THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

 

Written by Martin McDonagh

Directed by Cate Clelland

Free Rain Theatre production

ACT HUB Theatre to 5 July

 

Reviewed by Len Power 25 June 2025

 

Probably more recently known for his screenplays of the films, “The Banshees of Inisheren”, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “In Bruges”, Martin McDonagh got his start with the play, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” in 1996.

Set in Galway, Ireland, the play focuses on two women – plain, middle-aged Maureen and her ageing, manipulative mother, Mag. Living an isolated existence, Maureen finds a chance for someone to love her, but her mother does everything she can to sabotage the relationship.

This often funny play explores the dark side of human nature. Loneliness, family conflict and a sense of hopelessness lead to violence with devastating results.

McDonagh’s play gives the performers four colourful and richly detailed characters to play. The Irish accents used by all four actors are very convincing.

Janie Lawson (Maureen) and Alice Ferguson (Mag)

As the grasping, whining mother, Mag, Alice Ferguson plays her character’s fear of loneliness, her quiet and cunning malevolence as well as her calculated undermining of her daughter’s chance for happiness with a level of reality that is confronting as well as truthful.

Janie Lawson is superb as the daughter, Maureen. The tediousness of her day-to-day existence caring for an irritating, elderly mother is skilfully portrayed. While reaching out for a chance to love someone, her desperate longing is so well-played, the pain she feels is quite touching.

Bruce Hardie (Pato), Alice Ferguson (Mag) and Janie Lawson (Maureen)

Pato Dooley is the man Maureen falls in love with. Played with a masculine warmth and confidence by Bruce Hardie, his performance is particularly notable in a scene where he reads out a letter he is sending to Maureen.

As the brother of Pato, Robbie Haltiner gives a colourful and very real performance as Ray Dooley, a man who seems accepting of his limited world.

Cate Clelland directs the play with assurance, guiding her actors with skill on an atmospheric and detailed set designed by her and realized by Ron Abrahams.

There is violence in this story that is quite disturbing, but the performances of the actors make this a memorable experience from start to finish.

 

Photos by Olivia Wenholz

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

CARMEN - The Australian Ballet

Callum Linnane (Don Jose) - Jill Ogai (Carmen) in Johan Inger's "Carmen"

Choreographed by Johan Inger – Conducted by Jessica Gethin.

Décor designed by Curt Allen Wilmer and Leticia Ganan

Costume Design by David Delfin - Lighting Design by Tom Visser

The Australian Ballet - Canberra Theatre Centre 20th – 25^th June, 2025

Opening night performance on 20^th June 2025 reviewed by Bill Stephens

Jill Ogai (Carmen) Callum Linnane (Don Jose) in Johan Inger's "Carmen"

 After an absence of eight years the Australian Ballet is back in town with a stunningly danced production of the ballet Carmen.

The Australian Ballet was the very first company to perform on the brand-new Canberra Theatre stage when on the 25^th June 1965, it presented a program consisting of Robert Helpman’s The Display, Rex Reid’s Melbourne Cup and Act 11 of Peggy Van Praagh’s  Swan Lake to open the theatre. All these ballets were danced in pointe shoes.

Sixty years later, almost to the day, The Australian Ballet has returned to the Canberra Theatre to celebrate this milestone with a contemporary version of Carmen choreographed by Johan Inger, which could hardly be more different to the one presented on this stage by the company in 1973 choreographed by Roland Petit and also danced in point shoes.

For his version Inger subverts the classical ballet technique with movement that is gritty, aggressively modern, startingly erotic, and danced in soft shoes. To focus on the psychological aspects of the relationship between Carmen and Don Jose he employs a choreographic repertoire that is difficult to describe being at times athletic, angular, buoyant, physically demanding, sometimes beautiful, at others brutal, but always exhilarating and superbly danced by the whole company with careful attention to phrasing and detail.

Inger has set his version to a captivating arrangement of the music composed at various times for this ballet by Georges Bizet, Rodion Shchedrin and Marc Alvarez and orchestrated by Alvaro Dominguez who incorporates unexpected instrumentations and time signatures to support Inger’s dynamic choreography.  

On opening night, it was thrillingly interpreted by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jessica Gethin following an introduction by the company’s Artistic Director, David Hallberg, making his first visit to the National Capital.

