Three Little Words

Three Little Words, 18 April - 27 May 2017, Melbourne Theatre Company. Directed by Sarah Goodes.

Catherine plays: Tess.

Wow. Just wow. Three Little Words is wow! Written by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith fairly recently, the showing of this play is a world (well, Australian) premiere. And I thought it was awesome! The running time was just under two hours without an interval. I did wonder why it didn't have an interval before seeing it, but now I can see why.

Catherine plays Tess, a book editor (and ironically she can't spell), who has been with Curtis (Peter Houghton), a school teacher, for 25 years. On the evening of their 20th wedding anniversary they invite their best friends, a couple called Annie (Kate Atkinson) and Bonnie (Katherine Tonkin), over for dinner and the play begins here. As we're entering the theatre, the four actors are already on the stage, sitting at a dining table - talking, laughing, eating and drinking. I was unsure if they were in character or not at first, but they were probably meant to be. The lights eventually changed, the music that was playing stops. Tess gets up and walks to the corner of the stage, Curtis is looking across at her with a smile on his face. "Hey," they say to one another and the square stage spins around like a turntable while music plays (I think at one stage when the stage moved it was a Sonic Youth song but I could be completely mistaken).

Three characters are now sitting at a couch, Tess being the only one standing, and they're chatting away; it's mostly happy stories about Tess and Curtis and the many years they've been together. The light-hearted mood is still going when Tess casually says that she and Curtis are splitting. At first Bonnie and Annie think it's a joke, because Tess and Curtis are in love with each other and still have sex like bunnies ("sad bunnies" adds Tess). But the mood changes when Bonnie and Annie realise it's not a joke at all. Tess has a 'yearning' to find out who she is without Curtis; she's been with him longer than she has been on her own. This yearning has mostly come about after the death of her mother. Curtis appears supportive of her; he seems to be a bit of a snag (sensitive new age guy), although a conversation with Annie possibly a few days later indicates he didn't/doesn't want to break up with her and he's now struggling. Annie's advice - Bonnie's advice really - is that he should find someone to 'go to the movies with'. Someone younger, perhaps!

Bonnie and Annie also struggle with the news days later; they love their friends who they've done everything with as two couples (and it's cheaper to do so as well because the prices are split). The idea of going on their next adventure to Bhutan as three or even four people, but not as two couples, is horrifying to them.

Tess meanwhile, dances around the house to 'Rehab' by Amy Winehouse and smokes, eventually taking her shirt off as she dances as well. "They tried to make me go to Bhutan, I said no, no, no," she sings.

Between scenes, the stage spins, showing time pass as the characters go about their lives. Bonnie and Annie sit at their house doing different things, Curtis is now at his own apartment, and Tess is trying to put together a stool from IKEA without much luck ("fucking Swedish shit!"). Soon it's revealed that Curtis has moved on with a 20 year old woman named Greta. Tess is upset about this revelation, particularly when it becomes obvious she is now realising what a mistake she has made in breaking up with Curtis. It's also only been about a month since they've split, and she also feels that with Greta's age, he may as well date their own daughter Lola, who is of a similar age (17). Bonnie says he should be on the (sex offender) registry given the age gap!

Eventually things get nasty and insults are hurled in all directions. Even Bonnie and Annie start fighting over little things, like when Annie wants to do a law degree. There were a few moments with an innocent looking Tess which drew some 'awws' from the audience; Curtis telling her that he can't even look at her and get an erection anymore, was one moment. And there was some nervous little gasps from the audience too, like when Curtis gets a bit violent, shoving Tess with some force in two different scenes, the second time was particularly tough. What drama! But mostly there were plenty of laughs! There was some really good jokes and lines throughout the play, a degrading one from Curtis about Canberra (Tess) was rather funny, comparing the city to Barcelona (Greta). "I'm Canberra?!" Tess then asks, shocked. The fight scene between everyone towards the end was quite hilarious too. I'm not sure if it was meant to be, but it was, particularly when Tess bites Curtis' thigh and when Bonnie tries to strangle Curtis because he hit Tess ("I'll fucking kill you, Curtis!"). But it was so well acted and choreographed. I won't say exactly how it ended, but I did love how the last two words of the play were the same as the first two. Fitting!

The whole cast was great in this and I thought Catherine was really fantastic; she was very funny and savage, but also quite innocent in the way she'd act and look, the latter was sometimes like a little lost puppy. As a result, I think the audience could really feel for Tess, despite her being the one who initiated the split. If I lived in Melbourne I would have definitely gone to see it again!

****½