Flatland

‘Flatland’ by playwrights Caroline Gopalkrishnan and Shirley van Sanden is showing at 7.00 nightly at the Blue Room Studio in Northbridge until Saturday 6^th October. This World Premiere is a Blue Room - Class Act Theatre presentation.

A small block of flats has Merv (Stephen Lee) both as a flat owner and caretaker. Other than lusting after beautiful Ella (Lilanthi Weddikkara), Merv has a couple of other strange hobbies. When Zoya (Angelique Malcolm) loses her cat, Fellatio, her caring neighbour ‘Doug the plumber’ (Dan Luxton) helps her search for it. We get an insight into their lives.

Then one day Lawrence (Kingsley Judd) arrives to live in the block, and because of his mental disability he is ostracised. Doug comes to his rescue and gives him support against the bigoted, prejudiced and cliquish tenants. However Lawrence’s unusual faculty causes major disruption.

Shirley van Sanden was the writer of the classic Australian children’s play ‘Hidden Dragons’. The play’s director, Justin Cheek, wrote the very successful children’s show ‘Troll from the bowl’. Caroline Gopalkrishnan, having achieved her PhD in race relations, wrote a powerful story and with the help of Shirley and Grahame Gavin turned it into this drama.

There is no doubt that Merv is a Perv, but does he need to be so totally repulsive when a subtle hint would be adequate? At the opening of the play, the tale appeared to be a black comedy and then it took a very dark turn; however after the first ten minutes the storyline became more lucid and coherent and from there on much more enjoyable. There were several very good twists in this unusual but dexterous story.

If Kingsley Judd doesn’t get a nomination for best actor of the year at the Blue Room then there is no justice in the world. Nick Yaksich has created a very clever series of sets, which can be changed by the actors in a second. Great lighting sound and visuals from Aaron Stirk, Owen Hughes and Nancy Jones.

This was 80-minutes of fast paced drama. Clever and enjoyable.

Xpress Magazine 27.09.07 Nathan Scolaro “Caroline Gopalkrishnan and Shirley Van Sanden have written a brutally honest script…” “Flatland is an intriguing piece of theatre.” “If Cheek’s intent was to leave the audience shaken-up and susceptible to ghastly nightmares, then my hat goes off to the man: I was scared to go to sleep.” “Judd’s eerie “meeeeoooow” and tormenting stutter had the entire audience perched on the edge of their seats. And Lee’s creepy gestures and facial expressions were enough to make your stomach turn 360 degrees.” “The set design by Nick Yaksich was simple, yet effective.” “The intimate set mirrored one of the plays key issues: how close should you get to the people who live inches away? Let’s just say the question was well and truly answered by the end of the show.” “Flatland will not appeal to everyone. It’s dark, it’s provocative and it’s straight out creepy. But it does carry an important message about public and private space.”

Xpress Review

Thread (3 posts)