Renowned Australian actress, and star of 'Prisoner', Amanda Muggleton is all set to bring down the house with her one-woman performance about middle-class mayhem and a mid-life crisis.
“It sounds like it's going to be a night discussing books, but 'The Book Club' couldn't be further from the truth," Amanda Muggleton laughs.
Without trying to give too much away, Amanda goes on to explain how 'The Book Club' isn't just about books. "It is about a middle-aged woman who is from a middle-class background. She is bored out of her brain because she has empty-nest syndrome … her husband is going through a horrible 'man-o-pause'. They never talk about what men go through but I think they probably have a worse time then what [women] do because basically they think their willies are going to fall off … [Anyway] he's in training for a half marathon so my character, Deborah never sees him."
As a result of Deborah's husband's lack of presence around the house, she decided to join a book club.
"When it's my turn to host the book club night, I decided to pick a book by a local Australian author and I invite him to come and talk to all the girls … it sets the cat amongst the pigeons. Some of them fancy him, some of them can't stand the book he's written and they tell him so.
"Deborah's not looking to have an affair, but it just happens … there is a spark between them and of course they end up having this passionate affair."
Being a one-woman show, Amanda plays the role of up to 13 characters. "I play my husband, and I play my lover, plus a baby, plus a dog. It's an actors nightmare … In the second act there is a bonking scene that I do with my lover and it brings down the house because obviously I am doing it on my own, you fill in the gaps,” Amanda laughs.
“Deborah has always had fantasies about meeting a writer and in the fantasy she always ends up in their bed with them making passionate love to her. And of course it actually does happen – but he’s not a famous writer, he’s just some ordinary bloke who has written this book. Oh honestly, it’s really funny.
“The performance is basically a stand-up comedy routine, because I am on my own. It’s one of the funniest shows that I have ever had to do … I love to make people laugh and I love being stupid on stage.”
‘The Book Club’ is nothing like it once was.
“I started doing this show in 1999. The performance is totally unrecognisable from what [it was] in ’99 and even more unrecognisable from what it was in ’04 because I have to keep changing the books all the time and also we have added two more characters. It's in a very different place to what it started as — it’s completely different.”
'The Book Club' is playing at The Redlands Performing Arts Centre on Sept 28.
