Reviews
Adelaide Theatre Guide Review
David Williamson announced his retirement from main-stage theatre in 2005. But he has been active in his retirement, writing numerous plays including "Let the Sunshine", which was first produced in 2009. Williamson should have kept his laptop closed. "Let the Sunshine" is a rambling, unfocussed and oddly passionless work.
Toby, an aging leftie documentary film-maker, has escaped the grime of Sydney with his publisher wife Ros, and settled in sunny Noosa. But Toby chafes against the white-shoed consumerism he finds on the Sunshine Coast; he is unhappy, angry and unpleasant. Ron, a boorish local multi-millionaire property developer, can't stand Toby's whining socialist diatribes, but, because his vacuous wife Natasha goes to the same book club as Ros, they are thrown together socially. The comedy of the play revolves around the competing political perspectives of the two couples.
When Toby's listless musician son and Ron's aggressive lawyer daughter meet and begin a relationship, they are all forced to interact closely with each other.
At his best, Williamson observes middle class foibles with forensic skill and brilliantine wit. But this is Williamson at his worst: the script is superficial and unsophisticated. Williamson creates characters free of nuance or complexity. The political conflicts are dull, over-wrought and under-written. The wives, Natasha and Ros, are inexcusably shallow characters. The play suffers from many short, unnecessary scenes as the second act limps to an oddly deflating anti-climax. The overall effect is a tawdry melodrama.
Happily, this is a robust and successful community theatre production. The production rises above the deficiencies in the script. Director Vicky Horwood has a light touch, keeping the action moving. The ensemble is strong. Andrew Horwood (Ron) wrings plenty of laughs out of Ron's crass awfulness, and Anita Canala (Natsaha) is a picture of smug snobbery. Kym Clayton (Toby) is suitably irascible, and Charlotte Batty (as Emma, Ron and Natasha's opinionated daughter) has some great moments of comedic scorn and exasperation.
The pace flags a little, and the relationships need time to settle, but the performers all work well together. I would expect the production to tighten as the season progresses.
While this play is not as funny as Williamson's better works, there were plenty of hearty laughs from the supportive and large opening night crowd.
Reviewed by John Wells
Broadway World Review
Galleon Theatre Company has turned to Australia's best-known playwright, David Williamson, and is presenting Let the Sunshine, under the director, Vicki Horwood. Williamson's plays are always very wordy, and this is no exception. With this wordiness, the need to find a replacement for the role of Ros at short notice, coupled with first performance nerves, lines were being stumbled over, had gaps, and were occasionally repeated. A few more rehearsals and much firmer direction from Vicki Horwood would have been in order. There is no lack of talent in this cast and, hopefully, some intensive reading of scripts to fix the shaky parts will see it all come together in the next couple of performances.
Toby is a left-wing documentary maker, but his last one had a factual error that is threatening to end his career. He and his wife, Ros, a very successful publisher, have fled Sydney and ended up in Noosa, in Queensland. He is trying to organise a new documentary, but the financial backing is not as easy to find as it had been. Ros is missing her friends and lifestyle in Sydney and he is unhappy with the way that the quiet seaside town of his memories has become a major resort, a sort of vast retirement home for the obscenely rich.
Their only acquaintances are Natasha, who attended the same school as Ros, but a year behind, a tenuous link, and her husband Ron, a right-wing real estate developer. Ros is an intellectual, but Natasha is more concerned with fashion, so they have little in common, and the opposing political views of the two men is a complete barrier to any friendship. As the only couple that they know in Noosa, however, Ros proposes them as a couple to go out to dinner with for Toby's birthday.
As it happens, Rick, the son of Toby and Ros, and Emma, the daughter of Ron and Natasha, both come to visit their respective parents and are invited to join the celebration. Rick is 30 and a would-be songwriter, encouraged by his parents, but with no work so far recorded and existing by making money collecting empty glasses at a bar. Emma is 33 and a high-flying corporate lawyer, expecting to be made a partner at any moment. This adds yet another level of conflict and the group breaks up at the pre-dinner drinks stage, cancelling the dinner.
