REVIEW: Silent Night
Image: Photo - Brett Boardman
It’s hard not to be a little dubious just from the title; that ubiquitous jingle has been used so often in melodrama, horror and comedy that the sheer lack of originality gives it the chemical, plastic smell of dollar shop decorations.
Mary Rachel Brown’s play certainly puts Christmas front and centre.
The Lickfold’s (an example of the abundant word-play humour!) are a suburban middle class, dysfunctional family. Bill (Richard Sydenham) is a doomsday prepper and cliche of the hapless, naive dad. His bleached blonde wife, Anne (Amanda Bishop) is squeezed into leopard skin tights, dons a bum-bag and is obsessed with out-decorating the neighbours and winning best ARCE (Australian Regional Christmas Excellence) display – it’s a joke that wears thin long before it stops being used.
Thirty-three year old son, Rodney (Aaron Glenane), is a listless, job-less emo who worships Satan and has unsavoury sexual proclivities. Making his appearance just before intermission is The Uninvited Guest (Michael Denkha), an eloquent, criminally confident figure in a white suit.
Bishop is easily the most satisfying actor on stage. Although Anne is stereotypical, Bishop manages to make her relatable. She has good audience rapport and instinctive comic sensibility.
Sydenham is much less naturally funny and his gags often misfire. He actually feels miscast.
Glenane’s surly goth starts off being a mere foil to the other two, but develops into a more revelatory character.
Denkha’s mysterious intruder dominates the second half of the play, and the actor delivers his didactic speeches with smug mock reverence.
Comic statesman, Glynn Nicholas is director. It’s hard to know whether it’s his instruction or the actors’ own self-consciousness that accounts for the forced, almost pantomime-like delivery. They might have been better playing it dead straight, especially given the twists in the plot.
The set design is wonderful and it may simply be a matter of taste whether you like the play or not but it will definitely leave you wondering…
Until Dec 10. Eternity Playhouse, 39 Burton St, Darlinghurst. $38-$54. Tickets & Info: www.darlinghursttheatre.com
Reviewed by Rita Bratovich
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