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.

Review: Missing The Bus To David Jones

Missing The Bus To David Jones
Performance Space, Carriageworks
Until 24 October
Tickets $15-30
Bookings 1300 723 038
Critic’s Rating 9/10

As published in the Sun Herald


“He who dies with the most toys wins” was last week reported to be one of James Packer’s sayings. For the rest of us, the end of life is a little more than accumulated possessions and will most likely involve a nursing home.

These homes might be considered the unlikeliest place to find celebration or solace but in Carlos Gomes’s production, they contain the meaning to life.

Six characters enter an open space with simple furnishings, a television, a cushioned floor and soft music. Dressed in white they strip down and put on elderly clothes and take up residence. It’s just one of many beautiful moments as you witness the proximity of age and your own mortality.

Gomes has created an ensemble piece with movement, story-telling and short scenes after the group completed six months of observation and interviews in nursing homes across Sydney.

The result is one of the most celebratory pieces of theatre you will encounter. From the intricate hand movements of the performers to the sadness and humility of the stories, it will have you laugh and reflect.

John Donne said death was a slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men and this production shows why. This is a wonderful show. Take an elderly relative.

Review: The Bougainville Photoplay Project

The Bougainville Photoplay Project
Old Fitzroy Theatre
Until 31 October
Tickets $21-35
Bookings 1300 438 849
Critic’s Rating 7/10

As published in the Sun Herald


The first thing you realise while listening to Dr Paul Dwyer is how little many Australians know about the small island of Bougainville, its history or its people.

With the aid of slides, projections, videos and personal anecdotes, Dwyer takes us through his journey on the island in 2002 while researching restorative justice.

He explains that on the eve of his journey, he suddenly realises he’s following in the footsteps of his father, who worked on the island as an orthopaedic surgeon in the 1960s.

It’s a beautifully personal way to explain a place that, despite a beautiful landscape has been beset with a violent history – with questions even about the culpability of our own nation’s leaders: Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Gareth Evans.

Dwyer paints a picture of an island that has changed a lot since his father first arrived. But what is most touching is the way the character of these people has survived, with a genuine desire for reconciliation after 10 years of war, pollution and poverty.

Directed by David Williams and with video design by Sean Bacon, this is a production of simple and earnest story-telling.

The Wonderful New Era of Theatre Trailers

I absolutely love this new practice by theatre companies in Sydney to make trailers to help promote their shows. It was something that first emerged in the UK and the North American fringe but gradually the practice has filtered through other places around the world.

In some cases the trailer is better than the show - which can be slightly problematic for producers - but most of the time, an innovative theatre trailer often represents an innovative creative team.

Here's a pick of some of the best that have emerged in Sydney in recent times. And if there are any more you have come across send them my way and I'll post them up.

The Duel - Sydney Theatre Company




References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot - Griffin Independent




St Nicholas - Bondi Pavilion




Wicked - Capitol Theatre

Review: One long night in the land of Nod

As published in the Sun Herald.

One long night in the land of Nod
Old Fitzroy Theatre
Until 3 October
Tickets $17-35
Bookings 1300 438 849
Critic’s Rating 8/10


A fly screen door slams shut on the back room of an old fibro shack in the middle of a drought-ridden farm. Aaron (Patrick Graham) sits in a half-light, drinking beer and holding a rifle.

His brother Kane (Chris Pitman) arrives in the middle of the night with news that his parents aren’t doing to well and Aaron is badly affected by the isolation of the farm.

Like Cain and Abel, the two are set against each other with jealousy, rivalry and desperation on a land beset by bad harvests. It’s a bleak outback Australia that may as well be the world of Genesis.

This production, directed by Iain Sinclair, pitches together two exceptional actors who are always a joy to watch. Graham is eerily unpredictable as Aaron and Pitman creates a Kane not unlike Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

One long night in the land of Nod is the best new piece of Australian writing to hit Sydney’s independent stages all year.

Plywright Duncan Graham (who had another success with Ollie and the Minotaur earlier this year) has an ear for dialogue that transcends gender, space and time as he creates a mood that is hypnotic right up until the play’s haunting end. A must-see.

The Ghost of Guthrie

Almost eight months after this story first came to light, the Sydney Morning Herald has finally got some headlines raging along about the recasting controversy around Ruben Guthrie.

"Criticism is mounting against the replacement of four actors in the hit play Ruben Guthrie, with well-known industry figures slamming Company B's decision," writes Louise Schwartzkoff in today's Herald.

