Hello again. Long time no see.

I'm back. I think. I may even try to establish a new website as this looks terribly old.

In the meantime, here's a little foray I took into the world of ABC's The Drum.


More to cultural capitals than a new musical theatre

If you had a sense of deja vu reading the comments last weekend by musical theatre producers John Frost and Rodney Rigby calling on the New South Wales Government to build a Broadway-style venue in Sydney, you're not alone.

More HERE.

The Sydney Arts Journo Awards!

I promise this is just a short foray back into the blogosphere... I mean, I had to come back with my alternative list of awards again, didn't I?

And it's a perfect time to start a debate about what the Sydney Theatre Awards means to the industry. Back in 2005 when Diana Simmonds and Ian Phipps resurrected the awards, the industry was on the verge of some big changes.

The independent sector was growing at a rapid rate, the professional world was becoming more mature and the industry as a whole was expanding.

In short, the timing of Simmonds and Phipps was perfect.

But as the role of the mainstream media has changed and the world of the online reviewer comes to the fore, isn't it time the Sydney Theatre Awards were, themselves, reviewed?

"On 20 December 2005 nominations were publicly announced for the inaugural Sydney Theatre Awards," the website states.

"These awards came about after months of informal discussion among a group of senior Sydney critics, naming themselves The Sydney Reviewers and meeting by invitation only."

"The original reviewers were, in A-Z order: Stephen Dunne (Sydney Morning Herald), Bryce Hallett (Sydney Morning Herald), John McCallum (The Australian), Colin Rose (Sun-Herald), Diana Simmonds (Sunday Telegraph), John Shand (Sydney Morning Herald) and co-ordinator Ian Phipps (ABC Radio)."

In 2005, these people represented the majority of publicly available opinion.

But that world has changed.

This year the panel is Jason Blake (Sydney Morning Herald), Deborah Jones (The Australian), Alex Lalak (Daily Telegraph), Jo Litson (The Sunday Telegraph), John McCallum (The Australian), Diana Simmonds (Stagenoise) and John Shand (Sydney Morning Herald).

It is interesting to note that the panel is mostly made up of the mainstream media but now also includes one single online/blog reviewer. But where are the other online websites?

Collectively, blogs and pages such as ArtsHub, AussieTheatre, James Waites, Augusta Supple, Kevin Jackson and Australian Stage would easily outrank the above in online hits. Where is their voice? Many of their writers easily see a lot more theatre than members of the panel.

It's time the two organisers of the awards open up the voting to a wider panel. But not just within the online world, but also to the industry. A model such as the Green Room Awards in Melbourne would be perfect.

As I wrote twelve months ago;

"...don't be fooled into thinking the judges see all of the shows.

"As Simmonds said about the Helpmann Awards earlier this year, "the likelihood of the nominating "judges" having seen all or even nearly all nominees in a category is virtually nil". The same of course goes for these awards so don't be dismayed if you aren't nominated."

And as you can imagine, saying that went down like a lead balloon with a few people. But I still believe it's a fair point, and you'll see a couple of yawning gaps in the nominations.

The 'invitation only' policy needs a major revision and must be made far less exclusive if the awards are to maintain what is a lessening legitimacy. In its fifth year, maybe the Sydney Theatre Awards needs to be given over to the industry - not just a small part of the industry, but the industry as a whole.


And so here are my own AWARDS based unashamedly on the Sydney Theatre Awards list. Beware: you'll see awards to shows not even nominated.



Drum roll please....!


