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Reviews |
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September-October 2001
We welcome comments on our reviews: please go to Stagediary's Forum. Aftershocks Fiddler on the Roof The Heiress The Interview Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Pack of Lies The Pearl Fishers Relentlessly On Richard II Small Mercies South Pacific Travelling North Earlier reviews |
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www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Harvest Rain Joseph started as a 15-minute children's school "pop oratorio" by a composer (Andrew Lloyd Webber) and lyricist (Tim Rice) not much older than their audience. Its popularity led the pair to work it up into a full-scale musical, but it's essentially still a show for young people or for those who enjoy a youth-oriented extravaganza. And Harvest Rain's production does this well. It's an exhilarating, energetic show of the type which has you tapping your toes and leaving the theatre with a smile. For most audiences these days, the scriptural source of the story has not so much been forgotten as never learnt. Who remembers, for example, that the popular title of the story was "Joseph and his coat of many colours"? But director Robbie Parkin fills in the gaps with his program notes, including extracts from the biblical text and an explanation of the deeper meaning of it all. The musical can be enjoyed at various levels. Very entertaining are the parodies of different music styles, including Marlene Dietrich, calypso and rock'n'roll. There's great humour also in the bright and chirpy words, such as the brothers' "Being told we're also-rans/ Does not make us Joseph fans" and the chorus's "Don't give up Joseph, fight till you drop/ We've read the book and you come out on top", as well as the description of Pharaoh: Whatever he did he was showered with praise If he cracked a joke then you chortled for days. No one had rights or a vote but the king: In fact you might say he was fairly right-wing These work well because of clear articulation by soloists, chorus and kids' choir. The principals are all top class. Caroline Berenger is a confident and assured Narrator with a beautiful voice of perfect clarity and pitch, while Matt Ward's Joseph is convincing and very well sung. Bryan Probets' Pharaoh is a top class comedy act. Most of the supporting roles are also well handled, while the small but more than adequately amplified orchestra doesn't miss a beat. Added to this are splendid dancing performances and brilliant lighting effects which expand the vigorous colour and movement to make this a dazzling show. — John Henningham (Performance seen: 27th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Relentlessly On Brisbane Powerhouse As something of an improviser myself (hey, you can't tell me these reviews are well planned), I was keen to see this one-man improvised show, which is part of the Powerhouse's L'attitude 27.5 series. Improvisation is a strange beast, and unlike a play where you know you'll at least get rehearsed performances (however bad they may be), impro shows are more of a risk. And there are not so many of them, so Andrew Morrish had a willing reviewer in me. The show is a hard one to sum up in a sentence — well, at least one that incorporates the artist's ... artistic vision. "A bald, middle-aged man in a suit flops about onstage" is probably nicer than the simple "Git" that my Dad would probably give it. Morrish has been improvising and doing movement training since 1982, and obviously knows the abilities of his own body. But it wasn't like watching those chiselled Zen Zen Zo physical theatre types. It was an exercise in "linking movement with poetry" (said the poster), hosted by ... a bald, middle-aged man who flopped out onstage. The show, simple in set-up and execution (having no set and minimal lighting) began with Morrish walking to stage and starting the first of his physical demonstrations. He jumped, he twisted, he spiralled. He made wacky gestures with his hands, face and body. He made unintelligible noises, then broke into "I haven't decided ... should it be a short sharp show tonight, or a long languid one?" So we know he's an improviser. Unfortunately, with all the wacky movement and poetry, my "arty wanker" siren was beginning to wail in my head. "Uh-oh," I thought. "He's going to offend me on that level that always offends me — artists who take themselves too seriously." But luck was on my side. At about the ten minute mark, Morrish took off his coat and looked around for a hook to place it on. He stated that if this was a real theatre someone would have come out to take his coat by now. The audience, which had been giggling hesitantly at the amusing sight of the bald middle-aged man flopping about on stage, cracked up. My "arty wanker" siren died down. Thankfully, Morrish doesn't take himself seriously. The show continued with movement sequences, but more and more "talking bits" (as I call them for want of a better term). Morrish has the basics of a good stand-up comedian. Indeed, at some points I was reminded of Eddie Izzard, the slightly surreal and stream-of-consciousness style comedian from the UK. Moments of absurdism were grounded in truth. Morrish talked a bit about his childhood, his mother, his Scottish grandfather who "scared him more than any other man has scared him". These bits were touchingly real, and most of all funny. When he described how he developed a limp as a child to appear more interesting, the accompanying exaggerated limp around the stage had the audience in stitches. And that's the way the show continued for all of its short 