"A revised version of the play about Australia's drinking culture has received glowing reviews at the Belvoir St Theatre. But it is running without the actors Christopher Stollery, Tracy Mann, Lex Marinos and Samantha Reed, who worked for two months with no salary to launch the original independent show at Belvoir's downstairs theatre."

"The actors earned a small cut of the box-office takings."

First writing about this in March, I asked the question about what the ethics are around co-op theatre making good? Do producers and directors have any responsibility to actors who have not only sacrificed their time and creativity but also performed to critical acclaim? Or is it all fair in love and war?

It is something that needs to be addressed rather quickly... before the next occurrence of it happens - which could be sooner rather than later.

It's becoming quickly obvious that Belvoir Street's Downstairs Theatre is all but in name (and wages) a professional theatre gig. A quick look at their program this year and you see a couple of stars lining up alongside professional theatre practitioners - not to mention full-time Company B staff also getting in on the act.

Along with much of the 'independent' theatre sector in Sydney, it is now quite out of reach to your average emerging artist (which gives rise to the other issue around emerging artists starting to find their own spaces and avoiding the rigmarole of getting creative approval for your work - but that's for another post).

But the key to unlocking the problem Company B has found themselves in lies in this simple line in today's story; "The actors earned a small cut of the box-office takings."

I think it might be time to start coughing up MEAA wages for any shows that may ascend up the Belvoir Street Theatre stairs. You can get a pretty good idea which shows they will be. Then actors won't feel half as pissed off if they don't go with it and it'll honour the professional nature of the programming.


*** Please be aware that I have taken the anonymous comment function off this blog. If you have something to say, be proud and put your name to it.

Review: Ollie and the Minotaur

Ollie and the Minotaur
Downstairs Belvoir
Until 3 May
Tickets $23-29
Bookings (02) 9699 3444
Critic’s Rating 7/10


Ollie and the Minotaur opens like a fresh sea breeze of familiarity as old school friends Thea, Bec and Carla come together for a coastal weekend reunion.

It’s the type of weekend based on simple pleasures we’ve all had – lie in the sun, get drunk, relive your youth and maybe listen to Gen X anthems like Pump Up The Jam for good measure.

The dominant Thea (Wendy Bos) and the more retiring Bec (Sarah Brokensha) arrive first and from the first moments a pecking order of their status is established. Advertising executive Carla (Adriana Bonaccurso) is not far behind them as she quickly dons her sunnies and starts ordering young Bec to fix her a gin and tonic.

From Shakespeare to Chekhov, the dramatic potential and tension provided by three women on stage has been used by the greats of the stage.

Ollie and the Minotaur is no different. The three talk about boys, dance and yell madly but the innocence of their get-together unravels as a dark secret between the three opens a Pandora’s box.

It’s here that the dramatic tension lifts off and takes what could be a very ordinary plot into a complicated and more sinister world.

Working with three quite wonderful performers, playwright Duncan Graham has grabbed that tradition and developed a story that is engrossing and, when it reaches the end, very disturbing.

Director Sarah John allows the story to be told with a respectful simplicity and allows the gifted actors to deliver what is a sharp, realistic and well-crafted new Australian play.

Review: The Distance From Here

The Distance from Here
Stables Theatre
Until 25 April
Tickets $23-$30
Bookings (02) 8002 4772
Critic’s Rating 5/10


US playwright Neil LaBute has such a distinct way of writing that his surname has entered the vernacular to describe plays that portray the disturbing lives of those who sit outside the norm.

And The Distance From Here is about as LaButeish as you’re going to get.

Darrell (Anthony Gee), son of a gulf war veteran, is pretty angry with the world. With his mate Tim (Benn Welford) at the local zoo, they antagonise the monkeys by yelling and spitting at them. It becomes a pretty obvious connection as you ask who really is the beast.

Then you get introduced to Darrell’s family and you enter the world of the trailer-trash US lower class with chain-smoking stepmother Cammi (Jeanette Cronin), her boyfriend and Gulf War veteran boyfriend Rich (Andy Rodreda) and his half-sister Shari (Laura Brent). It’s a family where no one is related by blood but is tied together by impoverished circumstances.

Recalling other anti-war plays, The Distance From Here makes the correlation between states at war and the violence war promotes within society.

But for LaBute to convincingly shock an audience, he needs to be delivered with more menace rather than the angry stereotypes we see played out in this production.

