Playing Sinatra

With its fine production of Bernard Kops’ disturbing drama, Playing Sinatra, Adelaide’s St Jude’s Players have proven that amateur theatre groups can create spine-chilling psychological ‘atmosphere’ just as effectively as the professionals, even without the technical resources to which the latter companies have access.

Director Geoff Brittain has demonstrated excellent insight into the sinister tension and intriguing nuances in Playing Sinatra. With the help of one of the best performances by a male actor I’ve seen in Adelaide’s community theatre scene for many a year, plus a superb set, Brittain’s tight direction has created a production that will grip audiences.

Essentially, this is a story about suffocating control, mental illness, family dysfunction, dependence and despair. Clearly mentally ill, book-binder Norman Lewis lives in Streatham, London, with his sister Sandra in a few run-down rooms of the large house left to them by their dead parents. Norman refuses to go outdoors or leave the house, with his days and nights revolving only around his obsession with the songs and life of Frank Sinatra as well as his creepy, bordering on incestuous, love for his lonely sister, who he controls both savagely and subtly.

Anthony Clapp embodies Norman, living the character from the opening curtain to the final moments. Despite his many sudden mood changes, cackling laugh and often bizarre behavior, in Clapp’s hands Norman never becomes a caricature because he is so scarily real. He ranges from manic to despairing, but his inner rage is palpable, even in his quiet, outwardly pleasant moments; such is Clapp’s superb portrayal of him. Thoughts of Norman Bates from Hitchcock’s Psycho are never far away as you watch him.

As Norman’s sister Sandra, Cheryl Douglas is very effective in demonstrating the quiet suffering and despair experienced by this lonely spinster. Her numb sense of powerlessness comes across well, as do her conflicting emotions of duty to Norman and need for a life away from her brother’s frightening control. Douglas is let down somewhat by her accent being a little uneven, but this is still a very good performance.

Andrew Horwood is terrific as Phillip de Groot, skilfully developing the contrasting sides of this man’s character.

Ole Wiebkin’s set design is wonderfully atmospheric and simply brilliant on the small stage. The cluttered rooms, particularly the gloomy, claustrophobic bedrooms, ooze the suffocating hopelessness of the lives lived therein.

All the while, Ole Blue Eyes serenades the audience with his hits, producing an eerily unsettling and frequently telling soundtrack.

Playing Sinatra has its problems, none of which are due to this production. The story is over-written, particularly in the long second act and too many questions are left unanswered, especially regarding Norman’s and Sandra’s parents.

Doing it their way, St Jude’s Players have produced a tense psychological thriller that even the master of suspense, Hitchcock, may well have admired. Don’t miss this one.

Lesley Reed

Photos: Les Zetlein.