Arbus & West

To quote Mae West, “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.”

The legendary Mae West, in all her glitz and glamour, holds the spotlight in the new MTC production of Stephen Sewell’s Arbus and West, which unravels the truths and fears between two great American artists.

It is 1971. Mae West (Melita Jurisic), performing in Vegas, is scathingly dismissive of Diane Arbus’ (Diana Glenn) tragic suicide. The fascinating ‘true story’ of Arbus & West harks back to their first and only meeting in 1964.

Jurisic gives a brilliant performance as Mae West, the silver screen sex goddess, a writer/ screenwriter, famously renowned for her upfront sassy double entendres, who decides she needs a publicity boost. Arbus, on assignment from her editor, is sent out to West’s Hollywood apartment for an up close and personal photo shoot. Glenn gives an excellent matter-of-fact rendition of the troubled artist who is besotted with West.

West is lubed for exposure and ready for action but is perturbed by this impish pan-like character who so happens to be Jewish and female. Ruby (Jennifer Vuletic) is the hilarious go-between, brilliant as Mae West’s uptight appeasing personal assistant who juggles the meeting of these two artists with superb neurotic fastidiousness and hilarious comical timing.

Jurisic’s West is a cliché, played as the classic old Hollywood starlet, despite her sagging face and bridled body. Arbus, living on the cusp of the fifties beatniks and hippie sixties, is in a quandary about her legitimacy as an artist, working as an in-house photographer for a fashion magazine. She had just gained recognition from the Guggenheim Foundation for her series of photos of “freakish outsiders” but was unable to make a living from her art.

A clash of the ages, West is uncertain and uncomfortable - Arbus on the other hand is totally at ease, spending time getting to know her muse. West wants her out, Arbus plays it cool, wooing West’s tempestuous nature with gratuitous probing. West finally opens herself to Arbus and reveals her inner sanctum – and her menagerie of plaster cast penises, while bragging of male conquests including Clark Gable - saying “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”.

Times they were a changing; Sewell has captured the essence of a bygone era with clever and witty catchphrases that reflect a socio–cultural evolution seen through the eyes of two significant figures - set in a banal scenario. Sarah Goodes’ direction is impeccable, with careful consideration to movement, space and mannered claustrophobia. The set design (Renee Mulder) is a superb recreation of the lush retro Hollywood interior and Jurisic’s costume is an exactly replicated golden oldie gown West wore during the photo shoot.

“A photograph is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know,” said Diane Arbus.

Flora Georgiou

Photographer: Jeff Busby