L’Appartement presented by the Queensland Theatre
Written and Directed by Joanna-Murray Smith
Visually entertaining and humorous with a French twist
Playwright Joanna-Murray Smith claimed she wanted to stick pins in a doll of Sam Strong, the Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre, when he coerced her into also directing her play L’Appartement. Although initially unwilling, she successfully helped incarnate the play with the four experienced actors from words on paper to the stage.
L’Appartement walks a fine line between edgy comedy and a Shakespearean tragedy, when an Aussie couple leave their young twins girls behind to visit Paris for a trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, they are carrying more baggage than they checked in at the airport and it is rapidly unpacked as soon as they arrive at a yuppie French couple’s swish Airbnb apartment. The initial juxtaposition of the high achieving young childless Parisians, Serge (Pacharo Mzembe, The Mountaintop, Underbelly 4) and Lea (Melanie Zanetti, Jasper Jones and Bluey), with their seductive French accents and their luxury minimalist apartment, to the bedraggled Aussie parents, Rooster (Andrew Buchanan, The Crucible and Sea Patrol) and Meg (Liz Buchanan, Twelfth Night and Prank Patrol), causes immediate rifts between the couples.
The synergy between the married TV and stage actors, Andrew and Liz is very convincing, which certainly helps in this study of the intricacies of married life where both are playing the blame game. Andrew is hilarious as the ocker PE teacher Rooster, who just wants an easy life and perhaps some sexual intimacy whilst in Paris. Whereas Liz is a tense and overanxious mother, who is expecting the trip of a lifetime in the city of romance. Both experience Paris syndrome, a psychological state of disappointment, when a swish apartment and the city of love cannot solve all of their problems or meet their high expectations. Meanwhile the Parisians find that renting their pristine white apartment has its risks, resulting in a ridiculous stand-off with Rooster and Liz on their return.
As the holiday unfolds the situation becomes less believable and the audience must suspend their sense of reality when Liz acts inappropriately on the hosts return. The catalyst for the confrontation is a giant Moai statue with unusual protuberances, which is delivered whilst the owners are away. Both couples react in an illogical manner, delivering a final racial commentary with a sledge hammer, rather than with the expected piqued response. Fortunately, a final comical twist as the curtain closes erases some of the awkwardness, enabling the play to finish on a more jocular note.
The white multi-level apartment set design by Dale Ferguson is innovative, recreating the perfect scene for the visual humour, and enabling the exploitation of some comical nudity from Rooster. Coupled with the sultry lighting and the sound design of Ben Hughes and Guy Webster, the set and skills of the four actors elevates the prosaic script to be a visually entertaining and humorous performance with a French twist.
3rd-31st August 2019
Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Dr Gemma Regan