We were late. And I've not read the play. So it was a slightly weird world to walk into, this confection of J. M. Barrie's. Yes, of course you know the name. Peter Pan.Barrie's Love In Idleness springs from an extraordinary premise. It kidnaps Puck, that shrewd and knavish sprite also known as Robin Goodfellow, from A Midsummer Night's Dream and throws him (or, in this case, her) four-hundred years hence, hosting a kind of dinner party, or something, for a group of friends it seems the mischievous fellow would rather test and toy with, than entertain. They seem to be there more for his entertainment. He's been enjoying this ritual for donkey's years, gathering the formerly unacquainted from around England and the globe. No, Puck certainly hasn't been idle these past four centuries, but has remained CEO of a mysterious wood, which can pop up anywhere, come midsummer. Much rumour surrounds it. It's said some never return, having entered it.
Much of the play is spent unfurling the individual and marital foibles of those in Puck's company before, following a spot of after-dinner port, what-have-you, the gents come up with the splendid idea of venturing into the wood. Capital, what? Of course, nothing's the same after that for, effectively, entering the wood is the same as partaking of the forbidden fruit. Damn it! Didn't we make that mistake once before? All regard themselves as decent people, but the wood takes them on journeys of self-discovery, giving no quarter, allowing no room for rationalisation. Yep. When you go down to the wood today, you're in for a big surprise. You'll get to follow the path not taken. And then where will you be?
It's pretty interesting stuff, but you've got to be on your mettle to follow it all, as Barrie himself takes you down his own dark, meandering, menacing path.
Roz Riley, who directs, has indulged her customary penchant for classical music excerpts, which I still find distracting and out of place, but which are fewer and further between than has sometimes been the case. The set is comprised of vine-like, intertwined, coloured cloth, dangling from the rafters. It suffices to create a sense of the magical and mystical, but is a little uninspired. Apart from this, there's sundry furniture, such as one might have found on a late 19th-century country estate, but probably wouldn't have. More likely Fantastic Furniture.
Louise Wildman is Rob and has a suitably impish way about her, but an aggravatingly affected, sibilant delivery. Diza Diaz does a good turn as an unlikable American woman, Alice Dearth. Paul Alexander is more in his element than I've ever seen him, as William Dearth, Alice's long-suffering husband, who's forsaken his art for brandy and misery. Haley Sewell shines as the daughter that never, but somehow, was, and never will be. (Don't worry, once you embark on the trail through the wood, you'll understand.) She is as ethereal as moonlight reflected on the water; neither here, nor there. Matt Jones is quite superb, as John Purdie, who travels through hubris, to learn humility and earn self-awareness. Melissa Jones is good enough, as Mabel Purdie, showing two distinct sides to her character: the vulnerable and the vixen. Elizabeth Daniels' take-it-or-leave-it Aussie accent seemed not to fit, and the harshness of her vocal delivery is, frankly, hard to take. Ellen Malone shows some spunk and considerable comic sensibility, as the lisping Lady Caroline Laney, who never sinks below her class. Well, almost never. And finally, Michael Terry shows versatility as Matey, Rob's pilfering butler.
Many of the above, however, seemed all at sea for about the first half-hour. Timing was sluggish and disrupted the rhythm of the work, making it harder to penetrate than need be. Things picked-up though and, by the second act, were pretty much on song; apart from some highly dubious singing, ironically. They need to, because this is two-and-a-half hours of indulgence in the magic-mushroomed mind of Mr Barrie. B+.
Factory Space Theatre Company presents
Love in Idleness
based on a play by JM Barrie
Directed by Roz Riley
Venue: Star of the Sea Theatre | Cnr of Collingwood Street and Iluka Avenue, Manly
Dates: 9 Apr – 1 May, 2011
Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm, Sunday Matinees at 3:00pm
Tickets: $30 – $25
Bookings: 02 9439 1906
