‘The Front Lawn’

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 4

‘The Front Lawn’

The Front Lawn at the Court Two Theatre. .From Wednesday, October 7 to Saturday’October Id. Running time: ii B.U p.m. to S.M pan. Reviewed by John 8 Farnsworth.. - ■■ r ’ W m jt is a pleasure to be able to give a 5 warm and uninhibited welcome to tbe 2 refiirn visit of tbe Auckland duo, The •; Front Lawn. And they deserve it The ■ performance of Don McGlashan and Harry Sinclair is likeable, funny, unselfconscious and immensely able in the way It carves out and presents deep slices of the New Zealand psyche. ; It does so In two sections of a 90minute show, each with its own charm and style. In common, they have a blend of drama, song, soft shoe shuffle, and quick improvisation set on a stage bare except for a few simple props. What holds each half together is a tight, fluid construction coupled with an Inventiveness that constantly outwits an audience’s expectations. In the first, the two vividly revive the common, tawdry experience of the ordinary New Zealand party. As Robert and Simon, they catch all the dimensions of incoherence,- crassness, wish-fulfil-ment and squalid ritual of party-going. - This they do in a rapid kaleidoscope of V scenes which shifts from bashes to ‘ barbecues to snatches of conversation

and accompanied song, and. on to unex-

pected meetings, car rides and a police interview.

It. ends with a snapshot sequence , brUljantly realised by the use of a single standard lamp. But the whole stands, unexpectedly, as an engaging metaphor for the emotionally curtailed, inexpressive nature of New Zealand celebration.

The second half is a metaphor, too, wrapped in the enthusiastically false trappings of a game show. The unlikely centrepiece is a washing-machine which rumbles away on cue as the sole contestant struggles to fulfil the show’s demands for warm and, human moments in return for lavish consumer goods.

In this case, the contestant turns out to be the unrecognised, alcoholic father of the show’s host and, needless to say, things go Inventively awry. Metaphorically, it represents the unresolved tensions between the old, Puritanical society and the new, materialistic New Zealand — a complicated idea which rather overburdens the show’s slight structure.

Yet it is impressively performed, even by the intriguingly . reliable old F. and P. washer. Along with the first piece it forms a warm, memorable and highly original night of theatre. They are here for only three more nights: go and see them.