by
Ross Mueller
at Trades Hall until February 26, 2000
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert
The joys of camping
are a mystery to me. There you are, incarcerated in a tiny, steamy, plastic
teepee: no room to move, no air to breathe, a long sprint to the loo, loud, drunken
neighbours, mud when it rains, mozzies when it's hot. Where's the fun in that?
Give me hot running water and a comfy bed any day.
Satellite of Love is close to camping hell. The play, by Ross Mueller, is set in a cruddy
camping ground forty kilometres from Adelaide. Jake (Chris Uhlmann) and his
partner Peta (Carmen Mascia) stay there to save money while working the
Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Proximity, poverty, heat and Adelaide are like dynamite for
their relationship. It needs only a detonator to blow it.
Then a child, Damien, five years old, appears in their tent
and stays. With little or no evidence, they believe he is abused by his 'Uncle'
so they decide to 'save' him. In fact, they kidnap him.
There are some good moments in this play, particularly in
the first half. The premise has potential. The actors narrate the story as well
as playing all the ancillary characters. Peta and Jake play car games to stay
awake, test each other's knowledge of song lyrics, but mostly they get on each
other's nerves.
Both actors play the child who talks a lot for a child
described as uncannily quiet. Mascia has a naivete and warmth. Uhlmann is
lively although his various characters lack clear differentiation.
The script shifts between narration, short poetic
monologues, clipped word plays and more naturalistic scenes. It rambles and does not settle on a style. The
writer's intention is not clear in the end.
The theme of violence exacerbated by claustrophobic heat is
interesting. However, the true story of the boy's family life as well as his
relationship with the Peta and Jake are abandoned when they takes him on the
road.
The narrative goes off on a detour that obscures the issues
leaving threads of story incomplete. It hurtles too quickly to an unsatisfying
ending.
Elissa Anson's canvas design is simple and effective and Kim
Baston's soundscape is unobtrusive. Director, Lyn Coleman, uses a style
reminiscent of Theatre in Education. It is peppy and light but it loses much of
the darker side of the kidnap and what follows.
by Kate Herbert
No comments:
Post a Comment