BWW Reviews: 5pound Theatre's THE BLUE ROOM

 David Hare's The Blue Room is a study of  sexual desire through the interconnecting web of life. Two actors play over ten characters all of whom share sexual experience both proximately and or indirectly. It is an accurate snapshot of sexual connection by Hare and a fascinating insight into the predisposition of society.

5pound Theatre's production of The Blue Room stars Kaitlyn Clare and Zak Zavod who manage to capture each sexual moment to varying degree. In scenes where Clare is the driving force this play sizzles. She is enlightened in moments of truth and subtlety and expertely navigates the multitude of characters that pass her by. Zavgood has his moments, though tends to blow hot and cold. His opening character, the taxi driver is perhaps his most polished, aside from a debious cockney accent he manages to deliver a genuiely gritty character, which unfortunately, for his sake, is Hare's least explored, the likes of which we do not see for the remainder of the evening. His energy fluctuates throughout the performance and in times of his disengagement Clare unknowingly lures us to her presence and focus. The chemistry and connection of the pair at times seems to wane and dropped lines seem to be a by-product of this.

A major highlight of this production is Jason Cavanagh's direction. In such a small area, each scene finds its own space and its own life through clever use of scenery and prop. Every choice felt right, there was the inevitably clunky change of location which was covered through simple music and costume change to keep our focus and inquisitveness. Every new moment was fresh and clearly executed and the final sequence was an artistic moment of brilliance by Cavanagh, a moment that stood alone in its creativity and thoughfulness.

5pounds production of The Blue Room has some genuinely wonderful moments, however, they are at times overshadowed by some uniformed acting and accent choices which take us out of a scene and lead to us fighting to get back into the next moment as quickly as possible. Too many of these missed moments can lead to disinterest, however, for the majority of the play Clare and Zavgood manage to engage the audiences interest and awareness of the sexual connectivity between the play and reality.

The Blue Room plays until Ausgust 17

The Owl & The Pussycat Theatre

34 Swan St Richmond

www.5pound.com.au

Tim Carney graduated from Lasalle College of the Arts Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts in Musical theatre. Tim relocated to London performing in the international cast of Mamma Mia! understudying Harry Bright. Since finishing the show Tim filmed the European TV campaign for Fosters Nreweries and performed as a vocalist on the Best of Musicals European Tour.

More Articles by This Author...