Review: The Other Place

The Other Place
Melbourne Theatre Company
31 January 2013
Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne
to 2 March 2013
mtc.com.au

The Other Place opens the MTC's 2013 season and is sure to be a subscriber favourite. Twitter told me there were people in tears at last night's opening and I'm believing Twitter, even if there were hard-arse non-criers in my row.

As it's the MTC, it's about middle class, middle age professionals (this time, doctors instead of academics) and this Broadway hit, by US writer Sharr White, is so dependent on the mystery of its plot and characters that it's hard to write about it without spoilers. But it's about MCMA profs in crisis and includes children, illness and estrangement; you know what to expect.

Catherine McClements is 50ish Juliana, a medical researcher at the peak of her career. She's on stage all night and by holding back and letting Juliana be difficult to initially like while easy to trust, her heartfelt performance builds to create the empathy and shared pain that deserves the audience's tears. She's supported by Heidi Arena, David Roberts and David Whiteley who each rightly let Juliana decide how they support her.

In the opening scenes, the mystery sits like a slinky at the top of a staircase. It's irresistible not to push and interesting enough to watch and see what's revealed at each step, but once it's started to tumble, its trajectory is known from that first nudge and there's no hope of unexpected deviation or twist. It's not that the script doesn't hold onto its secrets, but the direction (Nadia Tass) and design (Shaun Gurton with David Parker's film) play the clues obviously and use sentiment to highlight what, I suspect, most people figured out far too early in the night. It's like they don't trust the audience enough to let them be surprised or shocked.

The Other Place is ideal for an MTC season, but is it $98 show? Even a concession ticket is $77 or under 30s can spend $33. If $100 is a lot of money for you (it sure is for me), I suggest you start this weekend's theatre at Theatre Works for The Dead Ones or the Northcote Town Hall for Caravan Burlesque and you'll still have enough change for dinner and/or another show, or even have a good blub at War Horse, but wait and see if The Other Place turns up on a discount ticket site. If it does, see it.

Photo by David Parker

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Review: My Romantic History

My Romantic History
Red Stitch Actors Theatre
7 August 2011
Red Stitch
to 13 August

"If you haven't met someone by the time you graduate, you're going to marry some cunt from your work." So, freelancers have no hope, but how wonderful to see Red Stitch putting their audience on their stage.

My Romantic History is about the accidental workplace affair of Amy and Tom, who are in the dangerous single and 30ish zone. Come one, we've all been there.  You had nine drinks with "colleagues" because you didn't have anything better to do and after all he wasn't a "retard or a rapist" and he was captivated by the beauty of your tits. Then you got a bit stalky because he didn't declare undying love the morning after, even though you don't really like him and the only reason you think you had sex is because you're weren't wearing knickers. Textbook romance. Unless you're reading this from the house you own with someone you met at uni and have been acting like an adult since you were 18. But then you probably don't have time to go to the theatre because you're at home looking after kids you love, having dinner parties with other happy couples and exploring swinger web sites.

One of my favourite TV shows in my 20s was Thirtysomething. I shook my head at how these grownups could be so fucked up and knew that I'd never be like them. Now, at the other side of 30ish, I marvel at how totally together those fictional people were. There are many reasons why we love watching stories about not-perfect relationships.

Scottish playwright D C Jackson creates shut-up-that's-my-life empathy by showing how both sides see the object of their non-desire. The woman is a desperate freak in his eyes; he's a boring loser to her. It's a bit like When Harry Met Sally without the glamour of New York or the as-if! romantic gestures. But it's just as funny.

Ngaire Dawn Fair (Sasha) is the ideal hippy counterpoint to Zoe Boesen's confused Amy, and Tim Potter captures all perspectives of Tom with the kind of love and understanding that continues to make him an actor who should always be seen.

Peter Mumford's too-gorgeous toilety design ensures that we never see this affair with romantic-coloured specs. After all, if these two work out, there's hope for anyone who's desperate, or drunk. Meanwhile, David Whiteley's direction lets our sympathies change so much that it's impossible to take his or her side, so we have to like them both and wish that we could step in and help them make the best decisions. But if they made the best decisions, he wouldn't end up seeing his ex when he's covered in puke, she wouldn't be confessing to the bitch from work and we wouldn't have half as much fun watching.

My Romantic History is the sort of writing that brings its audience into the story because it's so close to home. The genuine laughter comes from recognition. Sometimes the secret of comedy is simply telling the truth. There's a week left. See it, unless your love life has been perfect.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheate.com

Photo by Jodie Hutchinson