Always switch off your mobile phone in a theatre
Theatre: Audacity, St James Cavalier
If it were not for the existence of a mobile phone, Peter Mawdsley's Audacity, last Saturday by MADC, would have fallen flat. Had the phone not rung, just at the very last second of the play, the Ringleader, Philip, played most vehemently by Michael Zammit Maempel, would have been 900,000 smackers richer. The Joker, Dave, played most convincingly by Malcolm Galea, would have been left wifeless, penniless and a fugitive from justice. The Nerd, John, played empathically by Jean-Marc Agius would, like Dave, have been a fugitive from justice! John's (house) wife, Gillian, played as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth by Greta Agius, would not have revealed her inner secrets and true self. The Ringleader's devious plotting along with the Vamp, Gemma, Dave's wife, played strongly and imperiously by Julia Calvert, would have been a total success and the play a flop had Dave not left his mobile phone in the room! When the phone rang it turned the whole play upside down with the effect rather like letting a blown-up balloon go without knotting it!
Coryse Borg's first attempt at directing a play was a runaway success; an hour-and- a-half of fast and furious action that never flagged and, in the manner of all good thrillers, kept you guessing till the last moment. I am glad that a straight, uncomplicated but neatly crafted play like Audacity by Simon Mawdsley was chosen and not some soul-searching and heart-aching drama. Sometimes it is refreshing to sit back and enjoy a good old thriller with a vicious double twist in the tip of its tail; taking the form in this case of Dave's mobile with its awful tune. Not that there was not a good deal of psychological character study for each of the five characters to function as they did. The plot is all Mawdsley's; it is how equivocal characters like Gemma's and Gillian's are convincingly pulled off which makes or breaks the play.
Despite their huge presence, the three male roles are of the "what you see is what you get" type. The success of the entire plot depended on the way both wives switched characters and, in that infuriating way women have, saying and doing something quite contrary to what was expected. While one would have been forgiven into thinking that Gemma would have been the one to insist they should take the money and run, it was extraordinary listening to Wee Wifey, Gillian, say they should all keep their share; this just after she confessed to having affairs too! It was also extraordinary to actually believe what one was hearing when Gemma started moralising. Understandably, the reaction of the two husbands was sheer astonishment. So convincing does our Vamp sound like Little Miss Muffet that she actually whisks the money away in a sports bag ostensibly to leave it where the police will find it. It is then and only then that one begins to suspect that things are not exactly what they seem and that there's dirty work afoot! As soon as an ecstatic Gemma returns with the money after the others have left and practically rapes Philip, the audacity of whole plot hits one like a sledgehammer. Pity about the mobile phone!
Lovely little bagatelle of a play to while away a Saturday night; more of the same please!
Coryse Borg's first attempt at directing a play was a runaway success; an hour-and- a-half of fast and furious action that never flagged and, in the manner of all good thrillers, kept you guessing till the last moment. I am glad that a straight, uncomplicated but neatly crafted play like Audacity by Simon Mawdsley was chosen and not some soul-searching and heart-aching drama. Sometimes it is refreshing to sit back and enjoy a good old thriller with a vicious double twist in the tip of its tail; taking the form in this case of Dave's mobile with its awful tune. Not that there was not a good deal of psychological character study for each of the five characters to function as they did. The plot is all Mawdsley's; it is how equivocal characters like Gemma's and Gillian's are convincingly pulled off which makes or breaks the play.
Despite their huge presence, the three male roles are of the "what you see is what you get" type. The success of the entire plot depended on the way both wives switched characters and, in that infuriating way women have, saying and doing something quite contrary to what was expected. While one would have been forgiven into thinking that Gemma would have been the one to insist they should take the money and run, it was extraordinary listening to Wee Wifey, Gillian, say they should all keep their share; this just after she confessed to having affairs too! It was also extraordinary to actually believe what one was hearing when Gemma started moralising. Understandably, the reaction of the two husbands was sheer astonishment. So convincing does our Vamp sound like Little Miss Muffet that she actually whisks the money away in a sports bag ostensibly to leave it where the police will find it. It is then and only then that one begins to suspect that things are not exactly what they seem and that there's dirty work afoot! As soon as an ecstatic Gemma returns with the money after the others have left and practically rapes Philip, the audacity of whole plot hits one like a sledgehammer. Pity about the mobile phone!
Lovely little bagatelle of a play to while away a Saturday night; more of the same please!