Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

I’m very glad I had the opportunity to walk into this ‘gin joint’. The play, Scarlett O’ Hara at the Crimson Parrot at St Jude’s is very deserving of full audiences as it is nostalgic and funny. Geoff Brittain has again assembled an excellent cast and tells the story with empathy and great humour.

This play by David Williamson originated from his father’s favourite film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Danny Kaye. A gentle nod to nostalgia and all the daydreamers out there, we find the audience gasping joyfully in recognition of lovely old movies and guffawing at Williamson’s one liners.

The set, designed by the talented Don Oakley, immediately catches the eye, cleverly laid out in three main sections. The focus is on the kitchen of the Crimson Parrot restaurant where most of the action takes place. To stage left is Scarlett’s home and to stage right the bar and eating area of the restaurant. The colour palette and attention to detail is well planned and authentic. Props, likewise, are a star of this play - Leah Klemm has assembled the most amazing kitchen utensils and food that constantly flows in and out of the restaurant and is voraciously diced and sliced throughout the play.

Kate van der Horst’s Scarlett is a somewhat sad single, who works as a waitress at the Crimson Parrot. Her job is ‘on the edge’ as she isn’t a very good waitress and is on her last warning. Van der Horst cleverly uses a ‘somewhat numb’ voice and klutzy physicality to great effect. We immediately empathise with Scarlett, who seemingly has little in her life apart from a nagging neurotic mother (Rhonda Grill) and an endless supply of old movies which she watches every night after work so she can escape. Her only other real connection is Gordon (played beautifully by Harry Dewar), the kitchen hand with whom she converses mainly through tag lines from movies, which the other then has to identify.

Scarlett is rarely able to separate her fantasy world from the real, and constantly daydreams of herself in the roles of the heroine in movies like Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, From Here to Eternity, Tarzan and his Mate, Calamity Jane and The Wizard of Oz. This is where the true delight of this play takes hold. A huge screen above the stage allows us to intrude on Scarlett’s fantasies. This is incredibly engaging as the talents of the cast truly shine in the roles of classic movie stars, mouthing their overdubbed dialogue. The films, made by Ben Todd, are wonderful and as each finds Scarlett, and the other restaurant workers and guests’ faces implanted over the original footage or cleverly inserted, the audience shows their immediate recognition and delight in happy laughter.

The other kitchen staff - owner Steve, who is grappling with heavy losses in his restaurant and scrambling to save the same by turning carbon neutral, is played convincingly and effortlessly by Josh van’t Padje. The sous chef, Gary, is an arrogant, sexist egocentric. He is played to perfection by Simon Lancione. The interplay between these two characters is excellent.

Many of their lines are politically incorrect, and a bit of a struggle in a modern theatre environment, but one has to contextualise the play. Likewise, Scarlett’s nagging mother has some very inappropriate lines and the character is very stereotyped, but Grill brings her to life convincingly and ekes every ounce of comedy from the role. The other main restaurant character, Shelley, is played by Amanda Grifsas. Her ‘skanky’ waitress who clomps in stilettos (kudos for this!) around the restaurant is very efficiently annoying and frustrating and played very well.

Without giving too much of the plot away, Scarlett’s world changes when Alan (Adam Schultz) comes to eat at the restaurant and eventually they fall in love. His character is brilliantly awkward and bumbling and we are even treated to some lovely singing!

There are many moments of juxtaposition in the play which are clever - for example the new menu dish of Japanese sauce with mushroom cloud- a politically incorrect moment of ‘nuclear’ hilarity, a film scene where Tarzan (Steve) is battling a lion whilst promoting in real life a vegetarian menu, and my personal favourite, watching Atlanta burn on screen to the swelling Gone with the Wind theme, whilst the Crimson Parrot is seemingly heading for receivership.

There are many others to mention, as it takes a village to put on a play like this. Sensational costuming with clever use of colour (Gillian Cordell), clever lighting (Richard Parkhill) and soundscape (Geoff Brittain and Ray Trowbridge) and of course the St Jude’s crew, who always commit to presenting a wonderful show. This is a lovely comedic night at the theatre - particularly given the conflict filled world we are living in. Go see it.

Shelley Hampton

Photographer: Les Zetlein