Review: Lifetime Guarantee

Lifetime Guarantee
Theatre Works
10 February 2017
Theatre Works
to 26 February
theatreworks.org.au

Izabella Yena & Julian Dibley-Hall. Photo by Pier Carthew

My review in The Age/SMH.

With apologies for getting Mark Constable and Julian Dibley-Hall's names mixed up.

Appetite

MIAF 2008

Appetite  
Kage
24 October 2008
Fairfax Studio, The Arts Centre

The lesson I learnt from Appetite is: Never have a performer dry hump a whole roast suckling-pig while your protagonist is pouring out her heart and soul.

With an artistic pedigree including director Kate Denborough, writer Ross Mueller, performer Catherine McClements; a long development process; and the support of MIAF and the Arts Centre, I expected Appetite to be the kind of work that would take these Melbourne-based creatives to the world.

Fusing physical theatre/dance with drama and music, it’s about 39-year-old Louise, who is struggling with aging, realising she’s a middle class urban cliché and wondering what happened to her youthful aspirations. This should have spoken to me (and most of the assembled audience) and left me a blubbering mess of self-recognition, empathy and inspiration.

Instead, I thought that the Emperor, the Empress and all the assembled court were all starkers.

There were some beautiful and remarkable moments. Denborough’s captivating dance pieces were physically inventive and showed us everything we needed to know about the characters and their relationships. McClements has never failed to engage me on a stage, and her performance was the best it could be.  But the good bits just made the less-good bits seem even worse.

I thought Appetite was under-written, under-directed, and filled with middle-class clichés and one dimensional characters. Louise’s middle class existence has become so middle class that she has everything she could ever need – but having family, friends, material excess, and a husband-who-turns-down-her-hot-sister all suck in her mind. She wants her life to have meaning and “remember how to smile”. So she miserably wanders like a ghost around her party, as her mates get pissed and behave like teenagers on schoolies week.

We learnt nothing about her that we didn’t know from the first scene. Nothing surprised me, moved me or made me care.  As Mueller writes superbly about loss and discontent, I kept waiting for her to lose something. Instead, her wealthy, good-looking hubby declares that he loves her and that they will embark on a “life like we are falling in love every day”. I’m afraid that we were meant to believe this – however nothing on that stage made me believe that he loved her and their party behaviour indicated that they would wake up hung over, and conveniently forget their drunken late-night promises.

Appetite obviously embraces food and hunger as metaphor, but it seemed to be used more for its joke value than its symbolism. (And it is unfortunate that it is on the same week as flour and bread are used so perfectly in OKS’s Romeo and Juliet). Louise’s character climax revolves around two monologues that might have been the most incredibly written and life changing words every uttered - but I couldn’t hear them because the audience were too busy laughing at the physical action. I can see how this was an ironic comic counterpoint to her revelation, but all it did was distract. The distractions were fabulously funny and perfectly executed – but nothing can compete with simulated sex with a roasted whole pig.

If Appetite was satire, I think it would have struck a stronger chord. I searched the program notes for a hint that it was meant to be funny, but it’s about Louise being “inspired to change”. Perhaps I just didn’t see what inspired her.

This review appeared on AussieThearte.com

48 Hour Play Generator

48 Hour Play Generator
The Emerging Writers Festival
11 May 2008
BMW Edge, Federation Square

Take four emerging playwrights and four famous paintings. Leave them alone for 48 hours and see what happens. Welcome to the second 48-Hour Play Generator, the closing event of Melbourne’s Emerging Writer’s Festival

How do local playwrights get their work read, let alone developed and produced? A script can be brilliantly written, but it’s only half-alive if it isn’t performed and seen. The Melbourne Dramatists are a group of well-known, mid-career playwrights trying to address the problem.  Group members Ross Mueller, Adam Cass, Robert Reid, Melissa Bubnic and Amelia Roper cranked up the Generator.

Early career playwrights Tom Maclachlan, Fregmonto Stokes, Meg Courtney and Michele Lee were The Generator’s chosen fuel. On Friday, each was given a well-known painting as a stimulus. On Sunday, their newly written short plays were teamed with a director and three actors. On Sunday night, an audience gathered in the glass surrounds of the BMW Edge, eager to see the results. It really sounds like a writer’s nightmare. Who hasn’t had that dream where they are totally unprepared and about to be judged by an audience of their peers?

There cannot be any serious criticism of works written in such a short time. Completing the process alone is admirable. The fact that all created credible, interesting and engaging short plays proves how damn good these writers are.

