★★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Buckets Nijinsky Productions. Holden Street Theatres. 11 Mar 2025
The most perplexing show in Fringe 2025 is up and running and now in the crosshairs of the critics.
The Platypus is the work of beloved telly legend and one-time Adelaide boy Francis Greenslade, and the first impression through the opening scenes is a resounding WTF?
This play features two Melbourne actors on the almost re-invented stage of The Arch and they are deep in kitchen-sink drama. Oh, well, we don’t get a lot of that in the theatre these days; John Osborne is nigh forgotten. Hang on. Maybe this is referencing soapies. Interesting choice for a first play.
But a glossy full-colour program warns of lots of scenes and production values. Hmm. Are we going movie style here?
Well, the cat is out of the proverbial. Or should one say, the Platypus is out of the water.
If science recognises it as that wondrous mixed-up beast we call a monotreme - an egg-laying aquatic mammal with a beak - we in the theatre may recognise its namesake as a theatrical melange.
The moment that penny dropped in the preview performance of Platypus, it became recognisable as a wild, wonderful and extremely unlikely theatrical concoction. How daring. How original.
Its primary fault might be that it assumes knowledge from its audience, Greenslade has not targeted cultural ingenues here, this zany piece is for the devotees. If anything, it is too clever by half. There goes half a star.
It would go down like a rock in a tent amid all those acrobats performing in The Garden. Then again, it is acrobatic theatre in a mind garden all of its own.
So why, one wonders, is this Australian character onstage suddenly talking in an American accent? Why is domestica now drama? Is that Iambic pentameter one hears? Oh, she declaims that she hates musicals and is now singing one. Sweet parody. This now feels like Mamet. Um, Congreve? How did Oscar Wilde get into the act?
Platypus swims through currents and layers of theatrical leaf litter, bottom feeding and chomping noble archival crustaceans. What drama diet will be next? Comedy? Oh yes. Then again, maybe less funny than funny peculiar.
It is a tough call on the two actors who have to swing from genre to genre with quick changes here and there. Designer Sarah Tullock has done wonders with The Arch, flanking the stage with two black screens which mimic a proscenium arch. It gives so much more scope and movement to this very busy production.
There’s an appropriate diversity of sound and music via the work of David Franzke and agreeable lighting from a Clare Springett plot.
A wee lad called Western Thomas makes a cameo appearance. He must speak up. Ditto, on occasion, the versatile Rebecca Bower who plays a challenging assortment of women. The accomplished John Leary also spreads the wings of style, giving ferocious light relief when sharing the stage with the character of Freddy.
The more one knows about theatre, the more fun one will have with this undainty off-the-wall confection.
This critic’s favourite laugh-out-loud moment: “Pinter”.
Wait for it.
Francis Greenslade was never meant to be ordinary. Here, finding him adventuring into playwright/director mode, one finds him fearlessly uber-quirky. He could up some of his direction just a tad.
But, bless him.
He bringeth us a rare diversion. He be a bit of a treasure.
Samela Harris
When: 11 to 23 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres, The Arch
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
