DIVENIRE - MELBOURNE BALLET COMPANY

Directed by Simon Hoy

Lighting design by Craig Boyes

Costumes design by Santha King

The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, July 8^th and 9^th.

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Though it’s been established for 10 years, and its Resident Choreographer, Simon Hoy, is a former Canberran, this is the first visit by the Melbourne Ballet Company to the Canberra region. To introduce his company of ten superb dancers, Hoy has devised a program of three relatively short abstract works, two choreographed by himself, and the other by Timothy Harbour, which was presented under the umbrella title of “Divenire”, loosely translated as “to become”, and which is also the title of the first work.

Dancers of the Melbourne Ballet Company performing
"Divenire"

Performed to a languidly beautiful piano composition by Italian composer, Ludovico Einaudi,  “Divenire” commences with a lone dancer on stage. As she moves slowly across the stage she is joined by two other female dancers, and together they perform a series of gently intertwining enchainments which gradually resolve into lyrical poses. Eventually two male dancers join them, and as the music gathers momentum, graceful lifts are incorporated to create an exquisite atmosphere in which the movement of the dancers seems totally dictated by the music. Short diaphanous smocks over flesh coloured tights for the girls and neat trunks and tops for the men perfectly complimented the mood of piece, as did the moody dappled side lighting. 

Samuel Harett-Welk  (centre) and dancers from the Melbourne Ballet Company perfor "Zealots" 

Timothy Harbour’s aggressive choreography for his piece, “Zealots”, also performed by five dancers costumed dramatically in clinging bright yellow costumes and black footwear, occupying a harshly lit, white hot stage, provided a startling contrast. Responding to a pumping mechanical score by John Adams, the intricate contemporary movement style cleverly exploited the strong classical technique of the dancers, perhaps best demonstrated in a riveting virtuoso solo for Samuel Harett-Welk.

For his final work for the program, “Lucidity”, Hoy drew his inspiration from Picasso’s famous mural, Guernica, to explore notions suggested by the transmission of light. Presented in four sections, to music by Olafur Arnalds and Max Richter, with an ever-changing background of projected swirling images of an abstract universe, this work was notable for the elegance of the movement, and for two memorable pas de deux, one gently sensuous and superbly executed by Jo Lee and Alexander Baden Bryce, and a strong male pas de deux for Baden Bryce and Samuel Harett-Welk.

Given the enthusiastic reception by the first night audience to their meticulously presented program, it is hoped that the Melbourne Ballet Company, with its distinctive repertoire, superb dancers and elegant style will be destined “to become” a much anticipated visitor to the Canberra region.

This review first published in the digital edition of  "CITY NEWS" ON  09.07.2016

INTO THE NIGHT

The 67^th Intervarsity Choral Festival 2016

Hosted by the Australian National University Choral Society (SCUNA)

Conducted by Leonard Weiss

St. Christopher’s Cathedral, Manuka

Review by Len Power 9 July 2016

Every year since 1950, members of university choirs around Australia have gathered together in one of our capital cities for intensive rehearsals, workshops and fun, culminating in public performance.  This year the festival has been hosted by the Australian National University Choral Society (SCUNA) in Canberra.  The concert, ‘Into the Night’, at St. Christopher’s Cathedral was an opportunity for the public to see the results achieved by the nearly 60 choir members with a small orchestra, all under the capable baton of Leonard Weiss.

The evening’s program began with Eight Four-part Songs by C. Hubert H. Parry from 1898 which consisted of settings of various Renaissance poems and two by contemporaries of Parry’s.  The set was beautifully sung by the choir, creating a wonderful rich sound where the various parts could be clearly heard.

The second item was ‘Deconstruct A Chrysalis’ with music by Michael Winikoff to a poem by Leanne Veitch.  A somber yet dramatic work on the theme of ‘It Might Have Been’, the choir brought out the full colours of this rather moving piece.  While the sound of the choir was excellent, the space’s acoustics made it difficult to hear the words of the poem clearly.  Michael Winikoff himself was singing bass in the choir.

The next work, ‘Domine, quid est homo?’ by Mark Chapman (also a member of the choir) was originally written for inclusion in a concert of polychoral music performed by the ANU Choral Society in 2014.  Taken from one of the Psalms, the theme of ‘What Is Man’ is presented in a work that showcased the choir’s strengths in crisp and disciplined delivery.  It is a beautifully atmospheric piece to listen to.

The main work presented was Bruckner’s Mass In E Minor which was first written in 1866.  The Mass was written in the spirit of the Cecilian Movement, a group devoted to divesting church music of its symphonic and operatic elements, their ideal the works of Palestrina.  This influence is clearly heard in the work and the choir and orchestra performed it with great assurance.  The Gloria, Benedictus and Agnus Dei were especially well sung.

Leonard Weiss conducted the program very well.  There is nothing quite like hearing a massed choir singing live in a church.  You really had to be there!

Len Power’s reviews can also be heard on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘Artcetera’ program on Saturdays from 9am.

next to normal

Book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey

Music by Tom Kitt

Directed by Kelda McManus

Phoenix Players at the ANU Arts Centre to 23 July

Review by Len Power 8 July 2016

The original Broadway production of ‘next to normal’ won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming just the eighth musical in history to receive the honour.  A hard-hitting drama about a mother suffering from bipolar and the effect on those around her, it creates a very emotional journey for both cast and audience.  Just as the book of the show doesn’t sugar coat the subject matter, the music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey don’t pander to an audience’s usual musical expectations.  The score is a stream of consciousness that draws us into the emotional heart of the show.

Kelda McManus has done her best work as director to date with this show.  She’s kept it simple and fast moving with good placements of the actors for the various scenes.  For the most part, she has obtained very strong performances from her actors.

She has cast the show well with a group of six actors who can all sing the hell out of the score.  Grant Pegg is thoroughly believable as the well-intentioned husband.  As his bipolar wife, Janelle McMenamin sings the difficult central role wonderfully but there should be more depth in her acting performance.  More thought needed to be given to the visual signs of the progression of the illness in her character as the play unfolds.

Will Huang is excellent vocally and dramatically as the son and Kaitlin Nihill gives a well thought out and highly satisfying performance as the daughter coping with an ill mother and her own emotional journey as a growing teen.  Daniel Steer as the daughter’s loyal boyfriend gives a nicely real and moving performance and Joel Hutchings in a dual performance as two doctors is a strong and chilling presence.

The multi-level set by Steve Galinec and Anita Davenport is simple but practical and the backdrop design works especially well, given the subject matter.  Costumes by Jennie Norberry suit the characters very well.

The lighting design by Liam Ashton was excellent.  There were a few minor technical issues with lighting and sound on opening night that should get ironed out as the season progresses.  Sound balances were generally fine.

Musical direction of the show was a triumph for Rhys Madigan and vocal coach Dave Collins.  Strong attention has been paid to the actors’ diction in the songs, enabling the all-important lyrics to be heard.  Harmonies were crystal clear and very pleasing and the orchestra played the score very well.

Because of the thought-provoking subject matter, this is a very moving and memorable musical and it has been done very well.  I recommend it.

Len Power’s reviews can also be heard on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘Artcetera’ program on Saturdays from 9am.

Divenire - Melbourne Ballet Company

Divenire
“Divenire” by Simon Hoy, music by Ludovico Einaudi
“Zealots” by Timothy Harbour, music by John Adams
“Lucidity” by Simon Hoy, music by Ólafur Arnalds and Max Richter

Melbourne Ballet Company, directed by Simon Hoy; lighting designer – Craig Boyes; costume designer – Santha King.  At The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, Friday July 8 and Saturday July 9, 2016.

Dancers: Kristy Denovan; Jo Lee; Chloe Henderon; Masha Peker; Francesca Giangrasso; Chloe Lauverjon; Alex Baden Bryce; Samual Harett; Charles Riddiford; Adam Thurlow.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 8

Watching modern abstract dance is parallel to viewing modern abstract painting.  The work does not incorporate pictures or storylines with obvious interpretations, yet affects us emotionally through the inter-relationships between colour and line.  The advantage of dance is that it is made up of a huge number of momentary images changing in time, relating to sound, rhythm and even rhyme – and not just in a single figure but often among several at the same time.  For me it is the dynamism of dance that makes an impact so much greater than a static painting can achieve.

Yet there is another line of response.  Over time as you study a painting, your imagination makes more connections, and so the impact of the painting grows and changes.  Dance is more ephemeral, relying on a review in hindsight to put together more thoughts and feelings.

These three works, under the overall title of Divenire, which means to ‘become’ in Italian, worked for me.  The first two, comprising the first half of the show, were light and enjoyable in mood, tuneful and upbeat like the music, while showing in subtle ways how complex our relationships are.  After interval, the mood changed to a dark colour, literally in the costumes and metaphorically in the movements and the clashing sound.  It was enough to say, don’t let yourself be too easily taken in.  Those complex relationships contain the possibility of disaster. 

So my advice is not to spend too much time studying the printed program – especially the description of “Lucidity”, giving definitions of ‘limpidity’, ‘pellucidity’, ‘clarity’ and ‘lucidity’.  It was interesting to know that this work was largely in response to Picasso’s famous war painting “Guernica”, but I don’t need intellectualised game-playing, like quoting Ayn Rand, of all people, on lucidity being “the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge, one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide to action.”

Let the dance do the talking in its own language.  That’s enough for me.



PS:  The printed sheet said there were four works, including something by Tim Podesta.  Perhaps touring has taken its toll, but this program of an hour’s worth of dancing with a 20 minute interval was successful as it stood.  

ALL MY SONS

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

Directed by Kip Williams. Designed by Alice Babage. Lighting Designer. Nick Schlieper. Composer and Sound Designer. Max Lyandvert. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Sydney Theatre Company. June 9 – July 9 2016. Bookings. sydneytheatre.com.au or 0292501777

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Robyn Nevin as Kate Keller and John Howard as Joe Keller
 in Arthur Miller's All My Sons

 

Arthur Miller may no longer be with us, but the Sydney Theatre Company’s magnificent production of his classic All My Sons stands as a towering testament to Miller’s enduring legacy as one of the greats of American playwrighting in the twentieth century. With an outstanding ensemble cast spearheaded by veterans, Robyn Nevin and John Howard, and directed with forceful spontaneity by Kip Williams, All My Sons exposes with astonishing power and relevance the consequence of a tragic concealment that tears a family apart, destroys innocent lives and assumes the portent of human tragedy.

Eryn Jean Norvill and Chris Ryan in All My Sons 

Inspired by a true incident in which aircraft manufacturers, the Curtiss-Wright Corporation  were condemned  in 1943 for manufacturing faulty parts for their Lockland aircraft, thus  possibly causing the deaths of servicemen. President Truman’s investigation exposed a veritable web of corruption and concealments, that resulted in imprisonment for key figures in the scandal.

From this recorded event, Miller constructed a drama that focuses on the impact on two families of one man’s conscious effort to lay the blame on his partner and profit from his deception. All My Sons still resonates as a moral dissertation on Truth for a twenty-first century audience. John Howard gives a monumental performance as the wealthy and successful industrialist, Joe Keller, who hides a dark and terrible secret. Robyn Nevin is mesmerizing as his fragile and vulnerable wife, Kate, desperately clinging to the belief that her elder son is still alive, three years after having been reported missing in the war. Chris Keller, played with gripping conviction by Chris Ryan, is in love with his missing brother’s sweetheart Ann Beever (a captivating portrayal of innocence by Eryn Jean Norvill).  A faultless supporting cast play out the surging inevitability of Miller’s drama. Truth will out, but Miller constructs a tantalizing maze of contradictory possibilities, which are finally revealed by the appearance of Ann’s brother, George. Josh McConville gives a riveting performance as the tormented, confused and agonizing son of Keller’s jailed scapegoat partner. Two truths conflict as preludes to the swelling scene. George’s arrival tears apart the fabric of deceit and hollow notions of forgeiveness, and Ann’s letter from the dead Larry shatters the last vestige of hope for a family living with a lie and now destroyed by truth. The truth will out and deceit will render its merciless consequence.

Eryn Jean Norvill as Ann Beever and Robyn Nevin as Kate Keller

All My Sons  is a tour de force in every respect. There is not one performance that does not ring with absolute conviction. Set against Alice Babage’s unobtrusive design of a facade of the front of the Keller’s home in the summer of ’46, Kip Williams’s direction allows the cast the freedom of an open stage. The action is impulsive, dynamic and authentic. Miller’s brilliantly constructed saga demands its own truth. Emotions, raw or reasonable, fiery or fragile, true or false are imbued with a realism, heightened by the natural rhythms of Miller’s dialogue. Dialogue coach Charmian Gladwell evokes an authentic American accent that lends authenticity to performance and belief in every moment of this superb performance. Every detail is attended to; every production element carefully and sensitively created, including Nick Schlieper’s natural and effective lighting, and composer and sound designer Max Lyandvert’s effective and emotive accompaniment to the action.

