Review: SUDS' The Popular Mechanicals — Anything but robotic!
There’s nothing more Popular than laughter.
Image credit: SUDS
Shakespeare and clowns are two warm-button issues in student theatre. Shakespeare has dashed just as many productions to the rocks it has propelled them to a relieved afters. Clowns are just creepy. Therein, The Popular Mechanicals’ central premise of Shakespearian clowns in rehearsal creates an apprehension akin to climbing into a car driven by that mate of yours who should be anywhere but behind the wheel. That’s to say, there’s a lot that could go wrong with this play. That’s why it’s no mean feat that the production nimbly dodges many a potential pitfall to land as a thoroughly enjoyable show.
SUDS’ The Popular Mechanicals, directed by Charlie Papps, produced by Jadzia Stronell, and originally written by Tony Taylor and Keith Robinson, follows a troupe of amateur actors, The Mechanicals, as they rehearse to perform at the wedding of the Duke of Athens. Par for the course when referencing Old Shakey, things go awry in this play-within-a-play. Bottom goes missing in the forest and is replaced by a drunk, Mowldie, who plunges the already subterranean standard of performance to new depths.
But while the play within the play was a catastrophe, the play itself was anything but. With a script like The Popular Mechanicals, the production lives and dies by the fundamentals. Here the foundations were solid — one particularly memorable scene was where the ramshackle ensemble flee from a donkey-headed monster. Making the most of the rat warren that is The Cellar, the cast zipped on and off stage, disappearing through one door and instantly reappearing in another. It was from here that the play found its footing. The cast became more animated, jokes landing better, and diction clearer and more intentional as the characters fully emerged.
Amber Broadbent had an impressively dynamic performance, effectively conveying two characters, Bottom and Mowldie, sometimes only seconds apart. No mean feat for an actor who spent half the play comatose on the ground. The real strength of the cast was the diversity of the characters. Milla McInnes’ portrayal of Quince, a frantic director, was captivating and balanced well against Nicola Weiss’ much gentler Flute, while Hugh Finlayson’s adept physical comedy as Snout complemented Sara Fahey’s wittier moments as Starveling. Wesley Stewart’s Snug brought the clown, withering many targeted jokes but carrying on with enough bravado to keep the audience engaged, hanging for his next quip.
There was a distinctly circus-like feel to the ensemble, who swung out onto the stage, berating the audience with a song about those “monsters in the dark.” Throughout the play, The Troupe formed tableaus, at one point becoming a throne for the newly arrived Mowldie. These exaggerated moments were well spaced, maintaining a sense of hyper-theatricality which gave a consistent in for the audience.
The ersatz set, designed by Mariika Mehigan, creates an atmosphere of contrasts. Rusted metal, dirt, and foliage conjure a rural town setting, while walls painted with stars and carnivalesque lighting stages capture the excitement of the circus. Combined with Aussie costumes and accents, the play feels beautifully local. This reveals its real strength, as it seemingly overcomes the sometimes-alien feel of Shakespearian work by overlaying it onto the familiar – an illusion not only of the original text, but of the many production choices made by Papps. The characters become even more familiar as they play with Shakespearean prose. “Is this a dagger I see before me?” Wesley Steward’s Snug repeatedly asks while holding out a rubber chicken, the mockery reminiscent of nerdy highschoolers, having a go at the text. This playful treatment shrugs off pretension, enticing the audience to lower their guard. Not only does this make the script’s comedy more immediate, but it lets the weightier, Shakespearian moments land with their full impact.
As audience members, we don’t laugh at the Mechanicals’ suffering in and of itself. The Troupe’s hilarity comes from the fact that, despite the many hopeless situations they face, they keep on. The script’s frenetic motion from failure to triumph and around again generates a warmth, a vitality, which we have all seen before. It is the same life that surrounds any passionate undertaking, flanked by hope and chaos. And so it is with student theatre. It does not impress by delivering a play in its most perfect form, instead it overcomes challenge upon challenge to deliver a performance brimming with life. There’s nothing worse than the claim ‘I forgot I was watching student theatre’ — you didn’t and neither did I. I was, however, reminded why I do in the first place.
The Popular Mechanicals plays at the Cellar Theatre until October 29th. Tickets available here.