Rick and Emma just happen to drop into the same bar for a quiet drink and, lowering their antagonism for each other's lifestyles, they begin to talk more openly, which leads to, well, they end up married with kids, and that is a trigger for profound changes in all of the combatants. Williamson is not above resorting to highly contrived and improbable narratives to put across his ideas.
Williamson announced his retirement and promptly kept on writing. This post-retirement piece, from 2010, is typical of his oeuvre, with caricatures lacking in any real depth whose primary function is to put forward his political point of view. Toby is clearly autobiographical, still hanging on to the summer of love and hating the John Howard era of government. Williamson has never let go of the Whitlam years. We have heard it all before and, no doubt, we will hear it all again.
Lines aside, the production offers some fine performances, the most fluent moments being between Rick and Emma as they cease hostilities and negotiate a truce. Hal Bruce and Charlotte Batty play Rick and Emma, initially suffering the ups and downs of their budding relationship caused by their diametrically opposed lifestyles, then discovering and accepting their true callings. There is some very well-considered interplay between these two actors as they find both the compassion and the comedy in the situation.
Kym Clayton and Deb Walsh play Toby and Ros in performances that establish an easy and loving relationship between the two characters. They are very believable as a couple who have been together for many years and settled into a relationship in which they support each other and are able to ride over any bumpy times, such as those affecting Toby as we meet them.
Andrew Horwood and Anita Canala are Ron and Natasha, he the high flier, and she the trophy wife. They, too, suggest a long established relationship but, in this one, we get more of a feeling that they each know and perform their roles, he as the breadwinner, she as the social secretary. When Natasha insists on buying a property in Sydney to use when she visits Emma and the baby, his concern seems more for the costs than the fact that she will be living there, while he is tied to Queensland by his work. We do not feel the love that is evident between Toby and Ros.
All four actors set up and maintain characters as three dimensional as Williamson's script will allow, and they bring out all of the comedy that the disparate ideologies and predispositions generate. As they change positions due to the catalyst of the new baby, none more dramatically than Rick and Emma who effectively swap lifestyles as he becomes a corporate entrepreneur and she opts to be a stay at home mother, the laugh come thick and fast.
All six performers are equally matched and give an evenly high level of performance, keeping the audience entertained and laughing consistently at both the quirks of the characters and the many one-liners in the script. Adding to the evening is the fact that Galleon presents their productions in a cabaret setting, so pack a supper and head to the Domain Theatre.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny
GLAM Adelaide Review
Recognised as Australia's most successful playwright, David Williamson's name is instantly familiar; we all know at least one Williamson play. With so many works over the past 30 years it would be unreasonable to expect them all to be award winners. Written in 2009, the script follows predictable lines using his favourite slice of society. Having said that, as with all his plays there are some great lines which elicit much laughter. However the ending is not the usual conclusion and I found it a little flat.
Putting all that aside, the Galleon production is all the company usually promises. A very useful, well dressed set the work of Kym Clayton and his merry band of helpers, well lit by Scott Battersby and Luke Budgen with an interesting sound track provided by Sean Smith (wonder who chose the tracks?). The two-level set allowed for smooth running of the production, which was well paced by director Vicky Horwood.
Director Horwood probably found her task easier because of the excellent cast. Kym Clayton making a welcome return to the boards plays Toby, a disillusioned protester and filmmaker. As his long-suffering wife Ros, Deborah Walsh puts in a fine performance. They have moved from Sydney to Queensland to get away from some bad publicity. There they reconnect with another couple. Ron is a very successful property developer who Toby sees as one of the people destroying the environment. Andrew Horwood plays Ron with his usual finesse, building the character that everybody wants to see fail. His wife, the social climbing latte drinking "Natasha" (formerly Jocelyn) is brought to life by Anita Canala and together they make the perfect pair, never to be compatible with Toby and Ros.
