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Katerina
Presented by: Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group (STAG)
Venue: Strathmore Community Hall
Reviewer: Catherine Brain
Date Reviewed: Friday 27th November 2009
STAG
has long been a part of local theatre in Strathmore, and just
setting foot into their home at the Community Hall you start to get
a real sense of its history.
STAG’s final production for 2009 was the ‘world premiere’ of
Katerina, written by local Melbourne playwright Paula (P.J.)
Armstrong. Written as a farce, Katerina is for the most part
a believable story based around a group of fairly relatable
characters….that is then exaggerated to weave an entertaining tale.
Katerina
tells the story of Katerina (Kat), a woman in her late 20’s going
through a bit of a rough patch in her life. The play is centred on
the comings and goings of her small apartment in Preston where Kat
is attempting leaving behind the boredom of debt collection for life
as a novelist. Filled with complex relationships (the mother, the
ex-boyfriend), strange houseguests (the man taken residence in her
cupboard)…not to mention people walking in at all hours (the
cross-dressing best friend, the neighbour with dementia, the local
flasher) Kat is trying to find time to write, but is constantly
interrupted. Encouraged by her best friend Steff, she rekindles an
old romance to try to have a ‘real’ relationship and take back
control of her life.
Like
many farces, Kat’s story is somewhat predictable in parts, but it
kept the audience entertained with some memorable characters and
some great one-liners. I felt the story dragged a bit in the first
act with a lot of the set-up and development of the smaller side
stories. Some moments seemed to me a little out of place and far too
‘heavy’ for what was being sold as a traditional farce. Still, the
cast worked to keep the momentum of the play moving, which is
commendable.
The
set design by Mel de Bono made good use of the space, and provided
the perfect set-up for nosey neighbours and other characters to keep
appearing out of nowhere. It provided the right balance of space
(for the movement of all of the traffic through the apartment) but
still seemed believable as a cosy place where Kat could seek refuge
from the outside world and tap away at her computer.
In
his role as Director, Mel de Bono brought together a solid ensemble
of performers who demonstrated great chemistry on stage with each
other. While there were moments of over-acting, for the most part
all of the characters seemed comfortable in their own skin, and
conveyed the appropriate physicality.
There
were moments when the blocking and movement became a little
predictable at times, which is often the case for a farce. For me
this was evident when Kat and Steff spent time on the couch – the
same blocking repeated over and over within the same scenes which
didn’t sit well. As the absurdities of the story escalated, I would
have like to have seen something a little more different in the
movement of the piece to match the build up to the story’s climax.
Key
to the success of any farce is the ability to execute ‘the element
of surprise’, which for the most part worked well. The noise
backstage alerted the audience to a few entrances well ahead of time
for a couple of these moments which was disappointing but certainly
not derailing. There were other small distractions that were also
forgivable, like the occasional prop that seemed out of place, like
the modern phone used throughout that was paired with a very old
fashioned phone ring sound effect.
The
cast was led by Natalie Bocallini (Katerina) who was well cast in
the role and seemed to live and breathe Kat through the many highs
and lows of the story. Her physicality was good, and her energy
drove some of the slower parts of the script. At times this energy
wasn’t really matched by the rest of the ensemble, which gave the
impression that she was over-doing it a little. Bocallini’s
chemistry with other cast members was also evident, particularly
with Donal Taylor (Steff) and Luke Smith (Tony Romaro). The rest of
the ensemble also had their time to shine, and worked well the
central character. Taylor was fantastic in the role of the
cross-dressing best friend Steff, and managed to make the character
more than just a one-dimensional stereotype. Bonus points for being
able to move so gracefully in those killer heels and fishnets.
For
me, the most memorable performances on the night came from Natalie
Bocallini (Kat), Donal Taylor (Steff) and Michael Bentley (Mr Bob).
Bocallini seemed comfortable and believable in the lead role, and
her energy was contagious. Both Steff and Mr Bob could easily have
been played as one-dimensional supporting characters, but both
performers managed to make them so much more, with the audience
lifting every time they came back on stage.
Congratulations to the cast and crew for delivering an entertaining
premiere of Katerina, that kept the audience chuckling
through to the very end.
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