THEATRE: HOLIDAY
BY ANGELA BENNETTS
Holiday doesn’t have a destination. But it is about departure. The tiny leaves of absence we take from the needle and pinch of life.
It beckons the audience to be ‘devious’ listeners-in to an intimate, meandering conversation between two backyard philosophers. We never learn their names. But it might as well be you or me. They read self-help books. They lose jobs for not successfully selling ties. They climb the Himalayas and hate it. They wear budgie-smugglers in the baby pool anchored on the stage. They shoot the shit.
Gradually, their peculiar anecdotes reveal the unusual behaviour that exists at the edge of ourselves; drinking odd-coloured drinks in a stranger’s loungeroom, blowing warm air on passersby, holding onto a vintage bottle of wine to stave off suicide. And just like these two hapless, inanity-spouting anti-heroes, we go on holidays from ourselves, indulge in fantasy, cruise through life asleep with our eyes open.
The pace will annoy some. Softly softly it treads, and it does require patience. But it has a nuanced, well-played humour that is just as charming as any day-trip with no purpose.
Until Feb 28. SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod St, Kings Cross. Tickets: $15-$44, 8002 4772 or www.griffintheatre.com.au
