Vegetable Magnetism, March 18, 1997

Vegetable Magnetism adapted from Kathy Lette

Universal Theatre 1, Melbourne, until April 6, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around March 18, 1997

What is it that drives people into insane relationships? More importantly, what could drive one Australian woman to England to take a poncy lover or another to fall for a complete yob who happens to be a prison inmate? So it goes in Vegetable Magnetism.

Two of Kathy Lette's, big-selling comic novels have been adapted for stage by director Caroline Stacey with actor Michelle Williams and Soula Alexander. The resulting production is partially successful. Stacey has set the two disconnected tales on a wonderfully lurid, cartoonish stage designed by Sean Coyle.

The four actors are dressed in idiosyncratic almost Restoration costume and perform in a wild, clown style. There are some wonderful caricatures and cameos, particularly from Geoff Baird and Peter Hardy who seem most comfortable in the broad style.

Lette's prose observations of British twittery and Oz yobbery can be intelligent and hilarious. She slips readily into the crude and vulgar which also raises laughs. However, chunks of prose do not always translate successfully to stage and, in Vegetable Magnetism, there is too much narration and an overdose of one-liners and gags which are more at home in a stand-up routine or a novel.

The piece relies too heavily on stereotypes and has too thin a story to support a 100 minute show. The shift toward emotional drama for two of the characters at the end is an unnecessary or inappropriate attempt to give the piece some dramatic weight.

 The production is entertaining but lightweight. It feels a lot like a show for teenagers. But that that's probably Kathy Lette's style – even all these years after Puberty Blues. Her material is often funny but mostly a little adolescent.

KATE HERBERT