THEATRE REVIEW: GOD’S EAR
Review By Steve McGrath
Director: Jonathan Wald
Cast: Natasha Beaumont, Kieran Foster, Julian Garner, Victoria Greiner, Cameron Knight, Helen O’Leary, Gael Ballantyne.
Synopsis: When Mel and Ted lose their child in a fatal accident their decent into a surreal world begins. They retreat from their grief by dissolving in and out of a parallel universe of absurdist word plays and hilarious verbal duels, confiding in fictional characters, random strangers and their surviving child as they struggle to survive their crumbling relationship.
Review: Parents don’t expect to outlive their children, thus a painful event is the basis of American writer Jenny Schwartz’s unique work “God’s Ear”. From this tragedy a flight of fancy is launched. The play is staged in a bleak, colourless landscape. Jo Lewis’s set design is a gaunt geometrical limbo, a swirling walkway that curves into a dead end square. From an aerial view, I envisaged this to be the shape of a question mark in reverse … although I wasn’t actually allowed to climb up into the Seymour Centre’s gantry to verify this. Yet a question mark is precisely what the motivations of the lead characters are shrouded in. Are they in denial? Do they flirt with the absurd to heal the pain? Is this a dream world they dwell in?
We soon laugh at the absurd interactions Mel and Ted indulge in, until we are gradually reminded of the origin of their strange journey; grief. The fine line between tragedy and comedy is the basis of all theatre ever since mankind first invented popcorn.
If you like your drama “kitchen sink”, then you may become slightly disconcerted by the text, but if you’ve ever lost a loved one and carry the weight of responsibility, you’ll be laughing and feeling at same time. What makes this play unique is the occasional haunting musical number that seeps in with only a lone chord as accompaniment. One would think a musical without the bells and whistles would seem odd, but this is a quirky universe these characters are trapped in, and director Jonathan Wald has cast strong actors with singing voices experienced enough to carry it off. The script already has a lyrical magic to it. Schwartz is a word smith with a glorious feel for the rhythm of language. Her text draws from a rich palette of word play from puns and jumbles to word association. She uses fractured proverbs that twist back around and run smack bang into themselves in a lunatic cul-de-sac that sets off the audience laughter like a car alarm with a hyperactive woodpecker on the bonnet.
Julian Garner, as Ted, stabilises the night with his powerful ability to turn from drama to comedy on a dime. Playing his partner is Natasha Beaumont in the challenging role of Mel, the bereaved mother with a guilt trip that gives birth to a hilarious monologue. Helen O’Leary’s portrayal of the nutty Lenora, the drunken flirt Ted meets in a bar, is a brilliant
comic creation. When you see in your peripheral vision the person beside you turn and gape at you, compelled by the collective joy of an audience bonding together in laughter, you know that actress has something special.
Victoria Greiner is endearing in the role of Lanie, the surviving daughter who challenges her parental wisdom with a magical innocence. Kieran Foster proves his versatility in playing not only a hilarious Airline Stewardess in drag, but a GI Joe doll, both characters symbolising the escapism that Ted seeks. Gael Ballantyne plays an extraordinary role as the Tooth Fairy in Phyllis Diller’s trademark wild wig, fluffy coat and tights, who Mel invokes as a house guest in her desperate attempts to connect to the memory of her dead son. Cameron Knight plays Guy, a macho rival Ted meets as he roams the globe, seeking interaction that may make sense of his life, but inevitably he becomes bogged in the madness of the language.
Absurdist dialogue is as old as theatre itself, from the days of American vaudeville where “patter” comedy teams with outrageous moustaches duelled each other with double talk on the same bill as saucy chorus girls and performing seals. Schwartz’s use of this style of text in a modern drama and injecting it with a lyrical poetry is inventive and enthralling. Director Jonathan Wald guides it all into a stylish and fascinating excursion into the depths of the human psyche. “God’s Ear” plays at the Seymour Centre until 3rd December.
