Chris Saxton and Amanda Buckley are impressively engaging as a long-term couple trapped in the eternal struggle of making a straightforward decision. Their chemistry is effortless, and they normalise the ridiculous tangents they go off on, ranging from porn consumption to musings on what will happen when the other one dies. The way they bounce off each other makes every moment feel unscripted, except of course, it isn’t.
James Hazelden’s is writing from personal experience and presents a well-crafted script that captures the natural ebb and flow of conversation with a keen ear for the smaller moments of everyday life. His dialogue is deceptively simple, but every word does heavy lifting, building a world where the stakes are low but the frustrations are all too familiar. When the Man is asked if he has a food preference and replies, “not really,” the Woman immediately seizes on it. What does not really mean? So he does have one!?!? No one is going to die here, but someone might get hangry very soon.
Keeping the actors seated for nearly the entire 50 minutes is a bold choice, but Saxton and Buckley make it work. Their expressive performances ensure that even the smallest shifts in posture and facial expressions carry weight. Hazelden, doubling as director, understands that sometimes the most captivating theatre isn’t about grand gestures but the minutiae of human interaction, however some more (purposeful) physical movement would have enhanced the pacing.
The conclusion sets itself up perfectly for a second serving, but in all honesty, it’s a sequel I’d rather not see, because while A Couple Decides What To Have For Dinner is an entertaining evening, but watching this couple actually decide what to have for dinner is excruciatingly painful. In the best way possible.
Show Details
Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place Melbourne
Season: until 30 March | 8:30pm
Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: $39 Full | $35 Concession
Bookings: Melbourne International Comedy Festival
No comments:
Post a Comment