James Galea, apparently by his own admission, is a lying, cheating bastard, so it's hard to know what's true and what isn't in this sketchily, poetically biographical production, co-written with director Nicholas Hammond, based ever-so-loosely, one suspects, on Galea's life and career, even if his character goes by the name Jimmy 'The Cricket' Garcia. In his director's statement, Hammond might be insinuating a caveat, when he says 'every theatre piece has a life and identity entirely its own, different in every production, indeed different from night to night'. While this is clearly intended to reflect the variable, unpredictable, unquantifiable energy generated between performer and audience, it wittingly or unwittingly points to a certain unevenness which was evident on this, opening night of a short season at Parramatta's Lennox Theatre, which resides in the Riverside complex.
LCB is very well-written and is, on paper, a very tight, taut work. The glitzy production and lighting design (Jo Briscoe & Matt Marshall) is just right, in terms of projecting images of casino royalty, a fast, sleazy gambling lifestyle, organised crime and the illusory world of card and other tricks. It is other-wordly, yet amidst us, in the cracks and crevices of the city and surrounds. The nebulous, hyperfactual mirage Galea and Hammond have wrought so seamlessly is the real magic of the work, since it toys so effectively with our capacity to discern the fictions and fabrications in the material: we believe what we want to believe; a revelation that mimics the central proposition of this piece, in that the winner-grinner's success is a product not of his greed, but ours. This is repeated throughout, as if to punch it in to our obstinately materialistic subconscious. Or is it to absolve the LCB of guilt (all care and no responsibility; it's just a game)?
In its Copperfield meets Underbelly aesthetic, it's a timely work: who can resist the seamy allure of what's behind the curtain? It's a narrative that appeals to our baser instincts, our lesser selves. There's Frankie, the high-rolling Jo'burger, who teaches Cricket everything he knows, making him a slavish apprentice; albeit one who comes to think he knows better and gets caught out, bigtime. Is there a moral here? That no matter how good or smart we think we are, there's always someone wilier to sucker us?
As for the integration of 'theatrical storytelling' with sleight-of-hand illusions borrowed from Galea's other shows, it's a little jarring: there are tracts of overacted text, which tend to diminish the believability of a supposedly true tale (it seems a little tall and poetically-licenced, at times, like the one that got away) interrupted by tricks, which are deviously clever and stunningly executed. The latter are probably the most popular aspect of the production. They seemed to be the primary reason why people had come. And it's hard to have it both ways: while the story of his life is confided intimately, the fourth wall remains, but is crashed through with the audience participation required for the cons & deceptions. This is unsettling and doesn't quite work.
And while Galea might be the world's greatest magician (or whatever the correct nomenclature is) and pretty handy at the piano, he isn't (yet) the world's greatest actor. While the competence and confidence he exudes in the former pursuit excites awe, the nervousness and over-eagerness exercised in the latter excites anxiety and discomfort. So much so one wishes another actor could be employed to play Garcia, or Galea (the distinction seems almost immaterial). But then the tricks would have to be screened only, with voiceover.
In the final analysis, the show ends up being, thus far, better in concept than in execution. Hopefully, with time and experience, the shape of the trend will reverse. I hope so. It would make a good film methinks. And, whatever my reservations, one thing is patent: Galea is some kind of unclassifiable savant, with a deal of mysterious, 'evil' charisma that's almost chilling.
SOFT TREAD ENTERPRISES Presents
Lying Cheating Bastard
by James Galea and Nicholas Hammond
Venue: Riverside Theatres, Cnr Church and Market Sts, Parramatta
Dates: August 24 - 28, 2010
Times: Tues 24 Aug at 7.30pm; Wed 25 Aug at 7.30pm; Thurs 26 Aug at 6.30pm; Fri 27 Aug at 7.30pm; Sat 28 Aug at 2.15pm & 7.30pm
Tickets: Adults $48, Conc $43, 30 and Under $35
Bookings: Riverside Box Office 02 8839 3399 or www.riversideparramatta.com.au