It was fascinating to see works at such a raw, almost still-bleeding stage. Most chose very encompassing themes (God, religion and morality were popular), some let their characters have a personal rant, and most plot holes were filled with description and exposition – but each writer created something highly original without resorting to formula, cliché or stereotype. I’m sure that the hokey pokey of Not in this Town (Maclachlan), the taboo discussion of Every Spitting Angel (Stokes), the confession hearing cow of Gopastami (Courtney), and the haunting celler dwellers of Cellar Children (Lee) will all be developed by their writers into something new and wonderful.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Melburnalia

Melburnalia
White Whale Theatre
9 November 2007
fortyfivedownstairs

White Whale Theatre commissioned three of our best playwrights and two of our most outstanding new fiction writers to each write a short play about Melbourne. White Whale is independent, unfunded and with a creative core not even thinking about turning 30 for while. Why can’t our flagship companies think of (or support) such a brilliant and obvious idea as Melburnalia?

One of the many joys of this city is the subtle and obvious cultural differences between our suburbs. White Whale’s production explores this through ordinary lives. “Bohemians to bogans” – that’s our Melbourne. A couple of the works captured the essence of place perfectly, while others fell into stereotypes. But the journey was better than what you could do on a two zone daily Metlink ticket.

Tee O’Neil starts our trip with The Queen of Ringwood. If we don’t already know, it’s made clear that Ringwood is full of bogans. (That’s westies to anyone from NSW). They are bogans with ambition though. Gary wants to eat at the local Italian restaurant and pay, instead of doing a runner. Terry wants to eat in Italy. Engaging and original, but could have been any outer 'burb.

Many, many people are currently reading Kate Holden’s novel In My Skin: a Memoir. Waiting It Out is her first work for the stage. She portrays the feel of lost bohemian St Kilda beautifully. It was almost like having a cappuccino and spanikopita in The Galleon - before the new owners. However, what is irresistible in a novel, doesn’t always work on a stage. With some work on dialogue and creating action, I’m sure Holden will create some unforgettable theatre in the future. The charters and concept are there, but nothing seems to actually happen to them.

The Fag from Zagrab is Lally Katz’s contribution about Far Kew. She nails Kew. Jeremy couldn’t have be from Toorak or Camberwell or even mid Hawthorn. He is Kew – obnoxious, polite, demanding and unsure of what life is like a tram stop or two down the line. He dreams of being a guest on Rove and Jonathan Wood’s performance is the best of the evening. As this is a Katz work, the other character is The Apocalypse Bear (Gareth Yuen’s performance is also a delight). I wouldn’t be surprised if the end of the world does begin in Kew. It may be the least obvious piece of the night, but it’s the most balanced, the most interesting and would easily stand alone outside of its contex

From Kew to Footscary. There’s no direct and easy route by public transport and driving is annoying, unless you take Citylink. So Kew residents just go to Richmond for their Asian takeaway. However Alice Pung is clearly the writer to take us to Footscray. Her first novel, Unpolished Gem, is making many 2007 best seller lists. She doesn’t take us to the markets, train station or two dollar stores – but to the Footscray library. Gretchen, a Melbourne Uni arts student, comes to help Riah with her homework - so she can lean about a side of life she doesn’t know about. As with Holden, Pung needs to work on her dialogue and action, but she created authentic characters and let one of them make a decision.

Ross Mueller takes us to an inner city laneway for a latte in (Becoming) Greg Stone. Last week I reviewed a Mueller play and pretentiously wrote about pretentious references and bizarre self-referencing. Let me just say “ditto”. This time I had to Google Greg Stone. And yes I have seen him perform – but nothing in this play jogged my memory. This was also the one work that doesn’t reflect the essence of the area or the people who frequent it. Robyn is Windsor trying to be South Yarra. Natasha is Clifton Hill trying to be Fitzroy. Neither are inner city Melbourne. And Greg Stone, the waiter, would be serving coffee on High St – not on our beloved Degraves St. It is, nonetheless, very funny and original. It’s not Muller at his best, but I’ll keep seeing his works until I start loving them again.

I had very high expectations of Melburnalia and was a bit disappointed. The scripts feel like the stuff you write in writer’s class to impress your class mates with your wit. They all need another draft. The direction needs a much more varied pace and there’s a tendency to present the characters as types, rather than individuals. The cross overs are absolutely fabulous though.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters that my expectations weren’t met. This young company are producing original, inventive and intelligent theatre, and they have the support of our best writers. So let’s hope we see more and more of them.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com

(The Pilot Version of…) Something to Die For

(The Pilot Version of…) Something to Die For
Store Room Theatre Workshop
28 October 2007
The Store Room

“This is a risk”, declares The Author midway though (The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For. I am thrilled that the Store Room Theatre Workshop (SRTW) program gives its artists the opportunity and freedom to take these risks to explore and create original, complex and relevant theatre.
 
