{"id":10429,"date":"2019-07-27T16:09:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T06:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=10429"},"modified":"2019-07-30T13:24:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T03:24:32","slug":"fifty-words-lab-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/fifty-words-lab-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty Words (Lab Theatre) – theatre review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marriage is hard work. How often have you heard that? Well, the subject is given a working-over in American playwright Michael Weller\u2019s drama Fifty Words.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAdam (Daniel Schepisi) is an architect who works a long way from home. Jan (Katharine Innes) is a former dancer turned businesswoman. They have a love\/hate relationship. Their child (who we don\u2019t see) is having his first sleep-over. So they have their apartment to themselves; and Greg is up for some horizontal action. He reminisces about their risqu\u00e9 first date. But there’s trouble in paradise. When Jan keeps Adam waiting for a couple of hours, the knives are out. Some home truths are told, but that’s just the start of it.<\/p>\n

His business is in trouble; she’s a workaholic. He doesn\u2019t have the strength she’s looking for; she’s unrelenting \u2026 and so on. They push each other\u2019s buttons. Then, an incendiary revelation threatens to blow their marriage to smithereens.<\/p>\n

Lab Theatre\u2019s Fifty Words suffers for a number of reasons. But first the positives. Innes is very good, inhabiting the strengths and weaknesses of her character and taking on a highly plausible American accent. She draws breath before she enunciates and has a keen understanding of what it takes to flesh out Jan\u2019s persona.<\/p>\n

Not so, Schepisi, who was, at times, barely audible (he didn\u2019t project) during the first act on opening night. The speed of his patter was another problem. I’m afraid his representation of Adam didn\u2019t ring true. It felt like he was acting rather than inhabiting his character. Then, on occasions, he pushed too hard in the second act. So, he went from one extreme to the other. I was reminded of AFL coach John Kennedy\u2019s remarks during the 1975 Grand Final when he implored his players not to think, not to hope, but rather to do something. Theatre is all about belief on the part of the audience and I didn\u2019t believe he was who he was meant to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIn spite of the heat in the kitchen, Fifty Words gets off to a slow start. It appears to labour, before hitting stride after Adam is left frustrated. The second act is quite schizophrenic as the protagonists lurch one way and then the other. I don\u2019t doubt that the characters would feel anger and regret, but Weller has obviously condensed a longer time frame into a workable narrative. That being the case, director Peter Kalos needs bridges between scenes, but they just aren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

I have no doubt Weller\u2019s full-length play has more to give than what we saw on stage at the Alex Theatre<\/a>, where this production is on until 3 August 2019. So, yes, marriage is a difficult journey, but for all of the barbs and petulance we see, I also have difficulty with Lab Theatre\u2019s representation of Fifty Words.<\/p>\n

Alex First<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marriage is hard work. How often have you heard that? Well, the subject is given a working-over in American playwright Michael Weller\u2019s drama Fifty Words. Adam (Daniel Schepisi) is an architect who works a long way from home. Jan (Katharine Innes) is a former dancer turned businesswoman. They have a love\/hate relationship. Their child (who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[801],"tags":[1594,3,3100,9,38,590],"class_list":["post-10429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-alex-theatre","tag-drama","tag-melboure","tag-play","tag-theatre","tag-theatre-review"],"yoast_head":"\nFifty Words (Lab Theatre) - theatre review -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/fifty-words-lab-theatre\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fifty Words (Lab Theatre) - theatre review -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marriage is hard work. 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Thankfully for theatre-goers, Toowoomba born playwright Steve Pirie has done exactly that, with Return to the Dirt, winner of the prestigious Queensland Premier\u2019s Drama Award (QPDA), the largest playwriting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/category\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rsz_c_hfq7ye.jpg?fit=800%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rsz_c_hfq7ye.jpg?fit=800%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rsz_c_hfq7ye.jpg?fit=800%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rsz_c_hfq7ye.jpg?fit=800%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":146305,"url":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/moth-theatre-works-theatre-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":10429,"position":5},"title":"Moth (Theatre Works) – theatre review","author":"Alex First","date":"June 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What is truth and what is fantasy? The lines are blurred in the dramatic play Moth, which speaks to teen angst and mental health.\u00a0Superbly executed with a minimalist darkened set and striking lighting and sound, the actors impress in their realisation of playwright Declan Greene\u2019s work. 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