Tonight we went off to St. James Cavalier and watched the MADC's production of Laughing Wild by Christopher Durang.
The play is a two-hander directed by Polly March, and the characters are Woman played by Denise Mulholland, and Man played by Alan Montanaro. The play starts with an extended monologue by Woman, followed by one by Man, followed by a scene together that starts off as monologues but then they merge.
The title, "Laughing Wild", is a quote from a play that in turn is quoting a poem. In the poem, the poet is waxing melancholy as he looks at school, reflecting on how horrible the little boys' lives are going to be when they grow up - he goes on about how they will meet with Anger, Fear, Shame and so on, and finally "moody Madness laughing wild amid severest woe".
Denise Mulholland was absolutely fantastic as Woman, a character who is mentally disturbed yet makes a lot of sense in her own way. This was my favourite part of the play, completely engrossing. Alan Montanaro tried very hard as Man, and had some great bits, but overall his monologue dragged a bit - but really, he had a very tough act to follow and his monologue didn't have all the emotion of the previous one. The part when both actors were together was great, and I thought they worked very well together.
I did get a crick in my neck half-way through the second part, because both actors are remarkably tall, but then I forgot about it because things got so interesting.
About five minutes into Denise's monologue, I decided to start keeping track of how many times she made me cry. It was a very raw, emotional piece (with some very witty bits in) and since it's a theatre-in-the-round, you can see when someone cries, and when I see someone cry, it makes me cry, and Denise actually cried (wow). And then that made me more susceptible to crying in the emotional bits. By the end of her monologue, I had cried four times (two with tears actually trickling down my face), and by the end of the whole play it was six and three, including most of the last bit.
So embarrassing.
But really it just goes to show you how great she was ;-)
The show is rated 18 for religious content, mostly for two bits in which it questions (the Christian) God as being judgemental and impractical, but I wasn't offended *grin* Let's face it, these days if you're a Christian you have to have a thick skin.
I still recommend the show as being both entertaining and thought-provoking, featuring great acting and a sensitive portrayal of mental illness.
Just, if you're at all like me, take a tissue!
The show has one more weekend run to go, Friday 2nd February to Sunday 4th, tickets available from St. James Cavalier, bookings tel. 2122 3200. Be warned that it's a two-hour show with no intermission, the loo is opposite the theatre :-)
Hi Maltagirl...I went to see Sulari Fuq Strada Stretta at the Manoel. It was Excellent. It might annoy and offend some people who have a brittle disposition, but for me it was so good. Go watch it when it is rerun in May.
Posted by: Hsejjes | January 28, 2008 at 11:50
I wanted to go see it with Mike (he can explain to me the bits I don't get, lol) so I'm glad it will be on again later. Thanks!
Posted by: MaltaGirl | January 28, 2008 at 23:40