Review: An Unfortunate Woman

An Unfortunate Woman by Nicola Gunn
Darlinghurst Theatre
4th October 2007

"Don't forget, that it's an 8.30 start," says the publicist.

Oh yes, the 8.30 start show. It's strange how much that a diversion from the regular 8pm slot can throw your entire chemical make-up.

The worst is the 7.30 start... or even, god forbid, the 7pm start! There is no getting around it. If you are rushing to a show that starts before 8pm, you are always at least half an hour behind what's happening on stage. Call me a traditionalist, but hey, that's just me. And after years of inability to be on time for anything, the fact that I can get to a theatre, no matter where it is, and get there at 7.54 on the dot should be treated as one hell of an accomplishment.

But the 8.30 start is a special, special treat and I decide to get a couple of friends over for a Thai curry and a bottle of wine.

The order is for a 6pm start, to ensure that there is plenty of opportunity to digest and get a couple of glasses under your belt. It also saves any hassle going home first after work and trekking back out into the night.

With the curry and wine consumed (I overcooked the curry), one friend makes his way in the other direction to catch the Holding the Man performance at Company B. With that the two remaining eaters head off into the night to catch the 8.30pm performance of An Unfortunate Woman at the Darlinghurst Theatre Company.

The promotional material boldly states that "Darlinghurst Theatre Company is proud to present An Unfortunate Woman, the sellout hit show of Adelaide Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Toronto Festival, Winnipeg Festival and Edmonton Fringe Festivals and UNO Festival Canada."

Indeed, this is the perfect festival circuit show. One woman on stage, easily transportable with all but a costume, some lighting, a little bit of sound and a chair.

But don't let me understate how clever this show is. It may be light on production values, but An Unfortunate Woman, also written by the performer Nicola Gunn, succeeds where so many shows fail. By simply and beautifully transporting you to worlds in your imagination it allows the audience the rare pleasure of filling in the gaps... of finishing the sentences. It is the second Melbourne show in as many weeks that leaves many local productions gasping.

Gunn, dressed in simple tweed pants and vest arrives on stage with nothing but a chair. Her look is one of a fictional world. A world that harks back to a broad period of Anton Checkov's short stories, of Evelyn Waugh, of Charles Dickens and Henry James. A world where manners, class, status and the simple pleasures are the central tenets. But it's a world with a zest of something else... maybe its Franz Kafka that comes to mind. Maybe its Joseph K and the delving into how the individual battles an increasingly impersonal world losing that sense of society.

Gunn, mostly through mime and a little text delivers a total of thirteen characters in the space of nearly ninety minutes. There's Stanley Trundle - a clerk at The Registry of Births and Deaths, Hubert DuBois - An Unfortunate Psychiatrist, Puddles - A British Bulldog and Winnie - A Housekeeper, to name just a few.

The breadth of characters and Gunn's finely-tuned ability to flick between the characters with the mere look of an eye, or turn of the shoulder is at first a novelty. But then the overlapping stories eventually take hold of you and you feel yourself lifting off in a literary world of character, soaring with Gunn as she travels seamlessly between the story-lines and the characters journey's.

The most beautiful thing about Gunn's performance is that once she establishes a caricature of the characters in a Mr Bean type of way, she then delves into creating stories that are at first sweet and romantic, but then becomes an epic journey that envelops each and every character as one. The result, is a production where you come away feeling like you have just read an amazing novel which you just don't want to finish.

Sadly, however, the one element of the production which detracts from what is an inventive and powerful piece is the performer does not come on for curtain call. Not allowing the audience to thank her for sharing the 90 minutes was, for this reviewer, the only unfortunate element in An Unfortunate Woman.


An Unfortunate Woman, on until 27 October.
For further information CLICK HERE.


Image: Nicole Gunn, writer and performer of An Unfortunate Woman