But Inger’s choreography is not the only aspect of this production which departs from the norm. For his costumes for the girls, David Delfin eschews the swirling frilled skirts associated with Spanish dance, in favour of short, cheeky ruffled skirts, some worn with the tops pulled down around their waists.  The girls were dressed identically, but each in a different colour. Carmen’s dress is the only red one, but otherwise similar to the others.

But apart from her dress, there is nothing else similar about Jill Ogai’s Carmen.  Defiant, wilful, overtly sensual and completely in control, she commands the stage, taking her pick of the men and taunting her lovers, playing them off against each other.

Brett Chynoweth (Zuniga) - Jill Ogai (Carmen) in Johan Inger's "Carmen)

Among them Brett Chynoweth’s Commanding Officer, Zuniga is a sinister opportunist. Jake Mangakahia’s self-obsessed Torero flaunts his rock-star glamour, but it is Callum Linnane’s insecure Don Jose who offers the predatory Carmen the most challenge. She senses he is out of his depth, but intrigued by her attraction to him, sets out to challenge him to his limit even though she also senses that their relationship will end in tragedy. 

All this is played out on a sparse setting consisting of a series of huge triangular prisms. These prisms offer different surfaces; concrete, textured and mirrored, and manipulated into different configurations by the dancers, to be converted into a variety of locales through the lighting wizardry of Tom Visser, allowing Inger to demonstrate his remarkable aptitude for creating mood, spectacle and emotionally powerful visuals to enhance his choreography and storytelling.

The choice of Inger’s powerful thought-provoking ballet for this occasion was a particularly apt choice, because not only is it a dazzling showcase for the skill and artistry of the current dancers of The Australian Ballet, it also demonstrates the Company’s ability to tackle, with confidence and panache, even the most complex of concepts signalling future directions for the art of ballet. 

 

The moment Zuniga is shot by Don Jose.
Zuniga (Brett Chynoweth) - Carmen (Jill Ogai) - Don Jose (Callum Linnane) 



Images by Longley


This review also published in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au

  

  

THE QUEEN'S NANNY - Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse

Matthew Backer (Elizabeth) - Briallen Clarke (Marion) in "The Queen's Nanny"

Written by Melanie Tait – Directed by Priscilla Jackman

Set Design by Michael Hankin – Costumes designed by Genevieve Graham

Lighting Design by Morgan Moroney – Composer & Sound Design by James Peter Brown

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse 19^th to 21^st June 2025.

Opening night performance on 19^th June reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

In 1932, Marion Crawford became a governess for the Duke and Duchess of York. Seventeen years later, she wrote a book about her experiences. Meanwhile, the Yorks had become the King and Queen of the British Commonwealth, and her charges, Elizabeth and Margaret, had become Royal Princesses.

Crawford had become a trusted servant of the family, referred to by them as Crawfie. She lived in a grace-and-favour house as a term of her employment. Her service continued until Princess Elizabeth's marriage in 1947, which occurred two months after Crawford's own wedding that she had postponed for 16 years to serve the family.

Though The Young Princesses revealed a loving view of the Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth felt it breached privacy and trust. She dismissed Crawfie and revoked her privileges, including her house.

These events are explored with impressive economy by playwright, Melanie Tait who gives equal weight to both sides of the story, inserting an Australian character to provide salient historical facts to ensure the clarity of the storytelling. 

Elsewhere the necessary information is presented in short concise episodes by Briallen Clarke as Marion Crawford, Sharon Millerchip as Queen Elizabeth and Matthew Backer as everyone else.

Sharon Millerchip (Elizabeth) - Matthew Backer (J) - Briallen Clarke (Crawford)
in "The Queen's Nanny"

It might have been tempting to present this play as a satire about class and entitlement, particularly with the decision to cast Matthew Backer as Princess Elizabeth throughout the entire period of Crawfie’s employment.

Instead, director Priscilla Jackman avoided that path. Choosing an elegant setting by Michael Hankin which included a model train overhead, and scale models of the contrasting houses in which Crawfie and the Yorks lived, matched with appropriately stylish costumes by Genevieve Graham, Jackman shaped her production as an engaging, thoughtful examination of the right to tell one’s own story, with which to frame the acting skills of her accomplished cast.

As well as portraying the narrator, a journalist, Crawfie’s fiancé George and various other male characters required for the story, Matthew Backer fascinates with his portrayal of the young princess maturing into womanhood and a future as queen. Avoiding camp, he employs restraint and minimal props to move and captivate his audience with the sincerity of his characterisation.

