By Jennifer Beasley.
Masterful direction unleashes the oratory power of Max Gillies in a profound triptych that uncovers moral male deficiencies and entrenched misogyny.
It’s probably the first time in my life that I have been so blown away by directional talent in theatre. Laurence Strangio must be a magician. A Green Room recipient, he has infused an eerie energy in the triptych of monologues that Max Gillies, one of my all-time favourite political satirists and comedians, lends his considerable vocal talents to.
This is no hyperbole. The first of the plays, taken from A Stretch Of The Imagination by Jack Hibberd (Dimboola) and written in 1992, homes in on Monk O’Neill, famously played by actor John Woods in 2009 (who was also in the audience).
The setup: a dark stage. A large blackboard backing strewn with random notes in English and Russian with multiple rub outs spills onto the floor to define the stage space. Sepia lighting, evoking a gloomy, morose atmosphere. Then, the soundscape begins.
Monk O’Neill has woken up.
Into this twilight the audience hears Gillies grumble, urinate and reminisce in all his misogynistic glory. And boy, do we hate him. This lonely old man has no redeeming qualities. Inviting death, he does all he can to wage war upon his foe. Only once do we see Monk appear, holding a shotgun, as he does his elderly swagger across the floor. A self-important man whose own opinion is the only one that matters. The shotgun, a foreshadowing of his final statement. A singular, unloved, miserable excuse of a man, yet a mirror to the world that still speaks volumes today.
A bold and thrilling move to have an audio world first up. It ensures the sense of hearing, that sense that is the last to leave us when we die, is fully attuned to the dark side of male energy.
This amazing soundscape has been lovingly prepared by Darois Kedros accompanied by lighting from Richard Vabre. The best of the best. The equally monastic set by Jason Lehane tonally underscores the nihilistic thoughts of the writing. Perfection.
A change of lighting signals the next monologue, the phenomenal Eh Joe, written by Samual Beckett (1965). Written for television, Gillies and Strangio have reframed this into a frightening audio visualisation of Joe’s thoughts. Although Joe never speaks during this performance, it takes a great deal for an actor to respond via expression alone to the Voice, supplied by Jillian Murry.
The nine short sequences are designed to stab arrows of bitterness and remorse in the final days of a man waiting for the end, as he sits on his lonely bed.
The echoing vibrations ring out from the Voice; a mind undone, a life unfulfilled. Lives, women’s lives, a causal wreckage from encounters from this selfish man. Symbolic of the vast empty room of his mind, Joe is left; alone, unloved.
The sharp writing of Beckett stabs over and over as Joe ‘Throttles the dead in his head’. Yet he remains unchanged, until the final sequence, an AV screen on the rear blackboard, concentrating on his eyes, a black and white statement that yes- the truth can only be The Truth.
After a short break we return to view Anton Chekov’s On The Harmful Effects of Smoking. Written in 1886, and revised by Chekov into its present form in 1902, this is satire at its best. And, where Gillies excels, although he seems to excel at everything! Strangio has staged many of Chekov’s plays, and this must have been a delight to both to bring this humorous depiction of a vain and silly man who doesn’t even seem to remember how many daughters he has. Four? Seven? Whatever the number, and anyone who knows the works of Chekov, this monologue has nothing to do with smoking, harmful or otherwise, and everything to do with tailcoated, side beard bristling Nyukhin, whose vanity over his intellectual capabilities allows him to indulge in many caustic asides about his ‘domineering’ wife.
Great physicality by Gillies captures a man shaking, twitching, tick winking and shoe pointing to give weight to the ‘imbecilic’ title stowed by this man’s wife, which only highlights his ridiculous and desperate desire to escape and be a tree under the moon. A great character depiction.
This is amazing theatre and must be considered a crowning achievement of Gillies’ and Srangios’s career. Live your life in wonder and see this, and if you are like any of these characters, then you will have seen what the Endgame will be.
Endgames plays at 7:30pm at Fortyfivedownstairs until the 1st of June.
Image: Jodie Hutchinson
