Sunday 28 May 2000

The Watch in the Window, May 28, 2000


By Darren Markey
at Chapel off Chapel until June 11, 2000
Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Some nights in the theatre seem like an eternity. The Watch in the Window is one of those nights. This play begins by being incomprehensible and continues so for at least the first forty minutes.

Two men (Christopher Kirby, David Berman) stand on an elevated stage draped in white curtaining. Their conversation is obscure not because it is absurd, nor because it is poetic. It is simply so purposefully obtuse that it is incoherent.

After far too long, we discover that these men, and another (Daniel McGough) who is roaming about downstage around a park bench, are gods. They are gods whose existences are totally meaningless evidently.

The premise of the story has potential. Gods watch through a window from on high, craving a taste of life on earth. When they fall to earth, they are incapacitated, frightened, despairing.

The problem is that this issue arises only in the last half of the play. These gods are idiots. They may have been watching earth for eons but they have seen nothing. We might hope our gods were more omniscient or, at the very least, sensible.

The cavernous space of the Chapel off Chapel is too large for this production which is also directed by the writer, Darren Markey. Markey has created three mini-sets: Godsville, an earthly penthouse and the park bench.

His direction is clumsy. Actors wander about in the dark waiting for a light to go up on their next scene. All this achieves is to distract us from the on-stage action.

The performances are limited and the acting style so laboured it is an interminable wait for them to find the motivation to speak at all. There is the odd moment, joke or story that grabs the attention towards the end of the two hours. Aris Gounaris has some amusing banter as Chris, the ex-Arcadian landlord.

However, most of the night is garbled, amateurish and excruciatingly slow. It is a surprise that this play is having a return season after a few years break.

By Kate Herbert


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