FRINGE part 7

This is not a love song
28 September 2014
Fringe Hub, Meeting Room
to 4 October 2014
melbournefringe.com.au

There's something very endearing and sweet about This is not a love song.* 

Greg Fleet is a middle-aged man re-living the memories of his first significant love. His younger self is Shane Adamczak and his love is Tegan Mulvany (who also directed the show). The memories are so close that he can reach out and make them better by having a live 1980s-favourites soundtrack from Michael de Grussa (who was in All Out Of Pride) that all four sing along to.

It needs some help with structure and story-telling technique (conflict isn't people having a tiff), but this doesn't distract from the nostalgic and emotional heart that makes this story so lovely.

*Yep, I called Fleety endearing and sweet.

Angry Sexx

28 September 2014

Fringe Hub, Upstairs at Errols

to 4 October 2014

melbournefringe.com.au

Angry Sexx, by Rachel Perks and directed by Bridget Balodis, is created by young women who are rightly angry about the barrage of sexism and objectification they face every day. As someone old enough to relate to the songs in Greg Fleet's show, I left sad and angry that young women still have deal with this crap, but thrilled that they are angry and making people see it from their side of the unbalanced picture.

With texts, chats and IRL conversations, two friends fail to see the hell that the other is going through and unknowingly encapsulate everything that contributes to the other's suffering. One doesn't want sex with her boyfriend and starts running; her friend says she needs a good fuck. The other is fucking strangers; her friend thinks she's a slut who's asking for it.

Anger comes from hurt. We don't get angry until the hurt becomes too much to bear. And when the anger's too much to bear, we act without being able see the consequences. This space between anger and consequences makes for great theatre.

And there are futuristic monkeys in holagram plastic tunics. They're funny and enjoyable monkeys who are looking at relics of women from now, but I don't know how the stories work together.

Tripped
Attic Erratic

28 September 2014

Fringe Hub, Lithuanian Club, The Ballroom

to 4 October 2014

melbournefringe.com.au

Tripped is Attic Erratic's second show for the Fringe. It became impossible to get a ticket to their The City They Burned. 

Nick Musgrove's new play was inspired by Alex Buzo's 1968 play Norm and Ahmed, where a middle-aged white guy attacks a "fucking boong" from Pakistan. It looks with shame at socially accepted attitudes of the 1960s when racial hate wasn't seen with the knowledge and horror that we see it with now.

And how I wish that were true. Every time I read a newspaper or watch the news, I am more ashamed at how Australia is hurtling backwards politically and socially and becoming a place that isn't safe and welcoming. It's heartbreaking to know just how relevant Tripped has become in the last week.

This play takes us into a Middle East war zone – who knew Australia would be back in one so soon! – where Norm's an Australian soldier (Angus Brown) and Ahmed's a "rag head" civilian (Ezel Doruk) who studied in Australia and can joke about Cronulla. But the jokes aren't easy when they are in a mine field and both have a foot on a mine. 

Director Celeste Cody seems to be going for a very dark humour, but the tone is inconsistent and at times easy laughs make it easy to ignore the reflection of ourselves and put the story onto bogan soldier boys and mad priests. This isn't helped by uneven performances; there's a chasm between playing for a laugh and letting a script be funny. 

The conflict and the characters are sometimes a bit obvious, but there's enough bubbling below the surface to make us pay attention and this is going to be a show that's talked about.

Some of these are on AussieThearte.com.

Last chance: Green Screen and Purgatorio

What really must end this weekend is my time with a gastrointestinal virus. I'm excited that I can now get out of bed, but am leaving myself in quarantine until there is no sign of it. It doesn't needs sharing and I'm on my way to becoming an obsessive hand washer.

As I don't write well in the bathroom, some great shows missed out on reviews and they finish this weekend. There's time to see them both. Unless you are sick. Then stay home.

NEON
Green Screen
Sans Hotel
Lawler
finishes Sunday
mtc.com.au

Nicola Gunn's Green Screen ends the second NEON Festival of Independent Theatre. I can't compare her theatre to anything because Gunn creates work that is like her unconscious explaining her soul.

The more of her work that I see, the less I understand it. And I never want to. I'm scared that if I begin to see how her creations work,  I'll begin to see the trick. Meanwhile, I have no idea how something that begins with a line of toy animals, hummus pasta, a green monster blow-up mattress and gold body paint can say so much and be so personal to someone who has never eaten hummus pasta.

And she's joined by Nat Cursio, Tom Davies, Jonno Katz and Kerith Manderson-Galvin who meet, talk and sing in a community centre that tries to calm with beach-scene wall paper. They are a complete joy.

Green Screen is bitingly cynical but deeply loving and, in a breath, the final moments bring the work's disparate events together to let us know what it's all been about. It's beautiful.


Purgatorio
5Pound and Attic Erratic
The Owl and the Pussycat
finishes Saturday
facebook.com

Well, you might not be able to see this because it's sold out. But it can't hurt to call and check.

Melbourne audiences generally like to let a show run for a bit until they see it. This often means that people miss out on great shows by being cautious and waiting to hear if it's worth seeing. Lesson: go early and be among the people making the word of mouth.

Purgatorio is by Chilien-American playwright Ariel Dorfman, who's best known for Death and the Maiden. Here Purgatory is the soulless empty between Heaven and Hell where a Man interrogates a Woman over the murder of her children, and a Woman interrogates a Man about his guilt over his wife's death. It doesn't take long to recognise the Greek myth the stories are from, but it's far more than a reflection on Medea and Jason as Dorfman continues to explore what it takes for humans to do the unthinkable and if there's hope for redemption in a world set on revenge.

Director Celeste Cody finds the endless layers in the script without giving away its secrets, and she uses the tiny space of the Owl and the Pussycat to create a dark and empty world that's neither hellish nor real. And by placing the audience on either side of the room, each side naturally align themselves with Man or Woman.

But Freya Pragt and Jason Cavanagh ensure that the audience's allegiances are never firm. Both performances are riveting, but it's how they work together that makes this script so frighteningly real.

Review: The Judas Kiss

The Judas Kiss
Mockingbird Theatre
15 March 2014
Theatre Works
to 22 March
theatreworks.org.au

Mockingbird Theatre continue to give us memorable text-on-stage productions of the plays that we wish we'd seen the original productions of, and give performers the chance to play roles that they've dreamed of. At Theatre Works this week, they're giving us The Judas Kiss: David Hare's imagining of the behind-doors conversations in a hotel before Wilde's arrest for gross indecency and in Naples after his release from gaol and not long before his impoverised death.

The first production, 1998, Sir David (The Blue Room, Via Dolorosa, The Hours) described as "deeply unsatisfactory" in a 2013 interview in The Guardian. He said it went "off kilter " as he "wanted to smash every cliche about Wilde" and by casting "Ireland's most famous heterosexual as Wilde, we were possibly trying to sail away from stereotypes a little too far". Liam Neeson was Wilde and Tom Hollander was his lover and downfall Bosie, Sir Alfred Douglas.  No matter how off kilter, I wish I'd seen it.

In 1999, Belvoir toured Neil Armfield's production in Australia (with Billie Brown as Wilde) and Armfield went to London in 2012 to direct a much more successful UK version (with Rupert Everett as Wilde).

Mockingbird's founder, Chris Baldock, is our Wilde. At first, I wanted him to stop being an idealised impression of witty Wilde – to be more off kilter – but as Wilde let his public persona drop behind the closed hotel doors, Baldock's performance developed into something far more complex and fascinating. It's clearly a role he's always wanted to play and his years of preparation are felt on the stage.

The rest of the cast (Nigel Langley, Oliver Coleman, Zak Zavod, Laurent Murtagh, Soren Jensen and Nores Cerfeda) all bring a personal understanding and empathy to their characters, which makes for heartfelt – if, at times, uneven – performances. And all occasionally stumble over the naturalism problem of how to stand and listen or disappear into the background.

Also not helping is a set that looks like a suburban amateur company's period-drama set used since the 1950s and finally left out for hard rubbish. Resources, demands of the text and the spacious Theatre Works stage are all understood, but it's a distraction and undermines the quality of the rest of the production.

Still, director Jason Cavanagh, with assistant director Celeste Cody, bring a world that's true to the (long) text while creating a curiosity about Wilde and a wish that he'd made different choices. I'd like to have seen more of the love between Wilde and Bosie as, in this play, it's this love (destructive, obsessive or unseen by anyone but the two of them) that governs all of Wilde's decisions and it would help to support his choices rather than wanting him to slap Bosie and run off with Robbie. And given the play opens with a nude and lusty boy-girl sex scene, there's an expectation that sex is going to play a much bigger part in the story.

