Comedy
Theatre, Oct 31 to Dec 2, 2012
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **
Stars: **
Review in Herald Sun on Friday, Nov 2, 2012
Mark Mitchell & Michael Veitch
MORE SEX PLEASE...WE'RE SENIORS! a musical comedy by John-Michael Howson, has a catchy title but
doesn’t fulfill its potential to be entertaining Identification Theatre about the
many indignities visited upon seniors.
The capable cast,
directed by Pip Mushin and accompanied by Peter Sullivan on piano, work like
Trojans to make the flimsy narrative, two-dimensional characters, flabby
dialogue and cheesy songs entertaining.
However, Howson’s script
lacks dramatic development, there is no dramatic or character conflict, and the
gags are wordy, predictable and often unfunny.
Two senior couples of
indeterminate age (65-70 perhaps?) move into Guantanamo Palms Retirement
Village to enjoy their twilight years surrounded by palm tress in Craigieburn.
Mark Mitchell is the
comic highlight as Mac, the retired mechanic who loves a beer, and he gets the
biggest laughs for his physical, visual gags: sliding awkwardly off the couch
while pedalling his foot exerciser and wrestling hilariously with his
oversized, red pants.
Mac’s craving for his
youthful sex drive features in his two songs: The House Where I Get None and
Take Viagra.
Jane Clifton plays Mac’s
long-suffering wife, Joan, and Clifton lends her rich voice to Joan’s song
about her struggle with bladder control, You Can Depend on Depends.
Michael Veitch plays Roy,
the smallgoods dealer, whose life is marred by embarrassing gas that he sings
about in My Wind Keeps Breaking.
As his neurotic wife who
is obsessed with home security since she had her bottom pinched at Chadstone, Tracy
Harvey is suitably perky and nervy.
Matt Quartermaine plays
the silent clown role of Mr. Dogsbody, the maintenance man who appears between
scenes to clown around as he clumsily moves furniture.
The show is less a play
than a series of scenes and songs about annoying or debilitating issues of
ageing including: sex, marriage, ailments, travel, Christmas, politics and
greedy families.
The final scenes get more
interesting when the two couples initiate a Seniors Unit political protest that
gets their juices going and provides them with a sense of purpose as they fight
to be visible in their old age.
There are numerous
problems with the script that cold be improved with some judicious editing of
dialogue, tightening of gags and a dramatic structure that allowed the
characters to overcome some conflict before they become friends and embark off
on their political crusade.
By Kate Herbert
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