[Theatre SA Premiere /World Premiere]
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. – Tue 24 Sept.
‘Humans are exploratory creatures,’ Craig proclaims, in order to set sail with his partner aboard this cruise ship. And let’s be clear, it’s a love boat. There are shenanigans galore, titillation and sexual tension aplenty. The funny misunderstandings that make for comedy are crafted into a complex web, with surprise twists and turns. And resolving it all into a ‘happy ending’ is not as simple as it was in Shakespeare’s day.
The cast do an amazing job, all giving consistently strong performances in this excellent ensemble play. Likewise, the creatives and design team combine fabulously to bring the fun, delight and enjoyment to its full potential.
Williamson dazzles with the dialogues, laced with witty one-liners and casual statements on our current world affairs. He seduces us with the common theme of sex, to slip clever commentary on our social mores into the normal conversation. The subjects shift rapidly, flitting across politics, the economy, and of course relation-ships, the real ships in contention on this cruise.
Some key players remain much the same as when they began, if maybe a bit more bemused and confused. But ‘isn’t that life?’ to paraphrase Ned Kelly. The character who keeps the ‘old-fashioned’ values alive prompts most of the messages sewn into the fabric of this work, which at times borders on farce. But for a comedic play with a theme of open sex, the actual action is minimal.
Using a cruise as a microcosm of society works well as a device for concentrating emotions and ramming wedges into the cracks in relationships. This petri-dish soon heats up as couples expose themselves to the swingers’ possibilities for pleasure. Sexual fantasies may be fine when confined, but released and realised, they can be like letting the genie out, beyond our control.
Williamson is quick to point out that swinging goes both ways, it can also cause harm. He is prepared to show how we are like the cruise passengers, stuck in their cabins rather than exploring the world. Perhaps art and ideas are still submerged beneath a culture obsessed with appearances, seeing only the sea’s surface and nothing below it, craving distraction rather than being able to accept boredom long enough to break through into something new.
The play presents a pithy challenge to us all, by holding up a very clear mirror to who we are now. To swing that pendulum another way will take action by each one of us. Often we take easy options, or let others choose for us, rather than make difficult decisions. Loose ends are a part of life, and the mess we’re in is ours to clean up. Perhaps we are just perfectly imperfect. And perhaps the circle of life can be either the same old loop, or else every ending can be a new beginning.
4 stars
David Cronin
The Puzzle continues at various times until Saturday 12th October. Book at Ticketek.com.au. Click here to purchase your tickets.
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David Cronin
Shenanigans galore!
