‘You’ve got Mail’ is a bizarre but delightful spoof by Ang Collins for the independent Sotto Theatre Company, who, with The Blue Room Theatre are presenting this ‘Summer Nights 2020’ Georgie Adamson’s production as part of the Fringe World Festival.
The 60-minute show only has a short season, running from Tuesday 11th February to Saturday 15th February. Curtain up is at 7.30 pm in The Blue Room Studio Theatre, 53 James Street, in Perth’s Cultural Centre, Northbridge.
The scene: is a woman’s flat, overlooking the city skyline. The time is around the late 1990s.
The set: designed by Emma White and Nick Fry comprises a 3 metre by 3 metre silk screen with a print of an artist’s impression of the evening sky over the city. The stage floor is covered by a powder blue shagpile carpet.
The composer and sound designer Clare Hennessy did a wonderful job, interpreting the script’s mood and the Internet’s mystery in her score. Very good lighting and teching.
A girl in her late thirties, Meg Ryan (Eloise Snape) has just arrived home from the city bookshop that she owns and operates. Her life is lonely, but she has just been introduced to email and enjoys meeting the various strangers and their company. Now she has just heard of Cybersex and is excited and unoppressed by the potential.
Onto the screen comes NY512 – Tom Hanks (Christopher Ratcliffe) another businessman, rich but also forlorn. Could he be her perfect partner?
Sophia Campion performs the voiceovers and gives a delightful cameo appearance as the Internet.
Fine direction by Sarah Hadley with extra dramaturg by Ang Collins. The actors have top comedic skills and gave tight fast-paced perfectly delivered performances throughout the show. Several scenes included cleverly selected lines and memorable scenes from the cinema. The show got off to a great start with the two ex-NIDA actors beautifully matched in this tongue-in-cheek ROMp. The frustrated smart attractive but slightly frumpy girl and the self-assured young businessman with his unique widow’s peak haircut were both bursting with hormones.
After half-an-hour, sadly the quirky humour turned to silly humour and I started to lose interest. A few missed opportunities. The acting was still first class and many of the audience were still giggling. Perhaps it was me?
Overall, the play was most professional and very worth seeing.