Rita Bratovich’s review of ‘All The Fraudulent Horse Girls’ by playwright Michael Louis Kennedy and director Jessica Arthur at The Old Fitz in Woolloomooloo. How to describe this one-hour, one-act, one hellova crazy play? Well, it’s about an 11-year-old girl, Audrey, who loves horses, has no friends, is telepathically connected to horse-girls across the globe and almost kills a police woman. What it really is is a riotous, sketch-comedy styled play performed by three brilliant actors.
Written by self-proclaimed queer and frenetic playwright, Michael Louis Kennedy, All The Fraudulent Horse Girls is an absurdist, quasi vaudevillian, cute but sometimes melodramatically violent play that gives a brief yet penetrating insight into the mind of a horse-loving pre-teen girl. It is not more than that, and at the same time, it is a bit more than that. Audrey has a complex personality, something that is explored by having three different actors play her.
Shirong Wu introduces us to the character. Wu’s Audrey is animated, boisterous, observative, with a vibrant imagination. She is the most child-like of the three interpretations.
When Audrey is knocked out cold by a horse, Janet Anderson takes over the character in what is clearly a dream-sequence. Audrey is acting out scenes from an American western pulp novel she has been reading. When Audrey wakes up, she is played by Caitlin Amelia Kearney, who sings a beautiful ballad, a dedication to horse-lovers and dreamers everywhere.
This is an extremely simplified summation. The script is riddled with truly hilarious punchlines, referencing everything from Mr Ed, The Saddle Club, Never Ending Story, Black Beauty to Scarlet Johannson and Emma Stone. The three performers have excellent chemistry, working together like a seasoned comedy trio.
Each also brings soem extra skills to the stage: Wu plays guitar, Kearney sings, Anderson does Streep-quality accent work. Kudos to director Jessica Arthur for this tight, intuitive, synergetic performance. Paris Bell does great work creating simple but clever set and costumes with in-built gags.
Emma Van Veen helps establish just the right ambience with lighting and Madeleine Picard’s sound design is immersive and filled with fun foley easter eggs. This is a truly entertaining bite-sized piece of theatre. Note: no horses were harmed in the making of this play.
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