The Sublime discussion & links

The Sublime

MTC

mtc.com.au

Photo by Jeff Busby

The response to my commentary about the MTC's The Sublime has been positive and nearly overwhelming with so many social media and real life conversations resulting.

I wrote about the aspects of this play that disturbed me the most (and I wanted to keep it less than a thesis). But there IS much more to say about it, including how honestly the men are portrayed.

Many of the conversations have been about the intent of the playwright, the director, the company and everyone who has had an input into the production – that's a lot of people.

It seems like the creators couldn't see what they were saying about young women and power because all they could see is what they were saying about men caught in football world.

Theatre is something that we all see through different eyes. You will never have the same experience that the person sitting next to you has. Please read all the reviews and rants or decide to see or not see it without reading the commentary. And #mtcSublime is worth a visit on Twitter.

But be thrilled that we have a critical arts community that wants to discuss our theatre and writing. Here are some links. I'll add more as they happen.

**NEW**
Alison Croggon saw it last night (10/9/14). She published this on alisoncroggon.tumblr.com (11/9/14).

Eloise Brook on The Conversation (12/9/14). However, I can't tell if she's seen the play.

I also have to add that so many of the conversations about this play are happening in private and away from public glare.

The others (from 5–6/9)

Me on AussieTheatre (3/9/14). I'll publish it in full here next week.

Richard Watts on RRR's Smart Arts (4/9/14). About 1hr 45 min in.

Peta Mayer on ArtsHub (5/9/14), with an excellent discussion about how the female character doesn't sit comfortably in a work that's wanting to be an honest depiction of society.

Byron Bache on his blog (5/9/14). Byron was the first on Twitter to call any negative response and I too stress his point that NO ONE has accused the MTC or this play of condoning rape. Read what we say, don't cherry pick trigger words.

MTC management on Crikey's Daily Review (2/9/14) while the reviews were positive. And why is anonymous "management" commenting? Surely it should be AD Brett Sheehy?

Chris Boyd in The Australian (1/9/14). And a text version if the pay wall stops you.

Andrew Furhmann on Crikey's Daily Review (29/8/14).

Cameron Woodhead in The Age/SMH (29/8/14).

Kate Herbert in Herald Sun (29/8/14).

Reuben Liversidge on ArtsHub (30/8/14).

Peter Craven in The Saturday paper (6/9/14).

Brendan Cowell in The Age (6/9/14, but the interview was during rehearsals).

Brendan Cowell in The Age (18/8/14).

And here's playwright Brendan Cowell talking about it the 2014 MTC season launch.

What Melbourne loved in 2013, part 15

What Melbourne loved is nearly over.

But today's a goody with a crooner Mikelangelo, critic Chris Boyd an writer Fleur Kilpatrick.

Mikelangelo
Artist, Entertainer, Impresario

Mikelangelo: My favourite moment in 2013 was being asked to be Santa at the PBS Switched on Twistmas last weekend at Bella Union. They said you can go without the beard and comb your hair into your best quiff, then gave me the most lush velvet santa suit one could imagine. I never had any particular desire to be Santa, but posing for photos with a bevy of excitable men and women over the course of the evening truly did put me in the spirit for Christmas.

Often the best theatre is that which is found in life, and I certainly got theatre au naturale in spades on that velvet evening.

What Mikelangelo is looking forward to in 2014 at issimomag.com.

SM: Could it really be a year in which I wasn't serenaded by Mikel? Come on 2013, that's not good enough. But we crossed paths in the Arts Centre one afternoon. He was at a Melbourne Music Week conference, I was at the Melbourne  Ring Cycle. Such music extremes, but all in the one place and all loved – and neither of us could consider reaching a Wagnerian high C.

Chris Boyd
reviewer

CHRIS: Favourite theatre moment. Hmm. Most of mine have already been mentioned. (You know who you are!)

I think it was Jane Howard (from Part 2) who said that the shows that blow your mind – that leave you not knowing what you think – rarely end up in posterity’s junk pile.  They usually turn out to be highlights of your year, of your life. My Melbourne Festival was ruined (in a good way) by one the first festival shows I saw.

M+M was like a supernova that made everything that followed invisible. It shut me down like one of those unkillable little SvcHst.exe files that hog 99% of cpu time when you’re on a deadline.

