 Charing Cross Road

7 May

Directed by Mark Kilmurry, this is a gloriously charming piece of theatre.

It’s a stage adaptation by James Roose-Evans of an epistolary memoir by American writer Helene Hanff.

For twenty years, Helene exchanges letters with Frank Doel of Marks & Co booksellers of London.

In their correspondence, Helene and Frank mainly discuss books and literature, but one of the many joys of this piece is witnessing their friendship bloom. Helene is witty and brash, and Blazey Best is absolutely brilliant in the role. Frank is more reserved, more polite, and Erik Thomson offers a superb portrait of this gentle soul. (The two leads are supported by the splendid work of Katie Fitchett, Angela Mahlatjie and Brian Meegan. Employees of Marks & Co, they establish it as an environment of kind-hearted, intelligent bonhomie.)

But are Helene and Frank merely types? Obviously, the script leans into commonly assumed differences between Americans and Brits, and in doing so creates delightful fun. But the contrast between the characters also operates on another level, evoking the special relationship between the USA and the UK. (Currently, a relationship being sorely tested.) The play’s action begins in 1948, and I must admit Helene’s keen awareness of Britain’s post-war destitution brought a tear to my eye. If only such generosity of spirit could be more universal.

The more geo-politically conscious among us will know that the special relationship between the two nations derives from many sources. But here the characters’ personal relationship is based on a shared language and a love of literature. Yes, reread that last phrase. I’ve already made one emotional admission in this review. Now, I’ll make another: I saw the entire first act through the sting of salt. Characters who love words! Characters who read! Characters who know that some of the most life-changing conversations you can have are with those whose lives are now complete, those who have left, in literature, their life-earnt treasure of Beauty and Truth.

You might think that a piece of drama constructed from letters is unlikely to succeed. But here it most certainly does, and joyously so, for the epistolary conceit perfectly captures the piece’s main point: the wonder of the written word.

Paul Gilchrist

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans, 

at Ensemble until 13 June

ensemble.com.au

Image by Prudence Upton

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Emerald City

24 Jul

David Williamson is a legend of Australian theatre and Emerald City is one of his best known plays.

First produced in 1987, it tells the story of screenwriter Colin who brings his family to Sydney to further his career.

True to traditional satirical structure, the play is constructed from dichotomies: Sydney versus Melbourne; the Eastern Suburbs versus the Rest of our Sprawling Metropolis; Private Schools versus State Schools; America versus Australia; Entertainment versus Art; Ambition versus Acceptance; Hypocrisy versus Integrity.

Each of these dichotomies evoke the more fundamental binary division of Evil versus Good.

The game we’re asked to play is to consider whether these dichotomies are overly simplistic or just plain false. We’re encouraged to do this by intriguing character arcs and piercingly funny one-liners.

As a screenwriter, Colin gives the advice that something always has to be at stake – but it’s not reasonable to assume a theatre reviewer will relate to a story in which characters seek glamour and success. (Some might even suggest that ambition is not a particularly interesting subject – unless it leads you to kill the king of Scotland and afterwards deliver some hauntingly desperate soliloquys.)

Inoculated by hard experience, two-bit reviewers might be immune to the siren song of Success – but that immunity is hardly universal. Many conversations about Art do sound like demarcation disputes, or performance reviews, or quality control panels, or price negotiations. But only one conversation is vital. And it happens in the desert, when the artist battles with the devil – alone, naked and true – and in that battle forfeits her ego to win her soul. And tired but free, she returns to the city, and scratched in the dirt if necessary, she offers a vision of the kingdom of heaven.

This play attempts no such a vision – but it does effectively make the primrose path to hell appear a little less rosy.  

Mark Kilmurry’s production is a fascinating opportunity to observe the challenges of the actors’ craft. Satirical roles can be surprisingly tricky, especially when the characters themselves are granted an aptitude for mocking comic observation. It’s fun to watch Tom O’Sullivan as Colin and Rachel Gordon as his wife Kate navigate the slippery duality of being both declaimers of foibles and figures of ridicule themselves. Juxtaposed with these two is the more straightforward characterisation of the hustler Mike, who is transparently duplicitous, a gloriously self-seeking philistine – and Matt Minto embraces the role with a wonderful physicality and a mirth-inducing energy.

Paul Gilchrist

Emerald City by David Williamson

At Ensemble Theatre until 23 Aug

ensemble.com.au

Image by Phil Erbacher

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