The Judas Kiss has its off kilter moments, but they don't knock it too far off balance and, as the chances of seeing this play in the near future are slim, it's well worth seeing.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

What Melbourne loved in 2013, part 10

Today, it's a Choir Girl reunion with writer and performer Sarah Collins, director Celeste Cody and head choir girl Chrissie Robinson. This year, they went to Adelaide, added new shows at the comedy festival and were invited to the Darwin Arts Festival where Choir Girl was followed by Jack Charles Versus the Crown. Best double feature I can imagine.

Celeste Cody

director

CELESTE: This year I headed to the top end to be part of the Darwin Arts Festival (Choir Girl). Beyond being an incredible experience in itself, we were also lucky enough to share the stage with the amazing Uncle Jack. His show Jack Charles Versus the Crown was one of my favourite ever theatre experiences. 

The show was slick, engaging, enlightening, hilarious and heart-wrenching. Jack, Rachel and the team have created a brilliant show and I am excited to hear how it goes in the UK.

I also had a ball at Psycho Beach Party and The Sovereign Wife. Both shows said a lot in devious ways.

I'm heading to Sydney  to catch Summertime in the Garden of Eden at Griffin. I'm sure that it will deserve a place on my list. I loved it in the shed, so I'm sure I'll love it on the Griffin stage.

SM: Celeste hasn't directed anything new this year, but seeing Choir Girl move from the Melbourne Fringe to the Adelaide Fringe to having to add shows at the comedy festival and be invited to an arts festival was exciting. As was seeing full houses at Short and Sweet Theatre, which Celeste directed.

Sarah Collins
writer, performer

SARAH: I was lucky enough to see Punch Drunk's Sleep No More in NYC. To even start to describe it would be doing it a severe dishonour, as when someone described it to me I was all. "Yeah yeah, ex-nightclub in Chelsea converted into a fake hotel for a site specific re-telling of Macbeth ... been done a million times before ... yawn."

Nearly a year later, I still can't really fathom what I saw and experienced or how it was pulled off.

Having said that I didn't really connect with it or find my world had been turned upside down by it, but I don't think that was the point.

When my husband and I found each other at the end of the night, it was like we'd been to two different plays. "Wasn't the ball in the banquet hall amazing?!" "There was a ball?" and "I loved when the phone started ringing at the hotel reception and that weird lady wouldn't let the doorman answer the phone" "What weird lady? Hang on, there was a hotel reception?!" It was then that I realised how epic and detailed the show was. If I could go back again ten times it still would not be enough – a completely different experience every time.

Locally, I was really impressed with the musical Flower Children: The Mamas and Papas Story (Magnormos). I went on about it to everyone I knew and I still find myself thinking about it, hoping it goes further.

As someone with family members who have written a musical (my relatives Albert Arlen and Nancy Brown wrote the 1960's Australian musical The Sentimental Bloke), part of my family's aural history is how hard it is to get one written – let alone up. I can only imagine the time, money and tears that went into making the show a reality. I thought Peter Fitzpatrick did such a terrific job.  It was inspiring to see someone complete a project of this scale after an already incredible lifetime in the industry.

I also saw the amazing Indonesian pop group White Shoes at the Couples Company at the Darwin Festival. I didn't know who they were at the time though! I was wandering around the gardens and there was this amazing music coming from the small stage near the food tents with a front woman who totally blew me away. It was like watching performers from another time – totally incredible!

The rest of the audience were eating dinner, chatting and sometimes looking at the band.  I couldn't form sentences, I was so mesmerised by their lead singer, she was doing so little but it was so powerful, she was amazing; a total masterclass in performance!

Her presence was more theatrical than some theatre I've seen. I assumed they were a local Darwin band and I thought, "Damn! I really hope the rest of Australia gets to see these guys sometime!". They finished their set and sat down on the grass beside me to eat dinner and I wanted to tell them they were amazing but got shy.

Right after I got back to Melbourne I saw them written up in a magazine and it turned out they were in Darwin because they are touring around the world. Total forehead smacking moment. Anyway, I think everyone should watch this clip to see their amazing lead singer Miss Sari perform! Oh the subtlety!



What Sarah's looking forward to in 2014 at issimomag.com.

SM: My favourite moment was Through Their Eyes, the show that Sarah developed with Barking Spider Visual Theatre for the newly-renovated Hawthorn Arts Centre (town hall). She interviewed long-term Boroondara residents and let them tell their stories in their own voices. Sometimes writing is listening. With Penelope Bartlau's delicately simple puppetry, it was moving and heartfelt and a work that would have meant so much to the people who told their stories.

And the pina colada cake. I will dream about that cake and it's non-organic glitter.

