Review of ‘Table’, a play

It was a big theatrical week with Biloxi Blues a marvelous Neil Simon play on Wednesday night at Castle Hill’s Pavilion Theatre & then Table at Seymour Centre.

The Best family’s dining table handed down through six generations. As the play opens we are at first in modernity as two characters ponder the various scratches, scuffs, discolourations and leopard claw marks upon the table surface. Each distinctive mark is a different story. The next scene, based in the cathedral town within Staffordshire; Lichfield, takes the audience back to the start of the six-generation family heritage when the table was first crafted – as a wedding present from husband to wife. In the scenes that follow the story of each of the table’s distinctive marks is revealed. The table is transported to and from Africa; the Christian mission of one of the family’s women.

It is in Africa that the table dramatically obtains the leopard claw marks.

We were fortunate to see the play last night at the first preview.

The play was special in that our household has it’s own table - a table that has a story. That story started on buying it from a couple at cost of the purchase of their new table. It may seem odd that we bought them a table, however, the exchange worked in that they found the table too large for the nook they had placed it in. Our table comfortable sits sixteen, weighs a tonne, and is well crafted in Australian timbers. The table we purchased for the couple was also finely crafted yet twelve placing settings proved to have greater utility to them.

The acting was grand. The few actors adept at managing the transition of role as each new scene took the audience to a new generation of the family. The set and props are minimalist so there is a degree of pressure on the actors to survive without any distractions to the eye.

One actor remarks:

“I hate this table”.

Yet, the audience recognises the sentiment at odds with the table’s history.

We travelled by public transport with buses to door. The plays runs 26th July to 17th August, 2019 and you can book here: https://www.seymourcentre.com

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#theatre #sydney #seymourcentre

Review of Neil Simon play Biloxi Blues

A heady mix of laughter, latrines, marches through Mississippi swamps, sleepless three-day train journeys and basic army training all come together in Biloxi Blues a marvelous Neil Simon play. It is 1943 and the jumble together crew of army recruits need to shape-up before shipping-out to an unknown war zone.

We were fortunate to see the play last night prior to Friday opening.

The acting was grand and yet I feel the need to first comment on set design and costumes. 

The authenticity of both sets and costumes is very sound. It is a credit to the set designers that they move so much staging materials in so little time. The audience had a real sense of the actors being in the cramped train carriage; the light passing by the window and the set rocking pushed by hands unseen. The costumes were authentic through to accuracy of the dance dresses worn by the convent girls.

As to the acting - I best loved the in-play consideration of journal writing. As one of the recruits made entries in his journal, and as the journal was read out, one could sense the playwright’s own comprehension of the power of the written word. There is a great line that is salient for today’s age of false news:

“Just because something is written down doesn’t make it true”.

Then, there was also the intriguing completeness of one character's Talmudic logic.

Pavilion Theatre is not much to the eye as you approach and yet it is a warm and inviting theatre inside. Seating is comfortable with good legroom and an elevation to each row to offer easy viewing.

Thank you to Ticket Wombat and the Pavilion Theatre for the freebie double tixs. Car parking was a breeze in the ample showground parking spaces and the coffee at interval was free and hot. We’d considered catching NSW’s shiny new thing, the Metro, with Hills Showground station within a 500m walk of the Theatre, however, buses were running instead of trains. The plays runs 26 July 2019 to 17 August 2019 and you can book here: https://www.facebook.com/events/378002956186611/

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#theatre #castlehillplayers #ticketwombat