120 Birds

Liz Lea and Co
The Street Theatre
19 & 20 May

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

What a mammoth effort this is from Liz Lea and what a shame there were only two performances.

Inspired by the travels of Anna Pavlova’s company through Australia and India with her collection of 120 birds, Canberra based performer Lea has put together a fictional touring dance troupe, Company Elle. Here she recounts their travels, loves and lives, stories and adventures, spanning almost a century and including reference to historical events and characters.

This is a jigsaw puzzle that chops and changes from the present to a flashback, to flashforwards where the troupe is represented in a really lovely touch, when older versions of themselves dance with their characters. One of the ladies, Madeleine Bullock, has been directly influenced by Ruth St. Denis’ dance practices, (St. Denis is one of the figures referenced in the show). Another dancer, Glenys Harris, trained under Pavlova’s niece. Charmaine Hallam and Toni Allen were trained in the Cecchetti style of ballet.

Company Elle consists of Lea, Ash Bee, Melanie Palomares and Miranda Wheen. Wheen is perfect as Lola, embodying the brash and seductive trailblazer. Her dancing was a convincing mix of the masculine sexuality demanded by the role and great technique. Her duets with Palomares were lovely.

Lea has collated and edited footage from the National Sound and Film Archive of the Ballet Russes, old-fashioned beach parades, swimming drills, modelling and dance-clips to name a few. She presents this amusing footage, edited to be even more so, with hilarious explanations. Those nearer the back of the theatre may have struggled to hear her in parts, this being the challenge of regulating sound between live theatre and archival footage. Unfortunately the appearance of the ANU homepage over the footage that made a couple of brief appearances may have provided unintended laughs but broke the vibe.

The dancing was intermittent and on leaving the theatre I overheard a couple of comments that there wasn’t “enough” dancing. But the dancing on display from Company Elle was reassured and dynamic.  It would have been fitting to see a classical piece danced by one of the girls after the death of Pavlova was spoken about. This was a lovely part of the show.

The guest burlesque dancers needed to tighten up their timing and stretch themselves on their technique and balance more than they did in Saturday’s performance.

The last segment of the show, whilst charming, could have been more tightly edited. The performance was somewhat eclectic in that it becomes interactive with the audience, and hereby allows any slight hiccups to be poked fun of. Lea seems quite capable of adlibbing and the humour in the show is bold,off-beat and funny indeed. None of these minor gripes really detracted from the kaleidoscope of gorgeous dresses, vintage underwear, poignant sentiments, and well executed dance sequences. The burlesque numbers, with some very interesting headwear, explained as a tribute to the headgear worn by Canberra cyclists were very entertaining. This was a thoroughly lovable and engrossing show and a credit to Lea. This slice of fictional history, with its footage and originality in concept and staging is well worth seeing. Hopefully this extraordinary work will get more stage-time in the near future.

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

Book by Douglas Day Stewart & Sharleen Cooper Cohen

Music and Lyrics by Ken Hirsch & Robin Lerner

Produced by Sharleen Cooper Cohen & John Frost

Directed by Simon Phillips

Set and Costumes designed by Dale Ferguson

Choreography by Andrew Hallsworth

Lyric Star, Sydney.

Reviewed by  Bill Stephens

The latest big-scale musical to have its world premiere in Sydney, “An Officer and a Gentleman” is a stirring, often moving staging of the story of a young trainee Navy fighter pilot who falls in love with a girl who works in a factory.  It’s a story that became a hit film in 1982, notable especially for the song “Up Where We Belong” which has been retained in this stage version, but augmented with a lush new score by Ken Kirsch and Robin Lerner.

Those familiar with the movie will be struck by how closely this stage adaptation follows the original storyline, and how seamlessly and effectively the music is incorporated into the show. Those who have never seen the film are likely to find themselves swept away by the sheer strength of the romantic storyline.

