‘The Perfectionist’

Press, 14 May 1984, Page 8

‘The Perfectionist’

“The Perfectionist” by David Williamson. Court Studio Theatre, from Saturday, May 12. Running time: 8.15 p.m. to 10.25 p.m. Reviewed by John Farnsworth. Williamson has a wellearned reputation for sharp commentary on the foibles of the Australian middle class. This play is no exception, containing many Williamson hallmarks such as comedy blended with criticism, a fast and breezy pace,.and a dangerous enthusiasm for rhetoric over action.

The subject here is marriage, and the agonies of the upwardly mobile foundering on the reefs of the social and sexual revolution. For this couple, with their values turned upside down, the result is confusion. Unhappily, it is a confusion shared as much by the author as his characters.

After ample soul-search-ing, tub-thumping, and allround blood-letting, the resulting message is, well, confused. If anything, it implies our best hopes lie with. • 1

sharing and compromise. A comforting, but hardly novel thought.

The plot is clearer. Barbara (Janet Fisher), Stuart, her university lecturer husband (Geoffrey Clendon), and family move briefly to Denmark. There, they are exposed to unsettling liberal, feminist and even Marxist currents, many in the form of Erik (Alastair Browning), the Danish babysitter. Yet, in spite of marital role-reversals, and a return both to Australia and the arms of Stuart’s parents, their relationship continues to crumble.

So, too, in the second half, does the plot and characterisation. After the interval, scenes appear hasty and underwritten, and motivations often muddled and implausible. None of this helps the actors, of course. But both leads, and particularly Janet Fisher, generally create a commendable amount of coherence and sympathy in their roles. Their best moments are the scenes of anger and misun-

derstanding, which catch a sense of intimacy otherwise often lacking. Given these difficulties, the production has emphasised, somewhat understandably, entertainment over angst. At times, this provides its own problems, with a tendency not only to exchange emotional involvement for slickness, pace and laughs, but sometimes to misread the play’s tenor — noticeably at the start of the second half.

Alastair Browning is convincing as the socialist Dane, while June Harvest and Lewis Rowe make believably tough-minded parents.

Over all, however, there is an absence of the peculiarly Australian caste to the play, which can mis-key the important family scenes.

Nonetheless, this is an entertaining and engaging play with plenty of comedy and insight. For these reasons, it is well worth seeing, if only for the discussions it may provoke afterwards.