The Burlesque Hour

The Burlesque Hour
fortyfivedownstairs
21 June 2007

I was told off this week for having a 'feminist rant' about The Burlesque Hour. Let me share.

The Burlesque Hour takes a genre that has (at times) and is (at times) used to demean, objectify, humiliate and embarrass women. This show subverts this genre – then rips it to shreds, cut the shreds into smaller pieces, grinds them into the ground with a Doc Martin and a Manolo Blahnik and re-creates something that is positive, empowering, celebratory, powerful and just fabulous.

If this kind of questioning of gender roles, sexuality and sexual politics is ranting, then I’m very happy to rant.

The Burlesque Hour has been around since 2004. This was my third viewing and it gets better every time. There are some old favourites missing, but the new material is just as addictive. Jackie Smith and Moira Finucane continue to create extraordinarily original, daring, shockingly hilarious, sassy, sexy and mind-blowingly intelligent theatre.

Each piece is superbly conceived and executed. Azaria Universe’s bearded sheman proves the inter-changeability of gender roles; Yumi Umiumare reminds us that the cute little hello kitty girl could be a demonic little hell cat, and the fixed pout of painted doll could mean she’s broken; and Moira Finucane finds the grotesque within the coquette.

The strip in this show isn’t just about tits and titillation and the final revelation is not a brazilian wax. These women reveal power, humour, strength, moodiness, frustration, joy, loneliness and pain. This strip isn’t about the body. Bodies are simply bodies in this show.

Seeing this strip isn’t about anonymity or hiding or voyeurism. The Burlesque Hour is as much about the performer as the audience and makes the gathered crowd interact and join in the fun and celebration.

For the ultimate subversion, Angus Cereni (a bloke) guest stars. Angus strips to a song written for a teenage girl in a most un-teenage girl manner. This is mighty fine irony. I do, however, wonder why it wasn’t a complete strip. It felt slightly strange to have the one male in the show not completely reveal.

It’s hard to pick favourite moments, but two always stick with me. Moira’s butohesque “I Want You” is as true and powerful expression of repression and longing and guilt as I’ve ever witnessed. And then there’s Azaria’s “Total Eclipse of The Heart”. She takes drag, strip and 80s pop and hurls herself, and the absurdity, frustration, sadness and hilarity of it all into our faces. It’s brilliant.

Finally, as Moira’s Argentina Gina Catalina says, “Big minds have great sex.” So please, enlarge your minds and your thinking and get to The Burlesque Hour.

This review originally appeard on AussieTheatre.com.

The Pillowman

The Pillowman
Melbourne Theatre Company
25 May 2007
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse

The Australian premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman is already dividing audiences. There are those who stay and those who leave. It’s an ingenious, highly original, dark, complex and intriguing story. Sadly it’s hidden in an over-written, over-complicated script, and buried in an under-directed and sometimes tedious production.

I was initially worried when FOH staff warned me that it’s three hours long (warned in a “get a drink while you can” way, rather than – “you are going to love this” way). 15 people left during Act One (and they didn’t wait for suitable breaks) and I counted nearly 100 abandoned seats after interval (not including the many rows behind me).

Katurian K Katurian, a writer, is arrested and interrogated because his short stories are almost identical to recent murders of children. We meet the good cop, the bad cop, Katurian’s retarded brother, Michael, and Katurian’s stories. This is unique and original writing.

The Pillowman won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards Best Foreign Play 2004-2005 and the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Play. It’s a brave and excellent choice for the Melbourne Theatre Company, but people kept filing out of the theatre.

Katurian says, “The duty of a story teller is to tell a story”. Act One initially seems too caught up in telling his stories, rather than telling us his story. I found it over-written, with dialogue that was too repetitive, often obvious and relied far too much on the exposition of the characters narrating the stories. However, I’m sure if I read the script, I would have loved it.

This production isn’t translating this script well. The style is a combination of The Bill, Law and Order, 1984 and an early Lynch film. Take all the good bits and edit them together. Unfortunately the result isn’t symbiotic.

There are some delightfully disturbingly, dark and astonishing moments (it really is worth hanging around for the opening of Act Two). McDonough says he starts in a dark place and goes even darker, but that the darkness is balanced by the comedy. The comedy is what is failing in this Pillowman. The script is as dark as a black cat on the dark side of the moon after the sun has exploded and disappeared. It needs the balance of the comedy. The over-written dialogue, the unimaginable acts, the racism and the mocking of the “spastic” are meant to be funny. But when it isn’t coming across as funny, all that is left is the disturbing.

The grey design is highlighted in shades of grey. Grey isn’t dark - grey is bland and dull. The direction reflects the design. The few props are so obvious that you know they will become integral to the action, which lessens their impact when they do. Act One is begging for pace and tension. This is the half that sent the audience away. They didn’t seem offended at the content, they just seemed bored. And they missed the much, much better Act Two.

Dan Wyllie as Michael is superb, among a generally excellent cast. Joel Edgerton is engaging as Katurian, but was missing the fear and anger that drives his character’s actions. Torture, the threat of imminent death and the revealing of the most heinous results of your own actions – this results in more than a bit miffed and worried.

People leaving the theatre indicates that there is something seriously wrong with a production. The Pillowman could be astonishing, but needs some very serious tough love and some brave directorial re-thinks. Please don’t blame the audience for not understanding the vision. We understood it, we just didn’t like how it was done.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Hamlet

Hamlet
Eagle’s Nest Theatre
20 May 2007
Northcote Town Hall

There is no denying that Hamlet is a fabulous story. Eagle's Nest Theatre’s version has been pared down to a tale about a royal family whose shenanigans rival the tabloid stories of our contemporary royals.

Eagle’s Next Theatre is one of Melbourne’s many independent companies. This one was formed with the goal to produce professional independent theatre and ensure schools and communities beyond the central city area have access to the work. Their program of VCE scripts, classics and original works has created a broad and appreciative audience.

This Hamlet concentrates on the family. Fortinbras has been let go, which has created a slightly different, yet beautifully strong ending. There are some original character interpretations. Bruce Woolley's Claudius is forever drunk, and Phil Zachariah’s Polonius is comical and dithery (oh dear, Ophelia/ Oh, Dear Ophelia).

James Adler knows Hamlet. His regular performances of the Danish prince have given him the insight that allows for multiple interpretations. This time his Hamlet is very controlled and constrained. There is method to his feigned madness and Hamlet can clearly see the consequences of his actions. We so wish he could make his world right. I would, however, have liked to see more of Hamlet’s internal struggle made external. Soliloquies were written to show our internal thoughts. These are the thoughts that aren’t constrained by relationships and people watching. They don’t need to be held so close.

The less experienced members of the cast struggled with the language and in consistency. This is the nature of a company that offers opportunity to all performers. It is the director’s decision about how to temper and present performers of vastly different level skill levels.

The direction was uneven. The story was told well, but seemed to have been directed scene by scene, rather than as a whole. Act Two needed much more pace and tension and the staging needed more attention to detail (Claudius could have stopped Gertrude drinking because he was so close to her).

Hamlet is about status and power; within the country, the court and the family. When the design uses velvet, crowns and pewter goblets – it is acknowledging the role of royalty and the hierarchy at play. A travelling player would not touch a prince; a daughter would not sit when her king and father stood. Using character status as an acting/rehearsal technique may have significantly helped the lesser experienced performers. We needed to see the relationships between the characters and how their status and power motivated their actions.

The relationships between some characters were also unclear. I knew Gertrude was fond of Ophelia, but had no idea if she even liked Hamlet, or if she enjoyed being regularly groped by Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seemed to have a different motivation in each scene. Were they there because their best mate Hamlet needed them, because Claudius would kill them if they weren’t there, or because Gertrude had offered them reward? This is all in the text, but was not clear on the stage.

This isn’t a perfect Hamlet, but it tells the story with intelligence and clarity. As such, it is an ideal introduction to anyone who doesn’t know the tale and twists in some original character and plot interpretations for those who can quote along with the cast.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

OT: Chronicles of the Old Testament

OT: Chronicles of the Old Testament
Uncle Semolina (and Friends) and Malthouse Theatre
9 May 2007
Beckett Theatre, CUB Malthouse,

When Yahweh created mankind he said “it was good”. I left Uncle Semolina (and Friends)’s OT: Chronicles of the Old Testament saying it was good. It was actually very, very, very good. In fact it’s the kind of authentic, original, mind blowing theatre that awakens your brain and shows the unique power of people on a stage.
 
Imagine Playschool and The Wiggles getting together to tell a story. The toys are getting old and worn, the set really is cardboard, the cast aren’t the best of friends and the director is difficult and ambivalent, but he really IS God. The story is of Yahweh, his creation of mankind and the brutality and violence that is the source of our modern sense of morality.

Directors and creators Christian Leavesley and Phil Rolfe say with OT “we want to explore the building block of our morality.... to re-imagine the stories of the Bible but at the heart of it we are trying to explore and pull apart what the values are.”

OK...a show that deals with the entire morality of society, using the world’s best selling book as a starting point. The enormity of this task is overwhelming. I can think of one or two religions that have been attempting the same task for a more than two thousand years.

Uncle Semolina (and Friends)’s attempt isn’t perfect, but they’ve come pretty close.

At first the pace seemed forced and I was concerned that the performers were simply narrating a well known tale, rather than showing us an authentic story. However, the structure of the work gradually lifts the pace and the emotional commitment of the characters. The initial doubt made the realization that this is seriously brilliant theatre even more powerful. For me that moment came when the storytellers lost their God .The complexity and confusion of literally and figuratively flooded the stage, and the real strength of this piece emerged.

Luke Ryan’s performance is superb. His story of that “tough cunt” Sampson (the bogan re-telling is how is should always be told) and his stand up comic Job (aka Head) were highlights from a consistently intelligent and engaging performance. The rest of the cast are very good, but need to settle into the run and break away from performing so much. It is hard to hide how much you love being on a stage, but let the telling of the story come first. This will make the audience forget we are watching you perform, which will actually make us love your performance even more.

The direction seems very influenced by Forced Entertainment’s Bloody Mess ( Melbourne International Festival  2005). As OT runs, it will also achieve the directorial balance of humour, story, character and chaos, which Bloody Mess did so well. The image of Burt rimming Teddy is carved into my brain for ever, but, at such times, the humour distracted from the rest of the stage and from the story.

I say this regularly and will say it again. The support the Malthouse Theatre is giving to independent theatre creators in Melbourne is brilliant. Authentic, original theatrical language can only be created when artists are given the freedom to create, without the restrictions of commercial viability. Looking at the Malthouse program for the rest of the year, I’m also expecting (and hoping) to see this authenticity appear more in Malthouse main stage productions

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance
Opera Australia
17 May 2007
The State Theatre, The Arts Centre

There were cat calls, hollers and whoops of joy from the audience.  Most knew every lyric, were humming in the foyer and just itching to sing along. It wasn’t a midnight performance of Rocky Horror – this was Australian Opera presenting The Pirates of Penzance.

A Gilbert and Sullivan opera is as English as a white bread sandwich or egg and chips. By no means sophisticated or original, but an enjoyable favourite, that many like to orphan indulge in.

The plot resolution is shocking, the characters lack substance and there are no surprises. Nonetheless, the paradox is that 75, 000 people have seen this production since it opened last year.

Opera Australia’s new production of Pirates is simply perfect for their audience. It’s not an especially creative re-interpretation of a classic work. I’m sure it could be an intelligent musing about rejection and the impermanence of beauty, or even a sensible exploration of sense of duty. However, it wouldn’t be filling the State Theatre. G&S fans know what they like and this production serves it up in great big splendid bucketfuls.

It is all a bit of joke, but it really doesn’t matter, because the audience are not only complicit in the joke, but would be horrified if anyone really took it too seriously.

As expected from a company of this calibre, the casting in excellent. Reg Livermore was born to be a G&S comic and his Modern Major General is the very model. Suzanne Johnston’s Ruth is a balance between crone and emancipated, hot 40 something and Taryn Fiebig brings a subtle, and appreciated, depth to Mabel. The chorus is cast with some of the best young singers, who I’m sure we will see as principals in years to come.

