Review: Dangerous Liaisons

NEON
Dangerous Liaisons
Little Ones Theatre
30 May 2014
Lawler Studio
to 8 June
mtc.com.au

Photo by Sarah Walker

The second NEON Festival of Independent Theatre opens with the dazzling high-camp, glitter-bright, subversion of Stephen Nicolazzo's Little Ones Theatre.

Dangerous Liaisons is a 1985 play (which won lots of awards) by Christopher Hampton that's based on Pierre Choderlos De Lacos's Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a late-18th century novel consisting of letters between the characters. Being a story about the perverse sexual and moral corruption of the decadent French aristocracy, it never has problems being transported out of its context.

Marquise de Merteuil (Alexandra Aldrich) and Vicomte de Valmont (Janine Watson; it wouldn't be a Nicolazzo play if gender wasn't questioned) were once lovers, but prefer being BFFs. As Merteuil was dumped by a lover – for the first time – she enlists Valmont to seduce the dumper's virgin bride-to-be (Amanda McGregor), who happens to be the daughter of another of Merteuil's friends (Zoe Boesen). Valmont thinks a convent virgin seduction is too easy and sets himself a worthier target (Brigid Gallacher) and then it begins to get complicated (with Catherine Davies, Tom Dent and Joanne Sutton).

Eugyeene Teh's set is a sunglasses-reaching explosion of gold luxury. This world is so rich that the curtains and floor are gold; until you look closely and see it's paper-faux. Into this comes the outrageously lush French court costumes by Tessa Leigh Wolffenbuttel Pitt that are pink, hot-pink rose pink, magenta, glittery pink, see-through pink with bonus pinked-up nipples and sequins.

The stylised acting style is close-to-but-not-totally-over-the top and is as controlled-camp as the design. This heightens the language of the script and highlights its look at the power that women have in societies that still categorises women as respectfully married, convent-worthy virgins or worthless whores. From the magnificent pink to its all-but-one female cast, this Liaisons is all about the women's sides of the arrangements.

But at over two hours (plus interval), its consistent style lets the exquisite pretty distract from the emotional connection to the story. Even with the incomparable Aldrich, it's hard to feel for a women who's on the verge of middle age and about to lose the only thing that gave her power when we're waiting for the next marvellous line and guaranteed laugh.

While all of the delicious cast have unforgettable moments (really, they are all wonderful), Gallacher finds the most in her character and lets Madame de Tourvel's heart meld with the style. The rest are nearly there and I think that week-two audiences will see the extra guts that was hinted at on opening night.

Little One's influences and inspirations are clear on the stage, but they make work that couldn't be re-created by anyone else. Nicolazzo has found artists who understand and share his vision and together they are one of the most authentic theatre voices around.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Review: S

S
Circa
Darebin Arts Speakeasy
27 May 2014
Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre
to 29 May 2014
darebinartscentre.com.au

I've seen a lot of circus and a lot of contemporary dance, but I've never seen anything like Circa's S.

Premiered at the Brisbane Festival in 2012, S has toured Australia and the world, and tonight is the last chance to see it in Melbourne. It's on at the Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre (corner of St Georges and Bell streets, plenty of parking or on the 112 tram line).

Breathtaking is a go-to word for describing great work, but watching S is so sensually encompassing that remembering to breath may be the only thing you're physically capable of.

Circa are based in Brisbane and with a full-time ensemble of performers, artistic director, Yaron Lifschiz, continues to re-define circus as an art form that's undismissable and unmissable.

This piece is inspired by the shape, sound and function of the letter S, but is all about the astonishing physical ability of the performers (Nathan Boyle, Jessica Connell, Casey Douglas, Daniel O'Brien, Brittannie Portelli, Kimberley Rossi and Duncan West). As much dance as acrobatics (and hoops and ariel), it starts by defining the limits of a human strength and flexibility and proceeds to extend and smash its own definitions until you believe that humans can fly.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Review: La traviata

La traviata
Victorian Opera in association with Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini
17 May 2014
Her Majesty's Theatre
to 29 May
victorianopera.com.au

Photo by Jeff Busby

Victorian Opera's much-anticipated La traviata is presented in association with Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini (the Pergolesi Spontini Foundataion) who run an opera house in Jesi, Italy, that was built in the late 1700s. You can imagine how much the original 1992 production oozed with connection to place and time and culture, but I'm not sure why Victorian Opera transported it to Australia.

La traviata is the opera non-opera fans know. It's the story of courtesan Violetta who gives up the life of sexy whoring and lavish parties for lover Alfredo and a quiet life the country. Alfie's dad isn't impressed, especially as his daughter is trying to be respectable and having a brother associated an un-unmarried prossie is a problem. But Violetta is all heart and gives up her love and has plot-convenienet consumption.

With the original director, Henning Brockhaus, and the famous – extraordinarily beautiful angled mirror with painted floor clothes – design by the late Czech designer Josef Svoboda, it's the Italian production with an Australian cast.

And the cast are stunning.

Australian Soprano Jessica Pratt is best known in Europe and her Australian debut as Violetta is astonishing. This is singing that stops you dead and dares you not to listen. With clarity like an untouched mountain spring, she finds the emotion in the music and lets it float into our hearts.

Italian tenor Alessandro Scotto di Luzio captures the appeal of Alfredo and he and Pratt sound like they were meant to sing together. But they rely on the music to show their love and haven't been directed to show their unstoppable passion, leaving them looking awkward rather then lovers who are prepared to give up everything to be together.

Much better in this respect is Jose Carbo as Alfredo's father, who show the unbearable loss in Act III.
And Kirilie Blythman, as servant Annina, and Dimity Shepherd, as courtesan Flora, bring more than wonderful voices to the stage.

The sound of this opera is what makes it so worth seeing. Richard Mills's conducting and musical direction brings out the best in all the voices and the chorus, and he ensures that the full orchestra supports and never overwhelms the singers. It's a production you want a recording of.

What's disappointing is that this production never feels or looks like it was made for this cast. There are unflattering costumes made to fit rather than designed for the performers, and ridiculous false beards; the chorus sound magnificent but look uncomfortable and seem unsure of their role on the stage, as do the dancers who swirl around them with little connection to the story; and even when the design reveals visual treats like its stunning lawn of flowers, the connection between design and production gets lost.

As a whole, I saw nothing in this Traviata that I haven't seen before and wonder what we'd have got if an Australian director had been given the freedom to create a production hat resonates in the here and now.

But go to hear Jessica Pratt.

This was in AussieTheatre.com.

Review: Ghosts

Ghosts
MTC
22 May 2014
The Sumner
to 21 June
mtc.com.au

Photo by Jeff Busby

Overwrought and underwhelming, the MTC's Ghosts is as haunting as the Luna Park ghost train, but not as fun.

The 1880s critics generally despised Henrik Ibsen's play for being a pit of degenerate ickiness that dared to talk about nice middle class people knowing about syphilis, sex and incest.

Widowed 40-something Helene Alving (Linda Cropper) is thrilled to have her 20-something son, Oswald (Ben Pfeiffer), back home from Paris and is excited that her old crush, Pastor Manders (Philip Quast), is visiting to bless and open the orphanage she built in honour of her late husband. Meanwhile her maid, Regina (Pip Edwards), is leaning français to impress Oswald and Regina's dad, Jacob (Richard Piper), wants Regina to work at his new house for wandering seamen.

Gale Edwards's translation so simplifies (and Aussifies) the script that the seamen pun is a highlight in a tale that now states the obvious, explains it a bit more and yells it again. And it's directed by Edwards to focus on that translated script.

In performances described to me as "a bit shouty" (I said over played and under felt, but shouty is better), it relies on its words to tell the story. Words tell a story in a novel, on a stage they are the base to start from.

