Tickets at the Door

Anne: Joanna Webb - An expat Adelaidian, Joanna spent much of the last 13 years in the UK before returning to Adelaide via the state of her birth Tasmania. Before leaving she was appeared in "The Lady and The Clarinet, Agnes of God and one of the three witches in Macbeth. In the UK she worked on the London Fringe in a variety of plays including Lady Aoi and a long season of A Comedy of Errors at Two Way Mirror in Camden. She was a founder member of the Sevenoaks Shakespeare Society and worked with them in a number of roles including Paulina in A Winters Tale under the direction of legendary RSC identity Diana Edwardes.

Review by Stephanie Johnson

School reunions – two words that should spark dread in the mind of any intelligent human being.

Something is sorely amiss with the idea of reuniting with friends from youthful days. The mere thought of such a reunion inevitably sparks a hornet’s nest of mixed emotions, unfavourable comparisons and wishful thinking.

Tony Moore’s world premiere of “Rick” takes the school reunion to a new low, revealing the underbelly of dark issues as a group of school friends gather to tell tales and bite nails.

On the positive side of the ledger, Moore’s setting is ideal for exposing topics such as rape, murder, abandonment and betrayal. This is a playwright with a social conscience.

In “Rick” a group of classmates gather from all walks of life and rapidly old tensions surface. Gradually the façade slips and the truth of the past is revealed. This play has moments that are gems. Moore easily captures the atmosphere, the child within each adult, the horror that surfaces in some of the individuals as they recall repressed memories.

The trouble with this play is the lack of pace, the timing, and the wordiness. As a result it lags in places.

Each actor brings something to the stage, but together they are somehow mismatched and out of step, except for rare shining moments.

Maxine Grubel-Wilson goes to top of the class with her edgy performance of Jenny, and Damien White is uncannily realistic as the brooding Phil.

Joanna Webb is a forceful, if not particularly likeable Anne, and Marc Brown plays a delightfully camp Dean. Sean Wellsmore needs to do a little more homework to graduate from likeable to playboy as Geoff, Shideh Faramund is a passable Mandy and John Frangos scores well as Barry.

It is easy to see any of these characters at a school reunion. Perhaps herein lies the problem.

Sue Oldknow

THEATRE REVIEW: 'Rick', Spotlight Theatre CO, Holden Street Theatres, until September 22.
TWENTY years ago, school boy Rick died in a car crash. The incident is history to everyone but his strange, shy, melancholy friend, Phil (Damien White).
Now Rick's old class mates have gathered to organise a reunion and Phil is determined to prove that the crash was no accident.
Luckily for him, forensic investigator Anne (Joanna Webb) has turned up for the get-together and what starts out as a kind of mock investigation proves to be the catalyst for a torrent of repressed memories, secrets and lies.
Tony Moore's play is a very brave look at the uncomfortable topic of rape, and he directs his work well.
Highlights include Dean's (Marc Brown) confession of what Rick did to him and the more playful moments of the drinking scene with Anne and Jenny (Maxine Grubel-Wilson).
Later scenes could do with a few more such light moments.
Geoff (Sean Wellsmore) is the only character unaffected by Rick's legacy but he is not played boldly enough to relieve the unrelenting darkness which threatens to become emotionally numbing.
The living room murder mystery scenario can often be static, but this one moves brilliantly and although diction and projection are an issue with some of the actors, the cast (which also includes Shideh Faramand and John Frangos) handles the sensitive subject matter without melodrama.
This is a strong, adult play by a South Australian writer that deserves good houses.

SAMELA HARRIS

Holden Street Theatres
Until Saturday, September 22

Rick is the absent character – dead. But was it murder? Tony Moore brings Rick's old schoolmates together to explore this mystery in a new play which one may describe, perhaps, as Cold Case files meets Hercule Poirot. One of the odd bunch of old friends turns out to not only have been divorced twice but also to have carved a career in cold case forensics.

With booze loosening tongues at the school reunion, clues emerge until, in the classic Agatha Christie climax, suspects are corralled into a pressure cooker confessional.

There are strong performances from Joanna Webb as the investigator, as well as from Shideh Faramand and John Frangos.

Maris Caune's apartment set is busy and domestic, lots of it at low budget – rather like the script.