Typical Williamson conflict made even more interesting by the offspring: a down-at-heel musician, Rick (Hal Bruce) and a corporate lawyer vying for partner, Emma (Charlotte Batty). When the attraction between these two becomes serious the reactions are epic. Both Bruce and Batty do well and the development of the romance is fun to watch, not to mention the tussle over grandchildren!
This production is good and has plenty of laughs and Williamson fans will love it. Galleon continues to provide great community theatre and is well supported for good reasons.
Reviewed by Fran Edwards
Stage Whispers Review
While David Williamson's Let the Sunshine doesn't have nearly as much bite in terms of social satire as in many of his earlier plays, Adelaide company Galleon Theatre Group's strong casting and magic touch with edgy comedy ensures an enjoyable production of the play.
Documentary film-maker and left-leaning Toby has career embarrassments to contend with and has escaped Sydney for Noosa with wife Ros. He hasn't found satisfaction there, either, because the place has changed and now contains exactly the sort of people he detests.
One of life's milestones means the couple may be getting together with Ros's former school friend, 'Stepford Wife' Natasha and her rich right-wing Sydney property developer husband, Ron. Toby is not happy about this, as he invariably clashes with Ron over politics and just about everything else. What's more, the wives only just tolerate each other whenever they meet.
Add in the arrival of Toby and Ros's struggling musician son, Rick, together with Ron and Natasha's driven, successful corporate lawyer daughter, Emma and there's a volatile mix about to explode.
Kym Clayton is very good as irascible Toby, showing both the impatient side of Toby's character and the soft centre within him when it comes to his concerns for his son's future. Despite Williamson's female characters never being written with quite the same depth as the males, Deborah Walsh is terrific as Toby's wife Ros, giving a natural and completely believable performance.
Andrew Horwood embodies the boorish, market-savvy property developer Ron and delivers some acid and very funny one-liners with impeccable timing. Anita Canala could perhaps make a little more of wife Natasha's surface superficiality, but produces a very good performance nevertheless.
The adult children are given the script's most sympathetic treatment, although Williamson contrives the outcome of their relationship rather too predictably. Both actors give fine performances, with Hal Bruce very fine in portraying Rick's desperation to be taken seriously by music producers. As Emma, Charlotte Batty matches Hal Bruce's character development in a strong performance.
The set is simple and Director Vicky Horwood uses it effectively, ensuring good flow and pace in a frequently changing, almost filmic series of vignettes that move between Noosa and Sydney.
Sound design is excellent, as is lighting, costumes, makeup and hairstyling.
Galleon Theatre Group is renowned for its fine productions and this is no exception; very worth braving Adelaide's chilly nights to experience.
Reviewed by Lesley Reed
Theatre Association of SA (TASA) Review
Director Vicky Horwood has assembled a very capable cast for the current production of Williamson's Let the Sunshine. This play lacks the biting satire of Williamson's earlier plays - The Club, Don's Party - but the domestic/social comedy genre of his later plays keeps Let the Sunshine entertaining, due to Williamson's acute observation of human behaviour. Horwood displays an understanding of the nuances and the need to maintain some restraint and has directed the talented cast well.
Toby is a playwright/documentary film-maker who has fled to Noosa with his wife, Ros, ostensibly to escape the Sydney 'rat-race' - but we soon find out that the Sydney 'Right Wing media' has not reacted favourably to his last documentary. Kym Clayton brings Toby to life, delivering a solid performance. Deborah Walsh, makes the somewhat 'bland' Ros a likeable and sympathetic character. Andrew Horwood delivers another memorable performance as Ron, a property developer in Noosa, who with wife Natasha, played impeccably by Anita Canala, present as pretentious bores. Ros and Natasha were tenuous school 'mates' and reignite an uneasy friendship of convenience. Add to the mix Toby and Ros's son, Rick, a struggling musician with few prospects and Ron and Natasha's daughter, Emma, a high achieving and ambitious lawyer, who start an unlikely relationship which bring the two families together with unexpected developments. Hal Bruce is believable as Rick, delivering a very good performance, while Charlotte Batty is excellent as the feisty Emma.
