REVIEW | The Censor
May 3rd 2000 02:58
HAMCAT PRODUCTIONS in association with LOIS NORMAN presents
the CENSOR
by ANTHONY NEILSON
DIRECTED by Lois Norman
CAST Rachael Blake, Tony Martin, Jinny McCallister
At THE STABLES THEATRE, NIMROD STREET, KINGS CROSS, AUSTRALIA.
This play says a lot in seventy minutes. It is the story of Miss Fontaine, a pornographer who challenges an elusive film censor to appreciate her celluloid vision on a deeply personal level.
The Censor spends his time counting the seconds between oral sex, anal penetration, genital stimulation and fetishist moments in porn films yet to be classified and released on the market.
At home the Censor has a wife with whom he has a policy about infidelity. She (played quite brilliantly by Jinny McCallister) is having an extramarital affair with a man who wants to have a meeting with the Censor and the Wife to sort things out between them. The Censor is played with resilient simplicity by a grey-bearded Tony Martin.
Playwright Anthony Neilson creates a neat little tragedy with shades of 'The Atrocity Exhibition' by J.G. Ballard. The play is tight and spare. I can imagine it would adapt into a film or teleplay very easily. Despite some extremely funny moments it is not a comedy.
Racheal Blake gives gravity to Miss Fontaine a character who could easily be misshapenly played by an actor with really bad direction or too much titilation. Miss Fontaine is prone to using her natural expression rather than words governed by good taste or common respectability, so from time to time she acts, demonstrates, compels rather than rants.
When she strips off her panties to try and prove a point she is not just fooling around. Miss Fontaine has a concept of the queer as fuck folk of the world being hailed as "visionaries", she wants the Censor to understand what she means and she means what she means with a combination of conviction, vulva and entryism.
Actually Miss Fontaine reminded me of playwright Tobsha Learner backstage at a tacky little drag venue called "Trish's" in North Melbourne circa 1987, but that's another story and Tobsha is doing quite well these days, unlike Miss Fontaine who ends up hanging with the wrong crowd. Just what the play is saying is as elusive as the Censor himself. Ultimately it is food for thought rather than nourishment for the mind. The cast serve it very very well, the direction is a touch monomaniacal with actors mirroring each other a little too often but it is intelligently done on the whole. I highly recommend it to all adults who enjoy a good fuck but
never discuss it.
David Paul Jobling
the CENSOR
by ANTHONY NEILSON
DIRECTED by Lois Norman
CAST Rachael Blake, Tony Martin, Jinny McCallister
At THE STABLES THEATRE, NIMROD STREET, KINGS CROSS, AUSTRALIA.
This play says a lot in seventy minutes. It is the story of Miss Fontaine, a pornographer who challenges an elusive film censor to appreciate her celluloid vision on a deeply personal level.
At home the Censor has a wife with whom he has a policy about infidelity. She (played quite brilliantly by Jinny McCallister) is having an extramarital affair with a man who wants to have a meeting with the Censor and the Wife to sort things out between them. The Censor is played with resilient simplicity by a grey-bearded Tony Martin.
Playwright Anthony Neilson creates a neat little tragedy with shades of 'The Atrocity Exhibition' by J.G. Ballard. The play is tight and spare. I can imagine it would adapt into a film or teleplay very easily. Despite some extremely funny moments it is not a comedy.
Racheal Blake gives gravity to Miss Fontaine a character who could easily be misshapenly played by an actor with really bad direction or too much titilation. Miss Fontaine is prone to using her natural expression rather than words governed by good taste or common respectability, so from time to time she acts, demonstrates, compels rather than rants.
When she strips off her panties to try and prove a point she is not just fooling around. Miss Fontaine has a concept of the queer as fuck folk of the world being hailed as "visionaries", she wants the Censor to understand what she means and she means what she means with a combination of conviction, vulva and entryism.
Actually Miss Fontaine reminded me of playwright Tobsha Learner backstage at a tacky little drag venue called "Trish's" in North Melbourne circa 1987, but that's another story and Tobsha is doing quite well these days, unlike Miss Fontaine who ends up hanging with the wrong crowd. Just what the play is saying is as elusive as the Censor himself. Ultimately it is food for thought rather than nourishment for the mind. The cast serve it very very well, the direction is a touch monomaniacal with actors mirroring each other a little too often but it is intelligently done on the whole. I highly recommend it to all adults who enjoy a good fuck but
never discuss it.
David Paul Jobling
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