Review: PULP (Friday 24/10/08)
UPDATE (1st Nov): SEASON EXTENDED - TWO MORE SHOWS
Fri 7th & Sat 8th November [more information]
15 Oct - 1 Nov (Tues-Sat) 8pm
The Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Rd, Marrickville
(just down the hill from the Enmore Theatre) [map]
TICKETS: $28 full, $24 conc, $22 groups 10+ & IA members
Bookings 9550 3666 or Ticketek
Warning: May contain coarse language and adult themes.
PULP is a night of improvised theatre based on those gloriously kitsch paperback serials of the mid 20th century - hardboiled gumshoes, menaces from space, jungle adventures and shadowy scandals amongst cut-glass English vowels, every one of them chock full of politically incorrect views on gender, race and class relations. A veritable treasure trove of dodginess for the performers to explore while making as many puns as possible along the way, never forgetting to incorporate audience suggestions of various bizarre non sequiturs such as a hedgehog in a handbag, a highly significant tea-towel, or a bunny-eating pope.
But it’s not just your ordinary improvised theatre - this is New Wave Impro. The innovation is to incorporate multimedia expositions of pulp genres as well as sound effects that pick up on the spine of the show: scripted vignettes at various intervals that lead into the next invitation for audience suggestions. Detailed flourishes in the costume and staging elements give impact to the proceedings, especially the film noir lighting. Director Marko Mustac and producer John Knowles have created a very slick looking show that tickles every sensory apparatus.
The performers are veterans of Sydney’s Theatresports(R) scene, all thoroughly enjoying themselves in this New Wave format. The cast rotates, with twelve members of the ensemble but only six on stage any particular night, and all players taking on different characters on different nights. This extra challenge will, no doubt, keep the improvised elements fresh for each performance.
On Friday night the players on stage were Rebecca de Unamuno, Nigel Sutton, Josie O’Reilly, David Callan, John Knowles and Jon Williams. The long familiarity these players have with each other shone through the scenes, and for those who know their impro onions there were many moments of great technical proficiency to admire in how the improvisations unfolded, while for those more innocent of such things there were a hell of a lot of laughs. Particular mention has to go to Sutton for creative use of the worst Kiwi accent ever, O’Reilly’s femme fatale, Callan and Williams being painfully French, de Unamuno’s array of ingenues and Knowles’ evil alien and swishy billionaire.
PULP finishes its current season this Saturday. Don’t miss out.
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