Room of Regret caused a similar kind of flash-blindness, but in a single evening. It started with a tiny supernova and most of what followed was barely visible. I liked being veiled, especially in a show with audience participation. And I’m pretty good with the role playing thing. So, when I ended up in a confessional-sized room with an equally veiled actor, I played my part ... even though I felt like a Big Brother inmate, sure that everything I did was visible in the dark! Anyway, my anonymous lover for a minute or two turned out to be Emily Milledge (from Part 13), who gave one of the most sustained, most raw and intense performance I saw this year.

But my fave moment of the year came in the dying scene of Das Rheingold, the first opera in the Melbourne Ring Cycle. When the squad of rainbow showgirls pranced on with their feather wings for the finale, I recognised Benjamin Hancock in the front ranks. I doubt than many noticed there was a cuckoo in the nest. When I emailed Opera Australia just to check it was Ben, they politely denied it. Mocked the suggestion even with a “we're pretty sure all the showgirls are girls”.  You know, “brackets, dickhead, close brackets”. It looked like the denial was going to be the story.  (I got a groveling apology a day or two later.) Anyway, I felt weirdly proud: for Ben, for director Neil Armfield, for Opera Australia.

I loved loved loved what the Sisters Grimm did with the gender- and race-blind casting in The Sovereign Wife too. It helped them reach the highest and most dizzying euphoric peak of 2013.

SM: The hard-core reviewers see a lot of each other. If I'm at an opening night and Chris isn't there, I wonder what I'm missing.

I'm often in awe of newspaper reviewers because they usually have to file hours after seeing a show. To be awake at 3 am (after opening night drinks) is a skill; to be articulate and intelligent and not make typos, swear or confess undying lust to a performer is an art.

Chris has been reviewing since the 80s. That's longer than some of the people he now reviews have been alive. And  every one of those shows is stored somewhere in his memory.

I read his reviews (The Australian), especially for shows I haven't seen. In relatively few words, he consistently gives an evocative picture of the work and an honest opinion, and tends to throw in an obscure fact that helps to understand the piece or a metaphor that the artists will be quoting for years. (I mean, "M+M was like a supernova that made everything that followed invisible."!)

He inspires me to write better, or at least to not settle for the obvious adjective.

He also fights for independent theatre to get mainstream reviews.

Fleur Kilpatrick
writer, director

FLEUR: A highlight for me was MTC’s NEON Festival. It wasn’t even about the individual shows (although Schlusser’s Menagerie had me hyperventilating). Rather, it was about seeing the MTC really embrace what it is that makes our hometown so vibrant and unique. It was truly affirming and, regardless of the recent controversy, I was so, so proud of our community.

Giving standing ovations was another highlight. They feel so good. I gave four this year and each time it was such a joyful celebration. I love loving theatre. I love telling people how much I love their theatre. This year I stood for Matilda (in London), Einstein on the Beach, The Shadow King (Malthouse) and Sun (Melbourne Festival). These were all big shows. They urged me to leap out of my seat. The sheer scale demanded my entire height.

But there was other shows I loved no less that I had to love quietly. I had to sit with them. Tommy Bradson’s Sweet Sixteen or The Birthday Party Massacre, They saw a thylacine and Jon Bennett’s My Dad’s Deaths all left their mark on me. A reading of Patrick McCarthy’s Grief and the Lullaby also made the cut. The actors stood with scripts in hand and I was still shaking with sobs. I can’t wait to see Patrick’s work grow.

Personally, 2013 has been an incredible year for me. Returning to university to work with Raimondo Cortese and Rob Reid has thrilled me and has helped me find my voice not only as a playwright but as an arts writer. I’ve so very much enjoyed writing about theatre not as a reviewer but as an artist responding to the work I love with consideration and relish.

SM: Read Fleur's blog. Bookmark it and go back to it a lot. It's called School for Birds. It's passionate and her arts writing is an artist responding to what she loves.

When I feel my own writing slipping into formula, Fleur's writing reminds me to be passionate and to show that I care about what's happening on a stage – even when the pieces didn't fit together for the artists who made it.

She reminds us all to go into every show wondering what it's going to give us, wondering if it's going to be one of those shows that changes your life, and, at the very least, respecting the people who created it for you.

Her own theatre writing is pretty cool, too. My favourite moment was the look on her face when I said that she's one of the few people who can over write and I love for doing so. I could see her brain trying to figure out if it was a compliment or an insult. It was a compliment.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14
Part 16
Part 17

2012 part 1, with links to the rest

Discussion: Artists & Criticism (2008)

Reading the current blogasphere hoo hah about critics (I'll think about saddling up my high horse about it once I've written about the shows I saw last night and watched the Grand Final sequel) reminded me of this discussion from 2008. It's a look at how an artist deals with reviews.

