LADIES DOWN UNDER

What a fun production, but with good performances and depth of character, which lifted the whole evening into something well worth watching.

Technically I appreciated the minimalistic approach, which mostly worked fine, although there were a few places where there was a longer wait for things to kick in than perhaps the team would have liked, but hey…..things don’t always go completely without a small hitch here and there, and overall it was a good production.

The costumes were good, and suited each of the characters, I would have liked to see better wigs for the two men when they were air stewards, but otherwise good, and their ‘drag’ persona wigs were very striking, particularly the red one! 

The comedy was integrated well and delivered with panache by the cast, without making it too obvious that it was there, so some of the best lines were unexpected.  There were also poignant moments which made this an immersive play which covered many different aspects of the relationships.

I was surprised to learn that Paul Murphy, who played five different characters, was only on stage for the second time, he showed great attention to detail for each persona, and kept his Ozzie accent well.  I thought he really came out of his shell as Bondi Bitch, he looked good and gave a full-on performance.  I also loved the scene between Danny and Shelley, it was very touching, and provided a light but revealing moment.

Malcolm Coakley covered four characters, and switched well between his Northern and Aussie accents, not easy to do, but he did it with apparent ease.  I loved his Koala Bare, a complete surprise! – whilst Joe, Bill and Charlie all had their own variety of portrayals. 

Elaine Hartless gave Pearl a real depth, searching for some sort of inner peace to cope with her cancer diagnosis, her relationships with the other ladies was so good, and I liked her and Shelley’s ‘smoking’ scene, which was very well-played by both and led the way to a greater understanding between the two of them. 

Margie Skinner as Jan, showed many different facets to her character, the disappointment and the acceptance of Joe not being at the airport, then the surprise meeting, and her joy when Joe proved to be still wanting a relationship, very good.

Zara Radford as Shelley, the baby of the bunch, but wanting so much from her life leading to her basically spending all her money, excellent nuances of character, anger, despair and all things in between, then her unexpected relationship with Danny, filled with hope.

The final lady was Claire Waller as Linda – a different proposition to the other ladies, in that she felt she should share her good fortune, until persuaded that she should enjoy it for her, then her enlightenment and involvement in the LBGTQ community – it was good to see her transformation.

So overall – a very good evening’s entertainment, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and my thanks to Breakaway for making me so welcome, always good to catch up with everyone.

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