Optimism

Frank Woodley and Francis Greenslade in ‘Optimism’. Pic by Jeff Busby

Writer Tom Wright and director Michael Kantor have teamed up to stage their contemporary adaptation of the great French writer Voltaire’s classic novel ‘Candide’ with their production ‘Optimism’ currently playing at the Sydney Opera House.

Voltaire’s ‘Candide’ amounts to a parable debunking the popular Leibnizian philosophy of the time, that ‘life is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’. Voltaire’s main character is Candide, an exuberant, optimistic young man who has lived a very blessed existence. He has been raised in the home of a Baron , and amongst his many privileges he has had his own private philosophy tutor, Dr Pangloss(Barry Otto).

Candide’s life changes course after he is expelled from the Baron’s home when he is discovered to have made a pass at the Baron’s beautiful daughter, Cunegonde (Caroline Craig). As a way of mending his broken heart Candide decides to go travelling the world. The harsh experiences that he encounters on his travels, including brushes with war, plague and natural disasters show him a side of life that he hasn’t seen before and he is compelled to put down his rose coloured glasses.

Kantor’s production tells Voltaire’s incisive parable in a very playful, entertaining way. The style is madcap, post-modern, surreal. The cast are zanily costumed by Anna Tregloan. Frank Woodley’s Candide is dressed as a clown, and he also doubles up as a stand up comic. The show is part musical with pop songs interspersed through the show. One of the more bizarre moments has Barry Otto singing, more to the point yodeling a Frank Ifield song, and inviting the audience to sing along.

The defining moment of the production was when Candide walked to the front of the stage and described how he was now beginning to see God as a kind of manic toddler experimenting with his world.

Frank Woodley as the perplexed Candide, Barry Otto as the deprecating Dr Panglass, and David Woods as Candide’s erudite companion, Martin were my pick of the cast.

Anna Tregloan’s set featured a silver metal façade of an airplane, and the stage was predominately laid out as the cabin of a plane with airhostesses running amok as Candide jets-sets around the world.

A joint Sydney Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, Edinburgh International Festival and Malthouse production, Michael Kantor’s production of ‘Optimism’ plays the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House until the 20th February, 2010.