The Venetian Twins

Overview

The Venetian Twins would have to be one of the more singular shows of 2012. I wouldn't normally quote Terry Durack, but his review of Surry Hills restaurant Nourishing Quarter is apt here. He said it was "quite possibly the most original restaurant in town, if 'original' is defined as doing your own thing because you don't know how to do anything else." The Venetian Twins may just be its theatrical counterpart. And that’s not meant as a pejorative remark; it's just that I've never seen anything like it.

The Venetian Twins is a rambling Australian musical comedy of errors, based on Carlo Goldoni's 1745 play by the same title. It's Shakespeare's Twelfth Night meets Jack Hibberd's Dimboola. Nick Enright of Blackrock fame adapted the libretto, so one would be entitled to expect great things. One should expect quirky things. The story follows a pair of twins, Tonino and Zanetto (Jay James-Moody in both roles) as they create mayhem in Venice. Zanetto hails from Jindyworobak and Tonino from Verona. It's a classic thrills spills, mistaken-identity scenario where all is resolved with romance and justice.

The performances are variable, but generally entertaining. Marisa Berzins playing Beatrice is positively loopy. She goes from mildly eccentric pre-interval to full-blown crazy towards the end of the show. It seems she has had some rather extreme requests placed on her by director Mackenzie Steele, and hats off to her for committing to them. James-Moody playing Tonino and Zanetto carries off a technically difficult feat with excellent comic timing. Stephen Anderson playing Florindo would be convincing had he some control over his right eyebrow.

The strongest element of this unusual show is the set. Sean Minahan has managed to evoke both a 19th-century Parisian pantomime set as well as some sort of Aussie outback, with old hessian wheat bags cladding the walls. He has given the cavernous New Theatre some shape and prettiness.

The musical was written in the '70s, when Australian playwrights were just starting to tell Australian stories. Perhaps at the time it was radical to see a romantic hero from Jindyworobak singing on stage, but today the story has about as much truck as Banjo Patterson's poems. Nevertheless, it is worth seeing for its wild abandon alone.

Image by Bob Seary.