Don Juan

Although he is a fictional lothario, Don Juan is touted as being theoriginal lady-killer, a name lent to any man who is a womaniser. The Don Juan legend or persona has inspired many writers, including Moliere.

Blue Cow Theatre, Hobart’s only Independent Actors’ Company, present a new comedy play version of the character, famous for his sexual exploits of pursuit, seduction and betrayal. The comedy written by Moliere gets a modern and local flavour by director Robert Jarman, when it is made contemporary and “Tasmanianised”. The result is an extremely funny, naughty romp, about a man who can’t get no satisfaction.

The competent cast of five seem to be having too much fun for this play to carry any meaning, but there is a message, buried deep within the laughter.

This version of Moliere’s five act play has been condensed to four acts, and leaves out the “stone guest” aspect completely. Instead of the statue that comes to life and drags Don Juan down into hell, this version has a different but unpleasant end planned for the charming, seductive and treacherous Don Juan. In today’s lingo he would be called a sex addict, a man who constantly craves a challenge and sexual conquest. Ivano Del Pio is BJ (Big John), a suave, urbane but jaded roué, the man who is, apparently, irresistible to women. I think he would have been more convincingly seductive if he used a deeper, more male tone in his voice, and less of the arch, comedic lisp.

The pace of the action all but negated that slight negative for me, and the audience loved his parody of a man who believes he is a gift to female-kind. His pursuit of any woman (or anything else that has a pulse) is the cause of his downfall. He is aided and abetted in his dirty deeds by Gary, John Xintavelonis, whose comic timing and experience never falter. Scott Farrow, Anna Kidd and Karissa Lane play a total of ten other roles, making for a fast-paced, breathless production. These actors work well together. Scott Farrow, as always, drags every ounce of feeling or laughter out of an audience.

Direction, lighting and sound were slick. Every aspect of this production added up to a full-on, fall-about-laughing evening of entertainment.

Merlene Abbott