Chrissie Robinson
performer

Photo by Oli Sansom

CHRISSIE: I had the fortune of sharing a very crowded dressing room with Tommy Bradson during 2012, and since then have become pretty enamoured of his work. During MICF this year, I attended Sweet Sixteen, or, The Birthday Party Massacre at Northcote Town Hall, and was, again, blown away by Bradson’s work.

In this vitally grotesque, riotous and still profoundly bittersweet parade of caricatures, Bradson’s part-poetry, part-drag, part-song and thorough hooley-dooley eclipsed any Sweet Sixteen I ever attended.

SM: I've loved Chrissie (and the whole choir) every time I saw Choir Girl, but my moment is this photo.

I discovered that what really makes me smile is a child holding a lizard. Chrissie tells me that the lizard is still alive; we are all waiting for the re-creation photo.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

2012 part 1, with links to the rest

The Container Festival

The Container Festival

MUST

Monash University, Clayton

2–20 August

monashstudentassociation.com

Facebook page

Just when it looks like there might be a week without an arts festival in Melbourne, along comes the inaugural Container Festival presented by MUST, the Monash University Student Theatre association.

From August 2 to 20, a performance hub of shipping containers is being set up at Monash University in Clayton. The containers are performance venues and the MUST theatre is being transformed into a lounge bar.

With over 200 diverse performances and exhibitions including music, dance, theatre, visual art, games, burlesque, poetry and puppetry, the festival is designed to showcase and encourage student and graduate talent, while engaging the university and local community in an interactive and welcoming way.

MUST Artistic Director, Yvonne Virsik says, “It will ignite cultural engagement and expression, foster innovation and provide brilliant and affordable entertainment.”

It’s a bit like a mini Fringe festival, but there are no participation fees for the artists, it’s in one place and tickets are very affordable.

There are lots of FREE events, but the bargain is a $50 Festival Pass that gives you entry to every festival event. Day passes are only $15 or tickets for individual shows range from $2 to $8.

With offerings including one-on-one story telling, an espionage caper game called Dead Drop, 10-minute dance parties, Vietnamese folk takes, a Bingo Bonanza (with “genuine $2-shop quality prizes), performances from the Monash Jazz Orchestra and an intriguing piece called Belgian Roulette where you have to choose between two chocolate brownies (one of which is filled with chili), the Container Festival promises a unique experience for every visitor.

Theatre highlights include a workshop production of Robert Reid’s new work Bacchae Rising and new works by Fleur Kilpatrick and Tom Molyneux.

The festival launches with an opening party on Friday 2 August from 6 pm. Entry is FREE and there will be plenty of chances to meet the artists and have a sneak peak at the performances.

Monash arts graduates and MUST members continue to make an impact on the Melbourne (and Australian) independent and professional arts scene and there’s likely to be a former MUST member in most local companies from writers to performers to general managers.

Playwrights like Declan Greene and Amelia Roper had their first full-length works performed at Monash; local companies Attic Erratic, Quiet Little Fox and A Modern Deception met at Monash; and creators like Sarah Collins, Daniel Lammin, Mark Wilson, Celeste Cody, Tom Pitts, Sarah Walker, Danny Delahunty and Kaitlyn Claire all began their careers in MUST productions.

Events and festivals like this are vital to develop and encourage emerging artists and to give more experienced artists an opportunity to experiment and give new work its first outing.

The Container Festival is a terrific opportunity to see and engage with the next generation of Melbourne artists and performers.

And remember that Clayton campus is only a 20-minute drive from the city and there's parking or  public transport will drop you at the door.

Glitter photo by Sarah Walker.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

MICF revisit review: Choir Girl

MICF 2013
Choir Girl
Attic Erratic
1 April 2013
8 and 15 April
comedyfestival.com.au

I saw Choir Girl for the third time on Monday. And I'd consider a fourth visit.

I adore this show and wanted to see how a season at the Adelaide Fringe and performing in a 250+ seat venue has changed it.

Here's my review from last year's Melbourne Fringe. It was my favourite show of that festival.

It's so lovely to be in the head of someone who is as unlikeable as choir girl Susan and the choir is one of the best used choruses since the ancient Greeks thought it a good idea to put society's voice in the arena.

I love seeing how shows develop. One of the advantages of theatre is that you can change the show and fix those things that don't become obvious until an audience points them out to you.

Sarah Collins's writing voice is still as unique and personal as ever (and one that makes me want to write more than reviews), and Sarah and director Celeste Cody have worked to tighten up the story and take away any doubt about what really happened that night at choir practice. The gorgeous choir is also bigger and grander, which lets Susan's story be as grand and important as it is in her head.

