Beer Theatre

The Butterfly Theatre’s latest project, Beer Theatre, consists of three two-hander plays, of around half an hour each, presented in the intimate setting of The Wheatsheaf Hotel.  Though each of the plays are focused on very different characters, they have themes and plot points in common. Each one involves a younger character causing disruption in the life of an older one, with strained attempts at affability giving way to darker conflict as the repressed insecurities of both parties rise to the surface.

The first play, Hotel, consists of a conversation between two members of a resort’s cleaning staff on their smoko break. The younger of the two, Jane (Tamara Bennetts) is idealistic, eager to please and yearns to go places. The middle aged Tara (Sue Wylie) is burnt out, cynical and feels short changed by the management. It soon becomes clear that the two have very different ideas of what constitutes acceptable workplace behaviour and both come to see the other as a threat to their career ambitions. The chemistry between these two ladies is suitably heated, and comes to the boil at just the right pace. Bennetts manages the tricky balancing act of seeming convincingly green, but without making Jane come across as stupid. Wylie makes the twisted logic Tara uses to justify her dishonest behaviour seem both chillingly plausible and blackly comic.

In the second play, Fortune, a pensioner (Michael Eustice) reeling from the recent death of his girlfriend faces the prospect of being kicked out of the house by her estranged son (Mark Healy), who is now the legal owner of the property. This piece takes longer to build momentum, in part due to the more emotionally reserved nature of the characters, but Eustice and Healy both radiate an affecting vulnerability and the ending is quietly poignant. Whereas the other plays in this anthology feel just the right length, Fortune has the potential to be expanded into a full length drama and would probably be all the better for it.

The closer, Night, sees a ditzy shop assistant (Anna Bampton) drunkenly strike up a conversation with a worldly nurse (Cheryl Douglas) in a crowded, noisy nightclub. Both have had bad relationship experiences and are yearning for a fresh start in their lives, but it soon becomes clear that they both have very different  ideas of what exactly that involves. Both Douglas and Bampton play drunk very well, perfectly encapsulating that phase of intoxication when you believe you are talking in a  sophisticated manner, but in actual fact are struggling to string together coherent sentences.

Sets and props are minimal, but are sufficient to firmly establish each scene in the audience’s minds. Geoff Britain’s blocking makes good use of the limited space available, and the moments in which the actors move amongst the audience are well timed. The lighting and sound design by Richard Parkhill and Amber Forbes subtly enhance the atmosphere of each play, especially Night.

Raw, relevant and powerful, Beer Theatre is a class act.

Benjamin Orchard.