Restless Ecstasy at the Silo Theatre

By LINDA HERRICK

Restless Ecstasy is a bright idea for Auckland theatre, the SiLo commissioning three short works inspired by three pivotal US writers from the groundbreaking 50s or 60s: Tennessee Williams, J.D. Salinger, Jack Kerouac.

Whether they remain relevant today underwrote the effectiveness of the debut. The result was mixed but interesting, the directors' efforts strengthened by a mentoring system which bodes well for future growth.

The action opened steamily with a scene from Williams' Baby Doll, shocking in 1956 when it came out in film, with its portrayal of untapped child-bride sexuality and Deep South pig-ignorance.

Director-writer Caroline Bell-Booth focused tightly on interplay between Baby Doll (Spin Doctors' Michelle Langstone) and her husband's Sicilian rival Silva (Stan Wolfgramm). Langstone was a revelation, all unconscious on-heat body language as Silva - a tad too polite Wolfgramm - played with her tiny mind, which scatted around like a playful, then panicked kitten.

Next up, the highlight: an absorbing reinterpretation of Salinger's Catcher In the Rye, adapted and directed by Colin Mitchell as The Holden Caulfield Interviews.

David Aston was therapist Dr Chapman attempting to help troubled young Holden (Edwin Wright, what a find!) through teen-angst of not "getting anything out of anything". Anna Hewlett segued effortlessly through various girls touched - or tainted - by Holden's tortuous mind, but the infection turned contemporary as Dr Chapman became Mark Chapman, killer of John Lennon and oft-quoter of Catcher as justification.

Less satisfying was Beautiful Losers, adapted by Mike Hudson and directed by Margaret-Mary Hollins, with Ian Hughes as Jack Kerouac and Scott Wills as his equally self-absorbed buddy Neal Cassady. Sex, drinking, drugs, writing: a lot of ground covered before the two thankfully expired in their 40s.

Strangely, Hughes was more convincing as William Burroughs in Mexico, and Wills was hilarious as Jack's mum. As presented by them, Kerouac and Cassady's jive lingo and misogyny seemed irrelevant almost to the point of fraudulence.

All up though, a solid programme of new works well performed in a night of fresh-thinking theatre. Absolutely recommended.