A Narrow Time For Angels

A Narrow Time For Angels
Lucy Freeman, Walking into Bars and The Store Room
7 July 2009
The Store Room

The Store Room has been presenting some of our most innovative and original independent theatre for ten years and opens its five-show 2009 season with A Narrow Time For Angels by Melbourne playwright Cerise De Gelder.

Apart from having one of the best titles ever, De Gelder’s script presents unexpected characters, creates comedy with situation and plot and sprinkles the absurdity with plenty of jokes. Structurally there are some questionable flashbacks and awkward exposition, but it’s pacy and funny enough to overcome any minor issues that may disappear in any re-writes.

However, the humour isn’t quite working on the stage yet. Lucy Freeman’s direction brings too much drama and reality into the ridiculous world. Maggie breaks into the morgue so she can find her dead ex-girlfriend’s body, but is interrupted by a ghost and a cute forensic mortician, and proceeds to tell a rambling tale of gambling, revenge, politicians and questions of fidelity when your ex-hooker girlfriend knows you need a lot of money quickly. There’s no room for soul searching and understanding; the success of this script depends on a non-stop build of joke and farcical plot. When the pace drops for the serious moments of character revelation, it gives the audience too much space and time to wonder if it’s all meant to be serious. If the comedy consistently leads everything, the empathy, understanding and the heartbreak will come much more effectively through laughter.

Marcella Russo, Hayley Butcher and Georgina Naidu are ideally cast, but each bring a different type of comedy to the stage. Naidu brings a clownish caricature to her multiple roles (we laugh at the performance), Russo lets Maggie see only the drama (we laugh at the situation) and Butcher lets Sam’s internal conflict make her choices (we laugh at the character). Each performance is equally as funny, but the different styles don’t always on the stage.

The joy of theatre is that every performance is different and A Narrow Time For Angels will settle and change as the season continues. Under the artistic direction of Todd Macdonald, The Store Room has presented the first performances of some the most remarkable scripts created in Melbourne and, as works need that first production to iron out the creases, it’s always worth a trip to North Fitzroy to see what’s being uncovered.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Kill the Wolf

Kill the Wolf

9minds 

29 March 2008

Black Box, The Arts Centre 

9minds is one of the many fabulous independent theatre companies hidden in Melbourne.  Kill the Wolf is a script that deserves to be seen and admired. I wish more people had the chance.

It’s hard to get an audience when you’re competing against the Comedy Festival and your limited resources are fully dedicated to making good theatre. Sometimes it’s frustrating to work in a creative world where only a handful of people witness beautiful works of art.

I saw 9minds original workshop production of Kill the Wolf at Dantes last year. I was curious to see how it worked in a bigger space and what changes were made. The cuts and changes work well. The structure and arcs are tighter and we were not as distracted by Rose.  Thank goodness venues like Dantes support new scripts. Like any work of art, plays need an audience’s reaction to develop.

Tim Nolan’s writing ably reveals relationships and characters, blends exposition with action, balances content with drama, and takes us to unexpected emotional places. It’s well structured, authentic, original, emotional, skilled writing. What more can we ask for? There is something missing in the transition to the final act revelation and climax. The pace falls slightly and maybe the coach needs to be foreshadowed more. The tennis ball was good, but not enough to make the audience go – Ohh.

Lee Mason, Chris Bunworth and Marcella Russo all deliver consistent outstanding performances. Each creates empathy, without ever making us feel sorry for or their uniquely flawed characters. Lucy Freeman’s direction is atmospheric. She ably blends the theatrical with the naturalistic, creating a work that grabs your attention and sneaks up on you emotionally.

This is terrific theatre. Keep an eye on this company; I’m sure there are even better things to come.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com