Joanne Hartstone, The Flanagan Collective & Gobbledigook Theatre, and Holden Street Theatres. Holden Street Theatres – The Sunken Garden. 17 Feb 2019
In Greek mythology, Eurydice has a chance to escape the underworld after succumbing to the bite of a viper. Her husband, Orpheus, ventures into Hades to retrieve her and all he has to do is lead the way and not look back at her until they reach the light of day. But look back he does and she vanishes.
In playwright Alexander Wright’s adaptation in verse, it’s all about the preamble. We begin with a spirited and rebellious Leni née Eurydice arguing with Mum about why a Superman costume isn’t appropriate on the first day of school. She grows up, sort of, and Aristaceus looms large in her life (in the myth, Ari was chasing her when she stepped on the viper).
Serena Monteghi was compelling playing an emotional Leni as a child, as a compulsive adolescent, and maturing with experience on a rocket rise and meteoric fall of love and love lost. She was foiled by Casey Jay Andrews standing in for all the other parts, and a male might have been a better choice. A bit of music and singing was welcome relief.
Together their energy strived to overcome the production and the script. The show was an unadvertised moved reading with text in hand, and thus was not really the world premiere the artists claimed. Wright’s rap-like poetry is overblown and repetitive. It’s a radio play; and on stage, it’s not necessary to say what you are actually watching the characters doing, but every second seemed bursting with words. I was looking at their scripts to see how much longer the show would be. Storytelling and acting were confused with Monteghi many times emoting Leni and simultaneously narrating about Leni. The Eurydice and Orpheus legend is tacked on at the end, and given what we have already seen, rather unnecessarily. Not even the seats were comfortable.
Hopefully, the show will be ready for the Edinburgh Fringe and thanks for trying it out on us.
David Grybowski
2 stars
When: 17 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Sunken Garden
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
