Marius von Mayenburg
Silo Theatre
Herald Theatre 10th November - 3rd December 2016
Silotheatre.co.nz
Following a successful season in September of the thought provoking show ‘Boys Will Be Boys’, Silo Theatre have done it again. Opening this week, Perplex has all it takes to confuse, challenge, and engage an audience. It is a domestic comedy with a few dark undercurrents, the combination of which effectively manages to transport the audience far beyond it’s simple, sparse setting of a 1950’s/1960s modernist style living room.
You would never guess this play was originally written in German, as Maja Zade has done an impressive job of translating it into English. The script is sophisticated, smart and sometimes uncomfortably edgy. This has been brought to life by the dynamic direction of Sophie Roberts. There were many laugh out loud moments. A number of times I couldn't help but notice that my friends and I were laughing disruptively loud, but we weren’t the only ones.
With a cast of four; Kura Forrester, Natalie Medlock, Nic Sampson, and Sam Snedden, all actors managed to express a surprising number of characters and scenarios. There were character swaps left right and centre, and the cast did a brilliant job of seamlessly switching. For the majority of these characters, interestingly the actors kept their own names.
Each of the actors performed a number of engaging monologues. My stand out would have to be Natalie Medlock dying a painstakingly slow death, whilst Kura and Sam’s characters sat behind justifying why it was okay for them not to help. I was pleasantly surprised to find there are meaningful messages beneath the hilarious exterior of chaos.
You will be well and truly kept perplexed for the entire 1 hour and 40 minutes. This is the kind of impactful show that will get you thinking and will leave you discussing it not only the next day but for days after that.
Note - some trigger warnings, nudity and sex scenes.
