Motel

Overview

What goes on in people's lives when you're not watching? For most of us it's the type of question that's left pondered, since any real-life attempt to answer a question like that would make you a bit of a creepster. And no one likes being a creepster. So without any of the real world implications, the new play Motel by April Phillips gives us just a taste of what it would feel like to look into the lives of others.

Situated in a crappy motel room in the middle of nowhere, four vignettes cover the lives of eight people during their stay at the motel as they all confront what love and commitment really means. Jenny's on a quest for sex with a stranger, we discover the extent of Harry and Pearl's commitment to each other, Elvis, the travelling salesman's re-evaluates his life after an encounter with the motel owner, and Annabel's attempt at a casual affair gets gatecrashed by the housekeeper from hell.

The stage set-up is brilliant. The 'motel room' is in the centre of the Basement Theatre, with the audience forming three wall around it. During the whole play there's a consistent tension felt, where at any moment you'd think the actors were going to break the fourth wall, but they never do.

The themes explored and general idea of surveillance and voyeurism in the play is golden. Ken Blackburn's performance of the motel manager is steady as a freight train, and Liesha Ward Knox's interpration of the mistress Annabel hits the right tones. Motel is a good story, well-written with only a few slightly unusual pacings and deliveries.

Motel was selected as a 2013 SWANZ (Script Writer Awards NZ) finalist for best play. Satisfy your curiousity and be a fly on the wall of this seedy motel.