37 minutes. Movement and poetry were interspersed with touching pieces and good comedy moments. Morrish held focus well, and the minimalist setting ensured you only ever looked at him. I would have liked a bit more development with some of the stories, but I understand the time limitations and the premise that this was not a stand-up show. Overall, Relentlessy On was different, and not anything like I imagined. Of course, being primarily improvised, the two remaining shows will not be like that one. However, I'm sure that they too will stand alone as intriguing experiments with the (often underrated) art form that is improvisation. — Natalie Bochenski (Performance seen: 11th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Small Mercies La Boite The short play is a difficult art form. To develop character, raise issues and tell a story worth telling or make a point worth making is demanding of an author. Moreover, the shortness of the piece demands that performance will normally be in the context of other short plays, reducing the "stand alone" effect. This collection by Daniel Keane is an interesting and partly successful bunch. Shared among two directors (Fraser Corfield and Nadine McDonald) they are for the most part about ordinary people and situations. Indeed the very ordinariness of the characters is quite compelling. They're knockabout Aussies, battlers, generally not very bright, who've been hurt in some way. Sadly, the plays are all pessimistic: there's not much sign of redemption here. One tale, "Neither Lost Nor Found", explores a tense mother-daughter relationship: a disturbed 13-year-old (Yasmin Quemard) vents her anger at a mother (Monette Lee) who had relinquished her to foster care but had now taken her back. The uneven thawing of the tenseness in the relationship is fascinating to watch, and the two actors do very well in portraying their mixed feelings and different forms of outreach. In "Untitled Monologue" a mostly gentle boofhead of a young man in a city rooming house writes touching and revealing letters to his father outlining his frustrating search for work and the trouble into which his enforced idleness leads him. Hayden Spencer captures the young man's helpnessness and his affection for his non-responding father, while the script underlines the futility of his life in the city. Outstanding among the set of plays is "To Whom It May Concern", about a terminally-ill father's increasingly desperate attempts to find a carer for his severely mentally handicapped adult son. Michael Forde is simply superb as the distressed dad whose affection for his son is cloaked in gruffness. The text is tight, its pregnant pauses helping evoke an atmosphere of tense forboding. This would have to be the best short play to have been staged in Brisbane this year. Most of the plays use extended monologue, a technique I find rather trying. In "To Whom It May Concern" and "Untitled Monologue" the talk is broken up by non-vocal communication interactions from others. Maybe it's because I've had to listen to too many lectures and public orations, but my mind starts to wander when one person's spiel goes on and on. Thus I found it difficult to come to grips with either the first or last play of the five, the multiple-viewpoint "Violin" or the survival story embodied in "The Rain", notwithstanding good performances. The production involves about 20 QUT drama students as extras in several of the plays. Although a good idea in principle to involve students on-stage in professional theatre, I found their presence distracting. They tended to clutter up the limited performance space at La Boite (and incidentally the seating is in horseshoe shape rather than theatre-in-the-round for the second consecutive production). In representations of crowd scenes or passers-by, the text would have been better served by calls on the imagination. — John Henningham (Performance seen: 11th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Fiddler on the Roof Ignatians It is a sad indictment of how much we still have to learn, when troubles from the turn of the twentieth century depicted in Fiddler on the Roof are still being confronted to-day. As highlighted in the thoughtful notes scattered throughout the printed program, intolerant regimes and the plight of refugees are far too topical for any of us to feel complacent about any apparent progress by human society over the past century. The musical, set in the Russian village of Anatevka in 1905, is based on a short story by a Russian Jewish author under the pen name of Sholom Aleichem; the experiences of the Jewish population of that village mirror his experiences. He too was forced to flee Russia, and escaped the 1905 pogroms by emigrating to the USA. His story was later developed into a play and — in 1964 — formed the basis for Fiddler on the Roof. The serious issues dealt with in this musical successfully broke new ground for Broadway musicals of that era. And the current production, directed by Paul Collings at the Schonell Theatre, also deserves a very successful run. The central character of this musical is not the fiddler, but Tevye, the dairyman, given a well-rounded performance by Neville Hillier. The fiddler (Harmony Lentz) serves, in fact, as Tevye’s metaphor for survival in insecure situations, such as that of the Jews in his village, in Russia, and just about everywhere at that time. Tevye is in a perennial state of conflict and dialogue with God, as he juggles traditional values and the changing times being embodied by his daughters, while living on the breadline. These struggles give rise to some of the best known songs from the show, such as ‘Fiddler on the roof’, ‘Tradition’, and ‘If I were a rich man’. Hillier is one of the few performers who gives his role the requisite Jewish character. And perhaps, with the large cast that fills this musical, it was decided to be satisfied with the look, without necessarily going all the way with the voices. This results in a break with the convention of stage and movie versions I have seen of ensuring that the actors give a Jewish intonation to their speech; and that side of things ends up being a bit of a hit and miss affair that you get used to after a while. On the other hand, everyone was dressed very appropriately for their parts, with a lot of attention to detail by costumiers Julie Leaver and Elizabeth Giddings. And there is, in every way, a clear distinction between the Jewish villagers and the Russian bovver boys, who start off with a manner that is genial enough and end up by being very scary indeed, with a particularly vicious fight scene effectively orchestrated by Jason King and Steven Galley. This is only one of several scenes involving most or all of the cast, in remarkably well co-ordinated sequences, many of them complex musical numbers under the musical direction of Rodney Wolff and choreographed by Sue Forster-Crilly, who also makes a good fist of Golde, Tevye’s wife. Against the backdrop of a sombre theme and ominous intimations, there is plenty of humour and charm throughout the show. June Balfour, who has peppered her speech with an oddly disconcerting lilt, gets some of the loudest laughs as Yente, the busybody matchmaker who can rationalise her way out of the most ludicrous of mismatches. The love affairs that develop between Tevye’s older daughters (Therese Halpin, Sarah Punch and Brianna Carpenter) and increasingly problematical suitors (for Tevye’s traditional tastes) are touching, and include a spirited duet between Halpin as oldest daughter Tzeitel and James Caldwell as the impoverished tailor, Motel. A later duet between second daughter Hodel and her student/activist, Perchik (Ben Fotheringham), is enhanced by the delightful singing voice of Sarah Punch. A special mention, also, should be made of the stalwart performances of the two youngest members of the cast, two young boys who kept up with the best of them, and had their own moment in the sun as the matchmaker’s wildcard fiancées for Tevye’s youngest daughters. Apart from the slightly rickety interior of Tevye’s home, Leo Bradley has designed sets that work well in showing various dimensions of the humble village without crowding the actors, who are also well served by their invisible accompanists, in the substantial orchestra conducted by Chris Andrews. Essentially, this is a show where the whole is very definitely greater than the sum of its parts. So, while it is possible to quibble at some aspects of the production, overall I found it to be a powerful and moving theatrical experience. And while I don’t know how many dry eyes there were in the house by the end, I can report that mine certainly weren’t. — Anne Ring (Performance seen: 11th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Aftershocks New Farm Nash Theatre Aftershocks …. timely! Aftershocks …. accessible! Aftershocks …. moving! Aftershocks …. a trifle tooo long. Aftershocks is a docudrama structured on the memories of survivors of the Newcastle earthquake which struck the then Steel City at 10.28am on 28 December 1989. It focuses on the recorded recollections of staff and patrons of the very popular Workers Club. These (for the most part) are skilfully interwoven to provide a tapestry of the best and worst of the human psyche and spirit in the face of disaster. Director Malcolm Steele notes for patrons that the play was already in rehearsal when the American crisis of 11 September 2001 flashed with numbing relentlessness onto televisions world-wide. I am grateful the company elected to proceed. Unlike a yet another Bruce-n-Arnie-disaster-(avoided)-SFX drama, there is nothing gratuitous in Aftershocks. As the bombs now rain on Afghanistan we can argue the rights and wrongs of who is doing what to whom and why, and in so doing come to terms with our sense of moral indignation from whichever side of the religious-political divide we place ourselves. There is a logic, albeit an insane, outrageous logic, in the deaths in New York on September 11. They were the victims of racial/religious global politics. But how do we come to terms with death by natural disaster? Who do we blame? How do we “make peace” with the random demise of innocents of all ages simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Life is a patchwork of choices and chances. Knowing the difference may help avoid some of the latter, but only fools and dreamers and zealots are lulled to a belief we can avoid them all. These are the some of the issues Aftershocks addresses through the experiences of those who were there and (mostly) are still here. After Vinegar Tom I commented on the adventurous program Nash had planned for the year and on the vitality and commitment of that Nash cast. The V & C carry forward to this group, allowing for the absence (by chance) of Alex Burns and a stalwart reading by a stand-in whose name I did not note. (Allow me to apologise.) The production gambles on its actors. There is no reliance (as well there might have been ) on projections or video or other special visual or sound effects. The only access we have to the experiences the play provides is through the actors’ renderings of them. Each actor plays at least two characters and some three. Each character comes in three-dimensional creativity and craft drawing us into the heart of their monologues or bouncing us between the interlaced “dialogue” compiled