NOMINATIONS FOR 2009 SYDNEY THEATRE AWARDS

BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

Happy Days (Company B)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Sydney Theatre Company)
The War of the Roses (Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Festival)
When the Rain Stops Falling (Sydney Theatre Company and Brink Productions)

SAJ Award
Poppea (Sydney Opera House)

Special Mention
When the Rain Stops Falling (Sydney Theatre Company and Brink Productions)


BEST INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Beyond the Neck (Bambina Borracha Productions in association with B Sharp)
The Bougainville Photoplay Project (Version 1.0 in association with the Tamarama Rock Surfers) Norm & Ahmed/ Shafana & Aunt Sarrinah (Alex Buzo Company)
The Only Child (The Hayloft Project in association with B Sharp)

SAJ Award
Missing the Bus to David Jones (Theatre Kantanka & Performance Space)

Special Mention
The Only Child (The Hayloft Projectin association with B Sharp)


BEST DIRECTION
Benedict Andrews (The City)
Benedict Andrews (The War of the Roses)
Chris Drummond (When the Rain Stops Falling)
Marion Potts (Venus and Adonis)

SAJ Award
Barrie Kosky (Poppea)

Special Mention
Chris Drummond (When the Rain Stops Falling)


BEST ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE
Cate Blanchett (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Cate Blanchett (The War of the Roses)
Julie Forsyth (Happy Days)
Pamela Rabe (The War of the Roses)

SAJ Award
Melita Jurisic (Poppea)

Special Mention
Julie Forsyth (Happy Days)


BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE
Joel Edgerton (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Darren Gilshenan (Strange Attractor)
Ewen Leslie (The War of the Roses)
Ben Winspear (Baghdad Wedding)

SAJ Award

Darren Gilshenan (Elling)

Special Mention
Colin Moody (The City)


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Blazey Best (Strange Attractor)
Anita Hegh (The City)
Kris McQuade (When the Rain Stops Falling)
Kerry Walker (The Man From Mukinupin)

SAJ Award
Kerry Walker (The Man From Mukinupin)

Special Mention
Anita Hegh (The City)


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Gareth Davies (The Only Child)
John Gaden (The War of the Roses)
Yalin Ozucelik (Baghdad Wedding)
Tim Richards (A Streetcar Named Desire)

SAJ Award
Ewen Leslie (The Promise)

Special Mention
Tom Wren (The Only Child)


BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
Beyond the Neck (Tom Holloway)
The Only Child (Simon Stone with Thomas Henning)
Savage River (Steve Rodgers)
When the Rain Stops Falling (Andrew Bovell)

SAJ Award
Holiday (Raimondo Cortese)

Special Mention
When the Rain Stops Falling (Andrew Bovell)


BEST NEWCOMER
Travis Cardona (Savage River)
Josh McConville (The Call + Strange Attractor)
Susie Mathers (Mamma Mia!)

SAJ Award
Travis Cardona (Savage River)


BEST SET DESIGN
Robert Cousins (The War of the Roses)
Michael Scott Mitchell (Travesties)
Anna Tregloan (Venis and Adonis)
Hossein Valamanesh (When the Rain Stops Falling)

SAJ Award

Claude Marcos (The Only Child)

Special Mention
Alice Babidge (Wonderful World of Dissocia)


BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice Babidge (War of the Roses)
Julie Lynch (Travesties)
Bruce McKinven (The Alchemist)
Tess Schofield (The Wonderful World of Dissocia)

SAJ Award
Tess Schofield (The Wonderful World of Dissocia)

Special Mention
Julie Lynch (Travesties)


BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Paul Jackson (Happy Days)
Paul Jackson (The Telltale Heart)
Niklas Pajanti (When the Rain Stops Falling)
Nick Schlieper (The War of the Roses)

SAJ Award
Niklas Pajanti (When the Rain Stops Falling)

Special Mention
Teegan Lee (The Only Child)


BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN
Paul Charlier (A Streetcar Named Desire)
David Franzke (The Wonderful World of Dissocia)
Alan John (The City)

SAJ Award

Barrie Kosky (Poppea)


BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
Avenue Q
Chicago
Jerry Springer The Opera
Wicked

SAJ Award
Chicago


JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Lucy Durack (Wicked)
Amanda Harrison (Wicked)
Sharon Millerchip (Chicago)
Caroline O’Connor (Chicago)

