The Hooligan and the Lady is a play that not only popularizes a fascinating and largely unknown piece of our history but it also has the makings of a popular success. I write “has the makings” because, while the production at Bats is thoroughly enjoyable, it has too much repetition.

Florence Gardiner grew up in New Zealand in the 1890s and became a formidable sportswoman. By 1913 she had married a professional wrestler who taught her the art of jujitsu. Together they toured Australasia on the variety stage. ‘Miss Flossie Le Mar’ demonstrated and preached the skills of self-defence for women, using her husband Joe as her attacker.

Pauleen Hayes has set her play in a music hall with a misogynist for a master of ceremonies (Alex Greig) who can’t stand Flo’s message but can stand the business she brings in. Also reflecting turn-of-last-century attitudes towards women are a fortune teller (Rachel More in grand form), an ingénue named Fanciforia Mooncake (Bailey McCormack), and strong man Hubert Heft (Patrick Keenan). 

Joe is played by Allan Henry who somehow makes one laugh each time Joe is thrown about the stage like a rag doll. One feels he belongs to the Keystone Cops. Ailsa Krefft, while lacking the necessary charisma, is amusing in showing Flo’s determination to get on a soap box at every opportunity but the role would be funnier if one felt that Flo was throwing Joe around rather than Joe throwing himself. However, it deserves a return season.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News.   

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Plucked from a century of obscurity, the story of Flossie LeMar – a formidable force to be reckoned with – is splendidly evoked in The Hooligan and the Lady, named for the vaudeville act she and show-biz pugilist Joe Gardiner, her husband-to-be, brought to Australasian stages in the 1910s.

We have playwright Pauleen Hayes (also a school teacher and former self-defence instructor) to thank for a decade’s dedication in researching, writing, revising and producing this highly entertaining – and instructive – celebration of a ‘women’s right to move through the world unmolested’ pioneer.

The Life and Adventures of Miss Florence LeMar, the World’s Famous Ju-Jitsu Girl by Joe Gardiner and Florence LeMar (privately published by the authors in Wellington, 1913) is the starting point. The other characters who bring it to theatrical life are extremely well conceived and crafted to manifest the prevailing attitudes and gender roles of Edwardian times while provoking us to consider how little has changed.

Impresario Quintus Penumbra, played with black-bearded bravura by Alex Greig, has a very limited view of a woman’s place but knows a good ‘novelty act’ when he sees one. His tussle between principles – or lack of them – and profits captures the essence of the misogynist business man.  

Rachel More’s wonderfully phoney fortune teller, Madam Adamantine, represents the hard-line conservative who cannot abide women who attempt to rise above their class let alone ‘betray’ their femininity – and yet …

As the flimsy little ingénue Fanciforia Mooncake (I love these names!), Bailey McCormack epitomises the vulnerable single girl trying to stand upright on a deck were a man holds all the cards. And Patrick Keenan’s benign strongman Hubert Heft is a powerful presence.

Central to the whole conceit, of course, are Flossie and Joe.

Ailsa Kreft is determinedly un-theatrical in characterising Florence and because she looks decidedly un-athletic her adeptness at ju-jitsu is a revelation. Her focus on Flo’s purpose and determination largely transcends the odd shortcoming in vocal projection.

Allan Henry is brilliant as Joseph, vacillating between wanting to control and wanting to be part of a successful enterprise. His physical enactments of a range of vile predators are simultaneously fearsome and comical, and his prowess in this form of stage combat is worth the price of admission alone.

Director Susan Dugdale keeps the action moving along, abetted by Ruth Armishaw’s silent movie-style piano accompaniment – which the actors have to be more aware of and project above at times. And play to the back row, please, not the front row just because you can see them better. (As any vaudevillian will tell you, when you play to the back everyone in between feels included.) 

Along with the strong social message embedded within a rollicking good entertainment, there is some apt commentary on theatrical priorities and notions of what the punters can stand, as when Florence is blocked from mounting a soapbox to deliver her polemical speech.

Congratulations to all who have worked so well to rehabilitate Flossie LeMar and her message into our consciousness – and thank you, too, for rehabilitating the adjective condign: (of a punishment etc) fitting; well deserved.

Given the short Bats season is sold out, we can only hope it achieves a well-deserved return.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer