What Melbourne loved in 2013, part 7

Today's favourites are from playwright and play maker, Rob Reid, director Daniel Lammin and director Shannon Woollard.

And remember that contributions are welcome from all SM readers.

Robert Reid
playwright, director, play maker; artistic director, Pop Up Playground

Photo by Sarah Walker

ROB: Kids Killing Kids. Totally awesome show, amazing energy, incredibly entertaining for a work that was fundamentally a power point presentation, lecture and a dance number.  But how do you pass up a show that was condemned on the floor of the UN.

SM: I'm not sure when Rob has time to breathe. He's just finished a week where he was directing a play reading (Yours the Face by Fleur Kilpatrick for the VCA's Master of Writing for Performance), had a new work premiering at 5Pounds of Repertory (Because of Reasons), a recent work (The Well) re-mounted at La Mama, and was playing his guts out at This is Door 13 at Theatre Works. I managed three out of the four, but I saw the first season of The Well. He's created and co-created more shows and events in 2013 than a lot of people have seen in 2013.

But my favourite moment was a tweet saying that he'd created a Valkyrie game for me. I consider this my achievement of the year.

And see what Rob's looking forward to in 2014 at issimo.com. 

Daniel Lammin
director, writer

DANIEL: There have been a few highlights for me this year, some expected and some a complete surprise. But the biggest highlight?

A few honourable mentions would be Matt Lutton’s double-punch with Dance of Death and The Bloody Chamber, both which left me giddy with joy.

Daniel Schlusser also hit it out of the ballpark with Menagerie and M+M.

I was prepared to despise Simon Stone’s The Cherry Orchard, but absolutely adored it.

Bagabus delivered the gorgeous Bushpig, a beautiful little fable with cracking writing and a tremendous performance.

And then there was the sublime impossibility of Einstein on the Beach, which might be one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in a theatre and probably ever will.

But if I have to pick the highlight, it's MKA’s Kids Killing Kids. Not long into it, I began to feel sick to my stomach in the best possible way. There had always been, in the back of my mind, this worry that we artists don’t really think about the consequences of what we do, and often get away with so much because it is ‘art’.

What David Finnigan, Sam Burns-Warr, Georgie McAuley and Jordon Prosser dared to share with us was an extreme experience of where that danger is magnified to unexpected proportions, but all four had the maturity to leave it to us to decide whether they did the right or wrong thing. No work I’ve seen has made me question my intentions and ethics as a theatre maker as much as this show.

I left it shaking, dizzy, crying and distressed; terrified to dare walk into a rehearsal room again, and questioning every decision I’d ever made as a writer and a director.

And I was so incredibly thankful for that.

Part of me worries that a lot of those questions were lost on a lot of people hypnotised by how ‘cool’ the show was or how exhilarating their production of Batallia Royale sounded, but I think the questions it poses and the discussion it has instigated made it exactly the kind of show we needed to see, for our practice and our conscience.

There was something deeply unsettling behind the eyes of these four young artists, a need to tell this story in order to understand it better for themselves. It might not have been technically impressive with opulent set design and ridiculous costumes, but Kids Killing Kids is probably the most important piece of theatre of this past year.

And then there was the Febreze bottle in Summertime in the Garden of Eden. Give that thing a Green Room Award.

And see what Daniel is most looking forward to in 2014 at issimomag.com.

SM: Maybe we could redesign the actual Green Room Award to be a Febreze bottle? 

My moment of Daniel's this year is his Columbine: every moment of it, from the early Facebook updates to being there and knowing that every seat was sold. As it was being created, I wondered why he was telling a story that's distanced from his own. He showed me why.

Shannon Woollard

director

SHANNON: After all the slog, tears and triumphs associated with production of Jazz Angel, it was – unequivocally – Steve Gome's mesmerising turn in Dario Fo's Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas at Trades Hall in October.  Seeing this done properly (a labour of love for Gome and director Wayne Pearn) was very moving for me.  