Simon Phillips certainly knows how to move and focus a show and how to inspire superb performances from his cast.  Taking full advantage of Dale Ferguson’s  mesmerizingly  fluid set of metal staircases and walkways which continually revolve into different positions to provide the many locations required by the story, he keeps the action flowing and the mind and eyes engaged. Everything serves the story.

Amanda Harris and Ben Mingay
Photo:Brian Geach

As Zack and Paula, the couple at the centre of the story, Ben Mingay and Amanda Harrison are superb casting.  Mingay perfectly captures the macho toughness of the angry young Zack Mayo, who aspires to rise above his sordid upbringing in the “sewers” of Subic Bay. The role is demandingly physical and requires Mingay to engage in several strenuous choreographed training sessions and a couple of fist fights, yet still keep enough vocal sting in reserve for the big “Up Where We Belong” finale number.   All of which he does brilliantly.

Also totally convincing is  Amanda  Harrison , as the independently -minded young factory worker, Paula Pokrifki,  who dreams of becoming a nurse and finding a better life without selling out for it, like everyone around her.  The chemistry between Harrison and Mingay is electric, especially in the beautifully staged   “If You Believe in Love” number.

Bert LaBonte and Ben Mingay
Photo: Brian Geach

Among the strong supporthing cast Bert LaBonte is a standout as the tough drill sergeant, Emil Foley, managing to invest a fairly stock role with unexpected warmth and humanity.

Alex Rathgeber impresses as Zack’s best friend, Sid Worley, prone to making wrong decisions with tragic results. His tender singing of “Be My Wife” in the second act is one of the show’s many highlights.

Kate Kendall, as Sid’s girlfriend, Lynette Pomeroy, provides a memorable, carefully - judged performance which beautifully captures the tragic hopelessness of her failure to marry a flier to escape her dead end life.

Kate Kendal and Alex Rathgeber
 Brian Geach

Bartholomew John, superb as Zack’s  profligate father, Tara Morrice,  as Brenda’s mother, and  Josef Brown, Zahra Newman and Josh Piterman as various of Zack’s classmates all give strong believable performances.

While many will be attracted to “An Officer and a Gentleman”  because of the hit song “Up Where We Belong”,  the new songs by Ken Hirsch and Robin Lerner fit so seamlessly into the storyline that, having seen the show,  it will be hard to imagine “An Officer and a Gentleman” without them,  especially given the clever way in which the composers reclaim the show by smoothly segueing from “Up Where We Belong”  into the lovely “If You Believe in Love”  during the finale so that its  “If You Believe in Love” you leave the theatre singing.

 “I’m Gonna Fly” and “Be My Wife” also have the potential to become major hits once the cast album is released,  while  others including  “Halfway”,  snappily choreographed by Andrew Hallsworth, linger in the mind.

Does “An Officer and a Gentleman” work as a musical?  Absolutely !  In fact, so well that it will be hard to watch the movie again without expecting the musical numbers. 

Ben Mingay and Amanda Harrison
Photo: Brian Geach

120 BIRDS

Concept and Direction by Liz Lea

The Street Theatre, May 19^th and 20^th.

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Referencing the 120 birds Anna Pavlova reputedly toured with her during her 1929 Australian Tour, and brilliantly utilising edited archival film sourced from the National Film and Sound Archive, Liz Lea has fashioned a disarmingly funny and delightfully elegant dance work.  

She also assumes the persona of the exotic Madame Lou to narrate a highly diverting history of a fictional “Company Elle” which tours the world in the wake of Anna Pavlova, the Ballet Russes, Denishawn and Ruth St. Dennis. Madame Lou possesses a neat turn of phrase which, when she can be heard above the soundtrack of the films that illustrate the journey, would have insured her a second career as a stand-up comedian.

Liz Lea as Madame Lou 

As Madame Lou describes their travels, Liz Lea joins her dancers, Ash Bee, Melanie Palomares and Miranda Wheen to perform a series of cleverly choreographed numbers, some echoing influential dance styles, including fan dances and striptease, performed in variety and vaudeville programs which also featured luminaries like Pavlova, St. Denis and Annette Kellerman.

