Reviews

Some 140 years ago, Pirates was the first Gilbert and Sullivan (fondly referred to as G&S) operetta to preview on the New York stage. Since then, Pirates has become one of the most loved, performed and frequently referenced of their works. It features the famous, much parodied, “Major General’s Song” which has become the basis of innumerable marketing and political campaigns, satire and film and television features.

The Communists Are in the Funhouse is a devised performance work about the history of hysteria, the experience of periods and the lived experience of women, told through personal experience, video, drama and movement.

The title comes from one of many euphemisms for the time of menstruation. Similar in theme and broad style to its closest theatrical neighbour, Unrule at the Blueroom, this is a vastly different experience, and the two are an interesting theatrical pairing for those who are lucky enough to see both in quick succession.

Two couples, two dolls and too much wine are the foundations of this unusual play that tries to examine culture clash and colonialism from the perspective of failing relationships. Peggy Pickit is one of the dolls, a favourite toy of the five-year-old daughter of one of the couples, and now a gift to an African girl that was being cared for by the other couple, recently returned running from the developing world. That couple presents the parents with the second doll – wooden and simple; these two toys become the crude proxies for the different worlds inhabited by the two couples.

The challenge here was that this was a youth production in a new venture for many of the young cast on their road to a theatre involvement. The story basically follows the life of George Bailey who does so much in the small town of his childhood. It is set in the depression years through to after the war and we follow his fall and eventual rise in a way that gives hope to all. This is achieved by a cast of twelve who read the many characters through microphones and cover about thirty roles. This was a challenge which was well met for the most part.