A night of twists and turns
Movers, by James Cain, directed by Matthew Loveranes, Bats Theatre, until Saturday.
If the title of this play didn’t give a clue as to what it is about, then the set certainly does; countless cardboard boxes and packing cases strewn about the stage along with a truck cab and sofa and small stage for the central character to perform.
A small, just surviving, moving company, run and managed by Oscar (Lloyd Scott) with assistance from Bruce (John Landreth), hires Tai (Sepelini Mua’au), a Samoan doing a postgraduate degree.
Oscar is an affable chap wanting no stress or aggro from anyone, while Bruce is the muscle of the company; a stereotypical uneducated Kiwi in a labouring job harbouring all the prejudices of such a character.
Tai is a stand-up comedian by night but needs extra cash, so takes on the job with the movers.
All three actors do well to create real and plausible characters that many will identify with.
Of course, a clash of ideas, values and personal agendas develops between Bruce and Tai, with Oscar as mediator.
Then there is a poignant twist at the end, which brings everything to a head with a successful outcome.
The themes of Cain’s play have some interesting twists and turns about moving through life, accepting the challenges thrown up along the way and how they are dealt with.
Not the least of which is a fascinating device of having Tai periodically doing his stand-up comedy routine, where he uses his experiences with the moving company as the basis of his material, creating a character, Barry, not too dissimilar to Bruce.
The writing portrays the idiosyncrasies of these people and all three actors do well to create real and plausible characters that many will identify with.
It is a pity, however, that the director has chosen to play out much of the dialogue with all three actors continually sitting in a row in the truck’s cab or on the sofa, thus dissipating much of the tension that develops and making the play very static.
Much more movement is needed for the actors to physicalise their emotions and with so many boxes about the stage, many opportunities to create telling and vibrant interchanges between the characters are lost .
Nevertheless, this new play and its production has a lot going for it and makes for an entertaining evening. – John Button