To find the emotional connection with the world and its characters, there has to be a belief and understanding on the stage that sex outside of a good-god sanctified marriage is unforgivable. Unless we can understand and feel that, all that's left is a "so what?". Even the final scene between breaking mother and broken son are close to dull because there was no relationship in the space between the actors.

At least Shaun Gurton's striking design of rain and fog creates some mood and sense of place with Paul Jackson's lighting.

Perhaps the 1880s critics might have liked it.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Reveiw: Ugly Mugs

Ugly Mugs
Malthouse Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company
20 May 2014
Beckett Theatre
to 7 June
malthousetheatre.com.au

Melbourne-based writer and performer Peta Brady is also an outreach worker who knows how people fall through the cracks of society and are left to fend for themselves. She's seen the violence, hatred and despair, and the hope. Ugly Mugs is a glimpse of this world that is too easy to look away from.

When a St Kilda resident was violently murdered last year, the media barely raised an eyebrow because she was a sex worker. Her family, friends and life beyond her work were dismissed as irrelevant. I didn't live very far away from her; I might have sat next to her on the tram, but I didn't recognise her.

Ugly mugs lists, updated and distributed by sex workers, describe aggressive and violent clients. Ugly Mugs is the interwoven stories of a sex worker who met one such mug and of a teenage boy who was the last person to see a young woman before she disappeared.

The first story takes place in the forensic morgue where the dead woman (Brady) talks with the doctor performing her autopsy (Steve Le Marquand). The second takes place in the park where the teenagers (Harry Borland and Sara West) met and at the boy's home with his mother (also played by Brady).

A few weeks ago, I went to Melbourne's forensic morgue. It was the 4 am show of The 24-Hour Experience that was part of FOLA (Festival of Live Art). The morgue is a short walk from the Malthouse theatre. As an art experience, we saw the Homicide Room where she would have been taken. The sight of a woman on a stainless steel medical trolley was enough to see her in that sterile room filled with hoses and knives, and as she spoke it was enough to also be walking along streets in St Kilda where street workers are as accepted as lost tourists looking for Acland Street cakes.

Yeah, it's too easy to look away.

Played out on a rough grey asphalt floor (design by Michael Hankin) that begs for bloody scrapes and scars, Ugly Mugs is emotionally raw theatre that invites us to look at our communities a little more closely, without preaching that we must. Dramatically, the second story isn't as tight as the first and having Brady as the murdered woman and the mother leads to some initial confusion, but neither takes away from the impact or heartfelt truth of the work.

As the "Australian writers don't get supported on our main stages" conversation has been active this week, Ugly Mugs is proof that wonderful Australian writing is thriving.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Review: Wicked

Wicked
Matt Platt, David Stone, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, John B Platt, John Frost
10 May 2014
The Regent
to October
wickedthemusical.com.au

Photo by Belinda Strodder

Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's phenomenally successful Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003 and is still running. This production has won piles of awards, has been reproduced all over the world, including Australia in 2008–11, and is back in Melbourne, before touring to Sydney and Brisbane.

With 11 years of international reviews, there's nothing that hasn't been said about the story of the friendship between the Glinda and Elphaba. If you somehow don't know, Wicked is the Wizard of Oz story told from a different perspective and based on a book by Gregory Maguire.

It opens with Glinda the Good Witch descending into Oz in her bubble and confirming that green Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, has been melted by some human throwing water on her. Then someone asks Glinda if it's true that she was once friends with the wicked one. Of course they were, and the next couple of glorious hours is their story, which starts way before Dorothy and Toto arrive in Oz and continues until after the ruby slippers have been clicked.

It's full of Wizard of Oz references (book and film) and ensures that you can't see or read it again without this extra knowledge.

This production is superb. It's as fresh and exciting as if it's brand new and is impossible to fault. If I'd seen this show as a child, I think I would have self-combused with a combination of heart-break and utter joy. If you know children who like theatre, music and stories, Wicked is an experience like they haven't imagined yet.

And there were still plenty of grown ups crying and cheering and telling me how many times they'd seen it.

