Review: Song of the Bleeding Throat

Song of the Bleeding Throat
The Eleventh Hour
28 January 2011
The Eleventh Hour Theatre
to 12 February
www.theeleventhhour.com.au

David Tredinnick (writer), Brian Lipson (director) and Neil Pigot (actor) are some of my favourite Melbourne theatre creators. I'm adding actors Ann Browning, Richard Bligh and James Saunders to the list as their performances in Song of the Bleeding Throat were remarkable, but I have no idea what this show is trying to say.

In his program notes Lipson says that when he first read the play he could "barely comprehend it" and eventually understood that it was written to be performed. As someone watching it performed, I could barely comprehend it and wouldn't mind a read so I might begin to understand it.

The tsunami of text, which includes quotes from Marx (Karl) to Barnum, is so overwhelming that it  becomes noise. The creators familiarity and understanding of it is clear, but as an audience we are coming to it for the first time and it's a struggle to keep up.

The opening scenes mimimally replicate Tait's Chealsea Interior painting of Thomas and Jane Carlyle with their dog, and with Pigot as the most delightfully dry Absurd-like stage manager of sorts, a mood of comic anticipation is set. There are wonderfully original and funny moments throughout, but its completeness drowns in the words – even with the welcome catch up space of drugs and farts.

The second half turns literally turns the theatre around and Pigot is Abraham Lincoln, Bligh is Walt Whitman, Saunders is John Wilkes Booth and Browning is the statue of Liberty. Again, the performances are superb, the staging and design are immaculate and the final "I sing the body electric" moment (the Fame, not the Whitman version) made my heart glow with ironic nostalgic joy, but I still had no idea what it was about or who it was talking to and was glad that it was over.

For all it's exquisite technique, intelligence and super well-read cleverness that rightly deserves to be admired (and maybe envied), this is the kind of theatre that makes you feel like an uneducated twat if you don't understand it. It reminded me of going to a Walt Whitman lecture in 1987 from a professor determined to show how much he knew and how little smart arse undergrads knew. I only chose American Lit because Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was on the reading list ... although part of me must have listened because I recognised Whitman quoting Whitman and had a burst of over-educated smugness. But I had to Google Tait and the Carlyles.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com

Review: Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening
The Young Australia Broadway Chorus and Matthew Henderson
27 January 2011
National Theatre, St Kilda
to 5 February
www.ticketek.com.au

Spring Awakening was the big winner at the 2007 Tony Awards and the Young Australia Broadway Chorus (YABC) are giving Melbourne its first look at the show that made teen idols of its cast and made the New York Times declare that "Broadway may never be the same again".

Based on a banned and censored German play from 1891, it's about a group of teenagers learning about sex and desire in a world and a time that our contemporary sensibilities call oppressive. With masturbation, sex, homosexuality and suicide, it is as relevant as any teen story ever was and reminds us that being 17 really can be a bitch. What helps this story scream to us today is that creators Steven Sater (book and lyrics) and Duncan Sheik (music) infused it with music and lyrics as angry and passionate as the souls on the stage.  Songs in musicals show us the inner world of the character, so it's natural and perfect for these already-wounded young adults to sing "You're Fucked" and dance like their great great great great great grandchildren will.

The choreography, design and direction reflect the original production and it's easy to see why Spring Awakening has been such a hit.  The band show how amazing the score is and let the singers be at their best. However, there seems to be a problem with the mix as lyrics were getting lost in the cavernous National Theatre, which made following the details of the story difficult to follow.

The teenage cast, most whom already have significant experience in YABC productions, bring such authentic passion and experience to the stage that you'd swear it was created for them. The principals own their roles and each bring a bit of themselves into the story to make the emotion and connection stronger.  The ensemble,  who remain on stage for most of the show, are professional and supportive and create the atmosphere to carry the story forward.

There's no doubt that many of these performers will be on our stages for a very long time and will remember this Spring Awakening as one of the shows that made them love musical theatre.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com

Preview video by YABC cast



Broadway cast at the Tonys

Review: Carnegie 18 part 2

Carnegie 18
Curtains and Contact
Full Tilt
22 January 2011
to 25 January
theartscentre.com.au

Carnegie 18 is four music theatre projects given the opportunity to develop by the Arts Centre's wonderful Full Tilt program. I missed the two program one shows, and if they were anywhere near as creative, original and bloody awesome as program two, I missed out.

Curtains (produced by Maakan Productions) offers the fantasy-come-true cast of Meow Meow, Mikelangelo, Yana Alana and Tina del Twist. Don't expect Melissa, Mikel, Sarah* and Wes; the twisted concept of David Chisholm's creation is delusional characters playing delusional characters.