SAJ Award

Sharon Millerchip(Chicago)


JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Damien Bermingham (Chicago)
Mitchell Butel (Avenue Q)
Luke Joslin (Avenue Q)
James Millar (Gutenberg the Musical)

SAJ Award
Craig Annis (The Man from Mukinupin)


BEST CABARET PRODUCTION
Red Hot and Saucy – Rhonda Burchmore (Civic Cabaret)
Meow to the World: Crisis is Born (Sydney Opera House)
‘Tegrity: Britney Spears in Cabaret – Christie Whelan (Raval)
Tim Draxl - Under the Influence (Supper Club)

SAJ Award
Meow to the World: Crisis is Born (Sydney Opera House)


BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN
The Gruffalo (Christine Dunstan Productions)
The Nargun and the Stars (Erth and Sydney Festival)
The Wizard of Oz (Windmill and Sydney Theatre Company)

SAJ Award
The Nargun and the Stars

Goodbye, and hello, as always

This will be the last week of Sydney Arts Journo. I am taking an extended hiatus away from arts journalism and reviewing to take up a position as an Arts Policy Advisor to the State Government.

It's been nearly five years since I penned my first opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald to then start a blog, review for The Daily Telegraph, write for Crikey and now finish up at the Sun-Herald.

In that time the beautiful blogosphere has grown and expanded and Sydney now has an impressive online reviewer landscape.

When I started out companies, organisations and groups didn't quite know how to take me or this weird thing called 'online opinion'. And I've had my run-ins.

But now bloggers, online reviewers stand side by side with the mainstream media ... it's nothing short of joyful. And debate continues to grow and opinions broaden.

Thanks to all of you for clicking, reading, contributing and having your say over the last three years of Sydney Arts Journo.

It's been a joy.

Nick

Review: Strange Attractor

Strange Attractor
Griffin Theatre
Until 21 November
Tickets $15-44
Bookings (02) 8002 4772
Critic’s Rating 9/10


When the next generation research how theatre represented the state of the Australian nation in the early part of the 21st Century then this new play by Sue Smith will be the flagship text they’ll turn to.

Deep in the Pilbara, a railway construction team is doing their best to survive isolation. Set in a mess hall with Chilli, an Argentinian barman (Ivan Donato), four workers get drunk together to wile away the hours.

But along comes Colin (Darren Gilshenan) the HR manager of the construction company who faces of with the old unionist Taipan (Peter Kowitz) over the accident of the OH&S manager Gus (Sandy Winton) during a cyclone.

At first it seems like this play is just your run of the mill working class versus rich story with stock-standard ‘bewdiful’ Aussie outback scenery. But then the complexity of the text opens up like a lotus to reveal a tour-de-force that is a requiem for a nation that should have bigger dreams.

Directed by Nick Marchand, it’s an astonishing achievement that is politically acute and places Australia in an environmental, industrial, cultural and historical context with breath-taking clarity.

The cast are universally excellent with beautifully crafted characters but sadly the set design leaves much to be desired in a work that is gripping and essential viewing.

Review: Josh Thomas In Things That I Have Said Before

Josh Thomas in Things That I Have Said Before
Comedy Store, Moore Park
Until 7 November
Tickets $15-22
Bookings (02) 9357 1419
Critic’s Rating 6/10


As published in the Sun Herald

Living most of my life in darkened theatres, I didn’t know who Josh Thomas was when my editor told me to go and review him. He’s the guy from that generation show, my friend said. I still didn’t recognise him, which probably says more about me than him.

The first thing you notice as he shuffles on to the stage is how young he is. And he knows how to joke about it. In fact, the majority of his skit is about how young he looks.

There’s the jokes about facial hair, how he looks like an adult baby (or Ellen DeGeneres) and his nervousness around women.

It’s all par for the course and it makes girls between the ages of 16 and 22 giggle.

That’s until he takes the lid off and he lets fly with his more R-rated material – and then suddenly older cackles come from the crowd and the teenagers are left behind.

