“What’s on Your Mind”
Moruya Red Door Theatre Company 25-27 August/1-2 September
A woman stands alone on stage, announcing to the audience that she’s lost. Jack Spahr’s Lost and Found, is a fifteen minute examination of a relationship. This intriguing scenario is marked by dialogue that is edgy and spare. Tension builds inexorably on a stage that’s almost bare towards a resolution which could be either liberating or catastrophic. This unsettling one act play performed by Moruya’s Red Door Theatre Company over two weekends in August and September is well worth the admission price.
Spahr’s script is taut and engaging, and the performances are very impressive from the entire cast; particularly from leads Nichola Creighton as Tara and Anthony Mayne as her belligerent partner. Both Nichola and Anthony present these complex characters with ease and conviction and control of their craft. They are complimented on stage by the nuanced performances delivered by Stef Foster and Liz Fisher.
The second one act play on the bill, Alan Bennett’s A Chip in the Sugar, continues this high standard of production. Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues are well-known, and Robin Aylott as Graham effortlessly engages with this brilliant script. Graham is a middle-aged bachelor neurotically dependent on his ageing, widowed mother. When ‘mother’ reconnects with an old lover, Graham feels shut out, vulnerable, unable to cope with the prospect of having to belatedly grow up and possibly leave home. He is immobile, ossifying in his armchair, repeatedly muttering ‘I didn’t say anything’ when called upon to face the ambiguous nature of his mother’s tenuous relationship with the past. In this sad, impotent man, Bennett portrays a failed nation, people too in thrall to their own petty routines to take risks towards the achievement of some kind of meaning and purpose.
It's a message that’s as relevant as it ever was, and Aylott gives a wonderful performance as Graham. In the wrong hands, monologues can be tedious, static, but Aylott’s sympathetic, lively portrayal of this little man is enthralling, and not to be missed.
Together, these two plays mark a change in direction for Red Door, and it is to be hoped that they garner the attention from the local community they so richly deserve. There are so many good reasons to see these plays.
Review by John Foulcher*
John is a widely anthologised and published award-winning Australian Poet and Drama Teacher for 30 years. John attended the matinee performance 27 Aug 2023.
Only two shows left to these wonderful plays
Fri 1st - 7pm
Sat 2nd 7pm
Tickets at the door
2 x 1 Act short plays at the end of Aug/early Sept in the Red Door Hall.
5 shows only with seating for 50 at each show. Tickets on Sale this week - see attached poster for details.
"A Chip in the Sugar" - wonderful to be staging this terrific monologue written by Alan Bennett. Delighted to have the talented Robin Aylot back on stage in this Talking Heads classic written for the BBC. "Lost and Found" - written and directed by Jacky Spahr, an award winning director and actor from Canberra, who now calls Moruya home. Pleased to be premiering this short Pinteresque style one act play, which focuses on courage within relationships.
