The Odd Couple - one true masterpiece
beloved for generations throughout the 20th century, and
with good reason. It has been made into a film starring the
indelible duo of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
Its dialogue is sharp with
well-paced one-liners and all this is tied together with the constant conflict
and resolution between the Felix and Oscar. The plot is tied together by weekly poker games held
in Oscar’ home where a bunch of middle aged men gather to escape their wives
and home life. And to sup a few beers,
make a mess without being nagged as Oscar pays for a cleaner to clean up after
the game.
One night, Felix is late, which is so unlike him.
Everyone has some idea as to what might have happened, but a phone call to
Felix’s wife reveals that he’s actually M.I.A. and has already threatened
suicide via telegram after they have agreed to separate. “He didn’t want to do it at home because the
kids were sleeping.”
Oscar takes in Felix and they both carry on with
their lives, very much in the same vein as they did when they were
married. Felix is so considerate, neat
and frugal that it is grating and just gets in the way of Oscar’s attempt to
have a good time and help Felix to move on.
All the time this is happening
their poker buddies are envious of them, as on the surface it appears that they
are living the kind of lives that they wish they could have; one of freedom to
do what they want etc. But in reality both Oscar and Felix, in their
own ways, want to be closer to their wife and kids. I guess this is the preverbal case of the
grass is always greener.
The play was well presented and the one liners that
the Odd couple is noted for, flew out -
one after the other. The audience along
with us Red Hatters did a fair bit of chuckling. This was an exceptional evening and one that
offered great value for money.
After the evening's performance was over, we three dragged ourselves home making promises to see some of the other plays that they have on offer at this theater and other in NSW.
This was a great play. Very funny and brought back memories of when I was younger and watched the show on tv.
ReplyDeleteThe actors were very good. In a few instances 2 little girls that were in the audience looked a little uncertain about what was happenning but I guess when a plate of spaghetti(oops sorry it actually had some other name,lol)was thrown across the room and splattering all over the walls they would know its not the right thing to do,lol.
We will definitely have to go to more plays in the future.