Then there's the Australian cast. The energy and excitement of the ensemble fill the enormous Regent (it is a huge theatre); Emily Cascarino (Nessarose), Edward Grey (Boq), Maggie Kirkpatrick (Madame Morrible) and Steve Danielsen (Fiyero) bring enough of themselves to the roles to make them unique and heartfelt; and Reg Livermore as the Wizard captures the greed and broken heart of the man behind the gold mask and makes him so human that his villainy is understood.

But Wicked can only fly if its witches take off. And they soar. Jemma Rix (Elphaba) and Lucy Durack (Glinda) are superstars. Rix's voice goes straight to your heart and Durack's has a clarity and tone that brings emotion to every note, but what makes them so unforgettable is that they make Elphaba and Glinda totally their own and ensure that every choice that they make is supported, clear and real. In a story of magic and unknown powers, it's this reality that brings us into the hearts of the characters and lets us feel for them, no matter how unreal their world is.

Commercial producers don't always get it right in Australia when they bring us the big shows, but Wicked is as glorious, funny and heart-pumping as any theatre I've seen.

Now, if they can just find a way and the will to give people and families who can't afford hundreds of dollars the chance to see this show.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Last chance: The Safe House and Dolores

I caught a couple of late-season shows this week that finish this weekend. You can still see both: The Safe House tonight and Dolores tomorrow afternoon.

Dolores
Q44 Theatre Company
14 May 2014
550 Swan Street, Burnley
to 18 May
q44.com.au

Dolores is from new company Q44, an ensemble of nine actors.

They've created a wonderful new theatre space on Swan Street in Burnley and are letting Melbourne know they are here with a work by New York writer Edward Allan Baker.

Set in Brooklyn in the 1970s, it's the story of two sisters whose lives have always been controlled by violence. It's an actor's dream to play parts like this, and Nicole Melloy and Gabriella Rose-Carter embrace its intense naturalism with the kind of understanding and heart that let's us be flies on the wall in the kitchen.

The Safe House
3rd Room Theatrical
16 May 2014
Owl and the Pussycat
to 17 May
3rdroomtheatrical.com

Another newish company is 3rd Room Theatrical who are performing The Safe House, down the road from Dolores, at the gorgeous Owl and the Pussycat in Richmond.

This new work by Tim Wotherspoon, who performs it with Lily Constantine and Rhys McConnochie, is a low-tech sci fi, lost-in-time mystery-comedy that makes it's audience think and re-think their theories and conclusions every minute.

We're in a room with Josie, Alan and Sid. They might be spies or time travellers or sick. Sid might be or might have been a her. It might be the 1980s or the future or today. And no one knows if it's safe. With tone-perfect performances, The Safe House is mind-fuckingly funny and always a step ahead of its audience.

They've had some intimate audiences, so it would be amazing to see them adding in extra seats and filling up tonight.

Review: Night on Bald Mountain

Night on Bald Mountain
Malthouse Theatre
8 May 2014
Merlyn Theatre
to 25 May
malthousetheatre.com.au

There's the moment when you walk into a theatre and get the first look of the world you're going to be playing in. And all fear of the play that Patrick White himself called "a dishonest play" flew when faced with a real bald mountain.

Dale Ferguson's design for Night on Bald Mountain is a roof-to-floor and wall-to-wall terraced mountain made of plywood with secret doors opening into endless black and secret goats for instant joy. With Paul Jackson's always-glorious lighting, we're taken from dawn to dawn on the mountain and into a house that wants to be part of a landscape that it doesn't belong in.

Neil Armfield, a close friend of White who directed many of his plays, once said in Meanjin that White's plays "only work in wonderful productions. Patrick knew this, and that is why he was so selective about his directors. And it’s not a case of bad writing needing to be rescued, or papered over; rather the plays present great challenges that need to be overcome."

Photo by Pia Johnson

Matthw Lutton directs this Mountain. He was a child when White died in 1990, so never saw the author-approved productions, yet his vision of this 50-year-old work finds a completeness in the difficult-to-perform play.

