by Mark Fletcher at Chapel off
Chapel until 4 February, 2001
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
There are often too many high camp shows in the Midsumma
Festival that represent stereotypical
gay characters and themes. Happily, Mark Fletcher's two plays, Dating Joe and Sunset BBQ, are not of this
ilk.
In both plays the issues and characters could be any gender,
any sexual preference. The stories are about universal human predicaments
involving love, loneliness, loss, secrecy and the rigid expectations of a
community that does not understand difference.
Fletcher comes to playwriting from being the CEO of his own
successful software company but his writing is intelligent, skilful and
complex.
In Dating Joe, we peek into a series of personal moments in the life of a single 54 year old
man. He is at home making a videotape to send to a dating agency. He is
anxious, trying to please, to be attractive, to be himself and make a good
impression on his unknown and unseen viewers.
Joe is played with great poignancy and empathy by Robert van
Mackelberg. He could be any of us as he tries to reveal himself truthfully but
continually doubts himself.
Fletcher is the master of the slow reveal. Pieces of the
puzzle fall into place to reveal the complex nature of this man, his aversion
to sterotypical gayness and his resistance to being pigeon-holed.
How do we find love? How do we meet people and form relatioships
when we are not 20-something? How do we find our match when we are funny shaped
jigsaw pieces?
Fletcher's dialogue is well-observed, honest and easy. He
captures the nuances and complexity of natural thought processes.
Sunset BBQ, directed by Martin Croft, investigates a totally
different issue about gayness and prejudice.
Peter Hardy sympathetically and passionately plays a doting
dad of a Robbo (Matthew Robinson) who died in a car accident three years
before. He is faced by the boy's friend, (Andrew Page) with some unwanted news
of his son's secret life and desires.
Robinson is sweet and warm as Robbo while Page has moments
of truth.
The simplicity of the staging and direction allow the
dialogue to speak for itself. There are some awkward scene changes in both
plays but the material is strong.
Don't think about these as 'gay' plays.
By Kate Herbert
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