THEATRE REVIEW: GASPING
Review By Steve McGrath
Director Helen Tonkin
Cast:Richard Cox, Alan Faulkner, Julia Kennedy-Scott, Natalie Rees, Samantha Roylance and Oliver Wenn
Written By: Ben Elton
Review: Ben Elton first became known as a stand-up comedian from the alternate comedy scene of the 1980s. He evolved into a prolific writer, with three hit plays on the West End; “Gasping”, “Silly Cow” and “Popcorn”. He wrote classic TV sitcoms such as “The Young Ones”, “Blackadder” and “The Thin Blue Line”; (both starring Rowan Atkinson). His novels include “Stark”, “This Other Eden” and “Gridlock”. Gasping was written in 1990 and its theme hasn’t lost anything in time as Elton is clever enough to write about now issues in a timeless way. This satire on corporate power, greed, gullibility and the control of natural resources will always resonate through the world. No doubt everyone today is effected by the decisions of power companies to raise our electricity costs and a government too weak to have any control over it. Similarly, Gasping presents us a world where a company seizes a universal commodity so vital we take it for granted. A powerful corporation sucks in the oxygen that the universe provides, markets it and makes us pay for it. Elton’s hilarious scenario could be described as the sum total of man’s ultimate inhumanity to man.
Proof that clever satirists like Ben Elton make strange prophets is the present day revelations that Murdoch is doing similar manipulation with the news that happens freely in our world, the news that we could fabricate and elaborate ourselves, yet we pay someone else for the privilege of doing it for us. (Luckily we now have Youtube and Facebook to instantly share images and videos globally before falling into the crafty hands of media tyrants. I refuse to believe that Osama Bin Laden is dead until I see the shaky Youtube footage of his body sliding from the strong hands of Naval Seals into the sea, filmed by two kids from Milwaukie who happened to be paddling past on a kayak at the time).
The beautiful subtext in Gasping is that we, the gullible consumer, who have become conditioned to accept that a restaurant fancy enough to have a tablecloth may charge us for tap water, are being parodied just as much as the evil tycoons. Of course, some of you may be too gullible to believe my theory, but as W.C. Fields said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”. The prove this, he made a film with this title, there was no plot and he did very little in the story, yet it was his biggest grossing film. The premise of Gasping is that the powerful can sell the “Perrier for the nostrils” to the consumer because, as Elton keeps reminding us all through the play, the rich can market it and the poor consumer doesn’t have much alternative, because he is poor, obviously.
It’s old news that banks make money out of our money and charge us money for doing so, corporations hack our phones, our internet, they spam us, steal our bank account details, and sell our identities like we’re in an ancient Roman slave auction – and when we rise up to complain we are directed to a call centre in another country or a politician on another planet. The human race has been screwing the human race ever since Eve ate the forbidden fruit with no concern for Adam’s superannuation scheme in Eden. Elton cooks both sides of the divide into a rich, dark comedy and spices it with sharp one liners, but is a clever enough chef to not overload it with the flavour of a morality tale – until the final breathless moments.
Comedy writers like Elton are the modern day court jesters greatly needed in the ailing Kingdom we live in; enabling us to deal with the battles we face against bureaucracy gone mad and the powers that control our earth’s riches. The more pompous of theatre critics would cry that Grasping has not the rich textures of Shakespeare, but this down to earth reviewer feels it has the relief we need to feel as we sit back and look the unfairness of the world, recognise it, have a good laugh at it and help us to feel slightly more sane about our part in the grand scheme of things. Elton’s absurd humour is down to earth enough to reach the working class man and yet grabs the white collars of those in power and gives them a good yank by the scruff of the neck. We laugh and perhaps forgive ourselves for helping those people to stay in power.
Gasping’s story begins with Sir Chifley Lockheart, played exquisitely by Alan Faulkner, (a veteran of the stage who played Vladimir in New Theatre’s Waiting For Godot and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company). Lockheart is the greedy head of a powerful corporation that has more money than he knows what to do with. He commands his minions to devise a new way to profit out of something that the tiresome public are cunningly getting for free.
Oliver Wenn takes the lead role as Phillip, the executive who devises the concept of sucking the air out of the world and selling it back to those who suddenly realise they need it. Wenn carries the torch in a role one feels Elton would have carved from his stand-up routine where he earned the nick name “Motor- mouth”. With the lion’s share of clever one liners, Wenn fleshes out the character as the plot spirals into chaos; beyond the satire of big business into a lopsided love triangle with two colleagues. I hope not to be accused of favouritism, for I have never met this actress in my life before, but one of the most memorable performances is that of Julia Kennedy Scott, who creates a superb characterisation as Kirsten, the sassy advertising genius Phillip collaborates with on his “Suck and Blow” concept. Phillip’s rival, Sandy, is played by Richard Cox with fine timing. Some of the smaller roles take on a show-within a show effect thanks to Elton’s wit. Natalie Rees brilliantly executes a show stopping segment as the female equivalent of journalist Peter Harvey. Samantha Roylance uses her wonderfully expressive face in a bizarre role to remind us another beautiful subtext; it’s not the machine that’s evil, it’s the hands that built it.
Helen Tonkin as director uses her vast experience and insight to keep the pace tight and the humour billowing. The art of comedy can only be rehearsed up to a theoretical point in a cold rehearsal room and from there on it needs a living, breathing audience to nurture it. Having witnessed only the second night of this production, the very few lulls that I spotted should well be smoothed out over the run while in the hands of such an experienced company. Elton’s frenetic script is such that it requires the lighting in the scene changes to snap out instead of fade out. There is no room for pauses in a stream of consciousness like this.
With this tightening, I predict the run from here on of Gasping will be an experience no theatre goer should miss, and a new milestone for the New Theatre.
Elton’s text comes close to the edge of smut but never flows into the gutter. He is a true wordsmith of comedy in the purest sense. I started to make a note of some of the clever one liners peppered through this script to share one or two here as an example, but they came so thick and fast my pen couldn’t keep up. So go and witness them for yourself, have a good laugh, be reminded of the dark side of opportunism and it just may help us prepare for the day, maybe not in Julia Gillard’s political life time, when we have to purchase our every breath, just as Ben Elton muses. Gasping plays at the New Theatre until the 10th of December.
