Brisbane Arts Theatre's production of
The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco gives all the belly laughs, low humour, surreal moments and insight into the insecurity of share-house living you'd expect from this sequel to
John Birmingham's
He Died With A Felafel In His Hand. But
TTBF is more ambitious as a play, with a plot that has real effects on characters' emotions, instead of
Felafel's collection of very funny stories that aren't really linked together.
The curtain opens on three noble knights as portentious music plays. The centre knight slowly raises and lowers his sword, as the music swells, and a fight breaks out between the knights for no readily apparent reason. Stacey, one of the housemates of the share-house at York St Taringa, breaks the fight up as housemates dressed in mediaeval re-enactment costume watch. Soon the main character John Birmingham returns from Melbourne, to be told that the house has been robbed and the housemates face eviction.
Stacey (Amy Currie) and John Birmingham (Shaun King)
We then flashback to a few weeks earlier, and see how Jordan's approval as a housemate was waved through by members of the household who were thoroughly involved in a game combining Brisbane's railway stations and a Twister mat. Soon we learn Jordan is a stooge for evil developers who need to get the residents of York St out so they can build high-rise luxury apartments on the site. Jordan's work begins when a creepy ally of his terrorises Missy, one of the housemate. Meanwhile John and American gambler Three-Fingers drive to Melbourne to rescue Decoy, who's been manipulated by a woman who needs the train fare back there, and who's now trapped in a house full of angry lesbians. While they're away, we see Jordan rob the York St house, taking the rent and bill money and leaving the housemates in dire trouble.
Jordan (Daren King)
The second act opens with cocktail party day at York St, and we're introduced to Sativa, an ex-flatmate of Jordan's who's also been ripped off by him. Through some detective work the housemates learn where Jordan lives, and head over there to reclaim their gear.
Fat Cop (Damien Campagnolo) and Debbie (Kathy Kunde)
This becomes the most emotionally poignant scene of the whole play. Stacey and John are alone in Jordan's lounge, and while most of the stuff from York St has been found, Stacey's expensive camera is still missing. Stacey is desperately tired of the share-house life, of being a "den-mother" to people whose lives are going nowhere. She despairs of her plans to study, to work as a photographer in Manhattan and to have a career as a news photographer. This is the scene where TTBF rises above mere hilarious farce, and talks about the real implications of the life we see lived at York St. If you want to achieve something with your life, one day the share-house living, fun as it is, is going to have to end.
Decoy (Michael Fitzhywel) and Stacey
There's a lot of play left after this scene, including a house party and garage sale trying to raise enough money to stay in York St, the fierce revolutionary ranting of Jhelise Guevara (
who you can follow on Twitter if you click here), the biggest collection of drugs you've ever seen on a Brisbane stage, and an unfortunate accident with a compressed-air tank. But despite the fun, we're still left with the question Stacey confronts us with - what the hell should we do with our lives when it's time to stop partying?
Jhelise Guevara (Elizabeth Best)
This bare-bones description of the plot doesn't do justice to the funny and surreal parts of the play - there's weird drug-fuelled hallucinations, John's sexual desires are regularly frustrated by both bad luck and his own bad judgement, Decoy spends about a third of the play in a cockroach suit, some very badly-dressed policemen hassle the York St housemates, and there's some evil scheming in the
City Hall clock tower. There's plenty of references to pop culture, including the real-life John Birmingham's
Axis of Time novels,
pretentious ads promoting tourism in Melbourne, iPads, Pulp Fiction, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, local independent radio station
4ZZZ-FM, and
unfavourable reviews of the Arts Theatre's production of Felafel. The set is familiar to anyone who's lived in a share-house, with posters plastered all over the walls, cheap furniture and whitegoods, and the inevitable milk-crates.
T-Bird (Declan Ziemek)
The actors carrying the biggest load are Shaun King as John Birmingham,
Amy Currie as Stacey, Michael Fitzhywel as Decoy and Daren King as Jordan. Most of the other actors have to switch between roles several times, and they do a tight job switching between scenes;
Simon Bedak's script is fast-paced with lots of scene-changes, entrances and exits, giving director
Natalie Bochenski a big challenge which she's met well. The actors worked hard in the preview performance with a theatre less than a quarter-full, a difficult job which means they'll be ready to reap the rewards of a no-doubt full house on Saturday's opening night.
Phraedom (Lauren Ware) and Taylor (Jamie McKinnell)
If you enjoy a tale of good, simple tenants pitted against the forces of evil property-developers, with knowing humour, trippy surreal sequences and just a touch of serious pondering about life, you'll like
The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco.
The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco opens at the Brisbane Arts Theatre on Saturday April 10.
You can buy tickets online if you click here, or you can book by calling Brisbane Arts Theatre on 07 3369 2344.
You can see
20 photos from the play if you click here.
