A Country Retreat

‘A Country Retreat’ is a comedy / who-dun-it from local playwright, Peter Flanigan. This pleasant little play, for all of the family, is being presented by the Stirling Theatre at Morris Place, Innaloo. The season runs until 25^th May, all evening performances start at 8.00 pm, with Sunday matinees at 2.00 pm.

It is the present day in the remote village of Ginninup, somewhere in WA’s south west. The set is the sitting room of a deserted farmstead. There are a few pieces of furniture, but little else.

    The front door swings open and the ‘tree changers’ (as opposed to sea changers) have arrived. This middle-aged couple have just got married and so country lad, Gary (Peter Boylen) is trying to carry his new town bride, Ros (Fran Gordon) over the threshold. 

      Within seconds, the Strine speaking neighbour, farmer Marty (Peter Francisco - excellent) from next door, pops in to say hello. He is quickly followed by Maurice (Paul Anderson) and Kate (Janet Brandwood) from the estate on the other side. They are posh Pommies with marbles in their mouths, and have come around to determine whether Gary and Ros are their kind.

       The couple are settling in when Gary’s sister, Bernice (Christine Ellis) arrives, totally exhausted and desperately in need of a holiday. The roar of powerful motorbikes announce Steve (Jim Chantry) and Eddie (Gino Cataldo) looking for the previous owners of the house. They leave, but a call from Detective Bratton (Carole Wilson) soon follows.

      Just when Gary and Ros are looking forward to savouring the peace of the area, Gary’s senile mother (Ursula Johnson) arrives, along with Ros’s daughter Carla (Alexandra D’Ulisse) and her fiancé, Brendon (Kieran McDonald). 

      Will the peace of the countryside prevail? Are the neighbours all that they seem?

A very well thought out script, plenty of twists and interesting story lines. Well developed appealing characters with appropriate dialogue. The play was directed by writer, Peter Flanigan, not always a good idea however Peter took Jann Rutherford on board as the co-director and the result was a well-paced, very funny thriller.

The cast were all very good, great interaction and everyone captured their characters perfectly. The set was very well constructed (Jim and Carole Chantry). There were several scenes in each Act – a few too many – but the stagehands, under the supervision of Carole Wilson and Melissa Skeffington were well focused and efficient. The directors had Ros stand at the side of the stage during some of the major changes, relating the day’s happenings; this worked well and helped keep up the play’s pace and tension. A great number of sound effects were required, but these were convincing and along with the good lighting design (both by Ian Wilson) created a genuine atmosphere.

This was Peter Flanigan at his best. A great little play that I am sure will sell to community theatres around Australia.