UNIT 46
Sun Herald
Sunday July 5, 2009
UNIT 46CRITIC'S RATING 4/10FACTORY THEATREUNTIL JULY 19TICKETS $25-$28BOOKINGS (02) 9550 3666I HAVE a friend who lives with extremely annoying neighbours in the inner west.Noise complaints, barking dogs and bad taste in music are just the half of it. My friend has her revenge on them by stealing their wireless internet.Whether or not it was the intention of playwright Mick Barnes, the blessing of Unit 46 is that you only have to spend 80 minutes with two of the most annoying neighbours you could ever come across.Tim (Leof Kingsford-Smith) lives in an apartment above Diane (Lucy Miller) in a block of 56 units. Each night, they spend their time at home reflecting on their lonely existence and thinking of ways to annoy one another.Tim, an angry, misogynistic ex-public servant, won't put out the garbage bins. Diane, a chardonnay-swilling English teacher, bangs the ceiling with every movement Tim makes.The two actors are both fine performers who don't miss a beat and manage to make their characters so aggravating the play becomes unbearable to sit through. Neither of them has any redeeming character traits, so you can't help but feel the playwright must have been in a very dark place at the time of writing.Both are so painfully neurotic and unremorsefully self-centred that it makes whatever living conditions my friend is suffering practically angelic.I'll recommend this show to her but then again, she already has annoying neighbours.
© 2009 Sun Herald