[2012050] Just Like the Movies
Socks and Sandals @ Paper String Plastic
6:00pm, Sun 26 Feb 2012
It’s with a slightly sinking heart that I read the text on one of the beautifully-textured, coaster-sized flyers for Just Like the Movies… “remember all those great 90s road trip movies?” it asks.
It’s at that point that I realise that I’m probably not really part of the target audience. The 90s will not live on in my memory for “great road trip movies” … Easy Rider, now that’s a great road trip movie. Any early 80s movie starring Burt Reynolds… they are great road trip movies (albeit of different tone). And then there’s a real big gap until Sideways… Still, the ticket’s been bought, and there’s an infectious buzz around the audience. Jane and Eddie are there and great for a chat, as always, but the lovely Paper String Plastic is suffering a bit from the recent hot spell… there’s cooling units a-plenty being deployed, but they’re not really helped by the sticky humidity… and a full house.
Using softly rhyming patter, Josephine Were delivers an autobiographical monologue describing episodes from her travels to the US, ostensibly looking for love. From the start, you know that this is going to be chock full of misadventures – the opening tale seems incredible, as a potentially charming spooning incident on a plane takes a ludicrous turn. There’s heartfelt pieces – the old man in New Orleans, the old woman in San Francisco – as well as joyful-then-wrenching tales (as Were falls for the married guy).
Were’s delivery is utterly charming – she wears her heart on her sleeve, with wide-eyed expectation at the start of her journey through to the crestfallen disappointment of the married guy episode, followed by the oh-hang-on-there’s-still-hope feel-good ending. Matthew Gregan provides accompaniment, the clear tones of his guitar providing a gorgeous texture behind her monologue.
I left Just Like the Movies upbeat – I really enjoyed my time with Were’s search for a man-friend. It’s only later (much later) that I reflected on the piece a little longer, spotting minor flaws: yes, it’s very episodic, and yes, Were paints herself as… well, desperate.
But still… it was all presented with polish and (despite the desperation) confidence, and I did really enjoy the show in the moment. And I looked back at that coaster-sized flyer: “Remember all those great 90s road trip movies? …This is nothing like any of them.” And, of that, I am very glad.
(As usual, Jane provides an infinitely better piece than the rubbish I write!)