In & Out. Tuxedo Cat - Perske Pavilion. 23 Feb 2015
I found this play to be a little gem in its conciseness and execution. Created, co-directed and performed by Sonja Bishopp, Emma Annand, Ryan Forbes, and Adam Ibrahim, we have a pair of childless couples as neighbours in a nice suburb with freshly mowed lawns and a barbeque in every backyard. The women do yoga and drink tea while one guy is an accountant and the other a carpenter. If the title didn't set the tenor for you, the first scene certainly did when the men meet for the first time (one couple having recently moved into the neighbourhood) and innuendoes involving hot, juicy snags came think and fast. The conflict resides in the men's clandestine love and the repercussions in their marriages, including the women investigating their own sexuality.
Bishopp and Forbes in an interview seemed to be concerned with the cultural oppression of homosexuality, both politically and through social engagement, but this is a scant theme of the play. There were background references to harsh legal penalties for homosexuality, but this device was irrelevant to the action. The power of the work was conveyed in the themes of unrequited love, and forbidden love in the context of marriage, through the development of the relationships between the four characters as the situation unfolds. The fact that the extramarital affair was homosexual added an additional concern for their spouses and danger for the men, but it was not pressured by the legal regime - the legal regime was not the problem. I didn't see the necessity of a fifth character - an ice cream man.
Initial lighthearted and humorous scenes of playful fun and engagement gave way to palpable feelings of bewilderment, betrayal, anger, hurt, and plain old sadness. The performances were physical and quick-footed while also being emotionally nuanced and subtle, with the exception of Sonja Bishopp - playing the spurned wife of a man helplessly falling in love with his neighbour - who was theatrically overwrought in her uptightness so that humour and empathy were lessened. The pace was fast, and a couple of times, peak scenes were played out with alternative outcomes or with thought balloons which generated additional interest.
This play was devised by students for an in-house Victoria College of the Arts (VCA) festival of new works last September. This is a great way for the cast to start their careers.
David Grybowski
When: 23 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: Tuxedo Cat - Perske Pavilion
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
