| Reviews: January-March 2005
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Macbeth GNT2 (Roma Street Parklands Amphitheatre) Profit-share production Wot! No witches? Not in this radical production of the Scottish Play. Instead, theyre undercover fifth columnists dressed in army fatigues, doing their best to destroy General Macbeth. Theres no tartan to be seen, either, for the young actors at GNT2 have moved the action to the battlefields of Iraq, to make their point that Macbeth is not just a history play. Neither is it about how some abstract force that weve labelled EVIL manipulates our lives, for Bryan Nason believes that there is no such thing there are only people doing bad things, and we cannot slough off individual responsibility for our behaviour. The devil didnt make Macbeth do it, nor did the witches, because Macbeth is responsible for his own actions, as is everyone else in the play, and in this production he cant blame supernatural solicitings for his evil (note that its used as an adjective, not an abstract noun) deeds. But we think of the supernatural as being at the heart of Macbeth , so if you take it away, what are we left with? First of all, theres a very nasty war going on, where it seems nobody can be trusted. Youve got internal bickering, embedded reporters and photographers, and Macbeth and Lady M talking to each other on mobile phones. You have the same slaughter of the innocents that goes on in any war Lady Macduff and her children are gunned down before our eyes by faceless terrorists and the one good guy in the play, Macduff, is pushed over the edge by this callous destruction. He doesnt quite become a suicide bomber, but when he takes on Macbeth in the final hand-to-hand battle (staged with their usual brilliance by Jamie Stewart and Vanja Matula, who play Macbeth and Macduff respectively), its as much for personal revenge as to further the legitimate claims of Malcolm to be restored to his throne. Its a very clever concept, which on the whole works very well, but there are some rough patches where the thesis doesnt quite make sense. Ross Lowe plays not only Banquo, but his twin brother (thus explaining the ghostly apparitions) who is also the Macbeth camps resident drag queen and leader of the female Quislings. The scene where he climbs out of the cauldron to confront Macbeth with the line of Banquos heirs as the future kings is very cute, and helps to explain some of the action in this interpretation, but it seems to me to be stretching the text a little too far. Set a Shakespeare play in whatever situation you like, and it will make sense as long as you remain true to the text, because thats one of the reasons that we keep going to see Shakespeare, because what he says has universal rather than just specific relevance. But if you skew the text, you change the play, which I dont think is legitimate, even if it does give it a different kind of cutting edge. BR> One idea that should have worked better than it did was the casting of Lady Macbeth as Duncans niece, for which there is textual authority Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done `t, she says when haranguing Macbeth for his indecision during the murder of Duncan. It was a good chance to add some depth to Lady Macbeths eventual insanity, but unfortunately the idea wasnt carried through, perhaps because you need an actor with great experience and gravitas to take on this complex role. I was also puzzled about why Lady Macduff and her children were dressed as Muslims, especially when Macduff himself remained resolutely Western. Transporting the action from Scotland to Iraq was a clever idea, but the analogy has to be worked out better than this was, because of the Scottish and English references that are so prominent in the text. But it was an excellent try, and in its latest transformation, which has seen Grin & Tonic founder Bryan Nason taking a back seat and letting the actors take over, GNT2 is continuing his tradition of bringing the classics alive for modern audiences. There are some excellent actors in the troupe stalwarts Jamie Stewart and Vanja Matula are a formidable match in their physical and intellectual command of the text, and Errol ONeill shows us that, among all his other talents, he is a fine Shakespearian actor as well. (He alternates with Paul Sherman in the role.) Margie Brown-Ash is irresistible as the camp cook/conspirator, and there are a number of other fine cameos, but overall the acting is patchy, although this is excusable when you learn that there are a number of work experience and tertiary secondments in the cast. G&T (or, as we must now call them, GNT2) do such fine work in bringing Shakespeare to a wide audience that they can be forgiven many things. They prove that live theatre is still relevant and exciting, and that theres a lot more to it than devoutly respectful productions or splashy musicals. And they still do it on a shoe string, neither asking for nor receiving any government support. The sets for this production cost $75, the lighting all came from underneath Bryan Nasons house, and the costumes are left over from the old G&T days. Whatever your reactions to this production, youll see Macbeth with new eyes, and that can only be a good thing. You sit outside under the balmy Brisbane skies, and as ticket prices start at a low $16.50, you can munch on pizza and BYO drinks, and its all over by 8pm, it makes for a great family night out. Even tough teenagers will get something out of it all those army fatigues AND a drag queen A collaborative work from GNT2 Playing until 14 April, every night except Mondays and Tuesdays, at 7pm Running time: 90 minutes no interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 30 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Canticum - Good Friday Musical Meditation St John's Cathedral Semi-professional production The Canticum Chamber Choir, founded by Emily Cox in 1995, is not just one of Brisbanes finest vocal ensembles, but by far the most innovative and exciting. Every concert brings something new, introducing audiences to composers and works that are rarely performed, while also including better-known works, and the choirs repertoire ranges from Bach to the holy minimalist John Tavener. But the Good Friday concerts, which have become a feature of the Easter music scene in Brisbane, are always my favourites, for theres nothing more peaceful and renewing than sitting quietly in the expansive space of St Johns Anglican Cathedral, with the statues still draped in purple, as a calm finale to what, for many people, is the most serious day of the year. This years concert took us into the 19th century, with meditative devotional works by three Romantic composers, Rheinberger, Brahms and Liszt and, for me at least, it contained many surprises. The Stabat Mater is an ancient Christian hymn expressing the grief of Mary of Nazareth as she watches her sons crucifixion. Scholars now attribute its authorship to Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century, but no matter what the debate about its origin, it was one of the most popular hymns in the mediaeval period, and remains so today. Its been set to music by Josquin Dupres in the 15th century, and by later composers like Palestrina, Haydn and even Rossini, and there are now believed to be over 600 different settings. Josefs Rheinbergers 1884 version is one of the simplest, and contains some exquisitely moving passages, but although its an easy piece to sing, Canticum expended as much care on their voicing and tempo as they did for the later Via Crucis or Fourteen Stations of the Cross, by Liszt. This is a fiendishly difficult piece, and for people who only know Liszt through his lush, virtuosic, often demonically violent symphonic poems, his setting of the Via Crucis must have opened their eyes. For this is an intense and eclectic musical drama, combining ancient Latin plainsong with mournful discords and fragmented chords from the organ, and in its theatricality looks forward to Wagner and 20th century composers as well as back to the ancient liturgical music of the Middle Ages. Christopher Wrench, arguably Brisbanes finest organist, played the organ for this piece, as well as providing a triumphant version of Brahms great Chorale Prelude and Fugue on O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid (Oh sadness, oh heartfelt pain), with its aching harmonies and spine-shivering cadences. If youre a lover of choral music and dont know the work of Canticum, youre missing a rare treat. They have been selected as one of only a very small group of international choirs to perform at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music to be held in Kyoto in August, where they will sing an all-Australian repertoire. You can hear a preview of this concert in July (Saturday 16 and Sunday 17) at St Marys Anglican Church at Kangaroo Point. Its a very small church, so advance bookings are advisable ring 3309 2581, or email contact@canticum.asn.au. And to keep track of their other concerts, visit their website at www.canticum.asn.au, because you wouldnt want to miss out on more of their glorious music. They are simply inspirational, especially on Good Friday. Canticum choir directed by Emily Cox, organist Christopher Wrench Running time 65 minutes —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 25th March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Producers Lyric Theatre It knocked the socks off 'em on Broadway, where it has been the surprise hit of the early 21st Century. Mel Brooks' live version of his 1968 movie has outsold any show of the last 30 years, its success attributed to its rerun of the old-style formula of spectacular design and song-and-dance routines. Very much a send-up of the whole showbiz industry, The Producers centres on