Italy on fifty jokes a day
John Daly-Peoples writing on the NBR website, Sunday 14 June.
John Daly-Peoples writing on the NBR website, Sunday 14 June.
Four Flat Whites in Italy by Roger HallDirected by Janice Finn
Auckland Theatre Company
Sky City TheatreUntil July 4th
Then Bruce Mason CentreJuly 9 - 11
Then Bruce Mason CentreJuly 9 - 11
They say that travel broadens the mind although much of the time it merely narrows down the prejudices. International travel always seems to be so glamorous but the one thing to remember about travel as Adrian reminds the audience early on in Four Flat Whites in Italy is that it is not the same as being on holiday.
Four Flat Whites in Italy follows two ill matched couples as they tour the country, three days in Venice, three in Rome and a week in a Tuscan villa. Just what we’ve all done or know someone who has.
Adrian and Alison, lefty ex librarians with not a great deal of money head off to Italy with next door neighbours Harry, who is big in plumbing and his fairly new wife Judy who really likes to shop.
As with everyone who has done their European tour things don’t always go smoothly and to plan. The whole trip starts a bit awkwardly with Harry and Alison flying business class while Adrian and Alison are down the back.
Their travel plans start to unravel and there is a litany of problems; shared bathrooms, the splitting of restaurant bills when you have only had a pizza and the others have had three courses, trying to use printed out directions instead of GPS, getting lost in the maze of Venice, losing the credit card and being ripped off by the locals.
Like most of Roger Hall's plays this is a collection of old jokes, new ones and astutely observed characters, which he packages in an entertaining and sometimes touching theatrical work
While this is a comedy about the problems of travel it’s also about relationships and we slowly enter the lives of the two couples and discover their little shortcomings as well as their better qualities.
As with everyone who has done their European tour things don’t always go smoothly and to plan. The whole trip starts a bit awkwardly with Harry and Alison flying business class while Adrian and Alison are down the back.
Their travel plans start to unravel and there is a litany of problems; shared bathrooms, the splitting of restaurant bills when you have only had a pizza and the others have had three courses, trying to use printed out directions instead of GPS, getting lost in the maze of Venice, losing the credit card and being ripped off by the locals.
Like most of Roger Hall's plays this is a collection of old jokes, new ones and astutely observed characters, which he packages in an entertaining and sometimes touching theatrical work
While this is a comedy about the problems of travel it’s also about relationships and we slowly enter the lives of the two couples and discover their little shortcomings as well as their better qualities.
Link here for John Daly -People's full review on the NBR website.
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