One of the first "adult" plays I was permitted to see was Cant Pay? Won't Pay! in London at the age of 13. That crazy genius Fo entered my psyche and could not be removed thenceforward. Seeing Johan Padan was worth enduring those tedious, frustrating and disappointing theatrical experiences. Having a lone actor take me on a two-hour expedition into this incredibly humanistic work reminded me that history is about perspectives and that theatre, or more accurately, storytelling, is actually a form of nourishment. I also felt deeply sympathetic and incredibly pissed off when I found out about the poor attendance figures in the first part of their run.  The show deserved to be sold out.

Shannon's annual PlaySix festival opens on 12 December. Details here. 

SM: Jazz Angel was in in the upstairs theatre at The Athenaeum. It was like being in the 1920s. This is a space that should be used more.

(OK, my real favourite moment was when I was feeding a cat called Artie while his parents were on holidays. Not having seen Artie for a couple of days, I was panicking. Then on day three of the disappearance, I saw him. He glared at me and ran off, but I knew I hadn't lost him.)

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Part 6
Part 8
Part 9
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Part 11
Part 12
Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

2012 part 1, with links to the rest

Review: Jazz Angel

Jazz Angel
Birnam Wood Theatre, akAA Productions
7 August
The Athenaeum
to 18 August
Facebook

F Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway met in Paris in the 1920s and hung with the, newly-named, lost generation gang of artists that so many artists wish they could have hung out with (even before Woody Allen made Midnight in Paris). Amedeo Astorino's Jazz Angel starts with the known facts about Fitzgerald and Hemingway's friendship, between their meeting in 1925 and Pappa H's death in 1961, and imagines their conversations.

I don't know if Fitzgerald gave Hemingway a completed draft of what was published as The Great Gatsby in a Montmartre cafe after a few drinks but it makes a great story. There was a lot of drinking in the fictional and real stories and lives of these men and Jazz Angel is fuelled by alcohol and the conficting passions and impotences of both men.

Lliam Amor (Hemingway) and Justin Hosking (Fitzgerald) breath convincing life into the men who we know best through their writing. We have photos, newspaper gossip, many letters and bios but the legend of these writers has been created by their never-out-of-print writing.

"All you need to do is write truly and not care about what the fate of it is." Hemingway wrote this to Fitzgerald in 1934 after the publication of Fitzerald's Tender is the Night. Hemingway didn't care much for the novel and seemed to want to convince his friend to stop worrying about readers and to write from his heart. It's written by a man who knows the other almost too well and has the freedom to be honest.

Under Shannon Woollard's direction, both actors start with the men imagined from their work and try to break through the masks to find the honesty and truth of their relationship and its deterioration. It's a tough ask, as both were intimidated by the other's skill and in a different situation, they may never have chosen to be friends.

Astorino is obviously a huge fan of both writers, but what makes it far more than a fan fiction bio is LuLu, a woman who appears at each meeting. It's up to the audience to decide who or what she really is, but she's the heart of the piece and Katharine Innes plays her with a lightness and strength that often makes her far more interesting than the men who woo her. Perhaps it's because she's allowed to be herself, without any shadow of greatness holding her back.

Not having read Fitzgerald and Hemingway won't hurt an understanding of Jazz Angel, but a lot of it assumes that the audience know as much as the creators. We're endlessly fascinated by the private lives of artists and this glimpse into their world is fascinating for fans and will surely encourage those who haven't read them to do so. (I now want to read the Sons of Maxwell Perkins, letters between editor Perkins and Fitzgerald/Hemingway.)

And, the bonus treat is that Jazz Angel is on in the upstairs theatre of Melbourne's gorgeous Athenaeum. The building was already old in the 1920s, but it's easy to imagine Melbourne's literarti meeting in the library and moving to the plush meeting rooms for a snifter and discussion about the new books by those Americans.

This was also on AussieTheatre.com.

Chat: Bridgette Burton, PlaySix

PlaySix
Williamstown Little Theatre
13–15 December 2012

Bridgette Burton has been writing for theatre since the early 1990s and formed Baggage Productions with Christina Costigan in 1999, a company dedicated to original work for women. She won the R E Ross Trust Playwrights Script Development Award in 2005 (Killing Jeremy) and again in 2009 (Rhonda is in Therapy) and in was awarded a grant by The Malcolm Robertson Trust in 2012 to develop her new work Fury.  Bridgette has been involved with PlaySix every year and is very happy to be back again in 2012.

