Weird is a good thing
THE Road to Midnight is based on a classic play of German Expressionism, From Morning to Midnight, written in 1912.
Director and lead actor Todd Barty has freely adapted the original and created this production that can be summed up as being rather weird. But weird can be good too.
Despite the exhortations at the start of the play that “theatre is not realism”, and “f … the plot”, there is a story to be told, and the cast of 11 – most playing multiple roles – tells it t with great enthusiasm.
Movement and costumes are stylised to the extreme, and some of the dialogue is in rhyme, but this suits the scenes in which it is used.
Briefly, the story is about a cashier ( Todd Barty) who is convinced that The Lady from Florence ( Paula Mandl) who comes into his bank one day is trying to seduce him.
He is sadly mistaken and when he steals a small fortune to impress her it doesn’t help and he is forced to go on the run, deserting his family.
Taking flight, he progresses through frozen wastelands, a brothel ( more of that later), a cycle race and eventually a sanctuary for beggars, all the while discovering does not buy happiness.
He tries to redeem himself but finds that distributing his stolen money to the needy simply brings out an unseemly greed in their actions.
He is eventually betrayed to the police by the young beggar he thought he could trust.
He finishes his days in an asylum, where the doctor ( Kevin Fuji- Sinclair) is himself more unhinged than the cashier.
This play is definitely for adults only. Not only is the language rather fruity, but many of the female cast members are skimpily clad. that money
And the scene ini theh b brothel features Mandl again as a high class prostitute and two of not- so- high class ( Enya Flett and Alison Waters) and while none of them shed any clothes, they create a scene which leaves nothing to the imagination. They are spurred on by the Madam ( Katelyn Wallace).
Every actor plays his or her role well. They are articulate, audible and credible in the context of the writing.
The set is simple, the lighting and sound appropriate and the theatre lends itself to this type of more experimental work.
Full Throttle Theatre is generally home to the plays of Todd Barty, and none of them are ever traditional.
With The Road to Midnight he has again created a world of realist fantasy which displays lust, greed, disgrace, redemption and more in 75 minutes.
If you enjoy non- traditional theatre done well, then this is a play that can be recommended.
It is at The Courthouse Theatre, corner of Stokes and Sturt streets, tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 7.30pm. Tickets at fullthrottletheatre. com or at the door. >> The reviewer saw the play at
its dress rehearsal.