Cate Prestidge is a principal academic and co-ordinator of journalism and communication programmes at Wintec. She has been writing theatre reviews for NZME since 2021.
Subscribe to listen
Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
The cast of Unnecessary Farce (from left): Cat Dwyer, Cara Torr, Arthur Van Resseghem, Cameron Law, Michelle Ranginui, Nicolas Wells and Greg Matetaka. Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams
The cast of Unnecessary Farce (from left): Cat Dwyer, Cara Torr, Arthur Van Resseghem, Cameron Law, Michelle Ranginui, Nicolas Wells and Greg Matetaka. Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams
The action is usually contained within a single location, complete with multiple doors that allow confusion and chaos to unfold.
Hamilton Playbox’s latest production, Unnecessary Farce, embraces all these conventions with enthusiasm.
This punily titled comedy delivers bumbling policemen, inept villains, mistaken identities and a few saucy subplots, all played out across adjoining motel rooms with plenty of doors for the inevitable comings and goings.
Written by Paul Slade Smith, it opens with the pre-show announcements delivered with comedic aggression in a broad Scottish brogue.
The plot centres on a sting operation that quickly spirals into absurdity.
Dodgy dealings collide with even dodgier policing from officers Eric (Arthur Van Resseghem) and Billie (Cara Torr), creating a cascade of misunderstandings and increasingly ridiculous situations.
The first 20 minutes feel a little drawn-out, with a long set-up and dialogue heavy on exposition.
Once the groundwork is laid, however, the play gathers momentum, and the second half delivers a series of well-timed comic set pieces that had the theatre laughing.
Farce is deceptively difficult to stage.
A split stage gives plenty of opportunity for exits and entrances. Cara Torr (from left), Arthur Van Resseghem, Greg Matetaka and Cat Dwyer star. Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams
It demands precise timing, confident physicality and actors willing to fully commit to the silliness.
Director Ron Dalton has chosen well, and the cast embraces the opportunity with some great set pieces.
Cara Torr is particularly effective in the scenes where Officer Billie is confronting the imposing Todd, a towering Scotsman played with suitable menace by Cameron Law.
Their physical contrasts and Torr’s expressive eye movements and comic timing draw plenty of laughs.
With two large beds dominating the motel rooms, it’s no surprise that much of the action unfolds around and on them, producing some of the show’s most ridiculous moments.
Cat Dwyer, as accountant Karen, and Van Resseghem have fun early on, bumbling through a burgeoning relationship in various stages of undress, while in Act 2, Dwyer and Law excel in a lively, exaggerated sequence, and Torr and Van Resseghem add to the escalating chaos with great timing.
Unnecessary Farce: Karen the accountant (Cat Dwyer) attempts to discuss the accounts with the mayor (Nicolas Wells). Photo / Kerry Blakeney-Williams
Nicolas Wells is a standout as the laconic local mayor, delivering just the right balance of pomposity and bewilderment, in one of my favourite performances of the night.
Greg Matetaka makes a strong entrance as Agent Frank and is good in a tricky role which confusingly requires both menace and fear, and which adds further twists to the already tangled plot.
Dwyer brings confidence and energy to the seemingly straight lead role of accountant Karen, while van Resseghem anchors the action as the hapless senior policeman.
Michelle Ranginui rounds out the cast as the mayor’s wife, Mary, beginning as a timid presence before revealing more complex layers.
Some transitions in the first half could move a little faster, and there’s a bit of fumbling with props, but overall, Dalton keeps the action moving and the tone buoyant.
The simple motel-room set works well and, crucially for a farce featuring no fewer than eight doors, has been solidly constructed by the Playbox set team.
Unnecessary Farce offers plenty of silly, energetic entertainment and an enjoyable night of theatre.
Cate Prestidge is a principal academic and co-ordinator of journalism and communication programmes at Wintec. She has been writing theatre reviews for NZME since 2021.
