Tis the season to watch the telly, drink coloured drinks and eat all the sugar you daintily refuse throughout the year.
DVDs are brilliant for watching a whole season of Buffy in one sitting or weeping at the bliss of anything made by HBO, but it's not the same as turning on that box and finding something you love or hate and not being able to escape its clutches, as you scoff the box of Favourites you got for work Kris Kringle (with a K in case the religious meaning of our overeating festival offends) and thinking that perhaps you do a need space-wasting machine to get rid of your love handles, but luckily the phone is out of reach of the couch.
Even if telly is only the second most common source of on-our-own pleasure, when we watch broadcast programs, we are somehow connected with all the other people doing the same. Who hasn't watched an episode of their favourite program, complete with ads, even though the DVD of the series is right next to the TV. There's something about knowing that hundreds or thousands or millions (if you're watching Masterchef) of other people are sitting in their living room, wearing their underwear and eating straight out of the microwave dish, just like you.
But I don't want to do it anymore, cos telly has become so blah.
I kept watching so that I could read the gorgeous and addictive commentry of Catherine Deveny (on Saturday) and Marieke Hardy (on Thursday) in The Age. Marieke made me proud to love Matt Preston, Catherine convinced me that Nigella's food porn is worth a watch and, I think, one of them made me watch an episode of Wife Swap.
But in one damned week, they both said goodbye.
Marieke's last Green Guide musings.
Catherine's last A2 hoorah that summed up what I was feeling far too well.
Ok, it's the wonderfully written abuse that I will miss. Who could forget Ms Hardy's "If I had to choose between sitting through another episode and having a threeway with the Two Ronnies I'd be stripping off and telling the world it was goodnight from me before sauntering back to the boudoir. And yes, I'm fully aware one of them is dead."
I'm going to miss you both.
Mostly Melbourne theatre reviews
18 December 2009
13 December 2009
Review: Godzone
Godzone
Melbourne Theatre Company
10 December 2009
Sumner Theatre
I’d hand out how to vote cards for Max Gilles if he ran for any public office, especially now that he and writer Guy Rundle might be looking for new jobs because Godzone is a bit of an unexpected snooze.
Admittedly, with the federal Liberals putting on a farce that has made their supporters cringe and left the rest of us laughing as hard as we would at a Max Gilles show, this new show had a tough comedic act to follow this week.
Gilles have been satirising our pollies since Bob Hawke was Prime Minister. The Gilles Report on the ABC was my teenage source of political information and his latex-assisted satire has continued to be biting and accurate. Following Don Watson and Patrick Cook, Guy Rundle joined Gilles as writer in the year that Little Johnny got to sit at the head of the grown ups table.
Conservative pollies with severe short-man complex are a gift to pinko, pesto-eating comedians and their followers, who sponsor poor kiddies from the not-so-lucky countries and welcome anyone as their neighbour (except Liberal voters, of course). It’s hard for the left to lampoon and verbally sodomise their own.
Gilles’s Kevin07 has his jingo Aussieisms, his marketing speak and his Mandarin, but he’s not as ripe for the picking as Labor leaders like Bob or Paul. Face it, Krudd can be a bit dull and even if he doesn’t live up to all his promises, he was the one who finally let us say ‘Sorry’. Gilles’ Mad Monk Abbot can call him the Milky Bar Kid, but it’s about as painful as being lashed with a silk ribbon. There was room for some comments on being Sri Lankan and cruising the Indonesian seas and I don’t remember hearing the acronym ETS.
As Kev and Tony openly admit that their Christian faith and beliefs influence their political and personal decisions, Godzone brings the big guy into the picture in a Kevin-style think tank where even token conservative Andrew Bolt can have a say.
I expected Bolt-through-the-brain to be the character to bring back the gut-aching laughs. He could have made fun of us – the people in the audience dying to laugh. Telling us we like goats cheese and John Safran is like reminding us that we like theatre and a glass of fizz. It’s not satire. If we can’t tear new-ones for our pollies because we don’t despise them as much as we used to, perhaps it’s time to turn the spotlight on our selves – and Bolt-from-any-sense is a perfect character to do so.
Godzone is running through the over-eating season until mid-January, so I reckon it’s going to change. Rundle and Gilles are too good to let flat material stay and director Aiden Fennessy knows how to bring laughs to a stage. I wouldn’t rush for tickets just now; wait and see what the punters are saying after the day of exchanging crappy presents.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Melbourne Theatre Company
10 December 2009
Sumner Theatre
I’d hand out how to vote cards for Max Gilles if he ran for any public office, especially now that he and writer Guy Rundle might be looking for new jobs because Godzone is a bit of an unexpected snooze.
Admittedly, with the federal Liberals putting on a farce that has made their supporters cringe and left the rest of us laughing as hard as we would at a Max Gilles show, this new show had a tough comedic act to follow this week.
Gilles have been satirising our pollies since Bob Hawke was Prime Minister. The Gilles Report on the ABC was my teenage source of political information and his latex-assisted satire has continued to be biting and accurate. Following Don Watson and Patrick Cook, Guy Rundle joined Gilles as writer in the year that Little Johnny got to sit at the head of the grown ups table.
Conservative pollies with severe short-man complex are a gift to pinko, pesto-eating comedians and their followers, who sponsor poor kiddies from the not-so-lucky countries and welcome anyone as their neighbour (except Liberal voters, of course). It’s hard for the left to lampoon and verbally sodomise their own.
Gilles’s Kevin07 has his jingo Aussieisms, his marketing speak and his Mandarin, but he’s not as ripe for the picking as Labor leaders like Bob or Paul. Face it, Krudd can be a bit dull and even if he doesn’t live up to all his promises, he was the one who finally let us say ‘Sorry’. Gilles’ Mad Monk Abbot can call him the Milky Bar Kid, but it’s about as painful as being lashed with a silk ribbon. There was room for some comments on being Sri Lankan and cruising the Indonesian seas and I don’t remember hearing the acronym ETS.
As Kev and Tony openly admit that their Christian faith and beliefs influence their political and personal decisions, Godzone brings the big guy into the picture in a Kevin-style think tank where even token conservative Andrew Bolt can have a say.
I expected Bolt-through-the-brain to be the character to bring back the gut-aching laughs. He could have made fun of us – the people in the audience dying to laugh. Telling us we like goats cheese and John Safran is like reminding us that we like theatre and a glass of fizz. It’s not satire. If we can’t tear new-ones for our pollies because we don’t despise them as much as we used to, perhaps it’s time to turn the spotlight on our selves – and Bolt-from-any-sense is a perfect character to do so.
Godzone is running through the over-eating season until mid-January, so I reckon it’s going to change. Rundle and Gilles are too good to let flat material stay and director Aiden Fennessy knows how to bring laughs to a stage. I wouldn’t rush for tickets just now; wait and see what the punters are saying after the day of exchanging crappy presents.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Anonymous comments
Sometimes Melbourne welcomes all opinions, but does not publish anonymous comments (and has removed any that snuck though).
We all know that a two-cheek air kiss and a "Luv your work, darling" doesn't mean that the kisser loves your work. If you sneak up behind them at the after party, you might just hear them bitching about how crap you are as they drink the cheap wine you bought from Dan's with your own money.
Like telling your lover that they look fat or they can't cook or their oral sex technique leaves you cold, we don't always tell people the absolute and honest truth because we love them, we respect them or we don't want to send them to therapy.
And sometimes the opinions we share with our close and trusted friends are slightly different from those we say to the world.
Anonymous comments are usually things you won't say to someone's face.
It's like shoplifting a Sharpie from Officeworks and scribbling abuse on the toilet door of your favourite pub in the hope that it gets seen when the object of your opinion has had a few beers and needs to wee.
If you have an opinion, put your name to it. You might even change some other people's opinions.
We all know that a two-cheek air kiss and a "Luv your work, darling" doesn't mean that the kisser loves your work. If you sneak up behind them at the after party, you might just hear them bitching about how crap you are as they drink the cheap wine you bought from Dan's with your own money.
Like telling your lover that they look fat or they can't cook or their oral sex technique leaves you cold, we don't always tell people the absolute and honest truth because we love them, we respect them or we don't want to send them to therapy.
And sometimes the opinions we share with our close and trusted friends are slightly different from those we say to the world.
Anonymous comments are usually things you won't say to someone's face.
It's like shoplifting a Sharpie from Officeworks and scribbling abuse on the toilet door of your favourite pub in the hope that it gets seen when the object of your opinion has had a few beers and needs to wee.
If you have an opinion, put your name to it. You might even change some other people's opinions.
12 December 2009
What I Loved: 2009
What I loved in 2009
Reviewers: you either love us a little bit too much or we’re ignorant, bitchy wannabes who wouldn’t know art if it bit us on the bum and left a nice pattern. (Which may be true.)
This year I’ve been told I’m too nice, I’m too nasty, I write too much and I don’t write enough. So a perfect review is not too much, not too little, not too sweet and not too bitter? Sounds kind of bland, Goldilocks.
Opinion is merely that, an opinion. I don’t know anyone who writes about theatre who doesn’t love it to their very core and I’ve yet to meet anyone who has the exact same taste as me.
So, please don't trust what mere reviewers or bloggers say – get out there and make up your own mind. Just keep seeing live art. See the stuff you’ve read about, the stuff you’ve never heard about, the shows people rave about and the ones they hate. You’re not going to like it all, and you’ll disagree with what other people think, but every once in a while you’ll be left breathless or in tears or laugh so much it hurts as you’ll wonder how these glorious artists knew exactly how you felt and put it on a stage.
These are some of the wonderful and totally awesome artists who blew me away this year.
Outstanding Artists 2009
WRITER
Jackie Smith for The Flood
and
Lally Katz for The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy
and
Sarah Collins and Justin Kennedy for Donna and Damo
PERORMANCE
Shirley Cattunar, Caroline Lee and Maude Davey in The Flood
and
Ash Flanders in I Love You Bro
EVERYTHING THEY DO ROCKS
Finucane & Smith for The Flood, Salon de Dance, The Feast Of Argentina Gina Catalina, and Burlesque Hour Legends.
Outstanding Productions 2009
CABARET
Dead Men Tell a Thousand Tales – Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen
and
The Last Tuesday Society – Richard Higgins, Bron Battern and everyone else
MUSICAL
Avenue Q
COMMERCIAL SHOW
When the Rain Stops Falling – MTC and Brink Productions
DANCE
The Oracle - Malthouse Theatre and the Sydney Opera House
COMEDY
Goodbye Ruby Tuesday – Justin Hamilton and Hannah Norris
The Best of the Best
The Boy with Tape on his Face – Sam Wills
and
Exit – Ghostboy with Golden Virtues
and
Le Salon – Peeping Tom
My favourite of 2009
Floating - Hugh Hughs
The 2008 winners.
Reviewers: you either love us a little bit too much or we’re ignorant, bitchy wannabes who wouldn’t know art if it bit us on the bum and left a nice pattern. (Which may be true.)
This year I’ve been told I’m too nice, I’m too nasty, I write too much and I don’t write enough. So a perfect review is not too much, not too little, not too sweet and not too bitter? Sounds kind of bland, Goldilocks.