Telling the somewhat irrelevant story of the 30th anniversary revival concert of the musical Revival with an understudy,  a faded diva and a murder, the characters get to play characters and sing well out of their usual scope. Highlights include Tina singing the torch song intended for Meow (who had to phone and video in her performance; disappointing, but there are few others who are so good that even a video is worth going to see), Yana singing about being famous (and her ongoing reactions to Tina),  Mikelangelo playing Billy Shakepeare singing about The Empty Space and Mikelangelo and Tina's duet as executioners.

The joy of this show lies in knowing the characters who are playing the Curtains characters and at times it's difficult to see the line between the written and the somewhat improvised work. In the post-show Q and A Chisholm said that he hopes to see many different casts, like a UK version with characters from Tracey Ullman and Julia Davies.

Curtains is the third in a cycle of five long form works that Chisholm aims to be completed and presented by the end of 2013 and presented in its entirety.

Contact is Angus Grant's chamber opera about netball, composed for eight sopranos and guy called Bevan.

I'm sure people raised their eyebrows at the idea of a ballroom dancing show that NIDA students developed in the 80s. Strictly Ballroom went to bigger stages and film, becoming an Australian cultural signpost. And who didn't love it!

Contact should be heading on the same zeitgeist-defining path.

The Rangers netball team are from "a suburb not far away" and their finals chances are looking dim as their Goal Shooter has left the team, maybe because "nice boys have sperm too". All isn't lost because  alternative Daisy has moved out from the inner city and her shooting is as cool as her look, but there's no trophy yet as coach Bev is having issues with her past and with her Wing Defence daughter Wendy and Wendy's twin Bevan is dating Goal Attack Gayle.

With a libretto (by Grant and Kate Schmitt) that lets suburban vernacular like "quick sticks" and "I was in with a shot" sound like poetry, a score that will  make school kids pin pictures of sopranos on their lockers, and choreography (by Julia Sutherland) that captures the boredom of drills and the precision of a match without ever looking like a drill or a match, this is a show that bends all the rules to make the a definitive Aussie chamber opera.

And the young cast are no less than perfect.

Contact captures our unique obsession with netball (it's not just women) with plenty of implied jokes for players who understand that it sucks to be WD and that GAs and GSs bitch like first and second sopranos, but the humour is never limited for those in the know.  It's a tale of passion, sport, family, rejection, secrets, love and life in the suburbs that grabbed the hearts and imaginations of everyone in the audience.

Contact has only played a quarter and it will be an unforgivable obstruction if we don't see the full match.


Talk was that program 2 was sold out, but there are limited seats available for the last show on 25 January.


Applications for the 2012 Carnegie 18 series close on 27 May.


* I've seen Sarah's stuff, but never in a review capacity. Sista She were brilliant and Yana Alana and her Parana's should not be missed.

This review appears on AussieThearte.com

Review: Court in the Act

Court in the Act

(The Case of the Crown v Someone in the Audience)

Rod Quantock, National Trust of Australia (Vic), the Old Melbourne Goal, Justice Experience

19 January 2011

The Old City Watch House

until 11 February

Melbourne's theaterati know that this week a Melbourne-born, 60-something famous boomer writer has been criticised by dumb arse reviewers for creating jaded and dull theatre. It isn't Rod Quantock. If David Williamson made me snooze, Captain Snooze himself woke me up and reminded me that writers do love and trust the intelligence of their audience, that satire should always make me cringe at my own prejudices and that polite twitters can never compare to uncontrollable belly laughs. 

If Rod's doing a show, I want to see it.  And I'm in a very long queue of people wanting to do the same.   

Court in the Act isn't written and as an audience you will be more than a passive bum on a seat. Your bum will start on a wooden bench in a prison cell with some strangers' bums. It could be a cell where Chopper sat or where Ronald Ryan wondered if anyone will even remember his name. If you were arrested in Melbourne before 1994, it may feel too familiar.

The City Watch House closed in 1994 and his been kept the same so that the public can explore. Quantock has done shows, including Coming Clean, in the Watch House and if you've been to one, no one's going to stop you trying to get locked in with him again.

Back in the cell, your cell mates choose a crime and a criminal. When you're let out, it's off to the exercise yard to vote for the best and the winning cases are tried in the Old Magistrates Court – the court where Ned Kelly was sentenced to death. On our night, there was at least one lawyer who had worked professionally in this room and he continued his work nobly defending Colin who stole a famous banana bread recipe. The next case involved insurance fraud, murder and removing sandbags from a flood levee. 

As Rod is only one person, the roles of defendant, defence lawyer, court artist, judge, clerk, jury and witnesses are all chosen from the audience. Eager ones can jump in early, others will be chosen by the eager ones and you don't dare throw away your entry raffle ticket.

If audience participation scares the bejesus out of you so much that you'd rather risk Don Parties On and On and On, know that Rod doesn't pick on anyone who can't cope and never leaves anyone stuck for words or embarrassed – unless they bring it on themselves.

