Review: MEN at 45 Downstairs

MEN
A Straightjacket Production
Written by Brendan Cowell
Directed by Sarah Hallam

Written in 2000, MEN is the first play by Australian actor and writer Brendan Cowell, and it shows. Generally strong performances and competent direction cannot hide the fact that the script lacks depth. Its characters are poorly developed and Cowell's voice is inarticulate.

Staged on a single set, the play introduces three male characters trapped within a limited space boasting basic amenities: a bar fridge, a couch and a collection of pornographic magazines. A mysterious woman, Haizel (Georgia Bolton) watches over them at a remove, her regular announcements reminding them that the clock is ticking down to some unknown deadline. Towards the end of the play she finally interacts directly with Guy (Samuel Johnson) a drug-abusing emotional wreck, the arrogant and aloof Jules (Jay Bowen), and Bob (Justin Rosniak) a cocksure Casanova who only stops boasting about his sexual escapades to give Guy more pills.

The play sets out to explore the male condition, complete with SNAG insecurities and violent misogyny, but does little more than scratch the surface. Cowell's characters are caricatures, lacking depth, development or true personality; and while the ending of the play makes it clear that they are supposed to represent archetypes, their interactions and childish posturing in the hour prior give us little to examine.

Director Sarah Hallam moves the production along at such a rate that there's little time to focus on anything but surface events, but really, there's not much to MEN other than its veneer of analysis.

Of the performers, Johnson gives his all and both Bolton and Rosniak are convincing, but Bowen falls short of the mark his colleagues set. That said, a fight late in the piece between the narcissistic Bowen and the posturing Rosniak is played well, and very effectively staged. Scott Allan lights Christina Logan-Bell's limited set well, and Jason Coleman's choreography is worth the wait.

Ultimately, MEN left me cold - and also grateful that its male characters so little resemble the men I know.

At 45 Downstairs until March 21