Lunatic farce is crazy fun

Moon Over Buffalo
Canberra Rep at Theatre 3. Until May 15.
Reviewer: Glenn Burns

Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo is Canberra Rep's second production, second farce and second success of the year. Rep's cast of eight tackle the fast and furious pace of the play's plot with considerable gusto and considerable talent.

This plot focuses on George and Charlotte Hay, a once famous acting couple whose heyday is well past and who have been reduced to leading a struggling repertory company in Buffalo, New York.

The action takes place on the day when marital and theatrical harmony are threatened by the revelation that George has impregnated the company's ingenue. This day just happens to be the day on which legendary film director Frank Capra is due to see the matinee performance of Noel Coward's Private Lives with a view to offering George and Charlotte screen roles which would revitalise their careers. And also the day on which their daughter Rosalind arrives to introduce her new fiance, Howard.

It would be churlish, though accurate, to observe that Moon Over Buffalo is not perhaps a classic of its genre. Its dialogue often lacks subtlety and the plot construction - with its mistaken identities, its unexpected arrivals and its unconvincing exits - is not exactly seamless.

However, none of this really matters because the play and this production succeed in keeping the laughs coming. This is especially so with the disastrous performance of Private Lives (for which the nicely spaced, door-intensive main set is replaced on the revolve by an impressive balcony for Act One of Coward's play).

Ludwig's most significant achievement here is the creation of wonderfully over-the-top characters who allow the actors to have a great deal of fun. Watching the actors relishing the opportunity to overact as they race to keep the frantic action afloat is the chief pleasure of the show.

In particular, Ian Croker's George is energetic and very funny in creating his larger-than-life character - the strutting egotist in Act One, the stumbling drunk in Act Two.

His comic exaggeration is matched by Jim Adamik as Howard, the dorky, star-struck weatherman, while Barbara Denham does a nice job as Charlotte, making her as theatrical and desperately ambitious as George but more human. Fay Butcher's poker-faced, sharp-tongued portrayal of Charlotte's deaf mother is a comic delight.

Director Cate Clelland has finely tuned the play's comic confusions and ensured that the actors haven't got too carried away with the histrionic possibilities of their roles.

Set in 1953, the play has cultural references that are especially enjoyable for those of a certain age, but the genuine fun generated by the play is not restricted. Nor is the warm-hearted celebration of the theatre, especially repertory theatre, which underlies all the mirth making. There is genuine affection for repertory companies, their people and their staple of crowd-pleasing plays. For this affection there is ample justification.