from the survivors’ commentaries. The union between director and cast in their achievement was palpable. By intermission I was wiping the tears that had quietly rolled. By the final exit an hour later, however, the tears were dry and the tension was evaporating regardless of the best endeavours of both to sustain it. An active and selective blue pencil (if permitted) might have matched the play to the company’s dedication to, and realisation of it. — Ron Finney (Performance seen: 6th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Richard II Queensland Theatre Company Rich in the rhetoric of role-playing, Richard II belies facile classification as a "history" play. Yet, because of its 1601 politically motivated revival by supporters of Essex's hopeless rebellion against the Queen, and Elizabeth I's seeing herself as threatened by the depiction of Richard's abdication, it has acquired a politico-historical baggage. This baggage, I am happy to say, is largely jettisoned in the current QTC production. Audiences who love elaborate, gaudy costumes may drool over the flowing robes of the King and some of his courtiers, especially the "caterpillars of the Commonwealth", but for me the strength of Michael Gow's production is its bold departure from romanticism and naturalism in favour of anachronism and a variant of Brechtian casualness in staging. Designer Robert Kemp has spared us elaborate sets and gaudy drapes, leaving us to be confronted from the beginning by the rough old bricks of the Powerhouse walls, their nakedness enhanced by low-walled additions and offset by visible verticals of stage lighting (behind one of which the Queen hides in the delightfully non-representational Garden Scene). The play's portrayal of such issues as royalty, tyranny, overthrow of government, violence, family feuding and hypocrisy has unforced contemporary relevance but at its core is the humanising of Richard through humiliation and the shedding of his facade. The current cast of 13 sweeps us through the flood-plain of Richard's image-laden self-projection and ultimate deposition to the salty delta of Bolingbroke's power politics. Early in the play Bryan Nason as Richard's dying uncle, John of Gaunt, delivers the famous obsessively patriotic lament for the currently degraded condition of "this royal throne of kings". Bryan takes this speech beyond rhetoric into genuine image-inlaid agony for the shames sweeping his loved land. As Gaunt's brother York, Leo Wockner creates a bizarrely believable combination of integrity and vacillation, tested by conflicting loyalties. The vengeful bitterness of the widow of Gloucester grows beyond its original script into a sort of sister of Queen Margaret from Richard III as she broods and threatens and even takes part in the anti-Richard plotting. Christopher Beckey's indignant Mowbray (exiled early in tne play), Kellie Lazarus's protesting Queen, Jason Klarwein's student-rebel of an Aumerle, Roxanne McDonald's courageously loyal (to her son) Duchess of York and Joss McWilliam's bluntly assertive Northumberland combine to create a believable network of nobility enmeshed in political crises. Special mention must be made of the camp-gowned "caterpillars of the Commonwealth", Bushy, Bagot and Green (Trenton Shipley, James Stewart and Lucas Stibbard), whose sucking-up and scavenging creates welcome comic relief and helps Richard escape his frigidly royal mask at times. Also, the three Ss (Shipley, Stewart and Stibbard) play plainer guys whose messages bring revealingly insightful responses from the major characters. The dramatic core of the play is Richard's sustained conflict with his cousin Bolingbroke. The casting of Eddy Segal as Richard and Paul Denny as his antagonist is fortuitous because it provides for maximum contrast of King and King-to-be. Segal and Denny revel in the opportunities for contrast but nowhere are their images more sharply counterpointed than in the Deposition Scene where Richard, with marvellous theatricality, shatters his mirror image with desperate self-pity, then pitches to Bolingbroke: Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport: How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face. Without even a Chekhovian pause, Bolingbroke replies with his exquisite put-down: The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd The shadow of your face. To dare to speak in Stanislavski terms, one might say that the super-objective of the play is aligned with Richard's discovery, stripped of his royal robes and thrown into prison, that the ultimate satisfaction is satisfaction with having nothing. In this regard, QTC's staging of Richard II, not in the plush Optus but in the brick-bare Powerhouse, is deliciously appropriate. It is a courageous production, often deliberately untidy and non-literal. Richard's descent from the crumbling brick walls via an old table is more moving than would be any choreographed balletic descent of a flight of sculptured steps. And in the last act his easy, stretched-legged watching of the final bubblings of the plot has a humanity which rubs out any suggestion of theatrical gimmickry. Richard's rapid oscillations from frustrated vanity to linguistic and even emotive majesty place great demands on any actor, but Segal is well on the road towards imaging the inner contradictions, in league with a cast well meeting the challenges, not only of individual roles but of testing doublings, such as Nason's post-Gaunt anointing as a clerical prophet who looks at the other side of the spectrum from that seen by Gaunt. The performances are true to the text. Indeed, where the text itself, in this comparatively early work, is "over the top", the