Blending coriander, marzipan and abortion is just the start of it. And he always acts relieved when the dirty jokes get a response. But he’s always got that glint in his eye that gives you the suspicion the he knows he’s funny. And he is.

Review: Taming of the Shrew

Taming of the Shrew
Sydney Opera House
Until 21 November
Tickets $30-60
Bookings (02) 9250 7777
Critic’s Rating 4/10

As published in the Sun Herald


It’s amazing that a production starring some of this country’s finest female stage performers could be so badly conceived. On the page, the idea of having an all-female cast performing in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, looks interesting.

It certainly has sex appeal. The misogynist Petruchio (Jeanette Cronin) who has been historically played by swaggering Don Juan leads (Kenneth Branagh, Peter O’Toole, Michael Siberry to name a few) tames the wild and disobedient Kate (Lotte St Clair).

It may have worked if the women were mocking the male species through caricatures but instead director Marion Potts hurtles head first like a train-wreck into a mock-lesbian world that is confused, predictable and unwittingly sacrifices the beauty of the text.

Setting the action in an atypical leagues club Chinese Restaurant doesn’t help. It certainly looks good as the lights go down, with its glitter balls and karaoke machine, but as soon as the characters enter the space in their mixture of '30s, '70s, '80s, '90s and contemporary clothing, you start to feel dizzy, unable to give the setting any context or meaning.

In one corner you have Kate’s wealthy father Baptista (Sandy Gore) playing cards and acting like a Sopranos mafia boss next to her slightly goofy mob. In the other corner you have a Sly Fox Hotel/The L Word love tryst of the butch Lucentio (Luisa Hastings Edge) and Tranio (Ksenja Logos) wooing their way to Baptista’s beautiful daughter Bianca (Emily Rose Brennan).

Sadly, this all-female Shrew is full of colour and possibilities but in the end it’s not thought through. The contemporary parallels shift so much that neither the actors nor the audience can focus in on what is actually being said. A perfect example of this is in the final scene when Kate delivers one of the most beautiful Shakespearean passages written for a female character to be then upstaged by Bianca for a cheap laugh.

All the performers fulfil their roles as well as they can, although some of the younger performers could learn some stillness from their older colleagues. The stand-out among them is Judy Farr, who steals the show with barely a line to say as the widow and Biondello.

Bell Shakespeare is a unique company in that they tour extensively through the country and caters to both schools and the general public. Creatively this can be a blessing – at other times it can be a burden as production teams try to find "contemporary parallels" to make Shakespeare more palatable. This Shrew is one of the latter.

Review: The Ruby Sunrise

The Ruby Sunrise
Ensemble Theatre
Until 14 November
Tickets $23-63
Bookings (02) 9929 0644
Critic’s Rating 5/10

As published in the Sun Herald


The character of Ruby Sunrise is as American as apple pie. A Midwest teenager, she dreams of a better world and thinks her new idea of a Tele(from the Greek) vision (from the Latin) will stop wars, educate and bring humanity closer together.

Set in the 1920s, at a time when television science was racing ahead in leaps and bounds, it’s a world away from daytime soaps and episodes of Bridezilla.

When Ruby’s daughter, Lulu (Catherine McGraffin), gives the idea to writer Tad Rose (Glenn Hazeldine) 30 years later at the height of Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist investigations, they think they have a hit on their hands with a story that is an optimistic tale of determination that has a female heroine.

But censorship rears its ugly heads and the story gets diluted and changed along the way.

For The Ruby Sunrise to have its full impact, the stakes need to be high and the opening scenes set in the '20s need to have a gravity and realism that will drive the rest of the play.

Unfortunately this doesn't happen. It would have been a perfect opportunity to explore audiovisual styles but instead, director Sandra Bates has opted for a realist production, where even the make-up and costumes look like they’re straight out of a community theatre wardrobe.

