The days of David Williamson being a tough, confronting playwright have long gone. For quite some time now Australia’s most successful stage writer has settled for coming up with fast paced, breezy social comedies. The latest in this ilk is JACK OF HEARTS currently playing at the Ensemble Theatre. In something of a coup the production that features Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor, two stars from the television show, The Chaser.
The action begins with the thirties something natives acting very restless. Jack (Chris Taylor) and Emma’s (Paige Gardiner) relationship is on the decline. There’s plenty of friction between them and jobless Jack is having lots of airy fairy, pie in the sky schemes/aspirations which are driving Emma around the bend. The inevitable happens and physical trainer Emma hooks up with a new man, one of her clients, Carl (Peter Mochrie).
Jack is out the door and miserable. Now desperate to find a job he scores a job as a baggage handler in a resort up north.
It is in the resort that things get very interesting and challenging for Jack. Mainly as a result of the people who end up staying at the resort at exactly the same time as him. Namely, his ex Emma who has booked in to spend some time with her new man, Carl. Also a guest is his best friend Stu who is having a fling with his work colleague, Nikki (Isabella Tannock), after telling his live-in girlfriend, Denys (Brooke Satchwell), that he had to go away for work to Adelaide!
So there we have it…plenty of romance and scandal taking place at the resort. Adding to this mix Williamson has resort manager Kelli start to fancy Jack, and on a further tangent we see Jack take up a long time dream and perform a regular stand-up show at the resort.
The romp goes for two hours twenty with interval and doesn’t sag. Plot complications are thrown in and then resolved. There’s the usual offerings of zingy Williamson one-liners interspersed through the play.
The cast appeared to have a good time with this light, souffle entertainment. Favourite performances were by Chris Taylor in the lead as the Lothario like Jack, Peter Mochrie’s portrayal of narcissistic media personality, Carl, and Isabella Tannock as bimbo Nikki who speaks with a very grating Aussie strine, not quite on par with Jeannie Little, but getting there.
The best times in the play were when Chris Taylor grabbed the mike and did his free-wheeling stand-up comedy shtick. The audience lapped it up, especially the running by-play that he had with a female in the front row.
The staging was simple and fluid. A few cube like structures on the stage were constantly reorganised to make different things- chairs, sofas, tables…Designer Anna Gardiner had different images appear on the paneled back wall signifying different settings/locations.
Recommended, David Williamson’s JACK OF HEARTS, in a production directed by the great man himself, is playing the Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli until Saturday 2nd April.
http://ensemble.com.au/whats-on/plays/jack-of-hearts