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A love story that didn’t quite convince me that it is love at first sight at all. Summary
Rating
Good
Will (Michael Waller) never believed in love at first sight. Not until he met Candy, who is the persona of his mate Billy in drag. Although Will is fully aware that Candy and Billy are the same person, he cannot stop himself from falling in love and finds himself thinking about Candy in his every waking and sleeping moment. However, the narratives of this story make it difficult to distinguish whether Will is actually in love, or if he is projecting his desire to breakout of a rut onto a made-up character, due to his admiration for Billy.
As kids, neither Will nor Billy really fitted in at school. Ultimately Billy was the one with the courage to move away from it all to a new environment, to pursue his dreams. Will, on the other hand, never went to university and settled into a job that he isn’t particularly passionate about. Thus, Will knows Billy well and it is subtly implied that there is a degree of reverence for what Billy did.
While Will tries to figure out his feelings for Candy and his next steps, he also introduces the audience to his mum and his great aunt, known as Toadface, but these characters add little to the story. Toadface is on the receiving end of some of Will’s outbursts, and claims she has never been in love and so has no idea what he is going through. However, following her death, it is revealed that she was in a very loving marriage until her husband passed away, and that part of her died with him. This revelation triggers Will into confessing his attraction to Candy. Beyond this single and fleeting part of the story, neither Mum nor Toadface have any major significance to the overall narrative, so the characters feel rather functional.
Contrary to the confusion of the story, Waller gives an indisputably captivating performance. It’s often a challenge to keep the audience engaged in a one-person show if there are a lack of character variations. Waller, however, is able to deliver a passionate performance of somebody hopelessly in love, often engaging conversationally with the audience. Sometimes, sufficient time is left between lines to make the atmosphere a little uncomfortable, but never so long that it prompts a negative response.
This is further aided by the setup of the room. Typical of the smaller space at Park Theatre, there are rows of chairs lined up against three of the walls. However, additional round tables are also set up cabaret-style, and the audience is encouraged to fill the seats first. Combining the seating arrangements with the lighting and the reflective bright golden tinsel hanging on the walls, the stage is quite literally transformed into a drag club, helping the audience to synchronise their thoughts with Will’s.
On the surface, the premise of falling head-over-heels for a made-up character seems implausible, but this is theatre after all. However, while Will seems to think he has fallen for Candy and that this is a love at first sight story that transcends gender and sexuality, the premise is not quite convincing. As I see it, his infatuation is a projection of admiration for a life he never had the courage to pursue.
Written by: Tim Fraser
Directed by: Nico Rao Pimpare
Lighting design by: Jonathan Chan
Sound design by: Anna Short
Set and costume design by: Alys Whitehead
Produced by: Reboot Theatre Company
Candy plays at Park Theatre until 9 September. Further information and bookings can be found here.
