THEATRE .... Review: Phillip Bate
When Even Stevens won the 1962 Melbourne Cup he was a pronounced favourite at 3/1. Almost 50 years on, Getting Even with Stephen (GEWS) at the Stage Door Dinner Theatre at Bowen Hills proved an even more pronounced favourite with theatre patrons. It’s truly spooky! I recently saw Noel Coward’s witty comedy Blithe Spirit put on by Centenary Players at Chelmer.
Then hard on its heels, I’m asked to review GEWS, a comedy which involves two married couples, a medium, ghosts and road fatalities. “Had the GEWS playwright been channeling Noel Coward?” I mused later, only to discover when I googled the name that the man in question, Eric Scott, had been sitting diagonally opposite me at the play and I could have asked him there and then.
While both plays pivot around a happy medium, the plot differs sufficiently to dismiss any thoughts of plagiarism. Instead, Brisbane-based Scott has written a fast-paced comedy with plenty of physical action and Australian reference points. This allows director Damien Lee and his fellow-cast of six plenty of scope with their characters.
It’s Dennis and Anita’s 10th wedding anniversary and they are celebrating it at the home of business partners and friends, Chloe and Steven. Steven declares he wants some port and, when Chloe decides she is the only one sober enough to drive, she takes Dennis off to get a bottle from his home. It is revealed then that Anita (Bobbi-Lea Dionysius) and Steven (Nick Allen-Ducat) are having an affair.
A policeman (Damien Lee) then turns up and informs them that Chloe (Tara Jade) and Dennis (Ryan Thomas) have died in a car crash. Was it an accident? Chloe and Dennis return as disgruntled ghosts and haunt the hell out of the illicit lovers. Into the fray comes an eccentric spirit guide, Doris le Grand (Simone Healey) whose job it is to find out why Chloe and Dennis won’t budge to the hereafter.
Finally, with some time lapses it is revealed that it was in fact Anita’s time that was up and not Chloe’s, so Anita and Dennis disappear into the ether and Chloe wreaks her revenge on Steven. While the production blurb summarises the plot, it’s up to the cast to give the play life which they do with great gusto. Simone Healey appears “larger than life” as Doris the happy medium in her dealings with the spirit world while I’m sure Damien parked his police car in a no parking zone outside the theatre in-between shifts at the nearby Fortitude Valley Police Station.
When it comes to the two married couples, Bobbi-Lea as Anita and Jade as Chloe dominate proceedings – and their respective husbands – in the first act as they take advantage of great opportunities to compete for Stephen’s love and attention. However, Act 2 provides both husbands – Nick as Stephen and Ryan as Dennis – their moments of glory to display their comedic wares as the plot twists and turns more times than an endless spiral staircase.
• Sadly, the season of Getting Even with Stephen has now ended. Visit www.stagedoordinnertheatre.com.au to see more about their upcoming shows.
