Bed & Breakfast REVIEW 8 Sept 2022 ****

THEATRE

Written by Mark Crawford with additional material from Tessa King & Ben Noble

At Chapel off Chapel until Sept 18, 2022

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ****

This review is published only on this blog. I'll present a verbal review on 3MBS Arts Weekly on Sat 10 Sept 2022. KH

Ben Noble & Alex Thew - photo by Cameron Grant

When Ben Noble and Alex Thew took their curtain call at the end of Bed & Breakfast I had a fleeting moment of expecting “the rest of the cast” to appear on stage; that’s how convincing the two actors were playing over 20 roles between them!

 

Canadian playwright Mark Crawford’s Bed & Breakfast, is a genuinely hilarious, warm, moving and clever play, superbly performed by Noble and Thew who play the central characters of Brett (Noble) and Drew (Thew) who move from Melbourne to a small country town to convert Brett’s Aunt Maggie’s rambling old house that Brett just inherited, into a B and B. The play charts Brett and Drew’s year of renovations and homemaking.

 

The production is directed deftly, precisely and inventively by Tom Healey who pushes the performers to their limits. These two versatile and admirable actors inhabit an entire community of people, transforming into old and young, male and female, progressive and conservative characters with a shift in posture, a change in attitude, accent or tone, or just a jacket.

 

The parade of characters includes Cody the inarticulate teenager, his dad Doug the gruff builder, Dustin the cake-baking, emerging gay boy, Harold the elderly neighbour, Alison the lesbian shop owner and her motorbike-riding, Irish partner, Chris, Brett’s mum and dad, Ray the colourful, city estate agent and many others.

 

Healey’s production, complemented by Bronwyn Pringle’s evocative lighting and Sam Diamond’s stark design, transports us to this small town, conjuring Aunt Maggie’s old house as it evolves from rundown mansion to high concept bed and breakfast. We join them at the local shop, a community meeting and ensuing Christmas Santa Parade, we feel their anxiety and rising fear when their house is vandalised with anti-gay graffiti.

 

Brett and Drew want to be accepted and loved in their newfound home but there will always be the haters. What they find is an entire community to love them – and so do we!

 

See this! You must see it!

 

by Kate Herbert

 

Cast:

 Alex Thew & Ben Noble

Creative Team:

Directed by Tom Healey

Set & Costumes Sam Diamond  

Lighting Bronwyn Pringle  

Stage Manager Lee McClenaghan 

Producer Sarah Ranken, Fairly Lucid Productions 

 

Ben Noble & Alex Thew - photo by Cameron Grant

 

Ben Noble & Alex Thew - photo by Cameron Gran