Review - Daylight Saving: an impressive presentation.

By Lilian Harrington

Daylight Saving

By Nick Enright

Directed by Helen Ekundayo

Villanova Players

The Ron Hurley Theatre

28 Tallowood St.

Seven Hills Q.

Season: 9 June -18 June

Try booking: www.villanovaplayers.com

Villanova Players (V.P.) presents the fun-filled comedy Daylight Saving, written by the late Gold AWGIE winner Australian playwright Nick Enright, author of plays such as “Cloud Street”, “The Boy from OZ” and many other works. This well paced and tasteful comedy deals with several current day issues facing society including: love, loneliness, temptation, food and the challenges of coaching a tennis pro.

It tells the story of Tom (Peter Cattach), and Felicity (Victoria Mc Crystal), who have reached their 7th wedding anniversary; he is away in the USA again, and she is having a night off from her business as a top restauranteur in the local area. Tom has forgotten it’s a wedding anniversary, but she has invited an old flame over from her former high school, she had known years 20 years earlier, Josh ( played by Michael Mc Nish ), who’s tracked her down while on a trip to Australia from the United States.

He’s now a University Professor, divorced and looking to renew his acquaintance with Felicity. While she is preparing a special dinner for this reunion, her mother Bunty (played by Desley Nicols),appears asking questions and wants to share her new book and her awful home- baked cookies with Felicity’s guest. No sooner has Felicity or Flick, gets her mother to leave, than her neighbour, Stephanie (Alison Clarke) enters, distraught over her boyfriend. Uninvited, Stephanie tucks into the drinks and food..

Despite Josh and Flick’s well laid plans to catch up, they are destined not to have the planned reunion. Tom returns home unexpectedly , followed by his temperamental and demanding Australian tennis prodgie, Jason (played by Lachlan Gregory Hugh), who’s caused some trouble at the championship with his outbursts..

Felicity needs to find a way to resolve all these interruptions, she eventually speaks to her husband Tom, who wants to make changes; she now suspects he’s having an affair with a woman in the U.S.A. Flick, manages to get her visitors to leave, and she sorts out matters with Tom.

Director, Helen Ekundayo , happens to be a big fan of writer Nick Enright’s work and she’s directed other plays of his for Villanova Players, because she likes to explore texts that are about Aussie characters with issues, and have intricate human relationships.

She has juxtaposed the special effects needed with music to compliment the movement and action in the script. Lucy Moxon and her team have created the design with a tasteful set depicting the period, which highlights the colourful light changes in the sunset through the open windows and the interior setting. However, uneven lighting on the set left the all-important phone in the shaded area and this detracted because it had an important connection in the action; it was set in the shadow making it harder to see character reactions.

Comedy relies on good timing, pace, energy and visual image, with a certain amount of tension, the Second Act succeeded in this and picked up these important elements with strong characterisations by Micheal Mc Nish, Lachlan Gregory Hugh and Alison Clarke. Detailed attention was given to costume e.g. the American Professor, costumed in his patched sleeve jacket caught our attention, as did Stephanie’s costume which complimented her role and character. These thoughtful touches helped present an image typical of the era, highlighting the characters and their motivation; it helped to make for an impressive presentation.

Daylight Saving, is a fun night out, as well as raising some pertinent issues that face many of us in our daily lives.

Note from the director:

Thank you for sending Lillian Harrington to review Villanova Players' show Daylight Saving. In the review she made reference to some bad lighting. I would like to point out that Brisbane City Council, who owns the Ron Hurley Theatre, has made a ruling that we are not permitted to change or add any lighting. This means that we are at the mercy of badly placed lights, unable to effectively perform under normal theatre conditions. My tech designer Owen Jones, with assistance from B'Élanna Hill, achieved as much as he was able within these restrictive conditions. Believe me, I was well aware of the area of the stage being in shadow and it was adjusted as much as possible.

Regards,

Helen Ekundayo

Director, "Daylight Saving"

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