Three actors put on this entertaining small-stage show on a shoestring budget. Innovatively scripted, ‘The Grandee Way’ centers around nasty nightclub “hostess” Martini and her horrendously mistreated other half Paul, who are running a failing, grubby bar into the ground. The freaky and murderous Grandee family rent the bar’s basement, with the intention of exploding the bar, as demanded by a prophecy that otherwise promises the family’s demise.
The piece is set in the mid-eighties, and a smattering of some of the decade’s best cheesy music and style crimes appear throughout the show. A three-way reworking of a Dirty Dancing classic provides the hour’s high point – comically sharp, with pathos, fun choreography and great exposition of the characters, it really shines.
With the somewhat complex setting and concept behind the script, and the actors performing multiple characters, clarity is always going to be important to ensure the audience does not struggle. However, enunciation of dialogue is occasionally poor, including in the recorded introduction and before some set pieces. This leaves the audience without clear context for the following sequences, spending effort on making sense of those sequences rather than enjoying them.
The character Paul is sympathetic, well acted, and thoroughly enjoyable, and the dreadful Grandee family are gleefully well performed. The Martini character, although clearly intended to be mean and unlikable, could do with having sympathetic moments to develop a dimension other than nastiness. Her presence rules the performance, but it is easy to be sorry to see her return on stage and this generally hampers the feel of the show. However, a bizarre, clever ending sees the audience leaving with a smile.
3/5 
Luke Wilkie
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