the attempt of two conniving entrepreneurs to make money from investors by setting up a guaranteed lemon -- which rebounds on them by being a hit. Satirical targets include Broadway producers' choice of writers and directors, the casting process, performers' superstitions and the theatre's gay milieu. Producer Max Bialystock demonstrates a twist on cast-couching as he sells his middle-aged body to entrap finance from a bevy of little-ol'-ladies. Reg Livermore and Tom Burlinson are excellent as the two producers, Burlinson particularly memorable for the depiction of his various forms of paranoia/hysteria. As their chosen scriptwriter, nutty closet Nazi Franz Leibkind, Bert Newton in lederhosen demonstrates surprising versatility and knees. As Swedish wannabe actress Ulla, Chloe Dallimore has all the physical attributes as well as impressive comic and dancing talent. Tony Sheldon plays the role of cross-dressing director Roger Debris in debonaire style, while my favorite performer in the whole show is Grant Piro as Carmen Ghia, Debris's sidekick, memorable for his gliding exits. As the show's one decent singer, Benjamin McHugh displays a fine tenor voice. The cast are uniformly top rate, whether acting, singing or dancing. The support cast (I counted 22 performers in the curtain calls) play a dazzling range of characters, whether as old ladies on walking frames, German soldiers, theatre-goers and ushers, in addition to a lot of smaller roles. Costume-changing between the rapidly changing scenes must be frantic. Peter Casey's 18-piece orchestra play well, if rather too brassy for my liking. Amplification of the music, including the miked singers, is somewhat excessive. Yet The Producers itself is a puzzle in being such a hit despite the mediocrity of many of its ingredients. The songs are for the most part contrived and unmemorable. The script is ordinary. The humour is distinctly unsubtle, often gross and not particularly original. No characters are particularly endearing. Its success is based on the sheer quality of the performances, choreography, ensemble singing and the very expensive design and lighting. Sets (including awe-inspiring set changes) and costumes are brilliant. The show supposedly and not surprisingly cost $8 million to bring to Australia. But I can't see it enduring as an iconic musical. Unlike the 20th Century classics of the musical repertoire with their solid combination of book and music, I cannot imagine The Producers having any success in the hands of future amateur companies. Something else troubles me about this show. Why is it that the audience-within-the-show of "Springtime for Hitler" liked it so much, against the producers' expectations? And what did the producers of The Producers have in mind when packaging for them (and us) an entertaining camp song-and-dance Hitler? Any advertising copywriter will tell you that to get an audience laughing is the surest way to soften negative feelings about a product. Silly old Adolf, our young audiences may think - some sort of naughty 20th century buffoon. Hannah Arendt spoke of the "banality of evil" when observing the trial of the last top Nazi to be caught, Eichmann. It would be disturbing if the popular banality of The Producers were to sow the seeds of rehabilitation of one of the most evil specimens of the human race. Running in Brisbane 18 March-30 April 2005, then Sydney —
John Henningham (Performance seen: 20th March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Weary Gold Coast Arts Centre By Alan Hopgood Gold Coast Arts Centre Professional production Every Australian, it seems, has to have a nickname, especially men. And the names are often ironic, like `Bluey for someone with red hair, or `Shorty for a tall fellow. But the nickname of `Weary Dunlop, one of Australias greatest heroes, was not an ironic one. Sir Edward Dunlop may have been a tireless doctor and energetic leader of his men during the infamous period when Australian prisoners of war were forced by their brutal Japanese captors to build the notorious Burma railway, his nickname derived from another British-Australian customer of making links back from a persons proper name through puns and homonyms. Dunlop is a famous rubber company that made car tyres, so `tyres became `tired became `Weary, and the name stuck. During his term of imprisonment, `Weary Dunlop kept hundreds of notes about the conditions in the camps. Written on stolen scraps of paper, and hidden wherever he could find a spot unknown to the Japanese guards, these notes later formed the basis of a remarkable book called `The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop, first published in 1986, just six years before he died at the age of 85. Alan Hopgoods new play, called simply Weary , recreates this period of Wearys life, both in real time and in flashback, beginning with the old `Weary (played by Ronald Falk) beginning to sort through his papers in preparation for the daunting task of getting them ready for publication. No wonder he comes across as literally weary, when he has boxes and boxes of scrappy scribbled notes to sort out. Two hours of an old mans reminiscences would make an audience equally weary, so Alan Hopgood has peopled his script with the ghost of an unknown soldier in the camps, who also takes on the characters of people mentioned in the diaries, and the young Dunlop himself, so that the old mans memory can be acted out against back-projections of the various locations. Alan Hopgood is one of Australias most distinguished playwrights, Roger Hodgman a highly-respected award-winning director, and the actors (Neil Pigot and David Trendinnick play the two young men in the flashbacks) are all well-known to Australian audiences. With all these things going for it (as well as Matt Scotts lighting and Shaun Gurtons economical and versatile set), why did I find the production so dull, so wearisome? Both playwright and director acknowledged the problems inherent in transferring Wearys words to the stage. `I consider the Diaries to be a work of great quality as literature to be read, rather than performed, said Hopgood, while Hodgman was concerned about how to `depict the dramatic and often violent events in a way that was theatrically effective and did not trivialise them. Part of the problem is that we have already seen many dramatic accounts of the horrors of the Japanese prison camps on film and television. No playwright can emulate such graphic visual recreations of the most brutal events, so a script has to take a different angle, and rely on implications and verbal imagery of almost Shakespearean proportions to create an equally strong effect. Weary Dunlops own diaries, moving as they are to read, dont translate to the stage with the same power, and Hopgoods technique of dramatising the past doesnt quite work. Whether its because the actors are tired, halfway through their Australian tour, or because the script just cant conquer the stolid hill that the diaries are, I dont know, but the audience showed little reaction, certainly during the first half. Dunlop was a hero, a superb leader and doctor, a brave man who stood up for his men and wasnt afraid to put his own life on the line, but in this play hes just dull, both as an old man and even when performing his quiet heroics in the camps. Charismatic he may have been to his men, but on stage hes stiff-upper-lip to the point of tedium. Weary is a good try, a valiant attempt to pay homage to this great medical and military figure, but perhaps some heroes are better left to memories and words on paper. Directed by Roger Hodgman Played 16 19 March at Gold Coast, thence to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 19th March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Circus Oz Under the Big Top, Gilchrist Avenue (opposite RBH), Bowen Hills Professional production `Isnt it amazing what people can do with their bodies? said Captain Frodo the contortionist, writhing like a python as he tried to get head, both arms and a leg through a 25cm tennis racquet. Of course he wasnt stuck, but it was one part of Circus Ozs latest show I couldnt bear to watch, as he dislocated his shoulders and his elbows, and I waited for the bones to crack. The other dont-look number was the clown on top of a swaying pole, trying to replace a light bulb but lets leave my childhood traumas out of this. They just get better and better, this company. Some of the old favourites are still there, like the roof walk, or fly-on-the-ceiling routine, but now, instead of a movie detective or an Olympic sprint champion, Tim Coldwell is a circus clown going to his dressing room, putting on his makeup, swigging from his hip flask, and then climbing the slippery pole all upside down, of course. Well-worn clichs like `bottoms up, and `taking the weight off your feet? become hysterically funny in this inverted context, and had the whole audience in stitches. The new acts, though, are just as witty, especially the cockatoos on the flying trapeze, dressed in yellow and squawking their heads off, hatching out of eggs, falling off the trapeze, and dropping their popcorn (poopcorn?) all over the ring. Youll never be able to hear Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture again without sniggering, and pole dancing takes on a whole new meaning as five fully-clothed acrobats make scantily clad club dancers seem the amateurs they are. How many people can you fit on a bicycle? Circus Oz can do eleven, although when the wheels are on fire, as they frequently are, most of the performers wisely hop off. Dont try this one at home, kids, or the sword swallowing it takes years to control the gagging reflex, we were told, and it was obvious that none of the audience had undergone that kind of training, to judge from their reactions as a metre of cold