Machu Picchu

Darren Gilshenan and Lisa McCune in STCSA’s Machu Picchu. Photo: Brett Boardman

The car crash in the play occurs as Gabby and Paul, two married engineers, discuss Dante as they drive home from a psycho-spiritual retreat they’ve just attended. Gabby (Lisa McCune), is presumably driving — no effort is made to depict this; her arms are resting by her side — and she fails, unsurprisingly considering the position of her arms, to avoid an oncoming kangaroo.
 
The resulting crash leaves Paul (Darren Gilshenan) with suspected quadriplegia. The couple have always wanted to visit Machu Picchu, now they can’t.
 
A sliver of the car crash scene is unnecessarily repeated later in the play. This merely added to the number of short scenes that were in this play. The increasing desire among directors to use many shorter scenes to make their productions more film-like rarely improves the production and almost always dilutes the impact of the play and the attention of the audience by creating so many dull breaks when the audience is watching actors act as stagehands.
 
Throughout the play emphasis is placed on the fact that the historical site of Machu Picchu owes its continued existence to its intricate, well-constructed structural foundation. Unlike Machu Picchu, this production, relying on Sue Smith’s weak, shallow and melodramatic text, lacks a well-constructed foundation and flounders accordingly.
 
Much of the play’s drama necessarily hinges on the unusually strong and detailed importance of Machu Picchu. This specifically plays in their romance and the fact that now with Paul’s injury they will never get to visit the site. However, this device is not credible because if it was so important to them that they visit surely they would have already done so?
 
They’ve known each other for over 20 years; they appear financially well-off; they’re not averse to travel (Paul is seemingly always travelling to Asia for work) and they only have one child and she is not a dependent. Considering that there are daily flights to South America it would seem that the only excuse for why they haven’t been is so that Sue Smith could use it as a device on which to base this play.
 
The play also features a talking toe and a cameo by Elvis singing ‘Suspicious Minds’. Why Elvis and not Sinatra? or perhaps Madonna?  Why that song in particular? These choices appear random. There are a few deftly handled jokes in the text but they’re often unsophisticated and vulgar; most of the humour seems to come from an abundance of references to snot, poo, mucus and pus, and from characters using profanities.
 
And while the jokes offer some light relief on the leaden journey to the curtain they are so inconsistent with the accentuated and dour seriousness of the play that they draw attention to the unwarranted melodrama.
 
McCune is an engaging presence on stage but her acting talents are more suited to musical theatre. Gilshenan, often irritating and unconvincing in broad comedic roles on television, was the best of the actors. Renato Mussolini, usually a reliable force for State Theatre, delivered a mannered performance that was not convincing. Likewise, Eleni Carapetis, albeit in a small dimensionless role, is usually better than the shrill performance she delivered. While it is arguable that Annabel Matheson was poorly cast as Gabby and Paul’s doctor daughter her performance was amateurish and entirely unconvincing; arguably there are more talented performers who deserved the opportunity.
 
At several times deliberate lighting choices generated large distracting shadows across the set, this did not enhance the production. A highlight of the performance was an inspired piece of stage direction whereby a floor rug deftly became a swaddled baby.
 
Sadly there were few highlights that would suggest that this Machu Picchu will match the longevity or significance of its namesake.
 
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 stars

Dustan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
Playing until 1 May 2016