If you've ever been in a choir, this is your Comedy Festival show. If you've ever been kicked out of a choir, book to see it twice. I was sitting near women who were in pain because they didn't want to laugh out loud as they recognised the world.

If you haven't been in a choir, don't worry. Choir Girl reaches well beyond the choir world (and, yes, it IS like this) and tells a dark and sad story of loneliness and out-of-reach friendship that touches our hearts because it's told with the kind of love and empathy that never leaves Susan without hope.

Or go because Sarah Collins decided to write the exact kind of show she wanted to perform. And she nails it. I can't imagine anyone else performing one of her shows, but I'd like to see it happen, if only to allow her to see how her writing isn't just for her.

There are two more performances of Choir Girl on Monday 8 and Monday 15 April. As so many shows take Mondays off, it's a brilliant choice of night and you'll still be home in time for QandA.

If this week's performance was anything to go by, you're going to have to book. It's a big room, but was full to bursting on Monday.

There are plenty of terrific international and national performers in town, but don't miss Melbourne's home grown shows and please don't miss Choir Girl.

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 6

The worst thing about this is discovering that I missed some really great performers (like Dr Brown and Tim Spencer); the best is being reminded of the brilliant folk I didn't miss.

Bron Batten
performer, producer

photo by Max Milne 

BRON: There have been so many great things I've seen this year I couldn't possibly choose just one!

I though Nicola Gunn's Hello, My Name Is was the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. Full of ideas that I wish I'd thought of and a structure that shows an intimate knowledge of and attention to theatrical craft.

Similarly Tim Spencer's Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine was elegant and restrained, intricate whilst accessible and possessing a very dry wit. The performance of Not Nick was extraordinary and I actually gasped during the show – which rarely happens to me at the theatre.

Some other highlights include The Suitcase Royale's Zombatland, Dr Brown's Befrdfgth and all of the artists I get to work with, present and produce as part of the Last Tuesday Society. Youse are all inspirational and ace.

SM: Bron is half of the mad genius that produces the Last Tuesday Society.  I grew up imagining life as a boho arty person: LTS is better than my dreams. Seriously, if you haven't been to a Last Tuesday gig, what are you doing? OK, so I miss a lot cos they are on Tuesday nights and I'm asleep when the good stuff happens, but I made it to the Xmas Office party and never has a better Xmas party been had.

Without a second's hesitation my favourite Xmas party moment was the rat running across the rafters. It wasn't a performance; a rat ran across a beam over the stage. It was brilliant. But was it as brilliant as Bron's lithurgical-cum-rock-eisteddfod-nativity jazz ballet? Nah. And I don't know that any Xmas performance will ever be so glorious.

Celeste Cody

director

photo by Sarah Walker

CELESTE: I am the kind of person who lurks around in the shadows of comedy shows desperately hoping not to be seen or acknowledged, watching other poor suckers get picked on for their glasses or laugh or job... My favourite moment this year was having Dr Brown completely turn this fear on its head. I saw Dr Brown's Befrdfgth four times this year in its festival tour and found myself completely drawn in and actually desirous of being noticed by the irreverent clown and wanting to become a part of the ridiculous world playing out in front of me. It wasn't a fanatic thing either, as speaking to Phil (Dr Brown) doesn't make my knees knock or lips tremble. It is the feeling that I am enjoying myself so much that I am so much a part of the scene in front of me that I find it hard to hold myself back from becoming a part of it. Thanks Dr Brown!

SM: Celeste's inspired and beautiful direction of Choir Girl ensured that the girl was joined by a choir (it was written as a solo piece), and the finals gala of the Short and Sweet Theatre program showed just how much she'd re-invigorated this program. Keep an eye an her.

Daniel Kilby
cabaret artiste, Eurovision tragic

DAN: Wild Duck. Anita Hegh's breakdown was absolutely devastating.
An Enemy of the People. An almost shockingly timely play (particularly given its extreme age) and profoundly affecting.
Lipsynch.  Nine hours of theatre in three (?) different languages. It was spectacle that packed an emotional punch.
More Sex Please, We're Seniors. If only because it mitigated how utterly terrible the other major new musical which premiered in Melbourne this year was.
Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine. A breathtaking exploration of the world's oldest profession: entertaining.
Pompeii L.A. Everyone else has cast their billets doux on this show; so, what they said.

SM: Glitter and bad pop can bring the world together and at Dan's Fringe show, Eurotrashed, I got to sit in in a room with people who also wanted to sing along to "Euphoria" and make Jedward jokes.