production has the courage to reflect a dash of vaudeville, as in the use of a comic brought-on doorway to reflect the plethora of knockings and entrances by the tensed-up York family trio. In Richard's big prison soliloquy there is a requirement for music out-of-time. I had never imagined that the great contralto, Kathleen Ferrier, a singer of consummate musical discipline, could be put to service in this way. — Paul Sherman (Performance seen: 4th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Pearl Fishers Opera Queensland Director from afar Ann-Margret Pettersson has given a new spin to the youthful Bizet's opera in OQ's presentation of the Opera Australia production. Zurga has become a superannuated French governor, reflecting on youth's wild colonial adventures after coming home alone from a night at the Paris Opera. The action of the opera becomes his reminiscence. It's a clever device, which makes more palatable the fantasy-world of an Asian fishing village of nineteenth century European imagination, but is not without problems. Zurga is originally a Ceylonese fisherman chosen by his peers to be their spiritual and moral leader. Quite why they should choose a young French expat for such a role is puzzling. The other new dimension of Pettersson's work is the love triangle. It soon becomes clear that the baritone, Zurga, who traditionally vies with the tenor, Nadir, in loving the soprano, Leisa, is in this production rather more interested in the tenor than the soprano. Again, this is clever, and certainly not without plausibility given the intensity of the men's famous Act I duet, but it puts the text to the test. Zurga's sudden volte face at the end of Act II when on the point of sparing Nadir for his dalliance is the result of discovering the identity of Nadir's beloved. (Meanwhile, what will Pettersson do if she's let loose on Puccini or Verdi? Will Scarpia's consuming passion be Cavaradossi rather than Tosca? Will the Conte di Luna be more interested in Manrico than Leonora?) Let's face it. The Pearl Fishers is a rather insipid, jejune work, saved for posterity only by the deserved popularity of "From the depths of the temple", unquestionably the greatest male duet of all time. It's opera of a quality that deserves a performance, as a curiosity, only once a generation, yet it was last seen in Brisbane in the early '90s. It is doubtful that it deserves all the creative effort and cost bestowed upon it for a production such as this one. And indeed there has been no effort spared. There is much that is splendid in this production and well worth seeing. Sets and lighting work magnificently together. The dominant pattern is a series of receding frames, endowing a stereoscopic effect to the distant central image reminiscent of those once fashionable 3D slide viewers. It gives a uniquely exotic and mystical quality to the focal set, whether it is Hindu statue, cluster of palms, veiled priestess or burning village. The large and fittingly clad chorus, boosted by extras, are skilfully deployed in a series of picturesque tableaux at key points of the opera which are quite striking. Under Alexander Ingram the Queensland Orchestra give a confident and full-bodied sound, featuring exotic patternings, warm string work and Bizet's interesting combination of woodwinds. As Leila, soprano Lisa Russell looks every inch the exotic priestess who causes men to break their vows. Although limited in acting opportunities because of the formality of her role, she movingly portrays her tortured feelings in her Act III confrontation with Zurga. Throughout, her singing is radiant and controlled. David Wakeham's Zurga is powerful and resonant in acting and voice, while David Hibbard's bass-baritone high priest provides a strong anchor. Visiting German tenor Christian Baumgartel did not seem on top of his role as Nadir on opening night. In the cavernous Lyric Theatre his lyric high tenor was constantly overwhelmed by orchestra or duet partners. This was most disappointing in the Act I duet "Au fond du temple saint". But the fine quality of his voice could be discerned in the beautiful aria "Je crois entendre encore". Perhaps the most endearing part of the opera is the opening vision of venerable chorus master James Christiansen as the aged governor, sipping with great realism his scotch while pondering his youthful escapades. He can take much pride in the performance of his chorus in this, his last preparation after 13 magnificent years as Opera Queensland chorusmaster. — John Henningham (Performance seen: 4th October 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Travelling North Sandgate Theatre There is no doubt that David Williamson is among Australia's most prolific playwrights. Some say he is our best, whatever "best" may mean in creative terms. Travelling North has been called his "finest play" (Concise Companion to Theatre in Australia). It is indeed finely crafted. Where many Williamson pieces are known for their "raucous wit ... fast moving scatological dialogue and recognisable social types, brilliantly seized and satirised" (Oxford Companion to Australian Literature), Travelling North is for the most part gently Chekhovian in its humour and insights. While most are contemporaneously set, Travelling North was written in 1979 but is set in the pre-Whitlam early '70s, giving more point and poignancy to its generational attitudes and conflicts. These are skilfully reversed with the "unblessed" relationship between the ex-communist now socialist, late-middle-aged, ailing, anally-retentive, slide-rule-wielding Frank (Rob Simpson) and his early middle-aged, apolitical, tolerant, patient and all-forgiving lover Frances (Helen Royle) being seriously questioned and tested by her daughters, whose own marital relationships are revealed as suffering serious to terminal disabilities. Williamson reminds us that love doesn't need a reason by providing no background to the Frank/Frances relationship. In retirement they are simply travelling in the "kombi" from the cold south to the warmth of the north. Frank's failing health curtails the journey. They take up residence and their developed friendships with barby-building, archly-conservative neighbour Freddy (Warren Wolfe) and Frank's sorely tested GP Saul (Damian Smith) provides much of the comedy. This Sandgate Theatre production by David Corrie, assisted by June Tretheway, is a brave attempt at a deceptively difficult play to stage. Its structure as a series of short scenes in various major locations is more film-like than theatrical. The use of multiple fixed and cramped realistic box sets restricted movement to a sit-com minimum and created awkward angles for interaction between the characters. Open "suggestive" staging may have served the play's purpose with more effect and assisted in avoiding the lengthy delays between scenes. These were aggravated by timing the changes to music rather than the actors' readiness for the next event. In addition to breaking the play's dramatic flow, I estimate scene changes added about 15 to 20 minutes to playing time and watching actors poised in half light waiting for a music bridge to end certainly made those audience members I was nearest frustrated and restless. Despite these difficulties the cast brought a bonded sense of ensemble to the text. But this too is deceptive in its surface simplicity. These people are you and me, our mothers and fathers and sisters and neighbours, alive with all the complex and secret uncertainties and insecurities, feelings and phobias we mask in our daily rituals and the seeming "ordinariness" of our relationships. This is the Chekhovian quality of this wonderfully warm and witty piece. Helen Royle as Frances stood out in these regards. She gave us depth, and warmth and genuine humanity. And when at play's end, she is free of the ties of blood family, at peace, and elects to continue travelling north, our sense of her self-realisation is set to travel with her. — Ron Finney (Performance seen: 21st September 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Heiress Centenary Players I have to admit that I am not a fan of Henry James. So it is a mark of the success of Brenda White's direction of the Centenary Players' production of The Heiress that, by the end of it, I had decided that I would have to read Washington Square, the book that is its source, to find out just how much Henry James himself takes us into the hearts and minds of the main characters. Was the father, Dr Austin Sloper, really as flat, cold and dismissive as played by George W. Bush lookalike Lori Webb? The answer, incidentally, is quite possibly "yes": by a coincidence, in The Age on the same Saturday (22 September) was an article by Terry Lane about another Henry James book, The Portrait of a Lady, in which James' writing is described as "so cold. So devoid of fervor of any kind, neither love nor violence. Everything and everybody so exaggeratedly formal in their behaviour and conversation". In this play, however, against Lori Webb's sustained coldbloodedness, Laura Wilde as his daughter Catherine showed the gradual and temporary emergence of a warm and passionate soul yearning for love and — ultimately — capable of a vengeful bitterness before shutting herself back down into what may be a typical James' character (I will have to find that out for myself). Certainly, her dilemma appears to represent an iterative theme in his books, of "a dire warning against marriage. Young ladies of wealth will fall into the clutches of villainous fortune hunters". While this description, once again, comes from Terry Lane's view of The Portrait of a Lady, it is — in one way and another — very much the concern of almost all of the characters in The Heiress. In keeping with the American origin of this play, all of the actors worked hard at sustaining creditable American accents. And, mostly, they were successful. Occasionally, however (and with the exception of Laura Wilde who has a Canadian background), the ends of some speeches trailed away from the crispness of the accent, and - thereby - lost some of their punch and sounded a bit tired. At times, also, there was an element of perfunctoriness in the interactions between the characters. The development of the relationship between Catherine and Morris, for example, was so minimalist emotively as to be unconvincing; and Lori Webb was challenged by the demands of the sick Dr Sloper's response to Catherine's emotional outburst: of how to play tired without sounding bland. Overall, however, all of the performances were very solid, with sound support from Pam Alick as the humanising force of Aunt Lavinia Penniman, Martin Blum as dubious suitor Morris Townsend, Samantha Porter (who managed to bring life and presence to the traditionally thankless role of the maid, Maria), Dr Sloper's "other sister" and her family, played by Margaret Ferry, Lola Major and Joshua Ganim, and Morris's sister Mrs Montgomery (Laura Bowles). The action was played out against a single, and excellently designed set that gave the solidity of a comfortable middle-class sitting room. Godfrey Bathurst and Sue Watson's attention to detail was born out by the slight but telling modification to the selection of pictures hanging on the walls, after The Heiress came into her own. Throughout, also, the characters — and especially the females — wore a splendid range of