Jon Robin Baitz's Play "Three Hotels": Kenneth and Barbara met and married 14 years ago while they were young idealists in the US Peace Corps. They are still associated with developing countries, but Kenneth's idealism has mutated into business rhetoric, shrugging off accusations that his company is out for dirty money by selling defective baby formula to developing world mothers.
THREE HOTELS
Written by Jon Robin Baitz
Directed by Ezra Bix
2 - 13 February 2000
La Mama
205 Faraday Street, Carlton
Bookings on (03) 9347 6142.
A sparse production, which helps the audience focus on the intensity of the emotions that pull Kenneth and Barbara Hoyle (Jeff Keogh and Susan Gorence) apart, as well as the emotions that pull them together. Jon Robin Baitz has gone for the bed-of-nails approach in his three act play. Each act is set in a different hotel, so much a feature of Kenneth's working life.
Kenneth and Barbara met and married 14 years ago while they were young idealists in the US Peace Corps. They are still associated with developing countries, but Kenneth's idealism has mutated into business rhetoric, shrugging off accusations that his company is out for dirty money by selling defective baby formula to developing world mothers.
He is a highly paid, global trouble-shooter and relates his business ethics to the audience with a steely gaze in what is virtually a monologue throughout the first act... though he does draw breath to quell usurpers within the firm. By the end of the act we are desperate for his wife to come forward and say something of substance.
Barbara's outpourings are more personal. She's struggled to be the "good company wife" and is bitter about the change in the man she married. She, even more than his company enemies, uses the truth of Kenneth's concealed Jewish heritage to try to cut him down. It is well into this second act that we discover there is an added edge to her unhappiness - a tragic occurence concerning their teenage son whilst travelling on company business.
Kenneth and Barbara each make telling speeches to their peers within the firm. The wounds that are opened force the company into a decision about Kenneth's employment. Strangely, although the outcome should bring the couple closer together, Barbara is too wrung out to discuss what it all means as the play ends.
Keogh and Gorance do well with their complex characters. There are a lot of time shifts within the speeches, and their portrayals help the audience make the mental adjustments as different periods of personal history come forward. Unfortunately, Keogh has a tendency to drop his volume to levels below the ambient noise. The director, Ezra Bix, fleetingly appears in a variety of bit parts.
The play focuses on several confronting issues within its 70 minutes. You might call it the modern equivalent of the Greek tragedy. It's intense stuff, but well worth seeing.
