Play Review: Un-Natural Selection

 In an attempt to become more cultured, I decided to spend a night watching a play. Un-Natural Selection was a play that was performed at the Gold Coast Performing Arts Centre. Although the season of this plays showing is now over, I really enjoyed this play for several reasons. These reasons included the story of the play, the acting in the play and the actual venue.

The story of the play follows a young couple, Di and Henry. When Di’s grandfather dies, she inherits his funeral home and business. Instead of selling up, she decides to run the business as she feels that it is what her grandfather would have wanted. Along the way, they hire a third member of the team which, although a love triangle is hinted at occasionally, it is mostly left alone (thank you play for not trying to turn into another Twilight wannabe). At the time that this is happening, there is also a serial killer on the loose in the city.

 

Although the story had the potential to be compelling, it felt more like an excuse to jump between different locales and set-ups. These set-ups were then used to explore certain themes, such as Di’s sense of obligation to her dead grandfather or how people deal with death, before having a relatively morbid ending. Although this style could have easily unravelled, this was made to work with the consistent dark humour that tied the different set-ups together as well as the skill of the actors in pulling off the required balance between humour and drama.

The acting cast was only a handful of people (5 from memory), despite the play having a wide variety of characters. The actors were easily split between the regulars in every scene (Di, Henry and the new funeral employee) and 2 actors who alternated between policemen, business gurus, news reporters, undertakers, doctors and I am sure others that I have forgotten. Although it would have been easy for these characters to become muddled, the actors managed to put enough distinct character in each of them to keep them entertaining. The energy the actors brought to the stage was also palpable, with the actors literally improvising lines on stage and looking like they are about to crack themselves up laughing.

 

Naturally this energy extended to the audience and was helped by the venue. This play was set in quite a small, intimate stage with only about 10 rows of wooden seats. This made the energy the actors put into the play palpable to the audience. Without this energy, it would have been easy for the audience to lose interest in the play. However, since the first scene where a reporter gets up and makes allot of lame puns about a serial killer on the loose, the audience was very responsive to the play and what was happening onstage.

Overall, this play was a highly enjoyable night out. The black comedy of the plays story combined with the skill of the actors helped make what easily could have been a disjointed experience a very funny and entertaining play. The small, intimate venue helped the audience become invested in the play and made this a very successful production in my opinion at least.

Signing off,

The Waffle Puncher