With its goat-lady chorus of one, an older couple who never found each other, a young couple who never have a chance to find each other, and outsiders who want to but can't escape the mountain, it's a psychological piece about character. But Lutton doesn't let this constant exploration dominate and his movement around and through the imposing mountain creates a pace that drives the story, lets the comedy come freely, and creates a tension that lets us hope for an ending that isn't pre-destined by the mountain's slippery paths and crevices.

Actors love White because there is so much in discover in his characters and his language. This cast – and it's worth seeing if only for the cast – approach their characters in ways that result in different styles of performance, and this somehow adds to the complexity without ruining the overall flavour. Nikki Sheils's sunny naturalism, Julie Forsyth's Brechtian distance and Melita Jurisic's anguished almost-expressionism should clash, but the combination of unique performer and character bring a closeness to the characters while still maintaining the distance that allows us to see the wholeness of the work.

This push-and-pull is supported by David Franzke's sound that mixes amplified and natural sound – and Ida Duelund Hansen's live music – to bring us into mountain and its people or leave us safely watching from afar.

It's a production that brings a very-now theatre aesthetic to a work that could easily get stuck in the 60s, and ultimately lets us see the writing of Patrick White though fresh eyes.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

The tribute piece by Neil Armfield in Meanjin.

Review: another The Government Inspector

The Government Inspector
MUST
15 May 2014
MUST Theatre at Monash Uni, Clayton
to 24 May
Facebook event

When Simon Stone re-worked Nikoli Gogol's Not-The Government Inspector earlier in the year, the MUST (Monash University Student Theatre) mob were a bit miffed, or maybe excited, because they were planning their own re-working of the 1936 play.

Theirs is nothing like Stone's. While that Inspector was a reflection of audience and the type of theatre commercial audiences like to see, MUST's is a reflection of society and the type of theatre that indie creators want to make.

The satirical Russian play is about corrupt officials in a small town expecting a visit by a government inspector. They mistake a visitor for the inspector and the visitor proceeds to enjoy the special treatment and bribes.

Director James Jackson (who's doing Honours at Monash) developed the re-working with his cast (Akhila Epa, Alex Beyer, Amanda Giannarus, Chloe Smith, Emily Stokes, Sam Nix, Shamita Sivabalan and Verity Norbury).

And it's far from a text-on-stage production.

In a wire cage, the performers are in full length overalls that could place them in any prison or workplace. There's the threat of torture and no one's really in control. Then Gogol calls in because he's not happy with the beginning, so it's time to bring out the feathered fans and a party box of coloured balls.

There's reference to the original text, but it's just the starting point to find the issues its creators are concerned and angry about. And with Putin's politics sending Russia backwards, there's plenty to choose from that is just as relevant to us, especially in this horror-Budget week where Australian politics are hurtling backwards as well.

From the mesmerisingly bleak to a Putin dance that would get them arrested in Russia, this Inspector plays with time and endurance and leaves its audience questioning everything they see. There's plenty of nods to theatre styles and makers, but Jackson is finding his own theatrical voice and it's one that's sure to make its presence felt in years to come.

And it's worth seeing even if only to compare to Stone's.

Very Quickly: A Wake, Kids Killing Kids

NEXT WAVE
A Wake: Kids Killing Kids
Too Many Weapons and The Sipat Lawin Ensemble
10 May 2014
Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
to 11 May
nextwave.org.au

Very quickly

There are only two performances left of A Wake: Kids Killing Kids. 

At last year's Melbourne Fringe, we saw and we argued about Kids Killing Kids, the story of four young writers and their experience of writing an unexpected cult hit in Manila that was criticised as much for its violence as it was praised by its thousands of obsessed fans.

This version includes five members of The Sipat Lawin Ensemble, the company who created and performed that show in Manila, including the director, performers and the production manager.

A Wake begins with the same writers' story, but this time it's the people who were performing Battalia Royale in Manila take over and tell their side.

If you loved the Fringe show, you cannot even consider missing this.

If you hated the Fringe show (and I know people who really did), I really think that you should see this.