It is, it is a glorious thing to be Johnny Depp. Tradition asks directors to follow Gilbert’s lead and have characters as parodies of prominent public figures. So, I suppose the Pirate King being based on Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean is fair. But it isn’t really a parody, as much as an impersonation. Anthony Warlow does it rather wonderfully, yet it is also a glorious thing to be Anthony Warlow, and I would have liked to see a touch more originality.

Richard Roberts design is simple, iconic and delightfully ironic. With a rake, a proscenium of light globes and cartoon ships that wheel on and off the billowy waters, this design shows how to have a lot of fun with tradition and still create something of beauty in its own right.

If you like G& S, this is unmissable. If you’re hesitant about opera, but like a good musical, you’ll probably love Pirates and want to see more and more. Sullivan’s melodies are memorable and Gilbert’s eloquent diction creates a delightful fiction. The best thing about having surtitles was being able to read the wit and wordplay (and look out for the surtitle joke in ACT 2).

At the end of the night, everyone had a lot of fun. Pirates is G&S designed, directed and performed very, very well and the audience loved it. Hurrah for Opera Australia.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Fiona McGary/Best of Edinburgh

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2007
Fiona McGary in Giggles and Puddles
The Best of the Edinburgh Fest
Friday 13 April
Portland Hotel
RMIT Capitol Theatre

Five comedians: one night at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The most popular jokes this year appear to be AIDS, ADD and Adelaide. Some worked very well, some need to work on originality and others have to work on being funny.

Fiona McGary in Giggles and Puddles was the highlight of the evening. She may be performing in a room the size of an ensuite bathroom, but she makes it feel as welcoming and comfortable as your favourite friend’s lounge room.

Fiona succeeds where so many fail, by letting us see Fiona. She doesn’t hide behind a forced persona or rely on jokes. She tells us some very funny stories about her life and experiences, whilst gently revealing her darker,more vulnerable side.

This show will eventually benefit from some direction and editing, but right now it’s perfect for Fiona and the venue she is in. See her it for stories about ADD, her many jobs and for a lesson in how to take great advantage of that spontaneous, hideous tattoo you got at 15. It made me wish I’d been that stupid as a teenager.

The Best of the Edinburgh Fest is MICF tradition known for exposing new talent. It’s a great gig to score. You get a huge nightly audience (who tend to be boozed up and ready to laugh), you only have to do a short set and the host has already warmed the crowd up for you. The down side is The Capitol is a very hard venue to work. Most of your audience are so far away, there is no chance of developing any intimacy, so you have to rely on very slick material.

Andrew Stanley hosts the evening and the night would not have worked without him. He created rapport in the cavernous space and had us laughing with him every time he appeared. I wish we’d been able to see much more of him. Andrew tells great stories about himself; his dad comparing being a vegetarian to being in the IRA was my favourite. He also opened with some inspired audience interaction. One couple may well be engaged thanks to Andrew. Let’s hope he heads over from Ireland again next year and we see him in his own show.

Asher Treleaven is from Melbourne. His bizarre characters mix circus clowning with stand up. Unfortunately the mix didn’t quite work tonight. His set consisted of two very funny jokes (Mills & Boon and Rock Eisteddfods) that should have been kept as jokes, not extended sketches. I know how good Asher can be, but tonight his character seemed lost between being a traditional clown, a stand up character or simply Ash.

Maeve Higgins is young and Irish and wore a cardigan. No 26 year old can get away with a cardi. Her stage persona is genuine and delightful. You’d love to have a shandy with Maeve. Her discussion about the wisdom of fridge magnets suits her well. Her attempt at rape humour needs research and thought. You really have to understand the implications of a joke to make it work. A punch line of genital warts would have been very funny - but making it AIDS, just came across as ignorant.

Eddie Ifft is from the US. Eddie – listen. We weren’t laughing because we are too PC – we weren’t laughing because the material wasn’t funny. It could be. It could be hilariously offensive and shocking, but you (too) need a much better knowledge of AIDS and ADD to make it relevant, powerful and…. funny. In Eddie’s defence, he recovered well when his material fell flat, but the continual blaming of the audience just worked against him.

