Reviews of other Film & Theatre
We enjoy going to see other arts events and would like to use this website to share our thoughts and recommendations. Erin Hutching currently writes reviews for Theatre Network.
Review: Topsy by Kit Lazaroo presented by Here Theatre, 2nd July 2010
Written by Erin Hutching for The Theatre Network www.theatrenetwork.com.au
Here Theatre presents Topsy, a new play by award winning Melbourne-based playwright Kit Lazaroo, about a horrific event in humanity’s collective history. Topsy was a circus elephant on Coney Island at the beginning of the twentieth century who killed three people after she was abused by them, including a trainer who tried to feed her a lit cigarette. After poison failed to put her down, Thomas Edison electrocuted her and captured it on film.
Kit Lazaroo has created four characters who are brought together by Topsy’s predicament – the keeper, a journalist, a rough around the edges sort of man with an anger problem and a mysterious woman with a big secret. The latter three are determined to save Topsy, or at the very least see her before she dies.
The actors actually contributed to the writing process by participating in rehearsed play readings. This is evident in the case of Georgina Capper (Bruna) who delivers the beautifully worded lines deliciously, savouring every moment of her often hilarious dialogue which truly seems to be written for her. Capper is the clear standout performance in this production. Carole Patullo’s wide eyed naiveté and understated characterisation works for her character because she isn’t supposed to give too much away. The two male actors give solid performances but seem to somehow lack the charisma to make their characters’ presences really significant. The interludes of song and visuals are fun and provide a nice change of pace but could be worked in a little better. The production as a whole could benefit from increasing its overall pace as it tends to lag, which drains energy out of the performers and the audience.
This is a solid production with a beautiful production design that is perfectly complimented by the venue (Fortyfive Downstairs). The play is well written and the language is elegant and poetic. However one is left wondering to a degree what the message is actually supposed to be as, without giving anything away, the treatment of the subject matter at the end seems overly simplistic. However for a night out at the theatre, and the great entertainment value of the box office guy at Fortyfive Downstairs, this is worth a look.
[b]Topsy is on at Fortyfive Downstairs until Sunday 11 July Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 5pm. 90 minutes no interval. $29/$24. Bookings 03 9662 9966 or www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
Review: Serenade by Slawomir Mrozek staged by Tadaria Studio at The Dog Theatre, Footscray, Melbourne Reviewed 26th March 2010
Written by Erin Hutching for The Theatre Network www.theatrenetwork.com.au
Serenade is by Slawomir Mrozek, a Polish playwright and a proponent of the genre Theatre of The Absurd. This animal fable tells the story of a fox who attempts to manipulate a trio of hens into leaving the safety of their henhouse and escaping the watchful eye of their rooster. Employing all the tools at his disposal to entice them from sweet cello music to seduction to playing the “bad boy” card, the charismatic fox has the hens enthralled even though they are warned of the danger he poses.
I won’t give away too much but this simple story is simultaneously sweet and thought provoking. Director Marta Kaczmarek, through the program, tells us she hopes we may find many different meanings in this show and one can certainly draw plenty of conclusions about human nature and politics. Even though the play itself is short, running at about 35 minutes, it feels like the perfect length to share the story it has to tell. It would have worked well in conjunction with another short play to make more of an evening of it particularly as Footscray is a little out of the way for many people, but there is always the café where you can get a drink or some dessert to complete the experience.
The set is striking – a large wooden hen house which covers most of one wall of the theatre and contains the four actors who play the hens and the rooster. Each has a small door they can open and peek out. The doors are situated at different levels, creating an interesting visual tableau and a bit of humour as each “bird” pops open their door and joins in the conversation. The opening is stunning as the Fox (Justin Batchelor) serenades the henhouse with his cello as the lights come up.
This piece is directed by Marta Kaczmarek who trained with Ludwik Solski Academy for the Performing Arts in Krakow and who has extensive theatre and film acting experience in Australia, including appearing in the movie Shine alongside Geoffery Rush. Melbourne is lucky to have her wealth of experience in our theatre scene. The movement and timing in this production is lovely.
Justin Batchelor’s understated, depressive, rebel without a cause Fox is a joy to watch as he cunningly draws each bird into his trap. Viviene Davies is lively and has great comic timing as one of the hens. Adrian Mulraney puts in a good performance as the grumpy rooster. The other two actors are fine in their roles but they are a bit hard to listen to, as one is very shrill and the other does not articulate her words very clearly, making her difficult to understand at times.
