They Shoot Horses Don't They

This is adaptation of a short novel by Horace McCoy, presented by the Italia Conti Ensemble, recalls the Depression in America in 1935 when poverty drove young people to take part in dance marathons until they dropped, the winners receiving a thousand dollars. It focuses on three young couples, whose relationships and lives are complicated in different ways. On the surface it’s a heart-breaking tale of desperation, con men and murder. It’s actually a fantastic expose of the hideous lie behind the American Dream, having in its crosshairs the Evangelical right wing, racism, the death penalty and the cesspit of advertising.We begin by being welcomed to the joint by Itoya Osagiede’s charismatic Rocky Gravo’s MC and principle manipulator. The contestants are introduced in song and we meet the three principle couples. Vee and Mary are thrown together for the first time, but will end up being bribed to get married during the event in front of the audience. Mario and Ruby are very much together already, and she’s pregnant and shouldn’t be enduring this ordeal. Their situation is made worse by the fact he is on the run from a fifty-year prison term. And finally there’s Robert and the fabulously cynical Gloria. As things progress events are interrupted several times by scenes from the future in which a police detective interviews Robert regarding Gloria’s apparent murder.Add to all of this the tense dynamic between Rocky Gravo and two women employees there is plenty to try and keep track of here. The performances are pretty good generally, though some of the cue pick up, particularly early on, was poor. The singing is terrific. On that note, it’s a rather strange beast, starting with a song, then becoming more or less a straight drama, then piling on the numbers in the last third. Director Sue Colgrave marshals the traffic of the stage quite well, and gets some nice performances out of the cast, including Will Marshall as the ultimately tragic Robert. Head and shoulders above the rest is Thea Rooney’s Gloria. The character is the most dynamic, the most honest with herself. She’s had a terrible life and it’s brought her to this place with nothing to lose. She’s the most articulate, and Rooney squeezes every ounce of anger and pathos from the character, particularly magnificent as she turns on the man from The Fathers’ League For Good Morals who wants to close the dance down. This scene cuts to the heart of the play. Here’s a basically good person, destroyed by life, savaging the pomposity and hypocrisy of the American Right. You feel like you want to cheer her on.The play’s climax sees her dead, killed by Robert at her own request. He will soon be dead too, killed by a State which doesn’t understand how rotten the world had become back then. The rich got richer, and the poor, poorer. Sound familiar?