Photos - Cybele MalinowskiFrom the darkness Rommy makes her demand: a doll, a book and a fuse in exchange for freedom.
Cat400 (Anna Houston) lives with her sister, Fluke (Virginia Gay), underground. Something terrible has happened up above and so they eke out their existence eating rats and eels in the safety of the dark, wet space they call home. While Fluke is at work Cat400 tends to the hovel and practices her dance moves, until one day she finds Gloria (Janie Gibson) unconscious in the lake. Fluke is apprehensive of their new guest but somehow Cat400 convinces her dominating sister to allow her to keep the unconscious Gloria. When Gloria regains her consciousness and slowly but surely her memory, Fluke's greatest fear/plan is realised.
It took me a little while to get into the show. At first I found Houston’s Cat400 to be a bit tried in her physicality, but as the production progressed and her character developed with the story it felt more natural. Houston does a great job at portraying Cat400’s idiosyncrasies without making her come across as an inhuman caricature. Cat400’s playfulness is wonderfully balanced by Fluke’s negativity and domineering nature. Gay captures both Fluke’s controlling personality and her fragility. Gloria as a character is a bit more one dimensional. Gibson’s performance is solid, but there just isn’t as much room to work with as the better rounded Fluke and Cat400.
The script feels a little underdeveloped, a bit like a very well rehearsed script workshop. The play definitely has a lot of potential, but there are just too many unanswered questions and loose ends for my mind to feel satisfied. An example of this is the declaration that Gloria is from the future, but there’s nothing particularly futuristic about her. Maybe Cat400 just made up her mind that Gloria was from the future, but if that were the case why does Fluke just go along with it and why does Gloria never question it?
The flipside of this is that the show itself is very tight. It feels quite strange however to be criticising the script writer (Nick Coyle) and complimenting the director (Nick Coyle). A couple of years ago I saw Coyle perform as part of Pig Island’s Simply Fancy, which was an imaginative romp in search of fruit salad for Grandma, and I can see the progression of how a work such as Rommy has developed out of Pig Island’s absurd, group devised style. Rommy is far more structured than Simply Fancy was and with this structure I expected less throw away lines and loose ends.
All that said I really enjoyed Rommy. There’s a certain magic at play within the production where the real and unreal is blurred. It was a fun night out and the cast put on great performances. I would however, really like to see Coyle take his writing to the next level and I only say that because I believe that he is capable.
Heavy Judy in association with Tamarama Rock Surfers present
ROMMY
by Nick Coyle
Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre - Cnr Cathedral St and Dowling St Woolloomooloo
Previews: 13 - 16 July 2010
Dates: 17 July – 7 August 2010
Times: Tues-Sat, 8pm and Sunday 5pm
Tickets: $29 Full, $21 Concession, $35 Beer, Laksa and Show (plus BF), $17 Preview and Cheap Tuesday, $25 Beer, Laksa and Show (plus BF)
Bookings: www.rocksurfers.org | 1300 438 849 | box office 75 mins prior to performance
