Add six actors, sprinkle four directors, stir in five producers and you’ve got Ball Game,
the four tapas-style plays currently showing at Darlinghurst Theatre.
They’re the work of acclaimed US playwright turned screenwriter Alan Ball, the genius behind such dark and delicious treats as American Beauty and Six Feet Under.
Ball is one of those writers who understands that when it comes
to comedy it’s a delicate matter of balance. Just like a master chef
working in a top notch, a la carte restaurant he carefully adds all the
ingredients in the right proportions - but beyond that there’s
something special that he adds, that extra pinch of magic that lifts
the whole thing beyond the realm of the mundane and into the
Michelin-star category. Now, imagine for a moment (while I stretch this
little cooking metaphor a little bit further) that you’ve stumbled
across the recipe of one of the world’s greatest soufflé chefs. You buy
all the ingredients. You follow their recipe with painstaking
attention. You carefully put it into the oven, and you wait. Now, can
you be assured that your soufflé is going to be as light and fluffy and
divine as the recipe promises? Or is it just possible that in spite of
your very best efforts you open the oven door and watch the whole thing
collapse into a sticky heap right before your very eyes. I think you
know the answer… which brings me back to Ball Game.
Sadly, whether it’s a case of too many chefs or the misguided
intentions of a number of the participants to make the material ‘more
funny’, the result is that Ball’s
sparkling dialogue and witty cynicism is all but lost in a production
that seems obsessed with overplaying the bleedingly obvious. This is
not what Ball has intended for his material. In fact, if you
watch any of his screen efforts you can see that mostly his comedy
comes out of very clever lines delivered deadpan - and there’s only one
director involved with Ball Game who really understands that and that’s Christopher Stollery. In The M Word, Stollery trusts the material and allows the characters of woman (Lisa Griffiths) and man (Matthew Holmes) to shine, as they strategically discuss the ‘proposal’ on the table. Matthew Holmes
has a particularly firm grasp of what’s required here and it was nice
to hear the audience audibly relax enough to enjoy the really funny
moments of this piece aware that they were in safe hands.
On the production side of things there’s an interesting revolving set (Alice Morgan) that adds style to the show and helps smooth transitions between the plays in an eye-catching way, while Spiros Hristias
provides lighting with punch and panache. But none of this was enough
to save the production for me and I was left feeling like I’d been
tempted by a mouth-watering menu that failed to deliver on taste.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Sauna Productions and inc. studios present
BALL GAME
by Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under)
Venue: Darlinghurst Theatre Company 19 Greenknowe Avenue Potts Point Dates: Thursday 26 June - Saturday 19 July Times: 8pm Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm Sundays Tickets: Adult $30, Conc $25 Bookings:www.darlinghursttheatre.com or 02 8356 9987