Briallen Clarke's Crawfie is a dedicated character, sharp and efficient, prepared to adapt her accent and postpone her wedding for her job but unable to pass up a substantial payment to share work-related information.

Sharon Millerchip (Elizabeth) in "The Queen's Nanny"

Sharon Millerchip’s fascinatingly nuanced portrayal of Queen Elizabeth shows her as playful, carefree,and generous, but assertive when enforcing boundaries. This is evident in her response when the princess offers to loan Crawfie a tiara from the royal collection for her wedding, and when the Queen denies the young princess permission to be Crawfie’s bridesmaid.

The scene in which the Queen berates Crawfie for her perceived disloyalty, dismissing her and stripping her of her entitlements, in front of the princess, is superbly rendered by all three actors, providing the play with both a thrilling climax, and a poignant ending, by revealing that this was the last interaction in which any of these characters ever spoke to each other again.   

With The Queen’s Nanny Melanie Tait has created a fascinating play that throws light on an almost forgotten moment in history which reveals that although the Queen Mother’s treatment of Marion Crawford may have seemed harsh at the time, history has proven that she was right to have misgivings about Crawford’s actions. They opened a floodgate of telltale publications by trusted employees and even members of the Royal Family, which question, and even threaten, the very existence of British Royalty.

                                                        Images by Melanie Desa

      This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au

 

 

The Lodge, & Am I In Your Way?

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

The Lodge | Amala Groom

Am I In Your Way? | Raquel Ormella

Canberra Contemporary | 3 May – 12 July 2025

Readers who are not familiar with Australia’s national capital city and, in particular, the design and purpose of its central area might like to look at TheWalter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin Design Drawings of the City of Canberra and/or read material about the design, such as thisWikipedia article.

Am I in your way? extends Raquel Ormella’s career-long focus on the visual cultures of protest and resistance. This exhibition takes as its starting point the location of the Canberra Contemporary gallery in which it is on display - at the centre of the Parliamentary Triangle looking out onto Lake Burley Griffin and across it towards and beyond the base of that triangle - as a site to consider past and present formations of national identities. 

The work activates the view down Walter Burley Griffin’s designed sightline between Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial, passing through the centre of the International Flag Display on Commonwealth Place. Drawings, flags and performance works in the exhibition look at how political protestors have used their bodies as direct forms of passive disruption. 

Inked messages on the front or reverse of, or alongside, found vintage Canberra postcards are both entertaining and significant. Likewise, messages on created banners both challenge and amuse us.

Raquel Ormella, 'One bomb vs many' 2025, installation view, 'Am I in your way_', Canberra Contemporary, 2025, ink on found vintage Canberra postcards, dimensions variable. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Raquel Ormella, 'Am I in your way_', 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brian Rope

Raquel Ormella, 'Am I in your way_', 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brenton McGeachie_2

Raquel Ormella, 'future history #1', 2025, installation view, 'Am I in your way_', Canberra Contemporary, 2025,  nylon, 90 x 170cm. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

In an environment where attitudes towards legitimate disruption and protest are changing, this exhibition is a timely exploration of an emerging criminalisation of what might simply be no more than an inconvenience for passers-by or bystanders.

The second exhibition being shown in the adjacent gallery space is The Lodge, named after the Prime Minister’s residence. It is the third moving image work in Amala Groom’s Raised by Wolves series exploring the relationship between alchemy (spirit) and science (matter), following the belief that life is a marriage of these forces, with the human being as the ultimate construct between them.

This excellent 11:11 minutes single-channel video work connects strongly with Groom’s personal history of direct action at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy located within the Parliamentary Triangle, and her many years of political engagement both inside and outside the walls of Parliament House. Her returning to Ngunnawal country to film this artwork is important; it is both ceremonial and cyclical. In doing so, she has reactivated her ancestral songlines (the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations), and this resultant autobiographical (in nature) work is a reweaving of both history and the future.

Wearing a typically long and white wedding dress, Groom herself symbolically weaves and unravels a red rope (commonly used as a symbol of protection, unity, and unbreakable bonds) along Anzac Parade, embodying both the colonial structural constraints Indigenous people faced (and still do) and the profound role ancestors play in spirituality, offering guidance and a sense of belonging. The work culminates in her transformation; empowered by the campfire that burns constantly at the Tent Embassy, she is seen running through Parliament House then ultimately vanishing into the bush as a sovereign Wiradyuri woman.

