The Garden

‘The Garden’ was written by Tiffany Barton for Perth’s Fringe, and is presented by the purveyors of scandal, Creative Collaborations - the same team that created the smash hit 'Polly's Waffle'. Tiffany was nominated as Best Actress for her role in ‘Titus Andronicus’. Her children’s play, ‘Run Kitty Run’, was nominated for a Best New Play award and her creative writing has been published in the prestigious ‘Best Australian Stories’.

This 55-minute play can be seen at the Noodle Palace, 451 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley each evening at 7.45 until the 24^th February.

On a tiny stage in a 50-seat venue, the atmosphere is intimate - as are the cast. As the audience enter the brightly decorated ‘garage’, a giant of a man glowers down at them from the stage, not a flicker in his expression – this is Snake.

        The house lights dim and onto a gauze screen, the shadowgraphs of a nude Adam (Robert Jackson) and Eve (Tiffany Barton) in the garden come to life. They copulate and when Adam leaves Eve, she eats an apple (healthier than having a smoke) given to her by Snake (Angus Howell). Within seconds Snake is upon her and she is no longer a pure married woman. The screen splits and Eve is thrown out of Paradise and lands in modern day Australia.

      Eve becomes a trollop, desperate for crazy sex. Adam, however, prefers simple, romantic love making. Their children are now young adults. With his habits, Cain (Conrad Le Bron) should be known as CoCaine, and is very much like his mother. On the other hand, Abel (Zane Alexander) is a Bible quoting wimp, whose main aim in life is to be like Tony Abbott.

       Can Eve be saved from her disgusting life? Or are the whole family doomed to eternal hell?

The director, James Winter, who has worked for the State Opera Company of SA and the Sydney Opera House, has gathered an amazing cast for this Fringe show. The team comprises Quairading born, Robert Jackson, who has appeared in the Channel 7 documentary ‘Jack the Ripper’ and ‘Prime Suspect’.  Conrad Le Bron has worked with The WA Youth Theatre Company, The Actor's Studio NYC and NIDA. Choreographer and singer, Zane Alexander, has in the past year appeared in TV’s ‘The Great Mint Swindle’ and ‘Musicals in Concert’ with Lucy Durack. Finally, Angus Howell is an ex-WAAPA man who has worked in Sydney and Singapore and with such companies as WA Opera, the ABC and Bizircus Circus.

This is a cleverly written, very dark script; with disgustingly coarse dialogue, blue double entendres and sordid puns, and yet it is not pornographic, just crudely funny. The genre is a blend of TV’s ‘Mrs Brown’, The Bible and Kevin Bloody Wilson. Eve’s attitude to her sons is so frighteningly similar to Edina in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’.

There is semi female nudity, but it is the actions of the cast satisfying each other that is in your face – or their face! Yet the energy of the cast made the whole show acceptably inoffensive (almost).

This play is definitely not for everyone. The audience was an equal mix of men and women and all seemed to have plenty of chuckles. Every Fringe needs a play that is so wildly over-the-top.