John Howard as Joe Keller and Chris Ryan as Chris Keller

I watch Nevin as she joins others to take the final bow. She is emotionally drained, taking a moment to compose herself against the exposed interior of the home. She barely smiles as she takes her place in the line. Her astounding performance is over, but for all the cast, the matinee has been a relentless creation of Miller’s powerful play, gripping, compelling, illuminating and powerfully memorable.

Robyn Nevin as Kate Keller. Josh McConville as George Beever.
Eryn Jean Norvill as Ann Beever

The season is sold out, as are so many of the STC’s productions that I have seen in recent years. If only a wealthy corporation could come forward to fund STC Live and stream productions like All My Sons to the rest of the nation, how much richer would be the cultural character of our country’s stage.

Publicity photos: James Green
Production photos: Zan Wimberley

Stop the Votes, We Want To Get Off. Election Special by Shortis and Simpson

Stop the Votes, We Want To Get Off by Shortis and Simpson.  At Teatro Vivaldi, ANU, Canberra, July 2, 7pm and July 3, 2pm, 2016.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

John Shortis’ and Moya Simpson’s political satire over the years has been gentle, mostly funny and occasionally sad.  But one song in Stop the Votes, We Want To Get Off bucked the trend.

“Big Bad Mal”, written surprisingly from a right-wing perspective with an unusual level of bitterness, was introduced with the observation that a certain Doctor Brendan Nelson, on the occasion of Malcolm Turnbull’s first incarnation as Leader of the Liberal Party, over the dead body of Dr Nelson himself, had diagnosed Mansion Malcolm as suffering a ‘narcissistic personality disorder’.

As the election rolled on over into Sunday morning with too many seats undecided for either major party to claim victory, the contrast between the positivity of the speech by Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten and the vicious, ungratious and even manic, flailing attack speech by Turnbull demonstrated that Shortis and Simpson got it dead right.

Since my task here is to review John and Moya’s performance rather than Malcolm Turnbull’s, you can find their source in a 2015 Sydney Morning Herald article by Paul Sheehan at http://www.smh.com.au/comment/conservatives-fear-turnbull-is-a-narcissist-who-cannot-change-20150916-gjnusc.html .

The sad song was about live export of cattle and their recent treatment in a Vietnamese abbatoir.  The saddest part was that Moya only had to revive the song she had previously performed after the ABC TV Four Corners program exposed the same animal cruelty in Indonesia in 2011. 

Click on www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/ , and then consider the laughs from the speech by the (perhaps) Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (almost certainly re-elected in his New England seat) making a link between asylum seekers and live cattle.  After all, they’re all on boats.  Some get turned back, some drown at sea, some get slaughtered horribly in off-shore centres.

Stop the Votes, We Want To Get Off was actually a highly original pork barrel of laughs on election night, with a repeat performance this afternoon, Sunday July 3 at 2pm – except for the election itself, which it seems will be regurgitated with burps until all the pre-votes and postal votes are counted.  Don’t expect a result until at least Wednesday July 6, at which time ANU political historian Professor Nicholas Brown hopes for a ‘well-hung parliament’ in the House of Representatives, while we wait perhaps for some more days or even weeks until the preference votes for the Senate are all distributed.

The Professor’s lecture The History of the Double Dissolution was both entertaining and highly informative, following the pattern he has set in Shortis and Simpson’s annual shows at the National Archives when Cabinet Papers of earlier years are released for publication.

Professor Brown sat on a ‘table of experts’ with the cartoonist Geoff Pryor and ANU political scientist John Warhurst.  The evening was rather like watching reality tv live on stage, with songs interspersed with bits of the ABC TV live coverage between three song sets, bits recorded from the coverage between songs, other very funny video recordings (such as from Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell on the Electoral Commission’s How to Vote information), commentary from the experts’ table, karaoke singalongs, a quiz on Shorten and Turnbull in red, green and blue teams, and of course the real voting to see who would come in, who would stay, and who would be turfed out of the House. 