The MICF is another one of the fabulous Melbourne festivals. The atmosphere is consistently welcoming, you get to drink in the snottiest of the Melbourne Town Hall rooms and rub shoulders with lots of people you see on the telly. The telly ones always get a good audience, but also take a punt on the lesser known comedians, like Fiona McGary. They may be on telly in a year or two and you will have a great story about seeing them before they were famous.

A final aside about the Adelaide jokes.

Many acts do the Adelaide Fringe before coming to MICF. One year someone must have said that Melbournians like to laugh at Adelaide, so opening your show with an Adelaide joke became very popular. I know Adelaide is easy to laugh at (I’m from there) – but, like the Melbourne V Sydney material, it’s time to let it go and be original.

This review originally appeard on AussieTheatre.com.

Mickey D Shame 101

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2007 
Mickey D Shame 101 
Mary Tobin
13 April 2007 
Victoria Hotel

Shame Michael Shame. Shame, that you so easily put so many other Melbourne Comedy Festival shows to utter shame. If you have forgotten what it is like to laugh until you snort for an hour, get along to Mickey D. 

Mickey D’s Shame 101 is infectiously funny, refreshingly original, skilfully crafted and downright filthy. Adelaide’s own Velocity Boy was always a natural on the stage. He has used his time touring the world to develop into a very skilled performer and hilariously deranged writer.  

Shame celebrates what we are embarrassed about. Snorting laughs, embarrassing parents, farting, masturbating, being caught masturbating by your nanna, scrubbing poo off walls and accidentally biting off a nipple. None of which he finds embarrassing – so why should we!

However, Mickey is very serious about his comedic art. When he needed another 10 minutes of material – he could have just told another story about his Dad heckling passers by – but, not this lad. He went and had a colonic irrigation (yes – that’s a pipe in the bum) … and tells us all about it.

If you’re not convinced by the lure of a colonic story, go to see how well he uses the space and the stage, or enjoy how he includes the audience without ever really embarrassing them.  If you don’t like talking about poo (or won’t admit to it), go to observe how he makes his well written, themed and linked material seem like inspired improvisation, or how he can seamlessly leave and return to his script at any time in an almost Billy Connollyesque style. Mickey blends character with truth and knows how to take what could be very offensive (or very boring) material to the exact moment that it is very funny.

It may be a blessing that his Nanna isn’t here to see it.

Another Postscript about the persistent Adelaide jokes: Yesterday I wrote a review pleading for one original Adelaide joke. My prayers were answered. Thank you Michael. See the show to see what he does.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Green Room Awards 2007

Green Room Awards 2007
1 April 2007

I’ve just come from an afternoon of Green Room Awards. Congratulations to everyone. The ceremony was fun, Julia Zemiro was a much better host that Ellen at the Oscars, Suzanne Johnson and Helen Noonan showed us that opera singers are much wittier and funnier than often thought and everyone paid tribute to the outstanding plethora of artists and companies in this amazing city of Melbourne.

“It really is just an honour to be nominated”...but it’s true. The list of Green Room award nominations show how even the most dedicated of theatre, dance, music, cabaret, opera or musical theatre devotees can barely skim the surface of the arts scene in this town. I see more my fair share of shows, but there were nominated names, companies and shows that I hadn’t seen, some I hadn’t heard of. Debt was the tied winner of Best New Australian Play, but was only seen by 270 people. I think the lesson is – see as much as you can, because you never know when a gem is going to appear.

Dance was an especially strong category this year. Lucy Guerin summed up the feeling among Melbourne’s dancers, by acknowledging the strong sense of community and the involvement of everyone. This was supported by Ros Warby, whose award for Monumental was especially welcomed.

Tim Minchin was my favourite winner of the day. Not only did he win Original Songs, beat a phenomenal group of nominees for Cabaret Artiste, but then scored the award for Outstanding Cabaret Show, beating the Famous Speigeltent and the Melbourne Theatre Company. This continues to prove that the best shows are often created by independent artists and found in non-commercial venues. Tim is “so fucking rock” and so fucking deserved each and every award.

“If you get a job you like – you never have to work a day on your life. Maria Frendo from, the fabulous venue, Dantes reminded everyone of this when she collected her award for her Contribution to Cabaret. When you do what you love, it will always shine through in your work. Every nominee and winner today has proven that they love what they do.

This originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Black

Black
Malthouse Theatre
17 March 2007
The Tower Theatre, CUB Malthouse

A post-avant-garde-performance-art-installation is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Well, I drink coffee and Anna Tregolan’s Black is as welcome and satisfying as the first strong, aromatic and lovingly-made expresso on a slow Sunday morning.

There is a mixed sense of anticipation and apprehension as we are gradually let into the Tower Theatre. All we know is that the performance runs for three hours, but we can come and go as we please.

Walking down a dark corridor, a small screen with a changing collage is our first clue. Sounds of muffled voices and dropped cutlery begin to filter in as we round the corner and find ourselves above the space we will enter and, perhaps unwittingly, merge with.

Black is the stories of Elizabeth Short, a young Hollywood starlet, whose severed body was found in an empty lot in 1947. Her unsolved murder has created many fictitious, semi-factual and imagined accounts of her demise on screens and in novels, newspapers and gossip mills.

Each performer (Caroline Lee, Moira Finucane, James Wardlaw and Martyn Coutes) represent a facet of the multiple stories. They could be witness, media, detective, victim, friend, family or stranger. All spin web of movement and text that fills the space and draws the audience closer.

The text is designed to be listened to like music, with a four part vocal score of monologue. It’s quite meditative, but separating the parts reveals a poetic and evocative language that was almost unexpected. “The collaging of a body” with “postage stamps of flesh removed”.

The performers are separated by a zigzag wall of perspex. They move through and around the walls, forever changing their position. What makes this work remarkable is that each wall acts as a transparent mirror – we can see through it, and it reflects multiple images around the space.

One performer looks like a conjoined twin from a carnival freak show, whilst simultaneously standing in the audience, looking at another performer, holding her own hand and watching herself. The performers don’t touch or interact but their multiple reflections touch and merge, some morphing like a 90s music video, others walking through each other like ghosts. The effect is stunning, as there are so many versions of the same scene to look at.

As an audience we are allowed to choose if we sit, stand or move. We think we are controlling what we witness and who we see it with. However the reflective walls and changing light take away our control and bring our images into the performance space and the story.

The creation, rehearsal and performance of this complex work is precise and perfect. Design, direction and performance blend to create an experience that is genuinely original, creative, intelligent and brave.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon
Michael Coppel Ventures and
Louise Withers & Associates
28 March 2007
Her Majesty’s Theatre

Miss Saigon is a simply superb and I dare even the most jaded of theatre goers not to love it. It’s about power and grief and situations where you cannot imagine a happy ending, even though your heart and mind search for a way to make it all work out. The outstanding cast are a balance between fresh and experienced performers and the, much anticipated, new staging adds moments that could not have been imagined in the original.
 
Anyone who has read anything of mine knows that I have some issues with commercial theatre – but when it’s done right – it’s done right. There are reasons why Miss Saigon has been consistently running all over the world since 1989.
 
The power of Miss Saigon is in the writing. Spectacle will never compensate for bad writing. The book is structured to reveal every piece of information at exactly the right time, with a balance of emotion that builds, relieves and rebuilds tension to its ultimate breaking point. Its themes and story continue to resonate on so many levels, as it contrasts the personal with a very political understanding of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
 
Its French origins are evident with references to the French occupation of Vietnam, as well as a bitter satirical stream of anger towards “Uncle Ho” and “Uncle Sam”. It may be one of the most powerful pieces I’ve seen about refugees and the fear and desperation that makes people want to leave their homes.
 
This is balanced with an understanding of the unimaginable chaos, control and freedom experienced by the fighting American soldiers. Chris and John are young men who are happy “getting stoned and waking up with some whore”, but their lives are changed so profoundly by their experiences in Saigon.
 
And, of course, it’s ultimately a love story. Chris, Kim and Ellen: if you hated any of them, it would be an easy story to resolve, but we are always allowed to see their flaws and their strengths. These are characters whose actions you understand; even when you know that they are making choices that are going to cause pain and grief.
 
