Photo credit: Chris Herzfeld
Vale (pronounced to rhyme with ‘fail’), a new play by Nikki Bloom, provides a very disappointing vale to the 2017 State Theatre Company season. Bloom, a Patrick White Playwrights’ Award winner, and her husband/director Geordie Brookman, (Artistic-Director and co-CEO of State Theatre Company) have united to create a very missable production of a very silly play.
The basic plot outline is simple. It is New Year’s Eve and wealthy hotel magnates Joe Vale (Mark Saturno) and his wife Tina (Elena Carapetis) are holding a private family party in their lavish hotel suite to celebrate. Tonight, Isla (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), their daughter, will introduce her long-standing boyfriend Angus (James Smith) and – without prior warning – his mother Diana (Emma Jackson). Chaos and violence ensues.
In the program’s Writer’s Note Bloom tells us that ‘The world of Vale resonates loudly for us right now, living as we are now in a world governed by ruthless, grasping man babies, clinging on to their rung on the ladder, with no qualms about kicking those on the rungs below them further down.’
If you can ignore the audacity of a playwright telling us her play resonates with ‘us’ (especially when the first production of the play hadn’t even opened when that Note was penned), and if you accept her hyperbolic claims, the simple unavoidable fact is that this play does not even focus on any of those issues; instead it is just a hotchpotch of schlock.
What happens at the party is melodrama of the very worst quality. A play can only survive so many incongruous plot twists, unlikely coincidences and unconvincing character transformations, and, far from surviving, this play is well and truly dead before the final curtain’s welcome presence.
It is difficult to find positives in this production, however Mark Thompson’s elaborate set depicting the ostentatious penthouse suite is a fine departure from the usual dour, minimalist sets audiences are usually subjected to. Also, a comedic burst from James Smith that includes impersonations of his girlfriend’s wealthy parents is well-executed, but even this overlong scene fizzles before it ends. The play, billed as a ‘darker-than-pitch comedy’, has few intentionally comedic moments and, from the titters heard in the audience, a few too many unintentional ones.
While the acting is, on the whole, poor, the awful dialogue and ludicrous plot presents the cast with an insurmountable obstacle that even greater talents would not overcome.
Avoid.
1 star out of 5
Vale
A State Theatre Company South Australia production
Playwright: Nicki Bloom
Director: Geordie Brookman
Set & Costume Designer: Mark Thompson
Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham
Composer: Hilary Kleinig
Sound Designer: Andrew Howard
Cast: Elena Carapetis, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Emma Jackson, Mark Saturno, James Smith
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
17 November — 3 December 2017
