Auckland Theatre Company has found powerful contemporary relevance in its revival of a John Guare play which made a big splash at its 1990 Broadway premiere and quickly reappeared in a star-studded movie version featuring
Colin McColl's direction wisely treats the play's satire as high farce and creates plenty of space for the very real emotions which are exposed as the story shades towards tragedy. A similar balancing of contrasts is achieved in John Parker's striking set design which has intersecting rows of chandeliers and pillars set against alluringly dark recesses.
The superb ensemble delivers excellent performances with Andrew Grainger and Bruce Phillips nailing the unholy alliance of art and commerce while Shimpal Lelisi captures the hard-nosed insouciance of a New York detective. Brynley Stent and Leo Maggs evoke the embarrassed humiliation of the victims of a con and there is a suitably gaudy parade of cartoonish cameos mocking the self-involved delusions of the privileged elite.
What: Six Degrees of Separation
Where & When: ASB Waterfront Theatre, until Friday, August 30
Reviewed by: Paul Simei-Barton