The Puzzle

State Theatre Company can trace its relationship with noted playwright David Williamson since 1973, so it is fitting that his latest play The Puzzle is being presented by this Company in the Dunstan Playhouse.

Williamson commented recently that with all the turmoil and hardship in the world it was time to write a comedy, but that a comedy needed some serious underpinning. Basing the action on a cruise ship for swinging couples certainly has scope for comedy. Added to that you have the one man, Drew (Frank Thomson) who thought he had signed up for a History of Greco-Roman Sites cruise, finding himself forced to amuse himself with a large jigsaw puzzle. Luckily he is a jigsaw puzzle fanatic. His daughter, Cassie (Ahunim Abebe) who accompanies him is more into the swing of things, being a polyamorist, as she explains to her perplexed father, listing her three main sex partners with their varying attributes, to explain how all this gives her a happy life.

Central to the plot are two couples,  Brian (Chris Asimos) and Michelle (Anna Lidner) and Craig (Nathan O‘Keefe) and Mandy (Ansuya Nathan) who decide to get into the swing of things, with mixed success. Let us say that sex is not a spectator sport.  The results of these interactions lead to more serious consequences.

All this is played out against a very effective set, designed by Ailsa Pattern, evoking the atmosphere and freeing from constraint that a voyage at sea can achieve. The Video design by Mark Oakley helps to give the impression that the ship was actually travelling over the water, and Lighting (Mark Shelton) Music (Andrew Howard) and Sound (Patrick Pages-Oliver) add to the effect. The Director (Shannon Rush) runs a tight ship so that while things can get very chaotic no one ends up overboard.

Describing sex is one of the hardest tasks for a writer. It can slide into cliche so easily, and while cliches can add to the humour they lack finesse,. Emotions tangle with pleasure-seeking complicating the message  As the two couples to and fro, vacillate and encourage before dipping more than toes in the water, the anticipated excitement and fulfilment is not shared equally. 

Drew’s conversations with his daughter highlight that love is important in a genuine relationship. Meanwhile he works solidly at his puzzle, finding the final piece just as the voyage comes to the end.

All the actors bring energy, humour  and commitment to their roles.  Cassie is delightful, portraying the free and easy attitude to sex and relationships of the younger generation.  Michele plays Femme Fatale to extreme while Mandy is the reluctant participant, at first, who regards higher or deeper things as being more important than sex. Craig and Brian both show just how important sexual prowess is to men. Even Drew suffers from a belief that he was not very good in bed (as he puts it)

So with the comedy there is a sense that these people who have settled lives and successful careers are chasing an illusion that happiness can be achieved by sexual exploits. As though, then, they could return to they marriage, refreshed and fulfilled. Really?!

State Theatre Company

Dunstan Playhouse 20 September – 12 October.