New Mason at Court

Press, 9 June 1978, Page 4

New Mason at Court

Bv HOWARD McNAUGHTOX •"Courting Blackbird.” written and performed by Bruce Mason. Court Theatre, June 8 to June 10. Running time: 8.15 p.m. to 10.10 p.m. "Courting Blackbird" is Bruce Mason’s fifth programme of solo theatre, and i:s remarkable success since Its premiere at The Court in 1976 earns it its place beside ‘The End of the Golden Weather” tn this season of Ins most popular solo work The collocation is a fascinating one. the two pieces | Illuminating each other in a way that was not apparent |*o vears ago. and audiences thoufd gra«p the chance t«» i e borh. for an insight into the refinenents of Mason's craft Like “Golden Weather." •bis programme revolves •round a movinglv hyper-,-rive eccentric who i« reced to imbecility by an unmpathetic social environ- - »r>r There it was Firpo. to a srmitiacket j fr,j s first mention: here it L Bo Baron, a figure of in-

comparably greater promise! and vitality, destroyed much! more systematically, by the; Stalin regime. Both works give us an authorial raconteur who sides with the eccentric, and whose undermined commit- ! ment is- reflected in the drain-; ing of colour from the imagery. In “Courting Blackbird." we meet him first as a! “young colonial full of halfbaked pretensions.”.eager tai follow Bo Baron, the Marxist Jew. around the podia of! Wellington. We become immersed in the energy of the character, the resourcefulness of the imagery, and the sly irony of much of the narration, so that a feeling of conspiracy emerges: we laugh, albeit gentlv. at Bo’s "xtravaganres. so that when his Marxist commitment cnstallises into a sitic'dal naivetv we are aware of him a< a convenient scapegoat for our o” n comfortable non in"o’vement. This is the formula of clasic’l t r agedv, and ‘"Courting Riackhird" generates a gevijns tragic catharsis. Tochniralities aside, this programme has all the com-

"ponents of excellent, sophisI ticated entertainment, as well ;as artistic challenges. Bruce I Mason is a brilliant storyteller. and an equally i brilliant story-shower. His narrative sparkles with ‘subtleties of structuring, so | that the mood is cleverly manipulated within extremes. lin jiist a matter of minutes. The deeper elements of I language and allusion are u introduced more sparingly than in his other recent 'I solo work, so that their impact is the more strategic. And. perhaps the greatest appeal that draws theatre- ■ I goers to his solo programmes ■ i visit after visit. Mason is himself continually exploring and recreating his own • work, even under uncomfortable performance conditions Mason is. as acknowledged in the Victoria University citation for his doctorate, “a committed writer of deenlv human sympathies drawing on all his skills to increase our understanding of the people we are ” The commit--1 ment — and the drawing- : power — 'never seem to ■ lapse.