Director John Sheedy has recruited an excellent cast but they appear to be dying to get LaButeish with the text.

They aren’t helped by a set design which acts as a barrier and slows down the action nor the constant smoking on stage.

Review: DNA

DNA
Old Fitzroy Theatre
Until 2 May
Tickets $21-$35
Bookings 1300 438 849
Critic’s Rating 6/10


A bunch of teenagers has done something terribly wrong and now a boy has gone missing. In a fit of panic the group tries to cover up their crime with a cold hearted ringleader showing the way.

In this modern day Lord of the Flies, British playwright Dennis Kelly utilises his astonishing ear for teenage conversation and establishes a dog-eat-dog plot in a schoolyard.

This is a world where teenagers have grown up with crime television and DNA evidence making their seduction all the more ruthless.

With a sparse set of hanging light bulbs and carpet underlay by Jessie Giraud, director Kellie Mackereth makes good use of the intimate Old Fitzroy Theatre where the big cast of eleven enter from every corner of the space.

Using Yael Naim’s beautiful remix of Britney Spears’s Toxic as a theme song (which inspires a sound design by Rosie Chase) this production has an appealing quality and tone of American Beauty.

But with so many actors on stage in so many group moments the actors are often caught out not knowing what to do or where to go while moments of angst bubble to the surface centre stage.

Review: The Herbal Bed

The Herbal Bed
New Theatre
Until 11 April
Tickets $22-$28
Bookings 1300 306 776


There’s a bit of mystery around William Shakespeare’s daughter, Susannah Hall, who took a young local boy from Stratford-upon-Avon to court for slandering her, alleging she had an affair with a local haberdasher.

It’s an event of historical interest which British playwright Peter Whelan uses as a vehicle to create a period piece attempting to tackle the moral dilemma around those little white (and not so white) lies.

They’re questions we ask ourselves every day: Do you ignore a lie for your own preservation and what affect does it have on those around us? And at what cost do you defend your honour and reputation. (Marcus Einfeld is the most recent scenario which comes to mind).

The Herbal Bed sees Susannah (Fiona Pepper) with her husband the local doctor (Keith Agius) trying to defend their reputation in the face of pub gossip that she has been alone with married man Rafe Smith (Jamie Irvine).

Taking the case to the church court, the local bishop (Dave Kirkham) is easily swayed but his assistant, Rev Barnabus Goche (David McLaughlin) is less willing to buy the story. He questions the key witness to the event, servant girl Hester (Gemma Yates-Round), who has been quietly encouraged to protect her mistress Susannah.

Director Sarah Giles and designer Renee Mulder gather an impressive cast with a production a black and austere design similar to that of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. There are particularly strong performances that bring out the suspense set deep in the text - most especially during the court scene where Susannah, the doctor and Rafe unite to defend their honour in front of the quick minded Reverend Goche.

However, for a play so dependent on the lust of the flesh, it is surprising to see very little time in the text showing the attraction between the adulterers. At a period in history when slander and lies are measured against such religious fervour the stakes need to be much higher to justify the extraordinary choices made by Susanna and Rafe.

Agius certainly sets the standard with a performance that breathes a quiet desperation, but what's left unseen is the passion of the affair undermining him.

The set adds even more distance between the characters by placing furniture between them and limiting their interaction within the cavernous space of the New Theatre. Nevertheless, this is a interesting choice of play staged by the company with some promising signs of new talent emerging.

Review: Ladybird

As published in the Sun-Herald.

Ladybird
Downstairs Belvoir Street
Until 12 April
Tickets $10-$29
Bookings (02) 9699 3444
Critic’s Rating 6/10

Entering the world of Russian playwright Vassily Sigarev’s Ladybird is like entering the world of a strife-torn housing estate in modern-day Sydney.

Dima (Ian Meadows) is a young man living with his alcoholic father on the barren outskirts of a forgotten town. What’s even worse is they live in a housing commission building overlooking a cemetery (which the locals call the house of the living and the dead).

On the eve of enlisting in the army to fight in Chechnya, Dima throws a party with his drugged-out mate Slavik (Eamon Farren), neighbour Lera (Sophie Ross), her cousin Julia (Yael Stone) and drug dealer (Adam Booth). On a mattress on the floor in a wasted-out stupor is his dad (Slava Orel).

This is a snapshot into the world of Putin’s Russia and the forgotten people left behind by the nation’s new elite. Conversations between these young characters are like incidental chatter you’d hear on any bus but with a few drinks the dark shadow of the cemetery slowly rises and they are faced with questions about the horrible situation they are in.

Director Lee Lewis has taken this Russian play, written only 5 years ago, and places it firmly within the world of fringe dwelling Australia. With extremely strong performances this is a production full of relevancy and timing. But its full affect is flawed by a set design far too overbearing, with mountainous amounts of garbage and flickering TV sets, distracting from a text already dripping in sad and haunting images.

At 70 minutes, Ladybird delivers a blunt reality check.

Who's Who in Creative Sydney?

For your interest...

Creative Sydney is a new festival of ideas that gives creative people the platform to discuss how we can make Sydney the best place in the world to create new film, art, design, music, technology, events and more.

It is part of Vivid Sydney, a unique new public festival featuring Luminous music festival at Sydney Opera House, Smart Light Sydney and Fire Water. Vivid Sydney is one of five anchor events in the first ever NSW Master Events Calendar created by Events NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.

And there will be a festival celebrating the wealth and diversity of the city’s creative talents from May 27- June 13.

As part of that Creative Sydney will be recognising the outstanding talent we have in Sydney; artists, performers and producers, and the people working behind the scenes to build the culture of our city.

They’re applauding the work of 100 Creative Catalysts, individuals who have developed original projects, products or services within their creative field, and who inspire and support other creative people.

And they want your input. Who inspires you? Creative Sydney is open to suggestions as they compile the Creative Catalysts list. They could be friends or peers, people you admire or icons you want to emulate.

Post your nominations on Facebook by April 3.

Register for the newsletter for updates and full launch details at http://creativesydney.com.au/

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/creativesydney


---------------------------------------------------------

For the purposes of Creative Sydney the creative industries include: advertising, architecture, visual art, computer software & web development, design (interior, graphic, object), fashion, photography, film, video, animation, performing arts, music, literature and publishing, radio and television, crafts and video games.

Count it. One Billion Dollars.

In today's paper;

"THE State Government has agreed to fund a $1 billion project to finally bring the Sydney Opera House in line with its designer's vision.

"Although a deal has yet to be signed with the Opera House board, Treasury officials indicated two weeks ago that the Government was willing to provide the money needed for the restoration."

One billion dollars. That's one expensive photo opportunity.

The saddest part of this is that only two months ago the State Government through their funding agency, Arts NSW, signed off on the death of four major regional music festivals - the Bellingen Jazz Festival, the Tyalgum Festival, the Bangalow Festival and the Camden Haven Music Festival.

To give this some perspective, the Bellingen Jazz Festival last year received $11,000. Similar amounts were cut from these other festivals.

At the time, director of the Camden Haven Music Festival Alvena Ferguson said, "while the Sydney Festival, which engages mainly overseas performers, received in excess of $4 million, many regional events such as ours, which contribute so much to the economic and cultural life of country communities, have not been supported".

No doubt Mrs Ferguson will be breathless at today's announcement.

Just imagine for a second what you would do with $1 Billion. We all know there are major problems at the Opera House which need to be rectified. We all know of the importance of this cultural icon which is recognisable around the world. But at a time when household income is dropping and a recession is about to take hold, wouldn't this money be better spent on community, regional and grass roots arts and music programmes?

$1 Billion could go to Carriageworks to assist them in properly paying young artists for their festivals.

$1 Billion could go to every independent theatre production in the state to assist them in staging costs thereby increasing the share of box office revenue for co-operatives.

$1 Billion could reinstate the role of regional performing arts organisations such as the Northern Rivers Performing Arts to create and tell local stories.

$1 Billion could assist Councils across the state to implement programmes of creative renewal such as the one now happening with Renew Newcastle.

$1 Billion could be filtered to local community theatres like ShopFront to expand their youth contemporary arts programmes.

$1 Billion could finance the renovations and rebuilding of theatres such as Marian Street and the New Theatre.

$1 Billion could see visual and performing arts programmes implemented in every youth centre in the state.

$1 Billion could see more community access to major arts events and productions off-setting the ticket price for those on lower incomes.

$1 Billion could see the purchase and up keep of the diminishing amount of arts spaces and studios in the inner city.

$1 Billion could finance a state-wide Don Dunstan style of public art programme throughout the state.

$1 Billion could provide musical instruments for every kid in every primary school.

$1 Billion would totally revolutionise the way the arts and music are created and consumed within our state.

Where would you like the $1 Billion to go?

Review: Tattoo

Blog notes: My review of Tattoo which is posted below didn't have the space to fully expand on the intricacy and complexity of this play.

The timing of the production cannot be underestimated - just today I see that Josef Fritzl will appear in an Austrian court to face trial. Despite the timing, this play is an historical piece which was first written and produced in 1992 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's about reunification and German guilt, Hitler's willing executioners, about collective forgetfulness... It's about 'keeping it in the family'.

The parallels with Fritzl are unnerving. The silence of the mother, the neighbours, the entire town. Did they know? Did anyone try to do anything?

No doubt, we won't find out any of this from the trial.

Interestingly, debates about this theme have also been raised around the release of the new Kate Winslet film The Reader and there was a fascinating article in The Australian by Tim Bower which argues that "sixty years after the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals and when nearly all the murderers are dead, the truth about Germany's reintroduction of slavery and persecution into 20th-century Europe has become blurred by convenient myths".

It's a fascinating discussion which directly correlates with what this play is screaming out.

Despite the relevancy it's a real shame that the director didn't use a better translation. I learnt of the importance of good, thorough and relevant translations while studying theatre directing in Slovenia all those years ago.

You can hear the German in the text and you can hear where words don't fit. Even the names of the characters are affected by translation and chosen quite deliberately. To my ear 'Dog Face Julie' doesn't sound quite right and the fact that the youngest and more unruly daughter is called Lulu is loaded with over one hundred years of Germanic literature history.

Dramatically, such an ordinary translation puts up a wall between the audience and the action. Regardless, this is a very interesting and timely piece.

Review as published in yesterday's Sun-Herald.


Tattoo
Griffin Independent, Stables Theatre
Until 28 March
Tickets $26-$30
Bookings (02) 8002 4772
Critic’s Rating 6/10


Less than a year ago, Austrian father Josef Fritzl made headlines when it was discovered he had locked up and abused his daughter for 24 years.

The world was shocked. For most people, family represents what should be a sanctuary - if you look through the eyes of the family, you look through the eyes of the world.

Tattoo, by German playwright Dea Loher, portrays a family corrupted by the actions of a father, Oven-Wolf (David Ritchie), who is sexually abusing his eldest daughter, Anita (Sophie Kelly).

The mother of the family, Dog Face Julie (Sandra Eldridge), just looks on as a silent witness while nervously scratching away at her arms, head and neck. When a local flower shop boy (Simon Corfield) learns of the abuse he takes Anita away, forcing the abuser to turn on his youngest daughter, Lulu (Megan Drury).

Director Rochelle Whyte has created a Doll’s House space straight out of a story book. But it’s a story book which is clinical and white against the dark backdrop of Oven-Wolf’s heinous acts.

As a parable for the wider world it is disturbing, showing that the legacy and repercussions of mistakes and evil will go on if good people do nothing.

The actors deliver powerful caricatures in the grim fairytale world but they don’t go into deeper moments of sincerity to allow the harsh reality of these true stories to come through.

After all, fairy tales are at their most powerful when you see reflections of your world.

Review: Vigil

As published in yesterday's Sun-Herald.

Vigil
Old Fitzroy
Until 28 March
Tickets $21-$35
Bookings 1300 438 849
Critic’s Rating 7/10


Being on your deathbed is hard enough as it is but when a long lost relative turns up to hurry you along, you’re sure to find yourself fighting against the odds.

Vigil by Canadian playwright Morris Panych is a wicked little black comedy which follows Kemp (Travis Cotton), an anti-social and politically incorrect loner who comes to see off his dying aunt Grace (Gertraud Ingeborg). Days turn into weeks, the weeks into months and Kemp, who has only one set of clothes, gets increasingly impatient.

He is unashamed in his wish to send her off, telling her at one stage that he is worried about her health: “I think you might be getting better”. Indeed, the whole play is littered with evil and hilarious one-liners straight out of a Monty Python skit. But as time goes on, Kemp starts pondering his own life and mortality.

It’s a very unusual choice for this small theatre which usually programs edgier new Australian works; this play is a little safe. But it is a beautifully realised production directed by Susanna Dowling. With some amazing live music performed by Ekrem Mulayim, this production doesn’t overplay the comedy and the result is a piece which ends up being quite touching and profound.

Ruben Guthrie Loses a Few Passengers

There's a little unhappiness down at the old tomato sauce factory on Belvoir Street where a few noses are out of joint.

Ruben Guthrie, another play which has made good in the Downstairs theatre, received a promotion and will be enjoying a mainstage season in the upstairs theatre in a couple of months.

But a few actors from the original cast won't be going with it.

The play, written by Brendan Cowell and directed by Wayne Blair, follows the ups and downs of a 29-year-old advertising creative and his battle with the bottle.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the play and found it a bit la di da - but when I discovered a couple of the actors won't be going with it I was very surprised.

Sure, the play has problems - primarily dramaturgical - but the least of its problems were the actors. In fact, you could almost say the acting ensemble was its strongest element.

The cast in the original production included Megan Drury, Tracy Mann, Lex Marinos, Torquil Neilson, Sam Reed, Toby Schmitz and Christopher Stollery. But a few names will magically disappear when it ascends in May.

But there's a bigger problem here as well. All the above-mentioned actors worked on the show last year for free. Well, they may have received a cut of the co-op cake but essentially, this was an unpaid gig which wouldn't have got anywhere near MEAA award rates.

This included four or five weeks of rehearsals, a four week season and the invaluable creative input put into the development and fine-tuning of the show.

So you can only imagine the ... well ... 'something' going down after a few ejections. I certainly wouldn't be very happy.

But what are the ethics around co-op theatre making good? Do producers and directors have any responsibility to actors who have not only sacrificed their time and creativity but also performed to critical acclaim? Or is it all fair in love and war?

In a world where shows from the independent sector are increasingly noticed by mainstream producers and programmers is there any responsibility at all to the creatives? I suspect there probably isn't but we live in a very small world here in Sydney Theatre Land.

This is the second show in as many years which has gone directly from the downstairs Belvoir space up to the Company B space - the last being Kate Mulvaney's The Seed which managed to keep all three actors during the transfer.

I suppose the moral of the story is that this is just the way show business works and nothing should be taken for granted - especially if you're an actor in an independent theatre production. Unless of course you can find away to put in an additional clause in your contract.

Review: Holiday

Holiday by Raimondo Cortese
Ranters Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company
SBW Stables Theatre



I've now had the fortune of seeing Holiday by Raimondo Cortese both at its Melbourne premiere last year and once again in a remount now playing at the Stables Theatre.

From a staging sense, it's always interesting to see a show in a different space and what the current production proves is how diverse and beautifully intricate this play is.

In a white space, a babies wading pool sits centre stage with two toy life rings and a beach ball. There are also two stools and a chaise lounge to the side. 

Two men enter the space - two men who are relaxing by a wading pool.

The silence of their presence is broken by the singing of a baroque song as they share the harmony and the verse. With warm eyes they look out into the audience, inviting us to listen and share in their presence on the stage. It's a beautiful opening which quietly slips into another silence.

The slightly older and greyer Arno (Patrick Moffatt) then begins his conversation with the taller and more lanky Paul (Paul Lum).

Arno: My mum sent me this parcel the other day.
Paul: What's that?
Arno: My mum sent me this parcel the other day.
Paul: In the mail?
Arno: Yeah.
Paul: She spot something... out shopping?
Arno: You know those plastic thingummies?
Paul: No.
Arno: The ones you used to find in the cereal.
Paul: The funny creatures?
Arno: She sent me a whole bag of them.
Paul: Why she send you those?
Arno: I don't know.

And so it begins.


From here a conversation takes us through ninety minutes of simple reflections, simple anecdotes all with the desire to fill a void of silence and be civil to one another. For the most part its amicable between the two men but as they start to get to know each other over the course of the play the tension slowly rises until it is broken by catholic guilt driven Arno who questions a statement made by the exaggerator Paul.

What made the evening even more interesting for me, was to see how the two shows evoked such different reactions from the Melbourne and Sydney audiences.

Spatially, the two shows are quite different. In Melbourne the play was performed under a white tarpaulin type shelter within the larger space of the North Melbourne Town Hall. The audience was seated in a proscenium formation and looked on through a fourth wall at the interaction.

In the unique and intimate space of the Stables, a fourth wall is not possible and instead, the audience is included within the space with designer painting the entire theatre white.

The change of space has had quite a profound affect on the play. The audience in Sydney found themselves more included in the action with the thrust stage and responded to the humour far more than the Melbourne audience. Add this to the fact that the black clad Melburniuns saw the play on a windy, cold and wet winter's evening and the happier Sydney audience were at the premiere on a balmy sub-tropical evening and the difference was palpable.

The loss of the fourth wall also meant directorial changes to the staging. Those long dramatic pauses between the bits of dialogue have been shortened substantially and the beach ball being hit into the audience to break the wall is also gone.

This is all replaced by a familiarity and constant interaction with the audience which didn't occur in the Melbourne version. Certainly this means the heights of tension are diminished, but what you receive instead is a closer look at the bare bones of each character as they expose themselves not only to each other but to fifty pairs of eyes looking on from two sides.

Holiday is one of those rare pieces of theatre writing rarely seen on Sydney's small stages. It is a play you just wouldn't see come out of our independent theatres for a number of financial, marketing and cultural reasons. It delicately flicks off the cloak of the overly dominant Anglo-culture and embraces the theatrically experimental writing of Eastern and Central Europe, housing it within the strong history of the universally-themed writing coming out of Melbourne's fringe sector.

In a recent interview with Currency Press, playwright Cortese explains in one sentence why he loves the theatre replying it is because "in theatre there’s nowhere to hide".

Every emerging playwright and director in Sydney should see this play if only to see how simplicity can fascinate. There's certainly nowhere to hide which means there's endless possibilities.

As Moths In Flame Ignite?

There's obviously a great purpose to Stephen Dunne commuting from theatre openings in the city and catching the long train ride home to the Blue Mountains. It's probably so he can come up with reviews like the one he published in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

"As moths in flame ignite"? Full marks for that sir. Full marks indeed.

Full review HERE.

All About Theatre

When was it? How long? It seems a lifetime ago. Lloyd always said that in the Theatre a lifetime was a season, and a season a lifetime.


And so the new year begins. As the final embers of the Sydney Festival slowly burn from our memory our theatres begin their programmes in earnest.

The coming few months has some treats worth looking at. From the alternative to the mainstages - from the underground to the spectacular - there's a little of something for everyone.

One such event which is quickly becoming a highlight in my calendar is the wonderful Imperial Panda Festival. It made such an impression last year that the City of Sydney has honoured its potential and thrown it a few grand. It was also the recipient of two nominations at the inaugural Sydney Music Art and Culture (SMAC) Awards.

It's a festival which is starting to capture an underground urban grit by profiling diverse, erratic and fearless performers. Using alternative spaces and galleries around the inner city, it attracts a young and hip crowd quite happy to plonk themselves on a milk crate with a plastic cup of cheap wine in their hand.

This year they open the festival with the premiere season of Kittenbone Bridge, a new play by Nick Coyle, which was first developed as part of the Wharf2Loud PUSH programme in 07.

There's a host of other new shows from groups including the Brown Council and Suitcase Royale. And of course the ever popular Erotic Fan Fiction evening returns - for those who last year experienced the perverse writing of Brendan Cowell and his account of the Australian Cricket team knocking it about in the sub-tropical heat of India will know what I mean. You can check out the Panda website HERE.

Griffin Theatre launched their 09 season a month ago and it contains some real gems. The highlight would have to be the show which opens this evening - Holiday from Ranters Theatre. I caught the premiere of it in Melbourne last year (thanks to the ever kind Alison Croggon who took me along) and I can't recommend it enough.

Holiday is a theatre experience which creeps up on you with a writing style which rarely graces the stages of Sydney. It is poignant, clever, funny and brutally relevant. And - it isn't verbatim theatre - hooray!

Speaking of which, surely 2009 must mark the end of verbatim theatre. Haven't we had enough already? I already have SBS at home, I don't need it my theatre as well do I?

I loved Damien Miller's The Modern International Dead which opened at the Griffin last year. In fact I loved it so much I think it represents the high note of locally produced verbatim theatre and now there is absolutely no reason to do it anymore. 

The rest of Griffin's programme for the year appears to be a well placed collection of local stories from around the country which I am really looking forward to. Their programme can be found HERE.

Even though Performance Space go into 09 with a new director and a new vision, the first few months of programming are part of the gradual handover from previous Director Fiona Winning. 

P Space kick off the year with a dance solo from the indefatigable Ros Warby and her show Monumental. Just have a quick look at the creative titles of her collaborators (Lighting Projection & Set Design, Music, Cinematography, Film Editor, Costume Designer, Costume Design Consultant, Black Hat, White Cap, Sound Design)  and you start to get a sense of where this show might be going.

Following on from the dance solo is the always brilliant Quick and Dirty extravaganza as part of the Mardi Gras Festival. It hasn't suffered from the move from Cleveland Street to Carriageworks (apart from the ever-restrictive, ever-suffocating, ever-ridiculous enforcement of the outside drinking policy - for the love of God, when are we going to get that sorted???).

Performance, puppetry and installation creators My Patricia Darling, dance force Splintergroup and young performers Team MESS also make a big appearance over the Summer/Autumn.

The mainstages also have a diverse array of productions premiering over the coming few months. Of particular interest is Baghdad Wedding which opens next week at Company B coming after a relatively modest opening at the wonderful SOHO Theatre in London, the new Marion Potts production of Venus and Adonis from Bell Shakespeare and STC, Travesties also at the STC and the new co-production between Griffin and the STC of Concussion. 

The independent sector is also getting into the swing of things. The Old Fitz kicks off its year with Cherry Smoke, a show from the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe and which is coincidentally also premiering in New York at the same time.  

Downstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre is their anti-Putin Russian play Ladybird which I profiled in depth last week. B Sharp will be launching the rest of their season in a few weeks. The New Theatre (who have finally, finally, finally got a new website) have also begun their year with a heavy Mardi Gras theme as usual. Last night they opened with the Tony Award winning play Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg. This is then followed by a production of the Herbal Bed and then the infamously funny Cosi by Louis Nowra. 

Amazingly, the TAP Gallery is still pumping away as one of the quieter and more alternative spaces. They have a pretty outrageous Mardi Gras show on at the moment called Vixen Noir in Sweet Deliverance: the perverted sunshine tour which follows the life of a sex goddess. There's even a warning to go with it - 18+, Sexual Content, Coarse Language and Nudity (thank god Mardi Gras is only once a year).

This is then followed up by another Mardi Gras show with a title of such originality, it'll take your breath away... Hard On. I don't need to explain it any further - but if you want to know more, go to the website. 

The Seymour Centre has a programme a little less ... a little less ... well, a little less something as they premiere Gutenberg! The Musical, another musical with an exclamation mark. I believe it is some type of a spoof, but I rarely understand in-house musical theatre community jokes.

But after Gutenberg! is a return season of The Beauty Queen of Leenane from the master director Maeliosa Stafford. 

So there's your next couple of months sorted. 

Anything else of interest, let me know.

 

Anti-Putin Play Opens B Sharp

It's good to see the Russians haven't lost their taste for being anti-everything. And so begins B Sharp's 2009 season with the Australian premiere of the anti-Putin play Ladybird by Russian writer Vassily Sigarev.

Most of the promotional info floating around is centring on who won a Sydney Theatre Critic Award or who in the production did this or who did that. The interesting story, however, is around the young playwright who has penned this work.

To begin with, Vassily Sigarev is just 31 and already the author of nineteen plays which have been performed in all corners of the world. (But not too much in Sydney funnily enough).

At such a young age and with such a prolific amount of work behind him, it's no surprise that Sigarev has won a whole heap of awards making him a theatre celebrity by the time he was just 25.

To begin with, Sigarev comes from the Ural part of Russia. Depending on who you ask, you'll get a few different notions of what that means. On the website Russia.com they describe the Urals as an area with "forested mountains, partially wooded steppes and normal, grassy steppes. Together these combine to make a beautiful and diverse landscape which exhibits topographical elements from all over Russia".

Elsewhere they'll tell you that the region was one of the most cruelly affected by the collapse of the USSR. It went through severe impoverishment and appalling isolation. The population, like many remote areas of Eastern Europe felt as though they were drowning in their new and so-called freedom. Industry was lost, commerce was lost but more importantly it was a side of Russian life not seen on our television screens. It was a Russia losing its values and its culture to a lust for material goods as it entered a stupor ignoring the rapid growth between those who could just afford bread and those who could afford a Porsche.

And in walks Sigarev who has something to say about the whole thing - which goes some way to explain why he already has a score of plays under his belt.

Ladybird, first produced in English in 2004, is set in an apartment situated next to a cemetery in a bleak little town with very little hope. As with all good things Russian it has its fair share of drinking and continues to fly the Chekhov flag of young people wanting to get to 'Moscow' (read: somewhere, anywhere but here).

How it goes down in Surry Hills will be interesting. It will be directed by Lee Lewis (now I know why she was loitering around Central Station today), stars my new favourite actor of the minute Yael Stone and received a New Work Production grant from the Australia Council for over $50,000.

Should be a corker of a show to kick off the year.