Don's Party - Review not a Plug

WHAT: Don's Party by David Williamson directed by Grant Malcom
WHEN: Friday 1st September 2001
WHERE: Dolphin Theatre, UWA, Perth
WHO: Graduate Dramatic Society
CAST: Matthew Kiely (Don), Linda Gefken (Kath), Michael Dunbar (Simon), Leah Maher (Jody), Rob Stuart (Mal), Kerri Hilton (Jenny), Tim Collins (Mack), Gary Englishby (Evan), Georgia Clark (Kerry), Justin Barret (Cooley), Melissa Merchant (Susan).

WARNING: This review may contain offensive language, and by crikey, I'm going to try and override Grant's in-built censor if it bloody kills me.

Don's Party has joined the league of 'classic' Australian plays, taking a seat alongside greats such as 'Summer of the 17th Doll', 'One Day of the Year' and 'The Removalists'. A friend commented in the interval, 'All modern Australian plays are exactly the same - nothing but sex and language.' 'You're not fuckin' wrong, @!#$' I replied, and I believe we have 'Don's Party' to thank for this trend in modern Australian play and screen writing (think - Blackrock, The Boys, Praise...). I have a pretty filthy mouth at the best of times, and even I felt slightly appalled in places ('hard core twat-action'?!?!)

Set in the late sixties at a party at Don Henderson's place, a group of friends gather to watch the election results and get rolling drunk. The play is essentially an examination of the society of the time and, to quote Jonno's parallel, is almost Shakespearian in its relevance to the society of today. We're still bitching about health and education, and no one admits to voting liberal (do they?). And whether we like it or not, women still sit inside and talk babies, while men stand in the kitchen/patio talking about their greatest roots.

Again to echo Jonno, this play is perfectly cast, with a terrific and appropriate range of ages represented. Where the hell did Grant find all those males over 30???

In the title role, Matthew Kiely was a great find. I've only ever seen him once before doing a rough reading from a script, but he made a real fist of Don Henderson. My only suggestion would be for him would be to take a cue from Kerri Hilton, and apply a little more dry Aussie wit to his delivery, especially in the opening few pages. He became hilariously animated the drunker he became and it could serve as a nice contrast. Linda Gefken as his wife Kath was great and had a really horrible hairstyle. I think their initial scene could have been a little pacier, however, with a little more 'performance energy' to presage the overall pace of the show. This may happen in time, though, as familiarity with the stage, script, and each other develops

Rob Stuart was wonderful as Mal, and it's worth seeing the show just to observe the skillful interactions between Mal and Don in this play. I don't know either of them, but if they didn't get drunk regularly at uni together you could knock me down with a feather. It was a terrific example of how the power of skillful acting and directing in the theatre can convince an audience of just about bloody anything.

Leah Maher was beautifully cast as Jody. She made a lovely transition from slightly toffee-nosed housewife with feet firmly lodged in the 50s to drunken sex-bitch. I'm still chuckling over the 'small prick, small breasts' conversation with Mal. Michael Dunbar was suitably annoying as her husband Simon - he managed to portray one of those people that you feel embarassed for merely because they have walked in the room. He wears a really ugly safari suit too - you had to get one in somewhere, didn't you Sharon?

I must admit to feeling a wave of disappointment that Dean Schultze wasn't cast in the role of Mack - who better to play a lecherous drunk, with a penchent for photographing his wife doofing other men? However, Tim Collins delivered one of the best performances I have seen him do, and in retrospect, the apple isn't falling too far from the tree there either ;-) I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that that's his arse on the poster, and been perfectly happy, though...

Justin Barret was the highlight of the show as Cooley, with, in my opinion, the best line in the play: 'G'day @!#$-features!' He was really, really, unpleasant, and really, really funny, and looked exactly right for the part. Just go to the show to see him - I'll start branching off into superlatives ad nauseum if I don't stop writing about him now.

In other roles, Kerri Hilton as Jenny was a hoot and a one-woman microcosm of the Australian sardonic, dry sense of humour. Georgia Clark was suitably pretentious as Kerry - I felt that some of her physical posturing & preening was a little unnecessary however, as she did a great job in presenting the character through her use of the script and her interactions with the other characters. She had a lovely, dancer's stage presence which spoke for itself, without any embellishments necessary. Melissa Merchant in the part of Susan was hilarious, and although she didn't have an enormous number of lines, she had some of the best in the script which she delivered with impeccable comic timing.

