Presented by: Galleon Theatre Group
Reviewed: 21 October, 2022
Jimmy and Alice have been married for all of their adult lives. Now in their 60s, and having to move out of the family home, they are clearing out the attic junk and reminiscing about their shared lives. Younger versions of both of them appear on stage to act out seminal moments in the marriage, and these memories eventually segue into a form of dialogue with the older couple.
Jerry Mayer has a decades-long background in writing and producing American sit-coms of a certain era. When he moved into playwriting, he brought that particular rhythm and structure to the stage. A Love Affair is a perfect example of that, the two acts together seeming more like a distilled version of a 12 part comedy series. The humour itself is very “made for television” with a consistent string of one-liners. Refreshingly for this type of comedy, there is some reasonably sophisticated sexual humour. Not exactly edgy (pardon the pun!) but certainly more satisfying to adults than the average episode of Bewitched.
For Galleon, director Lesley Reed has pulled together a solid cast. Experienced performers Lindy LeCornu and Lindsay Dunn anchor the work beautifully as Alice and Jimmy. Nick Endenburg and Shanna Ransley are delightful as the younger versions. And Leanne Robinson puts in a decent night’s work playing seven different roles! Reed is an intelligent and respectful director who certainly knows how to craft a stage performance. I would love to see her get away from the jack-in-the-box blocking – i.e. actors constantly going from sitting to standing in mid-dialogue – and trust her actors to just sit and talk to each other (and to trust the audience to not need the constant visual stimulation!).
Doing a play in accents is always a bit of a gamble, but generally the region-specific American accents were done well, although they still felt a little forced and sometimes actually detracted from the natural rhythm of the dialogue. The comic timing from all five performers was slightly sluggish on opening night, but the jokes still cracked where they needed to. And most importantly, the actors all worked beautifully off each other, and are clearly having fun up there.
A Love Affair is a genuinely funny, warm, and gently wise look at marriage. Galleon has done a splendid job of bringing this piece of theatre to life, pulling together a value-for-money night out. Kudos to Reed and the cast.
And you’ll never look at postage stamps the same way again…!
Reviewed by: Tracey Korsten
Venue: Domain Theatre, Marion
Season: 20-29th October
Duration: 2 hours (including interval)
Tickets: $23 – $27
Bookings: https://www.galleon.org.au/html/bookings.html
More News
