Love ****1/2
Fri, 19 May 2006, 07:51 amGordon the Optom2 posts in thread
Love ****1/2
Fri, 19 May 2006, 07:51 am‘Love’ is a Wal Cherry Award winning Australian play, written by Patricia Cornelius and is presented by Deckchair Theatre at the Victoria Hall in Fremantle until the 10th June. This review is based on their WA Premiere and faultless first Preview Night performance. The season proper starts on Saturday 20th May.
Invariably, the topics for Cornelius’ dramas are quite disturbing or from the seedier part of life. She has written many very successful plays about unions, the plight of immigrants and the general hardships of living. ‘Love’ examines the sad life of a prostitute in a lesbian relationship.
Annie (Katie Keady) is a radiant, but slightly gullible 19-year-old prostitute whose lesbian love for her ‘bloke’ Tanya (an unrecognisable Kirsty Hillhouse) is total. Tanya is besotted by Annie, would do anything for her, but doesn’t know how to accept or return the immense bottled-up love that is frustratingly stored within her. Things are going well for the couple until Lorenzo (Renato Fabretti) appears on the scene. He is charismatic and soon wins the affections of Annie. From a distance, Tanya puts up with him to a point as he wins over Annie, but when Lorenzo’s drugs wear off he changes.
Annie introduces her two lovers to each other. Will a compatible threesome result? Or will two partners end up together? And if so, which partners will it be?
The cast were magnificent. Kirsty Hillhouse is totally convincing as the butch ‘bloke’ with very subtle face and body movements one gets to know the whole gamut of torment within. Katie Keady as the partner, is treated like a god one minute, abused and rejected next. She is a naïve open book. Renato Fabretti had just the right amount of sliminess, enough to con Annie, but yet enough to make the audience want to get up there on the stage, to protect the vulnerable and delicate Annie.
It is a pity, but understandable, that the play has been sold on the sex angle. However if anyone wants a cheap thrill forget it, the partial nudity and skilfully handled sex scenes are integral parts of the story. The author could have written a sexually blatant script or worse still tried to push a message, but instead this is a beautifully written play, almost poetic at times. The script just flows and although there are more than two-dozen brief scenes, with the use of clever lighting, and minimal set by Andrew Lake, the show flows seamlessly.
Well-known and respected WA director, Angela Chaplin, has proved her skills in almost every genre of play. A great job here.
The audience appreciation was one of the most enthusiastic that I have heard for some time.
Katie Keady, because of her diminutive build, spent most of her early student career frustratingly playing the role of children. It wasn’t until her last play at Curtin that she had the chance to prove her true acting skills. Since then she has acted in London and the Eastern States and blossomed into a first class actor.
Kirsty Hillhouse is an extremely experienced actor, and has had a regular role in the TV series ‘Foreign Exchange’ on Channel 9.
WA actor, Renato Fabretti, won an award for his acting in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ whilst a still a student.
Invariably, the topics for Cornelius’ dramas are quite disturbing or from the seedier part of life. She has written many very successful plays about unions, the plight of immigrants and the general hardships of living. ‘Love’ examines the sad life of a prostitute in a lesbian relationship.
Annie (Katie Keady) is a radiant, but slightly gullible 19-year-old prostitute whose lesbian love for her ‘bloke’ Tanya (an unrecognisable Kirsty Hillhouse) is total. Tanya is besotted by Annie, would do anything for her, but doesn’t know how to accept or return the immense bottled-up love that is frustratingly stored within her. Things are going well for the couple until Lorenzo (Renato Fabretti) appears on the scene. He is charismatic and soon wins the affections of Annie. From a distance, Tanya puts up with him to a point as he wins over Annie, but when Lorenzo’s drugs wear off he changes.
Annie introduces her two lovers to each other. Will a compatible threesome result? Or will two partners end up together? And if so, which partners will it be?
The cast were magnificent. Kirsty Hillhouse is totally convincing as the butch ‘bloke’ with very subtle face and body movements one gets to know the whole gamut of torment within. Katie Keady as the partner, is treated like a god one minute, abused and rejected next. She is a naïve open book. Renato Fabretti had just the right amount of sliminess, enough to con Annie, but yet enough to make the audience want to get up there on the stage, to protect the vulnerable and delicate Annie.
It is a pity, but understandable, that the play has been sold on the sex angle. However if anyone wants a cheap thrill forget it, the partial nudity and skilfully handled sex scenes are integral parts of the story. The author could have written a sexually blatant script or worse still tried to push a message, but instead this is a beautifully written play, almost poetic at times. The script just flows and although there are more than two-dozen brief scenes, with the use of clever lighting, and minimal set by Andrew Lake, the show flows seamlessly.
Well-known and respected WA director, Angela Chaplin, has proved her skills in almost every genre of play. A great job here.
The audience appreciation was one of the most enthusiastic that I have heard for some time.
Katie Keady, because of her diminutive build, spent most of her early student career frustratingly playing the role of children. It wasn’t until her last play at Curtin that she had the chance to prove her true acting skills. Since then she has acted in London and the Eastern States and blossomed into a first class actor.
Kirsty Hillhouse is an extremely experienced actor, and has had a regular role in the TV series ‘Foreign Exchange’ on Channel 9.
WA actor, Renato Fabretti, won an award for his acting in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ whilst a still a student.