Review - Last Man Standing

MTC Presents:

The Last Man Standing

By Steve Vizard

Music by Paul Grabowsky

Cast:  Clarry Flint – Peter Carroll, Ensemble – Nick Eynaud, Captain Skurry – Esther Hannaford, Doctor Morgan Cockburn - Simon Maiden, Colonel Raymond Hope – William McInnes, The Man – Jensen Overend, Ensemble – Monica Swayne, Elliot Fontana/Cam – Toby Truslove, The Minister for Defence – Nicki Wendt, Rachel Wiley – Alison Whyte, Violin – Ed Antonov

Director Roger Hodgman

Musical Director – Andrew Patterson

Set and Costume Designer – Richard Roberts

Lighting Designer - Matt Scott

Choreographer – Dana Jolly

Sumner Theatre - 6 November - 12 December 2015

The Last Man Standing is a rich opportunity to laugh, and laugh a lot, at the satirizing of one of our most treasured ‘holy cows’.  It is a motely, mottled mix of thoughts and ideas surrounding Anzac Day and our ever-burgeoning reverence, for it.  

Photo - Jeff Busby

Writer Steve Vizard has gathered Anzac Day motifs and created a pretty wacky scenario pertaining to the creation of a unique Ausi variety concert (V. C.).  It would seem this be being done to further galvanize the community through celebrating the disastrous and devastating contribution of our forces at Anzac Cove.   And yep there are puns aplenty.

Musically it has many of the best the hallmarks of Paul Grabowsky’s significant talent; subtle, mellow, moving and with songs that fit actors like gloves and support their particular skills and personal tones.  Some of the music is prerecorded but most is played live by violinist Ed Antonov and Andrew Patterson, who is the Musical Director, on the piano. 

At its heart The Last Man Standing reminds us we have fallen under a spell of politically driven hype and glorification of war.  Somehow we have been able to ignore or cover over the toxic personal and social costs endured over the last century.  And the homage we are now paying to Anzac day is further venerating human sacrifice and in doing so masking the personal and cultural damage experienced.

However – vitally - this timely reminder is encased in a light and engaging narrative that sweeps joyfully along.

Vizard, ultimately, encourages us to look at soldiers as real and flawed people who have been put in impossible situations, from which they have emerged deeply scared.

Photo - Jeff Busby

The Last Man Standing is beautifully cast with actors we have come to admire and love; lead by Peter Carroll who is an extraordinary tour de force.   He is the ‘last man’ Clarry Flint a survivor of Gallipoli.  Carroll is one of those inspired actors who can fill a parody with complex believable characteristics and reach out from behind the proscenium to make an intimate connection with his audience.  William McInnes as Colonel Raymond Hope the Bull of Kabul embodies our stuffy masculine, military past all respectability and suppression. 

Nicki Wendt portrays a Minister for Defence, (and a number of other difficult portfolios), with very convincing aplomb.  Alison Whyte as Rachael Wiley the producer’s producer. Toby Truslove shines as the master of ceremonies at the concluding spoof of a variety show.

Lighting by Matt Scott is mixed – sometimes shadowy, sometimes sharp and at times very consciously adding to emotional atmosphere and then at other times not particularly noticeable.  This seems to match the jumbled atmosphere of the whole that is inspired by the narrative and reinforced by the flowing Direction of Roger Hodgman and the efficient use of the revolving stage.

Photo - Jeff Busby

This first production of The Last Man Standing is a big, broad and confident, and as expected, a delightfully funny work about who we are as Australian’s in relation to conservative popular culture and our reverence for Anzac Day.  Satisfyingly it also has the capacity to move and engage on a more intimate and personalized level.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)