Duck, Duck, Goose

‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ collaboratively devised by Sarah Rueben and Arielle Gray, and written by Jeffrey Jay Fowler this is a Blue Room and Gray Ruby Production. A Pride WA Festival Event, this 50-minute play is presented at the Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge from 17^th September until 4^th October each evening at 8.00 pm.

       Heather (Sarah Rueben) and Lucy (Arielle Gray) have been best friends since primary school, and are inseparable. At an early age, they pledged to a life of chastity, after all ‘have you seen a drawing of a penis?’
      They live together, eat together, and remain virgins together – until Lucy decides there must be more to sex than she alone can provide. Her search takes her to a young man, LOL (Tim Watts), on the rebound from a lost love. Will Lucy have the nerve to carry out her desires, or stay true to Heather?

The set has to be unique, with duck and goose feathers everywhere, floor, walls – everywhere! Tim Watts’ animation was of a very high standard, both in drawing and morphing. Jeffrey Jay Fowler’s direction was punchy, he had the girls deliver their lines with naïve innocence, spoken condescendingly as they do on a TV children’s show. Three well thought out characters.
Plenty of laughs from the script filled with insane similes. The applause lasted long after the actors left the stage.

So after a break from my general avid play consumption I have returned to the table and the first offering was "Duck Duck Goose". Those who are unsure of the details can read Gordon's post above. Having read the article in Xpress which described the multitude of woes which seem to have followed this production since its conception, it is a wonder at all that it came to full term and as such I heartily commend the artists involved on their baby. It is not however the healthiest bouncing bundle of joy in the world. Indeed it suffers a number of near terminal ailments. There were some beautiful crass one liners early on which disappeared as we came closer to the end in favour of what can only described as poetic wank. There were a number of interesting ideas that were raised and just as quickly forgotten about and none were explored to their full potential. It was rather like a waiter wafting food past you, lingering near the table just long enough for you to get excited about the meal to come and then to have him take it away again If you want to talk broadly about the themes of "duck duck goose" it seems that the creators of the piece were not sure whether they wanted to do a coming of age/leaving the nest drama or a gay fantasia on the theme of unrequited homosexuality. The direction at times was wonderfully tight as the actors came together in one unified chorus but at times was increadibly sloppy. Towards the end of the piece the staylised physicality which began the play seemed to be left by the wayside, like a child that has gotten bored of a toy. Indeed there was no Arc of any kind to the play, ideas, concepts and devices used in the beginning had been thrown away by the end. It was mentioned to me that this may be because of the woes the production had experienced. Yet surely a 50 minute play that experienced its rocky start six weeks before it went up could surely figure it out? The performances for the most part were fairly solid. Sarah Rueben as Heather had a tendancy to shout her lines which meant they lost alot of impact. I will mention at this juncture that I had to suspend my disbelief down a very dark and long tunnel to actually believe the actions of the characters let alone the events that take place. I put that down to clunky exposition rather than bad acting though. All in all it wasn't the worst thing i've seen and it wasn't the best thing i've seen. It strikes me as being the recalcitrant child of parents who couldn't give a damn. But isn't that true of the theatre scene in general? Until next time, Garreth

Hey Garreth, thanks for coming and watching the show. You and I don't catch up enough you know? I guess things changed after high school. Keep me posted on your new production company! I'd love to see what you do. Jeffrey Jay Fowler

Garreth, Get a life mate. I went to the play on Saturday night and had a great time. I thought the actors' interaction with Tina the Goose quite clever (not to mention, amusing). Well done! Max

uhh... I have a life... hence going out to the theatre with friends to see a play being directed by an old friend. Nor do I recall saying anything negative about the puppetry or that particular actor's performance. What's more where do you get off slinging personal insults when all i'm doing is a posting a review? Which, may I remind you is supposed to be impartial. You're free to disagree with me Max but please try to give your disagreement a bit more substance than "get a life". Perhaps also try to encompass more of what you liked about the show rather than "I liked the bit with the goose, hyuk hyuk". Ok so maybe I took some poetic licence with that quote and at the same time lowered myself to your level but then I wouldn't want you to feel that I was talking down to you. ~Garreth

Seven months on and you're still being talked about? At least you can say your performance was memorable ;-) Freddie the rocking jedi badger

Garreth, Just a couple of wee points. Firstly, let me touch on the play in question. It's a wonderful thing when young people write and perform an original piece of work. I hardly feel you referring to some of the writing as "poetic wank" as being particularly supportive. What I personally would describe as poetic wank, would be your unfortunately-composed similes. Secondly, you referred that the play is being directed by an old friend of yours. I personally would be highly offended if a friend composed a similar post and placed it on a public forum. I've always found that well-placed praise, and one-to-one criticism, to be the most helpful method. Thirdly, I am not endorsing Tracie's comments - however if you are trying to encourage her "strong intellectual arguement (sic)", spelling mistakes hardly do you any favours. Cheers, Max Percy

MaxP123 said: 'Thirdly, I am not endorsing Tracie's comments - however if you are trying to encourage her "strong intellectual arguement (sic)", spelling mistakes hardly do you any favours.' I think you spelt her name wrong, Maxy. (sic) Freddie the rocking jedi badger

Freddie, Spot on:) My apologies Tracey! Max

Yeah fair enough, I see where you're coming from. Though I don't see how my spelling reflects on my intellectual capability. Also, why should I or would I treat a director any differently just because we have a personal connection? I know Jeff wouldn't spare me either. You are also making the assumption that I haven't or wouldn't express my feelings to this particular person when the occasion arose. As for the poetic wank? Why would I be supportive of it, I didn't like it. As for my unfortunately composed similes? I guess I'm just not the poet I thought I was.

But why do a review at all when the piece you are watching is clearly not to your taste, and far beyond your intellectual capabilities? Why not just sit there and quietly think to yourself "god I'm an idiot." I doubt anyone gained anything from your insightless review but a laugh.

The performance was sharp, It raised so many questions about the problems faced by generation-y, without preaching or being condescending. The performances were solid, with Sarah Rueben particularly clever. There were a few apparent flaws in the technical aspects on the night I attended. More to the point, we all have opinions on every show we see. We are entitled to these opinions. But when objectivity is not truely possible, including in a review between people who know each other, things are best left said in private. Particularly when such a negative unhelpful view is held. It is just offensive to say that the creators didn't care about their work. Tracey, you appear as much as a bully as the person you are attacking.

You had my sympathy Tracey up until the word "taste" after that it became a personal attack at least as unpleasant as you are accusing Garreth as being. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

We went and say this on closing night with a couple of friends. I saw Hope Is The Saddest earlier in the year and had really enjoyed that so it was with genuine anticipation that we walked into the feather strewn Blue Room last nite. Some very funny dialogue, some very nice performances, clever use of animation and light. My one bitch was that it was all over very quickly but if you leave an audience wanting more, that's a good sign I guess. I wouldn't say all the ideas coalesced successfully - what I mean by that is that whilst the first half or so of the play had a generally cohesive linear story to it, the second half (maybe final third) was a tad more random and perhaps didn't translate to a thicko like myself as well as it might have. This I guess is the potential risk you take with collaborative ventures of this type but regardless I didn't see anyone checking their watch or coughing or any of the other signs that they were losing interest. Well done all - wish I could write dialogue like that, strong acting throughout, good nite out :)

Just wanted to point this out as perhaps the most intelligent and civilised response to criticism I've ever seen on this website! A simple 'thanks'. Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------