East West Theatre's Triple Bill

The East West Theatre company's current triple bill pairs up two plays by Tennessee Williams with one of Tom Stoppard's. It's a somewhat odd pairing, coupling two rather serious vignettes steeped in Southern US twang with a zany metaphysical mash-up of a British whodunnit, but it does prove to be an evening that takes the audience through a range of emotions, most of them enjoyable, but unfortunately not all. Laughs abound along with moments of pathos; moments of intense drama find a place next to stretches of boredom.

The night's first piece, "The Lady of Lockspur Lotion", considered to be the sketch that inspired Tennessee Williams' masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire, gives us a proto-Blance du Bois named Mrs Hardewicke-Moore (Elena Yeo) coming under the wrath of her landlord Mrs Wire (Andra McKay) for failing to pay the rent. As Mrs Wire confronts Mrs Hardewicke-Moore about her more unseemly activities and her delusions of gradeur, a neighbouring Writer (Bill Marcus) also delinquent in his rent comes to the defense of Hardewicke-Moore and her delusions.

A Williams play has the potential to be profound, but always at the risk of slipping into melodrama. There's just something about that American Southern lilt. This production of "The Lady of Lockspur Lotion" vascillates between these two extremes. Yeo's Hardewicke-Moore is indeed a delicate flower lost in her own internal struggles, but McKay's Wire hardly proves menacing enough to make them palpable. As a result, the piece proves slow moving and painful until almost the end when a monologue by Marcus's Writer suddenly jump starts a connection between the characters. Marcus literally has to shake to make it so. It's an electrifying moment, but a bit too late.

What Yeo and McKay lack in "Lockspur Lotion" they make up for in "Something Unspoken" (pictured right). The action follows the oblique conversation between an older woman, Miss Corneilia Scott (McKay) and her younger, but middle-aged secretary Miss Grace Lancaster (Yeo). McKay's Scott is a pistol of a woman, recently widowed, who is attempting to control the proceedings of a local group of society women over the telephone. Meanwhile, she is left alone in the house with Lancaster, giving her the opportunity to thank her for fifteen years of service and broach an aspect of their relationship that has gone unspoken. Here, McKay and Yeo engage in a tennis match of intentions and implications. We have a good idea of what is on the mind McKay's Scott by the end of the play, but Yeo's Lancaster puts up a wall of ambiguity that is credible, intriguing and ultimately heartbreaking.

The final play, Tom Stoppard's "The Real Inspector Hound" (pictured at top) proves to be the hit of evening, and regardless of your feelings about the two earlier offerings, it's well worth the wait. Two critics, Moon (Arran Hawkins) and Birdboot (Mustaq Missouri) are attending what appears to be another humdrum British murder mystery. As the action unfolds, the pair come up with their own theories about motive, etc. all while revealing their own idiosyncrasies and obsessions with pitch-perfect humor. Those familar with both Hawkins and Missouri from previous English language productions in Shanghai will not be dissappointed. Both of these actors shine as bright as ever. The rest of the cast does a fine job as well, but they are mostly playing set-up for Hawkins and Missouri as they will themselves into the play before them and their hilarious doom.

East West Theatre's "The Lady of Lockspur Lotion", "Something Unspoken" and "The Real Inspector Hound". 6 - 7 July. 8pm. RMB 180 (RMB 150 presale). Mansion Veranda Restaurant and Bar, 5F, Mansion Hotel
82 Xinle Lu, near Xiangyang Lu, 135 6410 2955, [email protected]

Photos: Sarah Martindale