steel disappeared down somebodys throat. But you may like to have a go at making a human pyramid, as long as youve got some soft grass to fall on, and see if you can rival the Circus Oz version. I think I counted fifteen - I may be wrong about the exact number, but I know they were at least four storeys high, so to speak. And you could try some of the slo-mo wheelies, or the front wheel variety, as long as you promise to wear protective head, knee and elbow gear. (Its the anxious mother in me speaking, you understand.) I could go on endlessly trawling through the acts, each one as good as, if not better than, the last, but if you know Circus Oz you dont need me to tell you how good they are. And if you dont know their work, youre in for a treat, as long as you avoid the very scary Mellissa Fyfe, the ball-breaking Strong Woman (or so my neophyte male companion feared) who can balance three concrete blocks on her stomach as she does a back bend, not moving a muscle as the clown smashes them with a mallet. Rest assured that no animals were injured during this production, as of course this is an all-human show (well, there may be some debate about some of them!), unless you except the aerialist dressed as a carousel pony; and there are other laudable touches in the show, like an acknowledgment of the traditional Aboriginal owners, and a collection at the end for asylum-seekers and refugees in Australia. Circus Oz is for everyone, except perhaps tiny toddlers, but even those I saw there were transfixed until they fell asleep. Its the raucous late-primary-early-secondary kids who will get most out of it, but believe me, even the most cynical adults cant fail to be entertained. So put them on your must-see list they out-perform any reality television show youre likely to see. Original 2002 version devised by the performers and co-directed by Russell Cheek and Mike Finch Playing Wednesday to Sunday until 3 April at 7.30pm, with 1.30pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. No evening performance on 3 April. Running time: 2 hours, including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 17th March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Women in Voice Playhouse Theatre, QPAC Professional production Six very different women, six different styles of music, and a crowd of over a thousand going wild at every performance. Yes, Women in Voice are back for the fourteenth time, and their ever-growing crowd of followers just cant get enough of them. Being at one of their concerts and I went mid-run, where the audience was made up of paying customers rather than first-night freeloaders is as good as being at the footy, certainly as far as enthusiasm goes. All six (Barbara Fordham, Zulya Kamalova, Kate Miller-Heidke, Jenny Morris, Alison St Ledger and Queenie van de Zandt ) were in fine voice, and each delivered some surprises in her choice of style and music. Barbara Fordham, for example, showed us that theres a lot more to her image than Big Bad Barbie with Big Bad Boobs, beginning the show with a set of heart-breakingly moody blues numbers in a lush Pre-Raphaelite setting, before Kate Miller-Heidke screwed the tension up a little higher with her very different vocal ability. Imagine the ethereal Titania from A Midsummer Nights Dream high on speed, singing wicked little numbers that take her higher and higher up the scale until she turns into the Queen of the Night. This way of using her classically-trained voice gives a whole new meaning to the term dramatic soprano. Another change of mood brought on Queenie van de Zandt, an actor-singer whose routine in this show is to run a music therapy workshop as a very scary, vaguely Eastern European teacher, which gave her an opportunity to change characters and vocal routines at the twist of a shoe. She had the audience in stitches, and has done a great deal, Im glad to say, to debunk the whole New Age music therapy craze. After interval, the pace changed yet again, with the best-selling (half a million records to date) multiple Aria Award-winning Jenny Morris surprising us as a mother in a daggy chenille dressing gown, singing songs about motherhood that became edgier and edgier until she threw it all off and reverted to the wild woman we all know and love. And then came enchantment of another kind. Zulya Kamalova took us on a lyrical journey through Central Asia, lifting the art of folk song to haunting new heights, even more beautiful to listen to than to look at, and so it seemed that there was nothing left for the final WIV, Alison St Ledger, to do, as all the fields had been covered. But never underestimate Women in Voice, with or without capital letters. St Ledger took us through her life-long obsession with the Beatles, and we were treated to fifteen minutes of their best numbers, with the five other WIV doing the backing vocals. By this stage, the audience was as wild as at those memorable Beatles concerts forty years ago, and just wouldnt let the women go away. The WIV concept has been refined over the years, and this production was as finely-honed as you could wish, because its a theatrical production rather than just six women doing their individual thing. Jean-Marc Russs impeccable direction helped, as did Alison Rosss bordello-esque stage design, while the sound and lighting (Brett Cheney and Jason Organ) were truly world class. Add to this Helen Russells stunning group of musicians (Jamie Clark, Andrew McNaughton, John Parker and John Rodgers), as well as the deeper, sexier, huskier but never older Leah Cotterell bringing the acts seamlessly together, and you have a evening of vocal and theatrical perfection. And all I wondered was, when are the boys in Brisbane going to bring us something as good as this? Directed by Jean-Marc Russ (creative producer Annie Peterson) Playing until 24 March 2005, with performances every night except Sunday at 7.30pm, and a matinee this Saturday at 1.30pm Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes total including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 15 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Goodies: Still Alive on Stage QPAC Professional For those of you who dont know, and I suppose there must be at least a couple of you, The Goodies are three English baboons (Goodies joke) who formed in the early seventies after they pitched a half-hour comedy show of the same name to the BBC. Anything, anytime, was their motto. And this is perhaps the most accurate way of describing what they did. They were a threesome of crazy antics and big laughs for, as they remind us during the stage show, they have the dubious honour of being one of the few television acts to have killed someone through laughter. (True story, but Im not going to tell you.) Bill Oddie (the short one), Tim Brooke-Taylor (the blond one), and Graeme Garden (the bespectacled one) are the three unlikely chaps at the centre of all the hubbub. And after looking at them in their current guise as sixty-somethings, some younger people may very well be scratching their heads wondering what all the fuss is about. However Australian Producers, The Big Laugh Comedy Festival Sydney, have played on a hunch and invited them to pop on over and give us a bit of a show. The producers figured, rightly as it turns out, that as the ABC reran their show through much of the seventies and eighties, there would be a ground swell of Australian thirty-, forty-, and fifty-somethings just waiting to lap up their unique brand of humour. Just like the television show, the show stage is a little difficult to describe accurately, for the evening is an odd mix of multimedia (they show some memorable clips from the television show), theatre (the vampire bat sketch and others), stand-up (they all ad-lib at times), all stirred together with a liberal dose of good old fashioned trips down memory lane. And what a long and wide lane these three particular gentlemen have travelled. Using a classic question and answer format, over the two hours The Goodies proceed to answer presumably real questions sent in by Australian viewers over the years, questions such as, What is the most painful thing youve done? Did you ever get censored? Where did you meet? You get the picture. I went along to The Goodies: Still Alive on Stage hoping to have a good time, and I was not disappointed. I suspect that I laughed more watching these three old blokes muck around than in every single other show Ive seen this year combined. The inventive bleeping of the rude bits from such Julie Andrews classics as, all I want is a bleep somewhere, and bleep bleep bleep bleep tied up with string will remain with me for many months to come. And so I draw to a close with sad news. Its just like The Goodies to have the last laugh. A cruel one in this case for all of you Brisbane readers wondering where you can get tickets. It turns out The Goodies are by now winging their way back home, having been in town only two days. If youre feeling particularly cheated by this I recommend you write to them. Who knows, perhaps theyll use your letter in their next show. Directed by The Goodies Playing 12 and 13 March 2005: Fri-Sat 8pm Running Time: 2 hours including interval —
Glen J. Player (Performance seen: 12 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Gin Game Centenary Theatre Group Amateur production Author: D.L. Coburn Retirement villages and nursing homes have always provided rich material for comedy — remember the television series Waiting for God with Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden? In truth, the inhabitants of these places are often sad rather than funny, so to make the comedy work there has to be an outside perspective, usually in the form of an inmate who still has sharp mental facilities or is able to get back at the authorities by being just physically fit enough to be independent. And if there can be a suggestion of twilight romance as well, hinting that all's for the best in this best of all possible worlds, it gives the audience a lift, rather than forcing them to face the grim possibility that old age is about being neglected and unloved.. The Gin Game begins with all these premises firmly in place. Grumpy Old Man, who never gets any visitors, is playing Solitaire in a rarely-used sun porch (now there's a metaphor for you!) in an el-cheapo retirement village/nursing home. Enter Nervous Middle-aged Woman, who has just booked in. Although she's really too young for the place, she has a medical problem that needs constant management. Both are intelligent, articulate and very much alive, unlike the rest of the inhabitants, whose only social life, according to the GOM, is going to funerals. And so he introduces her to the card game Gin, which she knew as Gin Rummy, and played in her youth, much to the horror of her stern Methodist father. And so it seems inevitable that romance will blossom. She comes across as the all-American '70s female — the deferential, silly-ol'-me flirtatious type — but as she beats him time after time, and he becomes increasingly angry and violent, we see that there's a darker side to both of them, and that this is no twilight romance, but a re-run of their failed marriages, and that their relationship is just another minor skirmish in the universal war of the sexes. The play won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978, and its energetic script is given the full treatment by director Gary O'Neil and those two great stalwarts of the Brisbane stage, Brian Cannon and Beverley Wood. It's such a treat to see experienced, super-competent actors take on a taxing two-hander like this, and to know that nothing is going to go wrong. They handle it perfectly, from timing to accent to intonation, and the only suspension of disbelief I had to will for myself was to accept Beverley Wood as a 65-year-old, so graceful and beautiful she is. Brian Cannon made this role his own, and I can't imagine either Ron Haddrick or Leonard Teale, who have both played the part, doing it any better than this superb performance. Loveable, exasperating and deeply tragic by turns, Cannon is every sad old man you've ever seen, and even his dangerous rages are (almost) forgivable as the details of his past slowly emerge. In the hands of a lesser actor, the twitchy faded Southern belle could have become a tedious caricature, but Woods allows her to be the woman the playwright created, a deeply flawed but brave woman whose flighty faade has always masked her real strength. This was such a good production that I hope they'll give it a re-run later in the year, so that more people can get to see it. It proves that amateur theatre isn't always for amateurs. Directed by Gary O'Neil Playing until 12 March 2005 Running time: 1 hr 45 min —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 12 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Kronos Quartet Concert Hall, QPAC What a night. What a buzz. The Concert Hall was crowded, not packed. It rang with clamour for an ensemble that warrants acclaim for its longevity and its contribution to new music, as well as for the vibrant excellence of its programming, playing and all round performance. Kronos Quartet started out back in 1973 as the enfants terribles of string quartets. Museum music Beethoven et al.- have never graced their stage, then or now. From his teens, David Harrington got hooked on playing NEW music and, lucky man, follows his dream and passion today by having commissioned 500 pieces from established and new composers. If your love is the classics or your music diet doesn?t extend beyond Bach, then Kronos is NOT for you; though you could be tempted by a suite of beautiful Bollywood love songs from Rahul Dev Burman, the only not-living composer on the programme (hows that for political correctness, Don Watson?) This attractive music showcased the wonderful playing of Hank Dutt (viola) and Jennifer Culp (cello). It also came with engaging sound effects and the precise tapping of a tabla. Hows that? you ask, this is supposed to be a string quartet! Kronos, like their namesake, the Titan who deposed his father as ruler of the world, breaks all the rules. They perform with a full-on light show, amplification and with backing tapes, in the case of Burmans music, arranged from his movie scores since his death 10 years ago. What would the masters mutter? Well, let them tut tut! Kronos has marked the bench and shown the way. They have given the healthy student attendance from the Conservatorium and QUT (where were the UQ students?), who accessed the concert for near-movie-ticket price, new music for a new millennium. We cant live on a diet of stale stuff for ever. Kronos programme delivered a living music concert, for once, for Musica Viva. The oldest is Peter Sculthorpe (born 1929) whose Jabiru Dreaming from 1990 opened the concert with quotes from and references to Australian sights and sounds and indigenous chant. The youngest is Alexandra du Bois (born 1981) whose an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind is a deeply felt lament on the folly of war written in 2003 as American (and others) prepared to invade Iraq. Willem Jeths (born 1959) Intus Trepidare (Trembling from Within) comes from 2003 and leaves us listening to a string quartet that is turned upside down , just like our world. The cello plays at the top of the score and the first violin takes its G string down as low as it can go. Steve Reichs has written two quartets for Kronos (as has Sculthorpe). These performers of new music gave a powerful reading of the minimalists Triple Quartet 1999 a driving three movement piece that needs to be supported by a pre-recorded tape that supplies the other eight players. Kronos was generous with their encores. First an offering from Icelandic band Sigur Ros, that was some of the most interesting music of the night, followed by the screaming violins of David Harrington and John Sherba as we got a full-on light show and an electric rendition of a well known anthem as distorted by Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969. How much and how little has changed in our world. —
John Colwill (Performance seen: 9 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Macquarie Trio Conservatorium Theatre A piano trio is not an ensemble of 3 pianos on stage as an arts editor back in the eighties tried to inform me. They are however, a motley crew nine feet of piano with the power to outplay a pair of subtle strings. Macquarie Trio Australia marvelously blends these mismatched resources, imbuing the mix with superb artistry and exacting ensemble, to the point where the listener forgets the constraints of the medium, and is instead able to focus on the music they present. Bravo Macquarie Trio Australia. In this, their thirteenth year, the Macquarie Trio is presenting their fourth Brisbane season to an audience of enthusiastic subscribers who, we learned at the end of the concert, are wondering why the trio does not play as many recitals here as in other cities. Venue availability, accessibility and ticketing policies (Brisbanes, not theirs) are the issues. In the meantime their successful recordings for ABC Classics the recent release of the complete Dvorak trios, the complete Brahms and Schubert sets as well as the entire Beethoven trios scheduled for next year will serve to keep their music alive. But back to the concert, in the Conservatorium Theatre, that creaked and groaned again only when the audience became restive to the end of a long but engaging first half. It must be the seats. Its not too often that one wishes for less in this world, but the Macquarie Trios generous programming would definitely have benefited by the omission of the first piece of the night. Richard Strauss Capriccio Dances are an oddity thats best left in the cupboard. The three dances in the French manner are written for the stage as an interlude in the composers last opera of 1942, and have none of the conversational intimacy that imbues other trios written with the chamber in mind. The music is an unrelenting barrage of tone to which Brahms assessment back in 1885 of a young Richard Strauss, music too full of thematic irrelevancies, could equally apply. But their rendition of Mozarts Trio in C Major, K. 548 was done just the way I like my Mozart; sparklingly fresh, plenty of space between the notes and a mercurial mix of earnestness and humour, although cross accents in the opening Allegro imparted an edginess which needs gentle refinement. The Brahms C Minor, Op.101 began with an explosion of passion that settled appropriately into a subdued rustling for the second movement. For the graceful Andante , the Macquarie Trio projected Brahms at his beneficent best and the performance finished with a display of piano prowess that at no time overwhelmed the equally strong strings. Kathryn Selby is a master musician, always sensitive to the fabric of the piece. Her piano playing came with the right mix of support and power. Nicholas Miltons violin spoke with commanding vibrancy and Michael Goldschlager played cello that sang with embracing conviction. Their reading of Dvoraks Dumky Trio was exemplary; an engaging blend of instruments that projected an immensely satisfying understanding of the architecture of a piece that can be so often a cloying collection of contrasting moments. Macquarie Trio Australia returns to the Conservatorium Theatre on Friday, June 24. Put it in your diaries now. —
