Adelaide Fringe. Apriori Projects. Holden Street Theatres. 25 Feb 2014
Playwright Steven Berkoff is Britain’s living treasure in the art of the theatrical one finger salute. Drama critic Aleks Sierz described Berkoff's dramatic style in general, and this play in particular, thusly:
“The language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react; either they feel like fleeing the building or they are suddenly convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation."
There’s a good dose of politics and social commentary as well in this offering from 1981. Berkoff is appalled with the decadence and snobbery of the upper classes, and the inability of the lower class to see themselves as equals. The monologues are delivered in verse and the play works on many levels – from crude titillation to onion-like layers of meaning.
Katherine Shearer and Rowan McDonald play both couples. Decadence delves into the nation’s class division through the sordid two-timing of a curiously class-mixed marriage. The cheating couples never meet, but talk about the other incessantly.
It’s a tough acting gig with little conversation, heaps of physical work and razor sharp characterisations required to keep up the interest. Shearer excels in both her class roles utilising sexuality and an amazing array of facial expressions. McDonald often let the plum in his mouth get in the way of good diction and a tie would have been appropriate given Shearer’s shimmering diamonds and low-cut frock. It was McDonald that created the most vivid word pictures for me: the description of casual homosexuality at a toff boys’ school, and the over-indulgent supper post-opera. The unstructured script leaves open the complaint of it being too long.
A good sampling of Berkoff admirably performed.
David Grybowski
When: 25 Feb to 2 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