The PlaySix annual short play festival was founded in 2006 to provide exposure to the work of emerging and established playwrights and to act as a networking forum for Melbourne actors and directors. Directed by Shannon Woollard, the seventh festival takes place 13–15 December at the Williamstown Little Theatre.

What six words best describe your PlaySix play?
Satirical, political, absurd, humourous, topical and short.

What six words best describe the play you’re directing?
All of the above (I’m directing my own play) .

What makes a good short play?
A good idea, well told in the time permitted. Basically the same things that make a long play good, but shorter.

What’s something else that’s good when it’s short?
A trip to the dentist.

What’s something that should never be short?
A basketball player.

Apart from the PlaySix, what other short-play festivals have you been involved in?
Short and Sweet, Melbourne Writers Theatre: Melborn, Boxashorts, Bite-Size, Crashtest Drama.

Quickly, convince northsiders/southsiders to head west to Wiliamstown?
Come for the theatre, stay for the ocean side views.

What else should people do while they’re in Williamstown?
Steal a pelican.

Write a Tweet for me to share about PlaySix.
Playsix – six short plays about clever short things.

If you could invite anyone to see this show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Julia Gillard, she’d get a kick out of seeing herself on stage, I’m sure

What is the best directing advice you’ve received?
Cast your play well, and the rest will follow.

As a director, what advice do you give to actors?
Do everything. Write, direct, act and produce – what we need in Australia is people that can do it all and that are motivated.

What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
A Kind of Fairy Tale, Joyce.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Chat: Melissa Fergusson, PlaySix

PlaySix
Williamstown Little Theatre
13–15 December 2012


The PlaySix annual short play festival was founded in 2006 to provide exposure to the work of emerging and established playwrights and to act as a networking forum for Melbourne actors and directors. Directed by Shannon Woollard, the seventh festival takes place 13–15 December at the Williamstown Little Theatre.

Melissa Fergusson is the Creative Director and founder of the New Zealandbased company charlatan clinic, and is directing The Death of Caesar by Alex Broun for PlaySix.

What six words best describe your PlaySix play?
Honest, tender, poignant, raw, dark, confronting

What makes a good short play?
Succinct storytelling.

What’s something else that’s good when it’s short?
Coffee, short black.

What’s something that should never be short?
Holidays.

Apart from the PlaySix, what other short-play festivals have you been involved in?
Short + Sweet, Auckland.

What else should people do while they’re in Williamstown?
Check out the many historic homes in Williamstown, including one that was used for the police station set for Blue Heelers.

Write a Tweet about PlaySix.
Amazing theatre performing in Williamstown, PlaySix on Dec 13–15, 8pm. Innovative theatre at a small price! See you there!

If you could invite anyone to see this show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Alex Broun, playwright

What is the best directing advice you’ve received?
It’s all about the work, not about the ego.

As a director, what advice do you give to actors?
Trust the process.

What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom.

What play would you love to direct?
Betrayal by Harold Pinter.

What work changed how you make theatre? Why?
The Shape of Things by Neil Labute. This play explores love and what we are willing to risk, to have it all.  The work is provocative and captures the vulnerabilities of love.

What’s the first piece of theatre you remember seeing?
The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde.

What director/actor/writer/creator would you just die to work with?
Cate Blanchett.

What would you like to get this gift-giving season?
MacBook please Santa.

What would you like to give this gift-giving season?
To make clean water accessible to the developing world (over 1 billion people).

This was on AussieTheatre.com

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 5

Today it's Miles O'Neil, Stephen Nicolazzo and Shannon Woollard.

Stephen says how his experiences in 2012 "have changed me and allowed me to find a platform to express myself without censorship or fear".

The artists who break through the fear and trust that their unique voice is the only way to tell their story are the ones who keep appearing in favourite moments. So, on 12/12/12, let's declare our creative mantra for 2013: "Without censorship or fear".

