The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race

IT IS ALWAYS encouraging to see community theatre groups mount contemporary Australian work, and this play is ideal for this kind of platform.

Written in 2019, this is the second play for playwright and journalist Melanie Tait and it was originally developed and performed by the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney before national touring and a film which was released last year.

Brimful of dry humour, the play sheds light on life in an Australian small town with all its foibles and prejudices, humour and totally identifiable characters. It is a fresh take on the timeless story of the person who left the small town and has returned. She has changed but the townspeople haven’t. She discovers that the town’s major event - a potato race – is rife with discrimination. The men’s prize purse is more than double the women’s – so she sets out to do something about it and encounters all sorts of small town opposition in the process.

It is light and accessible fare with plenty of good lines to spark the action, and it was clear that the audience appreciated what was in front of them. However, it isn’t enough to rely simply on the funny line and/or situation. It needs to be backed up with fine characterisation, energy and pace. And this is what would have taken the play to the next level.

As it stood this production had its enjoyable moments – which says a great deal for the writing and construct of the play – but it needed to move from amusing to uproarious. A consistently natural style of playing would have contributed greatly to achieving this, preventing some of the actors from dipping their toes into the realms of caricature and reliance on old acting tricks.

A tighter directorial rein on the ebb and flow of the action would also have choreographed the ending into a definitive climax. As it stood, the ending was something of a fizzer and the audience was not sure whether the action had ended.

Played against a simple but effective set by Glenn Shield, the standout in the cast was the fine acting from Morgan Eldridge. Each time we see this busy young actor she reaches finer understanding of her roles and her natural playing of this role was the way the entire play should have been tackled. She is now the local hairdresser and past winner of the potato race. She understands survival, works with the town’s peculiarities and doesn’t rock the boat.

Unlike the character played by Kath Hotschilt, who has produced some excellent work in recent years for this theatre company, notably as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and as the daughter in The Father.   Her take on the central role as the woman who has returned to her hometown as the local doctor had some good moments, but I would have preferred a more varied and lighter reading of the role.

Christine Mayes struck a strong chord as the refugee struggling to fit into the town. She clearly understood the character she was playing and gave a sensitive and nuanced performance.

Belinda Berry and Fleur Hislop both had some good comic moments as the two grand dames of the town, but more natural playing of their roles would have gone a long way to showing the light and shade of the two characters.

In summary, an enjoyable evening which could have been a riotous one.

Review by Trevor Keeling

Photographer: Dee Kirkman