Left – Brendan Donoghue and Anne Wilson. Cover – Annie Spence. Photos – Stephen ReinhardtA confluence of errors – certainly not a comedy – made my viewing of Illuminate Educate's production of Life Without Me by Daniel Keene at the Reginald Theatre in the Seymour Centre, truncated, to say the least.
The centre was hosting a number of other events that evening, including the On Stage performances by HSC Drama matriculants, the foyer and forecourt was awash with students, teachers, parents and supporters, as well as patrons for Keene's play in the Reg.
The box office was a shambles of scrambles to pick up tickets, no delineation for shows, both of which started at the same time. A minor frustration which may have been forgotten, except that during interval that same flood – streams from both shows inundating the foyer, clogging the refreshments concession and the female comfort stations.
And then the failure of the PA system to adequately alert patrons that the performance was to recommence.
About twenty of us were late to the beginning of Act Two, and the configuration of the space means walking onto the stage. That number of people cutting onto the stage, then steeple chasing for their seats is distressing and disruptive for audiences and performers. That number indicates a breakdown in venue management.
And what of the production?
For a start the design is wrong. It is supposed to be a two star hotel that has seen better days. Instead, it looks like the interior of a Meriton apartment. The hotel clerk looks like a work experience student rather than a world weary acerbic concierge his dialogue suggests.
The premise is like some Sartre-esque take on Fawlty Towers, where clerk engages six guests who variously arrive at this inhospitable hotel and are invariably unable to leave.
As one of the characters says, “A hotel lobby is strange kind of place..when you're in one, you're either checking in or checking out..not yet properly arrived, or not entirely departed. You're in between. A person is always somewhere, but in a hotel lobby, where are you exactly?”
This production seems not to know either.
The farcical and absurdist elements of Daniel Keene's script are left largely vagrant due to a lack of vim and vigour, Pintersque pauses prevailing over the saving grace of pace.
Fairly some performers try to enliven the enervation by cutting over and through other's lines but to no avail. No one in this hotel had reservations. Audiences will have plenty.
Keene has never found the foothold in Sydney that he enjoys in Melbourne or Paris or Salzburg and this production of Life Without Me won't enhance his chances at any reversal of fortune.
Illuminate Educate presents
Life Without Me
by Daniel Keene
Directed by Cathy Hunt
Venue: The Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre cnr City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale
Dates: 9 – 16 Feb 2016
Tickets: $42 – $26
Bookings: www.illuminateeducate.com.au
