State Theatre Company of South Australia. Dunstan Playhouse. 8 Nov 2012
Near the very end of the 19th century, electricity was domestically available to wealthy customers who were astonished at the convenience of incandescent lights. Little could Edison predict the plethora of labour-saving devices that would also be invented, even less vibrating devices to massage the female genitalia to relieve hysteria. Further, how could he had ever predicted that by 2009, American playwright Sarah Ruhl’s bedtime reading of ‘The Technology of Orgasm, AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War’ (not the band, the current type) and ‘A Social History of Wet Nursing in America’, would inspire her to write this humourous and often moving examination of the crossover of the rise of science and the demise of Victorian sexual myths and methods.
Designer Ailsa Paterson beautifully presents us with a lovely period domestic household and the fantastic array of whizzing and whirring electrical gadgets of Dr Givings. Catherine Fitzgerald – unfortunately for us in her last production as Associate Director at State – has a cast list any director would envy. Billed as a comedy of manners, and nothing like the gag-a-minute school of most modern American comedies, the huge comic potential of the situation was stymied by Ruhl’s objectives of conveying childlike astonishment and sleuthing life’s mysteries in a rather uncomplicated way, leaving loads of missed opportunities for additional comedy. So Renato Musolino’s wonderful and earnest portrayal of the doctor is too serious to laugh at. Amber McMahon gave an enchanting and quirky performance as Mrs Givings (there is no Miss Givings); exhibiting all of the comic potential of Lucille Ball, the dignity and pride seen in the performances of Katharine Hepburn, and the awestruck naivety of Judy Garland’s Dorothy, McMahon’s enormous capacity still seemed thwarted from a fuller comic expression. Cameron Goodall was an excellent artist, providing a unique characterisation in voice and mannerism while portraying a restless impressionist like Gauguin or Van Gogh.
The most memorable notes in the play are, of course, using the vibrator, but also many touching moments, such as Pamela Jikiemi’s portrait of the grieving wet nurse; Brendan Rock’s and Katherine Fyffe’s characters’ handling of rejected advances; and Mr and Mrs Givings’ exploration of new and radical modes of intimacy.
While not hysterical - this is Ruhl’s rather more cerebral and careful consideration of the themes she wished to explore - Catherine Fitzgerald gave us a great production as her swansong.
David Grybowski
When: 3 to 24 Nov
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au
