The Weather
and Your Health, by Bethany Simons
La
Mama, May 15 to 27, 2012
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert on May 15
Stars: *** ½
Bethany Simons & Daniel Mottau
The character in
Bethany Simons’ The Weather and Your Health, is sweetly naive and relentlessly
optimistic as she relates episodes of her early life, courtship and marriage in
Gilgrandra, a flat, dry Australian town she fondly calls ‘Gil’.
This cheerful woman,
based on Simons’ own Nan, was a child during World War Two, living in relative
poverty with her father, a sanitary pan collector, until she married in the
1950s.
This is a gentle,
physical self-narration that would be a monodrama if not for the husband
(Daniel Mottau) who sits mutely in the background, listening to the races on
his transistor radio while studying the Form Guide.
David Wicks directs this engaging, little play with simplicity and a light hand, focussing attention on the actorly skills of Simons and Mottau while maintaining this woman’s joyful innocence by purposely not presenting her through jaded, 21st century eyes.
Simons, barefoot,
wearing a 50s frock and cyclamen-red lipstick, delights us with her quirky
characterisation, cheeky grin and wide-eyed innocence.
She reminisces about
her simple pleasures, including a glorious, red taffeta ball gown, playing
piano at dances, being walked home by her husband-to-be.
From her repertoire
of country cooking, she shares with us her foolproof, sausage roll recipe
accompanying it with childlike, vocal sound effects.
Simons provides some
enchanting theatrical morsels with her swiftly drawn and beautifully observed
caricatures of her four, country town girlfriends.
We witness playful
and poignant moments in her private, fantasy world when she channels the
glamorous and exotic Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Although this is an
unashamedly warm, positive show, there is poignancy in these romantic fantasies
being ignored by her silent and effectively absent husband.
Careful not to
intrude, confront or interrupt, this cheery and recognisable soul maintains her
dignity and a brave face throughout her little life.
By Kate Herbert
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