Hotel

The first rule of improvising, according to the American approach, is to decide 'Where am I?' This determines much about who I am, what I want, how I get it, etc. This excellent little show uses that site-specific rule of location as its spine and then gently, gingerly, and beguilingly lets the flesh of four story lines grow on it and around it.
Room 329 at the Sebel becomes the train station for characters who occupy the same space in different time zones. This is a fantastic choice of work for the growing and most-popular-ever 2009 Tauranga Arts Festival.
It's a neat concept and I really applaud Paul McLaughlin and company for their work. The original devisors and performers are a joy to watch; timing of dialogue (at times beautifully overlapping or echoing a word, a phrase, a gesture - excellent!) is superb as these actors allow themselves the luxury of time and place to just be in front of a small audience where the 4th wall is well and truly up. Stanislavky called this kind of work "Public Solitude". Actually it's compellingly voyeuristic and I think Paul is onto something very strong here with this and his next work, Salon.
It's satisfying to see real privacy at work; a scratch here, a fart there. More please.
As in life, there are many questions when we meet these characters. Who are they? Why are they here? And to quote Tina Turner, "What's love got to do with it?" - not to mention a knife. So many questions...
We do get clues along the way as the work develops throughout its 55 minute duration. It's like an Agatha Christie, minus the murder, slightly sexier, and on speed. Come on, people, work it out! I love a play that knows its audience has intelligence. This work really requires us to mix and mingle with its characters' needs and wants and most answers are
eventually surrendered.
The chilled-out soundscape by Loop Recordings is beautiful - it alone highlights the subtle theatricality of moments with a phrase, a minor chord, or a major note. Lovely timing or serendipity? And the fabulous Sebel Hotel is itself a character as it lends a sophisticated, yet strangely beige-on-white impersonal setting for the human design to develop is patina in Room 329.
The play leaves me with a lingering impression of the view of permanent dislocation amongst its characters. Even the most familiar (a married couple, a mother and child) fail to really communicate with one another.
Gavin Rutherford finds a moment of simple love and connection for a memory in a photo of times gone by ... a moment impossible to recapture except in private memory.
Gabrielle Anwen is like a fragile orchid waiting for Godot to arrive.
Carol Smith is sure, wild, and gives us a portrait of the terribly lonesome.
Lucy Briant and Paul McLaughlin expose a side of intimacy not often talked about, let alone seen.
Overall I highly recommend this location and character-driven work; my only criticism is that it felt slightly short. I found myself wanting another 20 minutes or so to really get down to the bone with each character. I do believe that it's about quality, not quantity, but I think there is slightly more to mine with each story. Catch this if you can.