"The success of the piece lies in its mix of emotional openness and ambiguity...spectacularly silly and touchingly simple" - The Guardian
Directed by Lies Pauwels and starring an eclectic (and in more than one aspect) cast of six, this Flemish theatrical fiesta is a discombobulating indulgence which serves up delightfully silly and simultaneously melancholic characters of most variable, and at times nebulous, personalities. Juggling many queries and not answering any of them, "For All the Wrong Reasons" is a burlesque exploration of our senseless humanity in this didactic world.
Among the many sights and sounds, here are some of the more memorable ones for me. Wayne Summerbell, who opened the production, played a gender bending role that vacillated between a cross-dressing bunny and macho band-boy twat. In his self contradicting manners, I see an admirably tormented creature who tries to find a role in a society bent on hating him. "Ich kann sie etwas lehren", I thought I heard him yell in German - and indeed.
I particularly enjoyed Suzanne Loudon's wayfaring gamine who was determinedly self-victimizing. I still find myself unable to stop laughing at the memory of her, after her jeremiad characteristic of the many self-righteous beings beleaguered by what we deem an uncaring society, bawling "and then the cat sneezed in my face!". Another verbosity was David Hoyle who's slick mannerisms elicited much laughter. I personally loved the scene when he mouthed, and subsequently belted, to the Bee Gees's "I Started a Joke" - a song that very accurately reflects the play's farcical obsession.
"How do people survive, and how much theatre do they play in everyday life? These are the basic questions."
What was most eye-opening, and I believe I speak not only for myself, was watching Kiruna Starnell perform. It was my first time seeing a midget (pardon me, but I'm not aware of any more socially acceptable term) live and though I found it hard to reconcile her physical stature, I was blown away by her vociferous tirades (which memorably featured the brilliant one-liner "everyone wants luxury to be a pain in the ass").Delivering admirable performances too were Eleni Edipidi, acting as a manic love-craving woman, with her almost acrobatic choreography and Harley Bartles, who was really convincing in his "broken" roles, particularly that of the soldier tricked by good intention into sexing a child prostitute.
The set - which is a lowly raised green platform with lights hanging from poles around its perimetres and six chairs on either sides - was strangely alluring and kept me thinking of a carnivalesque boxing ring on which the characters fought through life and off which they jeered at one another. I was also fascinated by the cinematic screen which was used for occasional subtitles and credits - it brought me a strange sense of comfort, or complacency, that is so characteristic of a drive-in.
"For All the Wrong Reasons" is madness that is by turns poignant and hilarious, pretty and grotesque, senseless and ordered. It is most imperative to catch it in it's premier beyond Europe in Singapore - well, as in the words of the actors, if only "for all the wrong reasons".
