Acts of Undressing

‘Acts of Undressing’ is a disturbing, black comedy by playwright Ian Sinclair. It is the latest concept presented by The Duck House and is showing in the 100-seat, Yirra Yaakin Theatre, at 65 Murray Street, near the corner of Pier Street, in Perth. The 90-minute shows start at 7.30 pm and the season runs until 1^st May.

           The lonely lighthouse keeper, Ernest (Brendan Ewing), awakes to face another day without his beloved partner. As the broken-hearted man, now mentally confused with grief, looks out of the window at the ocean and the shoreline, he spots what he thinks are three Sirens calling to the ships. These beautiful, immaculately dressed, females are in fact milliners from the world famous House of Di Angelo, searching the sands for the rare feathers used to make their $200,000 fascinators.
          He invites the women into his lighthouse. Red fascinator (Gita Bezard) explains their visit and how much they enjoy relaxing at the beach. The lighthouse keeper soon finds that one woman, Elizabeth (Fran Middleton), is also timid and forlorn. They decide to comfort each other. Will this be the new love to replace his previous partner? Will the bond between the women be too strong for Ernest to break? Whatever happens you can be sure that blue fascinator (Alissa Claessens) will be spying through her binoculars as she munches her biscuits.

Past Duck House productions have included the immensely popular and bizarre ‘The Oresteia’, ‘Oscar’, and this playwright’s mysterious ‘The Bearskinner’. This show is no different; it is a beautifully written quirky piece. Ian Sinclair can certainly think up some unusual and intriguing situations. Under the creative direction of Kat Osborne, the full emotions of the story are revealed. There is heaps of action from the characters, and with prop movement, the audience get to see the keeper’s room from various angles.  Chris Isaacs’ lighting adeptly moves around the large stage with the characters, always having just the right illumination, angle and hue.
The live music, by saxophonist Marc Osborne, covers all of the sound effects from the initial fog horn, the gulls through to the final lapping of the waves on the shore. His impromptu playing of blues and general mood music was most successful.
The first half of this play is hilarious, both in dialogue and visually, with a very funny undressing scene – sexy, even a little erotic - but nothing your Grandma wouldn’t enjoy. After the lighthouse keeper relates the tragic account of his wife’s death (a brilliant piece of acting from Brendan, who really deserves a big break in theatre / TV) the story changes skilfully to a very dark tale in the style of Edgar Allan Poe.
This Duck House production is again wacky, zany call it what you will, but definitely an interesting, well-constructed and produced play. It gives me joy to see something so fresh and intelligent.