Riding '30 style

Press, 19 May 1989, Page 21

Riding '30 style

*Tliree Men On A Horse* recreates the filitz of a bygone era

By

PAULINE MOORE

The glitz and glamour of the 1930 s era comes to life in the Court Theatre’s production, “Three Men On A Horse.” The light-hearted comedy reflects the’ optimism and cheerfulness of a time when people were not fully dressed without a smile; an imaginary 19305. Art Deco, with its simplification of design — popular stripes and zig-zags — was in its heyday. The mood and aspirations of the age were epitomised by the Empire State Building. The play was written by John Cecil Holm and George Abbot. It was an immediate hit when it opened on Broadway and has been delighting audiences since. This will be its first New Zealand performance.

The action centres on three gangsters’ shameful exploitation of the thoroughly likable Erwin Trowbridge, who writes greeting card verses for a living. But in keeping with the mood of the time,' the gangsters are not the violent gun-carrying kind, and the plot flows to the obligatory happy ending. Rather than capture the 1930 s authentically, the set and costumes show a stylised version of their flavour and mood. Annie Graham designed and made the costumes and Tony Geddis designed and made the set. Graham said that this approach suited the play better. “The play isn’t realistic, so the costumes and set are not either.

The audience accepts this, and everything follows from there. “We have come up with out interpretation of what the 1930 s were like. To work on stage, many of the effects have to be exaggerated. Making them work is what matters.” The women’s costumes were a “tad over the top.” Mabel, the gangsters’ girlfriend, a former Follies girl, is decked out in lots of feathers. Her dress is glitzy and colourful without being overpowering. The costume worn by Audrey, Erwin Trowbridge’s wife, has been designed along the same lines; its extra frills give it a Doris Day look. She had a great wig too, said Graham.

Bows and feathers make Gloria, the reporter, look every bit the chic sophisticate she is. She is tougher than anyone would imagine. You could strike matches on her, Graham said. Of course, none of the women's costumes would be complete without hat and gloves. The men wear smart, tailored three-piece suits, complete with turned-up cuffs and braces and topped by stylish trilby hats. Graham dipped “into the bin” for genuine 1930 s fabrics for the costumes and used them if appropriate, but she found most did not work under the intensity of the stage lighting.

“Authentic colours and fabrics would look washed out, not subtle and interesting,” she said. The fashionable colours, then, were all kinds of strange tans, greys, silver and burnt orange. Hues of these which work on stage have been chosen carefully. The costumes and set have been designed to blend together. Geddis has designed and made sets for nearly 50 productions. His approach is to list the things he wants to achieve artistically and the difficulties to be designed around. Early discussions produced the perfect solution for capturing the atmosphere he wanted for the reduced stage area. The action all happens in a little theatre within a theatre. Little cut-out and painted people on the sides and in front of the stage watch what is happening on the stage. Beyond this the real audience watches the action unfold, too. There are five scene changes in the play. Geddis wanted to reduce the size of the stage to make it practical. The scene changes are charming, rather than grandiose. He avoided clumsy, time-consuming changes. Things change into other things. The audience sees the stage rearranging itself. The “bedbarofa” is a bed, sofa or bar as required. Very little leaves the stage. Geddis said “I didn’t want furniture thundering past. I wanted it to look a bit as if it were worked by clockwork.”

Theatre