I've never been to a Rod Quantock show and seen anyone look grumpy. I can't guarantee you'll love Court in the Act, but I'll think you're a bit odd if you don't. Book for yourself and all your friends. If it were my birthday, I'd make it my party outing and it could be the best date show ever, because you'll know if you share the same sense of humour and discover if they've ever been arrested or like wearing handcuffs.

This review appears on AussieThearte.com

Photos courtesy of court artist A Alexander's new iPhone.

Review: Tango Femme

MIDSUMMA
Tango Femme
La Mama and Wishing Well Productions
18 January 2011
Carlton Courthouse
to 6 February
www.lamama.com.au

La Mama opened its Midsumma festival program with Tango Femme, a creation so full of heart and passion that's impossible to leave without adding a ball change or spin to your walk.

Helen has finally accepted her femme side and runs the Golden Apple dance studio where her same-sex group would love to win an upcoming competition, but they lack dancers and Helen's almost had enough of her students not being good enough.

Blended with gorgeous dance numbers that slap the face of convention and celebrate the intimacy, precision and skill of formal dance, the direction shines with stylised over-the-top scenes, but loses momentum in the more serious moments when the mixed experience of the cast is more obvious.

The strength of the script lies in its complex and recognisable characters who never resort to stereotype, even if two of them don't do much. There's a terrific story in there, but it gets lost in the discussions about it being OK to be butch or femme or ballroom dancing reflecting the patriarchy or lesbians like Gertrude Stein and kd Lang who like to wear trousers. Is there anyone at a Midsumma festival play at La Mama who needs convincing? It was far more interesting when the talk turned to more controversial issues like drag kings looking like 12-year-olds in backwards baseball caps.

For all it's celebration and heart, the script would benefit from more guts. Everyone is so nice that any conflict is quickly resolved with a discussion, an apology and a hug, leaving the story no where to go.  Drama fizzles without conflict. We want to see people make stupid choices, we want to take sides and cringe at the times we behaved like that. Leave being kind and understanding to real life; make everything as difficult as possible in our stories.

Tango Femme isn't quite Strictly Ballroom (which was an amazing NIDA-created play before it was a film), but it's two-stepping in the right direction.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com

Review: Don Parties On

Don Parties On

MTC 

13 January 2011

Playhouse, the Arts Centre

to 12 February 2011
www.mtc.com.au

David Williamson was my favourite playwright when I was 14 and I got an A+ for my Don's Party English essay. Suspecting that my teen taste may have been naive, I re-read the script and still recoiled with embarrassing recognition and nostalgia at the perfect snapshot of the generation who raised me. I love Don's Party. I'm not alone and 40-odd years later Williamson has given us Don Parties On.

I was a toddler when Don's Party was written; the same age as the offstage baby Richard. Discovering the play in 1980s Adelaide, I was far from 1970s Melbourne, but I knew Don and Kath and their guests. They were the young, university-educated middle-class generation who supported the left to rebel against their parents and felt entitled to their easy education and well-paid jobs. From their casual misogyny to the excitement of home made pizzas, this was the last generation we now call Baby Boomers and the generation whose free sex created gen X ... and in 2010 they still have friends over on election night.

Don (Garry McDonald) and Kath (Tracy Mann) are still together in their tastefully renovated house in Lower Plenty, Mal (Robert Grubb) and Jenny (Sue Jones) got divorced, Cooley (Frankie J Holden) is now a Liberal voter and married to newcomer Helen (Diane Craig), Mack is dead and there's name dropping of Evan, Kerry, Jody, Simon and Susan.

There are few surprises. They've all followed the path they were set on in 1969 and the biggest laughs came from Kath doing her PHD at Deakin (is anyone not tertiary educated in Melbourne weeing themselves?), the three men singing Creedence Clearwater Revival and the three women wanting to listen to Maxine McKew criticise the ALP when she lost her seat.

I still recognise these people, especially Jenny and her preaching to 42-year-old Richard and liberal Liberal Helen supporting Medicins Sans Frontiers and buying goats for Africa, but I don't believe them.  They have elements of people I know, but each is little more than a cliche.

But these are fictional people and "Don" tells his friends that his fictional accounts of them (he finally had a book published) were never meant to offend and that all writers borrow and exaggerate from life. If this is exaggeration, Williamson must know some very dull people. The 70s swinging stories didn't even make them interesting.

The perfectly chosen boomer cast all brought more to their characters than they were given, but the "young" ones were less successful. Playing a stereotype (even if it's written) gives an audience nothing to relate to. Instead of seeing ourselves and caring, we're left grateful that we are not like them.

Naturally I looked to Richard (Darren Gilshenan). He's 42 and thinks he's 30 (so do I), but behaves like a brat who needs his mummy to give him an overnight flu tablet to calm him down. The original offstage baby Richard was more authentic. He and his 30-year-old lover (Nikki Shiels) are poor caricatures of selfish people whose only purpose is to be laughed at. Which was ironic, as Jenny tells us how her generation feels such passion for their children.