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5
part 7
part 8

part 9

part 10
part 11

Short and Sweet finals: Be there!

Short and Sweet Theatre finals
Chapel off Chapel
Tonight or tomorrow afternoon

The best thing about finals is that you get to see the best.

There were 43 short plays in this year's theatre festival (not including the cabaret and dance festival); ten have made it to the finals. Half are the audience-voted favourites from each heat and the rest chosen by a team of judges. A couple really good ones didn't make it, but there are only ten spots.

Having seen and scored all 43, I can promise that tonight's final is going to be terrific. I know who I gave gold stars and smiley-face stamps to in the heats, but I can't guess the winners because I know each is going to be very different from their heat performance and that the underdogs might surprise.

Festival director Celeste Cody has brought a new life and excitement to this mini-festival that had become very stale and was earning itself a keep-away reputation. Well, that's over. There were some duds, but most just needed a re-write and some honest feedback.

So, it's time to come back to Short and Sweet. And if we're really lucky, the finals will be so good that we'll forget how hot the Chapel off Chapel little theatre gets.

Booking info here.

And have a look at Ange Leggas's great photos at 3 Fates Media

Short and Sweets past

After Hamlet: last week of 5pounds of Rep

The 5Pounds of Repertory Theatre troupe are in their last week. For the last five weeks, they rehearsed a play during the day and performed the play they rehearsed last week at night. It's fucking mad, but what a process and what an experience for everyone involved, including the audiences who have made sure that The Owl and the Pussycat has been full each night.

The idea was to create a repertory theatre experience: same cast and very different works created with the pressure that an audience is going to be seeing them in a few days.

I admit that my first reaction was that this is going to be great for the performers, but not so much for the audiences. I love being wrong.

Watching how actors Jason Cavanagh, Susannah Frith, Sebastian Gunner, Tom Molyneux and Freya Praget have adapted and changed each week has been fascinating. Back in week one, there was still a layer of "acting" around their performances. When we can see the acting, the characters are always hidden by the actor. This protective layer has fallen off more each week and, even though they are performing as well as they were in week one, their performances are so different.

The ingredient that's taken this process to such a delicious level is bringing a fresh director in each week. This has freed up the performers, who have to trust where they are being led, to focus on character, and freed the directors, who have to trust that their actors can find the characters, to focus on story.

Most theatre is story and too often the telling of the story gets lost in the theatre making. With only a few days, no nights and a budget that extends to what's in the wardrobe or the back alley, each director has found their tone, trusted their cast and and told the audience the story.

Director Daniel Lammin cut Pgymalion into an intimate tale about Henry and Eliza, and he put the audience around them so it felt like we were eavesdropping. It was as far from My Fair Lady as it could be, which let them create a new telling of JB Shaws's famous story.

Photo by Sarah Walker

Celeste Cody let everyone have a hell of a lot of fun with the 1920s musical Sally. She created a space that let the non-singers feel safe enough to sing, and let everyone adore the cardboard and paint props.

I sadly couldn't get to Danny Delahunty's week three developed piece (mostly because I was at the Short and Sweet theatre festival, directed by Celeste Cody), but I've heard all good about it.

But I wasn't going to miss Robert Reid directing Ben Ellis's play Falling Petals. Geelong-born and Melbourne indi-theatre bred, Ben's been living in London for many years and this production has already created a new mob of fans. I saw its Playbox production and this was just as good. Good writing tells good story. So, we'd love to see a new Ben Ellis play in Melbourne, please Ben.

There's one week left to be a part of this experiment and they're going out with an easy task: Hamlet. Rehearsed in a week by very tired actors who were performing their guts out each night. What could possibly go wrong?

I know that it's been cut by director Trent Baker and I've heard there will be songs. I recently watched Trent at Simon Callow's Shakespeare masterclass. It took him a while to drop the acting and tell the story, but he did. I'm looking forward to if this experience has changed his approach to Shakespeare.

A day out from their final opening night, I asked Jason Cavanagh, 5 Pound co-founder, how he felt about being in the last week.

 "It’s still hard to see the bigger picture because while the light at the end is getting tantalisingly bright, we are still very much in the guts of this project. The oh-so modest task of putting Hamlet on the stage tomorrow night is casting quite an impressive shadow.  But the thought of an opening night without 9 am rehearsals, not to mention the wider ambition of having an actual closing night – don't get me wrong, the whole thing has been absolutely amazing – but there will be quite the party when that last curtain falls."

