| Captivating monologues |
At Sgript Cymru |
| Sgript Cymru- Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco , Traverse Theatre, Glasgow , May 10, 2001 |
| Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco, Gary Owen's play about 3 dysfunctional people from a small Welsh town escapes cliché simply by being incredibly well written and acted. I was dubious about the length of each monologue as I entered the theatre, but was absolutely captivated throughout. The play begins with the bully, Gary, ranting for some 45 minutes. But Gary is not repentant, nor is he successful. Indeed, his mobile disco's regular pub slot has been replaced by karaoke when we meet him. Gary, uses this as a perfect situation in which he can kick someone in, the karaoke compere, this time. David Rees Talbot plays, with excellent spirit, Gary - both the unenlightened male and its antithesis - almost realising the pointlessness of his own existence and continuing it just for the sake of it. I was left with a very empty feeling after watching him. Next is Matthew D. Melody, cabaret singer, rekindling marriages and relationships with his voice, but only for five minutes. He's telling this to the lady in the job centre. Playwright Owen is very good at keeping the audience going for some minutes, then revealing a harsh reality. A product of bullying, under the care of social services, Matthew sings in public, gets down at street corners to pray, and has violent episodes with household pets. Steven Meo's Matthew excellently flits from one sudden state of mind to another - at once resigned and furious about everything going wrong for him Russell Markham, Richard Mylan, is the third trying to escape a dysfunctional marriage and the small town he is stuck in. The link, we eventually discover is that he and Matthew were best childhood friends when Gary bullied them. This theme is a bit stale, and Russell’s piece does not have either the same humour, or realism as the first two, letting the whole down somewhat. However, Mylan's Russell is very well acted and even though the story goes a bit overboard at the end, Mylan fills the piece with so much energy, that it still works. This play is well written and captivating with incredible energy displayed by all three characters. They never appear on stage together, but their lives are permanently affected by each other. Their monologues are filled with twists that link them, and the links are well produced. Dramatised small town angst can be a bit hackneyed, Gary Owen's Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco avoids being so. |
Reviewed by: Kenny Morrison (Edinburghguide.com) |
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