All this in the Teatro Vivaldi bar, with food and drink flowing, made for a terrific convivial party atmosphere.  Early on, I found myself thinking of David Williamson’s Don’s Party, written in 1971 about the 1969 election when Labor had high hopes but failed to turf out the Liberals.  Moya, speaking privately, hoped her party participants would not fall into depression and consequently indulge in drunken sexual hanky-panky as happens in that play (though I was a bit concerned about the part of her title We Want To Get Off).  And indeed, despite the obvious inclination of everyone I spoke to and overheard towards a new government, John and Moya kept the tone positive, bookended by their version of the awful Frank Sinatra:  “And now the end is near ... would we endure it all again?  We say, ‘No Way’”. 

All sang in uproarious unison by the end of the show (nearly 11pm), after the exhaustive Rhyming Bill song, the Carnaby Barnaby Street (with Sesame Street overtones) song, the Minority Salsa song and dance (in which Shortis danced marginally better than Shorten), the Section 57 Double Dissolution song, and on the international stage, the Hillaree, Hillarah – I’ve Got to Watch my Back song and the That’s Why the Donald is a Trump song.

The final accolade for Shortis and Simpson’s Stop the Votes, We Want To Get Off came direct from the (perhaps) Prime Minister himself: “There is a no more exciting time to be doing satire!”

GAZILLION BUBBLE SHOW

GAZILLION BUBBLE SHOW. Starring Melody Yang.

Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. Until July 4. Bookings: CANBERRATHEATRECENTRE.COM.AU or 0262752700.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Oh the things you can do with a bubble or two, or three or four and a gazillion more. That is if you are the amazing Melody Yang, conjuress of unbubbleleivable bubble magic. With a wave of the bubble frame she sweeps the air with a sea of bubbles, sending them out over the audience as lights stream through the theatre, coloured beams, slicing through the air to an energizing soundtrack. Bubbles are beckoned from thin air and dance to her command, palpitating to her touch, vanishing in a puff of smoke or performing feats of fantastic illusion, a bubble of smoke, passing through a soap screen sphere of liquid and gas , which closes and restores its shape. This is the wonderment, the marvel and the magic of the Gazillion Bubble Show.

Anyone can blow a bubble, or even a string of bubbles, but who can create such a wonderland of fragile, fleeting moments of reality vaporizing into such stuff as dreams are made on. Gradually Yang unveils each segment of her carefully structured seventy minutes of splendour. Smoke and soap combine to create bubbles of amazement that turn to puffs at the touch. Young volunteers from the audience are brought on to the stage to be enclosed by a bubble capsule that quickly turns to air. Spactators, disappointed that they were not to be the chosen ones, watch on in wonder and delight. On the screen. Yang’s mission is displayed: “What I want is to make you happy” . Excitement turns to happiness. Happiness to joy. And through the wonder of it all, adults and children alike enter a magical world of fantasy. Yang is the mistress of her art, stylish in her presentation, skilled in her sleight of hand. She cajoles the bubbles with her breath, shaping, transforming and seducing them to follow her will. Like a magician on the stage or a lion tamer in the circus ring, Yang is in absolute control of soap and smoke and water. She is an undisputed mistress of her unique, fascinating and beguiling art

Throughout the show, at various times she invites children to join her on the stage. Her only request – that they have an enormous smile. It is not hard to find a child with a wide and delighted grin. Experience has taught her the gentle art of encouragement, and even one young girl, cautious about pretending to be Yang’s niece, quickly submits to the story of a snowbubble wonderland. But nothing has prepared the audience for the underwater seaworld of bubbles, floating out above the audience in a wave of bubbles that burst at the touch. Here, under the sea is a wonderworld of bubbles, a seascape of beauty, art and joy.

Twenty-five year old Yang ventured onto a stage with her parents at the age of four.  She is the consummate artist, creating an awesome spectacle to delight and entrance young and old alike with her display of bubble magic. With her parents and her brother, she holds a Guinness Book of Records award for creating the largest bubble. But it is she, who has travelled the world bringing happiness to countless thousands who watch with amazement the sheer artistry of the four time Tony Award winner.

It all comes to a close in a dazzling, spectacular laser light show with darting, intertwined and streaking shafts of coloured laser lights. The soundtrack swells to a crescendo and bubbles, blown on the wind float above the outreached hands that stretch for the bubble balls that bounce across the theatre.

 

This is more than a bubble extravaganza. This is an affirmation of the wonder of Nature, the beauty of life and the child that is withn us all. Yang conjures a wonderful, visual and tactile playground of bubble delight. It is a show for the whole family, or anyone who believes that the child still resides within us all, a bubble of wonderment in a world of joy.