Opinion is merely that, an opinion. I don’t know anyone who writes about theatre who doesn’t love it to their very core and I’ve yet to meet anyone who has the exact same taste as me.
So, please don't trust what mere reviewers or bloggers say – get out there and make up your own mind. Just keep seeing live art. See the stuff you’ve read about, the stuff you’ve never heard about, the shows people rave about and the ones they hate. You’re not going to like it all, and you’ll disagree with what other people think, but every once in a while you’ll be left breathless or in tears or laugh so much it hurts as you’ll wonder how these glorious artists knew exactly how you felt and put it on a stage.
These are some of the wonderful and totally awesome artists who blew me away this year.
Outstanding Artists 2009
WRITER
Jackie Smith for The Flood
and
Lally Katz for The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy
and
Sarah Collins and Justin Kennedy for Donna and Damo
PERORMANCE
Shirley Cattunar, Caroline Lee and Maude Davey in The Flood
and
Ash Flanders in I Love You Bro
EVERYTHING THEY DO ROCKS
Finucane & Smith for The Flood, Salon de Dance, The Feast Of Argentina Gina Catalina, and Burlesque Hour Legends.
Outstanding Productions 2009
CABARET
Dead Men Tell a Thousand Tales – Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen
and
The Last Tuesday Society – Richard Higgins, Bron Battern and everyone else
MUSICAL
Avenue Q
COMMERCIAL SHOW
When the Rain Stops Falling – MTC and Brink Productions
DANCE
The Oracle - Malthouse Theatre and the Sydney Opera House
COMEDY
Goodbye Ruby Tuesday – Justin Hamilton and Hannah Norris
The Best of the Best
The Boy with Tape on his Face – Sam Wills
and
Exit – Ghostboy with Golden Virtues
and
Le Salon – Peeping Tom
My favourite of 2009
Floating - Hugh Hughs
The 2008 winners.
11 December 2009
What's on this week? 11 December
What's on this week? 11 December
Finucane & Smith's The Flood is at La Mama.
Book, because word around town is that it's rather brilliant - and trust the word around town!
The Flood
to 20 December
La Mama
review
On Ego
to 19 December
Red Stitch
review
1989
to 12 December
St Martins
Terrrifc cast. review
One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View
to 13 December
fortyfivedownstairs
review
Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol
to 16 December
various
review
Finucane & Smith's The Flood is at La Mama.
Book, because word around town is that it's rather brilliant - and trust the word around town!
The Flood
to 20 December
La Mama
review
On Ego
to 19 December
Red Stitch
review
1989
to 12 December
St Martins
Terrrifc cast. review
One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View
to 13 December
fortyfivedownstairs
review
Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol
to 16 December
various
review
Review: 1989
1989
St Martins
9 December 2009
Irene Mitchell Studio, St Martins Theatre Complex
In 1989, I used a hair dryer diffuser, a handful of mousse and a huge bow to do my hair; I wore stirrup pants everywhere and spent a lot of money on my first portable compact disc system. Some of The St Martin’s Performer’s Ensemble hadn’t been born yet and are now part of the generation who think that ra-ra skirts need to come back, but have used this far gone year to inspire their showcase performance.
St Martin’s Performer’s Ensemble is an audition-based program for 18 to 25 year olds, who spend an intense year collaborating and developing. For 1989 they worked closely with The Emerging Writers’ Studio, which gives four writers the chance to create a new work under the guidance of a professional dramaturge (Melanie Beddie).
Michelle Lee and Dan Giovannoni (who both stood out at the 2008 Short and Sweet festival) Samantha Hill, Christopher Summers (writer of theatargh blog) may not have captured the essence of 1989 (or needed to), but they showed us the originality of their voices. All need to trust that less can be more and to dig deep and trust that their personal stories will be the ones that audiences will love, but they shared a specific and at times revealing view of being 20-something today.
And they all wrote specifically and beautifully for the actors. Their scripts allowed each member of the ensemble to really show us what they are made of and why we will be seeing much more or Danielle Asciak , Danny Ball, Darcy Hegz , Juliet Hindmarsh , Melissa Kahraman, Douglas Lyons, Ruby Mathers ,Angelique Murray and Xavier O'Shannessy in the very near future.
The review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
St Martins
9 December 2009
Irene Mitchell Studio, St Martins Theatre Complex
In 1989, I used a hair dryer diffuser, a handful of mousse and a huge bow to do my hair; I wore stirrup pants everywhere and spent a lot of money on my first portable compact disc system. Some of The St Martin’s Performer’s Ensemble hadn’t been born yet and are now part of the generation who think that ra-ra skirts need to come back, but have used this far gone year to inspire their showcase performance.
St Martin’s Performer’s Ensemble is an audition-based program for 18 to 25 year olds, who spend an intense year collaborating and developing. For 1989 they worked closely with The Emerging Writers’ Studio, which gives four writers the chance to create a new work under the guidance of a professional dramaturge (Melanie Beddie).
Michelle Lee and Dan Giovannoni (who both stood out at the 2008 Short and Sweet festival) Samantha Hill, Christopher Summers (writer of theatargh blog) may not have captured the essence of 1989 (or needed to), but they showed us the originality of their voices. All need to trust that less can be more and to dig deep and trust that their personal stories will be the ones that audiences will love, but they shared a specific and at times revealing view of being 20-something today.
And they all wrote specifically and beautifully for the actors. Their scripts allowed each member of the ensemble to really show us what they are made of and why we will be seeing much more or Danielle Asciak , Danny Ball, Darcy Hegz , Juliet Hindmarsh , Melissa Kahraman, Douglas Lyons, Ruby Mathers ,Angelique Murray and Xavier O'Shannessy in the very near future.
The review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
PETER HOUGHTON ON REVIEWS
The grouse writer and actor Peter Houghton wrote this about reviews for The Age.
10 December 2009
SOMETIMES CANBERRA
Many independent artists who now call Melbourne home are from our capital.
Yes Canberra is indeed a strange place - but small, strange cities have an intensity and a freedom that can create amzing art.
I spent three cold winters there at a time when arts support and funding was diminishing, but I could see what a thriving and original arts scene had existed in the 1990s.
Musician ,writer and arts worker Gavin Findlay still lives in Canberra and has written this terrific piece for Real Time about arts in the town of bureaucrats. Part one. Part two.
He also wrote this review about the 2001 Festival of Contemporary Arts (FoCA5 program)
FoCA5 staff
Yes Canberra is indeed a strange place - but small, strange cities have an intensity and a freedom that can create amzing art.
I spent three cold winters there at a time when arts support and funding was diminishing, but I could see what a thriving and original arts scene had existed in the 1990s.
Musician ,writer and arts worker Gavin Findlay still lives in Canberra and has written this terrific piece for Real Time about arts in the town of bureaucrats. Part one. Part two.
He also wrote this review about the 2001 Festival of Contemporary Arts (FoCA5 program)
FoCA5 staff
08 December 2009
Review: Tim Minchin: Ready For This
Ready For This:Tim Minchin
Paul Mcintyre Entertainment
4 December 2009
The Palais
If you don’t already have a crush on Tim Minchin, what’s wrong with you?
As nearly 3000 people screamed their love for Tim at The Palais on Friday night, it was hard to believe that is wasn’t that long ago that I heard about this guy who plays the piano and checked out his comedy festival show – and fell a little bit in love.
Tim may be from Perth, but he started doing gigs in Melbourne, so we claim him as ours. Today he tweeted ‘I heart the fuck out of this place’ - and we heart the fuck out of you Tim.
Some discovered him early at the Butterfly Club, but the rest of us found this barefoot, affable, kind of nerdy, kind of genius at the Hi Fi Bar and, as he won some Green Room Awards, we looked forward to intimate shows every year where we would buy his CDs and despair over our cheap merlots why only us super-intelligent, arty, lefty theatre goers can see how great he is.
Then he went to the UK and they refused to let him go. He sold out The Forum last comedy festival, but came home again to play The Palais. His name was up there in plastic letters right next to Glen Campbell’s! The only difference was that Tim’s also had a red SOLD OUT sign.
Our Tim sold out the The Palais! He sold out the huge and wonderful deco palace of faded elegance filled with the memories of sweating international rock stars. (The Palais is where you go when you’re too big for the Prince and not yet miming with a fake circus at a sports stadium.) Our Tim is an international star!
Nearly 3000 people came in from the suburbs or dared to venture from the north side of the river to see our Tim, have cake in Acland Street, remember throwing up on the Luna Park roller coaster, and swear when they get a parking ticket because they really do have inspectors checking until midnight in St Kilda.
The noise of those nearly 3000 fans screaming from stalls, lounge and balcony is something that Tim deserves.
He hasn’t changed. His shows are tighter and he’s much more comfortable in a big space, but he still makes a huge room feel intimate, makes his most rehearsed moments feel fresh and still sings, beats and chats about the things he cares about. When work comes from passion and heart, it doesn’t matter if anyone disagrees. Of the sold out Palais crowd, I’m sure that a few folk wanted to share their faith with him or read his palm and calm him down with some Reiki – but differences of opinion mean nothing when we all want to drink white wine in the sun with Tim and his family.
If you saw Ready for This earlier in the year, this return show is extended and more cohesive (and the bit about his daughter and the pennies has gone – it was inspired, but I can see that it’s not a joke for everyone). Tim’s off to Adelaide, Auckland and Perth in the next week and there are more shows in February for Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney. All his venues have red plastic SOLD OUT signs, so you’re going to have to book – and get tickets for everyone you know.
Photo by Dan Dion
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Paul Mcintyre Entertainment
4 December 2009
The Palais
As nearly 3000 people screamed their love for Tim at The Palais on Friday night, it was hard to believe that is wasn’t that long ago that I heard about this guy who plays the piano and checked out his comedy festival show – and fell a little bit in love.
Tim may be from Perth, but he started doing gigs in Melbourne, so we claim him as ours. Today he tweeted ‘I heart the fuck out of this place’ - and we heart the fuck out of you Tim.
Some discovered him early at the Butterfly Club, but the rest of us found this barefoot, affable, kind of nerdy, kind of genius at the Hi Fi Bar and, as he won some Green Room Awards, we looked forward to intimate shows every year where we would buy his CDs and despair over our cheap merlots why only us super-intelligent, arty, lefty theatre goers can see how great he is.
Then he went to the UK and they refused to let him go. He sold out The Forum last comedy festival, but came home again to play The Palais. His name was up there in plastic letters right next to Glen Campbell’s! The only difference was that Tim’s also had a red SOLD OUT sign.
Our Tim sold out the The Palais! He sold out the huge and wonderful deco palace of faded elegance filled with the memories of sweating international rock stars. (The Palais is where you go when you’re too big for the Prince and not yet miming with a fake circus at a sports stadium.) Our Tim is an international star!
Nearly 3000 people came in from the suburbs or dared to venture from the north side of the river to see our Tim, have cake in Acland Street, remember throwing up on the Luna Park roller coaster, and swear when they get a parking ticket because they really do have inspectors checking until midnight in St Kilda.
The noise of those nearly 3000 fans screaming from stalls, lounge and balcony is something that Tim deserves.