The set was terrific, with a trademark Jonno Beckett hand-painted floor. I don't think I've ever seen the Dolphin stage look quite so big...maybe it was the hideous late-60s geometric patterns on the wall, or the skanky furnishings.

Whatever, this was a great show, and one of the best community theatre productions I've seen in ages. Yes, I think it even gives Amadeus a run for its money...go and see it.

The Liberals win, by the way.

Amanda Chesterton

Cool! Thanks Amanda for an enjoyable review, and for filling in all the essential stuff at the start. Hopefully that'll keep our friends in the Eastern States happy. [Rightly or wrongly, this review is sort of influenced by the style of the play (@!#$ yeah!).]

This is, without doubt, a great show. Half the battle was won with Williamson's riotous script, and victory was assured once this cast was chosen. With not a weak link amongst them, the actors and actresses (in keeping with this play, "political correctness" can go get stuffed) excelled in their portrayal of Australiana. (I was going to say 1960's Australiana, but so much of it could have come from today.)

Director Grant Malcolm never allowed the pace to lag. Of course, at (most) real parties, several things are happening all at the same time, but on stage you have to focus on whoeverÂ’s speaking. Grant skilfully kept all of his cast busy doing something - anything - even if they were not directly involved in whichever particular conversation or action was currently the focus. The party guests read magazines, chatted amongst themselves, nibbled at DonÂ’s pathetic nibblies, pored through the record collection or bookcase, danced, perved at each other, but were never dead weight on stage. A difficult effect to achieve to keep ALL the cast busy (but not mindlessly repetitive) ALL the time. Too often you see productions where cast members who are not directly involved in the action are simply forgotten or given nothing to "do". This was perhaps what I admired most about this production. Apart from the splendid castÂ…

I'm sat here with the programme, and I hope I get people's names correct because none of this cast are known to me in any way known at all whatsoever. Wow, Kerri Hilton looked great in that figure-hugging mini-dress with knee-high boots. I was very impressed with the delivery of her lines - she spoke quite quickly (in character) but VERY clearly and accurately - I never missed a word. Also a standout for me was Georgia Clark who spent much of her time plonked in the corner delivering some of the most sarcastic (and funniest) lines in the play. Considering the character was supposed to have a migraine, and couldn't do much more than spew bile (figuratively, not literally), she commandeered the stage whenever she spoke, and, because she moved so rarely, commanded the audience's attention on the rare occasions that she did.

God, Leah Maher (Jody) was wonderful. Beautiful, believable, subtle, well-spoken, sexy, sensual, stylish, coquettish, concupiscent, desirable and wanton with a great set of knorks which really aren't THAT small when you think about it and anyway it's not size that matters and in any case too much emphasis is placed on that sort of thing these days and more than a handful is too much anyway. I loved the slow slide into drunkenness (as opposed to the "sober one minute, Barney Gumble the next" style of acting), the subtle frustration at her prat of a husband (Simon), and subsequent fascination with the more down-to-earth Mack. Hints of her true nature and desires kept briefly surfacing and making the audience want to know more about her. Jody was perhaps the most interesting and intriguing character amongst a roomful of drunks, whiners and loudmouths. Speaking of JodyÂ’s husband, wasn't Simon a top class, A1, all-round, world-champion prat! Well done indeed to actor Michael Dunbar for making the audience flinch in embarrassment with his 100% prat-ness. The safari suit no doubt helped (yÂ’know, thereÂ’s a guy on my train in the morning - sits and reads the Bible - who wears the same outfit) but Michael did a wonderful job nonetheless. How is it that guys like that continually get spunks like Jody? Gary Englishby was nicely moody as probably the most disliked person at the party. You can put up with prats like Simon, but you just want hostile twits like Evan to POQ.

I mentioned Mack, played by Tim Collins. Initially I thought Mack was great. Very down to earth and funny - the sort of guy whoÂ’s always great fun at parties (and I can imagine Tim draws on real life here), but he shattered my admiration of him when he fell asleep onÂ… a very inopportune moment. Shame, Mack, shame. Amanda mentioned Melissa Merchant as Susan, who, although possibly having the least socially-acceptable profession at the party (except maybe for Cooley the lawyer) portrayed perhaps the most likeable person on stage. Riveting though the play was, it certainly moved into high gear with the appearance of Cooley, played by Justin Barret. Cooley took over the party and the audienceÂ’s favours from the instant he appeared. A lesser cast might have suffered in comparison, but Justin simply complimented the ensemble. Rob Stuart (Mal) rounded out the guests with an accurately portrayal of the annoying and rude Aussie drunk, who thinks heÂ’s so much better than the pathetic little man he really is.

