The lost reviews: Seven Stories, The Heretic and Everynight Everynight

Some reviews fell into a black hole a few weeks ago. (Dull tale: sick ...)

But here are some quickies and links to some far-superior discussions.

Seven Stories
Written and performed by Vyom Sharma
11 May
Chapel off Chapel
sevenstorieslive.com

Seven Stories leaves you believing in the magic of story.

Vyom Sharma is a magician. I don't know how he does is it and I've watched Breaking the Magicians Code on the telly. His sleight of hand and misdirection create genuine gasps of amazement, but he real magic is in his story telling.

Rejecting the sparklie jackets and ridiculous assistants of old school tricksters, Vyom's revelation is an intimate night of tales from his life and tellings of some that he never forgot. Each is connected to an impressive trick, but director Celeste Cody (Attic Erratic) ensures that the magic is enhanced by the way it's told and musican (Stephanie Spiers) develops the atmosphere and acts as a savvy help when needed.

Celeste has also directed Vyom in a  A Modern Deception (I finally go to see the trick I missed) and together they are re-creating stage magic and letting us see why it deception is so popular.

There were only four performances of Seven Stories at Chapel off Chapel, but it'll be back. It's a show that's still developing (I'd like to see Stephanie have a more active role) and it might pop up in the Fringe.


The Heretic
MTC
17 May
Sumner Theatre
mtc.com.au
to 17 June

MTC gives us another play about a middle aged academic who has problems with her gen Y offspring. This one has bonus with jokes about climate change politics because we don't want subscribers to think that all artists are lefty hippies.

Surely Mel Gibson is enough to prove the diversity.

The best thing about it was the wonderful Noni Hazlehurst. Watching Noni on stage is worth a dreary script. She's knows that the truth of a believable performance is all about those 'no-line' parts of the scene that show you react to those around you. Think about life. Do we judge people by what they say or by how they react to what we say?

Having a BA and having worked in the arts faculty of a couple of our big unis, I got the act 1 academic references and even had a giggle at the in-joke reality about how unis are changing.  If you love a staff-room-ready anecdote about Earth Science being the new Media Studies, which was the new Psychology, which was the new Sociology, you'll understand where the writer comes from. But jokes for those in the know do little for the story or make us care for the people in it.

Act 2 has a lot more action, but couldn't decide if it was a tense thriller or a luxury living room comedy. And there was a riveting scene of watching people look at computers.

For a much better read, here are Alison's and Richard's discussions.

Everynight Everynight
Frank Theatre Company
9 May
Gasworks

In 1978 Ray Mooney wrote about his experiences of the institutionalised violence Pentridge Prison. It's not one to see if you live in Pentridge today – the prison is now a posh housing estate – as you'll never sleep peacefully again.

With a terrific cast, and as a piece of our theatre and our social history, Everynight, Everynight was fascinating – and has more "cunts" than the comedy festival – but as a piece of contemporary storytelling, I felt distanced and kept tripping up on the script's inconsistencies and searching for something to help me understand the bigger picture.

But Mooney wasn't writing a piece of arty contemporary theatre; he was doing what he could to share the hell that he lived though.

Best discussion I read about it was Cameron's

Review: Madagascar

Madagascar
Melbourne Theatre Company
17 February 2010
Fairfax Studio, the Arts Centre

This week the MTC announced that they have 20,000 subscribers. That’s ten full State Theatres, around 500 over-full La Mamas or nearly one quarter of a full MCG.

There’s always whinging about the MTC in foyers of independent theatres, on the blogosphere (I’ve done it myself) and in mainstream media, but 20,000 Melbourneites have chosen – and paid in advance – to see multiple shows by this company, so why should they care what a few disparate voices say.

I missed their first shows of the year, but season extensions tend to indicate that paying audiences enjoyed them and Madagascar will continue to keep the subscribers and their dinner party friends happy, and not just because it has a middle-aged academic, addresses the relationships between adult children and parents and explores the I-have possessions-but-what-have-I-done-with-my-life questions that face us as we start counting our years.

