Last Chance: The Good Person of Szechuan

The Good Person of Szechuan
Malthouse Theatre and National Theatre of China
2 July 2014
Merlyn Theatre
to 20 July
malthousetheatre.com.au

Photo by Pia Johnson

The Good Person of Szechuan. Epic!

And it finishes on Sunday. So there's still a chance to see it again.

The cast and performances are divine (even the ones playing gods), the design is somewhere between wtf and wow, the text is Aussie and the direction's Chinese. And it's as Brechtian as Brecht can be.

Brecht was a German modernist and a Marxist who rejected the emotional heart-grab of namby pamby naturalism and wrote theatre that was about understanding the manipulation and falsity of realistic storytelling in order to see the creation of fiction by rulers, governments and politicians. He wrote because he saw his world being torn apart.

Be it sense, fate or luck, he left his home in Germany in 1933 and moved around Europe (avoiding German invasion) and before going to the USA in 1941. He began Good Person in 1938 and completed it in 1943; no wonder there's enough content in this play to make it feel like it's written for any audience who have seen it since.

Set in a fictional Szechuan-cum-Berlin-cum-Melbourne-cum-AnyCity, it's about three gods coming to earth to find good people. It doesn't take long for them to settle for finding one good person. With the help of a water seller, they meet prostitute Shen Te, who gives them a room for the night and is rewarded with enough money to buy a tobacco shop. And then it gets really hard for her to maintain her goodness.

Photo by Pia Johnson

This version is by Tom Wright, who makes it sound like it was written in Melbourne. And it's directed (in translation) by Chinese director Meng Jinghui, whose work in China comes close to having a cult following. His Rhinoceros in Love was part of the 2011 Melbourne International Arts Festival. I didn't get it. However, I was sitting next to a group of young Chinese women who didn't stop laughing. It clearly spoke to them, and to so many others; it's been in ongoing production in China since 1999. I wanted to know what I was missing.

But I got The Good Person of Szechuan. Perhaps all I needed was a slither of familiarity.

And from the gods arriving with shopping bags and looking like bridezilla Madonna (Christian and pop) icons (design by Marg Horwell), it's a world that's filled with the nearly unrecognisable familiar.

From designer dresses (thank you audience member for telling me that they are genuine expensive frocks and not be-dazzled K-Mart t-shirts) to the smoke machine, piles of baby dolls and the live musician (THE SWEATS) in a glass box, there are no secrets but this forced distancing is combined with performances that draw us back into the world and make us see it as us and ours.

And Moira Finucane, Genevieve Giuffre, Emily Milledge, Josh Price, Bert LaBonté, Richard Pyros, Aljin Abella and Daniel Frederiksen! What more do I need to say.

The friend who came with me did have something else to say and she said it to the man who was sitting two rows behind us, Minister Malcolm Turnball.

"At the after party, I slyly bumped into him accidentally, so he had to notice me. After introductions, I questioned him about what was happening to the boatload of Tamil asylum seekers. His answer was, 'I don't know'. He tried to reassure me they were safe because we were 'looking after them'. I politely berated him about it and he really didn't have much to say. Finally I said, 'You've just seen a play by Brecht. What do you think he'd have to say about this?' Malcolm: 'I know what he'd have to say'. Me: 'Exactly."

I loved this production because it must be talking to those who don't care about Tamil refugees and carbon taxes and slow internet. It's made for our Malcolm Turnballs. If those in power can see the world how we do, surely they'll change.

Nup.


PS. I'm blaming my computer for losing my real review. And by computer, I mean I accidentally deleted it.

Review: True Minds

True Minds
Melbourne Theatre Company
29 April 2013
The Sumner
to 8 June
mtc.com.au

I'll always see a new Joanna Murray-Smith play. She's one of Melbourne's most commercially successful playwrights and she writes terrific jokes about being middle class in Melbourne. Her latest, True Minds at the MTC,  is the theatrical equivalent of a black-and-white romcom that you're happy to watch every time it's repeated on the ABC because it's an easy giggle with some terrific performances.

Daisy (Nikki Shiels) lives in her enviable converted warehouse with a collection of giraffe knick-knacks. She's written a commercially successful book about how men need their mum's approval before they choose the girl of their dreams. It's a bit of a surprise, as neither of her leftie parents – mum (Genevieve Morris) is into beyond-alternative medicine and young men, dad (Alex Menglet) is a drunken academic and philanderer – are into marriage and her last beau (Adam Murphy) is in rehab. But love is strange and Daisy's fallen for the most conservative hunk in town (Matthew McFarlane) and is preparing to meet is his mummy (Louise Silversen), who would call Julie Bishop a raving liberal Liberal. As Dasiy gets the dips ready, there's a storm brewing outside and everyone ends up in her open plan living room.

For all the big laughs and performers who bring extra so much extra to their characters (it's worth seeing for the three women), there's not a second's doubt as to what's going to happen or an opportunity to wish for something different. Couldn't we even like the hunky fiance for a bit and understand why Daisy wants to marry him? The jokes are easy and obvious, the politics are duller than QandA, and the characters are so full of cliches that they become unrecognisable as real people. This leaves the audience safely distanced because there's little chance of really seeing theselves on the stage.

