Hall’s ‘Fifty/Fifty’

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 8

Hall’s ‘Fifty/Fifty’

Fifty/Fifty by Roger Hall, directed by Pat Harris for the Elmwood Players. Playing December 2 to 5 and 9 to 12. Running time: 8 p.m. to 10.15 p.m. Reviewed by Elody Rathgen. “Fifty/Fifty” is one of Roger Hall’s earlier plays, and probably one of his better ones. It manages an effective balance of the humorous with the poignant. This production by Pat Harris for the Elmwood Players manages to achieve much of the play’s potential. One weakness of the play is its attempt to mention too many social issues. It ranges over divorce, redundancy, unemployment, alcoholism, parenting, feminism, cancer, and loneliness. No single play can hope to do justice to so much without becoming glib. This production overcomes some of the difficulty by choosing to understate or gloss over the issues and play for humour. I assume this was a deliberate director’s decision. All of the cast are consistent and convincing in their roles. Sonja Williams who Plays Barbara is particularly good. She began slightly nervously but settled into a strong well-timed performance. In Sene 2 she controls a dnmk scene very rMlistically She seems to have underme character’s situation and the role W*

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departure from the family home. “I had no idea how she felt,” he ruefully admits after 27 years of marriage. His daughter’s summary that her mother experienced the marriage as “one year repeated 27 times” appears to be very accurate.

Howden acts a little casually, although he has some good comedy movements, particularly the sergeant-major routine which ends the first scene.

As Michael the unemployed academic, Greg Lovatt is adequate, though it is not his best performance. The role sits uncomfortably on him and a sulky manner does not really suit the character. There are however, some exchanges with the other family members which ring true. Juliet Wilkinson and Kevin Bolt in the two smaller roles of Sarah and Tony establish their characters well and contribute to both the humour and the anger of the play. Technically all is not well with this production. The finishings on the set are tatty, and in the first scene clumsy furniture obscures action behind it. Slow and inefficient scene changes cause needless lags in the play. Pat Harris’s direction is generally competent and the play is well paced. The performance lacks the variation from high comedy to painful tension that the text calls for but it is smooth and generally entertaining. The many Roger Hall fans in Christchurch will enjoy the rerun of “Fifty/Fifty.”