100 Review

Here's my review for the play 100, out in Drum Media on Tuesday. Drum is a magazine so there's no link, so here it is. If you're a Sydney-sider, check the play out. I really think this is delicious theatre.

I think I have my eternal moment, going to post something about that tomorrow.



100

Let’s not beat about the bush here: this is excellent theatre. The concept is excellent, the acting is excellent, the production is excellent... seriously, there was excellence flying about all over the place at The Lock Up last Friday night. If anyone with an appreciation of theatre sees 100 and genuinely doesn’t enjoy it, get in touch with me and we can discuss it over a drink. My shout*.

In a play loosely inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years Of Solitude, four recently deceased characters find themselves in limbo between life and death. They must choose the memory of one moment in their life in which to spend eternity. There is a time limit, they must choose quickly and the memory must be the essence of the person’s heart. No other memory will exist.

The characters’ lives unfold as memories are recounted and found to be not quite suitable, proceedings conducted and the characters’ predicament explained by a mysterious, otherworldly host. With the only props being four sticks, an orange and a couple of boxes, we are taken on a motorcycle race, to an office Christmas party, a children’s playground, a domestic home and the Amazon Rainforest. Fun stuff.

The characters are average people who have lead ordinary lives, and you can relate to them and feel for them as they rummage through their ordinariness to find that little bit of magic they will exist with forever.

There is no doubt Zach Lee’s performance will be the one that will leave the biggest impression; once again it was The Business, both as the deathly and slightly maniacal guide as well as the other minor characters he slipped into. But there were no creaky performances from the others – all played their main characters as well as minor characters with a deftness that was an absolute joy to watch.

No matter what drives you or what values you adhere to, you will come away looking at your own existence and wondering which moment from your own life you would choose, and the answer might have some of us re-assessing our priorities. It’s that kind of play.

If you have to choose one play and one play only between now and November 4 that is the essence of good theatre, I think 100 should be that play.

*Conditions apply.

LB