Rope

Author: by Lance Reenstierna plus updates by Bruce Cochrane,
based on the play by Patrick Hamilton
Presented by: BTC - Boroondara Theatre Company
Attended: Matinee 15th May 2005

Rope is a thriller based on a true story of murder, that was made into a play by Patrick Hamilton, and also a film by Hitchcock. The original play was set in London in 1929. The characters were the wealthy sons of wealthy families, with too much time and money on their hands.

This production set the play in Boston in the present time. I'm not convinced it worked.

To do this, a few lines and situations and even characters were altered. From a practical point of view, it was changed from 3 acts to 2 - a good start. I'm not convinced the dialog and the situation worked in the modern time. The rich lads of the 20's had a butler. In the society of the time a dinner party was common. The modern version just didn't seem to fit. The butler became a maid - for the light supper they had it made no sense to have the maid turn up so late at night. Instead of changing the character, they should have left her out.

The aunt of the murdered boy evolved into his twin sister. That worked OK, but they tried to get in some "twins feeling a disturbance in the force" type situation which seemed a bit forced.

There were some good bits with mobile phones, maybe it should have been made into a comedy?

I'm not sure that this story works as a play - in either the new or the old version. The action happens at the start, then we have a whole stack of chit-chat that is there to AVOID resolving the issues.

Die On Your Feet - by Greg Fleet

Another comedy Festival offering. This one by Greg Fleet, is about a group of comedians and their relationships off stage. The backstage dialog was intermingled with monologues by the comedians in their "real work".

The monologues were very good - the backstage dialog did not gel.

The idea for the show was geat, it's a pity it didn't work. Another problem the show had was the venue. It was staged in a long, thin room somewhere along a corridor in the Town Hall. Those of us somewhere down the back - in fact, those of us who weren't in the first few rows, really struggled to see - even tall people were stretching and shuffling back and forward. The stage was pretty bare (I think) - and a lot of the action took place with the actors sitting around on chairs chatting. In this venue they really should have just stood up so we could see. There was no set that we needed to worry about.

A great comedy idea, but some lack of experience in staging showed through.

The Dumb Waiter - by Harold Pinter

I assume The Dumb Waiter is classified as a comedy, being on at the Comedy Festival, but there are no real laugh-out-loud bits - its black humour is taken from the situation it portrays.


Two hitmen are in a stark basement room waiting for notice about their next job. Not much happens - they make cups of tea, read the newspaper, chit chat on ordinary topics. When a message appears in the "dumb waiter" - presumably a relic from a previous time - they take it in their stride. But there is always an undercurrent of tension, about their work, and who the victim will be.

I enjoyed the production at the Festival - it was staged in a very small room in the Town Hall (could have been a cloak room:-) seated about 80 but very squishy as it was full the night I went. The set comprised a few boxes and a few bits hanging up at the back to be the dumb waiter, and a bunch of sound effects. It worked well.

The Unbilical Brothers: The Rehearsal

I laughed through the whole show. They only had a few props including a video camera and a magic wand, which they used with their physical humour

Key For Two

Author: Dave Freeman and John Chapman
Company: Sunshine Community Theatre (aka Powderkeg Players)
Date: 9th April 2005
Bookings: Sunshine website

Key For Two is an English Farce but with a few more clever, funny lines and a few less vicars and maids getting stuck in wardrobes than you might ordinarily expect.

The central character, Harriet, is having affairs with two men, both married, and she works hard at telling lies to ensure they never meet. One day it all goes wrong - not only do both men appear on the same day, but her old school friend arrives to stay, having just left her own husband. But then he turns up anyway, then one of the wives turns up, then another (and there's a halibut mixed up in there somewhere ...)

Sunshine have done an excellent job producing this play, so now, go see it to find out if Harriet gets caught out, or gets away with it all.

HTC Castle folk will recognise Xavier and Kat on stage - or maybe not, as their roles are quite different - both do an excellent job - congratulations guys.

So pack a picnic and something to drink, and get along to see this show. Here's the Sunshine website for boooking details etc.

Denise Scott - Stand up

Denise Scott is a stand-up comic from way back (hey, she mentioned age first!). Denise gave us a fascinating insight into the inner sanctum of local council - well, she poked fun at the stupic, ridiculous things that some of them get up to in the course of managing our lives.


It is refreshing to see a female comic with material other than family and looks, nonetheless, some very funny gags along these lines found their way into the monologue.


Denise's style is laid back, as though she is just chatting to a group in hor lounge room, seeming to jump from topic to topic but delivering the side-issue one-liners and getting straight back to the Council.


I laughed non-stop.