Fortune Theatre
Review by Barbara Frame
Moonlight and Magnolias was the working title of David O. Selznick's 1939 film of Gone with the Wind, and Ron Hutchinson's play imagines the process of turning Margaret Mitchell's much-loved novel into a movie.
Production has broken down and Selznick has hired Ben Hecht, apparently one of the few Americans who have not read the book, to rewrite the screenplay in five days.
The two shut themselves up with director Victor Fleming, and a supply of peanuts and bananas, to incubate the script. Amid mounting squalor the madness and fights of the accelerated gestation give way to periods of introspection and sober examination of the entertainment business.
Murray Lynch's snappy direction brings out excellent characterisation. Julian Wilson is all focused determination as Selznick, Matt Wilson's Fleming is both suave and abrasive, and Anna Henare exploits the comic possibilities of Miss Poppenghaul, Selznick's secretary, to the limit.
The most sympathetic character is Ben Hecht, clinging fiercely to his Jewish idealism while battling exhaustion, moral outrage and the conviction that he is working on a flop. Malcolm Murray plays him as an engaging mixture of toughness and charm.
Selznick's remark about Gone with the Wind that ‘‘It's a melodrama'', applies equally to Moonlight and Magnolias, but this is a melodrama with more heart than most. The hilarious plot synopsis of the novel embedded in the script tells you all you need to know if you have never read the novel, seen the film, or even heard of Scarlett O'Hara.
Last night's near-capacity audience had a great time.
