The Premiere

Last night a friend and I went and saw "The Premiere" by The Midnite Youth Theatre Company currently showing at the Playhouse Theatre, Perth. Season info: Playhouse Theatre Fridayth - 8pm Sat 15th - 2pm & 8pm I will say upfront this play has been getting alright reviews, it has recently toured the UK but in my opinion, it wasn't really one of my best evenings at the theatre. Not that I'd spent, anyway. The play follows the rise and fall of an actor named "Johnny Gray". He wins an oscar, has a whirlwind lustful relationship and short marriage with a model, turned actor. Becomes an alcoholic, loses his agent, fame, best friend, wife and second girlfriend by the end of the play. I will start with what I enjoyed, because there were some highlights. Forgive me in advance, I forgot to grab a program so I do not know the names of the cast (and even some of the characters). I will give a round of applause to the tech designer and operator (be they the same person or not). The lighting was effective, the car crash was well done. My only problem was sometimes the music was too loud and the voices of those singing were drowned out. Other then that, congratualtions. From the cast my three favourite performances for the evening were Johnny's "agent" and his "best friend"; Together they had a chemistry onstage. There song was well written and well sung. I did not cringe when I hear music begin and they were onstage. The script gave them enough exposure to develop their characters and was my favourite subplot. My problem was the strength of their performance overtook the central plot - well in my opinion. My other applause goes to the girl who played the "second girlfriend". Although only present int he second act she had an amazing voice to play with, maybe not much of a character development as I would have liked. But she worked well with what she had. congratulations. Again the subplots overtook the central storyline - which bugged me in the end. In the end I cared more for the supporting characters then for the lead role - Johnny Gray. The two gay boys, who spent most of the play attempting to get past security into the premiere parties created some nice comic relief. And the "workers" who reminded me so much of The Mechanicals from A Midsummer Nights Dream, were a good way of moving the plot forward and for reflecting on what people consider important in what they just saw. I do like the twist, which admittedly I didn't see coming, between one of the workers and the "best friend" (the screenwriter). Over all though, I think the script was the ultimate downfall. Nothing happens in the first act and everything happens in the second act. I was tempted to leave at iterval but being theatre, I try and give ti a better shot and stuck around and am honestly glad I did because if not I would have missed the entire play. The structure of the second act worked better. Maybe it should be reviewed? The cast seemed tired. I think their director needs to give them a nice big pep talk of some kind. This production lacked an "oomph" (yes its pathetic, but its the only way i can think of putting it). Like I said not my favourite night at the theatre but it was a good attempt. ~ Tari