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Salient. Victoria University students' Newspaper. Volume Number 39, Issue 7. April 12 [1976]

Vonnegut

Vonnegut

'Ha ha, ha, ha, hey, hey, Hey! Hey! Mr Vonnegut, you can't get away with that!' Downstage Theatre presents yet another enjoyable night out. You've got to hand it to them, these guys really know how to package a show.

'Happy Birthday, Wanda June' is cunningly and attractively presented. And beneath the marble facade, animal cracker decorations and pink frosted icing, is a bomb!..... or so we are led to believe.

I don't mean that unkindly, but those of you who like to eat your cake and have the bomb explode too, are in for a disappointment.

What went wrong? The play is nearly contemporary, which means it might have once been relevant, or even controversial.

Its a mish-mash of late '60's Amerikana. Tablespoons of peace, love, hawks, doves, nuclear disarmament, liberated libido and fledgling feminism are folded together with cups of Hemmingway, Homer, Brecht, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Robert Heinlein and 'Blue Soup' (possibly a distant relative of N.Z. Green).

This mixture, sprinkled with chopped aphorism and some devastatingly funny lines, baked in a moderate to liberal oven; lovingly iced and decorated, is piped in over dinner. So turn down the lights, light the candles, take a deep breath end......

Odysseus, alias Harold Ryan, is a big American with a big ego and a wallet to match. Having spent eight and a half years lost in Amazonian jungles, living on Blue Soup, he returns somewhat unexpectedly to find his wife Penelope surrounded by suitors. There is Dr. Norbert Woodley, arch-pacifist, and Herb (Eagle Scout at 29) Shuttle, a vacuum cleaner salesman. Ryan, professional soldier, hunter, killer, adventurer, and lover, expects to take up his life where he left off, only to run up against the new 'reality'.

The antics of Ryan, his sidekick. Col. Looseleaf Harper (the pilot who dropped the bomb on Nagasaki), and the two suitors are observed from Heaven by the three members of the Harold Ryan Fan Club.

Heaven is a (blue) souped-up version of Disneyland where everybody plays shuf-fleboard, drinks Coca-Cola and 'lives' happily ever after. Here we see Major Siegfried Von Konigswald (ex S.S.) the 'Beast of Yugoslavia' whom Ryan killed during the war; Ryan's ex-wife, Mildred and of course Wanda-June - a cute little American poppet killed on her birthday by an ice-cream truck. The fuse is lit. We wait for the bang.

Amidst digs at the consumer society, the male ego, the sacred American institution of the family, you can't help but feel that Vonnegut has missed the boat. He loses sight of his themes, sacrificing them to create the magnificent Harold Ryan.

Ryan bulldozes his way through the play like a 'Herd of stampeding water-buffaloes', and despite his very best intentions to the contrary, is still on top at the end. It only goes to show that old heroes never quite die the death for which they were intended.

The 'pseudo-Brechtian' technique used to set up the scenes and the laughs comes across as pretentious and naive. Only Ian Watkin as Ryan copes with this device well, with his superb sense of timing and excellent control of the character. There is simply no room for Ryan's wife (Maxine Schur) who is conveniently written off so, the final confrontation is not between rampant male ego and emerging female consciousness, but between Ryan and Dr Woodley - the 'new' man of science, reason, peace etc., etc., etc..

Stuart Devenie plays Woodley with his usual style and finesse, perhaps overplaying his role towards the end.

As Colonel Harper, a man troubled by his war time exploit and the untimely death of his mother-in-law. ('First Nagasaki and now this....'), Marshall Napier gives a strong robust performance, although at times his movement was awkward and lacked variety.

John Callen (Von Konigswald/Herb Shuttle) never looked comfortable with his cardboard cutouts and might be better served as an actor if he were given more rewarding characters to perform.

Over all, the standard of acting was adequate to carry the play, the type of which seems to have become a Downstage staple. The laughs are hearty but the social relevance is superficial. The performances are well received but dramatic impact is minimal.

This production of 'Wanda-June' appears 'disembodied. We become aware of the gaps that exist behind the scenes. It operates in a vacuum, dislocated from the world it is set in.

There can be no doubt the audience enjoyed the play. A member of it even went so far as to exclaim 'Brilliant!' after the curtain. Well, what more do you want? A satisfied customer. The world's in such a state now that if you can't laugh at it, you must cry - without the added burden of having to think about it as well.

Richard Mays