ZEBRA!

ZEBRA!
By Ross Mueller. Sydney Theatre Company. Director: Lee Lewis. Set Designer: David McKay. Wharf 1 Theatre. March 10 – April 30, 2011.

This play has so much star power you almost need sunglasses. It opens with the lights dimmed on a bar in Manhattan that is yet to open. The lights slowly reveal what turns out to be the most impressive feature of this drama– the set. 

Designer David McKay has built an extraordinary and beautiful re-creation of an Irish bar, with an attention to detail that makes you feel like you are tasting the Big Apple.

In walks Bryan Brown as Jimmy, an Australian in New York in the winter of 2009. He has lost a fortune on the Global Financial Crisis, but his love stocks are faring better. His fiancé has set him up on a blind date with her father Larry played by Colin Friels.

The two men, both around the same age, share a taste for younger women. Larry is furious that his daughter is about to marry a man so much older than her, but has no qualms about chasing another woman around the same age. His target is the third character in the play, Robinson, the owner of the bar.

Zebra! has a promising opening, there is intrigue and lots of good jokes. It is nicely acted, with Colin Friels the stand out.

But why was I struggling to become engaged with this production? Why did members of the audience I spoke to in the foyer afterwards shrug their shoulders when I asked them if they enjoyed the play?

Well, firstly, two hours is far too long for a play with no interval. Secondly, it was hard to like any of the characters in Zebra! and, thirdly, the transitions in the drama did not always  gel.

It was disappointing that the writing did not match the production values of this play.

The Sydney Theatre Company in 2011 is staging fewer Australian written plays than almost any state theatre company in the country.  This play, commissioned by the STC, has been picked as a winner with the potential for an international audience given its themes and location.

It does have potential, but this is not yet realised. Without the stars and set would it travel? 

We are still waiting for the STC’s Co-Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton to produce an original Australian play, not an adaptation of a classic, that makes its mark outside of Sydney.

Yes, putting solar panels on the roof of the wharf is wonderful; yes, selling lots of tickets to beautifully staged plays is excellent; yes, showcasing Australia’s finest actors in front of international audiences is fantastic; but let’s cap off those achievements with a new hit play.

David Spicer

Photographer: Brett Boardman.

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