This production does use many theatrical and dramatic clichés. Sunsets, ghosts, guns, weddings and adorable children are all there. However, there is a difference between the uses of a cliché for effect, compared to the use of an archetypal image because of its universal reach. (I still can’t believe that a walk into the sunset made me cry.)
 
And, yes, it is a toe-tapping, hum-along musical. Music can reach ours souls instantly. Words have to go though the brain first. Maybe this is why music can tell the most epic and tragic of stories so effectively. The music isn’t as memorable as Les Miserables (the other great musical by Boublil and Schonberg), but it serves the story and characters perfectly.
 
Laurie Cadevida (Kim), Leo Tavarro Valdez (The Engineer) and Juan Jackson (John) are all unforgettable. Each has played their role in various international productions of Miss Saigon. Their experience and understanding of their characters is evident. It is such a skill to make a character believable and sympathetic when they are prone to burst into song.
 
The imported cast members are ideally balanced by the Australian cast. The emotion and strength David Harris brings to Chris fare outweighs the one or two notes he missed. He will quickly settle into this role and make Chris his own. Christina Tan (Gi Gi), PJ Rosales (Thuy) and Sophie Katinis (Ellen) all bring a depth to their roles that may soon surpass the experienced cast members. They show us their characters souls through their songs.
 
The supporting cast and chorus are still the ones who make or break a big show. It only takes one chorus member to drop their energy to ruin the show for everyone. This cast make the show. Each person on the stage is as strong and believable and the principals. Having seen many of the understudies in supporting roles, I suspect that audiences lucky enough to them perform the leads will be in for some amazing performances.
 
The new design is ideal for smaller stages, but it never looks like a compromise. It’s no secret that the famous US evacuation helicopter scene is now done using projections. What makes this so amazing is the 3-D technology used. It could have looked so cheap and so bad, but this is phenomenally effective. Projections are also used to boost the emotion of “Bui Doi” and add a new depth of satire to “The American Dream”. The animation used in this number was created by Gerald Scarfe, who designed and directed Pink Floyd's, The Wall.
 
I have spoken to other people who have seen this production from the balconies. Their response wasn’t as enthusiastic as mine. There appear to have been some problems with sound. I really hope that the power of this Miss Saigon isn’t lost as the ticket prices go down for a view from the gods.
 
It is expensive to see this style of show, especially if you are caught up with the additional expense of programs and merchandise. But if you are going to see one expensive show this year, this one is worth is. Just give the extras a miss and use that money to go and see a few smaller, independent productions as well.

This review 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.

Harp on the Willow

Harp on the Willow
Presented by Malcolm Cooke and Ensemble Productions
1 March 2007
Comedy Theatre

Mary O’Hara’s story deserves telling and re-telling. Playwright John Misto spent many years searching for her and was thrilled to be able to beat Hollywood and television to the story. If you prefer an episode of Touched By An Angel to a Six Feet Under, then Harp on the Willow will be an ideal night of theatre for you.

Following the death of her husband and years of success and fame as a singer, O’ Hara entered a convent when she was 25. Completely withdrawing from her life, her family and any contact with the world, she was believed dead. Harp on the Willow enters the story 12 years later. She is still a nun and suffering from clinical depression. The only person close to her says that she “lives without joy and despairs of life”.

What could follow is a work about depression, grief and guilt. As a huge crucified Jesus dominates the stage; I also expected that faith, God and belief would be significant themes. All appear in the script, but are about as significant as religion is to The Sound of Music.

Harp on the Willow is written to entertain; not to challenge, question or confront. Jokes appear almost rhythmically – especially nun jokes. According to the audience, there is nothing funnier than a sex/nun joke – except a nun smoking, of course. The jokes break any tension that was developing and continually remind the audience that this is a piece of safe theatre. The delivery and direction ensure that the actors wait for the beat that allows the audience to laugh. This distracts from the drama and reminded me a bit too much of a bad sit com.

The acting style also drifts to the TV soap/sit com style. Marina Prior and Julie Hudspeth both give engaging and enjoyable performances, but neither were convincing as their characters. Prior’s style jumps from “funny nun” to “distraught woman”, but never allows them to be the same person. O’Hara’s depression is only evident by lines in the script, not by her performance.

