| Baby Boomer Blues | Perth Theatre Company |
| Written by Simonne Michelle-Wells |
| Saturday, 12 July 2008 00:12 |
 Photo - Jon GreenTom Stoppard once said; “I think theatre ought to be theatrical... [so] there's always some kind of ambush involved in the experience.” Baby Boomer Blues has its own ambush – it’s called boredom. The play is “back by popular demand” after a season late last year. Who demanded it? I demand to know. Opening night was not a sell out and, judging by the lacklustre applause at the finish, there seemed to be a distinct lack of demand. The surprising thing is that Baby Boomer Blues is written and directed by one of Perth’s best known and most prolific theatre writer/directors, Alan Becher. He’s had some big hits over the years. This, I’m afraid, for me, is not one of them. Baby Boomer Blues is about the baby boomer generation and the two actors in it are baby boomers. Actually, that’s not quite right; one of them is a boomer, the other one is married to a boomer. Keep up please people. So, we have married boomer couple, Bob (Ian Toyne) and Carol (Michelle Fornaiser). Said married couple can’t stand each other anymore. Said couple fight all the time. On stage. For two hours. As entertainment. Now, I am boomer spawn. No. My parents were not kangaroos. Please people, keep up. And my friend for the evening is a boomer. We’ll call her B. For Boomer. Get it? I know. So you’d think that between us we’d get some enjoyment from this boomer fest. But you see, I spent my childhood listening to boomers fighting and B needed a stiff drink by the end of it because it brought back horrible memories. And all this from “an hilarious comedy”. You’re beginning to see my point. I knew you would. This “entertaining portrayal of married life” is a tense experience for anyone who’s ever been in, or had to listen to, a couple who can no longer bare the sight of each other. And I’d say that’s – oh – about all of us. The play takes an awfully long time to come to the point. Baby-boomer Bob (Toyne) has quit his job in search of something more fulfilling, so his third wife, Carol (Fornaiser) has become the breadwinner. Carol is desperate for a getaway to reinvigorate their marriage (give up! I wanted to cry, but held back for decorum’s sake) and so the couple embark on a journey to Thailand. There are a few moments in the second act where you begin to realise what the play is really about and find some empathy and interest and then, suddenly, it’s over. There are several long sequences that provide nothing in terms of the plot and could be cut from the script, which I think would benefit it greatly in terms of pace and sense. The performance from Ian Toyne is a good one. He injects a natural warmth into a character that we’re all familiar with – the grumpy old man. B said that character was spot-on and could well have been her ex-husband, Mr. B, so clearly Becher knows about grumpy old men. Michelle Fornaiser as Carol is not so convincing, and not at all helped by the poorly written character she has to play. She is the most un-bookish bookshop owner you’re ever likely to meet and she’s given no room to develop as a character. Her performance was way too big for the writing and she was given only one level - mean – which is hard to watch for two hours. Despite all this, Fornaiser and Toyne work well together and both have good comic timing. The visually dull set doesn’t add much to the clichéd script, and as usual when Downstairs at His Maj, I was left wondering why directors struggle to think outside the square in that space.
The baby boomer generation is ripe with wonderful images and
Becher seems to have skipped over most of them. There are numerous references to
Western Australian places and people, which got some laughs; “The world is a
terrible place – look at Somalia,
Bosnia,
Northbridge.” But it’s the clichés by the truckload that begin to wear thin:
“I’ve told you a millions times not to exaggerate” and; “I’m trying.” “Yes, you are, very.” Are just two examples, and are
extremely funny. When you’re ten.
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Comments (2)Subscribe to this comment's feed...
I saw this play last time and I agree to the max! I am a boomer and thought this the un-funniest play I have ever had the misfortune of attending. I wanted to leave so badly (the only time I can remember wanting to do that in theatre) but was unable to attract my friend's attention - the seating was odd to say the least. I loved this funny review.
,
July 13, 2008
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I am a baby boomer and this play just made me feel depressed. The fact that the couple were constantly screaming at each other became increasingly annoying and it seemed that the whole audience was happy when the play ended. Unfortunately, the female character was clearly not a "baby Boomer" and there had been very little understanding and sharing of experiences until the last part of the play.
,
July 14, 2008
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