"Nuns is a satirical comedy."
Reading these quotes you would believe you are in for a great night of laughs. I couldn't have been more disappointed. You would think that three Nuns in a convent, talk of sex tapes, blackmail, secret smoking, bongs that it would be a great romp full of drama and farce.
Let me set the scene, the Imperial Hotel, it is dark and a disco ball is giving the room a slight party feel. Uma kali Shakti the director gives a small speech and Welcome to Country. The curtains open to a black stage with florescent lighting and some black boxes. It soon becomes apparent that the lighting technician has no idea what they are doing. Because there is no set, so you have no idea where the Nuns are at the start of the play. They are talking about smoking and of course they have forgotten the cigarettes. The dialogue is slow and it is not helped by Kim Cuong Do, who's acting was very silted and immature. This was the opening night so I would expect it to get faster as the season progresses. Enter Mother Superior, who seemed everything but Superior. The Nuns were meant to be afraid of her but for the most part she looked very uncomfortable in the role.
Sister Catherine (Naomi Parszos) and Sister Roza (Kim-Cuong Do) have a plan to blackmail the Mother Superior, so that they can be allowed to smoke. They get Sister Bernadette ( Kit Bennett) to do their dirty work. She ends up getting caught between the Nuns and Mother Superior and has to work out how she is going to make both parties happy. She has a fetish for women in crochet, which in the end kills her!
I was hoping that after the interval the second half would improve, but no, it dragged on; having no set and poor lighting didn't help. A play that was totally reliant on the actors and dialogue; as there was little action and only four actors; then both elements needed to be strong and they were not.
On a positive note Naomi Parszos and Kit Bennett did the best they could with their roles.
Robert Luxford wrote Nuns, originally a 10 minute play for Short and Sweet, it was a shame it promised so much but failed to deliver.
Hear what Robert had to say on Triple H 100.1fm
