Death in Bowengabbie

By Alanta Colley

Housed in the delightfully homely La Mama theatre, this play written by award winning playwright Caleb Lewis and directed by seasoned Director Matt Edgerton speaks to a tradition of delightfully dark Australian comedy.

Oscar (Bryce Youngman) plays both narrator and protagonist, as well as all of the other characters; slipping seamlessly between roles. He tells the tale of the town of Bowengabbie, which has suffered the very real fate of so many small towns of having lost its younger generation to the opportunities and promise of the big city. A town haunted by its past, and doomed to its childless future as its inhabitants steadily age, and, one by one, drop off the perch.

Death beckons Oscar back to Bowengabbie. Again. And again. In an uncanny series of events Oscar is brought back to Bowengabbie no less than five times in the space of a few months to funeral after funeral. And these funerals are no ordinary funerals; Bowengabbie may be on its last legs as a town, but funerals appear to be its specialty. Oscar, who had done his best to forget his past and eradicate this small town with its painful history becomes beholden to the happenings and the people in the town.

We watch as Oscar helplessly is drawn into the small town goings on. Why are these funerals so festive? What is Pop up to? What lurks in Gary’s shed and just why is he so drawn to Rachel? Oscar’s personal life and ambitions slowly start to fall apart as Bowengabbie’s mysterious grip tightens around him.

Echoing some of the themes of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Death in Bowengabbie explores some of the tender themes of love and loss, of regret, sacrifice and devotion. It is a cheeky and heart-warming production; reminding us that our ties to our history, family and roots aren’t as escapable as we like to think they are.

This is a delicious comedy flecked with pathos, whimsy and some rather dramatic plot twists. Get along if you can.

Death in Bowengabbie is on at La Mama until April 13
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/death-in-bowengabbie