Boston Wedding. By Hoy Polloy Theatre
The Sunday Age
Sunday September 30, 2007
Boston Wedding. By Hoy Polloy Theatre. At the Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick, until October 6. $30/$20. Tel. 9016 3873.
3.5/5US playwright David Mamet is known for the kind of corrosive, excoriating dialogue that can make or break a performer - done right, his characters are brutally eloquent creations that sear impressions on the mind. Done badly, they can prove too big for an actor's talents. This production of his 1999 play Boston Marriage most impresses with the deftness and acuity with which its triptych of women in love are handled. The three performers don't just keep pace with Mamet's crackling inventions, they exceed them.Set at the turn of the 20th century, it takes as its central dynamic a "Boston marriage" - a socially sanctioned relationship between two women. Anna (Helen Hopkins) funds her affair by playing mistress to a wealthy benefactor, while her lover Claire (Corinne Davies) has decided to seduce a much younger girl and seeks her partner's permission. The mounting sexual jealousy, emotional dependence and threat of exposure pile up as the pair play tug-of-war with each other's needs. All the while Anna's beleaguered Scottish maid (Eleanor Wilson) suffers under their selfish treatment while attempting to find a space for her own desire in the cloistered space left by her employer.Wayne Pearn directs with a keen hand, ensuring the often hilarious chatter flows at a brisk pace. There are enough twists in the work's three acts to maintain interest throughout, and Mamet's conventional settling of affairs, while lacking the promise of the play's premise, is made up for by the relish with which each performer embraces their role. This is a fine production from the very creditable Hoy Polloy Theatre that more than affirms the company's place in Melbourne's diverse landscape of independent theatre.
© 2007 The Sunday Age