Miles O'Neil
performer, singer, story teller

photo by Telia Nevile

MILES: My favourite theatre experience was The Last Tuesday Society's Pimp My Play-A Streetcar Named Desire, some night in September at the Melbourne Fringe Hub. It was a beautifully run night full of wonderful performers trying things. I always love a Black Lung short piece, and a dance from Gabi Barton and Vachel Spirason. Finish it off with a conga line from Lessons with Luis and the sweet voice of Simone Page Jones and get Bron Batten serve it up with a bit of cream and a cherry on it and you've got my theatre sweet treat of 2012.

SM: Miles, Jof and Glen left me hurting in The Suitcase Royale's Zombatland with its giant zombie wombats and pineapple doughnuts, but my moment is my ongoing meeting with Miles and Simone Page Jones in my car. In November, Miles and Simone released the most fucking gorgeous album: Home in Your Heart. Its ten original songs are melancholic but filled with hope and a love that's so close you can touch it with your fingertips. Each song draws you into its story and world, and the rather exquisite recording sounds like they're sitting next to and singing just for you. You can listen to three tracks here, then buy it  here.

photo by Pierre Baroni 

Stephen Nicolazzo

director

STEPHEN: Summertime in the Garden of Eden was the only theatrical experience of the year that inspired me to carry on as an artist and engage. Sisters Grimm are a unique force and, though I am biased, I feel that their work is intelligently crafted, razor sharp and odious in a way that not much theatre in Australia has been for many years. Having said that, my personal aesthetic and interest is completely present in their work, so it is a matter of taste and appreciation that influences my decision here.

I also loved Matt Lutton's production The Misconception of Oedipus and The Rabble's showing of The Picture of Dorian Gray at Theatre Works. Both of these pieces dissected the literary in such a magical theatrical way that I couldn't help but wonder how on earth the creatives involved had orchestrated these events.

This year was also a really big year for me as I had returned to Melbourne after many years living in Sydney and finally got a chance to produce the work I have always wanted to make.

MKA'S sex.violence.blood.gore and now Psycho Beach Party have changed me and allowed me to find a platform to express myself without censorship or fear.

I also concur on the praise for Sarah Walker's photography this year. She really has captured the diversity and brevity of theatre in Melbourne unlike any other and hopefully will continue to document the contemporary history of our new theatre makers for years to come. I love her so much I flew her up to Sydney to shoot photos for Psycho Beach Party. I recommend every one to do this.

SM: sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore   sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore   sex.violence.blood.gore

Loved it to pieces and then more.

If you're in Sydney, there's a few more chances to see Stephen's Psycho Beach Party. It's at the Bondi Pavillion and features leopard print and Ash Flanders. Details here. The only reason I'm not upset that it's on in Sydney, is that we get it in January at Theatre Works.

Shannon Woollard

actor, director

SHANNON: While it didn't quite enter the realm of perfection, I thought that Bridgette Burton's Rhonda is in Therapy (Baggage/Hoy Polloy at fortyfivedownstairs) came pretty close. My fave theatre moment this year would have to be watching Kelly Nash and Louise Crawford nail a critical scene. It's one of those scenes where you're not completely sure if someone is actually real. Genuine disconsolation floats – like a troublesome but intriguing ghost – right in front of you. Sometimes you read a script (I was pretty familiar with this one before I saw the show) and something evokes a very specific dramatic idea or mechanism. I saw that mechanism perfectly translated by director Wayne Pearn and the actors in this production.

SM: Last week I saw Shannon in Death of a Comedian at La Mama and loved being taken into the insecure backstage world of stand up comedians, but I think my favourite moment will be this weekend when I head to Williamstown for PlaySix, the annual short-play mini-festival he directs. Details here. And I'll get to hang out at the super-cute Willamstown Theatre where they sell packets of lollies and have old-school brocade-covered seats.

