Miriam Margolyes in Neighbourhood Watch.
Miriam Margolyes’ beguiling performance is the standout feature of State Theatre Company of South Australia’s enjoyable, but flawed, production of Lally Katz’s enjoyable, but flawed, Neighbourhood Watch.
The play begins at dawn with early-twenties Catherine (Eleanor Stankiewicz) sitting out front of her house observing the morning rituals played out on her quiet street. We meet Catherine’s housemate Ken (James Smith), who, when he’s not playing computer games or watching television political drama The West Wing, is writing a film script. We watch as Catherine watches her elderly neighbour Ana (Miriam Margolyes), a Hungarian widow, chat to another neighbour, empty-nester Christina (Carmel Johnson). After Ana beckons Catherine to come over for a chat a friendship develops; a friendship which the play uses to explore their respective pasts.
Louise Mc Carthy’s set evokes a typical quiet inner suburban Sydney street; tall, white detached terrace houses dominate upstage while Catherine and Ana’s simple but quaint single storey dwellings feature opposite each other downstage. Despite ostensibly keeping her feisty German Shepherd X at bay, the typical simple white picket fence adjacent to Ana’s house contributes to the sense of neighbourhood calm.
Both of these downstage dwellings invert to reveal their interiors as needed. However, when the interiors are displayed this leads to several occasions where characters perform unnecessarily illogical manoeuvres; for example, in scenes where actors enter Ana’s house through the front door, if they are, or another character is, later required to make a coffee they then leave the drawing room but go ‘outside’ past the very same front door, presumably to get to a kitchen. Bette choreography or designing would avoid this jarring flaw.
All too often it seems that the audience is watching actors and stage hands setting the stage for the next scene by moving parts of the set or the props themselves. While some changes are completed with a minimum of disturbance, it occurs too often and many changes are either unnecessary or distracting; there’s only so many times a wheelie bin can be wheeled on and off stage in the absence of significant purpose or dramatic effect.
Miriam Margolyes dominates the play. While her trademark facial expressions, comedic timing and physical gestures are on display, they do not overshadow the performance; her nuanced portrayal of the complex character of Ana is a delightful success. Eleanor Stankiewicz is less successful as Catherine. Despite her winsome appeal her performance is often stilted and overly declamatory. James Lewis impresses in professional debut, making the most of his supporting role as Catherine’s diabetic housemate. Carmel Johnson, a STCSA regular, is strong as always and Eugenia Fragos’ Milova, a potentially unforgiving role, is perfectly pitched.
Quentin Grant’s incidental compositions effectively establish a sense of place, most noticeably in creating the feel of Mary Street and when Ana is remembering her lamentable past in Hungary.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Neighbourhood Watch
Written by Lally Katz
Director: Julian Meyrick
Designer: Louise Mc Carthy
Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham
Composer/Sound Designer: Quentin Grant
Cast: Miriam Margolyes, Eleanor Stankiewicz, Carmel Johnson, James Smith, Nic English, Eugenia Fragos and Ben Roberts
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Festival Drive
www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au
2 -24 May