He hasn’t changed. His shows are tighter and he’s much more comfortable in a big space, but he still makes a huge room feel intimate, makes his most rehearsed moments feel fresh and still sings, beats and chats about the things he cares about. When work comes from passion and heart, it doesn’t matter if anyone disagrees. Of the sold out Palais crowd, I’m sure that a few folk wanted to share their faith with him or read his palm and calm him down with some Reiki – but differences of opinion mean nothing when we all want to drink white wine in the sun with Tim and his family.
I’ve been humming ‘Canvas Bags’ every time I go to a supermarket for over three years now and my heart still goes out to Guardian reviewer Phil Daoust every time I hear Tim’s ditty to the journ-a-loust who must have been having a really shitty day and just didn’t get our Tim (but, as my surname rhymes with weird, I’m glad that the definitive anti-reviewer song has already been penned.)
If you saw Ready for This earlier in the year, this return show is extended and more cohesive (and the bit about his daughter and the pennies has gone – it was inspired, but I can see that it’s not a joke for everyone). Tim’s off to Adelaide, Auckland and Perth in the next week and there are more shows in February for Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney. All his venues have red plastic SOLD OUT signs, so you’re going to have to book – and get tickets for everyone you know.
Photo by Dan Dion
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
STAGE LEFT ARCHIVE
The best source of Melbourne theatre reviews from 1998 to 2004 was Stage Left.
There are about 800 reviews on their archived site, which you can find here.
It's a brilliant record of what Melbournites saw way back at the turn of the century. A time when dial up internet was all the rage, and a time when I was working in Canberra, reading Stage Left and thinking how wonderful it must be to live in Melbourne and write about theatre.
Editor Tim Richards still reviews for The Age, when his travel journalism isn't taking him somewhere in the world.
Stage Left writer Narrelle Harris hasn't stopped writing. (I highly recommend her wonderful vampire novel The Opposite of Life.)
And you can hear writer John Richards on Joy 94.9s The Outland Institute and the Boxcutters TV podcast.
There are about 800 reviews on their archived site, which you can find here.
It's a brilliant record of what Melbournites saw way back at the turn of the century. A time when dial up internet was all the rage, and a time when I was working in Canberra, reading Stage Left and thinking how wonderful it must be to live in Melbourne and write about theatre.
Editor Tim Richards still reviews for The Age, when his travel journalism isn't taking him somewhere in the world.
Stage Left writer Narrelle Harris hasn't stopped writing. (I highly recommend her wonderful vampire novel The Opposite of Life.)
And you can hear writer John Richards on Joy 94.9s The Outland Institute and the Boxcutters TV podcast.
Review: One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View
One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View
Platform Youth Theatre
6 December 2009
fortyfivedownstairs
We try not to talk about faith, belief or religion at dinner parties because we don’t want to cause arguments. And for subjects that are mostly based on love and the creation of a better world, it’s always brave to state what you really believe or question the faith of others. Platform Youth Theatre have been asking questions and exploring their own beliefs over the past months. One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View is the result.
Working in workshops with writer Adam J A Cass and director Caitlin Dullard, the company has developed a beautiful, open and honest look at faith. Opening with a Jewish and a Muslim narrator who claim they intend to insult everyone and force the audience to reassess the foundations of our own faith, the work thankfully doesn’t insult any belief.
Working with an allegorical story about an apple orchard in a valley that could be nourishing or poisonous, the imagery of climbing and falling and seeing and not seeing allow for a remarkably complex and surprisingly beautiful and poetic discussion of faith or the lack of.
Many opinions are present, but none define the work. The capacity to hate is as extreme as the capacity to love and accept and believe. Cass’s voice can clearly be heard in the controlled language, but he has allowed the opinions of cast to control the content.
Using the full open space of fortyfivedownstairs, Tanja Beer’s design of apples creates an endless space that flows with the magic realism of the script and its combination of fresh, bruised and rotting fruit parallels the script, while creating an imagery of its own – and uses the space perfectly.
On the Platform Youth web site, cast member Lewi writes why he loves everyone involved in the project. If an exploration about faith and religion can create love, well perhaps we should be discussing it more.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Platform Youth Theatre
6 December 2009
fortyfivedownstairs
We try not to talk about faith, belief or religion at dinner parties because we don’t want to cause arguments. And for subjects that are mostly based on love and the creation of a better world, it’s always brave to state what you really believe or question the faith of others. Platform Youth Theatre have been asking questions and exploring their own beliefs over the past months. One Is Warm In Winter, The Other Has A Better View is the result.
Working in workshops with writer Adam J A Cass and director Caitlin Dullard, the company has developed a beautiful, open and honest look at faith. Opening with a Jewish and a Muslim narrator who claim they intend to insult everyone and force the audience to reassess the foundations of our own faith, the work thankfully doesn’t insult any belief.
Working with an allegorical story about an apple orchard in a valley that could be nourishing or poisonous, the imagery of climbing and falling and seeing and not seeing allow for a remarkably complex and surprisingly beautiful and poetic discussion of faith or the lack of.
Many opinions are present, but none define the work. The capacity to hate is as extreme as the capacity to love and accept and believe. Cass’s voice can clearly be heard in the controlled language, but he has allowed the opinions of cast to control the content.
Using the full open space of fortyfivedownstairs, Tanja Beer’s design of apples creates an endless space that flows with the magic realism of the script and its combination of fresh, bruised and rotting fruit parallels the script, while creating an imagery of its own – and uses the space perfectly.
On the Platform Youth web site, cast member Lewi writes why he loves everyone involved in the project. If an exploration about faith and religion can create love, well perhaps we should be discussing it more.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Review: The Flood
The Flood
Finucane & Smith and La Mama
6 December 2009
La Mama Theatre
A trip to La Mama can be a long hour where you look forward to browsing the Readings sale table and choosing a pastry at Brunetti. The Flood isn’t one of those shows. It is the best piece of new theatre I’ve seen this year.
Jackie Smith is best known for her divine direction of Finucane & Smith's The Burlesque Hour and other wonders, but she has written a script that puts many writers to shame and I’m wondering if she was hanging out with the Shelleys and their friends in Geneva in 1816.
Gothic is more than old Cure albums and spider web tattoos or even knowing when Mary Shelley conceived the idea for Frankenstein. Gothic literature explores the horror within ourselves and society. It has spawned many a B grade monster, but the authentic stuff really makes your soul shudder. Finucane & Smith’s Gotharama helped me past my false conceptions of Gothic, but The Flood makes me want to start wearing copious amounts of eyeliner and abandon my habit of wearing bright colours.
Two estranged sisters and their demented mother spend a night on their family property. They are isolated, spooked and full of secrets. It’s an Australian Gothic horror that defines the genre.
The story surprises, shocks and still keeps its secrets. It lets us laugh, but never undermines the characters, who are those rare fictional beings so real you know them. They evoke love and hate in equal parts, as you want to stand up and slap them, but can’t because you understand everything they are doing.
The script is remarkable, but it shines with Laurence Strangio’s contained direction; Bronwyn Pringle’s lighting and the Sisters Hayes’s design that creates the most space ever seen in La Mama, while still making us feel cramped; and Natasha Anderson’s sound design makes you want someone brave to go outside and check the rising river.
Which leaves the cast: Shirley Cattunar, Caroline Lee and Maude Davey. I’m at a loss for words. They never let us see the acting.
The Flood will move to bigger theatres, but none will have you in the living room with them or capture the cramped and spooked atmosphere of La Mama. So see it now. It’s sad and oppressive and holds your heart in your throat as you beg to know truth, but know the truth will hurt too much to know. See it. See it. See it.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Finucane & Smith and La Mama
6 December 2009
La Mama Theatre
A trip to La Mama can be a long hour where you look forward to browsing the Readings sale table and choosing a pastry at Brunetti. The Flood isn’t one of those shows. It is the best piece of new theatre I’ve seen this year.
Jackie Smith is best known for her divine direction of Finucane & Smith's The Burlesque Hour and other wonders, but she has written a script that puts many writers to shame and I’m wondering if she was hanging out with the Shelleys and their friends in Geneva in 1816.
Gothic is more than old Cure albums and spider web tattoos or even knowing when Mary Shelley conceived the idea for Frankenstein. Gothic literature explores the horror within ourselves and society. It has spawned many a B grade monster, but the authentic stuff really makes your soul shudder. Finucane & Smith’s Gotharama helped me past my false conceptions of Gothic, but The Flood makes me want to start wearing copious amounts of eyeliner and abandon my habit of wearing bright colours.
Two estranged sisters and their demented mother spend a night on their family property. They are isolated, spooked and full of secrets. It’s an Australian Gothic horror that defines the genre.
The story surprises, shocks and still keeps its secrets. It lets us laugh, but never undermines the characters, who are those rare fictional beings so real you know them. They evoke love and hate in equal parts, as you want to stand up and slap them, but can’t because you understand everything they are doing.
The script is remarkable, but it shines with Laurence Strangio’s contained direction; Bronwyn Pringle’s lighting and the Sisters Hayes’s design that creates the most space ever seen in La Mama, while still making us feel cramped; and Natasha Anderson’s sound design makes you want someone brave to go outside and check the rising river.
Which leaves the cast: Shirley Cattunar, Caroline Lee and Maude Davey. I’m at a loss for words. They never let us see the acting.
The Flood will move to bigger theatres, but none will have you in the living room with them or capture the cramped and spooked atmosphere of La Mama. So see it now. It’s sad and oppressive and holds your heart in your throat as you beg to know truth, but know the truth will hurt too much to know. See it. See it. See it.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
06 December 2009
Review: The Oracle
The Oracle
Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Opera House
5 December 2009
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
I’m still holding my breath from experiencing The Oracle.
I know many people who don’t like contemporary dance. This work isn’t for you. It’s created for those who yearn to lose themselves in deeply symbolic, emotionally intense artistic indulgence.
The prolonged opening of Regis Lansac’s projections uses earthy rich browns and kaleidoscope images that distort and mirror religious icons merged with dancer Paul White’s body. Once White is on the stage, the need for the early breathing space and settling becomes clear as his astonishing performance engraves itself on your heart.
The intricacy of Meryl Tankard’s choreography shows White (who co-choreographed) as more than human physical perfection (yes, he’s hot), but leaves him lost and struggling against forces that reveal the inadequacy of strength and perfection. It’s inspired on the struggle faced by the first man to choreograph ‘The Rites of Spring’.
It’s hard to imagine the shock that Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ caused in 1913, or appreciate the influence this remarkable piece of music has had on contemporary dance. As it changed the choreographic aesthetic of the Ballets Russes, it filtered through the likes of Martha Graham and Pina Bausch, and Tankard (who danced with Bausch’s company) creates it as solo work about the human trauma and violence within a world controlled by greater powers.
Well, that’s what I understood. Although a clear narrative drives the creation, searching for the story on the stage will only detract from its impact.
This remarkable work may leave you crying without conscious reason, or evoke memories that have nothing to do with the stage story. This is exceptional theatre.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Opera House
5 December 2009
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
I’m still holding my breath from experiencing The Oracle.
I know many people who don’t like contemporary dance. This work isn’t for you. It’s created for those who yearn to lose themselves in deeply symbolic, emotionally intense artistic indulgence.