After Hamlet (cos it's not the whole work) opens tomorrow (Tuesday) night and runs until Saturday, including a matinee.

Book here. It's a tiny space, so worth booking instead of trying for door tickets. And the easiest way to get to the thearte is to get a train to Richmond. Walk out the Swan Street entrance, cross the road and you're there.

5Pounds of Rep opens tonight

Five different directors and a group of five actors rehearse and present five very different plays over five weeks.

Tonight, 5pound theatre open 5Pounds of Repertory Theatre at The Owl and the Pussycat (opposite Richmond train station on Swan Street).

Founded in 2010 by Jason Cavanagh and Susannah Frith, 5Pound aim to make theatre that challenges and inspires audiences and actors.  And the short rehearsal periods ( while performing at night) are sure to challenge and energise everyone, especially as it's hoped that many discoveries will be made on the stage in front of the audiences.

Cananah says, "I have an incredibly romantic idea of the old theatres.  I picture the high pressure, high stakes world of working rep’s.  The round the clock intense pleasure of squeezing every drop of creative juice you can muster to get that show up there stomping the boards.  The close relationship with the audience, the backstage mayhem, the full pelt, full time creative outpour, and a well earned applause at the end.  If we can capture just a small taste of that… it will be a dream come true."


Jumping into the maelstrom of creativity are some of Melbourne's favourite independent directors, inlcuding Robert Reid (The Well) directing Ben Ellis's Falling Petals (last seen at the Malthouse, about 10 years ago) and Celetse Cody (Choir Girl) directing a musical that I know nothing about.

Week 1. November 6–10. Pygmalion, directed by Daniel Lammin

Week 2. November 13–17. Sally… A Musical, directed by Celeste Cody

Week 3. November 20–24. The Unnamed, directed by Danny Delahunty

Week 4. Nov 26 – Dec 1. Falling Petals by Ben Ellis, directed by Rob Reid

Week 5. December 3–8. After Hamlet, directed by Trent Baker

Book here

Review: Choir Girl

MELBOURNE FRINGE 2012
Choir Girl
28 September 2012
Fringe Hub, Lithuanian Club
to 13 October
melbournefringe.com.au

In recent Fringes and festivals, Sarah Collins has brought us gorgeous tales about adorable misfits who never lose hope. Choir Girl is as achingly funny and beautifully written as Nothing Extraordinary Ever Happens in Toowoomba (Ever) and Donna and Damo, but it's a much darker story about a woman lost in loneliness.

Choir Girl Susan is alone in a house that's too big for her because her safely-gay housemate is on a Disney cruise, but promised to bring her back mouse ears, so that's ok. Luckily she's found a choir in Sandringham that wants new members and, despite the very long bus trip, she's an alto who understands the importance of blending and her 1992 local Eisteddfod–winning song shows off her voice.

For anyone who hasn't sung in a community choir, Susan's world is so accurate that I could name similar people from choirs I'd been in. There are always the "kissy kissies" who suck up to the conductor, the ones who can't sing, the ones who think they should be soloists, the men who bring cheap supermarket supper, the nightmare discussions about how much to spend on Kris Kringle and sopranos who make fun of altos. Ok, I added that last one because I know that sopranos ALWAYS make fun of altos, even those with lovely alto voices like Susan's.

Choir Girl has a smaller cast of characters than Collins's previous works, which brings us much closer to Susan than we were to Toowoomba's Kevin John and Wren or even Donna or Damo, and where as her past characters always acted from love and hope, Susan's shyness/illness leaves her acting from selfishness and hope. This makes her harder to adore, but irresistible to watch.

Her loneliness makes you so want to love her, but her cringe-worthy behaviour leaves you grateful that she's not your friend. Being torn by a character makes watching her obsession with the choir accompanist hurt – there's a $2-shop doll that nearly made me cry – as you want her to stop embarrassing herself, but want to see what she's going to do even more.

Susan's world is gloomy and what better way to light up her darkness than with a Greek-like chorus; actually, a choir – a female choir in burgundy uniforms, white tights and black patent shoes. Choir Girl was originally written without a choir, until director Celeste Cody (Attic Erratic) came on board. It's now impossible to imagine this story told in any other way.

Without breaking into Susan's isolation, the choir are both society's eyes and Susan's inner world. They sing schmaltzy love songs with her when Susan needs them, but they whisper and watch and re-inforce how much Susan isn't in harmony. By giving her company and real music (arranged by Tom Pitts) that isn't on her discman, Cody's strong direction ensures that a world that sings Britney Spears love songs is always out of Susan's reach and creates an onstage voice that isn't Susan's.

