Spring Comedy Double Bill

Spring Comedy Double Bill
Brad Checks In by Paula Noble and Summer of Blood by Robert Armstrong. Blancmange. Tap Gallery, Darlinghurst (NSW). August 27 – September 7, 2013

Reviewing productions involving other Stage Whispers reviewers is an interesting challenge. Stephen Carnell has his producer’s hat on for this double bill of new Australian comedies, as well as directing one of them.

This short season is the very first staging of two new comedies with commercial aspirations (the writers are also co-producers), and both feel in need of further dramaturgy, with Summer of Blood clearly the stronger of the two offerings as they stand.

If you’re familiar with Deathtrap, Summer of Blood is a variation on the same theatrical / cinematic comedy thriller genre. Derivative, yet quite enjoyable, with a little more development, and a less rushed treatment of the big finale this play could have a future with community theatre groups, who relish this genre, after any future commercial life.

There are two very different duelling writers, a sleazy producer and an extremely seductive siren, together with the interesting role of Cat, a late addition, not fully integrated yet, but you wouldn’t be without her quirky fun.

Video was well integrated, and you can’t help thinking that with a bigger budget it could become a really striking element.

Summer of Bloodprobably needs a bigger stage in future incarnations, with audience somewhat more removed from the action, particularly when the chase starts and the blood begins flowing.

Director: Stephen Carnell. Cast: [Jim Gosden, Laura Holmes, Chris Miller, [Brennan Muhoberac and Katherine Shearer.

Playing in repertoire, but on a separate ticket, the first play in the double bill is less satisfying.

Brad is 30-something and newly separated in Brad Checks In, a comedy about dating, Facebook and the complications when the ex moves into the new bachelor pad, with all three women in his life and a jealous ex-husband finally coming together in the same bar.

Again, nothing startlingly new about this, but the female characters are quite varied and engaging, the jealous hubby is an OK comic cameo and even Brad, who is a bit insipid by comparison, has moments.

But Brad’s best mate is more a recurring misogynist tirade  than a character, driving way too much of the play (though his first few utterances may raise a laugh or two). Aptly named Grub, he really starts to wear, and after trying to encourage his mate to screw around all play, he actually ‘gets the girl’ at play’s end. He tends to shift from offensive character to potentially offensive to audiences as the play continues.

Director: Steven Tait. Cast: Jim Gosden, Laura Holmes, Chris Miller, Katrina Rautenberg, Katherine Shearer, Sam Smith and Steve Tait.

Capable casts, with several players acting in both pieces, ensure that both plays are seen to the best advantage at an early stage of development. All praise to Stephen Carnell and Blancmange for giving both pieces their first trial and continually working to develop new Australian works.

Tickets can be purchased individually for each play.

Neil Litchfield

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