His Girl Friday | Melbourne Theatre Company
- August 18th, 2012
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Last Saturday night I was at the opening of Simon Stone/ Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Bergman’s Face to Face. On the other side of the state border, another play known as a film is opening at the Melbourne Theatre Company. This is not a comparison. To compare really would be like comparing a motorbike to a penny farthing – both have their place, purpose and era.
Many friends and ex-boyfriends have despaired at my lack of film-buffery – a side effect of being completely steeped in the development and production of new (ie original) new Australian plays – also sometimes I think it’s a lifestyle thing. Jonathan Chissick (film marketing guru) once said to me that cinema going is a lifestyle choice, and I would tend to agree – just as much as there are people who attend theatre – and there are those that don’t. I don’t really proclaim any great passion against film – just a preference for theatre: I am more of a sweet tooth than someone who hungers for savoury treats.
His Girl Friday – main stage opening at Melbourne Theatre Company – I was Cameron Woodhead’s date, he’s a delightful man, and obliged my curiosity very gracefully at the what and hows of the MTC. The show boasting a bold and accomplished cast of loveable theatre celebrities – a small army of them in a splendid venue The Arts Centre.
This is John Guare’s play which has mixed the original play The Front Page with the 1930s film His Girl Friday. Directed by Aidan Fennessy (who I know for his playwriting) and staring the impressive talents of Pamela Rabe and Philip Quast. There is no doubting the skill and experience of the cast – I for one would stop eating pastry for a month if It guaranteed I could see John Leary in every play I see. There is no doubting the beautiful and detailed set and costume design by Tracy Grant Lord. Ticks a lot of boxes.
I also don’t deny the satisfaction of seeing an epic production – nor the delight that comes with a well tangled farce – where the delight comes in the mess and the near-miss. For me though I found the overall pace a little soggy and quite drawn out… I found the characters with much drive, but not much passion – which is really my preference in a Romantic farce that passion has to be real and sexual energy undeniable (I think of Hepburn and Tracey). And so after much silent shifting in my seat, the question for me becomes one of artform – why theatre? Why not maintain this as a film? Why not let this 1930s Chicago story live and breathe in a 1930s American film. Why here? Why now?
Australia has been handling a crisis of it’s media – jobs have been lost or downsized, pay walls erected – the idea of news selling newspapers – controversy and outrage always attract interest. We, the public, also self-referentially fed on the dramatics of the politics of the paper… But His Girl Friday has more to say about the tensions between love and career, between ambition and sacrifice than any nod towards local issues.
And that’s fine.
I’m sure many will enjoy the delightful spectacle of the show but alas I found myself a little bored, and my mind wandered in an out of the play… yearning for the Australian accents prevalent in the post-show foyer.
(Predictable, aren’t I, Mr Woodhead?)
The Front Page was the best MTC play we’ve seen this year (we saw the 31 August performance). A tour de force of rapid fire dialogue, superb timing and direction, and knockout performances by the main characters. The physicality and stage business were breathtaking and the cast were having fun, as witness Pamela Rabe and Phillip Quest giving each other high fives while taking curtain calls at the end.
The performances were tremendous. Pamela Rabe never better: tremendous acting, great movement and theatrical business – and she looks fantastic after all the workouts she’s been having with this delightful production. Phillip Quest excellent as the male hero antihero – handled all the rapid-fire changes of tone from hectoring to gruff love to newspaperman speeches superbly. Christopher Stollery did the straight man new fiancé well. Deidre Rubinstein;s performed superbly a harridan character with a tremendous amusing literary rant and then a short reprise of it later.
Some reviewers have said the play is a bit movie-esque and not sufficiently deeply developed but I disagree. After all The Front Page was a theatrical production first before it was converted to the movie starring Roz Russell and Cary Grant. And in my view having Hildy Johnson as a woman gave the play additional emotional resonance – rather than a boring bromance which might have arisen if Hildy was a man (like the Matthau:Lemmon movie) there was romance with Hildy a woman: artistically it opened the play out and gave it more emotion to add to the political and journalistic repartee. And what a script – it was originally written in the 30s but, adapted by John Guare, it has all the resonance of a fresh modern take on political venality, journalistic venality and the immorality of the fourth estate.
It was a long play: with intermission about three hours, but had no longeurs. The setup before intermission translated into tremendous screwball comedy, wordplay, physical antics and theatrical pleasure in the second half. The pace ran at machinegun tempo, but with excellent timing and rhythm. Bravo director Aidan Fennessy. Our group loved it. It’s fresh, it’s relevant to today, it speaks of ambition and career development and whether you can have it all. Its not having any Australian accents didn’t trouble me in the least.
This is a wonderful production, hugely enjoyable. Theatre goers from around Australia should flock to it. It will live in your memory.
As for criticising the fact that it’s a theatrical production of 1930s writing, I’m surprised to see criticism that a play was written more than 20 minutes ago: is one to apply the same ‘Why here? Why now?’ criticism to plays by those old fogeys Shakespeare or Moliere or Brecht or Ibsen or Williamson or Becket or Pinter or Rattigan or… ?
I hope the ABC or someone does a video/movie of this production. This bravura production is as memorable as the first movie and as well acted and directed.