Death by Sausage and Room to Move

Death by Sausage and Room to Move
Latest Sunshine Coast (Nambour and Buderim) reviews from Simon Denver

Death by Sausage by Genevieve Yates

Nambour Lind lane Theatre (Qld). Mitchell Street Theatre. October 1 – 10, 2010.

Sometimes Community Theatre is much maligned and we easily get caught up in the negatives, the politics, the “he-said, she-said” syndromes, the off-stage dramas etc. Sometimes we just forget to acknowledge the truly great things it achieves. On Wednesday night I saw a great thing and witnessed Community Theatre in its full positive glory. As much as this review is about Genevieve Yates’ play Death by Sausage, it is also a review about the fantastic opportunity that community theatre can give to a local writer - producing a full length production of an unpublished and unperformed work.
The play was originally a one-act play that dipped its toes in the waters of regional festival circuit. It liked the sensation and was soon expanded to a full-length comedy. It ran a seven show season to near capacity audiences on the unarguably most professional venue in the region - Nambour Lind Lane Theatre. It is through actions such as this that theatres nursery beds of the future are sown.
The plot is relatively simple and is set within that horn of plenty for comedy - family politics. Two daughters and their mother all spectacularly fail each other in the ever-expanding nest of family intrigue. Three distinct characters who are all ideologically opposed run through the gambit of sex, success, expectations, preferences, differences and age gaps. As I said - a short, simple and easy plot. The cast - Lisa Salter (the mother), Nicloe Dohler and Genevieve Yates (the daughters) - have all been associated with the project since the inception and had a definite comfortablity with each other.
This play is now well and truly road tested. It strengths are now self evident as are its failings. Yes the audience likes it. Yes it is funny. Yes it is over written and yes the plot is a tad predictable. It’s future now lies firmly with Ms Yates. I hope she will repay the opportunity given and the faith shown by Nambour Lind Lane Theatre by now taking this play to the next level.

Room to Move by Hannie Rayson
BATS (Qld). Buderim War Memorial Hall. Oct 1 – 9, 2010

Isn’t theatre so much easier for the cast and more importantly - the audience - when you start with a good script! Hannie Rayson’s Room to Move is such a script and made a great foundation for a good night out at the theatre. Its plot has a strength based in its simplicity - a 29 year old lodger moves in with a 62 year old widow. She is looking for company and he is looking for refuge. The widows children are just looking for a drama to deflect from their own.
The ensemble was of the old and the new but managed to find a rhythm as an ensemble. Jason Hunt, as the “interloper” Bernie the Lodger, did a great job leading the proceedings and managed to find that happy medium between a John Klease franticness and a real person. As mentioned he had a fine ensemble on stage with him. Kathy Quinn, Sally Luscombe and Neville Bryce are seasoned performers and I hope newcomers Emma Ayling and Phil Diefenbach realise how lucky they were to work with such seasoned journeymen.
Kennedy Fox is certainly no slouch as a director and kept a firm hand on the proceedings. One of the major strengths of this production was Mr Fox’s reigning in of the six distinct characters so they worked together and not as individuals. An interesting multi leveled set was used - however, with so many levels available - I was quite surprised that a lot of the play was directed in somewhat of a flat line along the front of the stage. But then again the stage at the Memorial Hall in Buderim is notorious for swallowing projection.
Sure their was the odd glitch, wobble and hiccup but at the end of the day it was worth my 100 kilometre round trip to Buderim. This caps off a good year for Buderim whose star, it seems, is definitely rising.

Photo: Kathy Quinn & Neville Bryce in Room to Move

 

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