Seven Days in the :LIfe of Simon Labrosse

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/theatre-excentrique-presents-7-days-in-the-life-of-simon-labrosse-at-creative-space-east-sydney/ is what I said for Sydney Arts Guide This is the Australian premiere of a challenging play by French Canadian playwright Carole Frechette. Satirical and at times witty, the play has been billed as a ‘smart surreal comedy’. Frechette’s play has many interwoven layers of meaning and allegory and some links also to the Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett. It questions reality and the art of observation and what do ‘ordinary’ people in our times, crushed and dispirited in their drudgery, long for?! 7 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF SIMON LABROSSE is a bleakly comic play concerning the psychological effects of rejection, of being relegated to the scrapheap and feeling useless in the world. The script, at times, features overlapping voices, video, song on guitar, and even some almost acrobatic falls. All three of the excellent cast act as narrator at times, and perform with great enthusiasm and commitment. The tiny intimate space of this theatre is cluttered, – it is as if the audience is in Simon’s home. There is a single bed prominently featured, plants, a desk, zebra pictures on the wall, a large tape /sound deck and videos (The play is set in 2000/2001, a time just before DVDs became popular) . Simon Labrosse is unemployed. The play looks at seven days in his life and his gradual disintegration into hopelessness and chaos – or is it ? It is sort of ironically Biblical in structure. Simon is a sort of Everyman who tries to create a job for himself helping society . Every day he tries to find work, becoming all things to all people , ranging from ego flatterer, emotional stuntman, sentence finisher to emptiness eradicator resulting in some rather disastrous encounters. He daily records a taped letter to his girlfriend Natalie who is over in Africa ‘helping the helpless’. Adding to the drama, Simon is being chased by his landlord for non payment of the rent as well and could end up on the streets. Whilst Simon sees his actions as being giving and helpful, his friends see them as being invasive and intrusive. So Simon’s blithe optimism moves from charming and sweet to tragically delusional. Simon eventually loses everything. Constantly facing a barrage of failure and rejection, Simon’s seemingly buoyant hope and faith eventually crumbles until he is homeless and broke. In the end he offers his last value: himself. Gerry Sont as Simon begins stylishly dressed in a formal suit as for a job interview but by the end of the play the main character is stripped down to just his underwear. As repressed repossession agent Natalie, Simon’s long-distance girlfriend – or is she?! – and all the other female roles – Cassady Maddox gives a splendid assured performance.Is she real or just in Simon’s imagination?! Natalie answered the ad Simon placed for an actress to play the various women in his life. For one section Simon is like a film director obsessively watching her in her Andy Warhol moment of fame but this scares her – yet in another scene she demands her moment in the spotlight. Various garments/hairstyles are used for the different characters Maddox clearly revels in playing. As Simon’s stuttering friend Leo, ailing with a brain lesion, Steve McGrath was very impressive. Running time 90 minutes withiout interval. 7 DAYS IN THE LIFE IS SIMON LABROSSE, directed by Anna Jahjah, is playing at the Creative Space 99, 99 Crown Street, East Sydney until 29 May.