TWO BY TENN. Two Hysterical Plays. A perfect analysis given by a Parrot and The remarkable Rooming-House of MME. Le Monde written by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Fred Abrahamse and designed by Marcel Meyer. With Marcel Meyer, Dean Balie, Matthew Baldwin and Lady Aria Grey (Callum Tillbury).
TRACEY SAUNDERS reviews
PHOTOGRAPHS: Pat Bromilow-Downing
With the current cost of psychoanalysis, it is no surprise that even Joan Crawford would take advantage of the opportunity to pay a dime to be analysed. The analysis may have been courtesy of a parrot but a feathered Freudian opinion is better than none. This is just one of the revelations shared between Ms Crawford and Dame Elizabeth Taylor as they banter in a less than salubrious bar in their personae as Bessie and Flora. Attendees at a Sons of Mars Convention in St Louis in the late 1930s, Bessie and Flora, are presented by Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Crawford who are assisted by Marcel Meyer and Dean Balie respectively.
As if the script isn’t quirky enough, Abrahamse has emphasised the absurdity with flounces of silky black fabric and oversized puppets reminiscent of Peter Fluck and Roger Law’s creations for Spitting Image. The exaggerated crimson lips lend a bawdy attitude and thanks to expert manipulation by the two puppeteers that delicious moment of suspended belief is one you sink in to quickly. The pair double up as the Sons of Mars themselves and are both in fine singing mettle as they offer a rendition of Cole Porter’s You’re the Top, as if performing as puppets in drag wasn’t enough to show case their versatility.
Perfect setting for a Tennessee Williams feast
A perfect analysis given by a Parrot is the first of two plays presented and audiences who attended the edition of the Hotel Plays in 2016 will need no encouragement to return for this staging of rarely seen Tennessee Williams gems in a milieu with which he is closely associated, an hotel. On arrival welcome drinks are served and once seated starters are enjoyed before the first theatrical offering. Each course is paired with a wine from the Thelema Wine Estate and vegetarian options are available on request.
The setting at the Vineyard Hotel is perfect. There’s enough old world charm to imagine yourself in some yesteryear establishment, accompanied by a sophisticated charm that seduces you as you climb the stairs to the hotel room. Once seated, the rich purple brocade curtain redolent of a confessional booth is opened to reveal the two characters who lure you in to their intimate tête-à-tête with a gesture from their costume jewellery bedecked painted nails.
The puppet heads are expertly created by Hillette Stapelberg and within a few minutes it becomes completely believable that the shapely fishnet clad legs are actually those of the famous Hollywood screen legends. Meyer has become so accustomed to appearing in the Williams canon that the Southern drawl slips easily off his tongue and Balie is an equally accomplished tonal match. One is reluctant to leave the room eager for just one more salacious snippet.
Sexual fetishes and the Southern psyche
After the main course the audience is ushered upstairs by the intimidating Madame Le Monde, performed by Lady Aria Grey, Callum Tillbury’s alter ego. Tillbury is made for this role and if Lady Aria Grey ever retires, it may just be to run a rooming house of ill repute. The landlady makes brief appearances throughout the evening and while her charm may seem quite inviting at the beginning, you may reconsider becoming one of her guests once the night is through.
One of her unfortunate tenants, Mint is kept in the attic and it is a visit from an old school friend from Scrotum-on-Swansea, that is the catalyst for an evening of unfortunate events. Baldwin hits just the right note of British public school snobbery, replete with crested blazer and a fondness for tea. His visitor, Hall, an entrepreneurial and rather slick operator is played by Balie, and he cuts a dashing figure in his garish Brooks Brothers blazer and very colourful outfit. It’s no mean feat to switch between the steamy banks of the Mississippi in Missouri to the chilly cobbled lanes of London but Williams is able to do so effortlessly His core understanding of the human psyche bridges the continental divide and his exploration of sexual fetishes across the pond is as insightful as his interrogation of the Southern psyche back home.
Riotous comedy of appalling manners
The remarkable Rooming-House of MME. Le Monde is billed as a “ruthlessly riotous comedy of appalling manners” and is not for squeamish or sensitive audiences The compromised physical ability of Mint, the tenant of the attic adds a twisted and dark tone to the sexual encounters which unfold. It is perhaps one of the finest celebrations of “the strange, the crazed and the queer,” and gives meaning to the playwright’s aesthetic of excess which is explored in American Williams scholar, Annette J. Saddik’s, book, Tennessee Williams and the Theatre of Excess: “The Strange, The Crazed, The Queer,” Williams is arguably one of America’s finest playwrights. His classics are staged often but it is in these lesser performed one act plays that one is given another insight in to his genius. The dark humour, his profound insight in to mental instability and his personal experience with addiction create characters that crawl under your skin and remain there. The slightly sordid sexual liaisons, the barely concealed fetishes and the subtle political commentary make for a deliciously dark and memorable evening.
This night out is not inexpensive but it is a rare experience. For those with the time and the resources, the hotel offers a special accommodation package valid on the night of the performance. Staying over may be an idea as you may feel a little unsteady on your feet after the whirlwind experience of the evening. With two iterations completed one can only hope that this becomes a regular feature in the Cape Town theatrical calendar.
What: Two by Tenn
Where and when: Vineyard Hotel, 21, 22, 29 July and 4, 5,12,18 and 19 August
Book: Email hotelplays@vineyard.co.za. Tickets cost R650 per person. Ticket price includes the three course wine paired dinner and the two plays Accommodation special available at the Vineyard.
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