Prolific Australian playwright Alana Valentine has chosen the intriguing nineteenth century performance artist Lola Montez (17/2/1818-17/1/1861) as the subject of her latest play, TARANTULA.
Valentine’s narrative features parallel storylines. Middle-aged thespian Gina is rehearsing a play that she has she has written about Montez that focuses on her relationship with a much younger man, the love of her life, Noel Folland.
TARANTULA interchanges between scenes from Gina’s play with the behind the scenes actions and emerging relationship between Gina and her much younger actor, Terry.
The explosive Lola Montez as a slave and victim to her desires and passions is Valentine’s take on Montez’s story.
Montez herself describes desire as, ‘a tarantula that bites and not only the young. Desire is a venom that courses through the veins long past the days of its ability to be satisfied’.
It’s so great to see an actor as high profile and accomplished as Zoe Carides performing in a fringe Sydney venue. Zoe gives a captivating performance as the wild and crazy Lola, especially in her re-enactment of Lola’s celebrated Spider dance, where legend has it that Montez actually brushed out spiders from her petticoats and stamped them to death on stage.
New Zealand Drama School graduate Michael Whalley impressed playing Folland, Terry and a variety of minor roles.
Richard Mills lends some musical support in the corner, playing the cello.
TARANTULA was an entertaining, and at times very funny take on the eternal battle between the sexes. One just felt that Valentine could have dug a little deeper in coming up with her portrait of one of history most eccentric and intriguing female firebrands.
A Tredwood production, Alana Valentine’s TARANTULA, directed by Natassja Djalog, opened at the King Street Theatre, 644 King Street, Newtown on Wednesday 10th October and runs until Saturday 3rd November, 2012.
© David Kary
17th October, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- TARANTULA, Alana Valentine, King Street Theatre, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary