HAPPINESS
HAPPINESS, Ensemble Theatre, May 9-July 6 2013. Photo: Anny Tenney and Peter Kowitz.
Roland Makepeace is such a First World problem: a man whose profession is the study of happiness (no, no, he says repeatedly, "human wellbeing") and whose own unhappiness is palpable from the moment he opens his mouth. As portrayed by Mark Lee, it all seems rather unfair on the poor professor. He's attractive, he's smart, he's nice, he's kind and he's tolerant and wimpy beyond imagining. Perhaps that's why his wife Hanna (Anne Tenney) can't resist bullying him unmercifully and hankering after the harbourside penthouse and bling-man to match.
Their daughter Zelda (Erica Lovell) is the unintended but predictable victim of this joint and several angst. In an attempt to straighten out her own screwed up life and psyche she enlists dad's help and one of his psychological questionnaires. She also follows his advice to identify people in her life to forgive, to apologise to and to undertake an anonymous good deed. So far, so not particularly believable.
In recent years David Williamson seems to have abandoned the finely honed and the razor-sharp in favour of "she'll be right" and "that'll do". It's a great pity because there's satirical fun to be had with these characters, if more time and care had been taken to polish up the ideas the rote behaviour of the characters might have been less obvious and dreary.
Peter Kowitz does a twinkly turn as the overly charming millionaire Sam, while the stage lights up all too briefly with the appearance of Glenn Hazeldine as wildly right-wing newspaper editor. He brings conviction and insane charm to the role and is a delightful if too brief presence. The others do their best but working with the script must be like wading through treacle in wellies.
And the staging is as phoned-in as the play itself. In the opening moments, as he delivers a lecture to a theatre full of students (ho ho), Mark Lee is either too far forward or the lighting is simply askew because it hits the top of his head and leaves his face in darkness. And there are several moments during the show when two or three actors are standing in a line and therefore invisible to sections of the audience. Small things perhaps, but they matter when the laughs are few and far between (even in a traditionally indulgent first night audience) and the play as a whole is so below par anyway.
Word is that the season is almost sold out already, so the argument would be - so what? People love Williamson and will come to see it anyway. Maybe, but that's a rather sad and cynical view when the Master is/was capable of so much more. Meanwhile, the fact that millions happily scoff factory white bread and fat'n'salt fast food is not a point in their favour nor a reason to promote and profit from their consumption. People also enjoy and savour good stuff, it just takes a little more trouble to make and present it. Ironically, The Removalists opens this coming week at Rock Surfers and is living proof of that.
