McArts. Producers Warehouse. 13 Feb 2015
It looks like a hospital, but it's really a nursing home. The residents are a pair of Elvis impersonators showing the symptoms of cerebral palsy, a condition acquired at birth or early childhood. They both dress up as the fat Elvis in the white jumpsuit and red scarf. The nurse is a bitch from beginning to end - screaming, ranting, sulking, plotting - one of the most unlikeable characters I have seen in theatre. Oh, yes, Elvis hates her. After a few crude remarks on disability and racism written by Philip Stokes that sets the tone of the show, the Elvises begin to animate in Elvis-like fashion.
Craig Antony McArdle (McArdle/McArts - get it) is more than a good actor. Not only did he do a fetching impersonation of the shy "Yes, ma'am" Elvis, he merged his own body language with that of the King to come up with whipping novel hip gyrations that knocked my eyes off into the scaly walls of the Producers Warehouse. Bravo! And he threw in a minute or two of Johnny Depp's interpretation of Hunter S. Thompson from ‘Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas’, which was equally good eye candy, but irrelevant.
The other Elvis, Aaron Broomhall, was less appealing but cute in his own way. Susan Cilento as the nurse was definitely Return To Sender. Where was director Craig McArdle when you need him? Oh, he was right next to her on stage!
Your critic has to confess he did not get the plot, even though the show flyer foreshadowed that "an unhinged nurse (I got that bit) [would be] planning to destroy them but her dirty secret may result in the greatest comeback ever!" Bugger the plot or what I can make of it, I thought, what I was seeing was the Elvises going in and out of cerebral palsy like it was a bad dream, one of them getting helplessly trapped under his wheelchair, and interesting and sharp changes in the mood of the absurdist script directed with some crispness by McArdle.
The show has crazy legs...it's been around the traps since 2008. Maybe playwright Philip Stokes is the next Harold Pinter, and some critics like me rubbished him, too. I didn't have a burning love for this show.
David Grybowski
When: 13 Feb to 27 Feb
Where: Producers Warehouse
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
