Rapture by Joanna Murray-Smith
Playbox Theatre at Merlin Theatre, Nov 14 until November 30 ,
2002
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
The question asked in Joanna
Murray-Smith's play, Rapture, is, What do the godless do when their best
friends discover faith?
In this
middle-class faithless society, couples such as these live in comfort. They are
high functioning, professional, self-serving city-dwellers. They live
self-satisfied, neat, Nike-coloured lives.
Murray-Smith
captures the smugness and obsession with image of this clan of
forty-somethings. They are dislikeable but recognisable types who talk at each
other rather than communicate.
The writing
is smart, witty and sometimes glib. The play is a series of speeches and rants
by individuals peppered with snatches of short, interrupted dialogue.
At times,
this feels uncomfortable for both actor and listener.
The
characters become ciphers for particular messages. They are vehicles for the
writer's voice rather than fully developed characters.
Henny (Marg Downey) known on TV as the Glamorous
Gourmet, is married to Harry, (Greg Stone) winner of Real Estate Agent of
the Year. They epitomise the tacky,
style-obsessed urban elite.
When they
disappear for seven months after their home is burnt to ashes, their friends
worry.
Publisher,
Eve (Natasha Herbert) and her
award-winning novelist husband, Tom (Neil Pigot) plan a reunion dinner when
finally they track down Henny and Harry.
They invite
Dan, ( Paul English) a journalist, and Jane (Belinda McClory) his wife, a documentary
film-maker.
The
performances are all excellent. This is a fine cast assembled by director,
Jenny Kemp.
Downey and
Stone encapsulate beautifully the detached superiority of the couple who
discover faith.
Herbert
plays the glamorous Eve with style. As her husband, Tom, Pigot is a prowling,
caged cat ready to pounce on those who attack his artist's lifestyle.
English
brings warmth and richness to Dan and McClory comes into her own when Jane's secret
is revealed.
The set by
Dale Ferguson is a cool steel and glass
prison that seems to trap these couples in their own vanity. The stage is lit
imaginatively by Rachel Burke.
This is
entertaining theatre in many ways. Although it challenges the shallowness of
these lives it remains superficial in its delivery.
By Kate
Herbert
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