The Art of Non-Teaching by Kirsty Budding.
Free-Rain Nightclub presents Buzzing Broadway and The Taste of Tinseltown
Directed by Cate Clelland. Musical Direction by Nicholas Griffin. Choreography Lisa Irvine. Produced by Anne Somes for Free-Rain Theatre Company
The Courtyard Studio. Canberra Theatre Centre. Finished November 9th. 2015
Commentary by Peter Wilkins
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| Kirsty Budding and he cast of The Art of Non-Teaching |
Anne Somes’s
latest innovation is a study in entertainment. Her evening of entertainment
consisted of three theatrical productions, presented over three weeks in the
Courtyard Studio of the Canberra Theatre Centre. The first of these is Kirsty
Budding’s witty, yet insightful in-joke, The
Art of Non-Teaching. Somes, with the assistance of director Cate Clelland
and Musical Director, Nick Griffin presents two musical entertainments in the
cabaret tradition, Buzzing Broadway
and The Taste of Tinseltown, a
compilation of hits from Hollywood movies from the Twenties to 2012. I was
unable to make it to Buzzing Broadway, which I understand was excellent, but I
did get to The Art of Non Teaching
and The Taste of Tinseltown.
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| The cast of Buzzing Broadway |
Somes is a
producer with the talent to entertain and with a savvy knack of choosing theatre
that will entertain, entice and engage an audience. This is not to say that her
company, Free Rain Theatre, is a moribund promoter of Groundlings Theatre,
capable of “nothing but dumb show and noise.” Who could forget Cate Clelland’s
award winning production of Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf or the thought provoking productions of August-Osage County, Look Back in Anger and many more traditional
classics of the Australian, English and American Theatre? Lately, Somes has taken
on the blockbusters with the panache and zeal of a Cameron Macintosh and given
audiences Phantom of the Opera, Mary
Poppins and soon to come, The Little
Mermaid.
What Somes’s
latest venture demonstrates is her uncanny ability to recognize and promote new
talent. Kirsty Budding is a promising emerging playwright with a natural flair
for comic writing and a perceptive insight into her commentary on the teaching
profession. She is not as sophisticated in her writing as Richard Tulloch and
his Year 9 Are Animals or as political
as Ned Manning in Us and Them, both
of which deal directly with the teaching profession, but there is talent and
promise, and Somes, a former drama teacher, has long been a promoter of
emerging talent in all aspects of the theatre. Her generosity in providing on
the job experience and training is well-recognized and playwright Budding and
actor Brendan Kelly are reflections of her support for emerging artists in The Art Of Non-teaching. Somes and
Clelland ensure that emerging artists are supported by experienced performers
and there are excellent performances from Emma Wood, Rob de Fries and Liz
Bradley as pedagogic stereotypes. The Art
of Non-Teaching with its ridiculous and satirical swipe at the teaching
profession should be seen as a fledgling drama by a promising playwright, who
is certain to develop more fully into an accomplished observer of the
ridiculous nature of the human condition. It would be easy to dismiss The Art of Non Teaching as a piece of
frivolous nonsense, but judging by the laughter in the audience, it certainly
struck a chord with those who readily recognized the anal deputy headmistress,
the dithering relic of the profession, the
cynical young male teacher and the idealistic and naïve newcomer. Keep
an eye out for Buddings’ future writings. with your sense of humour intact.
The Art of Non-Teaching is
Somes’s only dramatic offering in her Courtyard trilogy. Buzzing Broadway and The
Taste of Tinseltown use the simple cabaret/nightclub format to illustrate
the abundantly talented performers of music theatre. Fraser Findlay, Tim
Sekuless, Lexi Sekuless, Colin Milner and Louiza Blomfield are no strangers to
lovers of musicals. I am less familiar with the work of Kirrah Amosa and Amy
Lapthorne, but no less impressed by their talent. Simply staged by Cate
Clelland and adroitly accompanied by Musical Director, Nicholas Griffin, the
team took us through familiar favourites of the Hollywood musicals.
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| Kirrah Amosa, Colin Milner, Louiza Blomfield in The Taste of Tinseltown.
|
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| Colin Milner does Al Jolson in The Taste of Tinseltown |
From Leslie
Bricusse and John Barry’s Goldfinger
to Sondheim’s defiant I’m Still Here
the team took the audience on a nostalgic cavalcade of songs from yesteryear.
In the intimate Courtyard Studio, it was a relief not to be assailed by the aid
of amplification, although at times it was apparent that breathing presented a
challenge. Certain arrangements such as Kirrah Amosa’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow
was sung with charming purity, but lacked the hope and passion of the dream.
Her renditions of I Will Always Love You
and Don’t Forget Me were mesmerising
engagements of the heart. Tap dancing duo,
Findlay and Sekuless made the most of Donald O’Connor’s classic Make ‘Em Laugh and Colin Milner and Louiza
Blomfield offered a touching You’re Just
in Love. Presley’s timeless I Can’t
Help Falling in Love with You proved a rousing ensemble arrangement and
Lexi Sekuless, Amosa and Lapthorne show that they sure have rhythm with the
popular Andrew Sisters’ Boogi Woogie
Bugle Boy.
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| Boogi Woogie Bugle Boy in The Taste of Tinseltown |
At the popular
cabaret length of just over the hour, this cleverly selected and arranged song
list is pure entertainment, a sweet evening of hum-a-long melodies performed by
a lively and talented ensemble.
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| Amy Lapthorne in The Taste of Tinseltown |
Somes is a
populist producer. She selects plays and musicals that she knows will be
popular, will attract a wide audience and will usually guarantee that her
budget remains well and truly in the black. That is not to say that she doesn’t
take risks, as in the case of The Art of
Non Teaching or the mainstage extravaganza Phantom of the Opera, but her repertoire certainly errs on the side
of the sure gamble. In any event, she has learned over the years that
excellence is the true key to success, and Free Rain Theatre continues to set
benchmarks for excellence, consistently recognized by the Canberra Critics
Circle and the Canberra Area Theatre (CAT) Awards.
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| Tim Sekuless and Fraser Findlay in The Taste of Tinseltown |
What Somes
doesn’t appear to do is take a risk on theatre that she knows could be
unpopular. Free Rain is not Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, Grotowski’s Laboratory
or Peter Brook’s International Centre for Theatre Research. Sadly, economic
rationalism and cultural conservatism have stifled creative innovation and
alternative artistic expression. Still, what’s the point when a community turns
its back or the work fails to engage. I mourn the passing of Carol Woodrow’s
Fool’s Gallery or David Branson’s Splinters and Culturally Innovative Arts
(C.I.A.). Perhaps we shall not see their like again. The baton is, in part,
passed on to Chenoeh Miller and her Butoh-inspired Little Dove Theatre and Joe
Woodward’s intellectually probing Shadowhouse Pits. In the meantime I applaud Anne
Somes and her team at Free Rain Theatre. At least the theatregoer can always be
guaranteed an entertaining and at times thought-provoking night out.
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| Nicholas Griffin and the cast of The Taste of Tinseltown |
