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Boston Marriage State Theatre Company Director: Catherine Fitzgerald The Space, Fri 15 Oct. Until Sat 6 Nov  Director
Catherine Fitzgerald's world is revealed in her program notes - all
relationships are filled with infidelities, jealousies, diversions,
lust and love, and love and true friendship between two women are
rarities. With a view from that context, one could just possibly look
upon the relationship between Anna and Claire as a successful one.
However, from the second row, what I saw was a couple of fatuous and
self-absorbed women - dishonest in their dealings with themselves
and each other, mean-spirited and thoughtless - manipulating whoever
necessary to achieve their desires. In the play, one's objective is
to garnish financial support under false pretenses, and the other's
is to inveigle an unsuspecting and inappropriate partner for a hot
bath together.In this Australian premiere production, author David Mamet manages to endear us to these catty ladies with terrific lines set alternately between a circumspect Victorian code and American bluntness. This unique combination easily set the play in a location such as Newport, Rhode Island. Newport society reached its zenith in the late 20th Century when the likes of the Vanderbilts splurged millions on sumptuous mansions. The wealthy of the New World looked to European fashion to imprint some class on their newly won bank accounts - imports included artwork, entire room interiors shipped from France, and language. Newport was the societal summer home for the rich of Boston and New York, and ladies such as Anna and Claire lived off its loins. Mary Moore captured this period perfectly by employing the Art Nouveau style which echoes both the cultural transition that was occurring at the time, and the femininity of the play in curved lines and scrolls. Not one of the many people that the characters mention make it bodily into the action, much to my disappointment - it was like waiting for Godot. Mamet wrote the play for his wife, so why pull focus with additional characters? The only person from the outside world that we see Anna and Claire have intercourse with is Anna's maid, and that was very one-sided. Claire mainly ignores her, and Anna abuses her with a steady stream of witty insults against the Irish and the naive. What the play is not about is Boston marriages or the politics and social implications of same-sex marriages - the program notes may have been written by somebody too busy to see the play. 'Boston Marriage,' however, is a superb showcase for three female actors, and Fitzgerald scored a great success with Victoria Longley, Rachel Szalay and Amber McMahon in creating fabulously shallow, but good looking characters. Longley as the calculating Anna, decorated in a Medusa-style hairdo of snakes, had a victorious evening. Her barbs at the maid and expressive face lent a comedic tone to Anna's pathetic character. Szalay played her offsider with a lusty vigour; when they opened the second act in funny hats as part of a madcap scam, I was reminded of Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz in one of their capers within an 'I Love Lucy' episode. Amber MacMahon's inexperienced Scottish lass was a terrific piece of work, although Anna could be forgiven for thinking she was Irish given her accent sometimes. Nothing of great interest occurs in the play - the productions's success depends on performance, Mamet's curt and often vicious language, looking good, and our fascination with the characters. Four ticks! But Fitzgerald failed to investigate the soul of these typically Mametian characters who demonstrate no capacity whatsoever for introspection, and are trapped in their narrow world - to push each other's buttons for eternity. Fitzgerald and company put on a lovely show by cheerleading the characters' self-perceived strengths, but they stayed clear of their weaknesses hidden in the subtext.  |
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