Suite relationships

Relationships are a source of fascination. We analyse and dissect them, and are hungrily intrigued by new developments, and what they might mean.

Which is why California Suite, being staged at the Madinat Theatre this week, is ideal entertainment for audiences across the board.

Set in one hotel room, the play by Neil Simon takes an in-depth look at five couples, which stay in the suite over the course of a year. But with just four actors in the cast, each must take on two or three different characters during the course of the show, which is made up of four short plays.
Middleton Mann, who plays Billy, Sidney and Jesse-Rae, says the roles are, in part, separated by different accents from London, New York, California and the southern states of America.

Tempo changes

“The accents are different from one character to the next as is the tempo of the way they move. You've got to try to set it up in the first 20 lines and say, ‘Look, I'm this', and the audience will play along with you,'' Mann said.

Having never performed in a Neil Simon play before, Mann jumped at the chance to be involved. “He is my favourite playwright of all time. He just has an ability to mix broad comedy with deep human pathos, and his ability to make you laugh one minute and cry the next is just brilliant,'' he said.

The tale is one of failed couples, which each has something essentially wrong with its relationship. Mann says: “Neil Simon just drags the audience through a minefield of dilemmas, relationship questions and morality. The characters are a mixture of desperately trying to be happy and failing.''

Different stories

Kate Brown, who plays the roles of Millie, Mary-Lou and Diana — an Academy Award nominated actress — says it is about one room with lots of different stories to tell.

“It's always challenging, when you have to play more than one character, but it's very exciting, because the best part of being an actor is walking in someone else's shoes,'' she says.

Contemporary

While the story was penned 30 years ago, the play being staged tonight and tomorrow has a contemporary feel in terms of its soundtrack and visual setting.

And due to its nature, the subject matter continues to be timeless and relevant to any society.

Translates well

Brown says: “Because the stories are so human, and because there is so much humour in them, I think they translate brilliantly anywhere. A multi-cultural audience will lap it up, because there is something in it for everybody, and the humour is very accessible.''