Contributions by the CDT Burlesque Dancers add to the spectacle, while senior dancers, Toni Allen, Madeleine Bullock, Charmaine Hallam and Glenys Harris add to the charm.

This brilliant production with its elegant settings and costumes and affectionate insights into Australia’s dance history and entertainment tastes at the time of Federation should be seen for a longer season, hopefully during our 2013 celebrations. 

                                  (This review appears in the digital edition of CITY NEWS )

THE COURT OF SWING CARACTACUS

Brian Kavanagh, Alyce Nesbitt, Dim Ristevski, Mark Woods, Jane Kellett, Kevin Crowe,Cerri Murphy
Photo:   Craig and Therese Bartlett 

Written, Composed, Designed and Directed by Andrew Hackwill

Presented by Mad Ferret Productions

Tuggeranong Arts Centre until May 26^th

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Move over C.J.Dennis you have a rival. Andrew Hackwill has invented his own highly entertaining musical genre, the larrikin musical, notable for their catchy tunes and gloriously silly plots.  This is the fourth of Hackwill’s musicals to be premiered at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in recent years, and certainly the most polished.

Not only is Hackwill the writer and composer of “The Court of Swing Caractacus”, he is also the director, designer, musical director, choreographer and set builder, and has gathered around him a talented cast who share his taste for silliness, a jaunty six piece band in which he plays, and six energetic swing dancers to add additional colour and movement to compliment Christine Pawlicki’s already riotous costumes.   

In a cheeky homage to C.J.Dennis, the story is narrated in verse by a cheerful character called Hec (a delightful performance by Brian Kavanagh) who helpfully includes the stage directions just in case you’ve missed them and who ends up with the winsome Mary (Alyce Nesbitt).   It concerns three unlikely fortune tellers, Wong, Elle and Jack ( gleefully portrayed by Mark Woods, Jane Kellett and Kevin Crowe), who are threatened with eviction from their Caractacus Court premises  by a devious agent, Wilheim (Dim Ristveski) and his co-hort Nora (Cerri Murphy).

Each gets a solo, of which “It’s Good to Be Wong”, which gives new meaning to the word ‘boogie’ and “Me and My Mountain” are stand-outs, even if most of the lyrics are lost under the over-enthusiastic band.

(This review appears on the CITY NEWS website and will appear in the print edition published 24th May - May 29th)

Pearl Verses The World by Sally Murphy

Pearl Verses The World by Sally Murphy.  Jigsaw Theatre Company directed by Justine Campbell, performed by Kate Hosking and Chrissie Shaw.  At The Courtyard Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre, May 19 – June 3, 2012.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
assisted by Stephen McKone Hassell
May 19

“If we say there is a mystery, then that might mean people would want to see the show,” suggested Stephen, age 6½. 

But there’s more than one mystery, I suggest.  What about what happened to Pearl’s Dad?  “And, how Granny got back stage after disappearing!”  And why is it that Pearl is in a ‘group of only one’?  “And why Mrs Brough, Pearl’s teacher makes Pearl write rhyming poetry even though she doesn’t rhyme?”

“And also,” asked Stephen, “Why is Granny in a plastic tube?  That was such an odd show!”

It was a good show, says Stephen, but it was a bit late starting and it had one boring bit in the middle when you could hear footsteps and nothing else.  “And it was a good show because they had lots of nice poetry in it and lots of good songs.”

I think it is a good show, from a grandfather’s point of view, because it may help children to appreciate their elders.  Even the teachers, who at first Pearl thinks are a bit batty, come through in the end as they respond sensitively to Grandma’s death.

And finally, though he doesn’t want it to be published here, the proof of the value of the show is that Stephen has just made up a ‘spinnetry’ poem, “just like Pearl loved to spin and make poetry at the same time.” 

