Effie The Virgin Bride

“Hello; Good thanks” are three words that take a full house straight back to the 80’s. Mary Coustas has returned to the stage as alter ego Effie to get married to the man of her dreams, and we are invited to the wedding.

The audience is greeted by Effie in her boudoir on the morning of her big Greek wedding as she regales the guests (audience) with stories of her search for Mr Right.

Although alone on stage, Coustas communicates with her family off stage, in the way that only Effie can, but the audience is right there feeling like part of it.

Coustas brings in a couple of new characters with great skill and fun. Who knew that Effie the Virgin had a 5 year old daughter Aphi? She was the result of an immaculate conception of course.

Uncle Vassili is Effie’s favourite uncle who has come all the way from Greece for the wedding. Coustas is so good as a man, it is scary.

The highlight for this reviewer though, was Effie’s ‘husband search’ for Bridesmaid Soula during the reception. Her natural timing and ability to ad lib and interact with the audience allows her true comedy skill to shine through.

The staging is very simple but effective with a big screen showing real Greek/Skip (Australian) couples discussing what it means to marry into a Greek family and the marathon of the Greek wedding day. This, of course, is to give Coustas the opportunity for costume and character changes while keeping the audience entertained and engaged.

The non-Greeks in the audience are never left feeling out of the loop. Even if they don’t understand the words, they know the meaning.

Maxine Grubel.