Presented by the State Theatre Company of South Australia
Reviewed Tues 6th July 2010
http://www.statetheatrecompany.com.au/season/entertaining-mr-sloane
Venue: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: to Sat 25th July various days and times, see the BASS web site for details
Duration: 2hrs 35min incl interval
Tickets: adult $45/conc $40/under 30s $29
Bookings: BASS 131 241 or http://www.bass.net.au
John Kingsley ‘Joe’ Orton (1933-1967) was bludgeoned to death by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, at the age of only 34. His first play, Fred and Madge, was written in 1959 and Entertaining Mr. Sloane, his fourth play, first full length work and first major success, also the first of his plays to be staged, was not performed until 1964. Entertaining Mr. Sloane was voted joint winner for Best New British Pay in Variety’s London Critics Poll. In his short life he produced plays, books and screenplays that shocked audiences and garnered both critical acclaim and damnation. The term ‘Ortonesque’ was coined to describe his particular genre of macabre black comedies. His success and fortune were just beginning when his life was so tragically cut short. Entertaining Mr.Sloane was an important transitional work, moving away from the influence of Pinter and Rattigan and finding the way towards his later, more farcical works, Loot and What the Butler Saw.
Frumpy, middle-aged and sexually frustrated, Kath has invited Sloane, whom she met in the library, to come and board with her and her father, Kemp, whom she calls Dadda. Her offer is not just about developing an income stream; she is physically attracted to the much younger man. Her brother, Ed, does not at first approve, until he meets Sloane and is also attracted to him, offering him a job as his chauffer and cladding him in a tight leather outfit. Sloane is manipulative and devious and plays them against one another, giving himself to both of them physically, resulting in Kath becoming pregnant. Kemp, however, recognises Sloane as the person who killed his former employer, placing himself in jeopardy by confronting Sloane, who attacks him, kicking him unmercifully. The aftermath of this sees the tables turned as Kath and Ed get the upper hand and decide Sloane’s fate.
Given, then, that this is supposed to be a black comedy, Adam Cook’s direction misses the mark with his lightweight version. There is little of the menace in this production that this play should have, aiming instead for broad comedy. The ‘clear and present danger’ that should be seen in the character of Sloane right from the start is just not there. Every funny line is highlighted by a gesture or facial expression, threatening to break the fourth wall and destroying the possibility of building any real tension. The actors often seem on the verge of descending into caricature and all four seem to be holding a different concept of how to play it.
Although the themes in this play are no longer likely to shock and outrage audiences as they did nearly half a century ago, there should still be tensions and sinister undertones running throughout a production and the physical violence, when it happens, should be strongly portrayed.
When Sloane throws Kemp behind the settee and repeatedly kicks him or, more accurately, far too obviously kicks the back of the settee, Olsen then pops his head up, spectacles askew and wearing a comical look of surprise. This is definitely not Orton. He is supposed to be kicked into unconsciousness and may, in fact, already be dead. This violent action, ending the second act, is supposed to be a major turning point in the play but, instead of a moment of shock and a switch to a much darker third act, it just raises a few laughs.
There is also a lack of attention to detail in this production. When Kemp turns on the electric heater with his cane, the switch on the wall should first be in the off position. He should really use a long handled, thin-tined toasting fork, not a chunky modern barbecue fork for holding his crumpet. When Kemp stabs Sloane in the leg with the fork and Sloane complains of bleeding profusely and is worried about staining the settee, there should be at least some sign of blood.
Sean Taylor manages a creditable working class London accent and comes over well as the wide boy, Ed. There is an air of Arthur Daley in his characterisation, but with an additional sense that he works for others who carry considerable weight in the criminal community. One imagines that he is actually lower down the chain than he pretends. Dennis Olsen, as Kemp, presents us with a man well into decline and past caring, his sight and hearing failing and his mind losing its edge. Jacki Weaver’s Kath is the epitome of mutton dressed as lamb, cavorting like a naïve schoolgirl and implying that her sexual urges toward Sloane are mothering instincts, in their pseudo-Oedipal relationship. In the beginning she acts the naughty little girl, changing after Kemp dies and revealing her true nature. Renato Fabretti, is miscast, or misdirected as Sloane and he does not manage to generate that essential picture of a manipulative, amoral young man. It almost seems as though Sloane is being manipulated by Kath and Ed right from the start and that it is, in fact, he that is caught up in their web of intrigue, rather than him controlling them and playing them off against one another.
Victoria Lamb’s set, a decaying room, filled with knick knacks and surrounded by piles of junk offstage, nicely conveys the atmosphere of a house perched on the edge of a rubbish dump, the first built of what was intended to be a row in a project, thereafter abandoned by the developer. Gavan Swift’s lighting could be a little dimmer, with a few shadows, to add to that atmosphere,
This production has its moments, and there are plenty of laughs from the bedroom farce approach to the comedic elements, but it needs a much stronger direction to generate depth and make the laughter feel awkward, as a black comedy should.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor Glam Adelaide.
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