John Colwill (Performance seen: 4 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Hitchcock and Herrmann 4MBS Performance Studio, Coorparoo Written by David Knijnenburg Profit-share production Are you sitting comfortably? Then Ill tell you a story. Its about a villain called Procrustes in ancient Greece, whose name means "he who stretches". He kept a house by the side of the road where he offered hospitality to passing strangers, who were invited in for a pleasant meal and a night's rest in his very special bed, which was said to match exactly the length of anyone who slept in it. To achieve this miracle, as soon as the guest lay down, Procrustes would either stretch the person on the rack if they were too short, or chop off their legs if they were too tall. So what does Alfred Hitchcock have to do with Procrustes? I hear you cry. In this new play or, more accurately, these two parallel monologues David Knijnenburg has both stretched and diminished the great master of suspense. Hes stretched him in a physical sense, by expanding Hitchcocks diminutive size to his own lofty height, but hes diminished him by reducing him to a petulant ego-maniac. The physical transformation, though, is so good that we tend to forget the disparity of height. Knijnenburgs makeup and accent are good enough to let us suspend our disbelief, and he is Hitchcock in the same way that Max Gillies is John Howard or Germaine Greer. This is achieved through brilliant makeup as well as a detailed study of Hitchcocks facial gestures and distinctive voice, as well as a bit of judicious padding, and the faade almost never slips. Michael Priest looks less impressive as Bernard Herrmann, who composed the music for many of the masters greatest films and was his equal in self-importance, but as most people know him by name and musical score rather than face, it doesn?t really matter, although it makes the show rather lop-sided. In theory, the structure of this show is clever, having the two stars play off each other by commenting on, rather than communicating with, each other, but in practice it makes for a rather dull hour, especially as there are so many longueurs in both script and performances. Neither actor seemed fully in charge of his material, and on the first night there was a distinct feeling that the show wasnt quite ready. Were the awkward silences because the music cues were not co-ordinated properly, or did the actors just keep losing their lines? I can see why Knijnenburg chose this structure, but Herrmann isnt given enough clever dialogue, so that his own ego comes through not as the complaint of a musical master, but as that of a whinging underling. Herrmann, who wrote brilliant scores not just for Hitchcock, but for films like Fahrenheit 451 and Taxi Driver , deserves better, both for the man himself, and for the integrity of the text. Hitchcock and Herrmann is a brave try, but when youre taking on two of the great masters of the cinema, you need a script consultant, a more decisive director, and a stronger cast. The words Master and Great , which are used liberally in the promotional material, just dont seem relevant here. Directed by David Knijnenburg Playing Friday and Saturday nights until 19 March at 8pm Running time: 1 hour, no interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 4 March 2005) Sweet Road Cement Box Theatre Student Production I love Aussie theatre. You know how some people go weird without coffee and others get that twitch in their left eye when they havent gone sailing in three weeks? Well, Im a bit like that with Aussie theatre. Ive swooned over those brave souls willing to get out and try it and Ive wanted to have passionate affairs with those willing to go off the beaten track and try anything other than a Williamson, Nowra or Gow. Enter Sweet Road by Debra Oswald, and if ever there were anything more off the beaten track, literally and figuratively, I have not seen it. Herein lies its charm. Sweet Road begins in a car, and to a large extend is performed in and around cars, and yet despite this, it is less about Australias obsession with driving and more about what happens when journeys get derailed. The play follows the lives of six Australians, strangers, each trying to find their way back on track, each trying to find their sweet road. Michael is a lost soul roaming the back roads of NSW in his never-ending journey to refill Coke machines. Jo has just witnessed her husband of twelve years kissing the pregnant office girl. Frank is in his retirement and had dreams of traveling around Australia, but feels bogged. Carla is an over worked young mother with three kids in tow, two of her own, one belonging to the man she married. These are among the many characters who draw us in, but its the intersections of their lives thats the real meat of the play. Each intersection is a cross-roads where chance can either put them back on track, or ricochet them off into the wilderness. Sweet Road is ripe material for the students at the University of Queenslands Underground Productions, as the play contains rich characters and themes, presenting an excellent opportunity for the director to bring his own vision to the work. While director Scott Drummonds use of multimedia, coupled with Tanja Beers strong professional stage design, served to transport us to the Outback, I was left wondering whether a less direct approach may have better represented the emotional landscape within the play. Sweet Road is not an easy night at the theatre, but it can be an interesting one. I recommend it to those who enjoy the yarn after the play as much as the play itself, the challenge of pulling the ideas together, of coming to your own conclusions, and for those who, like me, enjoy Aussie theatre off the beaten track. Directed by Scott Drummond Playing until 12th March 2005: Wed-Sat 8pm Running Time: 2 hours including interval —
Glen J. Player (Performance seen: 3 March 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Swan Lake Australian Ballet (Lyric Theatre) Professional production The Australian Ballet's latest production of Swan Lake breathes life into a great classic. It is as sad as a Russian violin and as raw as the madness of unrequited love. Its the story of a young maiden Odette realising her husband, Prince Siegfried, is in love with another woman, a Baroness. Odette is sent away by royal command to a cold, harsh, white sanatorium. With her spirit broken, she finds escape in a frozen dream with swan-like maidens. Madeleine Eastoe danced the role of Odette with great pathos and beauty. Her estranged husband, Siegfried, was danced by Steven Heathcote. He continues to show the mastery and elegance which have brought audiences such joy over the years. Lynette Wills was a powerful figure of dark seduction as the Baroness. Choreographer Graeme Murphy has brought new passion to an old story. The scenes in the sanatorium are chilling. The sexual contest between Odette and the Baroness work themselves out in a dynamic as relevant to the Queen Street Mall as it was to 19th Century Russia. The set design by Kristian Fredrickson has the simplicity of a grand scale and complements the familiar but emotional music of Tchaikovsky played sensitively by the Queensland Orchestra. There is a deep sadness about this story of tragic love; however our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Brisbane gets to see this production before it premieres on the international stage in Cardiff and London in July this year, and its a show not to be missed. Choreographed by Graeme Murphy. Playing until Wednesday 2 March 2005 with performances at 7.30pm (6.30pm Monday) and a matinee Saturday 1.30pm. Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes, including two intervals —
Matt Foley (Performance seen: 24 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Tibetan Yalong Song and Dance Troupe QPAC Professional production Sponsored by the Peoples Republic of China This is a vividly coloured, professionally produced, sanitised snapshot of Tibetan culture in a manner designed for western consumption. The performance consisted of 14 separate segments presenting aspects of Tibetan life such as a dance outlining the intriguing process of making butter tea. These dances and songs drew the audience into the mountain environment of Tibet, but it was hard to get a feel for the real culture of the people behind the stylised songs of blissful new year, spring on the prairie and pure heart. The costumes were lavish with one segment portrayed as a folk fashion show outlining the colourful costumes and folk customs of the Tibetan people passed down from many generations. I was left wondering about the soul of the Tibetan people, their aspirations and where they are headed. Perhaps surtitles would have helped to understand the songs, or perhaps it was just a consequence of politically authorised culture on show. Directed by Basang Lhamo, Drinsang, Basang Tsering, Janmpel, Tsering and Dawa Cholga. Played 19 February 2005 only Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including interval —
Matt Foley (Performance seen: 19 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Little Shop of Horrors Harvest Rain Theatre Company, Sydney Street Theatre, New Farm Pro-Am Production Hands up those who like a good musical. Were a strange lot, arent we, prone to the most embarrassing outbursts, like singing Suddenly Seymour in a crowded elevator a little too loudly But such is the feel of the catchy music from Little Shop of Horrors , you just cant help yourself. Quite frankly, if its great music youre after then Little Shop of Horrors has it in spades. From the inspiring Downtown and dreamy Somewhere thats Green to the convincing Grow for Me and rocky Feed Me, this blackest of comedies has it all. Those who remember the hugely successful 1986 film adaptation will feel very much at home in this stage version by Harvest Rain, but even those unfamiliar with this musical will almost certainly be familiar with some of the other work of the team behind it. Composer Alan Menkin and lyricist Howard Ashman later went on to compose for many Disney classics, so Little Shop of Horrors is no one-hit wonder. When entering the auditorium in Sydney Street, I was struck by the amount of work required to bring Little Shop of Horrors to stage. Besides constructing three versions of the plant in question, so that it could grow from hand puppet size to seven feet tall, designer Josh McIntosh and his team hand- painted every brick used in the design. The scope of the project is quite startling, and must have been the cause of many sore fingers and hands, but the effect works wonders, transporting you to 1950s New York. As for the cast, the singing and dancing was infectious. They were having fun up there, and as audience we couldnt help but have fun ourselves, with some members singing along to their favourite parts. I particularly enjoyed Justin Geange, the voice of the plant, and Jason Chatfield the puppeteer who together brought the foam-and-weed mat alive. I was just about to call Steve Irwin at Australia Zoo, when Jason popped out for a bow at the end, and you think crikey, it must have been hot in there! In what was otherwise a slick production, an uneven audio mix at times made the singing difficult to hear and understand, especially when you wanted to hear the solos over the band or when singing in ensemble. However I expect this will be ironed out over the run. Still, the efforts of all concerned were well received with solid applause after every musical number and even a few wolf whistles from the Horrors fans. Personally, I had a great time, and if youre looking for a toe-tappin, hand-clappin, finger-clickin fun night out, I highly recommend Harvest Rains production of Little Shop of Horrors . Just be warned, keep your wits about you or you might find yourself singing Feed me, Seymour, Feed me all night long a little too loud come Monday morning when youre standing in the office kitchen waiting for your tea to brew. Directed by Tim OConnor Playing until 19th March 2005: Wed-Sat 7:30pm, Saturday matinees 2pm Running Time: 2 hours including interval (Performance Seen: 19th February 2005) —
Glen J. Player (Performance seen: 19th February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Amigos La Boite (Roundhouse Theatre) (Professional production) The knives are out, all five of them, and it isnt just back-stabbing, but from the front, top, sideways and even underneath (ouch!). The knives are now Christofle rather than Ikea, just as the bed sheets are silk and damask, and the locations Byron Bay and Port Douglas, all icons of the aspirational nouveau-riche who are David Williamsons current targets. (Although Im not sure that Gabriel Poole would be happy to be identified as the architect of the expensive beach house furnished with tacky 50-retro shagpile and vinyl pouffes Greg Clarkes concept is clever, but doesnt quite come off.) And the stakes are higher an AC, the highest gong in the Australian Honours list, no less, or having the new wing of a major hospital named after you. For me, Amigos is the most gratifying parable about modern society that David Williamson has written since After the Ball . The moral issues are clearly implied, but the way they are worked out is complex and ambiguous, and eventually there can be no sympathy for anyone except perhaps sad-sack Stephen, the drop-out of the four amigos, who have supposedly stayed friends because of their bronze-medal rowing triumph at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Thirty-six years later, Jim (Robert Colby, a delicious sex-sleaze) has become a millionaire businessman, Dick (Steven Tandy who, rumour has it, is moving to Queensland) is a heart surgeon with an ego problem, the fourth member of the team has died, presumably of an AIDS-related illness, and Stephen (Eugene Gilfedder in Michael Leunig mode) has retreated to a beach shack to be an unsuccessful writer. The play purports to be about mateship and the ties that bind Australian men, but its success is that its much more than the boring alpha-male syndrome, which is so easy to mock. The women are equally important in the vicious games that these people play Sophie as Jims pretty new sex-toy wife (Ling-Hsueh Tang plays magnificently against type as a steely survivor); Hillary as the ex-nurse who married predictably up (I didnt know Sally McKenzie could be so deliciously sour); and Hillarys best friend, the unseen ex-wife of Jim, the dark figure whose new life sets the plot in motion. Lots of scope here for revelations and game-plays, and Williamson makes the most of them, with twists and turns coming just when we are beginning to wonder whether this is going to turn into another Talking Heads . The risk is that the audience will lose interest in these unlovable characters, but just when one little cat fight reaches its limits a new revelation comes along, and we are caught afresh in Williamsons tangled web. We are trapped between horror and laughter, because although Amigos is, like all Williamsons plays, about moral dilemmas too deep for his soft-target characters to cope with, as audience we are forced to confront them and be thankful we dont have to deal with them in our own lives. The play was received coolly by southern critics, which makes me think about the strength that a different cast and director can add to a play. Sean Mee brings out the complexities in characters who could so easily be mocked for their superficiality, and his actors give him everything he wants. Ive always been one of Williamsons most trenchant critics, but in Amigos he has a winner, a mature play that in the long-term will, Im sure, rank up there with The Removalists , Jugglers Three/Third World Blues , and After the Ball . Dont miss it. Directed by Sean Mee Playing until 12 March 2005: Tuesdays 6.30pm, Wednesday - Saturday 8pm, with a 2pm matinee Saturday 12 March. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 18 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Spook Belvoir Street Company B, for Queensland Theatre Company (Playhouse) Professional production Its 1965, and the South Bendigo branch of the Australian Communist Party is in crisis. The five members are split over developing issues in the world-wide Communist party, and the future of the branch is at stake. Theres a nave teenage mole (Martin, played with Damon Herriman) in their ranks, who reports on whos doing what, and with which, and to whom, to a tall ASIO operative straight out of Homicide , with dark glasses and a Mafia hat. Martin is married to the fluffy local hairdresser; his sub-suburban mum (Kerry Walker) is distressed that he?s left the Roman Catholic church; and as well as the notorious Reds under the bed, Australia is being overrun by Jewish intellectuals. Its just like a Hollywood spoof where is Jerry Lewis when you really need him? and the first act is hysterically funny, as all the caricatures of the 1960s come alive before our eyes. Stop laughing! This is serious. It is the mid-sixties, the time of Kim Philby, the Colonels in Greece, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the war in Vietnam, and the memory of the Petrov defection still permeates Australian political thinking. ASIO might have been run by under-educated bumbling fools, but they were powerful fools, as were the local plods, whose stupidity made them even more dangerous. Anyone who questions the decisions of the state is automatically under suspicion, and refugees from oppressive foreign regimes are of course enemies of the state, and probably spies as well. You dont need me to draw the parallels, but the unstated analogy with Queensland in the 1970s, and Australia as a whole today, is what gives the script its sinister sub-text, and should make it a powerful spine-tingling drama. But thats just what we dont get in Neil Armfields production for Sydneys Belvoir Street Company B. The first act is played as farce, and quite uneven farce at that, so when the denouement comes towards the end of the second act, we cant really take it seriously. These are spoof characters, after all, and because they are so silly and inconsequential in the first half, we cant experience the full horror of George and Ellis fate, even though its a common enough one for illegal migrants today - and I cant say more than that without giving away the plot. Perhaps the only thing that really works is Martins gradual and horrified realisation that the political can become the personal, and that divided loyalties can destroy the person who holds them as much as the person betrayed. There are some lovely performances, especially Eugenia Fragos and George Spartles as Elli and George, and Russel Kiefel sending up the belligerent Party secretary and the thuggish policeman with equal aplomb, but overall the standard of acting was pretty average. You see more convincing portrayals of sixties stock types on television any night. A clever set, where the bare bones of an unfinished building can be CWA hall, private garage, kitchen or police station; a haunting because almost unheard original score; and some surreal moments of fantasy Russian dancing these all add to our enjoyment of the show, but cant rescue what is basically an unsatisfactory interpretation of a script that deserves more subtle treatment. Directed by Neil Armfield Playing until 5 March 2005: Monday and Tuesday 6.30pm, Wednesday 1pm, 7.30pm, Thursday and Friday 7.30pm, Saturday 2pm, 7.30pm Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 17 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Anton Kuerti, piano recital for Medici Concerts Conservatorium Theatre, South Bank While Christo and Jeanne-Claude are unfurling their 7500 Gates in Central Park, Anne Thompson is opening the recital year here in Brisbane with her marvellous Medici Concerts. In bringing us an initial performance of epic proportions by a North American artist, she looks forward to another year of piano music from the worlds best. Austrian-born Kuerti has lived and recorded impressively in Canada for the last 30 years. At the Conservatorium Theatre South Bank last Saturday night, his fingers presented three landmark pieces, all written within a ten year span. Were talking the first part of the 19th century 1818 to 1828 to be exact - when the piano was affirming its identity as the most popular and most capable of all instruments. In a packed hall which groaned and creaked distractingly through the night, Kuerti led us to Parnassus but for all his excellence couldnt take us on the climb with him. The Canadian master musician opened with Mendelssohn, displaying amazing dexterity, variety of tone and clarity of contrapuntal concept that promised an outstanding night. The second part of the Andante and Rondo capriccioso from 1828, when the composer was only nineteen, has all the puckishness of the composers incidental music for A Midsummer Nights Dream from 1842, while the same careful crafting informed Kuertis performance of Schuberts great A-major Sonata D 959 , also from 1828. Schubert is the great song writer of the German Romantic period and when restrained by the brevity of a text or the simple beauty of a lyrical melody his music makes for great listening. Otherwise he rambles. And ramble, although beautifully, this sonata does. Of great effect is the gentle Andantino based on a melody constructed with much restraint (lovingly rendered by Kuerti). This tenderness is disrupted by fantastic outbursts, flourishes and accents that a too brief restatement of the theme does nothing to dispel. The playful third movement is as fresh a new wine and was so pleasingly played; leaving us to drink deep of the melodies of the Rondo finale. After interval came another spacious work, Beethovens 29th Sonata which, the soloist writes, is the longest, richest and perhaps the greatest of the thirty-two. Beethovens title for his Opus 106 is Grosse Sonate fur das Hammer-klavier , to celebrate the arrival of a newly action-ed English piano from John Broadwood that could out-play and out-sound any of its rivals and who says size doesnt matter? And what the master writes for it is truly gargantuan. Kuertis performance of this master work was monumental, the contrasts of triumphant heralding and gentle lyricism kept the first movement alive. In an experts hands, the Scherzo plays itself with playful seven bar phrases we expect eight and it did. By the spacious slow movement, however, this listener was getting lost. Plenty of meat and potatoes can be a good thing, but after rambling through the Austrian countryside with Schubert and then doing battle with the Titans, I was ready for an after dinner nap. The audience greeted Kuertis resolute rendition of the fugal finale with flagging applause and there were no encores. Was it that we just werent able to scale the heights of this masterpiece with him, was it that the performer could not inspire us? Or were we all lost in space? —
John Colwill (Performance seen: 12 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Miss Bosnia Brisbane Arts Theatre Amateur production Q: What do an army deserter in drag, a glue-sniffing bimbo, an alcoholic lesbian, a vicious female dentist, and a shy Muslim girl in a chador have in common? A: They all want to be Miss Bosnia 1993. Q: Why a beauty contest, for goodness sake? There's a war on, and Sarajevo is under siege! A: Because of the prizes - a packet of real coffee for third, a food hamper for the runner-up and, for the lucky winner, a seat on a UN bus out of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nuff said? Under its comic surface, Louis Nowra's play, which was inspired by a real event in Sarajevo in 1993, has tragic undertones about the horrors of war and the results of ethnic and religious hatred, but this production avoids too much emphasis on these aspects of the play, probably because it would be too taxing for amateur actors. Basically they play it for laughs, of which there were plenty at the mid-run performance I saw, with an audience who were there for a good night out and didn't want to bother their heads about ethical issues. And for this theatre and this kind of audience, I don't see that as a problem, in spite of the political furore the play raised when it was first performed. On one level, everything it suggests about the bitchiness of beauty contests is true, and the back-biting antics of the contestants are very funny indeed, as is the way the quest is conducted. Officially, the interview section is to elicit the girls' opinions about serious subjects like nuclear war, abortion and child slavery, but as it's conducted off-stage, by the organiser and an army general, the questions slide sideways, so that one girl is asked by the general (whose morale may need raising, but very little else) whether she'd pose nude for a men's magazine. And you can imagine the rest. Everyone plays a stock character from farce, and some of them are very good, especially Natasha Yantsch as the pageant organiser, who never lets anyone forget that three years before she was Miss Ex-Yugoslavia. She's helped enormously by her magnificent wigs and costumes, which outshine everyone else's, but her projection isn't terribly good and for the first 15 minutes I couldn't work out what she was on about. There's a lot of over-playing which means that the horrors of their lives never come into sharp relief, and the big dramatic moments are often lost, such as the revelation that two of the women survive by selling their bodies to the UN soldiers for food, and that the transvestite army deserter has to perform oral sex on the general, who has fallen in love with him but must never know that he's a man. There's no happy ending because, in spite of all the plotting and bargaining, nobody ends up happy, the UN truck goes off without the winner, and it all ends up in tears. As long as you can enjoy this production without being disturbed by the political and moral implications, then it's a good fun night at the theatre. Certainly I didn't notice the time dragging, even if I did find the interpretation a little hard to take. Directed by Diana Golden Playing until 5 March 2005: Thu-Sat 8pm, Wed 2 March 8pm, Sunday matinees 13 & 27 February Running time: 2 hours 45 mins including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 10 February 2005) | Back to Top www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Shakespeare's Villains: A Masterclass in Evil Steven Berkoff (Playhouse) When most people are asked to name Shakespeare's top villains, they usually come up with Richard III, Iago, Shylock, Macbeth and Mrs B, of course, Claudius in Hamlet and - um,um, um. That's because there aren't many absolutely evil people in major Shakespeare's plays, although some may add Angelo in Measure for Measure, and perhaps Timon of Athens, and personally I'd add Prospero. So you might be surprised to find Hamlet himself on Berkoff's list, as well as Oberon, King of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream -- although not for his paedophilic tendencies, but because he was, in Berkoff's own phrase, "the first drug-pusher in English literature". This is an amazing production, and no matter how you think you're prepared for it, you won't find what you expected. Part pure performance, part lecture, 67-year-old Berkoff comes onto a bare stage dressed in simple black shirt and trousers, and turns on two hours of ingenuity that fascinated, irritated, amused and intrigued me in equal parts. His thesis is that Shakespeare has different kinds of villains - the genius (Dicky 3), the mediocre (Iago), the indecisive (Hamlet) and the villain-by-default (Macbeth). In arguing his case, he illustrates by turning into each these characters with a simple change of expression, posture and voice, and although you want to stand up and argue with him, or even think through your objections to what he's saying, he never gives you time, rushing on from one point to another and overwhelming you with the sheer power of his performance. In between portraying his villains, he treats us to asides about the life of an actor, his own theories on casting (why should it always be a black actor playing Othello? Do we insist that only a 14-year-old virgin can play Juliet? In that case, who's going to conduct the auditions?), and some bitchy comments about the gods of the English stage like Olivier and Gielgud, whom he sends up mercilessly while professing his admiration for them. By the end of the first half, my friends and I were gasping with mental exhaustion and overcome with professional admiration of his sheer brilliance as an actor although, as one theatre director noted, it was almost like an audition piece for international directors - "just see what I'm capable of." He's undoubtedly capable of almost everything, and this show marks him, as if we didn't already know, as one of the great actors of the last 50 years. But in a way I wish I'd left at interval, for the second half didn't live up to the first in intellectual satisfaction. Instead of showing why he considers Hamlet as the real villain, who brings about the death of seven people because of his morally-induced indecisiveness, he reverts to miming the scene in Gertrude's bedchamber in very funny detail but at unnecessary length, so that we're distracted from the weakness of his argument here by admiring his antics. And he has so much fun camping up Titania with mimed lipstick, hair and big boobs that the show falls away almost into farce. Nevertheless it's a bravura performance, and one that no lover of Shakespeare should miss. If I were an English teacher again, I'd use this performance as the basis for class discussion, because you learn so much about the art of the stage, the brilliance of the playwright and the moral ambiguities that beset us all that you will never look at Shakespeare in the same light again. Yes, Shakespeare still lives, but we need interpreters like Steve Berkoff to prove it to us, not dusty old academics or self-opinionated young directors. Written and performed by Steven Berkoff Playing until Saturday 12 February 2005 Running time: 2 hours including interval —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 8 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine Evocations Collusion at Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse Profit-share production Collusion: n fraudulent secret agreement Evocation: n calling up of memories, feelings, responses There may be some purists left in the world who think that Collusion's philosophy of mixing "pure" music with other art forms is fraudulent, but they're probably the same people who wouldn't dream of drinking Lapsang Souchong tea before 4 o'clock in the afternoon, or eating their cake with a spoon. Rules are rules, they believe, and it's not up to the young to break them. But this energetic and talented young group of musicians know that art is always changing and moving on, a process which needn't lead to falling standards or lack of respect, and their way of combining the work of composers like Benjamin Britten, Andre Previn and the wonderful Ned Rorem with clowning, masks and dance is, at times, simply sublime. When soprano Alana Scott comes on stage, standing stock still in a simple white dress to sing Britten's "How sweet the answer" to Therese Milanovic's piano accompaniment, we might think we're in for a night of pure modern classics, but then she's joined by Timothy Munro and his magic flute, along with three mask dancers, and the performance switches to two poems, by Su Tung P'o and our own Jena Woodhouse, set to music by another Brisbane composer, Betty Beath, and we're in an entirely different world. And so it goes on — to New York Nocturnes by David Schiff, composed only five years ago, which is where the idea of evocation comes in, for this four-section instrumental piece conjures up memories of blues, jazz, ballads and even honky-tonk, and your mind is set free to wonder, remember, imagine and drift away, like those Twining's Tea ads where a reverie is set in motion just by watching sunbeams shining on falling dust, or the light shining on a slow-dripping tap. Music, concerts, performances — this exquisite show reminds us that we don't always have to pay attention, follow every note, or work out the meaning of a piece. Sometimes it's just as useful, and far more satisfying, just to sit back and let it wash all over you -- although the four-year-old who was falling about in hysterics at the clown ballet wouldn't agree, I'm sure. His face was glowing with joy at the end of the performance, which just goes to show that there's more than one way to enjoy the conjunction of different art forms. Top marks to Collusion for this ground-breaking piece of music theatre. Keep an eye on their up-coming productions — their website is www.collusion.com.au. Playing Friday and Saturday 4 and 5 February 2005 at 8pm Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes including interval Producer Joon-Yee Kwok, Director Karlo Bran —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 3 February 2005) www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice Ipswich Little Theatre at the Incinerator Theatre, Burley Griffin Drive, Ipswich (Amateur production) Things have come to a pretty pass when you cant get laid even in your own fantasy. And thats only one of Alices problems. The other is Henry, her husband, who is about as much use to her in bed as Orca the goldfish, on whom she lavishes all her frustrated mothering instincts. (Youll be glad to hear that Orca, who dies in the second act, isnt a real live specimen but, in deference to the RSPCA and animal liberationists, one of those artificial jobs from Silly Sollys.) But back to Alice — or Henry, if you like, but whats to like? Hes a boring slob who hates his job, refuses to help with the housework, messes up the house the minute he comes in, and is the reason for Alices necessary fantasies. Mind you, this is a quid pro quo relationship, for she is about as responsive to him as the goldfish is, so he also needs his fantasies, which are a little more exotic than hers. As for Orcas fantasies — well, lets just say that the sexual daydreams of any creature with a three-second memory span need not concern us here. This is a very funny little play, where English playwright David Tristrams original script has been seamlessly adapted for an Ipswich audience, so that all the geographical references become immediately relevant. There are some great one-liners, but as I was sitting in the very front row, with my feet almost toe-to-toe with the actors, I wasnt able to write any of them down, so youll have to go and see the show for yourself. Randell Hardy and Andrea Carne, who are quite clearly the backbone of the Ipswich Little Theatre, play Henry and Alice in all their real and imaginary manifestations, and they do it very well, apart from a certain monotony of tone from both and too many of the dreaded upward inflections from Hardy. But they slip in and out of the different roles with competence as well as confidence, and the two hours passed very pleasurably for all the audience, most of whom were middle-class couples who enjoyed the sexual titillation as much as I did. The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice is not a play for the very young, who would quite understandingly regard jokes about rapid-suck vacuum cleaners and the length of their hoses as very Sixties, just a cut above Benny Hill, but even respectable middle-aged couples will enjoy the sexual innuendoes and the border-line smut that might cheer up their own fantasies — or even their sex lives, if necessary. A good choice of play from a game little theatre company that knows its audience, and a production that, in these days when the theatres in Brisbane are as dark as the mouth of hell, might even be worth the trip to Ipswich. —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 26 January 2005) Playing Sat 29 January, Thursday 3 Feb and Sat 5 February Running time: 2 hours including interval Director Brett Williams | Back to Top www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine The Full Monty: The Musical Brisbane Arts Theatre You all know the movie — now see the musical! Yes, in a reversal of the usual progression from stage to silver screen, Simon Beaufort's smash hit film about unemployment in the north of England has been transferred to the stage, set in Buffalo NY, and given some not-bad tunes, very naughty lyrics and a strong dance component — and the brave-hearts at Brisbane Arts Theatre have given it all they've got, which is more than somewhat. The cast all sing very well, which is a relief, as not many of them are great actors, but they enjoy themselves enormously, as did the packed audience on the night I was there. They got all the smutty jokes (far more verbally explicit than in the film) and laughed like drains (or should that be sewers?) and not even the wrinklies in the audience were affronted. You'd have to be a real prude to take offence at this light-hearted romp. I say light-hearted because it doesn't have as much pathos as the film, and the real distress of Jerry's plight, the threat that he might lose his right to see his son, doesn't come through very powerfully, nor does the emotional tragedy of Dave's sexual problems. A couple of soapy and irrelevant love songs have been included, which undercut the strong emotions, and I don't remember a homoerotic relationship development in the film, but I just shut my eyes and thought of Robert Carlyle instead, as they didn't do it very convincingly. The ten people left in the world haven't seen the film can easily pick up the story line — about six out-of-work factory hands who decide to do a male strip act to raise some money and restore their sense of self-worth, and the rest of us needn't worry too much about missing Robert Carlyle in the leading role, for Richard Slatter makes a powerful Jerry, who can sing and act and put it about, so that he's a delight to watch. Other cast members worth a mention are Ryan Alcock as the pudgy Dave, especially his antics with a roll of cling-wrap, and Daniel Mulvihill as the all-time loser Ethan, who can neither sing nor act nor dance, but has the world's biggest donger. But it's not all flippant fun, even if this version misses the really gritty moments. Men's loss of power and self-respect because of unemployment, and their consequent shame before their women, is an important issue in the western world, and it's timely to be reminded that, like all political movements, feminism has had some unfortunate side-effects. What the men have to learn is that not all women are castrating bitches, and also that they can sometimes be their own worst enemies if they insist on continuing their own macho behaviour. A little softness and understanding is necessary on both sides, this production seems to say. But even if you don't want to think about all that, you'll enjoy The Full Monty as a deliciously bawdy piece of theatre with some wonderful moments, especially during the rehearsal sequences. And in the final scene, where the performance at last takes place, do the cast go further than the guys in the movie? Do we really get the full Monty? You'll just have to go and find out for yourself. —
Alison Cotes (Performance seen: 13 January 2005) Back to Top www.STAGEDIARY.com: Queensland's Online Stage Magazine |
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