Review: P.R.D.

P.R.D.
Little Theatre, McGrath St
Reviewed by John Ireland

One-act plays, like short stories, should never be judged by their length. It takes a talented wordsmith to drop us into the middle of the action, make us care about characters in quick order and then provide a conclusion of sorts, all in less time than it would take to consume a decent meal.

Willy Couper does all that with P.R.D. and, in the process, grabs us by the throat and gives our sensibilities a good shake.

As an actor, Willy exudes hulking menace. In The Breakfast Club, his Bender personified danger to the point where we could easily picture him striding the hallways of Shermer High School while brandishing an assault rifle, his knapsack filled not with homework assignments, but boxes of hollow-point ammunition.

As a playwright, he refuses to play it safe. P.R.D. is recommended for an 18+ audience for a reason: it is shocking and profane and savage. And oh-so-refreshing when compared to the put-bums-on-seats attitude that dilutes most community theatre in this country.
With a running time hovering around the 30-minute mark, P.R.D. takes place over several months as Edward Thatch (Willy) and his girlfriend, Selene LeShay (Rachel Griffiths), scrape out an existence while passing time in a dingy suite in a long-stay motel. You can almost smell the mould and desperation.

Edward works in sales for the 'Mexicans' but it's obvious he is eagerly sampling the merchandise, as he pops, shoots, sniffs and smokes - whatever it takes to escape reality.
Rachel brings a wide-eyed ingenue attitude to Selene, and so it's difficult to watch Edward tie her to the bed frame for a bout of rough love.

Conflict arrives in the form of Selene's sister Stella (Megan Combrinck), an aspiring actress whose next role will be that of single parent, thanks to one too many sessions on the casting couch. Stella wanted it all and now has more than she can handle.
She picks fights with Selene, she picks fights with their mother, Cassandra (a feisty Sonja Christensen), their clashes tearing at the fabric of the room, forcing Edward to sink deeper into his stoned-out fugue.

In an interesting twist, a major catfight plays out not in words, but in action, as the three women engage in a fierce dance performance that allows them to express more emotion than dialogue ever could.

An eclectic soundtrack - featuring The Kinks, Arctic Monkeys, Portishead and Alice in Chains, along with original work by Matt Kid and Ben Hooper - adds volume to a tense atmosphere where four personalities are about to explode into a single destructive flame.
Afterwards, with the house lights up and audience members chatting, I overheard one lady saying she watched P.R.D. with hands hovering near her face, just in case she needed to cover her eyes if the action grew too intense. Full-metal audience buy-in. There is no better recommendation.

¦ Directed by Glenn Cameron, P.R.D. is the Napier Repertory Players' entry in the Hawke's Bay TheatreFest competition, August 5-6 at Theatre Hawke's Bay's Playhouse in Hastings.