Choir Girl is different from Collins's earlier writing. It's still driven by hope, but I was surprised by its darkness – and equally as thrilled.  Susan's story is a bit sad, but its telling is so funny and full of heart that she'll stay with you long after the final applause – and you'll be singing Britney songs for days.

Open Fringe programs help wonderful theatre like this to find an audience. I may never have discovered her writing without a Fringe, and that's a terrible thought.


This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com

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: Tell them it rained too hard

Tell them that it rained too hard
Attic Erratic
2 September 2011
Studio Theatre, Gasworks Arts Park
to 10 September
www.atticerratic.com

While Platform Youth are confronting the perception of teenage sluts in Tenderness, independent company Attic Erratic give a very different 20-something view of the slut-or-virgin paradigm in Tell them that it rained too hard.

Tom Pitts wrote the text and music for this piece. The highlight of the night is how beautifully the music works with the text and how Pitts and director Celeste Cody use the combination of text and music to create the mood and move the drama of story.

But the text suffers from overwriting and seems caught up with telling us the sexual issues we should be thinking about, rather than showing us the stories of these characters, who never seem free to really tell us what's going on in their hearts.

As each generation discovers sex, they tend to act like no one did it before them. (I know I did.) This work claims to boldly explore the "contentious" and "still divisive" issues of sexuality, promiscuity and monogamy. It begins with a dream about harlots and a lecture about the free love of the 60s and how it people can't have an uncomplicated shag. But it doesn't go on to address issues of sexuality, promiscuity or monogamy.

I left thinking that the politics and outlook underpinning this world are just so straight. Straight as in heterosexual, straight as in conservative and straight as in as vanilla as cheap, white home-brand ice cream.

The promiscuous chick dresses like a Grey St hooker and has sex with two (!) men, while her best friend risks her nice safe marriage by having a pash with an ex. This may be a typicailish 20ish story, but it would be a far better story if it wasn't claiming to be unflinching and bold. If you're going to look at the issues around being a slut (a word that is slowly being re-claimed as a positive and empowering word) and how you can enjoy a fuck because it's fun, please at least glance at promiscuity (that's a LOT of partners) and the alternatives to monogamy that many people joyfully embrace.

Tell them that it rained too hard didn't speak to me, but it's driven by a cast whose honesty and passion for the story reminded me that it is reflection of the their world and it will speak loudly and strongly to others.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Review: A Modern Deception

MICF 2011

A Modern Deception

1 April 2011

The Bull and Bear Tavern

to 23 April

www.comedyfestival.com.au

If there's a prize for conquering the worst venue of the Comedy Festival, Vyom, Alex and Luke from A Modern Deception have to win it.

I don't care if it's sleight of hand, illusion or magic, I love a good trick. The deception men are as debonair as their geeky souls allow and they infuse an old-school trick show with enough originality to make it seem brand new. A Modern Deception is a comic cabaret with class, wit and nerdiness that's worthy of a far better venue.

It's not The Bull.... Tavern's fault that the sight lines are so dud that it was a struggle to see many of the tricks, but the ambient noise from the kitchen and staff was so distracting (ie: fucking loud) that I spent too long worrying about the orders at table 17 and whether the Trevally ever made it out of the kitchen. The only people who didn't seem to want to make the noise disappear were the men on the stage and they drew even the most annoyed audience member back to the show.

A Modern Deception is well on it's way to being awesome. I'd love to see the onstage characters developed further (don't worry about being loveable; be odd and extreme and you'll still be adored). Stay your gorgeous selves for corporate gigs, but for this type of cabaret, you'll go to a new level with even more story and conflict among the characters.

Apparently the ending is brilliant, but – due to a late start – I had to run or miss my next show.  If it was going the way I think it was, I'm sure I missed something spectacular. 

And to the owners and management of The Bull and Bear Tavern:

How wonderful it must be to have over hundreds of people who have never been into your venue, flock in during the laugh fest, willingly give you money in exchange for alcohol and be so impressed that they come back with tables full of their friends to try your food and soak in The Bear ....ing in the Woods ambiance.

How likely are they to come back when your kitchen starts sizzling food about 30 seconds into the show because "they're hungry now", and the sizzle continues with plate clanking, order yelling, phone answering ("There's the comedy on") and general staff discussion using their outside voices?

I'm guessing... none. 

It would be nice if you respected the artists, but even nicer if you respected the paying punters – and not just the dude who wanted Trevally.


This review appears on AussieThearte.com