Currently at Mosgiel’s Fire Station Theatre, a season of two one-act plays written by New Zealand award-winning playwright April Philips, offers humorous entertainment for an adult audience. The plays were written to complement each other, which indeed they do as both are themed on married life and both have a fantasy character side-kick.
In Bonking James Bond, Betty (Alison Cowan) discovers Jeffery, her husband of 20 years (Rob Monzari), is having an affair, and retaliates by indulging her imagination big time with a fantasy man named James Bond (Keith Richardson).
Jeffery notices changes in his wife as her make-believe Bond pampers and cossets her with everything for which she yearns, with recognisable Bond situations — flowers, phone-calls, bedroom scenes, new matching red satin lingerie and an Aston Martin escape with shootout.
The story was well-told, though rather stilted at times, and initially I had difficulty relating the youthful-looking Jeffery (who definitely needed grey foils) with his mature looking dolly-bird (Phyll Esplin), but their PDAs (Public Displays of Affection) were entirely believable.
The other play, Snip, was fast-moving and well-cast, and the story featured a couple with three young children, as they struggled to cope with the stresses and strains of parenthood.
Jenny (Heidi Rixon) the feisty sleep-deprived wife has definite ideas on preventing further additions to their family, which terrifies Frank (Edward Matthews), her rather wimpish husband who suffers from nightmares and sleep-walking. A fictional overbearing Italian godfather (Matthew Brennan) and Dr Sam Smith (Alison Ayers) at the vasectomy clinic bring humour and a satisfactory solution with many well-timed one-liners.
"He wears the trousers but she tells him which ones to wear!"
Both plays were directed by David Thomson, using the same excellent set, but with different colour-schemes and props, and both have underlying moral and meaning.
The production (for an adult audience) continues until May 19 in the excellently refurbished and ideal-sized Mosgiel theatre.
Bonking James Bond and Snip
• The Fire Station Mosgiel, Thusday, May 10
