Left – John Gaden and Akos Armont. Photo – Helen WhiteA Life In The Theatre could well be the title of actor John Gaden's autobiography.
As it happens, it is the title of Gaden's latest theatrical life, the role of veteran actor, Robert, in David Mamet's playful tribute to players, A Life In The Theatre.
In twenty-six scenes over 90 minutes, Robert teams with younger actor, John (Akos Armont) as they perform scenes from various bad plays and banter through pre and post performance dialogues.
The play begins with the two thespians conducting a post mortem in the dressing room at the conclusion of a performance of their current show. It is a spare, succinct encapsulation of the frailties, egos, jealousies and insecurities that besiege and beleaguer any treader of the boards.
Flattery, conspiracy against fellow cast members, the failure of the audience to fully appreciate their labours and talent, consolidate their camaraderie, a mutual admiration society that weathers societal changes over their run of productions in a small repertory company.
Director Helen Dallimore takes delirious pleasure in presenting the high theatricality of backstage antics – wardrobe malfunction, quick change, uncertainty of entrance cues – and the nightmares that can plague performers in live theatre – creaky sets and special effects, drying of lines, missing cues, recalcitrant props.
The collaboration of writer, director and actors deliver a two part harmony of the vulgar and the eloquent, the vulnerable and the arrogant, of vilification and vindication.
Production values are top drawer with Hugh O'Connor's main-stage design becoming the backstage, so the stage is at the back, actions there transmitted via video on the backstage monitors.
A Life In The Theatre is more than just about a couple of actors, as Robert so eloquently states: “… a wondrous thing about the theatre...one of the ways in which it's most like life. That in the Theatre (as in life – and the Theatre is, of course, a part of life…) I'm saying, as in a grocery store, that you can separate the time one spends...that is, it's all part of one's life. In addition to the fact that what's happening on stage is life... of a sort... I mean it's part of your life.”
Yes, all the world's a stage and A Life In The Theatre puts meat in the metaphor.
Like Noises Off's bluff, brooding brother, A Life In The Theatre cuts through the vanity and vulnerability and delivers a vital valentine, through the thick and thin, an unabashed love letter to the theatre.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company presents
A Life in the Theatre
by David Mamet
Director Helen Dallimore
Venue: Eternity Playhouse | 39 Burton Street, Darlinghurst NSW
Dates: 4 Nov – 4 Dec 2016
Tickets: $35 – $49
Bookings: www.darlinghursttheatre.com