And here's a wonderful interview and reflection from Fleur on School For Birds.

NEXT WAVE: Madonna Arms

NEXT WAVE
Madonna Arms
I'm Trying To Kiss You 
7 May 2014
Arts House, Meat Market
2014.nextwave.org.au

Photo by Sarah Walker

Shows don't speak to everyone, but I thought that Madonna Arms would be one for me.

I'm Trying To Kiss You's last show captured the experience of 20-something love and friendship so beautifully and this one is about women and body image, food and fitness with 80s sci-fi references, pop-culture jabs and drag kings. Sign me up!

But I don't know what this show is trying to say.

It had some moments about salads and chips and strength, and I laughed at the big cock, but it seemed so focussed on its own big picture and what it looked like (and I don't think they were trying for the ultimate irony) that its content got lost in the razzle dazzle and support underwear.

I saw it without my review hat on, so I recommend Jane Howard's review on The Guardian. 


PS. When you start late on purpose during a festival, you know that other shows lose some of their audience.

NEXT WAVE: The Dokboki Box

NEXT WAVE
The Dokboki Box
Younghee Park, M'ck McKeague and Nathan Stoneham
6 May 2014
River Walk by Federation Square
to 11 May
nextwave.org.au

The Dokboki Box happens in a pop-up orange tent between Federation Square and the Yarra and it's a bright flash of welcoming happy.

It's easy to feel uncomfortable in a small audience (only 15 tickets per show) – especially when the seats are plastic stools – but the warm and genuine welcome into the cold tent quickly banishes any awkwardness. We're given little warm rugs and offered Korean beer or wine and it's not long before everyone is talking. And the stools spin!

While Younghee Park cooks Korean street food (dokboki and odeng), she tells us how it's her grandmother's recipe and tells a story about her family, her attempts at finding love and about feeding hungry people in Seoul. With such a small audience, it's impossible to not become a part of the story and the line between performers and audience blurs into friendship.

The message is a bit earnest, but it doesn't diminish the atmosphere of welcoming loveliness as Younghee's story is as happily shared as the food she makes for us. And granny's recipe for Queen Dokbuki (vego) is delicious. I had seconds.

Review: Knives in Hens

Knives in Hens
MUST
1 May 2014
MUST Theatre at Monash University
to 10 May
monashstudentassociation.com

Photo by Debbie Yew

Each time I see something created my MUST (Monash University Student Theatre), I tell myself that I must see more of what they do. So many ex-MUSTers are making their mark in Melbourne's independent and professional theatres that it's so worth going back to the source and seeing the artists who are going to be getting our attention very soon.

And with the Bachelor of Performing Arts getting a kick in the guts at Monash University, MUST is the only way for some students to get practical experience. I just have to think how much I learnt in my student theatre days to remember the importance of university-supported/funded student theatre.

Knives in Hens by Scottish writer David Harrower was first performed in 1997 in the UK and has since become one of the most performed Scottish plays. It was last seen in Melbourne in 2009 in a production, by Malthouse and State Theatre of South Australian, that I think ultimately let the script down by focussing on design and performance. (Here's my review but the best discussion happened on Theatre Notes.)

Directed by Yvonne Virsik, this production approaches the script with a delicate hand and an understanding that shows why it's so loved. By ensuring that its deceptively simple story (a love triangle in village not far from industrial change) drives the action, the poetry of its dense language is accessible. With story being clear, the audience are free to listen to the language and find their own meaning in its layers.

Yvonne continues to get beautiful performances out of young actors (Emily O'Conner, Edan Goodall and Jonny Dutaillis) and guides the students in the creation of a work that reflects their experience and interpretation of this play.

Monash Uni is out at Clayton, but it's not a long drive and there's plenty of parking. Or there's a bus to the door. The tickets are affordable and you will see excellent theatre.

PS. I didn't write about the last MUST show, Psychopomp and Drench, but its was stunning.

Next up at MUST is The Government Inspector (15–24 May).