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_10

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_2

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_4

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_7

In this work, Groom has reclaimed what we might think of as “the heart of the Australian state” created by all who came after those we now refer to as our First Peoples. For many, many years previously the area of country now within the Parliamentary Triangle was a sacred place used by those First Peoples for corroborees and tribal indigenous gatherings. Visitors to the exhibition should view the entire video, waiting as necessary to watch it from the start, taking in its significant messages, thinking about the significance of various shapes they see, and admiring the very professional performance and film quality. Then read the artist statement and the exhibition essay to understand more fully what they have viewed.

These two exhibitions both present profound and important messages. Together the messages are enhanced and strengthened.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

THE QUEEN'S NANNY

 

The Queen’s Nanny by Melanie Tait.

Directed by Priscilla Jackman. Assistant director Miranda Middleton Set Designer – Michael Hankin Costume Designer – Genevieve Graham Lighting Designer – Morgan Moroney Composer & Sound Designer – James Peter Brown  Dialect & Voice Coach – Jennifer White  Movement Coach – Tim Dashwood Stage Manager – Sean Proude Assistant Stage Manager – Madelaine Osborn Costumer Supervisor – Lily Mateljan  Cast Matthew Backer as J and all other characters Briallen Clarke as Marion Sharon Millerchip as Elizabeth. Ensemble Theatre.The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. June 19-21 2025. Bookings 62752700

 

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Sharon Millerchip as the Queen Mother, Briallen Clarke 
as Marion Crawford. Matthew Backer as J in The Queen's Nanny

 

It would not be too far-fetched to regard the story of Marion Crawford as the tragedy of a common woman. Crawford, or Crawfie as she was affectionately known by royalty and the palace staff was the Royal Governess to Lilibet, the future Queen Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret from 1933 to 1949. In 1949 after seventeen years of loyal and dedicated service to the crown, Crawfie was given a pension and rooms with her husband George Buckley in Kensington Palace.

Briallen Clarke is Marion Crawford

Her offense was not against the Gods but against the Royal Family when, on an editor’s request she wrote articles for a woman’s magazine, revealing insights into the life of the royal family, ironically in the first instance with the agreement of the Queen Mother. An American publisher offered her $85,000 to write a book,The Little Princesses, which became a best seller and  roused the ire of the Queen Mother, who saw this as a complete betrayal of confidence and trust. Crawfie, who retired on the money with her husband to Aberdeen became a vilified outcast, never to have contact with the Royals again. An intelligent, educated woman and loyal servant to the crown and the princesses in her charge died alone in 1988.

Sharon Millerchip is the Queen Mother

 

Playwright, Melanie Tait has succinctly and empathetically told Crawfie’s story in a ninety minute drama that spans the euphoria of her status to the domestic and financial struggles, once out of service and the consequences of her actions to resolve the struggles by accepting the book offer. Using only three actors to tell her story, Tait has constructed a roller coaster of emotional responses. What begins as a warm-hearted glimpse into Crawfie’s early engagement and her relationship with the Queen Mother and her penchant for Dubonnet darkens with the onset of war and erupts with tragic overtones as Tait unravels the personal consequences of Crawfie’s innocent actions. Tait tells the story through the drama without judgement. It is left to the audience to judge the character of Sharon Millerchip’s steely and superior Queen Mother or Briallen Clarke’s progressive, devoted and finally ostracized Marion. Matthew Backer with chameleon agility sketches distinctly crafted characters such as J, the Aussie journalist ,Ainslie the Butler, the American Editor, George Buckley, Princess Elizabeth and the narrator of the drama. All three actors have been brilliantly cast and Priscilla Jackman’s direction keeps the audience glued to the performance from the light-hearted opening to the sorrowful conclusion to this woeful saga of Britain’s first royal commentator.

Matthew Backer as Lilibet. Briallen Clarke as Crawfie

In an era when tabloid revelations are de rigeur and newsstands are filled with preposterous articles about members of the Royal family, Crawfie’s insight into the habits and lives of the Royal Family at the time may appear innocuous. Because of the Queen Mother’s later insistence on signed non-disclosure statements by all appointed staff members, there can be no insider exposés, and we are left at the end of The Queen’s Nanny with the question, “Was Marion Crawford the victim of deception and injustice?”

