Dog-ville
Another
of Melbourne’s independent theatres to become indispensable
is the actor’s company Act-O-Matic 3000. They put themselves
firmly on the map in 2005 with their effortless production of
the documentary drama based on the Matthew Shepard murder The
Laramie Project and followed it with a couple of Australian
premieres of work by Neil Labute. Now based in the Cromwell Road
Theatre in South Yarra (with the most comfortable seats in town)
their final production for 2007 is a comedy that rips into the
business we all love to hate – Hollywood.
Four Dogs and a Bone by John Patrick Shanley
is a compact one-acter and like The Little Dog Laughed at Red
Stitch recently a Hollywood satire written by an insider who knows
the workings of the business. Here the four 'dogs' of the title
are Hollywood archetypes, cunning starlet, desperate older actress,
high-principled screenwriter and hardened old producer. The 'bone'
is the script currently in production but 'dogged' by bad luck
and money problems. Producer Bradley (Barry Mitchell) is struggling
to keep the shoot on budget. In the movie cast in Brenda (Shanrah
Wakefield), who has an agenda to use this, her first movie, to
move up the Hollywood hierarchy from bimbo to starlet. Also in
the cast is Collette (Catherine Kohlen) and her agenda is to turn
her character part into a main role. First time screenwriter Victor
(Brett Whittingham) is determined not to compromise his script
particularly that the lead character Johnny dies in the end. But
Brenda and Charlotte both want their characters to save Johnny
and to have the other's part reduced or written out altogether.
The plot uses familiar Hollywood clichés
but the script is tightly written, packed with hilarious one-liners,
movie in-jokes and plot twists all leading to inevitable but ingenious
ending where dog eats dog. There are only four scenes of about
twenty minutes each with the first three involving only two characters
each. The characters serve each other the comedy and bounce it
back like tennis players. First there is Brenda convincing Bradley
that the script needs changes and, is a suspicious parody of Paris
Hilton, uses her family connections as bait to get him to agree.
Next we see Collette using her less subtle charms on the down
at heel Victor to make the vital script change involving ‘Johnny’.
Then Collette and Brenda have it out, all their insecurities coming
to the fore before they form an uneasy alliance. Finally Victor
and Bradley have it out, before Collette and Brenda enter for
the final showdown only to have everything reversed in the neatest
example of classic farce.
Four Dogs and a Bone resembles Michael
Frayn’s Noises Off for having an infallible script
that rattles along like clockwork.
The cast of four realise the different comic types
superbly with Wakefield as the tough tough little player beneath
the bimbo exterior. Kohlen has the dream part of the bitchy and
clawing actress in a flame red dress and bargaining with sex,
sincerity or whatever it takes to save her part in the movie.
Whittington is one of the watchable actors in town. As the drunk
and dishevelled Victor, his distinctive voice shaded with an American
‘Bronx’ accent is perfect.
Dan Walls's direction lets the comedy look after
itself. Some of the stage business suggests that in the original
and subsequent stagings around the US, the actors went in for
bigger and even over the top performances. Here the acting well
contained and the staging is simple and effective, the three locations
picked out in unobtrusive lighting. Four Dogs and a Bone
is an actor's play with has a simplicity of design and regular,
not just occasional, laughs brought out here without overdoing
things.
Michael Magnusson
To read more of Michael Mangusson's theatre reviews,
check out his blog at
On Stage (and walls) Melbourne.
