Apologia REVIEW 9 Aug 2024 ***

THEATRE

Written by Nicola Gunn, by Malthouse Theatre

At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse until 18 August 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 17 August 2024. KH

Apologia_Nicola Gunn_c Gregory Lorenzutti

Nicola Gunn’s performance work is always surprising, eccentric and often extremely successful. Apologia succeeds in its first parts, but its final section is less satisfying.

 

Written, performed and directed by Gunn, the marvellously quirky conceit is Gunn’s absurd fantasy of being a French actress, a persona that she perceives to be elegant, romantic, stylish and mysterious, amongst plenty of other stereotypes of the Parisian woman. Of course, she speaks no French, but seems to think this is a surmountable obstacle. Funny concept!

 

The second character in this performance is a French-English translator Severine Magois, who is present only by voice, although a large speaker on a stand that projects her voice feels very human after we’ve listened to her for a while. Severine is a heavy smoker (we can hear her Vaping), acerbic, asocial, and completely uninterested in being a romantic representation of a French woman and, in fact, uncertain what being a French woman means.

 

Gunn and Magois argue and banter as they try to determine the characteristics of a French woman, and how a film script about this French translator and her mother would look and sound. As they argue, Gunn changes on stage into a parade of chic, black outfits, including sassy underwear.

 

In part two, Gunn becomes the French actress with a perfectly dubbed French accent, as she stands upstage behind a scrim, talking on the phone to her mother.

 

What follows is totally dislocated from this first section: two Japanese tourists – speaking Japanese with surtitles – muse on the replica spire being built on the cathedral of Notre Dame. It raises the issue of language, identity, nationality, and expectations of Paris. Evidently, according to program notes, it explores what is known as “Paris Syndrome” when tourists – particularly Japanese – are disappointed with Paris. This could have been more fully explored to link this episode with the first section.

 

The final section with Gunn and her co-actors – all sporting body-hugging, lacy leotards and waving coloured discs around – resembles a bizarre, 1970s drama class. I have no idea what this was doing in the piece, apart from the fact that it represents distortion and dislocation and perception of colour.

With a different ending, Apologia might be a more expressive and successful piece.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Nicola Gunn, Yumi Umiumare, Taka Kakiguchi, Voice: Severine Magois

 

Creative Team

Nicola Gunn -Writer/ Director

Karie Atland -Set  Design

Kate Davis -Costume Designer

Emma Valente - Lighting Designer

Darios Kedros - Composer/Sound Designer

Martyn Coutts -AV Designer

Aoi Matsushima – Japanese translator