Is naivety and the grasp of opportunity her fatal flaw? Whether a Monarchist or a Republican, Ensemble’s skilfully staged production will provoke response as much about Crawford’s story as about the role and the responsibility of the media in reporting on the lives of celebrities. It is still very much a story for our time. Don’t miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE QUEEN'S NANNY

Written by Melanie Tait

Directed by Priscilla Jackman

Presented by Ensemble Theatre

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre to 21 June

 

Reviewed by Len Power 19 June 2025

 

A thriving industry has grown up to feed the public’s fascination with the lives and activities of the Royal Family. The play tells the story of Marion Crawford, a young Scottish woman, who became nanny to the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in the 1930s.

She worked for the Royal Family until 1949, building an intimate and trusted relationship with the princesses and the Queen Mother. For her long and faithful service, she was given a grace and favour house in London.

Upon her departure from her job, she agreed to author The Little Princesses, a book which told the story of her time with the family. Although she had been given tentative approval by the Royal Family to publish her story, the family ostracised her after the book appeared under her own name. No member of the family ever spoke to her again.

Australian playwright, Melanie Tait, imagines the details of the relationship of Crawford with the Royal Family showing how they depended on her to raise the princesses well. The family’s later actions and lack of feeling for this woman who had devoted the best years of her life to them, gives the play a poignant edge. Much of the humour of the play is at the expense of the royal characters. It could be argued that Tait is a bit tough on them, but it is certainly entertaining and funny.

The play has been given an excellent production by the Ensemble Theatre. It has been directed with imagination and flair by Priscilla Jackman. Of the cast of three, Matthew Backer darts in an out of character playing 8 roles, including the young Princess Elizabeth, Bertie, the later King George VI, and Crawford’s husband, George Buthlay. Backer’s performance in all of these roles is outstanding.

Matthew Backer (various roles) and Briallen Clarke (Marion Crawford)

Briallen Clarke makes Marion Crawford instantly likeable with her direct and down-to-earth Scottishness. Her strong performance in this large role is at time humorous as well as touching and finally memorable.

Sharon Millerchip (Queen Mother)

Sharon Millerchip’s great sense of timing gives her character of the Queen Mother both a formidable, steely presence as well as some of the best funny moments of the play.

While Tait’s play succeeds in the telling of this woman’s story, the play ends with a discussion about Australia’s place in the Commonwealth. While it’s a point continually argued about, it feels awkwardly placed in this play.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

  

The Queen’s Nanny, by Melanie Tait. Directed by Priscilla Jackman. Ensemble Theatre. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. June 19-21. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean.

Matthew Backer with Briallen Clarke as Marion - 'Crawfie'.

I’m old enough to have encountered the Crawfie stories, I think in an odd little magazine called Sunny Stories, probably in the early 1950s.

We never heard tell of the upset that publication of tales of the early years of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret caused and soon moved on to the excitements of Journey into Space and Jet Morgan. 

However, it’s clear from Melanie Tait’s imaginative and sensitive  play about the woman who took care of the early upbringing of both the Queen and her sister that here’s a story that’s been waiting to be told. 

There are only three actors on a set by Michael Hankin that is full of  visual surprises. Little houses (didn’t the princesses have a house that was sized only for children?), a miniature palace, a tiny train high in the air. Among these a tribe of characters move, most of whom are performed by a very busy Matthew Backer. He switches from occasional narrator or passing character to stuttering Bertie (who will become George VI) to a snobby (and camp) servant to Elizabeth (who will become the Queen Mother) to Crawfie’s eventual  husband the feckless George and to an utterly charming and steady Elizabeth (who will become Elizabeth II), whatever her age.

Sharon Millerchip as the Queen Mother

That leaves Sharon Millerchip as the Queen Mother and Briallen Clarke as Marion Crawford, both powerful characters in their own way. But the royal juggernaut represented by Millerchip’s hard drinking, charming but forceful queen is going to outweigh the sterling metal of the Queen’s Scottish nanny, given an incisive and perceptive performance by Clarke. 

It’s a duel and power is on the side of the royals. And hindsight, given the scandals and royal tragedies of the ensuing decades, is bound to colour the audience’s perception of events. 

It’s all beautifully done and well worth a visit to the Playhouse for what is a very brief season.