Culture

Written by Patrick Barlow, Directed by Lisa Warrington.
Staring Phil Grieve and Keith Adams. (2/5)

The Wonder of Sex spans the ‘sexual’ history of the last 2000 years, coincidently the combined age of the audience at tonight’s performance, few though they were. Thankfully, The Wonder of Sex was not really about sex but instead an annoyingly anachronistic jumble of historical events that may or may not have included sexual encounters.
Desmond Olivier Dingle (Grieve) and Raymond Box (Adams), the sole members of ‘The National Theatre of Paeroa’, presented a series of “illustrative vignettes” to the audience, the subjects of which ranged from King Henry VIII to Rasputin to Sigmund Freud. As an introduction to the play Grieve’s character warned the audience that we might experience “extreme anxiety and acute distress”. Unfortunately the warning came a little too late. 
Highlights included Adams’ rendition of Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ dance and Suzanne Paul’s ‘Venice’ voiceover, which had me in tears multiple times. Unfortunately the timing seemed a bit off and the actors a little unfocused. Granted, news of Christchurch’s latest earthquake had just broken and the audience was petite at best.
The two actors attacked the script with gusto and oomph and my commendations go out to them both. Having thoroughly enjoyed The Thirty Nine Steps I was excited to see another of Barlow’s works on the Fortune stage, but the comedy in The Wonder of Sex was not as clever and not as subtle. The comedy was written so obviously into the script that it left the director the task of ‘one-upping’ the writing. However, the show did have numerous good moments, often resulting from the actors themselves trying to dredge some sense from the props, costumes, characters and sets strewn around the space.  
The Wonder of Sex is worth a look-in if you like slapstick and prop-comedy. The actors worked hard and clearly have fun in their roles. Laughs were had by all and that was the point. So I guess it was a success. The Fortune Theatre has an exciting programme scheduled for 2011 so definitely watch this space.