Review: THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Is A Hollywood Fairy Tale Looking At The Choices We Make. Love and Truth Or Money and Image?

Friday 17th February 2017, 7:30pm, New Theatre, Newtown

Douglas Carter Beane's comedy THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED shines a spotlight on the artifice, manipulation and exploitation that goes on to achieve dreams. Under Alice Livingstone's direction, the secrets of a Hollywood Heartthrob are exposed as the lengths that people will go too to achieve their dreams of money, fame and a comfortable life unfold in this Bi-Coastal fairy tale.

The premise of the work is that ball busting lesbian Diane (Sarah Aubrey) is young Hollywood up and coming heartthRob Mitchell's (Brett Rogers) agent. They've been in New York to accept an award, with Diane on Mitchell's arm to dissuade any rumours that Mitchell is gay but it is the night after the celebrations, where an inebriated Mitchell calls for company and he meets the lithe young Alex (Charles Upton), which is the start of Mitchell's confusion over choosing love over the image Diane is hell bent on protecting. Added to the mix is 'gay for pay' Alex's party girl "girlfriend" Ellen (Madeline Beukers) who has just been dumped by her sugar daddy.

Presented as part Ted Talk on creating a movie, part intimate conversation direct to the audience, Diane, and later the rest of the characters, break the fourth wall to share the story making process and voice the character's thoughts and motivations. Livingstone has captured the fact that the work blurs the lines between reality and fiction wonderfully with the help of Tom Bannerman's seemingly simple set, dominated by Mitchell's New York hotel room, which later reveals its secrets. Louise Mason's lighting helps draw focus to the important characters whilst others that may still remain on stage are held in The Shadows to allow quick interjections of explanation.

As the cold, cynical Los Angeles actor's agent Diane, Sarah Aubrey is fabulous. She captures the accent marvellously with a consistency not always seen on stage. Appearing to draw on Jane Lynch for inspiration, Aubrey gives Diana a gravitas and power synonymous with the image of a Hollywood agent with aspirations of becoming a manager and producer that makes it easy to see why Mitchell would call on her to solve his problems. She blends her vocal expression with physicality and pacing to draw out the comedy without turning Diane into a caricature and she blurs the line between sincerity and manipulation leading the audience to question her true motive and have the hope that Diane has a heart before firmly planting her sole purpose is the pursuit of her career.

Brett Rogers infuses a confusion and sensitivity into his portrayal of the sexually repressed Mitchell, forced to hide the fact that he is gay in order to project the boy next door image, the heterosexual heartthrob that every woman wants, and every man is jealous of, in order to protect his movie making career. He conveys Mitchell's neediness and dependence on the people around him, from Diane, who he runs to when struck with a dilemma, and Alex, who he wants to spend all his time with but is unable to express his true feelings foR. Rogers also elicits a degree of sympathy for Mitchell as we see a man that doesn't have the courage or support to publicly acknowledge his own sexuality and his true feelings, losing out on love and real happiness due to his own fear and insecurity.

As rent boy Alex, Charles Upton conveys the 'gay for pay' twink's detached opportunism that plays the part of schoolboy and nephew for rich men's fantasies. As Diane later observes, Alex is the only character that truly knows the meaning of struggling and 'not having it all' which makes the character's fate all the more sad as Upton expresses Alex's wish that Mitchell express his love and desire that Alex stop turning tricks in favour of exclusivity. He presents Upton's understanding that he is selling himself for gain and he is prepared to take advantage of them if the opportunity arises but once he forms an emotional connection, he wants to distance himself with the business side of the deal, "so he can look back" on his night with Mitchell. Upton's expression of Alex's growth and the breaking down of his defences is heartbreaking in light of the ending of his story.

Finally, Madeline Beuker's portrayal of the opportunistic party girl Ellen captures a vapid, unlikable manipulative, shallow, pathetic creature that is essentially doing the same thing Alex is doing, though not as formally as Alex's transactions. Whilst Alex generally has morals, his intention to steel from the passed out Mitchell aside, and is pimping himself as a business transaction, Beuker captures that Ellen has less compulsion to do the right thing as she believes she is owed the right to keep her 'ex boyfriend's' credit card and use it at will.

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED is a heartbreaking cautionary tale asking the audience to consider their choices and whether love should come before image, career, and money. Whilst focused on a gay man hiding the truth about his sexuality and denying his love in favour of ambition, THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED holds an important message for everyone faced with the choice between love and honesty and material gain. Are we really accepting a situation because we think that is what society wants, who are we hurting, are we hurting ourselves, and what is the honest truth? A well-constructed, entertaining grown up fairy tale infused with humour and heart.

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED

7 February - 4 March 2017