Brilliant Monkey
Brilliant Monkey, Old Fitzroy, August 7 to September 1, 2007; www.oldfitzroy.com.au/trs
Al Dukes' Brilliant Monkey has been through a strenuous and long process of workshopping, including various try-out versions, before arriving at this - probably final - form. And it's great to be able to report that all the effort and work was worthwhile.
The play - a two-hander starring Dukes himself and Warwick Young - is a taut, trim, ridiculously funny, emotional rollercoaster at around 100 minutes straight through. It takes place on a park bench in a wintry setting (bare branched tree, drifts of dried leaves and odd bits of litter) where two brothers begin a journey from painful alienation to somewhere kinder.
Gerard (Young) is a slick-booted, sharply-pressed army sergeant just home from active service in Afghanistan. He is the epitome of civic duty and a fervent belief in the moral benefits of standing to attention. By way of contrast, his older brother Danny (Dukes) is a frayed, easily cowed and obviously damaged individual who lives on the streets and sells The Big Issue.
Outwardly, Gerard is successful, despite blinding headaches, memory lapses and an alarming temper; Danny is the failure - something he wryly acknowledges when he says, "Success happens in private, failure always in full fucken view." But it is not long before the convenient black-and-white images of the brothers begin to slip to reveal other realities. The play takes them through time and space - including sequences of Goonish absurdity - and slowly unfolds the story of their fractured childhoods and subsequent parting of ways.
Pork Chop Productions, aka Jeremy Sims, can always be relied upon to come up with work that is at the very least fascinating, more often than not, really fascinating; and occasionally: inspired. Brilliant Monkey falls into the latter category. The script offers both actors much to work with, dramatically and comedically. Warwick Young is a thrumming bundle of misplaced military bravado and hubris, while Dukes' subtlety and tiny moments are wonderful: Danny is a memorable heartbreaker. The design by Hamish Peters is economical, atmospheric and effective, while Jeremy Silver's punctuating soundscape adds a dimension without intruding.
Brilliant Monkey (the title becomes self evident and to explain more would spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet seen it) is a play that deserves to pack out the Old Fitz and go on to wherever co-producers Pork Chop and Riverside have planned for it. It says a great deal about family - the micro and macro versions - and about the secrets we keep or refuse to share, usually to the detriment of our nearest and dearest.Co-directors Sims and Andy McDonell have brought out the pathos, resisted the possibility of bathos, highlighted the humour without sacrificing the pain and tenderness and between them all, they've fashioned a memorable night in the theatre.
