Image by Jacqueline Mitelman.
As part of La Mama’s 2014 Celebrating Women Festival, How’s Your Acting Going? explores the multitude of challenges faced by an artist, including the one question all struggling actors dread: ‘How’s your acting going?’ Written and performed by Louise O’ Dwyer, this one-woman show carries some laughs, but it has grander aims to impart some meaningful dialogue on what it means to be an artist.
O’ Dwyer begins her solo show playing various characters — a ditzy bimbo on the way to the beach, a working-class man tossing sausages on the barbie, a bohemian childcare teacher. All these characters ask the seemingly well-meaning query of ‘How’s your acting going?’ but laden with condescension and a complete disregard of what such a question actually entails. O’ Dwyer does not hesitate in highlighting the absurdity of it all. She takes great strides in portraying these characters as comical beings, whose good intentions are simply misplaced. The teacher, for instance, speaks in hushed tones, drapes herself in chiffon and plays a recorder; a parody of followers of new age philosophy.
Under Michael Camilleri’s thoughtful direction, O’ Dwyer makes full use of La Mama’s intimate space. As the teacher, she moves gracefully across the stage while reciting words poetically. Bronwyn Pringle’s lighting, too, plays a tremendous role in setting the most appropriate scene for the array of characters.
O’ Dwyer undresses and puts on different costumes right before the audience’s very eyes. It is a neat, raw touch as she stands unadorned, keeping the audience guessing ‘Who is she supposed to be now?’ At one point, she plays an absent-minded therapist who dons heavy jewellery, and evokes the demeanour of Absolutely Fabulous‘s Eddie. There is some delightful audience interaction involving a questionnaire here, but even then, similar to the show’s title, incessantly repeating questions can border close to tediousness.
How’s Your Acting Going? eventually enters some murky territory, as O’ Dwyer’s onstage characters become closer and closer to her supposed ‘real’ self. Her exaggerated incarnations become weirder, less of a parody and more of a second-rated art form. It remains riveting to watch, but it dilutes her previous thematic concern on the difficulties of being a contemporary actor.
The show reaches a climax with its penultimate scene, where O’ Dwyer embarks on an arresting monologue ridden with meta-commentary and a heightened sense of self-awareness. Wry and amusing, O’ Dwyer’s concluding persona both openly praises and condemns her own acting capabilities. She admits her years of hard work being put into the play, but admittedly, her persona here laces any personal confession with heavy irony. Clearly, the human ego is another challenge that the modern artist faces, but O’ Dwyer’s ambivalence towards sincerity hinders her thorough examination of the issue entirely.
How’s Your Acting Going? is a reflection of O’ Dwyer’s own attempt in meaning-making amongst all the chaos in contemporary life. Her real-life role as an artist and an actor runs as a common thread among her depiction of humorous characters and personas, rather than taking centre stage. As a result, the role of an artist is never directly addressed, but becomes an intricate matter by itself. Nevertheless, How’s Your Acting Going? is a decent solo performance that displays O’ Dwyer’s terrific comic timing and is bound to entertain.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
How’s Your Acting Going?
Written and performed by Louise O’Dwyer
Directed by Tim Ratcliffe with Michael Camilleri
La Mama Theatre, Faraday St, Carlton
www.lamama.com.au
23- 17 July
