Perfect Madness, Oct 14, 1997

Perfect Madness, by Michael Cummins

 Courthouse Theatre until Nov 2, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Oct 14, 1997

Sideshows always manage to be decrepit, dusty and tragic. They are not even at the heart of the circus but tucked away on the fringe nursing their jaded old laughing clowns and faded carousel horses.

Perfect Madness, written by Michael Cummins and directed by Kim Baston, attempts to penetrate the dejected lives of three people who have lived on Sideshow Alley all their lives. Each character yearns for a rosier past, a youthful dream. Then, along comes young Bill to revive their shattered hopes.

If this sounds like the intro to a soap opera, it is close. The style of the piece often echoes the melodramatics of a low-budget soapie. There is potential drama in the directionless lives of Lette, Gordon and Eileen O'Connor. Lette (Laine Lamont) was a whisker away from making on the Tivoli stage. Gordon, (Gene Bradley Fisk) her brother, was a rising country and western singer; "Lucky Starr stole every song I ever wrote."

Their niece, Eileen, (Natalie Carr) is driven to resuscitate their dying O'Connor sideshow stalls. Either that or to marry Winston Lockett III (Damian Woodards), who runs the profitable rides much like the Wittingslows.

The production just never quite makes it. The plot is thin and the dialogue and relationship are repetitive. The text could do with a savage edit to focus it on a narrative line. The character of Bill (Paul Volpato) is too sketchy and is absorbed into their lives too easily without question. He remains a theatrical device rather than a character that is intended to revitalise all their fantasies.

The entertaining moments are the musical, showy pieces. The finale is a 'tent show' ("All we need now is the tent!") with Tivoli grand dame, Lette doing a Hollywood musical number with a chorus line of dancers. Gordon's C and W songs are toe tappin', hand-clappin' numbers and there are two neat magical illusions and one clanger.

Baston's direction of the musical finale is better than that of the dramatic scenes. They are static and unimaginative with clumsy scene changes. The performers are mostly very inexperienced as actors and this explains why they look so uncomfortable and the relationships are not credible.

More specific tightly plotted lighting and a more flexible set design might have helped to some degree but essentially this piece needs major reworking.

KATE HERBERT