The prolonged opening of Regis Lansac’s projections uses earthy rich browns and kaleidoscope images that distort and mirror religious icons merged with dancer Paul White’s body. Once White is on the stage, the need for the early breathing space and settling becomes clear as his astonishing performance engraves itself on your heart.
The intricacy of Meryl Tankard’s choreography shows White (who co-choreographed) as more than human physical perfection (yes, he’s hot), but leaves him lost and struggling against forces that reveal the inadequacy of strength and perfection. It’s inspired on the struggle faced by the first man to choreograph ‘The Rites of Spring’.
It’s hard to imagine the shock that Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ caused in 1913, or appreciate the influence this remarkable piece of music has had on contemporary dance. As it changed the choreographic aesthetic of the Ballets Russes, it filtered through the likes of Martha Graham and Pina Bausch, and Tankard (who danced with Bausch’s company) creates it as solo work about the human trauma and violence within a world controlled by greater powers.
Well, that’s what I understood. Although a clear narrative drives the creation, searching for the story on the stage will only detract from its impact.
This remarkable work may leave you crying without conscious reason, or evoke memories that have nothing to do with the stage story. This is exceptional theatre.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
Review: Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 3
Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 3
Short and Sweet
5 December 2009
Chapel off Chapel
Three cheers for Week Three! The final top 11 for Short and Sweet 2009 proved that, even with a few duds, this festival needs to stay around, as original stories and a sense of fun came back to the stage.
Pat Sheil’s A Safe Pair of Hands is a funny and original look at an Anzac legend, and what a treat to have John Derum on the stage.
A Matter of Taste was as light and complex as a beet foam infused with basil, and as intriguing as the Masterchef final. I love that writer Kathryn Goldie knows that audiences are clever creatures and left the ending open.
The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe was the Queen Mum, when she was just Queen. I liked the idea that she was really Eric’s mum, but there were some holes in the plot that left too much unanswered.
You May Kiss The Bride is a lazy title for a delightful work. Emma Moore immediately makes the audience part of her story and doesn’t let them go. It may work better to keep where they are a secret for a bit longer and let the audience figure it out before the characters do.
Jane Miller continues to writes great short plays that reveal complex characters, and it was wonderful to see her working with comedy in The Tea Break. Anyone who has ever worked in an office has wanted to do exactly the same thing.
Suburbia was bogans fucking. It made fun of stereotypes and anal sex and no one seemed to use condoms.
Difficult Circumstances With Time Bomb (and ‘yuppies’). When there’s a bomb in the room and the title, you have to make us really care about the folk in peril. It was very funny though, even if it ended a few seconds too late.
Paul Tolton’s This is Heaven made up for it’s lack of real story by being gorgeous and sweet and showing a wonderful relationship that we cared about.
Carl Sorheim’s It’s All The Rage made me uncomfortable. I didn’t enjoy the experience – which is so much better than just not caring.
Short Sharp Shock is a terrific joke that was eight minutes too long with an ending that must be binned before its next outing.
Wonderful puppets, the best costumes of the festival and some beaut jokes, but Limpets came unstuck with story.
PS - Last week I suggested that a Best of Short and Sweet program would be great and, if I’d read the program fully, I would have known that there is one already planned.
This review appeard on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 1
Week 2
Short and Sweet
5 December 2009
Chapel off Chapel
Three cheers for Week Three! The final top 11 for Short and Sweet 2009 proved that, even with a few duds, this festival needs to stay around, as original stories and a sense of fun came back to the stage.
Pat Sheil’s A Safe Pair of Hands is a funny and original look at an Anzac legend, and what a treat to have John Derum on the stage.
A Matter of Taste was as light and complex as a beet foam infused with basil, and as intriguing as the Masterchef final. I love that writer Kathryn Goldie knows that audiences are clever creatures and left the ending open.
The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe was the Queen Mum, when she was just Queen. I liked the idea that she was really Eric’s mum, but there were some holes in the plot that left too much unanswered.
You May Kiss The Bride is a lazy title for a delightful work. Emma Moore immediately makes the audience part of her story and doesn’t let them go. It may work better to keep where they are a secret for a bit longer and let the audience figure it out before the characters do.
Jane Miller continues to writes great short plays that reveal complex characters, and it was wonderful to see her working with comedy in The Tea Break. Anyone who has ever worked in an office has wanted to do exactly the same thing.
Suburbia was bogans fucking. It made fun of stereotypes and anal sex and no one seemed to use condoms.
Difficult Circumstances With Time Bomb (and ‘yuppies’). When there’s a bomb in the room and the title, you have to make us really care about the folk in peril. It was very funny though, even if it ended a few seconds too late.
Paul Tolton’s This is Heaven made up for it’s lack of real story by being gorgeous and sweet and showing a wonderful relationship that we cared about.
Carl Sorheim’s It’s All The Rage made me uncomfortable. I didn’t enjoy the experience – which is so much better than just not caring.
Short Sharp Shock is a terrific joke that was eight minutes too long with an ending that must be binned before its next outing.
Wonderful puppets, the best costumes of the festival and some beaut jokes, but Limpets came unstuck with story.
PS - Last week I suggested that a Best of Short and Sweet program would be great and, if I’d read the program fully, I would have known that there is one already planned.
This review appeard on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 1
Week 2
05 December 2009
What's on this week? 5 December
What's on this week? 5 December
This week the amazing B52s proved that you're never too old, our adorable Tim Minchen sold out The Palais and I haven't been home to write!
If you're looking for something to see tonight, there's Spontaneous Broadway for a no-risk fab night out (with, as confirmed by The Age, Melbourne's coolest thing - Julia Zemiro) , or The Oracle if you want some serious art to make you jaw hit the floor or Short and Sweet Week Three might turn out to be a winner.
Spontaneous Broadway
Comedy Theatre
If you haven't seen this yet - do. If you have - I'll see you there.
2007 review. 2008 review.
2009 is just as brilliant.
Last show tonight (Saturday 5)
The Oracle
Malthouse Theatre and The Sydney Opera House
If you love dance, you will not forgive yourself if you miss it. Simply astonishing but it finishes tomorrow (Sunday 6).
review
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
Final week! The festival is still great, even if the general feeling is that the writing needs a kick up the bum.
Week Three, Top 30 wasn't bad. The final is on Sunday (6) and the best together will be a pretty good night.
Week One, Top 30
Week Two, Top 30
Week Three, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol
On Ego
If you're looking for something to see tonight, there's Spontaneous Broadway for a no-risk fab night out (with, as confirmed by The Age, Melbourne's coolest thing - Julia Zemiro) , or The Oracle if you want some serious art to make you jaw hit the floor or Short and Sweet Week Three might turn out to be a winner.
Spontaneous Broadway
Comedy Theatre
If you haven't seen this yet - do. If you have - I'll see you there.
2007 review. 2008 review.
2009 is just as brilliant.
Last show tonight (Saturday 5)
The Oracle
Malthouse Theatre and The Sydney Opera House
If you love dance, you will not forgive yourself if you miss it. Simply astonishing but it finishes tomorrow (Sunday 6).
review
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
Final week! The festival is still great, even if the general feeling is that the writing needs a kick up the bum.
Week Three, Top 30 wasn't bad. The final is on Sunday (6) and the best together will be a pretty good night.
Week One, Top 30
Week Two, Top 30
Week Three, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol
Eagles Nest Theatre
Phil Zachiriah IS Charles Dickens. I've seen it twice and think it's brilliant. Or just see it to remember how a great story teller tells a story.
review
On Ego
Red Stitch
If you saw Grace at the MTC earlier in the year, you have to see this work by Mick Gordon - and see how his words can be told in a very different way.
Until 19 December.
review
The Flood
La Mama
The perfectly wonderful Jackie Smith (The Burlesque Hour etc) wrote this. I can't wait.
DO NOT MISS IT. It may be the best thing I've seen this year.
3-20 December
review
1989
St Martins Youth Arts Centre
Four short plays based on the ancient world of 20 years ago. Great chance to see some of our best young writers and performers.
One is Warm in Winter, the Other Has a Better View
PlatformYouth Theatre aim to be the most innovative and inclusive theatre company in Melbourne for people aged 16 to 26. This show looks at faith.
I really enjoyed it.
fortyfivedownstairs
until 13 December
review
Review: Spontaneous Broadway
Spontaneous Broadway
2 December 2009
Comedy Theatre
If you hate musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. If you love musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. If you’re indifferent to musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. Just see Spontaneous Broadway. It could be the most fun night you spend in a theatre.
Spontaneous Broadway is improvised musical theatre, with a selection of songs (the audience suggest the titles) and a full performance of the musical chosen by clapometer.
Tonight’s finalists were Another Life Out There, the story of flamboyant Gareth, whose dreams of theatre fame were crushed by Daisy the cow in a milking accident, and his geek brother Graeme, who will always have a spot for his bro on the family farm. Their moving duet ‘Ballarat Beats Broadway’ was a mere whoop and a foot stamp away from winning. But a couple of squeals and some understandable passion to see Julia Zemiro playing a sexed-up young lady left I do, I think as the night’s choice. And the story of Flossy Moss, her posh mum and her faux vegetarian boyfriend will long be remembered for the sleeper hit ‘But he’s a Hari Krishna’ and because Julia can make herself look naked in full stage blacks.
John Thorn and Russell Fletcher brought this San Francisco hit formula down under and were joined by the perfectly perfect cast of Zemiro, Genevieve Morris, Geoff Paine and Ross Daniels. How many performers have nightmares about going on stage and not knowing their lines? These people don’t know their lines until they say them – and they have to sing them! If you like to see improvisers fail, you will be disappointed, because they are so brilliant, it’s hard to believe it’s not scripted.
I’m on my third annual visit and I’ll be back as soon as I can. Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival are next on the circuit. Book your tickets as soon as you can – and if you don’t crack a rib laughing, check that you’re not dead.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
2 December 2009
Comedy Theatre
If you hate musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. If you love musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. If you’re indifferent to musical theatre, see Spontaneous Broadway. Just see Spontaneous Broadway. It could be the most fun night you spend in a theatre.
Spontaneous Broadway is improvised musical theatre, with a selection of songs (the audience suggest the titles) and a full performance of the musical chosen by clapometer.
Tonight’s finalists were Another Life Out There, the story of flamboyant Gareth, whose dreams of theatre fame were crushed by Daisy the cow in a milking accident, and his geek brother Graeme, who will always have a spot for his bro on the family farm. Their moving duet ‘Ballarat Beats Broadway’ was a mere whoop and a foot stamp away from winning. But a couple of squeals and some understandable passion to see Julia Zemiro playing a sexed-up young lady left I do, I think as the night’s choice. And the story of Flossy Moss, her posh mum and her faux vegetarian boyfriend will long be remembered for the sleeper hit ‘But he’s a Hari Krishna’ and because Julia can make herself look naked in full stage blacks.