I would recommend checking out this quirky show as a great piece of independent theatre. I look forward to what Tadaria Studio has to offer in the future.
Serenade is on at The Dog Theatre in Footscray until 10th April, 8pm Tuesday to Saturday. $22/$15 Concession, Preview, Group (8+)/$10 Tightarse Tuesday. 35 minutes, no interval.
Review: The House of Bernada Alba by Federico Lorca presented by Alterior Motive at Northcote Town Hall Reviewed 18th March 2010
Written for The Theatre Network www.theatrenetwork.com.au
Alterior Motive presents a new translation by David Hare of Spanish playwright Federico Lorca’s passionate tragedy The House of Bernarda Alba. The production is being shown in a hot, stuffy theatre at Northcote Town Hall which is perfectly in fitting with the sweltering heat and oppressive atmosphere of the play. The audience sweats and fans themselves along with the characters on stage, being swept along on the tragic tale of desire, pride, matriarchy and obsession with the upkeep of reputation.
Bernada Alba has lost her second husband and she commands her five daughters to remain in mourning for eight years. The girls lament their chances of escaping through marriage, as they have not been left much in the way of inheritance, apart from Angustias who was fathered by Bernada’s first husband. Angustias is thirty-nine and sickly but has been proposed to by the most attractive young man in the village, whom her sisters are positive is purely after her money. The youngest sister, Adela, seems unreasonably upset by Angustias’ engagement. As Bernada struggles to maintain absolute control over her daughters, declaring that they shall not do anything that she is not aware of, events spiral out of control to the horror of Poncia who has been Bernada’s servant for many years.
The absence of men is strongly felt in this tale of five sisters being unnaturally cooped up, not allowed to be young and free, and turning on each other as a result. Pepe, Angustias’ fiancé who is the cause of all the trouble, is talked of constantly but never seen. Lorca creates an insular world where a mother’s insecurity and terror of losing control ruins the lives of her daughters.
This piece opens beautifully, with soft Spanish music playing and a simple set of white windows and stools lit with a red light. A train of veiled women dressed in black enter and line up along the front of the stage, turning to face the audience in succession as they arrive at their place and making the sign of the cross perfectly in unison. This choreography is visually striking and effective. Throughout the play the actors make use of the stage space well, creating interesting tableaux reflecting their close yet troubled relationships. The production is dynamic and very capably directed by Ami-Lou Sharpe.
The performances are strong, with the stand out being Brenda Addie as Bernada. Her presence is dominating and felt even when she is offstage. She creates a Bernada who we are intimidated by even as audience members, yet we feel enormous pity for when she cannot see what is clearly in front of her and she cannot save her family. With absolute blindness reminiscent of Shakespeare’s King Lear, she clings firmly to her ideas about the place of women and the importance of class distinctions and reputation even as her world falls apart around her.
Laura Hill as Poncia is also fantastic and very natural although it is a little distracting in the beginning that she is the only actor doing a Spanish accent (albeit a very good one). Sarah Hamilton is lovely as the young and beautiful Adela and Adele Rickerby is appropriately pathetic as Martirio. There are so many actors in this I can’t mention them all, but I have to make room for Philipa Chapple who is just gorgeous as the mad Maria Josepha, Bernada’s mother, who provides much needed comic relief.
The House of Bernada Alba is on until 21st March, 2pm and 7.30pm on Saturday and 6.30pm on Sunday, at Studio One, Northcote Town Hall.
Tickets $25 (Full) $20(Concession)
Approx 2 hours including 20 minute interval
Book online http://www.alteriormotive.com.au or call Northcote Town Hall on (03) 9481 9500
Demens is set in a mental instution and brings together the lives of two patients, a doctor and a nurse, all of whom are severely disturbed and damaged people. The setting of an asylum is not an original one in the theatre, a notable Australian example being Louis Nowra’s Cosi, and it would be very easy to fall into the trap of stereotype and the predictable conventions of playing “crazy”. Fortunately, Demens avoids this largely due to the talent and sensitivity of the actors. The script is well-written and far better than most Australian plays I have seen of late, but in less capable hands it could have been quite a different experience.
