THEATRE: THE LAUGHTER SUBSIDES
They’re all around us. Married couples no doubt once infatuated, who have lost their spark over time. Boredom – love’s grand opponent – has inevitably set in and where laughter once reined, arguments are employed to fill the void. Playwright/director Sam Basger explores one such couple in his latest production, The Laughter Subsides. Inspired by the works of Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, this new piece of Australian theatre enters the comedic realms of Theatre of the Absurd to examine the sometimes grim realities of long-term relationships. “It’s a retardation of daily life and what we have come to accept as normal behavior in a relationship,” says actress Lara Dignam who plays the role of a Bennett, a woman searching for meaning in a monotonous marriage. “It is also an amalgamation of past and present morality, duplicitous spouses, and the need to create drama in our lives in order to feel that we have purpose.” The minimalist one-act play endeavors to attack this grand theme in a mere 40-minutes, through the chaotic relationship of this jaded, albeit congruent, married couple. “It’s sitcom-esque. Kind of like Seinfeld on acid,” adds Dignam. One for comedy lovers – and long-term relationships veterans – The Laughter Subsides proposes to leave us wondering why we were ever laughing at all.
May 25- 30, TAP Gallery, cnr Palmer St and Burton St, Darlinghurst, $15, www.mca-tix.com.au
BY JESS NOBLE
