Returning to the space where it all began 50 years ago, this revival of Steven J. Spears' worldwide hit is a compelling revisit of an era when homosexuality was still illegal, when elecution lessons were considered the social-climber's ticket to success, and when the youthquake of Jagger, Bowie and Skyhooks smashed against the Australia still despearate to pretend it was still the 1950s. Simon Burke takes on the mantle of our central figure, alone onstage but building up a world around him - of Bruce, his closted friend/lover/playmate, of the censorious neighbours, of the various clients including Mrs Franklin and her stuttering son Benjamin who explodes into his life and shakes everything up with a few surprising revelations about what a 1970s 13-year-old can get up to. Declan Greene's production is set very much in the original era with Isabel Hudson conjuring up a room with the tiled floor, green curtains, many many tchotchkes on the walls and a very very active telephone for Burke to interact with.
Burke owns the stage as a figure who's sarcastic, snide, clearly very much a sexual being keeping a lot of himself under wraps a lot of the time, and finally a figure who's been broken by society's judgements. It's a marathon part, and Burke holds the stage like the star that he is - compelling from startling entrance to final blackout.
No comments:
Post a Comment