Highly recommended.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare.  Bell Shakespeare directed by Peter Evans.  Canberra Theatre Centre: The Playhouse May 18-June 2, 2012 (Melbourne Arts Centre: Playhouse June 7-23)

Reviewed by Frank McKone
May 18

In keeping with Macbeth’s early 17th Century origins, Peter Evans’ production is full of ‘conceit’.  It makes the play intellectually interesting, opening up ideas about the psychology of a developing dictator, rather than presenting the more usual simplistic murder story.  For the first time in my experience, we see Macbeth as a character in keeping with the same author’s Hamlet.

Peter Evans’ conceit is not cleverness for its own sake, though not all of his ideas work.  I assume, too, that my comments also go to Kate Mulvaney, dramaturg for this production, as well as for Evans’ 2011 production of Julius Caesar. 

Where style and habitual conventions or devices take over from internally felt images and actions, the drama loses its impact.  In this production, part of the conceit is about the illusion of theatre.

As in his Caesar, Evans wanted to make clear when an actor is entering the performing space, and leaving it.  His habit is to have actors briefly visibly freeze as they cross the line of demarcation.  In Macbeth this is done only occasionally, in favour of more often having actors freeze in situ at the completion of a scene, then rise and walk purposefully, perhaps as if partially still in character, to the rear, and exit left or right in half light.

I was fortunate to see the play in the company of an old friend, always willing to tell me what he thought and felt, but not a literary or theatre ‘buff’.  For him, these entrance and exit devices broke the illusion, were confusing, and seemed pointless.  I could see the point – that what we are seeing is a fiction, a work of art – but I understood my friend’s reaction.  He saw artifice.

The character of the Witch (Lizzie Schebesta) was interesting to me as a link between artifice and art.  Her black line dividing her physical form, and her appearance in roles like the Boy, became intriguing and gradually established that witchcraft was reality in the life and times of Macbeth.  The highlight of this device for me was at Banquo’s banquet, where the ghost disappeared as he sat on the Witch’s knee, then rose horribly to confront Macbeth.  Here was the degree of melding of intellectual conceit with emotional effect that I found myself looking for in this production.

The cutting, trimming and therefore shaping of the play to focus on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth gave Dan Spielman and Kate Mulvaney every opportunity for bravura performances, and they both thoroughly fulfilled my expectations. 

The reprise of Lady Macbeth’s hiccups in her final desperate scene must have been one of the hardest things to act, but it worked.  Here was the signal to remind us of her deeply felt insecurity, in fact panic, which had driven her sexually and through the horrors of murder.  This was an extraordinary performance by Mulvaney.

And for me the later part of the play – the murder of Macduff’s wife and children, the turnaround of Macduff’s decision to confront Macbeth, and the final swordfight – has previously seemed to be almost gratuitous.  The play really ends when Lady Macbeth dies. 

But here, Ivan Donato used the deliberately styled movement which characterised all the characters in this production very effectively to make us believe in the horrifying mistaken judgement he had made in leaving his castle at the mercy of the now completely uncontrollable Macbeth.  And, though earlier I had found Macbeth’s twisted body shapes too artificial, in these last scenes Spielman showed us how his wife and lover’s failure to hold things together, for him as much as for herself, left him grasping at every imaginable straw, unable to stop the inevitable.  It was quite extraordinary to feel almost sorry for this murderous dictator when he finally received his just deserts.  It reminded me of the obvious modern case – Muamar Gaddafi – murdered in the street without the trial which might have revealed something of his belief in witchcraft.

If not Bell Shakespeare’s greatest presentation of the Bard’s consummate art (I preferred Much Ado About Nothing for example), this Macbeth is a strong contender.

