At Approx 2pm August 31 1997: by Nik Willmott, April 12, 2007

At Approx 2pm, August 31, 1997
by Nik Willmott

 La Mama, Wed & Fri 8.30pm, Thurs & Sat 6.30pm, Sun 4.30pm until April 22

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

The death of Diana Spencer triggered in 1997 a torrent of grief as well as jokes.

Nik Willmott’s play, At Approx 2pm, August 31, 1997, is one of the latter. Unfortunately, Willmott’s short play lends very little to the lexicon of Diana humour.

The premise is that Marianne (Joanne Davis) and Norman (Phil Roberts), a suburban couple who seem to be a throwback to an ugly 1950’s Australia, hear the news of Diana’s accident in Paris and subsequent death. The news has a profound impact on Norman and is the catalyst for their stale relationship to change.

The play has little dramatic shape and relies on outdated caricatures of a suburban couple for its comedy. The obnoxious Marianne rules the roost, seated in her nightie at the laminex kitchen table, ordering the hen-pecked Norman to fetch and carry her beer, pills, chocolate bars, cigarettes, magazines and newspaper. The relationship is one-dimensional and provides more discomfort than humour.

Davis plays Marianne on one note, with a strident and shrill tone that is almost intolerable for even 45 minutes. The character’s dialogue is limited to abuse of her husband and idiotic pronouncements about Diana, crosswords and beer.

Roberts finds more emotional range in Norman by playing his inner need and his attempts at reconciliation. His persistent pandering to Marianne’s every whim, his desperate desire for love and his passion for Diana are poignant at times. However, Roberts is limited by the sketchy character, rigid relationship and unfunny dialogue.

There is some dynamic change in the relationship when Norman reveals his secret love of Diana and how she has replaced his marriage for the years during which Marianne demeaned and rejected him sexually.

When Norman reveals that he has been “diddling himself” in the shed over pictures of Diana in the New Idea, the whole narrative escalates and the power stakes shift. The twist, however unlikely, provides some dramatic development to a play that has limited comic value.

By Kate Herbert