It was a miserable winter’s night in Melbourne when I made my way to the Irene Mitchell Studio at the iconic St Martin’s Theatre, South Yarra.
Along with a full house of patrons, I was there to see a new ‘two-person’ play, Underneath Ms Archer. Starring producer and writer Louise Siversen as Kelly Archer and director, producer, and writer Peter Houghton as William Marshall.
With such an unusual title, I honestly did not know what to expect.
What I got was a hilarious time-traveling experience that, for ninety minutes, I completely forgot about the crappy weather outside.
Set in her recently deceased mother’s tiny two-room London apartment, airline flight attendant Kelly Archer has to come to terms with her less-than-perfect relationship with her mother and the scathing social media backlash from a less-than-professional encounter with the passenger in seat 48.
Between being devastated by the constant flow of negative posts and regularly explaining her pending dismissal to her mother’s ashes, she also manages to find time to complain about their dysfunctional home life.
Convinced that she has not done anything wrong, she is flustered and terrified that she will have to face the situation alone. Or will she?
Suddenly like a messenger from heaven or maybe even hell, William Marshall, the medieval First Knight from the 13th century, literally breaks his way into her already confused world.
What follows is a series of witty one-liners from Kelly and an equally funny response from William, who has difficulty deciphering modern English.
Although he has no trouble understanding the culinary delights of hot chocolate and a Tim-Tam, along with the thrill and excitement of a game of AFL Football, he is confused by modern moral values.
After the shock of his sudden appearance becomes less threatening, Kelly discovers a few truths about herself.
In contrast, William eventually discovers that his involvement in the signing of the historical document the Magna Carta was far more important than he ever imagined.
With an underlying message examining emotional and moral issues such as honesty, courage, loyalty, compromise and love, we are presented with the question of whether one can recover from our sometimes life-changing mistakes.
Once he understands the impact of social media, William reminds Kelly that ”Cowards crave company, and heroes stand alone.”
This is an amusing, offbeat story with a strong message of self-awareness, even if one of the characters is a spirit from the past.
Fight the winter chills with a good old-fashioned belly laugh by booking your ticket at https://www.underneathmsarcher.com/ and discover what is really underneath Ms Archer’s couch.
