The Nightingale and the Rose

The Nightingale and the Rose
After Oscar Wilde. Theatre Works and Little Ones Theatre. Theatre Works, Acland Street, St Kilda VIC. 30 May - 10 June 2018

Oscar Wilde’s brief satirical allegory is loaded with allusive symbols and this Little Ones Theatre production does not depart far from it in terms of plot or indeed what spoken dialogue there is. The salient differences are in gender switches and the queer aesthetic, and in making Wilde’s ironic humour more explicit.  The Nightingale’s ‘sweetest song’, for instance, not only becomes an operatic aria, but she has some uncertainty deciding just which song is her sweetest. The three Rosebushes and the ‘Lover’ (or more correctly the Love Object) are all portrayed by the one actor and the archetypal Student is female. Quite explicitly, this a ‘queer theatre’ interpretation.

 

A Student (capital ‘s’ - i.e. a type) here played by Brigid Gallagher, is in ‘love’ - or thinks she is - with someone of higher status who has promised to dance with her if she can bring a red rose.  The Nightingale (Jennifer Vuletic) overhears the Student’s pining and, thinking that this is true Love, resolves to help her.  But Rosebush #1 (Yuchen Wang) has only white roses; Rosebush #2 (again Mr Wang) has only yellow and the third will only provide a red rose by the most terrible means...

 

What we see on stage over the course of a mere half hour is ‘simple’ and the import of the piece depends on its symbolism and the details of director Stephen Nicolazzo’s interpretation.  Once again, Eugyeene Teh’s stage design is minimalist, but although the Student is recognisably the bookish intellectual, the Nightingale is significantly all in black.  Mr Wang, meanwhile, is naked but for tight white knickers and socks, representing a blank but seductive beauty.

 

Ms Vuletic is always impressive to watch: her range seems infinite. Here she not only sings very creditably but also brings a suggestive elegance to her Nightingale - and a kind of ironic distancing from a figure so in love with Love that it makes her gullible and tragic.  Ms Gallagher, however, seems constrained by the stock nature of her character who is, of course, not a character, nor intended to be.  Mr Wang’s Rosebushes and Lover are Mr Nicolazzo’s boldest move, which for me remained intriguing rather than successful.  

 

Oscar Wilde’s intentions survive these interpretations: the Nightingale makes ‘art’ at great sacrifice, but the intended beneficiary is not just unaware but dismissive of that art.  The Nightingale’s efforts change nothing.  The Student’s ‘love’ is but shallow infatuation in any case and she retreats into rationalising her failure.  Yes, all well and good, but that is about all the substance of it. Some interesting choices and experiments are made, but the piece relies too heavily on style and the exquisite to be more than a bemusing curiosity.

 

Michael Brindley

 

Photographer: Pia Johnson

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