John Thorn and Russell Fletcher brought this San Francisco hit formula down under and were joined by the perfectly perfect cast of Zemiro, Genevieve Morris, Geoff Paine and Ross Daniels. How many performers have nightmares about going on stage and not knowing their lines? These people don’t know their lines until they say them – and they have to sing them! If you like to see improvisers fail, you will be disappointed, because they are so brilliant, it’s hard to believe it’s not scripted.
I’m on my third annual visit and I’ll be back as soon as I can. Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival are next on the circuit. Book your tickets as soon as you can – and if you don’t crack a rib laughing, check that you’re not dead.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
28 November 2009
What's on this week? 27 November 2009
What's on this Week?
27 November 2009
Malthouse Theatre is the place to be if you're looking for some bloody fine theatre this weekend. If I had to pick between Africa and Structure and Sadness, I'd say see both. Which still leaves a couple of nights next week to see everything else.
Africa
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
I think it's the best thing My Darling Patricia have done - and I love everything I've seen MDP do.
review
It finishes on Sunday.
Structure and Sadness
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
Stunning telling of a Melbourne story. Kind of show that makes me understand dance.
review
It also finishes on Sunday.
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
We're into week two, with Wildcards on Saturday afternoon.
Week One, Top 30
Week Two, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
On Ego
Red Stitch
If you saw Grace at the MTC earlier in the year, you have to see this work by Mick Gordon - and see how his words can be told in a very different way.
Until 19 December.
review
Spontaneous Broadway
Comedy Theatre
If you haven't seen this yet - do. If you have - I'll see you there. If you don't hurt from laughing, check that you aren't dead.
2007 review. 2008 review.
2-5 December only
The Oracle
Malthouse Theatre and The Sydney Opera House
Back in the 90s Meryl Tankard helped define Australian contemporay dance.
Only running from 2-6 December, so there's no time to wait and see what people think.
The Flood
La Mama
The perfectly wonderful Jackie Smith (The Burlesque Hour etc) wote this. I can't wait.
3-20 December
1989
St Martins Youth Arts Centre
Four short plays based on the ancient world of 20 years ago. Great chance to see some of our best young writers and performers.
(And,for us who remember 1989 , there's the B52s on Thursday night. I hope Fred still plays the tambourine.)
27 November 2009
Malthouse Theatre is the place to be if you're looking for some bloody fine theatre this weekend. If I had to pick between Africa and Structure and Sadness, I'd say see both. Which still leaves a couple of nights next week to see everything else.
Africa
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
I think it's the best thing My Darling Patricia have done - and I love everything I've seen MDP do.
review
It finishes on Sunday.
Structure and Sadness
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
Stunning telling of a Melbourne story. Kind of show that makes me understand dance.
review
It also finishes on Sunday.
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
We're into week two, with Wildcards on Saturday afternoon.
Week One, Top 30
Week Two, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
On Ego
Red Stitch
If you saw Grace at the MTC earlier in the year, you have to see this work by Mick Gordon - and see how his words can be told in a very different way.
Until 19 December.
review
Spontaneous Broadway
Comedy Theatre
If you haven't seen this yet - do. If you have - I'll see you there. If you don't hurt from laughing, check that you aren't dead.
2007 review. 2008 review.
2-5 December only
The Oracle
Malthouse Theatre and The Sydney Opera House
Back in the 90s Meryl Tankard helped define Australian contemporay dance.
Only running from 2-6 December, so there's no time to wait and see what people think.
The Flood
La Mama
The perfectly wonderful Jackie Smith (The Burlesque Hour etc) wote this. I can't wait.
3-20 December
1989
St Martins Youth Arts Centre
Four short plays based on the ancient world of 20 years ago. Great chance to see some of our best young writers and performers.
(And,for us who remember 1989 , there's the B52s on Thursday night. I hope Fred still plays the tambourine.)
Review: Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 2
Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 2
Short and Sweet
27 November 2009
Chapel off Chapel
I love the Short and Sweet festival, but this year I can’t find takers for my plus one.
And I don’t blame anyone. It’s like a tin of assorted shortbreads that has been in the cupboard for too many years that are still unappetising after a few festive sherries and even the dog doesn’t want to scoff the treats. At the end of last year’s festival I thought that maybe it needed a year off, but when events take a year off – they tend to never return, so we should be cheering first-time festival director Rachel Baring for creating a program this year. But what can be done to bring Short and Sweet back to can’t-get-enough chocolate ganache and balsamic strawberry tart quality?
Remember when it sold out and the writing was original and crafted and the best directors, performers and companies in town wanted to be involved? This year’s best plays might not have even made the Wildcards of those first years. Perhaps next year could include a ‘best of’ section featuring old favourites. It would set the standard for new scripts and give us something to look forward to.
Or just tell me a story. Please, tell me a story. Think of your favourite film, book or joke. Do you like its conviction or its story? How many children want to be tucked into bed at night asking to be read the junk mail from their local politicians? Who loves being cornered at a party by a bitter sod who tells you the intimate details of their life and as you try to walk away (because you’ve spied a delicious looking tin of shortbreads), but they grab your arm and get upset when you don’t give them a hug because they made you realise that your opinions are wrong and theirs are right?
For the love of Robert McKee*, tell stories. Tell tales with beginnings and middles and ends and action, surprises and change. If you can tell your story in one minute, your play is nine and a half minutes too long.
The only one I enjoyed in Week 2 was Swagman, because the director (Scott Gooding) and cast (whose names aren’t in the program) saw its absurdity and knew that the words alone could induce a coma or a riot, so they grabbed what was intelligent and relevant in the script and made us laugh by taking the rest to such an extreme that we had re-engage our brains and were able to think.
Every play this week could so easily be improved with some honest feedback and a re-draft. Most of them could become really good and a couple of them are, at least, lessons in how not to write. However, it’s a brave thing to put your words in a public forum, knowing that people like me can write whatever we like about them. Of course, everyone want us to write good things, so here’s what I thought was good about them.
Canadian Tuxedo: Terrific hit man set up with twins dressed all in denim and a good rhyme.
Pink Dress: An authentic and engaging relationship between the brother and sister on the stage.
Vienna Syndrome: The script wasn’t half bad and with different direction, it could be very different and much funnier.
King Hit: Had heart and love.
The Swagman's Song: Made me laugh.
The Big C: Let the performers have a go at silly voices.
The Tale of Babboo Sabbi: I too like the view from tall buildings.
Actual Fantasy: The idea of actual fantasy gamers is a fab concept.
The Controlled Use of Heroin: The performances were good.
The Road to Hell: It was a fine joke and it was the only play of the night with an ending.
*If you write and you don’t know who McKee is, please read his book called “Story”. You don’t have to agree with a single word of it and you may know better – but read it anyway.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 1
Week 3
Here’s what Tom Doig thought about Week 2
Short and Sweet
27 November 2009
Chapel off Chapel
I love the Short and Sweet festival, but this year I can’t find takers for my plus one.
And I don’t blame anyone. It’s like a tin of assorted shortbreads that has been in the cupboard for too many years that are still unappetising after a few festive sherries and even the dog doesn’t want to scoff the treats. At the end of last year’s festival I thought that maybe it needed a year off, but when events take a year off – they tend to never return, so we should be cheering first-time festival director Rachel Baring for creating a program this year. But what can be done to bring Short and Sweet back to can’t-get-enough chocolate ganache and balsamic strawberry tart quality?
Remember when it sold out and the writing was original and crafted and the best directors, performers and companies in town wanted to be involved? This year’s best plays might not have even made the Wildcards of those first years. Perhaps next year could include a ‘best of’ section featuring old favourites. It would set the standard for new scripts and give us something to look forward to.
Or just tell me a story. Please, tell me a story. Think of your favourite film, book or joke. Do you like its conviction or its story? How many children want to be tucked into bed at night asking to be read the junk mail from their local politicians? Who loves being cornered at a party by a bitter sod who tells you the intimate details of their life and as you try to walk away (because you’ve spied a delicious looking tin of shortbreads), but they grab your arm and get upset when you don’t give them a hug because they made you realise that your opinions are wrong and theirs are right?
For the love of Robert McKee*, tell stories. Tell tales with beginnings and middles and ends and action, surprises and change. If you can tell your story in one minute, your play is nine and a half minutes too long.
The only one I enjoyed in Week 2 was Swagman, because the director (Scott Gooding) and cast (whose names aren’t in the program) saw its absurdity and knew that the words alone could induce a coma or a riot, so they grabbed what was intelligent and relevant in the script and made us laugh by taking the rest to such an extreme that we had re-engage our brains and were able to think.
Every play this week could so easily be improved with some honest feedback and a re-draft. Most of them could become really good and a couple of them are, at least, lessons in how not to write. However, it’s a brave thing to put your words in a public forum, knowing that people like me can write whatever we like about them. Of course, everyone want us to write good things, so here’s what I thought was good about them.
Canadian Tuxedo: Terrific hit man set up with twins dressed all in denim and a good rhyme.
Pink Dress: An authentic and engaging relationship between the brother and sister on the stage.
Vienna Syndrome: The script wasn’t half bad and with different direction, it could be very different and much funnier.
King Hit: Had heart and love.
The Swagman's Song: Made me laugh.
The Big C: Let the performers have a go at silly voices.
The Tale of Babboo Sabbi: I too like the view from tall buildings.
Actual Fantasy: The idea of actual fantasy gamers is a fab concept.
The Controlled Use of Heroin: The performances were good.
The Road to Hell: It was a fine joke and it was the only play of the night with an ending.
*If you write and you don’t know who McKee is, please read his book called “Story”. You don’t have to agree with a single word of it and you may know better – but read it anyway.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 1
Week 3
Here’s what Tom Doig thought about Week 2
27 November 2009
Review: Structure and Sadness
Structure and Sadness
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
25 November 2009
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
A contemporary dance about the 1970s collapse of a bridge in Melbourne; who would have thought it! Fortunately for us, Lucy Guerin did, and if you missed Structure and Sadness at the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival, or its various performances around the world, you’ve got until Sunday.
Words are not necessarily the best way to tell our stories. Guerin’s beautiful dance captures the emotion of a story and lets her audience breath in the hope and the pain until it is indistinguishable from their own.
Even if most who were in Melbourne in 1970 can tell you where they were when they heard about it; some under 40s might have to be told that 35 men died when the when a section of the West Gate Bridge collapsed when it was being built. This is a story that is so much a part of Melbourne, but fading into history rather than recollection. Even with instant media and an internet full of records of events, stories are still forgotten and need telling.
Guerin’s telling isn’t about facts, but a response to the momentary nature of disaster and its far-reaching effects. It is neither cringing “aussie” or alienating foreign, but connects with everyone who has seen and felt the sudden loss of life in a place where people should have been safe.
The inevitability of collapse fuels the tension, as the dancers build a sprawling timber house of cards. Their dance too is structural, but always shows the contradiction of bodies that can fluidly bend or remain rigid and strong. Despite all anticipation, the collapse is room stilling and the dance becomes more personal as the mood changes and the rebuild begins.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
25 November 2009
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
A contemporary dance about the 1970s collapse of a bridge in Melbourne; who would have thought it! Fortunately for us, Lucy Guerin did, and if you missed Structure and Sadness at the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival, or its various performances around the world, you’ve got until Sunday.
Words are not necessarily the best way to tell our stories. Guerin’s beautiful dance captures the emotion of a story and lets her audience breath in the hope and the pain until it is indistinguishable from their own.
Even if most who were in Melbourne in 1970 can tell you where they were when they heard about it; some under 40s might have to be told that 35 men died when the when a section of the West Gate Bridge collapsed when it was being built. This is a story that is so much a part of Melbourne, but fading into history rather than recollection. Even with instant media and an internet full of records of events, stories are still forgotten and need telling.
Guerin’s telling isn’t about facts, but a response to the momentary nature of disaster and its far-reaching effects. It is neither cringing “aussie” or alienating foreign, but connects with everyone who has seen and felt the sudden loss of life in a place where people should have been safe.
The inevitability of collapse fuels the tension, as the dancers build a sprawling timber house of cards. Their dance too is structural, but always shows the contradiction of bodies that can fluidly bend or remain rigid and strong. Despite all anticipation, the collapse is room stilling and the dance becomes more personal as the mood changes and the rebuild begins.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
24 November 2009
Review: On Ego
On Ego
Red Stitch Actors Theatre
22 November 2009
Red Stitch Theatre
Mick Gordon and I would argue to the death over many of the issues discussed in his theatrical works; which is why I’m beginning to really love his On Theatre creations.
Gordon dramatises contemporary debates. Earlier in the year MTC gave us Grace (On Religion) and Red Stitch close their year with On Ego. Gordon wrote Grace with philosopher A C Grayling, and On Ego was a collaboration with neuropsychologist Paul Brocks, whose book Into The Silent Land explores what makes ‘meat into mind’; how the ‘awesome’ behaviour of neurons in the kilo and a half of meat in our bone box head makes us believe that there is something unique and worthy called ‘I’.
Whereby I felt that Grace was trying to lecture me about the impossibility of God, On Ego (despite including a genuine lecture) questioned and doubted the logic of fact and reveals how even the most firmly held beliefs can disappear the instant they are truly put to the test.
Alex (Dennis Moore) lectures that the brain is a story telling machine and our concept of self is just a story, but he is slapped by his own convictions when his wife Alice (Andrea Swifte) has a brain tumour and he is replicated when a routine teleport goes wrong. In a world where science fiction is fact, the dilemmas reveal the depth and the shallowness of their beliefs and, more importantly, make the audience question what they would do if faced with the same situation.
Creative industries thrive on the uniqueness of individuals – engineers and two-dollar shop owners don’t invite the opinion of reviewers. So On Ego is a fascinating and ironic exploration of the concept of self. By embracing the lecture and soapbox aspects of the work, Red Stitch’s production gently draws us into the thoughts of the characters; thoughts that contradict, support and dismiss their beliefs.
On Ego doesn’t ask us to take a side, but makes sure that we try to make a decision about what we would do if we had risk the loss of ourselves.
I don't think I'd press the green button.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Red Stitch Actors Theatre
22 November 2009
Red Stitch Theatre
Mick Gordon and I would argue to the death over many of the issues discussed in his theatrical works; which is why I’m beginning to really love his On Theatre creations.
Gordon dramatises contemporary debates. Earlier in the year MTC gave us Grace (On Religion) and Red Stitch close their year with On Ego. Gordon wrote Grace with philosopher A C Grayling, and On Ego was a collaboration with neuropsychologist Paul Brocks, whose book Into The Silent Land explores what makes ‘meat into mind’; how the ‘awesome’ behaviour of neurons in the kilo and a half of meat in our bone box head makes us believe that there is something unique and worthy called ‘I’.
Whereby I felt that Grace was trying to lecture me about the impossibility of God, On Ego (despite including a genuine lecture) questioned and doubted the logic of fact and reveals how even the most firmly held beliefs can disappear the instant they are truly put to the test.
Alex (Dennis Moore) lectures that the brain is a story telling machine and our concept of self is just a story, but he is slapped by his own convictions when his wife Alice (Andrea Swifte) has a brain tumour and he is replicated when a routine teleport goes wrong. In a world where science fiction is fact, the dilemmas reveal the depth and the shallowness of their beliefs and, more importantly, make the audience question what they would do if faced with the same situation.
Creative industries thrive on the uniqueness of individuals – engineers and two-dollar shop owners don’t invite the opinion of reviewers. So On Ego is a fascinating and ironic exploration of the concept of self. By embracing the lecture and soapbox aspects of the work, Red Stitch’s production gently draws us into the thoughts of the characters; thoughts that contradict, support and dismiss their beliefs.
On Ego doesn’t ask us to take a side, but makes sure that we try to make a decision about what we would do if we had risk the loss of ourselves.
I don't think I'd press the green button.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
22 November 2009
What's on this week? 23 November
What's on this week? 23 November
Africa
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
Malthouse commissed this one, which runs until 29 November.
I loved it.
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
You never know what will turn up
Week One, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
On Ego
Red Stitch
It's rare to see a dud from Red Stitch.
Until 19 December.
review
Structure and Sadness
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
This premiered at MIAF 2006 and won a stack of awards.
Short season, 25-29 November
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
Malthouse commissed this one, which runs until 29 November.
I loved it.
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
You never know what will turn up
Week One, Top 30
Short and Sweet reviews 2006-08
On Ego
Red Stitch
It's rare to see a dud from Red Stitch.
Until 19 December.
review
Structure and Sadness
Malthouse Theatre and Lucy Guerin Inc
This premiered at MIAF 2006 and won a stack of awards.
Short season, 25-29 November
Review: Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 1
Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 1
Short and Sweet
21 November 2009
Chapel off Chapel
For its fifth festival, Short and Sweet has moved to Chapel off Chapel. It’s still the most popular and prestigious short play event in town, but it seems to be turning into a launch pad for new writers, rather than a showcase for established writers.
This is great for the writers, who get to see their work performed, but disappointing for those of us who remember the addictive quality of the first Short and Sweets. Do established writers think that writing a ten-minute play is too easy or that it’s not what grown up writers do? Telling a story in ten minutes is harder than telling it in an hour, so, established writers, please start submitting again.
Or can there be a workshop process for the plays that are nearly there, but desperate for another draft or five.
Writing isn’t about having an opinion or putting words in an aesthetic order. It’s about telling a story (where things change) through characters who make us care and make us think about our own lives. Story and complex characters were generally missing from this week’s offerings. If a 30-second TV ad can tell a story, a ten-minute play can tell an epic.
Community Chest is about inverted nipples and nothing about communities. I think there was one great moment of revelation, but it got lost because everything was presented with the same level of intensity.
People remember things differently was the popular theme of the night. The direction saved Eyewitness, but it couldn’t make us care about these one-dimensional characters, who were far better realised than the offstage character whom we knew nothing about.
Frank Otis likes ranting about sex and women. Bucks Night is about stripping, so he pulled out some clichés (‘I’m stripping to put myself though law school – and here are my tits just in case you don’t believe my character’) and pulled out a gun.
The direction also saved Arabesque. Marina Lou wrote lovely words, but I can’t even remember what it was about. Oh yea, people remember things differently.
The engaging and delightful performances in Wrestling With Magpies were nearly as good as the jungle gym set. So why wasn’t it used? Like a pink Meccano elephant sitting on the stage, I kept waiting for it to be relevant.
“Droopy cock” was by far the best joke of the night and Haircuts had story and character, but I couldn’t get past the “mamma mia” “stupido”, “I dunna complain” wog accents that we haven’t heard since Kingswood Country was on the telly.
We can never have enough love stories or people not saying what they really want to say. The Rehearsal was my runner up favourite of the night, but I want to see it re-drafted to make us care about her and give them both something real to lose or gain.
None of the team should have regrets for No Regrets. This dud one night stand was the absolute winner of the night. This is the standard of writing, direction and performance I expect of this festival. I empathised, I cared and I didn’t know how it was going to end.
Alex Broun writers numerous plays based on popular culture and whatever pops up on his Facebook feed. Rupert and the Seven Russian Email Brides nailed it. I just wish that Rupert wasn’t as clichéd as his brides.
Fruits of War is a ten-minute metaphor, but told so very well.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 2
Week 3
Short and Sweet 2006-08 reviews.
Short and Sweet
21 November 2009
Chapel off Chapel
For its fifth festival, Short and Sweet has moved to Chapel off Chapel. It’s still the most popular and prestigious short play event in town, but it seems to be turning into a launch pad for new writers, rather than a showcase for established writers.
This is great for the writers, who get to see their work performed, but disappointing for those of us who remember the addictive quality of the first Short and Sweets. Do established writers think that writing a ten-minute play is too easy or that it’s not what grown up writers do? Telling a story in ten minutes is harder than telling it in an hour, so, established writers, please start submitting again.
Or can there be a workshop process for the plays that are nearly there, but desperate for another draft or five.
Writing isn’t about having an opinion or putting words in an aesthetic order. It’s about telling a story (where things change) through characters who make us care and make us think about our own lives. Story and complex characters were generally missing from this week’s offerings. If a 30-second TV ad can tell a story, a ten-minute play can tell an epic.
Community Chest is about inverted nipples and nothing about communities. I think there was one great moment of revelation, but it got lost because everything was presented with the same level of intensity.
People remember things differently was the popular theme of the night. The direction saved Eyewitness, but it couldn’t make us care about these one-dimensional characters, who were far better realised than the offstage character whom we knew nothing about.
Frank Otis likes ranting about sex and women. Bucks Night is about stripping, so he pulled out some clichés (‘I’m stripping to put myself though law school – and here are my tits just in case you don’t believe my character’) and pulled out a gun.
The direction also saved Arabesque. Marina Lou wrote lovely words, but I can’t even remember what it was about. Oh yea, people remember things differently.
The engaging and delightful performances in Wrestling With Magpies were nearly as good as the jungle gym set. So why wasn’t it used? Like a pink Meccano elephant sitting on the stage, I kept waiting for it to be relevant.
“Droopy cock” was by far the best joke of the night and Haircuts had story and character, but I couldn’t get past the “mamma mia” “stupido”, “I dunna complain” wog accents that we haven’t heard since Kingswood Country was on the telly.
We can never have enough love stories or people not saying what they really want to say. The Rehearsal was my runner up favourite of the night, but I want to see it re-drafted to make us care about her and give them both something real to lose or gain.
None of the team should have regrets for No Regrets. This dud one night stand was the absolute winner of the night. This is the standard of writing, direction and performance I expect of this festival. I empathised, I cared and I didn’t know how it was going to end.
Alex Broun writers numerous plays based on popular culture and whatever pops up on his Facebook feed. Rupert and the Seven Russian Email Brides nailed it. I just wish that Rupert wasn’t as clichéd as his brides.
Fruits of War is a ten-minute metaphor, but told so very well.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Week 2
Week 3
Short and Sweet 2006-08 reviews.
19 November 2009
Review: Africa
Africa
Malthouse Theatre and My Darling Patricia
14 November 2009
Tower Theatre, CUB Malthouse
When a show opens with a baby’s head in a microwave oven, you know you have to keep watching.
My Darling Patricia use puppets, design and performance to create the most evocative and original images of Australian urban existence. They see the epic in the most mundane and leave us unsure if the world they expose is beautiful or horrific.
The Tower theatre is draped in children’s linen, covered with characters and colour and faded by love. I didn’t see my washed-til-it-was bare Paddington Bear quilt cover, but there was a pink Pierrot with a frill that I would have coveted at seven.
This Africa isn’t savannas and safaris, but filled with things that we hope define and protect childhood: toys, games and the consistent belief that life is already good and going to get better, despite the horrendous bumps that happen along the way.
Inspired by a true incident, it’s the story of a Courtney, her best friend Cheety and her little sister (played by puppets). On a not unusual night, when they are given a packet of chips and the TV while her mum goes out with her latest man (real adults), the kids discover Africa and plan to escape.
Under the veil of whimsy and nostalgia, My Darling Patricia reveal the murky reality and desperate yearning hidden in the back rooms and porches of our suburbs. Although we don’t approve, we accept a bit of drunken promiscuity and lax supervision from a young mum who hasn’t had the best life, but our hearts break when she finally sees the violence of her boyfriend; not because she is alone, but because she won’t let him give the kids his Christmas presents (even a drunken, skinny bogan Santa can bring great presents). If there were a hat to whip around the audience at that point, the collection would have bought Courtney the best karaoke machine on the market.
Africa was developed in a Malthouse Tower Theatre residency. I can’t say enough good about this program that lets independent companies develop and perform to a larger and receptive audience.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Malthouse Theatre and My Darling Patricia
14 November 2009
Tower Theatre, CUB Malthouse
My Darling Patricia use puppets, design and performance to create the most evocative and original images of Australian urban existence. They see the epic in the most mundane and leave us unsure if the world they expose is beautiful or horrific.
The Tower theatre is draped in children’s linen, covered with characters and colour and faded by love. I didn’t see my washed-til-it-was bare Paddington Bear quilt cover, but there was a pink Pierrot with a frill that I would have coveted at seven.
This Africa isn’t savannas and safaris, but filled with things that we hope define and protect childhood: toys, games and the consistent belief that life is already good and going to get better, despite the horrendous bumps that happen along the way.
Inspired by a true incident, it’s the story of a Courtney, her best friend Cheety and her little sister (played by puppets). On a not unusual night, when they are given a packet of chips and the TV while her mum goes out with her latest man (real adults), the kids discover Africa and plan to escape.
Under the veil of whimsy and nostalgia, My Darling Patricia reveal the murky reality and desperate yearning hidden in the back rooms and porches of our suburbs. Although we don’t approve, we accept a bit of drunken promiscuity and lax supervision from a young mum who hasn’t had the best life, but our hearts break when she finally sees the violence of her boyfriend; not because she is alone, but because she won’t let him give the kids his Christmas presents (even a drunken, skinny bogan Santa can bring great presents). If there were a hat to whip around the audience at that point, the collection would have bought Courtney the best karaoke machine on the market.
Africa was developed in a Malthouse Tower Theatre residency. I can’t say enough good about this program that lets independent companies develop and perform to a larger and receptive audience.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
13 November 2009
What's on this week? 13 November
What's On This Week: November13
December in Melbourne without the Speigeltent is a bit strange, but it gives us time to see other things.
Pretty Baby
Friday 13 Novemer ONLY
MTC, Lawler Studio
A playreading of Declan Greene's latest, commissioned by the MTC's Young and Emerging Artists program with Anne Browning, Georgina Capper, Francis Greenslade and Peter Houghton. What a cast!
14 November
And it was terrific! Dec is fearless, but his absurd (and Absurd) content always comes from and returns to the most delicate observation of our lives. Who else could have every women (and most of the men) in the audience empathising with a gelatinous blob and a swamp woman.
Africa
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
Malthouse commissed this one, which runs until 29 November.
review
Trio
fortyfivedownstairs
Finishes on Sunday 15 November.
If you rightly love how Yvonne Virsik directs.
review
Diane Peters Trio
Sunday 15 November
Jazz Harp
Bennetts Lane
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
The annual short play festival has moved venues, but there's still three weeks of short plays. Some will be crap, some will be brilliant.
Mikelangelo and the Tin Star
Order of Melbourne
Friday 20 December
I haven't seen Mikelangelo's new posse, but how could they not be great?
December in Melbourne without the Speigeltent is a bit strange, but it gives us time to see other things.
Pretty Baby
Friday 13 Novemer ONLY
MTC, Lawler Studio
A playreading of Declan Greene's latest, commissioned by the MTC's Young and Emerging Artists program with Anne Browning, Georgina Capper, Francis Greenslade and Peter Houghton. What a cast!
14 November
And it was terrific! Dec is fearless, but his absurd (and Absurd) content always comes from and returns to the most delicate observation of our lives. Who else could have every women (and most of the men) in the audience empathising with a gelatinous blob and a swamp woman.
Africa
My Darling Patricia
Malthouse Theatre
Malthouse commissed this one, which runs until 29 November.
review
Trio
fortyfivedownstairs
Finishes on Sunday 15 November.
If you rightly love how Yvonne Virsik directs.
review
Diane Peters Trio
Sunday 15 November
Jazz Harp
Bennetts Lane
Short and Sweet
Chapel on Chapel
The annual short play festival has moved venues, but there's still three weeks of short plays. Some will be crap, some will be brilliant.
Mikelangelo and the Tin Star
Order of Melbourne
Friday 20 December
I haven't seen Mikelangelo's new posse, but how could they not be great?
Review: Trio
Trio
Larrikin Ensemble Theatre
10 November 2009
fortyfivedownstairs
Sometimes it is hard to understand why a beautifully written script by a proven and accomplished writer doesn’t leap off the stage as well as it jumps off the page.
Dina Ross wrote Trio as a response to a series of coincidental encounters with the work of three ‘genius’ artists who took their own lives. Her story is the death of fictional virtuoso Australian violinist Karl Munch, as told by his lover, his agent and his brother as they get dressed for Munch’s memorial service. It’s an honest reflection on the existence of artist as superstar and why it’s perhaps not a dream to aspire to.
In a mighty performance, Chris Bunworth (fluidly directed by Yvonne Virsik) is all three characters and brings a different response to the grief of each man. As each talk directly to the audience, the performance is at times confronting and confusing because it’s not clear, to the audience or the performer, who these men are talking to. As long as it is an actor talking to an audience, the audience are watching Chris ‘perform’, rather than being drawn into the grief and anger of these men.
However, this type of theatre starts and ends with the script. Trio is original and intriguing; the characters are complex, the craft is terrific and Ross creates some unforgettable images, like teenage Karl cutting himself to make the gift go away. But for all its goodness, I didn’t care about the men whose souls were aching, let alone why Karl died.
I could see plot, but I couldn’t see story. I couldn’t see the goals and motivations of the characters, didn’t know what drove them through each scene and I didn’t know what I was meant to wonder about. I appreciate that Ross wants the audience to make up their own minds about what happened, but the core of any great story is a question to draws us forward (Will Hamlet kill himself? Will Dorothy get home? Will Matt Preston drool?) Were we meant to wonder if it was suicide/murder/accident, if Karl was happy, or if he did it so the men he loved to use the ‘currency’ of his death?
Or maybe there just wasn’t room for the audience’s empathy. We love great stories because of how they make us feel, not because of how the characters feel.
Writers love writing words and actors love saying them, but audiences like stories told with as few words as possible. Every word has to earn its place in a script and audiences don’t need to be told what they already know. We knew that Karl shut his eyes when he played and didn’t need to be told again; each character showed us how they felt, but then went and told us anyway – we knew Robbie “was too proud to let him see how upset I was”. No matter how beautiful the words or how good the performance, it’s frustrating to be told what we already know and it stalls the story.
Trio is on its way to the USA. It’s a good show, but could be great with some brave editing that would leave fewer words, but would leave space for the audience to create their own emotional response.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Larrikin Ensemble Theatre
10 November 2009
fortyfivedownstairs
Sometimes it is hard to understand why a beautifully written script by a proven and accomplished writer doesn’t leap off the stage as well as it jumps off the page.
Dina Ross wrote Trio as a response to a series of coincidental encounters with the work of three ‘genius’ artists who took their own lives. Her story is the death of fictional virtuoso Australian violinist Karl Munch, as told by his lover, his agent and his brother as they get dressed for Munch’s memorial service. It’s an honest reflection on the existence of artist as superstar and why it’s perhaps not a dream to aspire to.
In a mighty performance, Chris Bunworth (fluidly directed by Yvonne Virsik) is all three characters and brings a different response to the grief of each man. As each talk directly to the audience, the performance is at times confronting and confusing because it’s not clear, to the audience or the performer, who these men are talking to. As long as it is an actor talking to an audience, the audience are watching Chris ‘perform’, rather than being drawn into the grief and anger of these men.
However, this type of theatre starts and ends with the script. Trio is original and intriguing; the characters are complex, the craft is terrific and Ross creates some unforgettable images, like teenage Karl cutting himself to make the gift go away. But for all its goodness, I didn’t care about the men whose souls were aching, let alone why Karl died.
I could see plot, but I couldn’t see story. I couldn’t see the goals and motivations of the characters, didn’t know what drove them through each scene and I didn’t know what I was meant to wonder about. I appreciate that Ross wants the audience to make up their own minds about what happened, but the core of any great story is a question to draws us forward (Will Hamlet kill himself? Will Dorothy get home? Will Matt Preston drool?) Were we meant to wonder if it was suicide/murder/accident, if Karl was happy, or if he did it so the men he loved to use the ‘currency’ of his death?
Or maybe there just wasn’t room for the audience’s empathy. We love great stories because of how they make us feel, not because of how the characters feel.
Writers love writing words and actors love saying them, but audiences like stories told with as few words as possible. Every word has to earn its place in a script and audiences don’t need to be told what they already know. We knew that Karl shut his eyes when he played and didn’t need to be told again; each character showed us how they felt, but then went and told us anyway – we knew Robbie “was too proud to let him see how upset I was”. No matter how beautiful the words or how good the performance, it’s frustrating to be told what we already know and it stalls the story.
Trio is on its way to the USA. It’s a good show, but could be great with some brave editing that would leave fewer words, but would leave space for the audience to create their own emotional response.
11 November 2009
Rich, white, straight-acting blokes
Rich, white, straight-acting blokes
One of the first things I saw on Facebook this morning was a link to The Age (I don't bother with the whole paper these days, just what my friends suggest I read) and this piece by the wonderful Catherine Deveny.
Like the person who posted it, I want to make copies and hand it out too many times each day. Not just to teenagers on trains calling everything gay (I too was a little shit in the teen years), but to the educated grown ups I meet every day.
Like the bloke who installed my oven and told me how they could rent this place to a dozen Indians because "they" don't care or the 20-something who gave a speech in class about how she understood the Israel-Palestine situation better than anyone or the EX bf who told me how women who work in strip clubs exploit men.
Like Catherine D, I work in the arts; a world known for its utopian equal opportunity; where men, women, straight, gay, old, young, god-fearing, atheist and every colour of the great big racial melting pot are treated exactly the same. And an industy full of all the stuff that white people like*. But us well-over-30 white chicks are still on the bandwagon.
