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Review: Allison Browning
SOME things in life fall short of their mark, while others go
too far and fall flat on their arse. The latter was the case in
Perth Theatre Company's production of Bench.
Three oddball women find sanctuary on a local park bench. Each
has their own version of reality to cope with, some of the harsh
knocks life has dished out.
In the safety of their park bench, we meet Dolly, a woman living
in a world of pink doh-nuts and pretty frocks; Edith, who shuns
her home to escape the memories, and Forbes, who maintains strength
and dignity in being the protector of Dolly - things she was not
given herself.
Throughout the story, all three women, predictably, reveal their
personal truths, leading to a cringe-worthy happy ending, song
and all.
From the beginning, things were looking pretty grim, with Dolly
(played by Jenny Davis) prancing out and giving a Shirley Temple
number played up for the audience.
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The cringe factor didn't stop there, with one-liners screaming
out for laughs, but not getting them.
This is a potentially interesting story, in which not much really
happens. The script presents some nice 'Australianisms' in the
dialogue, which is refreshing, but the points of crisis for these
interesting characters have been brushed over, leaving a flat
story, with nothing gripping.
Rosemary Barr and Laura Black, who played Forbes and Edith, gave
strong performances, but with the overall production being unsure
of itself, in terms of style, and with script that chased its
tail a little, they were fighting a losing battle.
A profound sound and lighting effect was thrown in once, as Edith
comes to terms with the reality of her son's death in the war.
For a fleeting moment, we were given the impression that more
of these moments were to come, but soon the audience was ripped
back to the boredom that came before.
Unfortunately, Bench struggled to rise above the predictable
and perhaps felt the need to do 'too much' in terms of production
choices.
Bench's season continues at Rechabites Hall, Northbridge,
until April 3.
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