Sarah Bollenberg is outstanding as Valerie, bringing a vivacity and complexity to the role without falling into the stereotypical “hysterical female” territory. She is a commanding presence on stage and delivers the witty, delicious lines she is given with attitude. She uses her physicality extremely well to convey Valerie’s fragile mental state. Her whole body recoils from any possible touch from another character and the balancing act being carried out in her mind is presented in a literal way as she walks along an imagined tightrope, arms outstretched, when she gets uncomfortable with where a conversation is headed.
Glen Hancox is also excellent as the child-like Allan, who sometimes presents himself as wild and violent Stan, his deceased twin brother. Both personalities are well developed and distinct physically and vocally. Allan invites sympathy from the audience in his pathetic fear of his mother and his inability to reveal his homosexuality to her, but his dark side, embodied by Stan, is something to be afraid of and can be felt always lurking below the surface.
Nicholas Barker-Pendree plays Gabriel, a creepy nurse who tries to become far too involved with his charges. This is another role that could easily have been overplayed, but Barker-Pendree is restrained and his very presence on stage sends shivers down my spine!
Finally, Ian Rooney has a smaller part to play as an often drunk doctor, Osmond, who has lost his own son, but his experience and ability brings much to the role.
Both Gabriel and Osmond seem as insane as Valerie and Allan, but this “lunatics running the asylum” idea which has also been done many times before isn’t pushed too far or turned into a parody. The characters simply are who they are.
All in all I was impressed with this production. The simple but striking staging reminiscent of a padded cell in the intimate Dog Theatre was perfectly suited to the content. The only criticism of the production was that somewhere in the middle it dragged a little and became a tad repetitive in the encounters between the characters.
Demens is on until the 20th March, Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm at The Dog Theatre, 42a Albert Street, Footscray Melbourne. I recommend taking the opportunity to see this while you can as a high quality example of local independent theatre.
$25 full/$20 conc/$15 preview or groups of 10
80 minutes no interval
http://www.thedogtheatre.com
http://www.trybooking.com/dco
by Erin Hutching Written for The Theatre Network www.theatrenetwork.com.au
You know how awkward it is when you go to see a show and only a few other people have turned up? It is doubly awkward when you’re there to review it. The Surgical Sideshow at the Polyglot theatre was one such show. The Sydney-based company was travelling through Melbourne on the way back from the Adelaide Fringe so it is understandable that they may not have a following here or have had much time to promote the show.
The Surgical Sideshow is made up of a masked narrator, zombie-like musicians and mute skeletons with giant heads. The concept is interesting – a strange story of skeleton surgeons who perform experiments, holding up placards displaying their lines, silent-film style. The costumes and set are fantastic in both senses of the word, and a lot of effort has clearly been put into these. I can imagine the show would work well in a busy cabaret bar where a tipsy audience gets involved, yelling out the lines displayed on the cards. The show would work best in short skit form (short being the operative word), which I get the impression it has grown out of. The musicians add atmosphere and are probably the best thing about the show but they aren’t used to their full potential, with too many long, drawn-out silent moments where the music could have been gainfully employed to add a bit of life and energy.
In a theatre with an audience of five, with no bar, this show fails woefully. It is far too long and there is not enough substance there to carry a full-length theatre show. The first half is an hour long (the length I expected the whole show to be at the outside) and then we are faced by a twenty minute interval with no refreshments available on site and nothing else within walking distance.
I enjoy my theatre unusual and inventive, and this makes an effort to be so. However the action is lethargic, the jokes predictable and the performers don’t have the skill to make it entertaining. When an actor wears a giant mask, this needs to be accompanied with a defined physicality, whether matching or perhaps the total opposite to what the mask would suggest. I would be surprised if these actors have any experience in physical theatre, because an interesting or exaggerated walk or posture developed organically out of the characters and the giant masks would have made them so much more compelling. Drawing on traditions like Commedia dell’arte or Artaud, or even Charlie Chaplin, could really make this concept work. But merely waving your arms around haphazardly and stamping your feet repeatedly does not make for interesting viewing. When the actors’ eyes and mouths are hidden by masks, they need to be truly present on stage to command attention. It isn’t enough to rely on the fact that the actor is wearing a crazy giant head, no matter how cool it is, to carry the whole show. The narrator Bone Daddy who does speak (and also wears a mask but just a normal head-sided one) and whose role it is to communicate information to the audience, is very difficult to understand because of his mask, something small but important that needs to be addressed. Unlike the other actors he does actually have some stage presence and is a striking figure when he first appears in a tuxedo. The other actor, a girl who plays the “human”, really needs to step up her game to compete with the masks as she is not very interesting on stage.
