Clink monologue performances to 'challenge' actors



Clink monologue performances to 'challenge' actors

Wednesday June 2 2014, 11:21am

The next production 'Talking Heads' at the Clink Theatre, which start showing on Friday at 6:30pm, promises to bring something quite different to the audience.

 

Originally a BBC series of six monologues written by acclaimed author Alan Bennett, director Yvonne O'Hara has chosen two of these brilliant monologues to present on stage, these being "Her Big Chance" and "A Chip In The Sugar". 

They tell the story of  two repressed souls -  a hopeful actress and a middle aged man dominated by his mother.

Judy Gittings, a favourite at the Clink for over 20 years will perform Lesley, a small time actress who thinks she has a great deal to offer both as an actress and a person. Confident, persistently helpful and oddly moral, Lesley  is totally unaware to the fact that others in the film industry are not of the same opinion. 

More to the point,  it's her attractiveness, not her talent that, finally lands her a part in a rather dubious German film. 

Her tendency to explore her relationships with 'interesting' men on set  adds yet another dimension to the many aspects of the delightfully wicked monologue "Her Big Chance".

"A Chip In The Sugar" will be performed by actor Ross Simmons who portrays Graham Whittaker, a closeted homosexual and "mother's boy" with a history of mental health issues. 

His life becomes complicated when his 70 year old mother re-unites with an old flame, right-wing thinker Frank Turnbull, who takes them to a 'common caff' where, to Grahams astonishment, Mummy is totally oblivious to a chip in the sugar.

Usually that would never do! 

After a brief courtship Frank proposes.

While on the surface Graham's concern is about what Mummy will do about her bowel problem when she's on the honeymoon, the real issue is that he is in panic mode as he may have to move out of his childhood home into an institution to make way for the interloper.

Strange happenings begin to surface as well as the mental health issues.

Director Yvonne O'Hara said the scripts presented challenges for the actors. 

"Performing a monologue is definitely not for the faint-hearted," Ms O'Hara said.

"Both Judy and Ross are each on stage alone for over 30 minutes, and there's nowhere to go, no one to cover for you.

"You can expect terrific performances with delightfully comic, eccentric and sometimes touching moments from both actors. 

"And as with all brilliant dialogue - the more you listen the more you hear."