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Miss Blossom Callahann Director: Stephen House Bakehouse Theatre Until 11 June The bare flat comprises a messed up single bed and a counter. Miss Blossom Callahann is grinning like a Cheshire cat - very pleased with her womanly ways - while a man upstage is wrestling himself out of the sheets and wondering just what happened the night before. Playwright Stephen House simply loves these types of boarding house characters. You might have seen their sort before in his self-performed monologue 'Walk In Dirt' and last year's 'Lavender Hope', amongst others. With ten plays and three short films in his satchel, Blossom and company were created a couple of years ago at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, a hotbed for artistic development outside of Dublin, on a commission from the ABC Radio Drama Unit who broadcast the play on Radio National last June. The action takes place in real time, and with curtain call after only an hour, I hadn't seen enough. House keeps you intrigued while you piece together the past and present of his down beat couple. He evokes pity as we become acquainted with Max's cunning and self-serving petty calculations, and Blossom's dream of living a normal life untainted by her past. The couple is played by two of the most distinctive voices on Adelaide stages. Jacqy Phillips's Blossom is as real as you can get - she gives you a clear image of what Blossom was and Blossom wants. Rory Walker plays well a small time crook with no fixed allegiance. And that's just the first ten minutes. Sheila Duncan then appears briefly as the landlord. Here House sets up a beautiful triangle when a murder is committed but cuts it down before we can fully enjoy it. Body disposal is barely discussed before plans are made for cocktails at 11 am. Later, Nathan O'Keefe creeps into the action as Junk, another ne'er-do-well on the lam. House writes beautifully chopped dialogue - the actors finish sentences impressively with thoughts to create a tense atmosphere where each character is always running the ruler over the other. Power and dominance is constantly shifting, keeping the possibilities open and the balls in the air. In a blink, the situation shifts, but retribution and rat cunning win in the end.  |
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