The Mistakes Madeline Made

Honeytrap presents a tale of four people who are trying to deal with pain and loneliness. Buddy (James Deeth) has been traumatised by a brutal overseas experience; Edna (Celeste Markwell) is trying to deal with his death and hates everyone including herself; Beth (Loren De Jong) has made some serious life mistakes and has thrown herself into work; and Wilson (Liam O Kane) manages his social ineptitude by focussing on the sounds in his world and reproducing them. The supporting character, Jake/Blake/Drake (Josh Futcher) bears the brunt of Edna acting out her pain. That sounds drear, but the production is funny and moving and the company mostly manages to rise above the difficulties of the script.

There is no way around it, the beginning office scene first with just Edna and then with Beth is too slow. Tighter direction and a good edit would have helped especially since what became very laboured and descended into caricature was well established by the actors in the first three exchanges. The intrusion of the notion of super-rich people having a bevy of workers to ensure their lives are comfortable does not serve the plot and adds a level of silliness that does not serve the strong themes of the play.

The title reference drops out of nowhere and unfortunately goes nowhere. The play could have been much more interesting if Edna was dealing with her pain by reference to “What Madeline did next”. The script over explains. One example is Wilson’s attachments to sounds. The actors made his difficulties clear in his first exchange with Beth, but the script can’t leave it alone. Liam managed this unfortunate circumstance with charm and gave a stand out performance.

The actors know their craft and engaged the audience with a sure touch. It is a pity that the playwright doesn’t trust them to do it.

The final scene revealed the strengths of the company with a carefully constructed, believable and satisfying resolution.

The physical direction deftly used the possibilities of the space. The technical aspects of this production were handled very well. Lighting and sound by Jarrod Factor and the set and costume design by Casey-Scott Corless created a vivid but unobtrusive background for the actors.

Ruth Richter