It’s an oft-repeated fact about the platypus that when European scientists first encountered its pelt, they believed it to be a hoax. A creature that looks like a stitched-together collection of borrowed features is a fitting central motif for writer and director Francis Greenslade’s debut original stage production, which charts the breakdown of a couple’s relationship via a series of theatrical traditions.
The central conceit – that we perform different personas with every person we meet – is a clever one. Greenslade has matched each scene to its genre with sharp emotional insight. A tentative workplace flirtation becomes a coy Restoration comedy, ex-lovers spar like Old Hollywood screwball leads, a difficult phone call slips into the urgent rhythms of Mamet-speak, and an estranged couple clash in arguments of Shakespearean proportions. By contrast, the private tensions and intimacies of married life are rendered in naturalistic dialogue.
A familiar face from TV shows such as Mad as Hell (with fellow University of Adelaide alumnus Shaun Micallef), Greenslade is also a prolific stage performer and acting teacher. Those who don’t share his enthusiasm for theatre history won’t be hampered in following the storyline of The Platypus, but they’ll miss some of the jokes (this reviewer must confess a blind spot when it comes to Harold Pinter).
The cast comprises Rebecca Bower and John Leary, who showcase an impressive versatility in portraying not only the central couple in their various iterations through each shift in genre, but also a collection of vibrant supporting characters. Bower reaches her comedic highpoint when deploying Oscar Wilde-worthy verbal gymnastics as a fastidious government employee (“A fag hag?” she cries with all the indignation of Lady Bracknell exclaiming over a handbag). Leary is equally funny in a foul-mouthed ventriloquist act.
You might like
The Platypus is billed as a dark comedy, and some of its bleakest plot developments unfold within these comedic frameworks. The humour is a necessary relief from what is a fairly gruelling depiction of domestic partnership. Amidst the bickering, a few more glimpses of the spark that initially drew this couple together might have made even more poignant their current fractured state and reminded us why we’re still rooting for them.
Where Greenslade’s erudite play triumphs is in its inventive multilayered structure, and its incisive depiction of life imitating art.
The Platypus by Francis Greenslade continues at The Arch at Holden Street Theatres until March 23
Read more 2025 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview