Matilda winners named
Five Queensland-based performing artists were named winners of the 2001 Matilda awards today.
The winners, who each received $2000, are actors Michael Dorman (48 Shades of Brown), Elise Grieg
(Caucasian Chalk Circle, Alive at Williamstown Pier, Secret Bridesmaids' Business),
Helen Howard (Molly Sweeney), Hayden Spencer (Small Mercies, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Alive at Williamstown Pier, Buried Child) and lighting designer Matt Scott.
Special commendations were given to Andrew Buchanan, Damien Cassidy, Christine Johnston, Jean-Marc Russ, Sven Swenson and David Walters.
Other special awards were the Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance award for the best emerging artist: Michael Dorman; the Backstage Award: Tiffany Noake; the
Actors Benevolent Fund Award for long-time commitment to Queensland theatre: Leo Wockner;
the QPAT Award, a trophy sculpted by Rhyll Hinwood (chosen by QPAT): Stephen Page;
the Ashley Wilkie memorial award for outstanding contribution to theatre public relations: Rosemary Herbert; special commendation for promoting local writing in Dirt: Michael Gow and the Queensland Theatre Company.
Background to the Matildas
(9 April 2002)
Matilda judging underway
Brisbane theatre critics are in the midst of judging winners of the 2001
Matilda awards
to be announced at QPAC on 9th April. The critics will finalise a list of five Queensland-based theatre people from the ranks of actors, directors and production staff.
The Matildas are in their fifteenth year.
And who says critics don't matter? Did you know that critics are the judges of quality in theatre? Critics themselves might shy away from such a claim, but it's the official view of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. QPAC's 2001 annual report includes an index of "quality"
to rate its shows. And how is "quality" determined? By whether reviews are "positive" or not. And it turns out that 80 percent of QPAC performances received the thumbs up from critics last year, hence demonstrating the shows' quality (or perhaps the quality of the champagne at the opening night parties!).
(18 March 2002)
QB gender reversal faces last-minute reversal
A top female dancer has taken over the role of a female character which was
to have been danced by a top male dancer in the Queensland Ballet's
Sleeping Beauty which opens on Wednesday.
Confused? Queensland Ballet revealed today that popular North Queensland-born
performer Anthony Lewis, recently promoted to
principal dancer, injured his knee in training a few weeks ago.
Lewis, who is expected to be out of
action for the rest of this year, was set to be the surprise announcement for
the part of Carabosse, the evil fairy
in the Tchaikovsky ballet. As the QB's website put it: "Traditionally played by a male
dancer, the casting of Carabosse will be a closely guarded secret until the
production premieres, but audiences can be assured of a powerful acting
performance from one of
the Company's senior dancers".
The secret had to be rewritten following Lewis's mishap, with the result that a top European female
dancer, Ilja Louwen, will now dance Carabosse. Louwen was roped into the
role in the midst of her Queensland holiday to visit her
German-born friend Jens Weber, QB principal dancer who plays
the handsome prince in this production.
Louwen has most recently been principal dancer with the Monte Carlo Ballet.
"We are so lucky that a dancer of Ilja's quality happened to be in Australia
on holidays and attending company training sessions as a visitor to maintain
her fitness," QB artistic director and choreographer Francois Klaus said today.
"Rechoreographing the role on her has been a really exciting challenge as she
brings to us different skills and exceptional artistry which the Brisbane
audience will delight in discovering.
The cast change also represents a good example of a continuing challenge for us.
As a company we always have to adapt so that we can perform as planned
despite unexpected injury.
In this case we were lucky to have a mature dancer of this calibre at hand."
The secret cast change was kept under wraps while QB officials worked frantically
behind the scenes to have Louwen's holiday visa changed to a working visa.
(8 March 2002)
New QPAC boss named
QPAC's chief executive is Craig McGovern, 35, a local expert in events management.
McGovern replaces long-term director Tony Gould, 64, who steps down today after 23 years at the head of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
QPAC says McGovern beat a large national and international field of candidates and was one of 12 applicants interviewed.
Cairns-born McGovern is now director of Venues, Events, Sport and the Arts for the professional services group Ernst & Young in Brisbane. He has previously managed events and venues for Sport and Recreation Queensland, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and the Queensland Events Corporation.
Arts Minister Matt Foley said today the arts community should be confident that the Centre is in capable hands and that 2002 will be an exciting year.
Still to be announced is the new QPAC artistic director.
(15 February 2002)
More than 20 plays in Arts 2002 line-up
Brisbane Arts Theatre launched its 2002 season today, with 10 main house productions, eight children's shows and a further four early week plays.
Main house plays are: (January) A Sting in the Tale by Brian Clemens & Dennis Spooner, directed by Norma Allen; (February) Play It Again, Sam by Woody Allen, directed by John Boyce; (March) Summer of the Aliens by Louis Nowra, directed by Fred Wessely & Jo Peirce; (April) premiere of The Big Hit by Paul Osuch, directed by Stephen Scott; (May) The Lark by Jean Anouilh, directed by Pat Wallace; (June) The Scarlet Pimpernel, a musical by Nan Knighton & Frank Wildhorn, directed by Rodney Wolff; (July) Macbeth by William Shakespeare, directed by Drew Mason, Tracy Ollington & Paul Sherman; (September) The Talented Mr Ripley by Phyllis Nagy, directed by Brenda White; (October) Lipstick Dreams by Helen O'Connor & Simon Hopkinson, directed by Jan Paterson; (November) Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Graham McKenzie.
The Early Week series, renamed "Fresh", seeks to be relevant to under 35s, according to artistic director Brenda White. The plays are Nick Enright's Blackrock in February, directed by Natalie Bochenski, Hilary Bell's Wolf Lullaby in June, directed by Frances Marrington, and Stephen Berkoff's Harry's Christmas plus Michael Frayn's Audience in November, both directed by Drew Mason.
Arts' popular Children's Theatre line-up is The Pied Piper (January), The Emperor's New Clothes (February), More Adventure of Noddy (April), 101 Dalmatians (June), Red Riding Hood (July), Wonderland (September), Rumplestiltzkin (October) and James and the Giant Peach (January 2003).
(21 November 2001)
Five plays in La Boite's 2002 season
Five plays plus the return of one of this year's hits are the highlights of La Boite's 2002 season announced today. The company will also tour its award-winning Milo's Wake nationally.
A cast of directors, writers and actors from Queensland and interstate hammed their way through an Academy Awards-style announcement of the new season, complete with envelope-tearing, drum rolls and parodies of acceptance speeches. The program was launched by Government backbencher and former La Boite board member Liddy Clark, who compared stage work with performance in the parliamentary "theatre in the round".
Artistic director Sean Mee drew a standing ovation with a passionate speech about the need to save La Boite's living heritage by ensuring funds were available for its projected new home in the Kelvin Grove QUT precinct. A move is essential given the noisy neighbour across the road (the Lang Park redevelopment), but Mee said the theatre, now in its 30th year, had outgrown its space.
Next year's productions are Paul Livingstone's Emma's Nose (Feb-March), Peta Murray's Salt (May-June), Margery & Michael Forde's Still Standing (July-August), the "Holden Plays" (September) (comprising Brenna Lee-Cooney's My Love Had a Black Speed Stripe and Angela Betzien's Kingswood Kids) and Leah Purcell & Sean Mee's Black Chics Talking (December).
Making a come-back to La Boite in April is Philip Dean's comedy about adolescence, 48 Shades of Brown, which will then tour Queensland. The Fordes' Milo's Wake will tour five states, including seasons at Melbourne's Playbox and the South Australian State Theatre, as well as Sydney's Belvoir Street's Upstairs.
(2 November 2001)
Old and new in Queensland Ballet 2002 season
Queensland Ballet's 2002 season launched today has a mixture of classic ballet and innovative works. Highlights include Sleeping Beauty, the International Gala and the Blue Angel Cabaret.
The season was launched by Queensland premier Peter Beattie in the Lisner Studio at the Thomas Dixon Centre, where premier and QB subscribers were treated to the famous Le Corsair pas de deux and a short comic ballet from company dancers.
Beattie, who confessed to never having seen ballet at such close quarters before, used the occasion to plug his idea of "Smart State" to replace the traditional "Sunshine State" slogan on motor vehicle numberplates (hiss hiss from this Queenslander!), while Arts Minister Matt Foley shared a poem describing a dancer's perception of a ballet audience, and praised with some prolixity the capacity of dancers to communicate without using words. Both heaped accolades on the QB, to the delight of general manager Judith Anderson and choreographer Francois Klaus. Cannes-born Klaus meanwhile praised Brisbane for its vitality and increasing sophistication, saying that this was the right time to be here.
First up in the new season is Sleeping Beauty in March, featuring Tchaikowsky's score to the classic 19th Century Marius Petipa choreography, reworked by Klaus. In May is a sequel to the popular 1999 Passion, with an original ballet for Cathedrals Week, St Francis of Assisi, choreographed by Paul Boyd (to be danced in St John's Cathedral with specially installed raked seating so that audiences can actually see what's going on!). August brings the fifth International Gala, with the involvement of as yet unnamed overseas artists and choreographers. Klaus's Blue Angel Cabaret, a hit of last year's Brisbane Festival, will be reprised in October, again with cabaret trio Combo Fiasco. Other offerings are the Vis-a-vis series, with the themes of Romance (February), Power Surge (June) and Fertile Ground (November), while the children's show Hammamelis Coxinus — The Amazing Magician returns in October. In addition the company will tour its brilliant 2001 A Midsummer Night's Dream, which goes to Townsville, Cairns and Mackay in April, the Gold Coast in June and Maryborough and Rockhampton in July.
Klaus also announced the promotion of two company members to the position of principal dancer: Rachael Walsh and Anthony Lewis. "Rachael possesses rare musicality and great sensitivity. This, combined with her complete dedication, has resulted in her appointment as a principal after only four years with the Company," Klaus said. "Anthony is a very fine artist who is at ease in many roles, but it is his excellent partnering and acting skills that have made him indispensable during his nine years with Queensland Ballet."
(30 October 2001)
Opera Queensland launches 2002 season
No Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Donizetti, Wagner, Beethoven... So what is in Opera Queensland's 2002 season announced today? Quite a lot, as it turns out, with a mixture of crowd-pleasers and restoration of little-seen works as well as innovative activities.
The big items are the old chestnut Italian double Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci (May), La cenerentola (July-August) and Andrea Chenier (October-November). Bonus offerings are a concert performance of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust in March and a one-night recital concert by international soprano Renee Fleming in April.
Cav/Pav and Chenier are co-productions with other state opera companies and the Australian Opera, while Cinderella is all-OQ and will tour.
Rossini's La cenerentola (Cinderella) was last seen in Brisbane in an Australian Opera production in the late 1980s, but the Cav-Pag double hasn't been seen here professionally since a Lyric Opera production in 1983 (at the Festival Hall), and no-one can remember a Brisbane performance of Chenier.
OQ general manager Chris Mangin said that in the wake of reality television, Australian audiences were ready for verisimo opera, exemplified by the "immortal twins". Pagliacci (conductor Richard Divall; director Andrew Sinclair) stars Georgian-born Badri Maisuradze as the tenor and Suzanne Donald as the sop, while Cav includes Patrick Power and also veteran Margreta Elkins as Mamma Lucia. Cav is best-known for its Intermezzo, while Pagliacci is famously stereotyped for its story of the unhappy clown, Canio: his passionate aria Vesti la giubba is often ripped off to advertise pizzas or anything else with an Italian flavor.
Cinderella (conductor Simon Kenway; director Roger Hodgman) includes Donna Balson, Kanen Breen and Jason Barry-Smith. After its Brisbane run, the show tours to Maryborough, Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.
Andrea Chenier, by the little-known Umberto Giordano (1867-1948), features some tough tenor work and beautiful Puccini-like music, including an ardent duet Ora soave, sublime ora d'amore. OQ 2000 Trovatore director Elke Neidhardt calls the dramatic shots for Chenier, with Julian Gavin as the principal tenor and Margaret Medlyn as soprano (Leonora in last year's Trov). Also singing are Robin Donald Smith as the Abbe, Jason Barry-Smith, Kanen Breen — and just-retired OQ chorusmaster James Christiansen! Set in the French Revolution, it's to be a very large scale production, with massive sets, a large orchestra and a chorus of 60.
The magnificently-handled English tenor Bonaventura Bottone stars in The Damnation of Faust on March 8-9, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume from France.
2002 productions include the Queensland Orchestra, the OQ chorus and the acclaimed Imogen Children's Choir.
Other OQ commitments for the coming year include a Cathedrals Week performance (with the Qld Con) of Benjamin Britten's The Burning Fiery Furnace, continuation of the primary school touring production, The Sound Garden, workshops for secondary schools, the Young Artist program and commissioning of a new Queensland opera.
(12 October 2001)
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