J.T. Rogers is an American playwright who doesn’t like American playwrights who write American stories, so he writes American stories about Americans out of America - that are still so American that no production can skip the accents. He writes a fine play though.

It’s so fine that the writing almost takes precedence over the story. The tale of a missing man and the impact of his disappearance on three people would sustain any telling. This telling is three monologues from different times that cross over and support each other. It’s intricate and detailed writing, but so good that it keeps drawing attention to itself and doesn’t give the story a chance to fly and, I suspect quite consciously, creates a distance with obvious imagery that forces the audience to keep looking for the patterns rather than lose themselves in the emotion of the story.

But, director Sam Strong and his cast (Noni Hazlehurst, Nicholas Bell and Asher Keddie whose performances are simply the best you will see) let the characters escape the tight control of the writer and create the emotional empathy that leaves audience caring and loving the characters more than their creator seemed to.

A creative team that create more than the writer ever imagined is the bliss of good theatre and I hope what all great writers (like Rogers) hope for when they bring new worlds into being.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Grace

Grace
Melbourne Theatre Company
7 January 2009
Fairfax Studio, the Arts Centre

MTC’s 2009 season starts with Grace, a comprehensive debate about religion, belief, faith and love. It’s another play about middle aged academics in crisis, but no one can ever say that this company don’t target their core audience.

Originally performed as On Religion, Grace was developed in the UK by Mick Gordon’s company On Theatre. Gordon calls his works ‘theatre essays’. Each is a group-devised piece exploring a specific issue through a dramatic narrative, with works including On Death, On Ego and On Emotion. He co-wrote On Religion with English Philosopher A C Grayling.

Grayling is not a believer and his views sit firmly in protagonist Grace. Gordon’s views are more encompassing with each member of Grace’s family having specific and changing perspectives about religion. Questions arise when Grace’s son plans to become an Anglican priest and everyone is forced to confront their core beliefs when tragedy strikes.

Gordon says, “The theatre demands argument and balance. It’s no good at didacticism. In my experience, an audience will just not accept it.” The script reflects this with a fascinating range of well researched, contemporary and authentic arguments. And this is where the problem sits.

It’s a very well written work, but it feels too much like a philosophy student’s honours thesis. You certainly leave the theatre discussing and questioning the arguments put forward, but not talking about the characters and the world just seen. There was chat about what Noni (Hazlehurst) did and what Brian (Lipson) said rather than what Grace and Tom went though. I spent the rest of the evening discussing whether a practicing Anglican can reject a literal belief in Jesus or the concept of Christ. It’s great coffee talk, but it was academic; it wasn’t an emotional discussion about what I would do in a similar situation or dilemma.

It felt like the story was forced upon the ideas and the characters were developed from arguments and points of view. This may well be the aim of Gordon’s work, but it left his characters lacking in complexity and making decisions that were consistent with the argument, rather than the character.

Nonetheless, director Marion Potts breaks down most of the rhetoric and tells the story with warmth and passion. The most moving moments occurred when there was no dialogue and the characters were able to show us what they were really feeling. Hazlehurst is especially stunning when she reacts to a very long monologue at a grave side.

The casting is perfect. Hazlehurst and Lipson are joined by Grant Cartwright and Leah Vandenberg and each brings a complexity and emotional life to their character that isn’t evident in the writing.

Adam Gardnir is on his way to being one of the must have designers in the country and Grace is his first main stage design for the MTC. The design initially seems quite obvious and practical, but as the story unfolds, it shows its suggestiveness, and ultimately reveals its symbolism and complexity.

Grace is well worth seeing for the calibre of the creative team. Its writing is sure to encourage many discussions, but would be so much more powerful if it could break free from its own restraints and create a world not so strictly governed by text book debate.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.