In David Williamson’s latest play MANAGING CARMEN, Glenn Hazeldine gives a vintage comic performance as zealous, maverick sports manager Rohan Swift.
Rohan is pulling out all stops for his main man, Aussie Rules star, Brent Lyall, deftly played by Leigh Scully.
Brent is good at kicking goals, at 24 years he has already grabbed 2 Brownlow Medals, but he is useless on the public image front.
Rohan pays sexy little number Clara (Kiwi actress Morgana O’Reilly does a great sex kitten) a handsome load of cash to be Brent’s live in gal.
The play starts with him putting on a ‘corporate presentational enhancer’ (don’t you just love the jargon) Jessica Giordano (it’s great to see Rachel Gordon getting a lot of work at the moment) to improve Brent’s very wooden screen presence so he can hold on to his television commercial contract.
Clara comes home unexpectedly one day to find Brent dressed up in women’s clothes. Our Brownlow Medalist is a cross dresser. Off she scoots to Rohan with the thought that she might just go to the press with what would be the biggest sports story of the year.
Rohan, of-course, has apoplexy…if gossip monger journalists like Max Upfield (a great comic performance by David Hynes, played as a kind of manic John Michael Howson) get wind of this, Brent’s days are numbered.
MANAGING CARMEN sees Williamson at his lightest. Williamson deserves some time out from being one of Australia leading playwright social commentators, after transversing such challenging and intense territory such as the Jack Manning Trilogy (A CONVERSATION, CHARITABLE INTENT and FACE TO FACE).
This is soufflé kind of theatre. A light play for the silly season…There are many trademark Williamson one-liners, even Jamie Parker comes in for a serve. As the play goes on, the situations get sillier and funnier.
Mark Kimurry’s production serves the play well. The pace is farcical and fast. Steven Butler’s set, with the main features being two goal posts, on either side of the stage, that light up, and multiple monitor screens that flash different images through the play, worked very effectively.
Recommended, MANAGING CARMEN opened at the Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli on Wednesday 12th December and runs until Friday January 25, 2013. The show then moves to the Glen Street Theatre, corner Glen Street and Blackbutts Road, Belrose, playing between Wednesday January 30 and Saturday 9th February, and then moves across to the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, 597 High Street, Penrith between Wednesday 13th and Saturday 16th February, 2013.
(c) David Kary
19th December, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- MANAGING CARMEN, David Williamson, Ensemble Theatre, Mark Kilmurry, Leigh Scully, Morgana O’Reilly, Glenn Hazeldine, David Hynes, Rachel Gordon, Steven Butler, Natalie Boog, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary