Boston Marriage by David Mamet
Darlinghurst Theatre Company
Gaeity Theatre - 9 February 2007
Mardi Gras in Sydney is always celebrated as the Biggest, Best and most Beautiful gay and lesbian festival in the world. The inner city comes alive with pink and rainbow coloured flags and the event culminates in a huge parade with floats that proclaim proud messages about sexuality and political protest.
Despite the energy and huge local support for the parade in recent years, the festival aspect has always had trouble finding its niche in the entertainment and theatre arena. The drag shows are always popular year round, but when venues and theatre's start programming specific Mardi Gras events, it sits uncomfortably and smells of marketing opportunism - often with very little creative or entertainment payoff.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company has got it right this year, programming Boston Marriage, a play that is both entertaining and theatrically intelligent in its script and themes.
The production company, Gaiety Theatre, has transformed the intimate fridge-shelf theatre into a red curtained boudoir that is opulent and plush. Simple pink flats envelop the space creating an evening that lends itself to a Punch and Judy, as the two main characters go head to head over lesbian love, lust and invention.
As a Mardi Gras event, it captures the imagination of a target audience. It is a biting script, competently acted with a synopsis that engages.
But Gaiety have missed out on so much. There is so much more subtlety and sexuality in the script than they realise and a more intricate study of the characters and their wit would have made the evening even more satisfying.
The performers hesitation from moment to moment as the script swirled around the boudoir suggests a lack of connection between the characters from under-rehearsal and eye to detail. The pitch of the opening was too broad, and the director could have employed a more deft touch to honour the substance and subplot of the lines.
And it was such a shame that they missed out on the characters sophisticated relationships of dominance and submission to one another - something that would be completely appreciated at this time of year.
If they had engaged more with these elements, the evening would have really set a landmark for intelligent and entertaining Mardi Gras festival cuisine.
Postscript: The Sydney Theatre Company got in trouble for this, so why not the independent sector? The program notes for this production are lifted straight out of Wikipedia and the Guthrie Theatre website notes which include the biography, the history of the play as well as a glossary. Using information without credit is called plagiarism for both professional and non-professional theatre companies.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company
Gaeity Theatre - 9 February 2007
Mardi Gras in Sydney is always celebrated as the Biggest, Best and most Beautiful gay and lesbian festival in the world. The inner city comes alive with pink and rainbow coloured flags and the event culminates in a huge parade with floats that proclaim proud messages about sexuality and political protest.
Despite the energy and huge local support for the parade in recent years, the festival aspect has always had trouble finding its niche in the entertainment and theatre arena. The drag shows are always popular year round, but when venues and theatre's start programming specific Mardi Gras events, it sits uncomfortably and smells of marketing opportunism - often with very little creative or entertainment payoff.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company has got it right this year, programming Boston Marriage, a play that is both entertaining and theatrically intelligent in its script and themes.
The production company, Gaiety Theatre, has transformed the intimate fridge-shelf theatre into a red curtained boudoir that is opulent and plush. Simple pink flats envelop the space creating an evening that lends itself to a Punch and Judy, as the two main characters go head to head over lesbian love, lust and invention.
As a Mardi Gras event, it captures the imagination of a target audience. It is a biting script, competently acted with a synopsis that engages.
But Gaiety have missed out on so much. There is so much more subtlety and sexuality in the script than they realise and a more intricate study of the characters and their wit would have made the evening even more satisfying.
The performers hesitation from moment to moment as the script swirled around the boudoir suggests a lack of connection between the characters from under-rehearsal and eye to detail. The pitch of the opening was too broad, and the director could have employed a more deft touch to honour the substance and subplot of the lines.
And it was such a shame that they missed out on the characters sophisticated relationships of dominance and submission to one another - something that would be completely appreciated at this time of year.
If they had engaged more with these elements, the evening would have really set a landmark for intelligent and entertaining Mardi Gras festival cuisine.
Postscript: The Sydney Theatre Company got in trouble for this, so why not the independent sector? The program notes for this production are lifted straight out of Wikipedia and the Guthrie Theatre website notes which include the biography, the history of the play as well as a glossary. Using information without credit is called plagiarism for both professional and non-professional theatre companies.
Image: Courtesy of Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Di Smith & Amanda Bishop
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