Galleon's production is, as usual, presented with attention to detail with a minimal set produced and designed by Kym Clayton. As with many of Williamson's plays the scenes are short and there are many, requiring clever set changes and use of quick lighting changes, well executed by Scott Battersby and Luke Budgen.
This production again highlights the teamwork and dedication which goes into a Galleon Production, giving them the well-deserved reputation of excellence which they have earned.
Reviewed by Janice Bailey
Weekend Notes Review
Galleon Theatre Group's first production for 2017 is the SA premiere of David Williamson's Let The Sunshine. The title gets its name from the musical Hair and its song Let the Sunshine In.
Directed by Vicky Horwood, the lighting, sound and set design perfectly match the constantly evolving storyline and interchanging scenes of the Noosa residences of controversial left-wing documentary film-maker Toby and his successful publisher wife, Ros, and high flying property developer Ron and his seemingly perfect career wife, Natasha.
Long suffering Ros is longing to celebrate Toby's birthday with some friends but Toby having been forced into a hiatus from his film-making (the reason for their recent relocation from Sydney to Noosa) prefers his own company and all too happily admits he has not made any friends "and does not need any".
In desperation (and against Toby's wishes), Ros arranges a birthday dinner with their son, Rick, Ros' friend, Natasha, her husband Ron and their daughter, Emma as somewhat unwilling guests - with Ron and Toby adamant they'll only clash (as they have in the past).
Of course Ron and Toby's fears play out and the night is a disaster as struggling writer/musician Rick (Hal Bruce) defends his dad, Toby (Kym Clayton) and faces off with not only Ron (Andrew Horwood) but his successful corporate lawyer daughter, Emma (Charlotte Batty).
Shockingly, the whole group implode with Ros (Deb Walsh) and Natasha (Anita Canala) defending their loved ones, resulting in the celebrations being swiftly cut short and relationships being severely compromised.
With Emma and Rick away from their normal locale, by chance they end up in the same bar and after a few drinks and commiserations, romance soon blossoms.
A pregnant Emma and Rick move in together and much to Ron's dismay, an excited grandma-to-be Natasha swiftly buys an expensive apartment with harbour views in Sydney. In the meantime, Toby and Ros have relocated from Noosa to Glebe to be nearer to Emma and Rick.
Let The Sunshine takes the cast and audience on quite a journey - the reward being a happy but emotional ending that many of us can relate to. This is the first Galleon Theatre Group production I have been to and I must say I could not fault the acting, set design, lighting or sound and it's a brilliant script - the actors really embodied their characters. We had more than a few laughs from Ron's (Andrew Horwood) perfectly delivered witty one liners which my partner mused were comparable to Ted Bullpit's from Kingswood Country!
Let The Sunshine runs from 3-13 May 2017 at Marion Cultural Centre's Domain Theatre. Conventional theatre seating and cabaret seating (tables of 8) is available. Those electing cabaret seating are able to bring food platters along. Beverages are available for purchase from Signatures Cafe.
Tickets for Let The Sunshine are $24pp full price or $20pp concession and are available for the remaining performances:
8pm performance: Thursday 11/05/2017 to Saturday 13/05/2017
2pm matinee performance: Saturday 13/05/2017
Bookings can be made via email: bookings@galleon.org.au; phone: 0437 609 577 (booking officers Joy or Allan) or internet (click here) (please specify if you need to book a table or standard seating).
On arrival, enjoy a complimentary sherry - courtesy of Patritti Wines and purchase some raffle tickets (3 tickets for $2) for your chance to win some great prizes (drawn during intermission).
I was lucky enough to win two complimentary tickets to Galleon Theatre's upcoming production, Season's Greetings (a comedy by award-winning British playwright Alan Ayckbourn - it will be directed by Kym Clayton who plays Toby in Let The Sunshine).
Reviewed by Jenny