Men In Pink Tights

Men In Pink Tights

Les Ballets Eloelle's

Canberra Theatre

4-5 May

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

Victor Trevino has a passion for ballet. He was told by his ballet company that he’d never be suitable for lead roles due to his petit stature, and that it may be in his best interest to find another career. So he donned a pair of pointe shoes and now entertains audiences all over the world in a slightly less “statuesque” demanding role as a prima ballerina. Joining him, hairy-pitted and all, the troupe from Les Ballets Eloelles primp, pout and pointe their way through Swan Lake, Le Corsaire and The Dying Swan to name a few.

Von Rothbart whirls onto the stage, immediately stepping in swan poo, as the offending swans krump, fist pump and encourage the audience to applaud. Hunted by the most depressive sad-sack to step on stage, the swans remain true to much of the traditional choreography. But they inject their own personalities and quirks and of course humourous twists. The cygnet dance was no mean feat coordinating, then intentionally uncoordinating, four men of drastically differing height. A butt-clenching Prince Siegfried, danced by Mauricio Canete received shrieks of laughter with the unexpected presentation of his tightly clad bottom in a directionally-challenged forward bend as he bowed repeatedly to the audience and sent-up the posturing and balletic walk of male dancers. One could say he had a decent crack at the role, one of only a few male roles for the night. This included partnering and lifting work – of another man, Joel Morris, or Margot Funtyme as she is known on stage. Morris was a lovely Odette – pretty, vulnerable as well as a very proficient dancer with just the right mix of comedy and subtlety in the performance. For anyone not in the know, it was not blindingly obvious that this swan was more of a cob…

The swans on stage were only slightly more rowdy than some of the vocally appreciative ducks in the audience!

The funniest solo of the evening was from Nina Minimaximova (Trevino) as “The Dying Swan”. Batting the longest eyelashes know to man (literally), he sheds what seems to be an endless trail of feathers from a costume so overblown it’s a wonder he could move around at all. Trevino’s take on Anna Pavlova’s signature piece included pelvic thrusts and such violent flapping it seemed he might cough up a fur ball. His absolute refusal to actually die ended – eventually - when an unseen stagehand dragged him under the curtain after incessant bowing. While running the risk of “trying too hard” and missing the mark, this was actually very entertaining, made so by the fact that Trevino is a very good dancer with an incredible pointe. This rendition will no doubt leave Anna Pavlova turning in her grave.

Japanese-born Philip Joseph Sicat was a standout both in his dancing and also his appeal. His delicate features and ultra-slim frame lent itself perfectly to this type of show. His technique stood out and I found my eye often drawn to him. As the jocular program states: Winner of the Miss Congeniality award at the National Miss Junior Cabbage Pageant, “Elsie Irkland’s” performances have been hailed by the press as “adequate”.

Trevino might be doing for the ballet world what Andrej Pejic is doing for the modelling world, but one of the biggest cheers still erupted when Randy Herrera performed the male solos from Le Corsaire. The strength and athleticism demanded by the choreography was executed superbly. The fan dance from Don Quixote was also very impressive and was danced daintily and precisely.

This troupe may cater for men who don’t fit the typical requirements of leading male dancers, but to counterbalance the comedy, ensuring the “serious” choreography is spot-on and the standard of dancing across the board is on par with other professional companies would have been more impressive. One of the biggest downfalls of the show was that precision and attention to detail were lacking. A production such as this, by its nature, gives some lee-way to being flippant, but in parts, the timing was horribly out. Legs could have been a little straighter, extensions held for longer and landings more convincingly stuck. A couple of the dancers seemed less competent than others and toning down a couple of things on the make-up and pouting front (for some) would be good to see. There was a noticeable difference in the flexibility between some of these swans and swans of the female variety.

I went to the theatre a little worried Men In Pink Tights would be passé, slap-stick or un-funny, and I left pleasantly surprised. It was an enjoyable show with some really good dancing, very funny moments and a most enthusiastic audience. When men look great in tights and tutus, with toned arms and slim hips and identical physiques from the neck to the waist as most female ballerinas it leaves me wondering…is anything purely a woman’s domain anymore??