Black Books by Blak Yak

http://www.theatre.asn.au/node/10634 Black Yak Theatre’s RED DWARF II – Kryten Review by Jason Mercer. To be sent to Better Than Life Magazine. Perth, Western Australia. 2nd April 2004. Being a huge Red Dwarf fan, I was fortunate to catch the “Last Ever” production of Black Yak Theatre’s “Red Dwarf II-Kryten”. Entering the Maylands Sunroom theatre I donated a dollar to get a program guide. First impressions were good; the title “The Diary of Arnold J.Rimmer BSC,“ was crossed out and replaced with “Red Dwarf Kryten, The Programme.” Inside was Arnolds opening lines, “I have decided to keep a journal……. alongside Napoleons War Diaries and the Memoirs of Julius Ceaser.” Amongst the programme guide was “July 17, Aunty Maggies Birthday and November 25, Gazpacho Soup Day. It was well done and seti the mood by putting a smile on everyone’s face before watching the play in the sold out theatre. Grant Naylor Production approved the play. Kudos for GNP being very un-Disney like in allowing these things to go ahead. No black suited Lawyers ruined our play by walking on stage like some Moscow siege, locking up Bambi, cuffing Snow White and tossing the 7 Dwarfs into the rear of a Black Maria. The seti was a scanner room on the left, a large screen for Holly in the middle and the sleeping quarters on the right. Faithfully painted in red and Ocean Grey, or was it Military Grey??? The seti was cheap, tacky and obviously wood painted to look like metal…. exactly faithful to the show! Nick Donald who also played a bearded Lister (hard to get used to) wrote the script and cleverly mingled lines and scenes from the first 7 series to make the episodes, ‘Kryten,’ ‘White Hole’ and ‘The Last Day’ seamlessly intermingle. A few jokes were updated and australianised, such as the “small moon shaped exactly like Kylie Minogues Bottom.” This not only gave a genuine Red Dwarf feel to the experience but also was like watching an old series I or II episode for the first time, as you didn’t know if the next line would be from the series or if a completely new line would be added. And the new lines were as faithful to I or II as you could hope for. Rimmer was just like Chris Barrie’s character to a “t” Alex Jones must have studied him diligently and he got the body movements, too loud voice, over posturing and even the facial expressions perfectly. (If you need a young Rimmer for the movie GNP, look no further than Alex Jones) Lister had a beard and an Australian accent but I got used to it quickly and he simply became Lister the slob. Much better than the American muscle bound hero in the failed pilot. What the hell were the yanks thinking of? The Cat was white and played by Chris Thomas who I believe must have dreamed of this part since childhood! The guy was so enthusiastic in his role it came through as instantly entertaining and believable. If you asked me before I never would have thought a white guy could do it so well. Holly, like Lister also sported a beard, and delivered his jokes deadpan style, which aint easy. It was another facial incarnation of our favourite senile computer. Kryten was cleverly wearing a tux, white gloves and had his face painted silver. Believe it or not, this actually worked well. My only niggle with Scott Northover’s Kryten was that he was styled on the David Ross version, and it worked well in the Kryten episode scenes, but later on I longed for the Robert Llewellyn style Canadian ‘droid.’ I suppose I may be harsh here, as he had many lines in the play, but he paused a little to long before delivering them, which didn’t work as well later on when the lines required speedy delivery. Another spot on character was “Talkie Toaster’” voiced by Barry Carpenter. I just loved the Cat and Toaster rehearsing for their song and Toaster coming in on the Wheeeeaaa, instead of the Wheeeeo, was one scene that should never have been deleted. Special effects were fantastic, and awful which made them hilarious. Holly’s screen was used for various events and best of all, the solar system where Lister Played pool with planets. The Planets looked suspiciously like papier-machet balls painted different colours and the stars looked like starfish covered in tin foil. Red Dwarf was squashy red shaped blurry thing with a hydrogen scoop nose and cardboard eggcups for engines. When Lister hit the cue a “fuse” burned on one planet. I swear I saw a stick painted black manoeuvre the planets around each other until the white hole was blocked out. It was a brilliant moment during the show, and the audiencei laughed all the way through, especially when Red Dwarf was zoomed in on and focused in close up. Yep, it WAS a garden gnome (dwarf) painted red with a nose cone and engines with a big cheesy smile. Classic stuff. There were so many characters, Hudzen 10 with an Arnold Schwazenegger accent (Adam Shuttleworth) Jim and Carol (“Jim, I’m dying!”) in black and white classic cinema (Gareth and Sarah Sambridge) Ms Reaper (Julia Dalby) Olivia Darby, Melissa Merchant and Jane Peacock were the Nova 5 Crewi and one of them was the “Jane Fonda as Barbarella” droid for Kryten’s last day party. Grrrrrrr! (Don’t waste your money on the Marylyn Monroe droid, go for the Jane Fonda!) There was so much packed into the two hours yet it went so fast. I hope that others will pick up where Black Yak left off and continue making Red Dwarf into a Play. It was a great night and Congratulations to ALL the hard working people at Black Yak and thanks to GNP. It wasn’t a play about Red Dwarf, it WAS Red Dwarf!