3 Dark Tales
Theatre O @ Scott Theatre
1:00pm, Sat 23 Feb 2002
Score: 9
Short Review: Clever
On a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon, a surprisingly large number of people opted to spend their $28 on this production from UK company Theatre O (formerly the Generally Better Theatre company). And you know what? It was a good choice.
Three seperate, intertwining stories were presented: “Dream on Mr Tibble” comes first, as we track the life in hell that belongs to the afore-mentioned Mr Tibble. We see both his tortuous life, and his escape in dreams, before we switch to “The Unfortunate Predicament of Amelia Sas”. Amelia’s story is less tormented than Mr Tibbles, and yet far more terrifying for this little theatre-goer – seeing her run a gamut of emotions in 30 seconds, after her life of polite parental persecution, was one of those teary-eyed moments. The final Tale was “Frank’s Wardrobe”, as we track ‘office god’ Frank’s dissatisfaction with his own life.
Make no mistake, the subject matter here is very bleak – full of the horror of the mundane – but presented in an almost cheerful manner. Theatre O blend a bit of everything into their physically impressive performance (song, dance, mime) and produce a piece of theatre which is thoroughly rewarding. Inventive touches – Mr Tibble’s fight scene, Frank’s bed-in-a-wardrobe, Amelia’s answering machine – add that extra hint of delight. Great stuff.