Loved Linda Gefken as DonÂ’s suffering wife, Kath. Probably the most sympathetic character on stage, the audience felt for her as she was left to organise the entire party preparations on her own (I know I felt residual guilt from the recognition that I sometimes leave my long-suffering wife in a similar position), then we rallied behind her as she took her revenge in the bloodletting of the final ten minutes. I understand that after she left Don, Kath took a job in the Post Office, in WilliamsonÂ’s little-known sequel, "DonÂ’s Divorce". And Don himself. What a bastard Matthew B. Kiely is. Turns up on the Perth scene a few months ago, steals "Emerald City" out from under everyoneÂ’s noses, puts himself on the top of everyoneÂ’s hit list (so to speak) and walks away with another triumph. From the dumb hairstyle to the dumb brown slacks, Matthew WAS the perfect dumb Australian.

In fact, almost everything was perfect. The hairstyles (both the guys and girls), the set (shades of so many of our own parent's houses from that era - don't laugh, they didn't know any better), the costumes (of course, I WOULD appreciate the costumes, seeing as how so many of them could have come straight from my own wardrobe - particularly that chiffon number of Leah's), even the photograph of Grant's arse on the front of the programme (don't try and fob it off on someone else, Chesterton). As Jonno pointed out, there were one or two technical glitches, but who gives a @!#$? Even when it happened, the cast rolled with them. I'm not 100% sure if it WAS a glitch or a choreographed element, but when Don fiddled with the dial to dim the loungeroom lights, and the lights did not subsequently dim, he didn't panic or flinch but merely made a, "Ahh, stuff it," gesture, and shuffled off. Little touches of realism like that come from a fine cast and enhance a production.

Well done also to the cast in front of such a daunting audience. Quite frankly, any one of them could have stood on the edge of the stage, closed their eyes, spat into the audience, and have been pretty much assured of hitting some representative of at least one Perth theatre group (Melville, Kwinana, Stirling, Roleystone, Blak Yak, Playlovers, KADS, GRADS, ITA...).

There was ONE thing that annoyed me, and it got more bloody annoying as the performance went on. This is one of my pet hates I'm afraid, but there was an annoying tendency to tread on the laughs. It is bound to happen occasionally, but, and this is just my opinion, I felt it happened far too often. It seemed such a huge pity that with an HILARIOUS script and WONDERFUL cast, so many of the lines were lost beneath roars of laughter. Yeah, yeah, I was one of the biggest offenders, but all the audience loved this show - they laughed long, hard and often, and I felt that a few too many times, SOME of the characters (not ALL) kept on talking during the laughter and a lot of it was totally lost. Hey, a review without SOME criticism is just an exercise in fawning.

Crap, this has gone on far too long. Well, there it is. Everything else was great. Everything. I laughed so much my jaw ached. This is a skilful, talented cast under the careful eye of a master director and you'd be doing yourself a great disservice not to see this show.

JB

> Jarrod Buttery wrote:
> -------------------------------
> Wow, Kerri Hilton looked great in that figure-hugging mini-dress with knee-high
> boots. I was very impressed with the delivery of her lines - she spoke quite quickly (in > character) but VERY clearly and accurately - I never missed a word. Also a standout
> for me was Georgia Clark who spent much of her time plonked in the corner delivering > some of the most sarcastic (and funniest) lines in the play. Considering the character
> was supposed to have a migraine, and couldn't do much more than spew bile
> (figuratively, not literally), she commandeered the stage whenever she spoke, and,
>because she moved so rarely, commanded the audience's attention on the rare
> occasions that she did.

What an amusing mix up! :-D

Jarrod, dear, Kerri Hilton was the one plonked in the corner, and she most certainly was not wearing a mini dress and knee-high boots, unless you have a very odd interpretation of the neck-to-ankle blue thing she was wearing!

Really, you're knowledge of fetish gear is slipping...;-)

And Julia, if you /really/ wanted to have something to razz Kerri about, you should have seen her a few years ago in Chorus of Disapproval - she actually got to /snog/ an ex-student!

Amanda Chesterton

>> What an amusing mix up! :-D

>> Jarrod, dear, Kerri Hilton was the one plonked in the corner, and she most certainly was not wearing a mini dress and knee-high boots, unless you have a very odd interpretation of the neck-to-ankle blue thing she was wearing!

>> Really, your knowledge of fetish gear is slipping...;-)


As if that's actually possible.

Dammit woman, so much for playing with Schulze's mind...

JB