The Men

"The Men" is a touring production by Drinking Lizard Productions and The Menswork Project Inc.,I saw it last Thursday at the Old Mill Theatre where it played for three nights. This week it plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Northbridge Plaza Community Centre and then onto other venues. The play ,written by prolific Australian writer Chris Dickins, examines the lives of four male baby boomers.Old school friends, they are reunited at the request of one of their number,the reason for which remains a mystery until the end.The play was written eleven years ago and, while still relevant, some of the material has become a little cliched this does not detract from the play though. We see a stage devoid of any set except for four bar stools representing the front of a public bar.One by one the men arrive each revealing his character with a speech delivered to the audience/unseen bar staff.They are broken, disillusioned men displaced from the workforce.They view their situation with humour, anger and cynicism,"the trouble with reaching bottom is they keep lowering the bar"(quoted from memory and probably not exact) The dialogue between the men is rapid fire, witty banter that explores the male psyche and covers everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask, like the effects of aging on the male genitalia and references to erections ,ejaculation, prostates and even the obligatory male ritual of scar displaying. This blokey banter is interpersed with soliloquys delivered out to the audience.It is in these personal moments that the characters,isolated by a single spotlight,reveal their true selves .They confide facts and feelings they would never share with their mates.These speeches are a fascinating combination of drama, humour, pathos, tragedy and nostalgia They are often very moving moments and the dialogue frequently takes on poetic qualities. These are challenging roles for any actor but are done full justice by the four very experienced actors.Conrad Crisafulli,Peter Fry, Fred Lawson and Carmelo Lenzo.They are fully believable in their roles and kept my full attention thhroughout . Direction by Grant Malcolm is tight and keeps the play moving at a cracking pace.As this is a touring play,Set, lighting, sound and props are minimal or non existant.This actually works well with this play allowing the solid performances and superbly crafted dialogue to be the sole focus of our attention Coming from four Australian men in a public bar, the language is understandably strong. It is nothing you havn't heard before and if you havn't then you won't know it.However if you do have an aversion to profanities and references to mens dangly bits and their functions then you should probably avoid this one. This is a very slick production of a wise, witty, insightful and entertaining play and is well worth a look at.After this week it plays 14,15,16 and 20 July at Camelot Theatre, 22,23 July at Don Russell Performing Arts Centre and 29,30 July at Mount Lawley Bowling Club.