You'd be pretty happy if David Williamson offered to write a new play for you. You'd be over the moon if he came out of retirement to do it. So it is with the Melbourne Theatre Company production Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot starring Caroline O'Connor.

O'Connor has the unfortunate disposition of being able to do everything very, very well. Musical theatre fans are more than familiar with her work (Chicago, West Side Story), film buffs have enjoyed her in Moulin Rouge and De-Lovely and more recently theatregoers have warmed to her in the meatier acting roles of End of the Rainbow and Bombshell. In Scarlett O'Hara, O'Connor gets to flex her comedic muscle, and clearly relishes the opportunity.

Set in a Melbourne restaurant, the story centres on the barely functional kitchen staff: two chefs (Andrew McFarlane and Simon Wood), two waiters (O'Connor and Marney McQueen) and a mature gay kitchen hand (Bob Horney). It's a tough gig and to escape the humdrum, unwed Scarlett (O'Connor) escapes into a fantasy world of classic Hollywood - Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz. There is also her demanding mother (played sensationally by Monica Maughan) and the advances of a computer tech nerd (Matt Day) at the restaurant to deal with.   
     
This hugely ambitious production incorporates a large screen with actual and mock film scenes. It could have been a disaster but if anything, illuminates Scarlett's inner world and is an appropriate frame for O'Connor's expansive talents.

Williamson's writing packs a punch with cutting issues of global warming, misogyny in sport and racism getting an airing. The verbally harassed gay kitchen hand (Horney) is a real honey, giving as good as he gets and with the audience's full blessing.

Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot
By David Williamson
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Arts Centre, Playhouse
Closes July 12

by DAREN POPE