Review: Silver

Silver
Belvoir Street Theatre
Until 25 October
Tickets $10-29
Bookings (02) 9699 3444
Critic’s Rating 6/10

As published in the Sun Herald


Welcome to the land of nightmares and dreams, where the imagination of a child could be illusion or reality. Silver, written and performed by Matthew Whittet, is a first-person account of a journey of a little girl who finds her way miles from home.

With the horror of Blair Witch Project and the charm of a European fairytale, there’s a great simplicity at work here in this production; but to my mind is over-simplified.

Theatre is the best place in the world to tell and hear a story but Silver would be just as riveting if it were read off the page.

Director Ben Winspear has split the already small downstairs space and has Whittet sitting plainly on a chair in front of only about 40 people.

There’s some novelty in the fact that Whittet is a charmingly good male performer telling the story of a girl's life but that’s about where it ends. Nick Schlieper does a good job with the lighting to create a mood at the beginning but it isn’t followed through with anything physical to carry that further.

If however, you’re up for a good romping tale with no bells or whistles, then this is the ideal production.

After all these years it's still Liza with a zing

Regal yet humble, the Cabaret star still has energy and talent to enthral her fans, writes Nicholas Pickard.

FIRST REVIEW

It's the eyes and the giggle that do it for you - that innocent glare that Liza Minnelli flashes at you to give you a window into the career of a musical star who has been honing her talent for more than 50 years.

The voice has become shaky and the body isn't as agile as it once was but this is Liza - with a Z - and no one in the packed 2000-seat auditorium at the Sydney Opera House was complaining.

When she appeared dressed in her white sequins it felt like the roof of the Opera House was about to lift off. Everyone rose to their feet for the star who first came to Australia with her then husband, Peter Allen, 42 years ago.


Full Review Published HERE.

Review: Peter Grimes

Peter Grimes
Sydney Opera House
Until 30 October
Tickets $68-256
Bookings (02) 9250 7777
Critic’s Rating 8/10

As published in the Sun Herald


There’s nothing quite like a lynch mob to get the dramatic pulses racing. As with football, viewers like siding with the under-dog, hoping that the mob gets punished for succumbing to group mentality.

Peter Grimes is a reclusive subsistence fisherman living in an isolated sea port on the English coastline. Different from the rest the community, in a Boo Radley type of way, he is viewed with suspicion when his young apprentice is found dead after a fishing expedition.

Writing at the height of World War II, the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, Peter Pears, returned to England from the US with the idea to turn an 1810 poem by George Crabbe into opera.

With librettist Montagu Slater, Britten creates a world much like John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men where Grimes is objectified and beaten down like Lennie Small by a ruthless community.

Director Neil Armfield, along with designers Ralph Myers, Tess Schofield and Damien Cooper, has set the action in a community hall that can quickly turn from a warm hub of social interaction to a place more daunting and cold.

A coronial inquest clears Grimes of the incident but the community is distrustful and gossip escalates when he is given another apprentice. His love-interest, Ellen Orford, is one of his only friends but she succumbs to communal gossip.

Britten’s Peter Grimes is a haunting modernist composition that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and Armfield honours the score’s meditative qualities with simple stagecraft and a lighting design that evokes the horizontal shadows of an Alfred Hitchcock film.

More often than not it is just the solitary figure of George Crabbe (played by Peter Carroll), the original author of the poem, who strolls through the hall in between scenes and moves chairs, creating a theatre within a theatre.

Stuart Skelton is born to play the role of Grimes, his tenor voice opening with such beauty and clarity in the opening scene, only to descend into the more chaotic expressionism as the mob chases him from his hut. Susan Gritton, as the simple Ellen Orford is beautiful and Peter Coleman-Wright, as Grimes’s only other friend, Captain Balstrode is grittily perfect.

Peter Grimes is a harsh world that came out of the destruction of a war that tore the world apart. Its programming post-September 11 is inspired and shows that the mob mentality is as prolific as ever.