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Chat: Shannon Woollard, La Mama

Death of a Comedian
La Mama, Carlton Courthouse
28 November 9 December 2012

Melbourne actor and director Shannon Woollard performs in Death of a Comedian by Fred Rowan that opens at the La Mama Courthouse tonight. A battered survivor of 80s Aussie comedy is ready to take on audiences again, but this time it’s really a game of survival.

What three words best describe your show? 
A sad and bitter farce.  A bittersweet farce sounds better.  Hang on, it isn’t quite a farce.  Bloody hell…

Do you remember the first show you saw at La Mama?
Yes.  It was directed by David Branson(1999?).  I don’t remember what it was called, but it had very low lighting and there was a violin.

What is one of your favourite shows you’ve seen at La Mama?
Random Acts by Anna Lall in 2007.  Directed by (our director) Bruce Langdon.  Ian Rooney as a blind restaurant critic, one of the best things he’s ever done.

What La Mama show do you wish you’d seen? 
Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country last year.

What do you love about working at La Mama? 
The Courthouse space.  The ambience lends itself well to certain kinds of material.  The House Managers are also very helpful.

What do you love most about this show? 
The astonishing, almost pathetic sadness of the characters.  Plenty of irony there, of course.

Where is the best coffee in Carlton? 
My partner (who works at Cinema Nova) says Carlton Espresso.  Caffeine and I don’t get on very well these days, which is a little annoying, because I have always liked coffee.

Who would you love to see in your audience one night? 
My high school drama teacher, Janet Shaw.

Is there anyone you don’t want to see in the audience? 
No.  Not ever.

What do you like to do after a performance? 
If it’s a big show, I like to have a quick shower.  Then drink a cold lager with my colleagues.

What was your first time on a stage?
In my mother’s belly, during an amateur show in 1969.  Post-natal:  the annual high school musical in 1983.  But my first proper public appearance was in a production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Canberra Philharmonic Society) in 1984.  I was an office boy.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
The night before a season opens, I sing "Consider Me Gone" (by Sting) in the shower.  I’ve been doing this for 20 years now and I cannot remember why.

What’s some great theatre advice you’ve used?
Stand still.

What punishment do you think is fit for audience members who don’t turn their phones off during performances?
Summary execution.

What’s your favourite gelati flavour? 
Licorice.  Is that a gelati flavour?  It should be.

What role/character do you really want to play one day?
I really wanted – and once almost played – Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest.  From what I was later told, the director had basically cast the show with me in that role, but had some sort of existential crisis and proceeded to re-cast the entire thing.  A very sad story.  I’d love to play Billy Flynn in Chicago.  Henry V?

Matinees: love or loathe?
Whatever is required.

Do you read reviews?
Occasionally.  Dramatic criticism is a wild and woolly beast.  I don’t believe that you can make a proper assessment of a production unless you have a basic grasp of the intention of the text.  It’s a pretty hard job.  I’d say about 60% of reviews are pretty useless in terms of giving some insight into or useful information regarding the production itself.  Stylistic preference can corrupt in a very major fashion.

Do you know of any secret parking spots near the theatres (although it’s such a short walk from the Melbourne uni tram stop on Swanston Street, so driving isn’t necessary)? 
Abandon all hope.  There is no such thing.  Catch a tram, you bastards!

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
The Ninth by Harvey Sachs.  It’s about the social and political context within which Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was written.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Review: The Subconscious Cometh

The Subconscious Cometh

Baggage Productions

21 June 2011

Trades Hall

to 25 June
www.baggageproductions.com

One of my biggest fears is finding out what my subconscious is really up to and Baggage Productions have a whole night of short plays and monologues that bring these fears (and some bonus phobias) to gorgeous, thought-provoking life.

Bridgette Burton and Christina Costigan formed Baggage in 2000 because they were sick of there not being enough decent roles for women. This is still one of the most ridiculous ironies about thearte and performance and thank the goddesses that companies like this address it.

The Subconscious Cometh is a collaborative piece with works by Costigan and Burton, directed by Burton, Steve Gome, Wayne Pearn and Shannon Woollard, and performed by Costigan, Tiffany Davis, James Deeth, Kelly Nash and Dan Walls. Working together, this talented team have created a themed and cohesive night that is more than few steps above other recent short play seasons.    