(The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For is written by SRTW associate artist Ross Mueller. It’s is a monologue by the playwright, who has written himself as the character – but it will always be performed by an actor. In this case David Tredinnick is playing Ross Mueller.

You can see this simply for Tredinnick’s superb performance, which is ably guided by director Aiden Fennessy. Tredinnick has a difficult script to work with, but continually keeps the audience personally engaged and fascinated. He demonstrates the difference between a good actor and someone who knows his craft so well that we can no longer see the work and the skill.

The structure of this work references David Hare’s Via Dolorosa. Don’t know it? Sir David himself performed it at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2004. Patrick Dickson presented the Australian premiere at the Festival of Contemporary Arts in Canberra in 2001. Missed it? Hare wrote The Blue Room (that play where our Nicole and then our Sigrid got their kit off) and Stuff Happens (that play about American politicians). What about his screenplays? Plenty (Meryl was in it) or The Hours (the one where our Nicole won the Oscar for having the big nose – and Meryl was in it). Come on – Sir David Hare. If you go to the theatre, you must know him.

If you know Hare, the premise of the work is Mueller meeting Hare at a workshop in London.

If you don’t and you’re wondering why on earth I’m raving on about David Hare, I’m guessing this is how you’d will feel watching (The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For.

It’s no secret that I love Ross Mueller’s writing. He understands theatre and why we keep going back. He writes personal, honest and heart moving works that resonate way beyond their intended audience. I reckon he’s as good as David Hare.

Very early in the piece, Mueller tells us that he believes that anyone who goes to the theatre is intelligent and that he’s openly prejudice towards the intelligent. Kind of makes you feel special and much more inclined to admire and laugh along with the jokes. I admit that I caught myself laughing at a reference I didn’t understand, because I didn’t want to appear ignorant. (Thanks to Google I now know about playwright Martin Crimp – and will read his work.)

I understood (The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For. I was intrigued and laughed out loud, because I know Via Dolorosa. I know it very well. I’ve read it, saw Dickson’s performance, Hare’s performance, heard Hare discuss it and even have a copy of Acting Up – Hare’s book about writing and performing it – which I’ve read.

I know this play isn’t really about David Hare or Ross Mueller. It sensitively, accurately and creatively deals with issues of depression and male identity. It delightfully and over-intelligently satirises and references its own form, theatre writing, Melbourne independent theatre and the playwright. The emotional core and structure of the work is so strong, but it is getting obscured by its own intelligence. It’s trying too hard to be clever, searching too hard for metaphors and trying so hard to connect with its audience that it may be pushing them away. The excellent writing is getting in the way of the story telling.

I’m afraid I have to quote myself here. This is what I wrote on this site about Mueller’s astonishing Construction of the Human Heart.

“Mueller does write for a very specific demographic. Mid-30s to early-40s / living in inner city Melbourne (preferably north) / over educated / know too much about theatre (please laugh at the “it’s David Hare, not Williamson” joke) / struggling with your own creative career while trying to earn an income / loath the concept of Ikea, but have too many Ikea items in your house / and have experienced the kind of love that leaves you empty and broken at its loss. Fortunately that is most people I know (except some of us live on the south side of the river). Construction of the Human Heart is written for now and written for us. In doing so, Mueller shows how honest, personal writing can connect with universal themes. Even if you don’t get every cultural reference and joke, the emotion of the work sustains it.”

My concern with his recent work The Ghost Writer (MTC 2007) was that Mueller was writing to such a broad audience that the work was losing the personal emotional resonances. My concern with (The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For is that he is writing to such a sub-section of his audience that it’s losing the universal emotional resonances.

If I had to review this review I’d say. “It is over wordy, far too long, needs a ruthless edit, loses itself in its own structure and seems so intent on proving the author’s own credibility, intelligence and knowledge that it forgets about its intent and its audience.” I guess I’m trying to create the same sense of frustration I felt with Mueller.

I enjoyed (The Pilot Version of….) Something to Die For and am sure it will grow and change from this season into an amazing work. However, in its current state I’m hesitant to recommend it.