costumes and hats produced by Pat Bancroft and Judith Caradine. It was, altogether, a pleasure to get drawn into the drama of a traditional play of a bygone era, even though it highlighted some of the painfully oppressive restrictions on women and between people in ways that are, thankfully, now mostly history. And there was, also, a delightful nostalgia about the theatre that is the home of the Centenary Players — otherwise a community hall of a style and vintage that is very reminiscent of the church halls of yesteryear, which some of the older audiences will remember as though it were yesterday. The sense of community from that, and from the local audience, is a precious commodity that we would do well to value and to support, or risk loosing altogether. On a final, musical note, and another coincidence, the Beatles song that came up on the CD player on my drive home was the aptly titled "Can't buy me love". — Anne Ring (Performance seen: 22nd September 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Pack of Lies Act I Theatre Here's a bit of age-old advice to all the kids out there: sassing your parents will always come back to bite you sharply on the rear end. Let me explain. The setting for Pack of Lies is a neat, semi-detached house in the outer suburbs of 1960s London. Bob and Barbara Jackson (Errol Barnett and Cheryl Bartlett) live there peacefully with their teenage daughter Julie (Jenny Lynch). Early in the play Julie complains that her mother is a constant worrier and chronic nagger. "Ha!" I whispered triumphantly to my mother next to me. But a few minutes later, when Barbara complains about Julie's irresponsibility, untidiness and general slackness, my Mum got her quiet revenge. So having learned my lesson, I just shut the hell up and watched the play. Pack of Lies is described in the programme as "Hugh Whitemore's Spy Drama". So I guess I wouldn't be revealing too much to say it poses the question, "How would your life change if you were told your neighbours were spies?". It's 1960, the middle of the Cold War, and the suburbs is the last place you'd think would be a base for foreign agents. But the arrival of the self-described "civil servant" Mr Stewart (Peter Lovely), throws the Jacksons' comfortable, sheltered life in turmoil. Mr Stewart wants to use their house for a surveillance operation. It's only supposed to be for a few days, and the Jacksons agree. Helping their country, that sort of thing. But days turn into weeks, and suspicion falls onto their neighbours — and best friends for five years — Helen and Peter (Niki Geary and Mark Edwards). The rest of the play is the reaction of this family to the mounting evidence that their friends are spies. The Act 1 players shine here — all the performances are polished and real. Director Pauline Davies has channelled their talents into the proper, well, channels, and the actors ensure the characters are identifiable and likeable. It makes it hard for the audience to believe that the fun next door neighbours aren't what they seem. Special mention goes to Cheryl Bartlett, who as Barbara becomes the central character, as it is she who has to deal with the surveillance team during the day, her husband and daughter at night, and with her best friend Helen at any time Helen wishes to pop in. Barbara's increasing sense of torture and frustration at having to play at all these lies is well painted by Bartlett. I felt that the characters of Helen and Peter should have been older — their youthfulness didn't match they years in the script. However, despite this anomaly, they both performed well. As enjoyable as the play was, I did have some problems with the script itself. Writer Hugh Whitemore must have had a "tell, don't show" approach to this play. Lots of the action takes place in monologues that characters deliver between real time scenes. It's a handy device for some stories (for example, why Peter became disillusioned with capitalism), but unhelpful for others. I felt it would have been much more interesting to have seen Barbara's reaction to first seeing a known spy come out of Helen and Peter's house in a real scene, rather than described in a monologue. Also, the ending was somewhat anti-climactic, due again to these monologues. There they were, waiting, watching, fearing what would happen. Then all of a sudden it was over, and Bob Jackson delivered the final monologue. The ending didn't wrap up everything as well as it could have, and it left me slightly unsatisfied. I realise that these problems were not Act 1's fault; indeed they handled them admirably. One thing they did have control over was the set. While suitable, I didn't feel it particularly evoked the period. It did look like it could have been a modern day house — I didn't realise it was 1960 until somebody onstage mentioned it. However, my bigger problem with the set was the continuous crossing of the invisible wall. I think I had this criticism of the last Act 1 play I reviewed. It was actually worse this time. There were hands, arms, legs and various other body parts going through the wall constantly. It sounds like a small thing, but it has the potential to ruin the illusion that the set is two separate rooms. To remedy this, I would have made the kitchen smaller than the living room. Most of the action happened in the living room, so it would have benefited from an extra 50 cm or so of room. I do appreciate that the Act 1 stage is small, but perhaps slightly readjusting the set would help the actors move more freely. On the whole, this production was a neat one — believable performances and an interesting story. But I would recommend Act 1 re-examine their use of invisible walls! — Natalie Bochenski (Performance seen: 15th September 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Interview Underground Productions "FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR, SPREAD YOUR ARMS, CROSS YOUR LEGS, OPEN YOUR EARS AND LISTEN!!!!!" WE'RE ABOUT TO CONSIDER WHY, IF YOU START WITH A FILM WHICH A SCREEN-WRITER, LIKE A WILLIAM GOLDMAN WOULD SAY, NOT ONLY "OPENED", BUT "PLAYED", IT'S A PRETTY POINTLESS EXERCISE TO PRESENT THE STORY AS A PLAY, AND ONE WHICH IN ITS PRODUCTION DOES NEITHER!!!!!! ALL THE MORE SO, WHEN THE SAID PRODUCTION DOES ITS "FADE IN-FADE-OUT" BEST TO RESEMBLE A FILM — WITH SEVEN ACTING AREAS INCLUDING A ONE-SCENE-ONLY URINAL!!!! AND FROM THE MOMENT THE KEY COPS CAME KEY-STONE-COP-TROOPING INTO THE SUSPECT'S ROOM ARMED WITH EVERY WEAPON EXCEPT STAGE-CRAFT AND EXPLODED HIS APPREHENSION IN OUR FACES AT FULL VOLUME, THIS SHOW WAS LEFT WITH NOWHERE TO GO!!!!! YOU UNDERSTAND ME?????!!!! I have not seen the film version of "The Interview", but the text of the play informs that what sets it apart from an episode of "Wildside" are the mind-games being played by the suspect, Eddie and his primary interrogator, Dt Steele. These are delicate and devious , as layered as a good game of chess, and heightened by the bureaucratic power-struggles being simultaneously woven around the interrogator. Only Roman Muric, as Eddie, gave us any access to these levels of the story and left us genuinely debating his guilt or innocence, and in respect of what, if anything, by the night's end. Regrettably he was mismatched with the foot-stomping, table-thumping, file-dumping, Bernie O'Regan, as Steele. Nigel Poulton was acceptably, if occasionally caricaturely oafish as Steel's heavy-handed partner, Prior. The minor characters were competent, but the success of the story and the evening ultimately depended on the interplay between Eddie and Steele. Regrettably their minds never really met. — Ron Finney (Performance seen: 15th September 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine South Pacific Savoyards Savoyards co-directors Jo Toia and Terri Quinn, exhibiting a special talent for casting, have assembled a quality ensemble for the society's latest production. The lead characters complement each other, the entire ensemble works well together, and the beautiful sets and costumes showcase a talented cast and catchy tunes. Set during World War II during the Japanese occupation of the South Pacific islands, South Pacific tells the story of US Navy nurse Nellie Forbush, who falls in love with an older man, French plantation owner Emile de Becque. Also involved in the plot is Lt Joe Cable, a marine officer who falls in love with a local Polynesian girl and joins with de Becque to go behind enemy lines to rid the islands of the Japanese invaders. The story has its fair share of both drama and humour, not to mention plenty of song and dance, making it one of the most popular Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. Particularly well cast opposite each other are Vanessa Wainwright as Nellie and Ross Muirhead as de Becque, who manage with great success to achieve the sense of romantic tension and chemistry required by the roles. Impressive also, for an amateur production, is the quality (and quantity) of the male chorus. In tune and in sync, the chorus members seem confident working as an ensemble and quite comfortable in their respective roles in the show. The big ensemble song-and-dance routines, such as "Gonna Wash That Man", "Nothing Like a Dame", "Honey Bun" and "I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy" all managed to capture a sense of fun and excitement which the audience eagerly lapped up. The thrill of the chorus songs is not lost in the quieter moments either, with the slower songs making up some of the more beautiful moments in the show. Two of the most touching numbers are "Younger Than Springtime" and "Some Enchanted Evening", which also serve to showcase the considerable vocal talents of the two lead males in the show, Christopher C. Thomas as Lt Cable and Ross Muirhead. The overall standout performer in the play would have to have to be Vanessa Wainwright as Nellie: she not only manages to maintain a convincing Arkansas accent throughout the show, but also demonstrates both comic and dramatic acting talent, and an exceptional singing voice. In the comedy stakes Robert Montgomery does an excellent job as Seabee Luther Billis, keeping the laughs coming throughout the show, but less satisfying is Mary Ewing as the Tonkinese con-woman Bloody Mary. Although both a competent actor and singer, not until well into the play did Ewing seem to find her rhythm in the role. Sets and costumes are quite impressive in this production — the set design shows a higher level of sophistication than most amateur theatre sets — not to mention the exquisite lighting plan in place during the song "Bali H'ai". Costumes are colourful and appropriate, and particularly effective were the various naval uniforms worn by the ensemble. Although the show is long, running for just on three hours, it is not overbearingly so. There are plenty of interesting characters and plot developments to keep the action going, and using these to their full advantage the Savoyards manage to carry the high sense of energy through to the end. The polished tone of the show is let down only by a weak strings section in the orchestra and some change of scene delays backstage, but these put only a minor dampener on what would otherwise have been a flawless show. — Jasmine Green (Performance seen: 15th September 2001) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine |
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