Presented by Joanne Hartstone in co-production with Greenwich Theatre. The Queens – The Red Queen. 20 Feb 2016.
Babylon is one of three productions by the Flanagan Collective this Fringe. It envisions what would happen if government was taken over by a political party that had absolutely no idea what it was doing.
Immediately the play has potential appeal. After all, might we not be heading in that direction if Trump should win the U.S. Presidential race? There is a substantial amount of audience participation in Babylon. For example, the audience is allowed to name the party – tonight’s audience settled on ‘The Gender Tits Party’ (groan!) – and elect the Government Ministers, and eventually the Queen. Audience participation is always a bit touch and go, but they were generous, including Frank Ford, one of Adelaide’s living treasures, who became Minister of Education (oh wish that he was!).
Although it was overdone and at times bordered on being cringe-worthy, the audience interaction had the effect of creating a sense of lunacy that made the ultimate fall and decay of the government that much more palpable. Dominic Allen was the principal actor and was particularly effective in his manic Hitleresque monologues. He was quite unsettling in fact.
The Flanagan Collective poured their heart and soul into this show. The production elements were good – lighting, sound, music, costumes – but the script is unbalanced and would benefit from some judicious editing and re-framing of the audience participation sections.
Kym Clayton
When: 12 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: The Queens – The Red Queen
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
