Black Confetti celebrates the dark side of life

Black Confetti by Eli Kent
Auckland Theatre Company
Herald Theatre
Until July 22

Confetti is normally associated with joyous celebrations such as weddings so black confetti is probably best used on more sombre occasions. This would be something like the death of a parent, coming to terms with your friend’s vulnerability or realising you are running out of ideas for your life.

That is the situation for Siggy (Kip Chapman), a 20-something going on 50 who is trying to make sense of his life while attempting to discover the truth about his father's death – he was lost at sea in a boating tragedy.

Siggy is also a part-time drug dealer and one of his clients, friend Billy, has just overdosed. But he did have a heart problem. Now Siggy has to deal with Flo (Julie Croft), Billy’s sister, with whom he has an on-again off-again relationship.

He also has to handle his uncle Ray, a big-time drug dealer who also knows information about Siggy’s father that he is not telling.

Then there are his two old friends, Elvis (Nic Sampson) and Kate (Virginia Frankovich), who keep making life difficult for him. Providing some external insights and commentary on Siggy’s life is Adam Gardiner in a variety of roles, including university dean and coroner.

The various plot lines intertwine and unravel, ultimately make sense – probably not to Siggy, but the audience should manage to get it.

There is a lot of drug taking, both legal and illegal, and much of the play seems to be the rambling of a late-night party where everyone has overindulged – the sort of gathering where ideas, jokes, revelations and observations seem to be so clever and insightful at the time but just banal the next day.

It is with this edgy, surreal dialogue that Eli Kent captures the nuances of characters floundering in their shifting and fracturing worlds, trying to make sense of their relationships and purpose.

Siggy inhabits two parallel worlds, with the appearance of Haitian voodoo doctor Baron Saturday (Keith Adams), a drug-induced or psychological apparition who forces Siggy to search within himself for answers to the deeply personal and universal questions around morality and mortality.

There are flashes of Beckett also, with a script full of humour and menace. Kent knows how to create complex and intense characters with sparkling dialogue.

To achieve the understanding of character and to perform with insight and clarity requires an exceptional cast, and director Andrew Foster has managed to bring together some outstanding talent, making Black Confetti intriguing, perceptive and entertaining.

Music provides both a theme within the play as well as contributing to a fascinating soundscape created by Eden Mulholland.