The Stage

A Stretch of the Imagination

Published Friday 25 June 2010 at 14:51 by Paul Vale

Monk O’Neill lives a hermit-style existence on a one-tree-hill in the middle of nowhere, reminiscing on past loves whilst his body slowly grinds to a halt. Jack Hibberd’s popular one-man comedy drama is at turns both achingly sentimental and screamingly vulgar, perhaps to some extent capitalising on the popular caricature of the Australian male. There are certainly elements about O’Neill that are desperately charming and Mark Little’s wonderful incarnation oozes with roguish charm. Studded with tattoos, head shaved clean with a greying beard and disturbingly reminiscent of an exiled Gary Glitter, Little staggers about the stage, bemoaning lost loves, dead friends and the gradual shutting down of his bodily functions. There is never a moment of regret here, for O’Neil is nothing if not stoical and Little, with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, perfectly captures the essences of our anti-hero.

Little has also directed and designed this piece and his creation of a ramshackle tin hut, raised precariously in the middle of the out-back, is brimming with thoughtful and imaginative detail, from the window box fashioned from a recycled estate agent’s sign, to a practically redundant weather vane fashioned from a cycle wheel.