Alia Marshall
The 2023 Fringe Festival started off with a number of productions on a bright Friday evening (finally), and my first show of this huge smorgasbord of art is SBZ Productions' Wonderful, written and directed by Richard Huber. They’re on the second leg of their New Zealand tour in Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui theatre space, having come from Ivercargill’s Repertory Theatre, and it’s clear we’re all excited for one of the first show’s of the festival.
Entering the space, we’re greeted with a soft but funky soundtrack (Jordan Wichman), reminiscent of a smokey jazz bar, and the cocktail station at the back adds to this atmosphere. A large box and various X’s adorn the stage in yellow and purple, and I’m excited to see what they’re used for. The play begins with aloof socialite Hermoine (Sarah Barham) and her dutiful butler (Blaise Barham) staring out into the audience for what feels like a few minutes, before Hermione starts describing the French doors they’re peering out of. We find out that this is all taking place in Hermoine’s drawing room, these French doors (and what’s behind them) become a recurring theme throughout.
The play goes on to follow the pair as Hermione laughs, laments, and languishes over whether or not to marry Freddy, become a lesbian in Berlin, or pursue her feelings for Roberts that become increasingly obvious throughout the play. The word wonderful is used throughout, naturally, to nod to this idea of focusing on the wonderful things in life, despite the turmoil of the 1920’s. It's a cocktail of absurdism, existentialism, and metacomedy. The dynamic between the two performers was a joy to watch, their energy and accents stayed consistent throughout and there were some lovely moments of connection despite their love-hate relationship.
The play itself is hard to follow at times, despite having a lot of dialogue I found myself trying to piece together the narrative in between the rapid-fire jokes and stories. The writing and direction is very fast paced. While this added to the sharp British humour, I thought it would have been worth slowing some moments down to ensure that the jokes weren’t cut short, and tender interactions between Roberts and Hermione could really resonate with us. The use of repetition in the blocking is a nice touch, but I'm unsure about why some of the conventions are used and how they feed into the world of the play. There were some great choices in the lighting design (Meko Ng), I particularly enjoyed a moment towards the end that reminded me of a noir film (if you’ve seen it, you’ll know), it would have been wonderful to have seen more of that throughout.
With a bit more development, I think Wonderful could be a thoughtful but darkly witty satire that highlights the absurdity of the rampant classism of the 1920’s, and even a small nod to the absurdity of the current 20’s we’re living through. I left thinking about the parallels between 1920’s and the 2020’s, about how history tends to repeat itself, and whether or not a woman was wandering around Wellington contemplating something similar 100 years ago.
I hope SBZ Productions has had a wonderful time in Wellington, and wish them the very best for the rest of their tour!
Wonderful is on at Te Auaha in the Tapere Nui theatre space until February 19th.