SYDNEY FRINGE: HAVANA HARLEM

It’s really hard to enjoy a play when you can’t understand 99% of what the actors are saying. This was the case at Havana, Harlem. The play is set in New York over two days in September 1960 and centres round Cuban Fidel Castro, his lover Celia Sanchez and Sanchez’s ex-love interest, Jose Molina. The action takes place in a hotel room and is ‘watched’ by two Americans wanting to bring down Castro. Che Guevara and Allen Ginsberg also make appearances. But all this information is garnered from the play’s pamphlet, because I’m still grappling to make sense of what it was actually about. I understand the need for authenticity and the accents, but when they’re so thick you can’t decipher what they’re saying, you have trouble. There was a positive side – the performance of Zoe Velez, who played Sanchez. It’s easy to overact in these kind of theatre productions, but Velez never once strayed near this line. Her portrayal of Sanchez was full of sincere emotion and made you think she actually was Sanchez fighting a revolution of a country and also her heart. Put simply, she was real. Although my companion for the night also struggled to make sense of the accents, other theatregoers seemed to enjoy the play. Havana, Harlem, however, just wasn’t for me.

Until Sep 19, The Greek Theatre, 36/142 Addison Rd, Marrickville, $20-24, thesydneyfringe.com.au

BY STEPHANIE MCDONALD