Homage to rugby
Lynn Freeman
C’mon Black! Downstage Theatre, to July 2. Directed by Andrew Foster. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman
“GREAT play – if only there could have been a different ending”, was the response from my rugby mad companion, who relived with Dickie Hart every painful moment of New Zealand’s loss to South Africa in the finals of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. As for me, I’d forgotten the match had gone into extra time. The great thing is you don’t have to know much about rugby to enjoy C’mon Black!
Roger Hall’s homage to rugby was first performed in 1996 and since then other Rugby World Cups have come and gone. The cupboard is still bare with the cup eluding their grasp. Perhaps seeing this play will revitalize potential match goers amidst talk of sluggish sales and general apathy.
“If you don’t care who wins, what’s the point?”
Dickie Hart is a hard working dairy farmer who treats himself to a trip to South Africa. Gavin Rutherford doesn’t really come across as a man of the land but is endearing and funny, working well with the audience in a performance that has more of a stand-up feel to it than the original Circa production with Grant Tilly.
C’mon is very much an homage to rugby, the finest sport in Dickie’s eyes as it is in those of many Kiwis. As he travels with a busload of fellow Kiwi rugby fans, he also starts to care for the people of Africa.
You know that Dickie Hart will be cheering for the All Blacks again for every match they play at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
“GREAT play – if only there could have been a different ending”, was the response from my rugby mad companion, who relived with Dickie Hart every painful moment of New Zealand’s loss to South Africa in the finals of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. As for me, I’d forgotten the match had gone into extra time. The great thing is you don’t have to know much about rugby to enjoy C’mon Black!
Roger Hall’s homage to rugby was first performed in 1996 and since then other Rugby World Cups have come and gone. The cupboard is still bare with the cup eluding their grasp. Perhaps seeing this play will revitalize potential match goers amidst talk of sluggish sales and general apathy.
“If you don’t care who wins, what’s the point?”
Dickie Hart is a hard working dairy farmer who treats himself to a trip to South Africa. Gavin Rutherford doesn’t really come across as a man of the land but is endearing and funny, working well with the audience in a performance that has more of a stand-up feel to it than the original Circa production with Grant Tilly.
C’mon is very much an homage to rugby, the finest sport in Dickie’s eyes as it is in those of many Kiwis. As he travels with a busload of fellow Kiwi rugby fans, he also starts to care for the people of Africa.
You know that Dickie Hart will be cheering for the All Blacks again for every match they play at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
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