elmo by Ben Cittadini
La
Mama, March 23 to April 1, 2007
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert on March 23, 2007
Ben Cittadini’s
play, elmo, focuses on the burgeoning but dysfunctional relationship
between Linda (Sarah Derum) and Serge (Craig Darryl Peade). They meet daily in
a park, at first accidentally then by design or choice.
Linda is unhappily
married to Enzo, who Serge insists on calling Elmo. She is a dissatisfied
32-year old who works in the city. Serge is evidently workless but engages in
rather ineffectual exercise in the park and carried a huge blue sports bag.
Cittadini, directing
his own play, attempts to break theatrical conventions of pace and rhythm by
interpolating interminable pauses between lines of dialogue and scenes. The
effect has distant echoes of Pinter but lacks any sense of menace. Initially,
it works to provide a sense of real time passing, of the tedium of their lives
and their rusty and awkward communication. Eventually, it is simply annoying.
The play runs 70 minutes but should be 40.
Some intrigue
unfolds in the relationship as Linda reveals snippets of her unhappy marriage
to Enzo. Slowly we hear that he wants children but she does not want to bear
them; he is tight with his money and she has a gambling problem; she likes
Asian food and he does not.
Serge, in contrast,
is a layabout who lives nearby in a messy, dirty house. He slowly reveals that
not only has he been following Linda but he has also been stalking her husband,
phoning their house posing as a market researcher.
These two
marginalised people find some solace in the anonymity of their regular
meetings.
At times, elmo has
charm and interest; there are a few gentle laughs, some simple observations of
character and interaction and a few tests of an audience’s tolerance. However,
its relentlessly slow rhythm undermines much of its charm.
The actors are often
inaudible and, in a small space, this is inexcusable. Cittadini purposefully
avoids any theatricality of style but we do need, at least, to hear them. Derum
has limited range as Linda playing one note throughout. Peade’s perpetual
motion is annoyingly repetitive and makes Serge look like a silly child.
Theatre that attempts to bore an
audience appeals to a very small group.
By Kate Herbert
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