And while I'm at is, here's what the also wonderful Marike Hardy had to say about the current John Safran hoo ha.
And an edited version of this letter appeared in The Age a few weeks ago in response to the MTC's 2010 season. It was written by actor and writer Dana Miltins on behalf of the Melbourne Worker's Theatre.
I'm not sure that a boycott is the answer (but then again I haven't actively eaten a Nestle product since the 80s), but it shows how deeply angry and frustrating it is when you are not a "rich white straight-acting bloke who believes in God, or pretends to."
* Here's the version for Melbourne white folk.
Like the person who posted it, I want to make copies and hand it out too many times each day. Not just to teenagers on trains calling everything gay (I too was a little shit in the teen years), but to the educated grown ups I meet every day.
Like the bloke who installed my oven and told me how they could rent this place to a dozen Indians because "they" don't care or the 20-something who gave a speech in class about how she understood the Israel-Palestine situation better than anyone or the EX bf who told me how women who work in strip clubs exploit men.
Like Catherine D, I work in the arts; a world known for its utopian equal opportunity; where men, women, straight, gay, old, young, god-fearing, atheist and every colour of the great big racial melting pot are treated exactly the same. And an industy full of all the stuff that white people like*. But us well-over-30 white chicks are still on the bandwagon.
And while I'm at is, here's what the also wonderful Marike Hardy had to say about the current John Safran hoo ha.
And an edited version of this letter appeared in The Age a few weeks ago in response to the MTC's 2010 season. It was written by actor and writer Dana Miltins on behalf of the Melbourne Worker's Theatre.
I'm not sure that a boycott is the answer (but then again I haven't actively eaten a Nestle product since the 80s), but it shows how deeply angry and frustrating it is when you are not a "rich white straight-acting bloke who believes in God, or pretends to."
Over the past fortnight Australian main-stage theatre companies have been unveiling their 2010 seasons to a barrage of complaints and criticism about the lack of opportunities for women in key creative roles, especially directing. Last week the Melbourne Theatre Company followed suit by announcing that out of 12 productions only one is to be directed by a woman.
A recent article in your paper cites a letter sent by director Melanie Beddie on behalf of the Australian Women Directors’ Alliance to the MTC questioning their commitment to their equal opportunity policies. We understand there has been no reply. Derek Young, the MTC’s chair, said that the company does not feel it should be held responsible for gender equality; rather that it is an issue for the entire theatrical industry. He pointed out that Beddie had made a similar complaint in 2003 and that nothing had changed.
We, the current ensemble of the Melbourne Workers Theatre, wish to offer our thanks and support to Melanie Beddie and the Directors’ Alliance for bringing this issue to light. We would like to say to the MTC that to admit that nothing has changed since 2003 is to admit that the company is stagnant and out of touch with what is happening in theatre beyond its doors. The Women Directors’ Alliance comprises 60 members: a significant proportion of those members, Beddie included, have spent decades directing excellent, profound and mostly under-funded theatre in Melbourne and beyond. Our industry relies on these women’s efforts as mentors for cultivating writers, performers, designers and technicians, but in turn they are not rewarded with professional work that is commensurate with their experience and skills. If artistic director Simon Philips is suggesting that the MTC’s gender inequality is the result of a lack of experienced Victorian female directors then we would like to ask him: are you blind, or scared, or both? There is no shortage of female talent in Victoria, simply a lack of opportunity.
We understand that budgetary constraints limit the number of external directors that can be employed by the company. But, when the proportion of directors is always overwhelmingly male we are interested in finding out what your recruitment criteria are that so many experienced women continue to be overlooked. That said, if the cost of external directors is causing gender equality to remain grossly unbalanced then it would seem logical to include women in your salaried creative staff.
If the MTC is the flagship theatre company of this state then it, more than any other company, has a responsibility to set an example and act fairly when it comes to gender equality. To relinquish that responsibility and make excuses as to the current state of discrimination implies that the MTC does not hold this issue to be important and therefore does not intend to act to promote change.
The Melbourne Workers Theatre would like to entreat all theatre-goers to take a stand and boycott main-stage plays that are directed by men until the imbalance is addressed. Theatre is nothing without an audience and an audience is almost nothing without womeOver the past fortnight Australian main-stage theatre companies have been unveiling their 2010 seasons to a barrage of complaints and criticism about the lack of opportunities for women in key creative roles, especially directing. Last week the Melbourne Theatre Company followed suit by announcing that out of 12 productions only one is to be directed by a woman.
A recent article in your paper cites a letter sent by director Melanie Beddie on behalf of the Australian Women Directors’ Alliance to the MTC questioning their commitment to their equal opportunity policies. We understand there has been no reply. Derek Young, the MTC’s chair, said that the company does not feel it should be held responsible for gender equality; rather that it is an issue for the entire theatrical industry. He pointed out that Beddie had made a similar complaint in 2003 and that nothing had changed.
We, the current ensemble of the Melbourne Workers Theatre, wish to offer our thanks and support to Melanie Beddie and the Directors’ Alliance for bringing this issue to light. We would like to say to the MTC that to admit that nothing has changed since 2003 is to admit that the company is stagnant and out of touch with what is happening in theatre beyond its doors. The Women Directors’ Alliance comprises 60 members: a significant proportion of those members, Beddie included, have spent decades directing excellent, profound and mostly under-funded theatre in Melbourne and beyond. Our industry relies on these women’s efforts as mentors for cultivating writers, performers, designers and technicians, but in turn they are not rewarded with professional work that is commensurate with their experience and skills. If artistic director Simon Philips is suggesting that the MTC’s gender inequality is the result of a lack of experienced Victorian female directors then we would like to ask him: are you blind, or scared, or both? There is no shortage of female talent in Victoria, simply a lack of opportunity.
We understand that budgetary constraints limit the number of external directors that can be employed by the company. But, when the proportion of directors is always overwhelmingly male we are interested in finding out what your recruitment criteria are that so many experienced women continue to be overlooked. That said, if the cost of external directors is causing gender equality to remain grossly unbalanced then it would seem logical to include women in your salaried creative staff.
If the MTC is the flagship theatre company of this state then it, more than any other company, has a responsibility to set an example and act fairly when it comes to gender equality. To relinquish that responsibility and make excuses as to the current state of discrimination implies that the MTC does not hold this issue to be important and therefore does not intend to act to promote change.
The Melbourne Workers Theatre would like to entreat all theatre-goers to take a stand and boycott main-stage plays that are directed by men until the imbalance is addressed. Theatre is nothing without an audience and an audience is almost nothing without women.
by Dana Miltins
* Here's the version for Melbourne white folk.
09 November 2009
Review: Fire: a retrospective
Fire: a retrospective
Bangarrra Dance Theatre
6 November 2009
The Arts Centre, Playhouse
Hands up if you can name Australia’s internationally revered national contemporary dance company. How Aussie that, after 20 years of consistent achievement, Bangarra Dance Theatre isn’t always given the respect, the support and the adoration it deserves at home.
Not that the audience at Fire didn’t adore. Far from it. Being in that cheering audience was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve had in a theatre. It’s humbling to be with a crowd who are thanking the creators and performers for telling stories that all members of the diverse audience understood felt were theirs.
I like dance, but it’s like a foreign language and I’m often left admiring the pretty and the skill as I wonder what they are trying to say to me. But I totally get Bangarra. I watch this company perform and I know what they are saying to me. It might not be what they created it to say, but that doesn’t matter. Bangarra tell their stories by expressing the emotions of moments. We fill in the rest.
Under the artistic directorship of Stephen Page, Bangarra’s merge of traditional and contemporary is fluid and natural. There is no straight line in nature, no unison or perfect repetition. Random patterns are why it’s so hard to make anything artificial look natural. Bangarra’s choreographic style is precise, but there’s never unnatural unison. The slight differences between each dancer’s performance creates a stage that seems more natural and more in tune with how we are.
Bangarra’s originality flows from welcoming ancient white ochre ritual and encompassing Torres Straight Island celebration through to the a gorgeous use of elastic to create a stage full of cat’s cradle like song lines and the most awesome and sexy use of a slip ‘n’ slide. But the moments that remind us that our Indigenous culture is more than gum leaves and roo dancing are the most powerful.
Four men in jeans dance to a spoken Lord’s prayer and the voices of those who need to be heard in a piece about alchoholism, violence and abuse, and there’s a room silencing moment when a scratching, screaming woman finds relief in the horror of drugs. It’s not only in the arts that Australians suffer and are ignored for ‘cultural’ reasons.
At a time when far too much media and dinner party conversation was spent justifying the Aussie joke of black face and John Safran’s Race Relations is creating a mighty hoo ha on the telly, it’s a perfect time to go to the theatre to be part of a history, a vision and a contemporary dreaming that we are all part of.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
Bangarrra Dance Theatre
6 November 2009
The Arts Centre, Playhouse
Not that the audience at Fire didn’t adore. Far from it. Being in that cheering audience was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve had in a theatre. It’s humbling to be with a crowd who are thanking the creators and performers for telling stories that all members of the diverse audience understood felt were theirs.
I like dance, but it’s like a foreign language and I’m often left admiring the pretty and the skill as I wonder what they are trying to say to me. But I totally get Bangarra. I watch this company perform and I know what they are saying to me. It might not be what they created it to say, but that doesn’t matter. Bangarra tell their stories by expressing the emotions of moments. We fill in the rest.
Under the artistic directorship of Stephen Page, Bangarra’s merge of traditional and contemporary is fluid and natural. There is no straight line in nature, no unison or perfect repetition. Random patterns are why it’s so hard to make anything artificial look natural. Bangarra’s choreographic style is precise, but there’s never unnatural unison. The slight differences between each dancer’s performance creates a stage that seems more natural and more in tune with how we are.
Bangarra’s originality flows from welcoming ancient white ochre ritual and encompassing Torres Straight Island celebration through to the a gorgeous use of elastic to create a stage full of cat’s cradle like song lines and the most awesome and sexy use of a slip ‘n’ slide. But the moments that remind us that our Indigenous culture is more than gum leaves and roo dancing are the most powerful.
Four men in jeans dance to a spoken Lord’s prayer and the voices of those who need to be heard in a piece about alchoholism, violence and abuse, and there’s a room silencing moment when a scratching, screaming woman finds relief in the horror of drugs. It’s not only in the arts that Australians suffer and are ignored for ‘cultural’ reasons.
At a time when far too much media and dinner party conversation was spent justifying the Aussie joke of black face and John Safran’s Race Relations is creating a mighty hoo ha on the telly, it’s a perfect time to go to the theatre to be part of a history, a vision and a contemporary dreaming that we are all part of.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
05 November 2009
Terrific writing tips #2
Writing Tips
from Jackie French
Jackie is an amazing children's writer. Diary of a Wombat is one of the best picture books ever, but what I love about her stories is that you are always totally with the charaters and with the moment. She doesn't distact readers with her writerly cleverness - and she is one very clever writer.
Here are some of Jackie's tips about writing. Some are specifically about writing for children, but I find them invaluable when your writing for anyone.
from Jackie French
Here are some of Jackie's tips about writing. Some are specifically about writing for children, but I find them invaluable when your writing for anyone.
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