24 November – 20 January
In his book The Empty Space, director Peter Brook discussed the attributes of what he called ‘rough theatre’. Stripped of the formality and luxuries associated with proscenium arch theatrical presentations, he described it as commanding ‘a limitless arsenal of effects – the aside, the placard, the topical reference, local jokes, exploiting of accidents, songs, dances, tempo and noise, the shorthand of exaggeration’. The 100-seat Wardrobe Theatre can be relied upon to exploit these ‘weapons’ of illusion in its Christmas/New year shows. The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly is the latest triumph in what has been a winning run of satirical mash-ups over the years.
Fowzia Madar, Peta Maurice, Sedona Rose and Jenny Smith are waiting to take you on an insane reconstruction of the 1966 Western that starred the steely-eyed Clint Eastwood. But macho men have met their match – ‘sexy, empowered women’ are the order of the day here! And with song, dance, puppetry and some creative use of minimal props before a simple backdrop depicting cacti and desert, they take on and take down the spaghetti Western genre with gleeful femininist sparkles in their eyes. Director Stephanie Kempson has to be congratulated for eking every drop of what is possible on a floor 20-foot square.
Sedona Rose plays the frustrated naïve country girl Mary Sue. Bored by her limited life with ‘Pa’ in Shit Bridge, she dreams of a better life in Dodge City. She manages to escape there in challenging circumstances and covered in various unspeakable substances. Before long she’s begging for a job at the Coyote Bar, but has to convince the tough women who work there that she has what it takes – dancing in a ‘sexy but unattainable way’ being just one of the challenges. Her progress from soap-scrubbed innocent to raunchy tough-nut is one of the evening’s great delights. There is some wonderfully silly nonsense, theatre of the absurd if you like, as Mary Sue is shown how the girls prepare drinks behind the bar, and later outrageous ventriloquism involving a ‘dead’ body – one of a number that are littered throughout the show.
Coyote girls ‘Clit’ (Jenny Smith) and ‘Fist’ (Peta Maurice) put the eager-to-please newcomer through her paces under the watchful and commanding eye of manager Adelaide (Fowzia Madar), before the girls collide with the lewd and controlling Mayor/Sheriff Bluelight (also played by Smith) who has the hots for Adelaide. Smith’s ‘polishing’ the barrel of an imaginary six-gun leaves no doubt about what’s on the sheriff’s mind. ‘His’ height differential with Adelaide is just one element of some hilarious physical theatre on display.
Maurice’s overt aggression as the irrepressible ‘Fist’ is a perfect foil for the nervous Mary Sue. And while Smith puts an ironic swagger into the ghastly Sheriff/Mayor, Madar’s Adelaide remains a tour-de-force throughout, a plausible heroine.
The film’s original plot – a struggle between desperadoes to find buried confederate loot – is refocussed here on Adelaide’s mission to save her fellow Coyote girls from an avenging, jilted Sheriff and the dark stranger trying to take Mary Sue back to Shit Bridge (or might that be patriarchy?!). What makes this show lift off is the sheer pace of delivery. This is a breathless two hours made fabulously raucous by four actors milking every absurd moment for its contemporary double entendre.
★★★★★ Simon Bishop, 2 December, 2023
Photography credit: Craig Fuller