Peter Houghton had written/directed/performed some of our funniest theatre. He builds a manic world where the background action says as much as the script, but he seems to be pushing for True Minds to be farce. It's not extreme enough to be farce and the characters are too likeable to push them to farcical extremes. At the same time, there's not enough guts in the script for it to be social satire: conservative ladies in peach don't like gay marriage while young liberal lefties are all for it, some people are happy not to get married, and it's all about love at the end of the day. Really? There's so much more to explore. (And out of rehab and happily pouring booze all night without any of your loved ones keeping an eye on you?)

It's a funny and enjoyable show, but it's so safe that it's inoffensive and forgettable.

Photo by Jeff Busby.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

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.

Spontaneous Broadway

Spontaneous Broadway
November 8 2008
The Speigeltent

The original Spontaneous Broadway premiered in New York in 1995. The Australian version has been around since 2000 and I’ve yet to see anything as consistently hilarious.

If you like your musical theatre original, controversial and topical, you could become a Spontaneous Broadway addict. There’s no Vietnamese-US angst or French class wars in these shows. Instead there’s the topical anger of a hopeless, privatised train provider that strands thousands of drunk bogans in their fascinators and tuxedo t-shirts, and the inner-city despair of a compromised couple whose relationship might not survive, “Inappropriate carpet burns”

If you feel the urge to release your inner-Sondheim or closeted-Lloyd-Webber, grab a ticket - because your work could be discovered, published, produced and performed at Spontaneous Broadway. The catch is - it’s a once only thrill, as every show is improvised.

Audience members place their song and musical suggestions into the ‘Bucket of Dreams’. As host-extraordinaire Russell Fletcher introduces the show, the cast select their finds. It’s then time for the wonderful Dame Helen Highwater (Genevieve Morris), Chad Bradley (Geoff Paine), Sally-Anne DeFinklestien (Julia Zemiro) and Gordon Supwell (Ross Daniels) to share their improvised numbers, accompanied by the musical genius of John Thorn.

Everyone is as-close-to-perfect-as-you-can-be-when-you’re-making-it-up-on-the-spot, but Thorn’s flawless creations never cease to astound. Zemiro asked for a dramatic, German, dark cabaret number and they created the never-to-be-forgotten “Vomit over my love”, followed by the cast’s rendition of the sing-a-long-in-the-car-until someone-pukes “Are we there yet, Mum” – which I’m still singing at inappropriate moments.

After the tease numbers, the ever-reliable audience clapometer selects the final, mini-musical. One has to wonder why anyone bothers to rehearse when shows this good can be made up in an instant. This week, Flemington was rejected for The Sneeze that Kills. Seeing train-provider Connex pummelled in song was tempting, but the visceral lyrics of “Spitting in the moat” refused to be resisted. And Daniels must be awarded the Rhyme of the Year award for survivor/saliva.

If you managed to miss Spontaneous Broadway at the Melbourne Fringe, don’t despair because there are still a handful of Saturday afternoon performances at The Speigeltent. Just get in early, because, when it’s this good - once is never enough.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Spontaneous Broadway

Spontaneous Broadway
10 November 2007
The Speigeltent

The plots, characters and tunes improvised in Spontaneous Broadway are more engaging, original and downright hilarious than most popular musicals.
 
I’ve been singing “Chickens Dream Too” all weekend. It was an unknown ballad until Saturday afternoon - when Dame Helen Highwater created it. Spontaneous Broadway is improvised musical theatre.
 
Thank God You’re Here gives telly fans an idea of what impro is about. But compared to Spontaneous Broadway, the TV impro is like paddling in a pool with floaties compared to a swimming Bass Straight in a winter storm, tied to five other people. There are no costumes, supporting cast or film editor to make you look clever on stage.
 
Spontaneous Broadway are the totally fabulous Genevieve Morris, Geoff Paine, Julia Zemiro, Ross Daniels, Russell Fletcher and pianist extraordinaire John Thorn. They play characters plucked from every community musical group – each aspiring to me so much more than they ever will be. In character, they work with audience suggestions and improvise a song from the potential musical.
 
The audience vote for their favourite and then the whole cast improvise the entire musical. “Port Phillip: the Musical” won, due to its unforgettable romantic duet “Dredge My Bay”. Ok - “Port Phillip: the Musical” won, due to the innuendo as its lesbian leads sang “Dredge My Bay”. Relevant, local, environmental and sexual politics – what more could you possibly want!
 
This is an absolute must for musical fans. Parody only succeeds when the performers intimately know and love a genre. This group know their musicals, but its appeal is much broader. See it for the skill of the impro or just because you will be assured an afternoon of non-stop laughter.
 
Spontaneous Broadway is at The Famous Spiegeltent on Saturday 17 and 24 November. As it was standing room only this week, booking is recommended.
 
PS – I have to mention Chad Bradley, just so he gets a mention in at least one review.
 
This review originally appeared on AussieThearte.com.