Dirty Blonde.

Dirty Blonde.
By Claudia Shear. Darlinghurst Theatre (NSW). Theatre 19 Season. Director: Stuart Maunder. Garnet Productions. March 12 – 31, 2013.

Nodding nostalgically to ‘the tough girl’ of stage and screen, Mae West, Claudia Shear’s Dirty Blonde effortlessly ties the core biography to the story of two fanatics and their relationships to one another and the provocative Ms West.

Dirty Blonde’s Opening Night attracted a full house of intrigued patrons. Not hard with theatre names like director Stuart Maunder, Lara Mulcahy, Philip Dodd, Mark Simpson and the promise of the saucy and controversial Mae West.

On entrance the Darlinghurst Theatre is transformed into a vaudevillian stage complete with ornate shell lighting and a deep red curtain across its length. Designer Matthew Aberline took his cue from another famous Mae West fan, Salvadore Dali whose fascination with West resulted in the creation of the famous "Mae West Lips Sofa" and the "Mae West Room" within the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain. The simple and effective set is also made up of two chairs, deep red flats and an enormous black and white print of a glamorous, young Mae West who winks at the audience all night long. She really was a formidable woman.

Our introduction to Dirty Blonde is a joyfully enacted vaudevillian piano solo mimed by Philip Dodd. Dodd plays a vast number of characters ranging from the meek house help to Mae’s deeply hurt first husband, Frank and everything else in between. Dodd is a well-cast master of accents and characterisation, dripping with experience and audience knowledge.

Mark Simpson’s multi-layered Charlie is carefully and lovingly pieced together from his introduction. It is this painstaking craftsmanship that gently leads the audience to understand his unusual affinity with the unflappable Mae West. Simpson’s strength lies in his ability to tell stories simply and naturally. His excitement and innocence is just as believable as his ability to be on a wrestling team or enjoy the finer things in life.

Lara Mulcahy’s Mae West is incredibly well portrayed. I must admit, after seeing this production I felt like I needed to know more about this Ms West and clearly Mulcahy had done her homework. The mouth, the walk, the delivery, the timing, the attitude were all there on opening night. I’d be interested to know how much more polished it could be later in the season. Despite this, Mulcahy seemed more at ease with the older, more confronting Ms West. She seemed to revel in delivering those killer lines to a 17 year old Charlie. Without going in to too much detail, Mae West talking about colonics will change the way you think about soup forever. Mulcahy also plays the likeable NY actress Jo, whose awe of the world is a vast contrast to her Mae. The transformations back and forth are seamless.

This is a play with ten songs and I must admit I did curse Mae West for not being more of a singer because it was clear from their biographies these three performers could belt out more than the material offered. In saying that, the sound balance was perfect for this space. From what I could see the performers were not miked and relied on experienced projection skills.

In essentially a black box production, the audience is happily guided into accepting mimed props and costumes. However, further into the story some pieces were added whilst others were excluded, sometimes even in the same scene. This was a little jarring in comparison to all the other flowing elements of this production.

The scenes that impress the most are those between Jo and Charlie, our two Mae West fans. These sweet, geeky, average people are just delightful to watch as their relationship grows and changes. Once again, beautiful timing and delivery assist the audience to delve into an unfamiliar topic for most people.

Transformation would have to be the great success of this production and Stuart Maunder uses the tool beautifully to keep the story moving. His actors transform from character to character in as little as a turn or a lighting change. Props transform, eras transform, and with the assistance of three great storytellers, entire scenes transform.

Unfortunately the Darlo seats aren’t too forgiving even on the most cushioned of tooshes. This terrific little show is without interval so I’d suggest taking something to soften and ensure your maximum enjoyment.

I had better leave it there. As Mae West once taught me, “it irritates people when you are enthusiastic about something”.

Bridget Keating

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