There are three different, secret venues for this most unusual play. With performances performed in Fremantle for two nights, two in Guildford and two in Leederville. The hour long ‘happening’ starts at 7.00 on various evenings until the 20^th February.

The Fremantle venue was a rustic garden, surrounded by hewn, limestone walls, with fabulous, trailing and potted plants. A large fish pond lay in the secluded corner.

         The crowd are warmly welcomed into the private garden, by the home’s gardener, Greg (Nathan Whitebrook). As he brushes the paving, the visitors settle on cushions and crates. Greg explains how much pride he takes in his work, especially this garden and spins a few yarns. He has the blood group that seems to attract the mozzies, and so he invites anyone who has similar problem to spray themselves, offering around the Aeroguard.

         After a few minutes of light banter, Greg retreats to the BBQ at the rear of the house, to cook the snags.

         Perched on a high wall, a young guitarist (Tom Beech) softly plays his melodious compositions. As he strums, the cat from next door appears (Zoe Street), playing with her favourite musical toy, only to run into the owner’s big savage dog (Monty Sallur); however, when they hear Greg returning, they disappear quickly into the undergrowth.

        The visitors are invited to help themselves to the food and homemade lemonade provided by the host. The perfect host, Greg, continues to tell us of his life and daily routine, when suddenly he discovers that a guest has betrayed their warm invitation. The mood changes.

 

The acting commanded by the three performers was both physically and mentally demanding, but the three performances had every ounce of energy packed into them.

This show must have been a major challenge for clever director Rhiannon Petersen and the producers, Sean Guastavino and Zoe Street, but by moving the venue around it covers most of Perth CBD, giving a very different atmosphere to the loveable creature’s play.

Publicist, Amelia Tuttleby, has advised me that it is a sell-out, with only a few tickets left for the final venue, Leederville.

This 80-minute (not surprisingly) play is being presented by the Theatre Arts Major Students at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, Building 102, Curtin University, Bentley.

Performances commence nightly at 7.00 pm until Saturday 10^th October.

Follow the tea light trail from the free carpark, number B13 to the theatre.

Alistair Kennedy’s set is a high-class restaurant, built on a parquet floor revolve. The walls are stretched muslin, lit with blue light – thus allowing the action behind, to be seen on occasions. The scenery being built by Alistair Kennedy, George Ashforth, Reef Jennings and Georgia Lewis. To one side sits a musician (Eleanor Davidson) playing a flute. On the other side of the stage is the dining room in Louis’s home.

       In a restaurant, a nerdy, pedantic author, Louis (Kane Parker) is trying to broach the topic of marriage with his girlfriend, Claire (Lauren Beeton); however, the enthusiastic waiter (Jeremy Bunny) is determined to explain the ‘specials of the day’ to the couple. Louis has no culinary knowledge and relies on Claire to help him choose his food. It becomes obvious that Louis has not had anything published since he was at school, so he has now become a pathetic theatre reviewer.

      Later that night, back at home, Louis’s father (Alex Gerrans) is exasperated by his loser-of-a-son using up valuable space and oxygen in the house, and so evicts him. Tearfully, Louis’s Mum (Kayla MacGillivray) presses a box of his belongings into her son’s arms before sending him forth.

     Desperate and unemployed, Louis goes to see a major agent and publisher, Dan Kurtz (Tristan McInnes). Bumptious, Dan relies 100% on his personal assistant, Carol (Kharla Fannon) to run his office.

     After a tragic accident, it is decades before we catch up with Louis again. We find him shopping for flowers at Mathilde’s Florist Shop. He waits as Mathilde (Caitlin McFeat) serves a customer, a very proud mother (Ashleigh Ryan) looking for the best.

      What will happen to this major failure in life? Will he ever find the perfection he seeks?

Karen Cook’s lighting design (operated by Mai Han), along with Ben Wehrheim’s sound effects (mentored by Ben Collins) brought quite a few smiles to the audience in the restaurant scene. The impressive autumn effect was the work of Phoenix Hudson and Terence Smith, supervised by stage manager Jen Scullion. The numerous props (Shannen Santos) and well thought-out costumes (Alina Sulkowski) added greatly to the atmosphere of the play.

