Take a dead Monday night bar, add a couple of lost souls, short skirts and a good doseof Bronx-side rage. Shake it all up with plenty of alcohol and you have a potentiallyexplosive display of the best and the worst of humanity. Savage in Limbo is writerJohn Patrick Shanley's foray into the darkness of 1980s New York and the lives ofthree women who, stumbling into their early 30s, are facing up to their lonely, fallenexistences. Shanley's writing is full of punchy verve and nervy vigour which isunfortunately never fully realised by the Planktonic Players in their debut production.
Director Michael Pratt sets the scene in an actual bar, with the audience formingpart of the bar crowd to mixed results: the intimacy is perfect for getting upclose and personal with the sometimes brilliant performances of Grace Kennedy(Denise Savage) and Gabrielle Curtis (Linda Rotunda); however the casualnessof the atmosphere often muddies the staging and doesn't allow for full focus andunderstanding of the complex ideas in Shanley's poetic words. The actors are alsobattling an unforgiving space that swallows the consonants of their occasionally-questionable New York accents and lets in a lot of noise from the pub downstairs. Iwanted so much for the boom of the band and the roar of the traffic to complementthe action on stage, but I found myself frustrated by the actors' lack of solid vocaltechnique which meant so many almost-shining moments were lost by simply nothearing the words.
Actors Kennedy and Curtis burst in with a gritty energy that toes the line betweenbravado and vulnerability perfectly. Kennedy in particular is on-the-nose castingas Savage herself - a whirlwind of put-on sexiness and on-the-edge desperation inleopard print and heels. Curtis is a little one-track in her characterisation, but shehas moments of sparkle and invigorates the room when facing off against Kennedy.Melissa Palleschi opens with a great first impression as sweetness-gone-wrong AprilWhite (accentuated perfectly by Rebecca Tredget's costume design), but falls shortof the true craziness needed to see out her relationship with barman Murk, played byOliver Hewett.
Unfortunately, the man at the centre of this storm is a case of poor casting. RobertBellissimo as Tony Aronica doesn’t deliver the vital physical energy and presenceneeded to stand strong as the centre point amongst the women. Pratt hasn't teased outenough depth in the relationship between Bellissimo and Curtis and, as such, theirfinal showdown is sadly unremarkable.
That said, it is exciting to see a new company make their debut with such enthusiasm.There are some superb moments but the Planktonic Players have only just scratchedthe surface of Shanley's writing in this production that will, ultimately, leave youwanting.
