At theatre notes this week:
http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Bedtime for Bastards
Bedtime for Bastards , three plays by Van Badham. Directed by Dan Walls and
Paul Shea, with Liv Hogan, Brett Whittingham, Paul Shea, Catherine Kohlen,
Ron Kofler and Dan Walls. Upstairs at the Terminus Hotel, 605 Victoria St,
Abbotsford. Until July 17.
The Terminus Hotel is a classic, sticky-carpet Melbourne pub, complete with
open fire and space invaders machine, which has somehow escaped the
developers. Upstairs, the bar is furnished with a rainbow of sofas in '70s
colourings and fabrics: shiny black vinyl to orange to purple plush. I'm
waiting for the Sunday matinee, and the light spilling through the windows
is the dull silver of winter afternoons the world over, lending a melancholy
tenderness to the faded faux-Gauguin reproductions which punctuate the
crimson textured wallpaper. This decor calls up memories so old I can't
even visualise them, imprints from the youths of my parents. It's far too
authentic to be slick. The theatre itself is at the end of a passage: you
step through a makeshift curtain, past the tiny stage, into a small, rather
likeably proportioned room. The lights go down, there's that hush, the
caught breath: and the show begins.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
Blogs: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com http://alisoncroggon.blogspot.com
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