A Life in the Theatre

Schadenfreude Productions return to the Fringe with a relatively light-hearted presentation of David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre.

Like many Mamet plays, the drama revolves around miscommunication and the threat of social exclusion. Robert, played by David Cann, is an older actor slowly coming to end of his career.

He looks on the much younger John, played by Jonathan Rhodes, as a vessel to whom he can pass on his experience and knowledge. John, unfortunately, doesn't care to listen. He simply desires to do his job without the nagging lectures of his partner.

The play seems perfectly suited for the Edinburgh Fringe. In an audience full of actors, directors and performers of every age, the crises of Robert and John become startlingly poignant. Whether it is Robert's fears of retirement or John's uncertainty of the future, almost everyone can probably identify with one or the other.

Where the production seems to stumble, however, is in deciding on a tone. Director Garret David Millerick perhaps overemphasises the goofiness of the characters; instead of a progressive arc showing the deepening relationship between Robert and John, we experience a disconnected series of comedy routines which flow into one another with no feeling of general consequence.

While certainly not a tragedy, the play does have tragic elements, but these often feel out of place among the farcical behaviour of the characters. Genuinely serious ideas such as depression and possibly attempted suicide can leave the audience completely lost and unsure how to react.

When humorous situations do arise, Cann and Rhodes are at their best. Their early scenes are filled with laughter, as each demonstrates the power that good comedic timing and inflection can produce. Physical comedy, used to illustrate the silliness of actor warm-up routines, is used effectively. It becomes a sort of inside-joke to the audience, demonstrating the visual absurdities of the profession. Cann in particular embodies how hilarious actors can truly be. His whimsical nature is only restrained by the seriousness of his belief in what he is saying.

Although written in 1978, Mamet's work has not aged one bit. Presented here in a simple-but-effective production, it is a vivacious and reflective look on the real-life theatricality that goes into - well, making theatre.