The Adelaide Repertory Theatre. The Arts Theatre. 19 Nov 2015
Once a year, the Arts Theatre is filled with booing. And hissing. And cheers. It's melodrama time.
The Rep is well practised at this silliness. After all, it is a ritual deeply rooted in theatrical tradition. Customarily, it features a sweet maiden, an evil villain, a heartthrob hero, a verbose Master of Ceremonies, a near-death scene, and assorted quaint characters all of whom must be played out in an exuberant overkill of exaggerated ham.
Valiantly brave and supremely talented Pam O'Grady has whipped up this year's offering, directing Only an Orphan Girl. Funnily, it is an American script written by Henning Nelms with the action taking place in rural Massachusetts. It requires the actors to add bad American accents to their overacting and the cast comes up with every American accent in the book. All except for the MC, the dashingly ebullient and vocally virtuous Mr Joshua Coldwell, who not only announces and pronounces the progressions of the play but also wrote his own bedazzling lines.
Star of the show is Nellie, the Orphan Girl, who is played like a swirl of delicious soft meringue by young Sophie Bubner. The audience gasps and boos and cheers as her fate rises and falls, as she faces death at the hands of a villain most foul. He is embodied by vivacious veteran actor Barry Hill with a million swishes of his big black cape and a deluge of devilishly devious dialogue. His every appearance is accompanied by a barrage of booing from the auditorium - and very often, loud and useful interjections.
The only thing that could stop this vile beast from his nefarious intentions is dear Dick Perkins, the clean-cut farm lad. Oh my. Young Robert Bell already is an award-winning emerging actor. He continues to emerge at the same shiningly stand-out standard. There's a lad who was born to be on the stage. He is the hero of the night of many levels, including the promise of his future.
Penelope Hamilton-Smith is another veteran actor who is utterly in her element when it comes to dressing up in elaborate period costume with bad wigs and slaps of makeup and going over the top. She brings the stage alive every time she struts upon it with her tiny parasol and double entendres. Gary Anderson plays old Mr Perkins, the good farmer who has taken the orphan girl into his poor-but-honest family. Anderson emerges as an I Love Lucy's Fred Mertz on rough and rugged steroids. It's a glorious performance, complemented by Jude Hines, rather in the aforementioned Lucy mode, as his dear wife.
Then there's vivid veteran Rose Vallen with massive Pippi pigtails as Lucy, the lumberingly simple-minded ray of sunshine, and the nicely seasoned Jean Walker as her not-so-simple widow mother. Misses A. Hall and M. Kemp and Mr Robert Hobson complete the cast with, wait for it, a guest appearance by the celebrated and incredibly expert and expensive prestidigitator, Professor Orlando a.k.a. the wonderful Wayne Anthoney. Never were there so many little umbrellas and flourishes of flowers, let alone unprepared cardboard tubes. How does he do it?
Among the plot intermissions, there were vaudevillian musical numbers and even the silliest sing-along in the business. You have to be there.
Grand sets were delivered by veteran stage designer and scenic artist Brian Budgen with construction overseen by veteran Vince Eustace. Richard Parkhill did the tech and lighting design with Tristan Kahl on lighting and sound operation and Liz Raymond on follow spot.
Of course Loriel Smart, queen of the venerable thespian veterans, had a hand in the costumes, along with Barry Hill. Barbara Messenger stepped out of her theatre manager's office to be production manager. There's not much Barb can't manage. Lest it be the stage itself which here was managed by Elizabeth Olsson. Norm Caddick did the sterling poster, Robert Nottage the program and Petra Starke told the world about the show as publicist. Then there were the front-of houses and the back stagers and Carmel Boffa on props. The only person missing was Maggie Day as prompt.
And ever present, bringing the whole show together was Rowan Dennis drumming up the pace of things and, drum roll please Mr Dennis, none other than the inimitable and ever-popular Sandi McMenamin on piano.
If ever there was a pack of artistes extraordinaire, they are there at the arts rolling in the corn and inviting audiences to roll in the aisles. Hasten down, I say.
Samela Harris
When: 18 to 28 Nov
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
