I WANT TO SLEEP WITH TOM STOPPARD
I WANT TO SLEEP WITH TOM STOPPARD, Tamarama Rock Surfers at Bondi Pavilion, 29 August-22 September 2012. Photos by John Dunn: (above) l-r Wendy Strehlow, Tom Stokes, Caroline Brazier and Andrew McFarlane; (right) Brazier and McFarlane.
With the assistance of a fine director and brilliant cast, playwright Toby Schmitz has pulled off a rare and wonderful thing: a comedy that also says something and is actually funny. Make no mistake, comedy is the most difficult form to write or play and I Want To Sleep With Tom Stoppard is to be savoured and celebrated and - more than anything - enjoyed.
Luke (Tom Stokes) is at his parents' home for the dreaded family dinner. His aged grandmother and younger brother are supposed to be in attendance but she is off with an equally ancient toyboy while his sibling is notoriously "unreliable" and not likely to show up. More by accident than design Luke semi-invites his girlfriend Sarah; to his horror she accepts. Both are actors, Sarah somewhat older and therefore at the pointy cynical end of life and the industry, but still dreaming. Luke, on the other hand, is about to give up and take a job in a supermarket. Despite an impending audition for a part in Henry IV he is facing the reality that one pizza commercial in a calendar year is not quite where it's at.
Jackie (Wendy Strehlow) and Tom (Andrew McFarlane) are the parents any struggling actor would rather die than admit to. He is a wealthy dentist, she is a woman whose mostly empty life is spent worrying about refugees and her other son, who is gay and a bit of a problem. They live in harbourside luxury and Tom not only has a yacht but even worse, he is also a mad keen model soldier battle strategist; upstairs in his den is a sophisticated, digitally-operated layout of Nelson's battle of Copenhagen.
The dinner party from hell is a classic comedy device (think Alan Ayckbourn's How The Other Half Loves) and this one shows why. It is horribly funny, realistic, surreal, revealing and utterly mesmerising. Teetering back and forth between farce and comedy, Tom mercilessly baits Sarah about the self indulgent futility of acting and her powerless position in society. Jackie lets slip her long-ago thwarted dreams of the stage; Luke is as paralysed by the situation as he clearly is in any audition and the red and white wine bottles are steadily emptied as they pick at their stylish plates and one another's psychic scabs. It's like watching a multi-car pile-up in slow motion.
Casting is crucial in any play; in comedy it is even more so. This cast is flawless. McFarlane and Strehlow are wonderful comic presences from way back, while Tom Stokes is a revelation as the long-suffering no-hoper. As Sarah, Caroline Brazier is tasked with the perilous highwire act of playing a a very good actress. If she wasn't up to it the house of cards would collapse in a heap. As it is, she is tremendous and it's as if she moves in the glow of a perpetual spotlight: she is the centre of attention in every way. An irresistible force for the two men and an immovable object for Jackie who is both fascinated and repelled by her tangible magnetism. She also has the gift and discipline of exquisite comic timing and as she gradually gets drunk and angry it's hard to take your eyes off her.
The three moths around this particular flame are equally fine and fully cognisant of the technique and self-restraint they need to bring such an ambitiously funny and crazy piece to life. After the opening night performance Andrew McFarlane described it as "a slippery piece" - and in a nutshell that's it. Grab too hard or too loosely and the pace, humour and meaning could easily falter and descend into nothing much. However, in the hands of this company it's exhilarating to watch. With designers Natalie Hughes and Vanessa Hughes, Leland Kean has transformed the awkward Pavilion theatre stage into a fluid and credible luxie home, its salient points sketched in with minimal fuss: a Donna Hay-cool table setting, a stainless steel fridge, a well-stocked wine rack and a small white sofa with Luiz Pampolha's lighting design ringing the changes between the "rooms".
And, of course, there's the play. Toby Schmitz is the man of the moment at the moment - he's everywhere. But like so many overnight successes (overnight in the eyes of the mainstream media, that is) he's a cross between an iceberg and a swan: the years of hard work and the effort to get to where he is are all there but invisible. This is something like his tenth play and it shows: craft, practice, work and more work are what makes this one appear to be effortless. It's not just funny, it takes satirical pokes at actors, acting, contemporary society and - serendipitous in the week of #destroyingthejoint - one of its themes is a startling and effective riff on male v female power.
So, get on down to the Bondi Pavilion for the best satirical-comedy-farce of this and many other years. If you need to drive, parking around the building on the front is now free if you're in and out late. But whatever, I Want To Sleep With Tom Stoppard ought to be a big hit for the Rock Surfers, don't miss out.