An Actor Prepares is Eagles Nest Theatre 2008 Melbourne Fringe production. This work was last performed at the 2008 Adelaide Fringe, where it received a scathing review from The Advertiser.  James Adler talks about his reaction to a half-star rating.

Fringe festivals encourage an abundance of people wanting to see unique and courageous productions - but there are almost too many shows for this limited audience to choose from, which leaves many using reviews as their selection guide.

AussieTheatre’s Christina Cass reviewed an earlier version of An Actor Prepares. Her review praised the performances as courageous and said, “The imagery and essence of this play are stunning:  simple and heartbreaking. They challenge the audience to trust their senses.” Chris Boyd from The Herald Sun said, "Word for word it is a mighty script: Poetic, slippery and dramatic.  Deceptively simple and devastatingly effective. "

However, in Adelaide, An Actor Prepares received half a star, out of six, from Samela Harris, one of South Australia’s most respected and experienced reviewers. She opened with: “One can't have a good Fringe without some bad shows. This is the little gem of them all. It is so bad it could almost become a cult. It is almost impossible to tell what it is about.” She concluded by expressing her relief that it is quite short.

I asked Adler how he felt about the review. “In some ways you feel offended and hurt, but your artist’s skin also has to be thinker than that…I have no issue with someone not liking our work - for god’s sake that’s what the arts is all about - but the job of a reviewer is to attempt to engage with a work as well as provide an opinion about it's quality.

“What was offensive... is that she never really made any attempt to review it at all. It seems to me that her desire was to judge the piece as good or bad and to make sure that she, as reviewer, came out looking slick.”

It may be lacking in tact, but what is clear from Harris’s review is that she didn’t understand the intent or even the premise of the piece.

Adler tells me that An Actor Prepares is about “believing and then loosing faith”. This is a universal and powerful theme. He started writing the piece in 2001, on the day “we (Australia) started bombing Afghanistan.”  

 “I wanted to explode. . . go to Canberra and yell and protest. . . (but) my opinon as an individual would be drowned out.” From his personal reaction, Adler developed the metaphor of a bomb and wrote a monologue that interweaves the thoughts and actions of a suicide bomber with the stories of others who find themselves in violent, impossible or voiceless situations.

Musician, composer and director Nela Trifkovic says she came to work because ” for the first time in long time there was a story that I wanted to be part of - even if it was an angry story.” Nela describes herself as a survivor from the war in Yugoslavia. Coming to Australia and going to primary school in Perth, her mixed-religion, mixed-cultural upbringing was met with confusing mix of good intentioned ignorance. She said “a teacher yelled at me for using the term Yugoslavia… an Australian social worker told me you couldn't speak Serbo-Croatian. I try to listen to everybody and that's precisely why it's painful always being told what to.”

Trifkovic’s music adds dimension, perspective and counterpoint to Adler’s monologue. “I decided to offer my music for it does not tell one what to do, but hopefully leaves one on a bitter-sweet chord of self decision.”

An Actor Prepares is a piece that actively forces the audience to make their own decisions about meaning.

Adler finishes by saying, “I am not sure what the value of review is if the reviewer doesn’t try to understand where the work is coming from - and so in the end her (Harris) critique doesn't really seem worthy to be taken into account.”

This is a healthy attitude to criticism, but I wonder if Adler should try to understand where Harris’s criticism came from.

If a show totally fails to connect with an audience member, perhaps there are elements of the work that could be re-thought. Cass understood and admired the work, but she also said the “very personal work needs an outside eye to help take the next step toward a mature piece of theatre.”

I’ve also seen An Actor Prepares. It isn’t a piece that is easy to immediately engage with, as it lacks a traditional narrative, and adopts a more fluid approach to time, space and character. This does make it difficult to understand, but Adler and Trifkovic’s passion for their work is striking and they express an authentic belief, opinion and experience.

Fringe festivals encourage artists to take risks and experiment, offering an opportunity for artists to create the work they really want to make. An Actor Prepares is an ongoing experiment with form that was created with the intent to question and provoke. If it had been created merely to please, the result would be far less interesting, far less passionate and would never have resulted in such extreme and mixed opinions.

This originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com