Structurally the new party is a reflection of the old with enough exposition and self-references to excite my inner-14-year-old and make my 42-year-old self want to attack the script with a red pen. One chips and twisties joke was plenty and who cares about dentist Evan if he's not part of this story.

And as gen Y nightmare granddaughter Belle (Georgia Flood) screams, "Just because there's a vampire in the movie, doesn't make it a vampire movie", just because every ABC political celebrity and well known politician is mentioned doesn't make it a political play or a social reflection of our society.

The political satire was restricted to name dropping (including enough Nick Minchins to convince Nick Minchin that he's important) and comments about the faceless assigns of the ALP and the irrational fear of boat people. Combined with sound bites from the ABC's 2010 Election Night coverage, it felt like the kind of political lecture a new Australian should listen to in order to pass their are-you-bonza-enough-to-be-one-of-us test.

I just don't get it. I know we get more conservative and complacent in middle age, but we don't get dumber. I secretly hoped that Don Parties On would be David Williamson's finger to all of us who have scoffed at his post-Emerald City writing, but then I'm just a 42-year-old who recently asked her mum for a Panadeine Forte because she had a bad headache. And out of nostalgia, curiosity and a love of play written in the early 70s,  I would have gone to see it no matter what any review said.

Photo: Jeff Busby
This appears on AussieTheatre.com


The first review was this one on Crikey.
Arts Hub
Theatre Notes
The Age


Don's Party film trailer

Review: Not Quite Out of the Woods

Not Quite Out of the Woods: The Wharf Revue
MTC presents an STC production
7 January 2011
Sumner Theatre
to 29 January 2011
www.mtc.com.au

Three leftie boomers from Sydney

Best known for being on TV

Came down to Melbs with their revue

To laugh at our pollies, old and new.

One boomer made Pyne and Oakes tree puns

Two boomers laughed at Amanda V's bum

Three boomers scoffed at Don Watson

And they sang G and Sullivan...

Jonathon Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott and written and performed the popular Wharf Revue since 2000 and are widely known for their stage and TV show Three Men and A Baby Grand. Their theatre, opera and TV pedigrees are long enough to use 6 point font on the program and they have been joined by Amanda Bishop to play the girl parts.

If (unlike me) you can't sing along to The Mikado and quote Don Watson, don't remember Bill Hayden or watch QandA and Media Watch,  you'll miss the intricacies of the wit, but you won't miss the jokes.

As it should be, many giggles are about our newest Prime Minister. The one who looks like a woman. The one who isn't keen on a threesome with the three independents, who are in a bed together. The ranga who might not have red pubes. The one who humiliated Kevin07 because he was rolled by a sheila. The one without a willy. The amount of jokes about our PM's gender outweighed those about her politics. Imagine the uproar if Mrs Slocombe and her pussy had been made floor supervisor at Grace Brothers and you'll be on the same level. None of which makes Bishop's Gillard anything less than a highlight of the evening.

There are other women to lampoon and Amanda Vandstone and Julie Bishop are always deserving targets. I've thought it was because their politics and opinions reek of self-interest, lack empathy and fail to reflect the society they were elected to serve. Nup. We laugh at Julie because she has that weird eye thing and at Amanda because she's fat, and in Italy living "La Dolce Big Eater. Apparently she's also a racist bitch and refers to dagos and wops.

But it's not just unattractive righty women who get the boot. There's Michelle Grattan and her big glasses and Annabel Crabb with her big hair. If you don't read their political coverage and opinion, don't worry because you'll recognise them from the telly and that's all you need to laugh.

So many jokes were based on physical recognition and a political/social knowledge on par with a channel 10 news update. Bob H likes a tipple, Bob B likes a man date, Mark L is bitter, Sarah P is right wing,  Germans are still Nazis (lucky denial rhymes with Seig Heil), hippies and poofs like whales, and it's a cack to call the Japanese yellow bastards if it's in reference to whaling and sung to Gilbert and Sullivan.

Or am I just up on my high horse and siding with the humourless gen X gays, foreigners and feminists who take everything personally and wouldn't know a joke if it fell out of their Holiday Season cracker?

What I don't understand was who Not Quite Out of the Woods was speaking to. Surely it's more than wealthy baby boomers who support private education and arts funding and would never discuss politics or religion at a dinner party?  Political satire makes me cry with laughter when it laughs at me. The Don Watson's Party sketch hit the mark with jokes about the intelligentsia who still go to David Williamson plays, remember a time when the Labor party meant something to them and are stuck talking to themselves. It may be elitist humour, but at least it's laughing at people who buy theatre tickets instead of chicks, fats, gays and slanty-eyes.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com