The actors were directed by lecturer, Phil Miolin with movement choreographed by Teresa Izzard; the action flowed at a wonderful pace. The script, which was aimed at mocking the way theatre productions are chosen and how they are produced, gave the actors a chance to do asides to the audience, and subtly ham up some situations. This dry humour was very well presented, bringing numerous belly laughs.

As well as mocking reviewers, the script contained an absolutely gross but hysterical optometrist’s nightmare – so I felt quite at home.

The standard of acting was first class, not a single weak link. Special performance mention of the pathetic Louis (Kane), who was physically abused throughout the play and his partner Claire (Lauren). The unrelenting waiter (Jeremy) and Dan (Tristan) who gave the most hyper performance of the year – tremendous.

This is a most original play in so many aspects, although a brief story thread had an odd similarity to the ending of Melissa Cantwell’s ‘The Song was Wrong’. Very well written, with some weird characters.

Treat yourself to a low priced ticket, and have 80 minutes of raucous fun. Certainly worth seeing.

‘Melancholy Play’ was Ruhl’s first major play; it premiered in 2002 and is now being presented for your immense pleasure by the Hayman Theatre Company, in building 102 on the Curtin University Campus in Bentley.

Performances are nightly at the early time of 7.00, and the season runs until Saturday 25^th April.

The set represents a couple of apartments in Perth, where the antique furniture is interchangeable as the action moves to and from each venue. The walls are a patchwork of many, quality wallpapers and the floor a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of carpets and rugs; both of these combinations reflecting the manic confusion of the characters’ minds and the situations in the play.

Clever well-made set by Eloise Carter, Annika Jane, Alex Roussel, Gema Seenarain, Michelle Endersbee, and Ashleigh Ryan with props supplied by Dicky Ng.

Karen Cook’s lighting subtle and selective design was smoothly operated by David O’Connor. Sound effects by Jack Beeson.

       Frank (Nathan Whitebrook), a bespoke tailor, addresses the audience through a window offering a defence of melancholy. As he speaks, Tilly (Zoe Street) a glamourous bank teller, then walks up to Frank and asks why he is an almond*. Frank is infatuated with her.

      Italian psychologist, Lorenzo (Kane Parker), explains to the audience the maternal history behind his lack of emotion. He turns to attend to his patient Tilly, who seems to live on the brink of an orgasm, and has the ability to take everyone she speaks with her, to the edge. Even a mundane conversation with Tilly leaves Lorenzo very much in love.

      Julia (Savannah Wood), who sits in the corner playing her own compositions on the cello, creating music for the various lovers in the story.

      Later that day Tilly is at the hairdresser, where the owner, Frances (Olivia Dugandzic) becomes obsessed with Tilly’s hair, asking her round to her flat to meet her reticent partner, a nurse called Joan (Daisy Grant). Soon, the jealousy begins to surface. Who, if anyone will win Tilly’s heart?

*In this play, the Amygdala, named in Greek after its almond shape, is the brain’s organ of emotion. In actual fact, the two Amygdalae appear like a pair of cherries on their stems, in the centre of the under surface of the brain – the most protected area of the brain. The right ‘almond’ produces fear and sadness, whereas the left creates happiness or anxiety.

This whole play was written very dryly, and with the fantastic cast directed by award winning Leah Mercer and her talented assistant, Ariel Tresham, the humour started almost instantly. Extra dramaturg provided by Kayla MacGillivray; with an uproarious fight sequence, co-ordinated by Philip Miolin. Lorenzo’s excellent accent was coached by Luzita Fereday.

The players have flawlessly captured the subtleness of the script, giving just that tiny bit of over-the-top delivery. The result was amazing. Every nuance of expression gave even more joy to the already captivated audience. Even at the peak of the pandemonium, the cast were resolute, only showing the desired melancholy or elation.

Please don’t think ‘only a few students struggling to produce an average show’, this is real quality. Great script, very good direction, a perfectly tuned-in cast working as a team. A fast moving, laugh out loud comedy. Treat yourselves to something very different.