[THEATRE REVIEW] NO RECEPTION @ The MC Showroom Review (2024)
I’ll be the first to admit that I love dark pieces of theatre that make you think. Having said that though it is nice to sometimes be able to walk into theatre, sit down and then just laugh for the next 2 hours. And if that is arecipe that you enjoy as well then I can honestly say you will love Jason Ekonomides’ new play No Reception.
This wasn’t a production where I needed to ease into the laughs – no so well written are the characters and gags in No Reception I found myself laughing from the very beginning and there was no let up after that.
This should be a simple story! Jade (Marissa Economo) and Sam (James Martin) love each and are about to get married but the play begins with their panicked wedding planner, Robyn (Rhys Carter), rushing around the stage on the phone out of his mind because Jade, Sam and their crew of groomsmen and bridesmaids have all gone missing on the day of the wedding.
As he delivers the line “I knew from the very moment I met them this would be trouble” we are taken back over the hilarious hellscape that Robyn has been through with this group over the last few months.
It all starts with the initial meeting that is quickly railroaded by the dreaded “parents”. Jade’s mother, the over-bearing Leanne (Maddy Theofanides) wants everything done her way. Not to be outdown, the promiscuous Cathy (Juliet Nicholson) wants everyone reminded that she is sleeping with just the right people to make this the perfect wedding. Then there are the Dads – the joke cracking Will (Gene Efron) and the hen-pecked Jonathan (Nathan Wright) who has no idea about his wife’s man-hunting ways.
From there the audience are then introduced to the rest of the ‘trouble’ – Jade’s bridesmaids who include her alcoholic gay brother Ruby (Jason Ekonomides), the virginal Amber (Sta Sbarski), her ass-kissing friend Bree (Bella Barker) and her very, very dumb sister Eloise (Milla Pearl).
Then there are also Sam’s groomsmen – the nerdy Brian (Alex Dymalovski), the entrepreneurial Hugh (Jay Bere), the man-whore Cody (Rhys Gerring) and the dim-witted Steve (Terry Damjanovic).
In most pieces of theatre a cast this big would be a huge negative but here, thanks to the talented writing skills of Ekonomides, it becomes a huge advantage. Not many playwrights have the skill to keep everyone of these characters interesting and in the minds of the audience throughout the production but Ekonomides manages to do that by making every character unique and I guess lovable in their own way.
I have no doubt that the writing of this play would have been a long process – a process that would have involved making sure every laugh hits its mark and mapping out each character’s journey through this mess of a wedding and its lead up and the result is a production that works remarkably well despite a cast of what feels at times like millions.
With the humour nothing is left unturned. There are outrageous stereotypes, brought to the stage hilariously well by the likes of Maddy Theofanides and Alex Dymalovski, smart one liners that hit the mark and brilliant scenarios that rightfully have the audience laughing out loud. There are very few productions that I have seen over the years that have made me laugh the way No Reception did. The humour here is rare on the stage – normally reserved for cinema with films like American Pie or Wedding Crashers – and the fact that Ekonomides and his assistant directors, Lara Dougherty and Maddy Theofanides make it work so well in front of a live audience tells me that this team have some big futures ahead of them.
What stood out the most to me though were just how memorable the characters were. As I look over the cast photos as I write this I found I am laughing again as I remember each characters funniest moments. Credit here must be paid to those cast members who really left a mark on my laughter scale. Milla Pearl steals the show as the pretty dumb Eloise while Alex Dymalovski, Gene Efron and Maddy Theofanides are amazing comedic performers who never ever missed an opportunity to make the audience laugh.
With minimal sets or set design it is the power of the word and the performances that makes No Reception so memorable for me. Yes, at times it is crass but this is a production where there are no weak links amongst the cast and every joke hits its mark – to be blunt this is the funniest productions you will see this year.
No Reception is on at The MC Showroom until 29th June. Tickets can be purchased from www.themcshowroom.com/whatson/no-reception