In contrast Lucy Maunder, as the young O’Hara, and Christopher Stollery, as the man who releases her pain, both present real characters who are able to touch the hearts and minds of the audience. Stollery was skilfully able to balance the drama and the comedy, without distracting from his character. Maunder was working with scenes that could so easily have turned to melodrama, but was able to turn down the drama and subsequently make the young O’Hara’s grief and pain real.

The highlight of the evening is brief an appearance by the real O’Hara. With the help of slides, she briefly talks about her amazing life after the convent. This allows a very happy ending for the audience and makes the past couple of hours on the stage much more real. She has not read or seen the play – and does not intend to. I really wonder what she would think. As she gave Misto the freedom to dramatise, I also wonder why he didn’t explore the obvious themes more thoroughly.

This review origially appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

The Spook

The Spook
Malthouse Theatre
21 February 2007
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse

The Spook is an ideal choice for the Malthouse’s first production of the year. It’s a gold AWGIE winning script by a well known and respected local playwright. The scenario of a 19 year old spying on the Bendigo Communist Party in the 1950s is filled with the potential for gripping drama, contemporary resonance and side-splitting comedy. Unfortunately, the script and the production do not fulfil this promise.

Playwright Melissa Reeves has a detailed knowledge and astute insight into the social world of socialists and other parties to the left of the ALP. The Spook is filled with references and jokes known to anyone who has ever sold a socialist paper or been to a leftie meeting. She deftly draws parallels between the politics of the 1950s and those of today. Yes - there is still no unity among the left, the middle class still rule the parties and we are still shocked when someone votes for the ALP. But what is her message? Who is this play speaking to? Is it a commentary about small left parties or a story about a young man who made a choice that had tragic consequences?

Described as a black comedy, The Spook fails in both its comedy and its drama. Act One is far too long and is spent describing the many characters, rather than showing us who they are and what makes them tick. Act Two is more interesting, but complicated by the introduction of more offstage and onstage characters who do nothing for the plot, except distract from it.

The script’s monologue and dialogue serve as an accurate and interesting history lesson, but don’t serve the characters or move the story forward. Let characters speak as themselves, rather than give them slabs of unnecessary exposition. Show us what these people are feeling. Feelings are what make us act. We don’t need to know every detail of Kim Philby’s espionage activities to know that our young spook is having doubts about his life and his choices. Show us his real confusion and pain. There was a moment in Act Two that nearly made him real. He says that he hates that his friends think he’s a commie and that he’s too scared to fight in Vietnam. But that was it – no further explanation or exploration. I don’t know if these thoughts had anything to do with his actions.

Despite the well researched design, the stage world was not authentic 1950s country Australia. The audience loved the nostalgic references in both the script and the design, but they were just references. Pick a Box, wigs (many wigs), funny accents and pointy breasts fail to make this production ring true.

The language was so removed from the time that it contradicted every character. Fuck, cunt, wog, slut – words that existed and were used – but were not liberally sprinkled into middle class (or working class) conversation 50 years ago.

Tom Healey is an artist’s director. It is clear that every person on the stage loves being there and loves what they are doing. The design elements always integrate perfectly and he lets the playwright’s script speak exactly how it was written.

Nonetheless, I always feel distanced from what is happening on the stage. I have yet to be engaged by a Healy production. I can see the direction process far too clearly. The actors always seem distanced from their characters. I’m feel like I’ watching actors acting, rather than being drawn into a world with characters who I care about.

Reeves script is clever, well constructed and has moments that work perfectly, but it needs the tough love of a strong director (and script editor) to cut and shape it into a work that tells an emotionally rewarding story that resonates in the hearts and minds of the audience. As it stands, it remains a kind of funny commentary about socialist parties, set amongst the funny wigs and accents of 1950s Bendigo.

After The Spook I wondered if I expect too much from our flagship companies. Then I saw Away at La Mama the next night. Tiny theatre, fraction of the Malthouse budget, a well known work and a less than perfect production - but for 65 minutes I was totally in their world. Melbourne’s independent theatre regularly presents fabulous theatre. I don’t understand why our major companies miss the mark so often.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.