Crumble is a disturbing play about three women who's lives are crumbling, as is the house, around them.
I had expected the current Justin Timberlake but this play refers to the earlier NSYNC incarnation of the star being obsessed over by a teen. The characterisation would have been appropriate for someone several years older, even one year would have made it more believable. The two adult women were perfect pictures of women trying to make themselves happy with all the demands life places on them. To speak about the male roles much would reveal too much, they really are side pieces to the three main females.
I felt the production was let down by the ending. All the elements were there for a conclusion but it seemed instead to just end. The script seems weak in this area and perhaps there wasn't a way to bolster it up. After the emotional turmoil it was unsatisfactory.
Stagecraft have found innovative ways to adapt their space to the story while completely unsettling the audience. As always the acting is superb including the American accents (although one actress didn't have to fake it). Clever use of shadow and projections brings the women's fantasies, startlingly alike, to life.
Make sure you take a bathroom break first as there is no interval in this 90 minute show. This was an excellent idea as any interruption would be detrimental to the storyline by reducing the impact.
Performances: 4-7 & 12-14 June 7.30pm; 10-11 June 6:30pm
Tickets: $20-25
I had expected the current Justin Timberlake but this play refers to the earlier NSYNC incarnation of the star being obsessed over by a teen. The characterisation would have been appropriate for someone several years older, even one year would have made it more believable. The two adult women were perfect pictures of women trying to make themselves happy with all the demands life places on them. To speak about the male roles much would reveal too much, they really are side pieces to the three main females.
I felt the production was let down by the ending. All the elements were there for a conclusion but it seemed instead to just end. The script seems weak in this area and perhaps there wasn't a way to bolster it up. After the emotional turmoil it was unsatisfactory.
Stagecraft have found innovative ways to adapt their space to the story while completely unsettling the audience. As always the acting is superb including the American accents (although one actress didn't have to fake it). Clever use of shadow and projections brings the women's fantasies, startlingly alike, to life.
Make sure you take a bathroom break first as there is no interval in this 90 minute show. This was an excellent idea as any interruption would be detrimental to the storyline by reducing the impact.
Performances: 4-7 & 12-14 June 7.30pm; 10-11 June 6:30pm
Tickets: $20-25
If I were to review this review, pride of place would be taken by the stream-of-consciousness (to be polite), haphazard, almost functionally illiterate (to be honest) writing which renders almost meaningless the few comprehensible statements therein. The second paragraph's first 2 lines about Justin Timberlake are particularly fine examples of this.
ReplyDeleteThe reviewer's dissatisfaction with an ending that is abrupt but thoroughly of a piece with the rest of the play may stand; he is allowed his opinion. His bewilderment that the actors didn't prop up the script with their own ideas may not. To suggest that actors should change fundamentally the ending of a play is criminal, and the worst kind of pap. Add to these confidentially-presented but incorrect facts about the cast, and you have really first rate bad reviewing.
Here's my tiny review: Crumble is a strange play, with excellent performances. It melds creepy visuals with poetic language and ideas, and unsettling themes including death, fantasy, masturbation, grief, pain, sublimation, murder-suicide, hope, and cats. Lots and lots of cats. Not for children or the small minded.