Slide Night by Simon Hughes
La
Mama, April 16 to May 4, 2003
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert
Slide Night is only Simon
Hughes second play but it is written with intelligence, wit and sympathy.
Hughes may not have
written other plays since his first nineteen years ago, but he had an eclectic
life as an actor in Shakespeare in the Botanical Gardens, the face of Bendigo
Bank and as television critic for The Age.
Michael Carman plays Edward, a pompous, patronising psychotherapist,
with exceptional colour and detail. .Edward's masks his mounting
despair at his hollow life with wild intellectual, cynical wit and heavy
drinking. Carman inhabits
Edward fully and is compelling and believable at every turn.
Edward's cynicism reflects
his deeper dark thoughts. Christine Mahoney plays his shrill and generally tolerant
wife with a desperation suited to such a complex and fraught relationship. The fissures in
Edward's psyche widen when he meets a new patient, Nick. (Damian Howling-Walshe)
Howling-Walshe finds
more in the performance of this character than is even written by Hughes. He builds a complex
inner world that we see flitting across the face of Nick, an attractive young
man who admits being a sex addict. Edward's dreams,
both waking and sleeping, seem to escalate after encountering Nick. He succumbs
to his lethal charm like myriad other before him.
This is an unusual
story with anticipated surprises and twists. However, there are some elements
that need tweaking in the script. The multiple
off-stage characters can become awkward in the playing, particularly in a small
venue like La Mama.
The climax of the
story is unclear. Nick's appearance at an election night party and the events
that lead to Edward's complete disintegration, are confusing. Director, Denis
Moore, sets a cracking pace and
allows the actors to truly penetrate the characters.
This play may have a
few chinks but it is intelligently written, characters are well observed and it
is genuinely entertaining and challenging.
By Kate Herbert
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