Maidment Studio
Review: Susan Budd
What could be more appropriate entertainment in the City of Sails agog with the antics of sailors vying for the America's Cup than a play written and performed by a man in love with the sea?
Sean Allan recounts his passion for boats, from his first encounter with
a P-Class yacht and halcyon days navigating the Hauraki Gulf to its climax, sailing home from Ireland with a monosyllabic Kiwi, another Sean.
With more than a touch of the blarney, Allan displays little stoicism of the Man Alone variety. A not-so-old hippie who readily admits his tendencies to flakiness, he re-enacts his joyous meetings with dolphins and his awe at the sighting of a whale. Ramona the shark is quite another kettle of fish, however, and inspires only fear and loathing. In a hilarious scene, he performs the dance heavily inspired by Martha Graham with which he whiled away days when becalmed. He may be a flake, but he views his younger self with such finely judged irony that we laugh with, but not at him.
While a New Age wind fills his sails, the engine that brings the vessel to port is humour. Apart from self-mockery, he has a keen eye for the foibles of others. A sangria-bearing lighthouse keeper who launches into impressions of Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene and the entire four seasons of Vivaldi at the drop of a glass makes rich comic material that Allan exploits to great effect.
Humour slackens in the doldrums off the coast of Madagascar. It is there that Allan yearns for a crisply efficient air hostess to carry him home and it is then that, somewhat arbitrarily, the play ends.
In her production, Perry Piercy keeps a tight ship that only occasionally runs out of wind in moments of reflection. The set, composed of rigging and a wooden ladder that unfolds to form the prow, is simple and effective and the lighting is so well integrated with the performance that it almost becomes another character.
