Theatre Australia

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Shopping and @!#$.

Sun, 17 June 2001, 05:22 pm
Walter Plinge3 posts in thread
I wondered why no one had reviewed Shopping and @!#$ here, especially considering a couple of regulars to this site were in it. Then I saw it.

Wow. How do you review this play? To say "I enjoyed it" would be wrong because it's not an "enjoyable" piece. Many people describe a movie or show that they really enjoyed as a piece that took them on a "roller-coaster ride of emotion", made them laugh one minute and cry the next.

Shopping and @!#$ didn't make me cry, it was so sad that all I felt was numb. It made me laugh but it was mostly a kind of "this is too intense for words" kind of laughter. The ride that Shopping and @!#$ took me on was unlike any journey that any live performance had ever taken me on. I felt things that I rarely, if ever, feel because this was a reality so far from my own.

Jane Colenutt, Mike Frencham, Gibson Nolte and David Meadows were all excellent. After the initial scene I forgot that they were actors. I believed their characters and I liked them all as much as I hated them.

Leon Ewing was amazing. I had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't really fourteen years old so that I could cope with what was going on in front of me.

I liked the simple design and lighting, I liked the music and the way it was used but I can't say I liked the play. It was an incredible, confronting piece but "liked" is just not the right word. Like "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Boys Don't Cry", I "experienced" Shopping and @!#$. Wow.

Thread (3 posts)

Shopping and @!#$.Walter Plinge17 June 2001
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