THEATRE
At La Mama Courthouse until Sun 21 May 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** (4)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 27 May 2023. KH
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| Jim Daly, Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
Jack Hibberd’s new play, Killing Time, shows that time cannot stem the flow of his wit and style. Jack is back! Or, rather, Jack’s still here!
This two-hander, directed with comic flair, wit and intelligence by Denis Moore with the inimitable Jim Daly and Don Bridges, features an existential crisis for two men as they deal with the achingly slow, frustrating passing of time and their relentless march towards death.
Jim Daly’s Father Time is a pompous, snobbish Englishman who prides himself on his taste, his schooling at Charter House and his knowledge of classical music and literature. He bellows for his factotum, Tod (Don Bridges), until he remembers that Tod is dead and buried.
But, just to prove that nothing is known or immutable, a scruffy, grumbling Tod – who, until this moment, also thought he was dead –shambles in, wearing a tattered, dusty old waiter’s outfit. His master greets him by taunting him and beating him on the head. The abuse continues. Wearing a smoking jacket and seated at a coffin/table, Father Time orders Tod to bring cognac, then food and to massage his aching leg, then sprays him with a soda fountain and subjects him to other indignities. He even compels Tod to be a stand-in for his lover during Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, Father Time’s particularly quirky aphrodisiac.
Intermittently, their status relationship switches when Tod smugly and delightedly asserts himself and takes the power – albeit briefly.
As is common in other Hibberd works, this play centres on an existential crisis. This Father Time is not immortal. He and Tod are marking time, treading water, killing time while it is slowly but surely killing them. The two are trapped in Greg Carroll’s evocative set that accentuates their predicament: a claustrophobic, grim, black, brick-walled dungeon from which there is no escape.
Hibberd is one of Australia’s pre-eminent and lauded playwrights and Killing Time superbly encapsulates his idiosyncratic take on Australian slang blended with poetic and metaphorical dialogue, philosophy, cultural and topical references, literary quotes, snatches of classical music and flights of fancy. His dialogue often reminds us that we are watching a play: “Isn’t the theatre a wonder?” muses Father Time.
Daly and Bridges are a wonderful, comic double act, feasting on Hibberd’s cunning verbal comedy and relishing Moore’s inspired physical direction. It is a joy to see this entire team at work here!
By Kate Herbert
Jim Daly’s Father Time
Don Bridges - Tod
Writer – Jack Hibberd
Director – Denis Moore
Designer – Greg Carroll
Lighting Designer – Jason Bouvard
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| Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
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| Jim Daly pic Darren Gill |
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| Jim Daly, Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
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