The highlight of the piece for me is a projection of the two skeletons fighting with each other cartoon-style accompanied by music (carrying on the silent film idea ) which works because of the energy and the choreographed set-piece. I would use this as a starting point and rework the show to be much shorter, snappier and more energetic, and make much better use of the musicians who they are lucky to have.
Unfortunately, this reads rather like a really bad children’s pantomime and not in the ironic way it is intended. To be fair though, I would definitely reiterate that as part of the scene it has grown out of or even as an alternative cabaret act this could really work in skit-form. However as a theatrical piece it is sadly lacking.
Finally, I have a confession to make which I feel wretched about. My friend and I actually left at intermission. Faced by a twenty-minute wait with nothing to do and no prospect of any alcohol or snacks followed by a second excruciating half of indeterminate length, we saw another couple leave and my friend (who was driving) refused to stay any longer. As she was my ride home I didn’t have much choice but I feel terrible for the performers who had their tiny audience reduced even further. I hope they take the advice to plan any future gigs in bars or restaurants with a steady supply of alcohol on hand!
The Surgical Sideshow is on at the Polyglot Theatre in South Yarra 10th – 13th March 8pm nightly with a special matinee at 2pm on 13th March
Nil, Cat & Buried by Stephen Sewell presented by Le Poulet Terrible at Dog Theatre, Footscray 11-27 February 2010
Review by Erin Hutching Written for The Theatre Network www.theatrenetwork.com.au
Nil, Cat & Buried is an Australian play by the prolific and award-winning playwright Stephen Sewell. The first production took place at La Mama some fifteen years ago. This outing is Le Poulet Terrible’s first production of an Australian work, following their stagings of two reasonably well-received European works –Moliere’s The Doctor and Joe Orton’s The Ruffian on the Stair.
Three dark, violent stories are told by four actors – one couple and two single characters whose lives do not intersect but mirror each other in their horror and nihilism. The actors remain on stage with each other for the duration of the performance from their first entrance, creating visually effective tableaux and using the intimate stage space well.
This production boasts mainly strong performances (when they don’t tend towards melodrama). In particular, Natalie Carr’s downtrodden and abused Candy is invested with emotion and pathos that is rarely overplayed. Her chemistry with Daniel Kamouris’ Nick lends a palpable tension to their often angry and violent exchanges. However the subtleties in her performance are often countered by the demands laid on her by the script, which can be about as subtle as a sledgehammer at times. Richard Cawthorne also falls prey to this problem. His charismatic and very creepy Cat is a highlight for me at the beginning of the show but by the end he has repeated the same refrain about people being essentially corrupt inside so many times that it has lost all impact. Admittedly the extreme heat in the theatre on the night I saw the show probably didn’t help with my patience!
There are very well crafted moments where both the script and the production come together and really work. In these moments the audience is on edge with a palpable discomfort – the narratives include, without giving too much away, domestic violence, adultery, murder, incest and animal torture. However the power and dramatic tension of these moments is negated by the fact that the writer just doesn’t know when to stop. The script fails to realise when the audience has well and truly “got it” and the dialogue and action goes from being effective to overdone and predictable.
My main problem with this show, as you can probably tell, is the play itself. The director of this production, Alice Bishop, chose to rework the original script and interweave the different characters’ stories. It seems to me that this was a very good choice as the movement between the pieces is well choreographed and the audience doesn’t get bored with any one narrative (or at least as bored as we may have been otherwise!) This play may have been a bit shocking and disturbing when it was first written fifteen years ago but there is so much of this kind of pseudo-existentialist theatre with nihilistic tendencies and overtones of gender politics out there these days that it just isn’t that interesting anymore. Call me naïve but it isn’t my experience of life that everyone is horribly cruel to each other all the time and I find it gets a bit tiresome.
In saying that, I freely admit that this is a matter of personal taste and regardless of what I thought about the play, Le Poulet Terrible did a fine job with what they had to work with. I particularly enjoyed the use of simple visual themes such as a light shining out of the surrounding darkness created first by a match, then a lantern and then a torch as each of the characters came on stage. This visual symbol reflected the fact that each character seemed to have very little light inside them and what light was there was being engulfed by the darkness of their situation. This simple symbol of a light could have been continued and repeated even more. I enjoyed the elements of the production that invoked that great tradition of the horror and loneliness of the vast Australian outback – the mound of dirt on stage, Candy’s terror at the noises in the dark when they arrive at an abandoned house, the references to native birds.
There were parts that needed work or just didn’t make sense, in particular the way Elizabeth Thompson’s Karen mimed some objects on stage for no apparent reason when other props were physically present and none of the other actors did any miming. However these were generally small issues.
This is an interesting production in the funky, intimate venue The Dog Theatre, 42a Albert Street, Footscray showing now until February 27th at 8pm every night. Tickets are $25/$20 (Cut-price Tuesday all tickets $20). Book online athttp://www.lepouletterrible.com.au or purchase tickets on the door (cash only). Please note this show is 70 minutes with no interval.
En Route (part of Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2009) Review by Erin Hutching, published on Buzzcuts website
En Route invites and allows you to become an explorer, a tourist and an audience member in your own city. Equipped with an iPod playing a soundtrack of funky music by Melbourne artists, snippets of conversation and poetic musings, participants wander through the city’s laneways and shopping areas following instructions and clues communicated by guides along the way, phone calls, text messages and hand-drawn maps contained in tiny envelopes.
This event is categorised in the new “Live Art” section of the Fringe Festival program and it certainly embodies what I imagine live art to be. As you journey along, the cityscape becomes the set, the passersby the actors and the iPod provides the soundtrack for your very own three-dimensional, fully sensory living film or performance. I felt like an invisible observer in a world that had been designed just for me – I could imagine the director just out of the frame of my vision telling pedestrians and traffic exactly when to go past to create a perfectly choreographed display. I projected my own narratives onto scenes I witnessed as I journeyed through the city.
Exceptionally well planned, constructed and executed, En Route is a site specific work which displays Melbourne at its most interesting and eclectic, taking you from swanky shops to grungy graffiti-covered alleys. En Route is an event by bettybooke who brought us War Lounge in last year’s Melbourne Fringe.
I don’t want to give away too much as part of the joy of the experience is the surprises along the way. I was en route with a friend and we found it an exuberant, exciting experience. I think it would be much more introspective but just as enjoyable as a solo adventurer. Whether you are alone or in a group, I recommend taking your time to savour this wonderful event.
Copernicus (part of Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2009) Review by Erin Hutching, published on Buzzcuts website
Copernicus explores the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the man who went against prevailing contemporary wisdom to declare that the Earth orbits the sun rather than being the stationary centre of creation. Copernicus is a fascinating historical figure about who little is known except that he worked as a physician and priest and devoted his spare time to astronomy.
This production by Transit Theatre is appropriately held in the Melbourne Planetarium. Sam Davidson as Copernicus tells his story against the backdrop of the stunning night sky as the audience lies back in their seats. Also projected onto the 180 degree surrounds are backdrops to set the scene as well as visual explosions of equations and pages from texts that dance across the sky. The visual element of the performance is accompanied by the voices of Aristotle and Plato which fade in and out as Copernicus ponders the mysteries of the universe.
The highlight is definitely the planetarium itself along with the beautiful projections, including the animation created by Brendan Willis. Sam Davidson is charming as the earnest Copernicus, but he perhaps lacks the charisma and energy to compete with the gorgeous displays on the ceiling. He is most animated when having conversations with the various voices of historical figures that appear throughout. Davidson has trained with the school of movement Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique, and this training is evident in his movement pieces, particularly when Copernicus is lost in thought drawing angles and equations in the air. His gigantic shadow is reflected multiple times on the ceiling, twisting and cavorting among the stars which is visually effective, if a little repetitive.
This show tackles some big questions and a fascinating subject matter. If, like myself, you’ve always thought a trip to the planetarium would be cool, here is the perfect chance.
Copernicus is on at The Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks Museum various dates in September and October 2009 transittheatre.com/copernicus