Highlights include Spirit Guy (Burton, Woollard, Deeth and Walls) that asks if watching your ex with their new naked beau is considered stalking if you're a ghost, The Changeling monologue (Costigan, Pearn, Walls) that delicately looks at the impact of mental illness on the father of a suffer, the highly original scene changes and a hilariously unforgettable ending.

Neither writer is afraid to tackle subjects that are close to them and, combined with their terrific understanding of drama and structure, they create a warm and close empathy with their audience. And they love the characters they create. What might take their writing to a new level is to hold onto that love, but to let even worse things happen to their characters. Up the stakes even higher to make your audience fear for the well being and safety of the people they too now love and the resolutions will be even stronger.

Independent theatre like this is created from the hearts of the people making it. It's not perfect, but it's this kind of experimentation and the opportunity for creators to get themselves and their work seen by an audience that creates artists that we want to see again and again.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Constance Yorkshire

Constance Yorkshire
Eagle’s Nest Theatre
23 May 2009
Northcote Town Hall

In a week where even I actively watched an A Current Affair interview (thank you Tracy Grimshaw), a work like Constance Yorkshire is a curious reflection of our obsession with watching crims, freaks and bogans and hearing their side of the story.

Local playwright Graham Downey has set his story in an 1890 Melbourne theatre, where entrepreneur Mr George Risley (Phil Roberts) is presenting an evening in conversation with Miss Constance Yorkshire (Jess Hackett), recently acquitted of murdering the Lamb family. As interviewer and narrator, Riseley mixes questions with exposition to tell Miss Yorkshire’s tale. With her (recently deceased) father’s unstable four-storey house, her dad’s quirky inventions, a nail in Mr Lamb’s head and an unescapable fire, there’s plenty to wonder about.

The whodunit mystery of the evening is played well with an Agatha Christie deduction style of clues. However, it’s clear that Risley knows the truth and is going to tell us, which takes away one of the cornerstones of great mystery story telling. The best mysteries are a three-way race between the audience (reader/viewer), the protagonist and the writer to reveal the truth. A red herring, a credible alternative theory or reasonable doubt about Risley might help to keep the narrative moving forward and the audience on the edge of their seats.

However, the heart of this story is the parallel mystery of why Risley is presenting Miss Yorkshire. Is he doing it to prove the court wrong, expose the true culprit or cash in on Yorkshire’s celebrity? As he knows the truth of the deaths, we wonder if it’s really about Charlotte, and, as she is consistently indignant, argumentative and stubborn (she reminds me of Shane Paxton), we really have to wonder why.

Unfortunately, this part of the story isn’t clear until the end and, by then, it feels a bit too deus ex machina-convenient. With a script that is so dialogue and exposition heavy, the characters need to tell and show us their story – not expecting us to listen to all of the words. So, if Risley’s motives are in then text, it’s too easy to miss them, which leaves the performers and directors (Roberts co-directed the work with Shannon Woollard) with a world of subtext to play with. There was a noticeable and well-directed change of status between Risley and Yorkshire that helped to tweak our curiosity, but not enough of the subtle status and power shifts to make us really begin to question what was going on.

The relationship between George and Charlotte needs to be the core of the story, leaving the mystery as the subplot and comic diversion of the evening. Roberts is a compelling performer, but sometimes needed to be a detached narrator by stepping back and letting the story belong to Charlotte, especially early in the work when the audience are deciding if they care about her and want to discover the truth. Hackett’s Yorkshire had some lovely moments, but needed more light and shade. Her sustained anger wasn’t credible, as it didn’t show us why she decided to be there in the first place, if she cared what the audience believed or what she thought about the man letting her tell her tale. And both performers needed to react to the each other. Too often, it felt like they were listening for their cue, rather than letting the characters listen to what the other was saying and reacting to what they heard.

These issues usually iron our over time, but short seasons and short rehearsals too often leave terrific shows faltering before they take off. I hope that Eagle’s Nest Theatre are able to let Constance Yorkshire have another run, as it could soar.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.