Beers, Balls and Bare Bums
Why did I think I wouldn’t like 10,000 Beers? Perhaps it was the fact that I don’t really like sport, I’m not fussed on football players and I don’t know one team from the next. However, I was wildly entertained, madly laughing and thoroughly engaged at Darlinghurst Theatre last night on opening night of 10,000 Beers by Alex Broun.
The play is funny, incredibly physical, super slapstick-y and extremely well directed by Lee Lewis. Each scene moves smoothly and quickly into the next, there are no set changes so the actors rely on the super direction from Lewis. The four actors Gus Murray ‘Doug’, Matt Zeremes ‘Len’, Andrew Steel ‘Toby’ and Anthony Taufa ‘Reed’ have been chosen obviously on their looks but also for their ability to keep up to the demands of this highly physical and quickly moving play.
This play tries to delve into some deep issues but it just doesn’t hit the mark. Just after a karaoke scene one player ‘Reed’ starts to discuss some issues he has around his mothers’ alcoholism but it never goes anywhere, why? Another scene takes place in a bathroom where player ‘Len’ questions ‘Reed’ about why he never seems to get drunk like everyone else even though he drinks as much, you start to think that maybe there’s a secret he has, or maybe this will bring up some discussion later around the peer pressures of drinking in relation to football players and the team culture they have, but it doesn’t, the writer just doesn’t take us there.
There are some great scenes including karaoke scenes, a well-acted bus scene, a hilarious flirting scene over a pool table. There’s fights, nudity, lots of drinking and lots of can throwing. There really does appear to be 10,000 Beers, I kept thinking, where did they get all the cans from?
In the final 15 minutes of the show player ‘Len’ does a monologue about the other players demoralizing player ‘Toby’ in a hotel room. It’s as if at the last minute Broun wants to whack in something serious or important, why can’t he just write comedy for comedy’s sake? I think that Broun has tried too hard to create issues or drum up a controversial side to the play. He’s got a gift for writing sharp dialogue and creating characters that are like caricatures who live up to strong stereotypes which makes the play funny. That’s all he needs to do.
Photo: Brett Boardman.
