‘The worst thing about a tragicomedy is the tragedy’: New Review critic Monique Grbec on 15 Minutes from Anywhere’s Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl
In the midst of the Melbourne Festival, the cool kids are packed into La Mama’s Courthouse courtyard for 15 Minutes of Fame’s latest collaboration Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl. The limited floor space means I’m literally rubbing shoulders with Melbourne’s stage and screen uber-awesome. By the time director extraordinaire Beng Oh is standing face-to-face with me on his way to the theatre door, I somehow feel that saying hi is okay.
The sense of inclusion is heightened by our host’s acknowledgement of Elders and unseeded territories; and a sense of privilege is encouraged by a call for women to enter the theatre first. “Ladies first” – it wasn’t until I’d recovered from the shocking finale that I understood how ridiculous that gesture is within a patriarchal framework.
This contemporary take on a boy-meets-girl story subverts social expectations. The enthusiastic social climbing boy (Keith Brockett) flirts and flatters his way to winning the girl (Annie Lumsden) with all the prospects. As she waddles her way to the hospital to give birth to their second child, her tired pleas to make sure he feeds their first are frustrated by his myriad of excuses for having sex with his boss’ daughter: “she unzipped me”.
The boy, a father of two, is going to marry the boss’ daughter (Andrea McCannon). With hips so small that giving birth would be like “squeezing an orange through a straw”, the new wife is keen to get fulltime custody of his children. How Lumsden’s character handles this is where the contemporary narrative submerges and floods us with the worst of patriarchal clichés. Would mixing up the genders have taken anything away from the drama? Or is the current state of Australian gender politics too dismal to dare? Is it too soon to risk an LGTBQ standpoint?
The worst thing about a tragicomedy is the tragedy. The pantomime of verbal and physical comedy, teamed so well with Zac Kezepis’ hop, pop and croon tunes, was annihilated. Emily Collett’s muted costumes of flounce and frills were reduced to utilitarian bland, her catwalk stage stripped back to a mirrored finish where the comedy of social perspectives reflected, discussed, and deciphered; and Dans Maree Sheehan’s lighting design emerged as water rippling across the wall. The devastating drama of our adult boy and girl made laughing impossible.
Playing cards offer an extended metaphor in Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl. If life is a game of cards, this story shows us that men control the deck. Even if you’re a smart, pretty girl with rich parents and a brother (John Marc Desengano) in a band, you will be encouraged to forgo your personal aspirations and “hook your cart up” to any man with some modicum of potential. If your parents don’t approve and you’re disowned, you will accept the flattery of your male and make a life with him.
That said, if Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl was that game of life, Brockett, our male lead barely got a pair, while Lumsden got a full flush of hearts; and Andrea McCannon won with a full house of characters that gave her every opportunity to show off her multifaceted talent. Is there such a thing as too talented?
On the odd occasion when I managed to tear my eyes from the magic on the stage to look across the catwalk at the all-male front row, I searched for facial hints into how they were translating this tragicomedy. While there was a uniform chuckle at McCannon’s spinster advice to our impressionable heroine -“get them while they’re young and you can mold them” – they mostly sat stoically like sitting ducks. Considering my anger with writer Jane Miller’s gender choices, I am left to wonder if equality can ever exist.
The New Review program is a collaboration between Witness and Footscray Community Arts Centre West Writers that nurtures and mentors new critical voices. It is part of Malthouse Theatre’s Living Now resident writers program, funded through the MPA Collaborations program, and has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl, by Jane Miller, directed by Beng Oh. Designed by Emily Collett, lighting design – Dans Maree Sheehan, sound design by Zac Kazepis, stage manager Daniel Barca. Performed by Keith Brockett, John Marc Desengano, Annie Lumsden, Andrea McCannon and Glenn van Oosterom. 15 Minutes from Anywhere at La Mama. Until October 14. Bookings
La Mama Courthouse is currently being renovated and currently has no wheelchair access