This reveiw originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer
Melbourne Theatre Company
7 March 2007
Fairfax Studio, The Arts Centre

I think Ross Mueller is one of the best playwrights around. His structure is flawless, he creates characters and situations that we see in ourselves and our lives, and the emotion he creates resonates in the hearts of his audience. I was thrilled to see the Melbourne Theatre Company commission and present his latest work, The Ghost Writer. I just wish I wasn’t disappointed with the result.

The Ghost Writer had all the marks of a Mueller work. It explores the fictionalisation and sensationalising of other people’s tragedy’s and horrors. His familiar themes are all in place – the complexity of grief, pain and forgiveness, inner city living in Melbourne, writers trying to earn a living and the unimaginable death of a child.

Nonetheless, The Ghost Writer didn’t seem like an authentic Mueller. It felt like there was almost too much effort in the writing. The structure was a bit too perfect and contrived.

Act 2 was especially frustrating. Everyone I spoke to during the interval was predicting the ending and hoping that we were wrong. We weren’t wrong and were given the final clues at the opening of Act 2. There were no surprises. Everything had already been neatly revealed or blatantly stated. The mystery, tension and pace developed in Act 1 were gone.

And, at the end of the day, I wasn’t feeling for these characters. Mueller has written some of the most heartfelt and authentic characters I’ve seen. Everyone in The Ghost Writer was well drawn and delightfully flawed, but they were a step away from believable.

Is this because he is writing for the MTC audience? The MTC audience is not the same audience who goes to independent theatre. They may love this work. It is easy to understand, the overt and latent ghost symbolism is obvious, the story is a bit like that well known Jaiden Leskie murder and it has, the ever lovely and wonderful, John Wood (whose performance is memorable and beautiful.)

The Ghost Writer allows many people get to see Mueller’s work. This is a very good thing. The MTC supporting and commissioning local playwrights is bloody marvellous. I just wish this work was as brave, original and focussed as some of his past works. (Construction of the Human Heart remains my favourite piece of recent theatre.) And I hope that he isn’t alienating his original audience by creating work for this new audience.

This review originally appeared on AussieThearte.com.

Construction of the Human Heart

Construction of the Human Heart
Malthouse Theatre
Melbourne Writers Festival
August 17 2006
Tower Theatre, CUB Malthouse

A white box, two chairs, two actors and a courageous script create some of the most evocative and beautiful images I have seen in a theatre. Construction of the Human Heart proves the exceptional quality and originality that emanates from Melbourne’s independent theatre artists.

Under the direction of Brett Adam, every element of this production reflects an understanding and ownership of the text. The artists used a positive collaborative process to create. The result is moving, intimate, confronting, honest and emotionally engaging.

Playwright Ross Mueller wrote in his programme notes that Construction of the Human Heart is:

“For all of us who want to sit in the dark with other people and experience something that cannot be replicated beyond this night. I wanted to tell a story that could only be told in the theatre.”

This is a production for people who love and understand theatre. It would not work in any other medium. It demonstrates how to use, twist and break every rule about form and structure.

Mueller does write for a very specific demographic. Mid 30s to early 40s / living in inner city Melbourne (preferably north) / over educated / know too much about theatre (please laugh at the “it’s David Hare, not Williamson” joke) / struggling with your own creative career while trying to earn an income / loath the concept of IKEA, but have too many Ikea items in your house / and have experienced the kind of love that leaves you empty and broken at its loss.

Fortunately that is most people I know (except some of us live on the south side of the river). Construction of the Human Heart is written for now and written for us. In doing so, Mueller shows how honest, personal writing can connect with universal themes. Even if you don’t get every cultural reference and joke, the emotion of the work sustains it.

Fiona Macleod (as Her) and Todd MacDonald (as Him) deliver two of the most honest and real performances I have seen on a stage. Neither dominated and both gave more to the other actor than they took for themselves. I wanted to see this production having seen them perform Jane Bodie’s Ride. Playwrights like Mueller and Bodie, please keep writing for these two.

Ron Irwin’s lighting design accentuates the text, empowers the performances and creates mood using nothing but light and dark - no colours, no specials. Construction of the Human Heart is all about the greys between our black and whites. The joy of this production is the integration of every element, so Casey Bennetto’s sound design (and voice over) must also be mentioned.

Thank you to the Malthouse’s Tower Theatre Program and the Melbourne Writers’ Festival for enabling independent work like this to be re-staged and seen by a wider audience. This was originally produced in the INSTORAGE season at The Store Room, so keep an eye the next season. If, like me, you missed the first production of Construction of the Human Heart, do not miss it this time around.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.