Shadow House Party.
A Krewd
Incarnate. Directed by Bambi Valentine. Trinculo’s Bathtub 2:Annihilation.
Written and directed by Joe Woodward. Ophelia’s Shadow. Adapted from William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Composed and directed by Lucy Matthews. The Courtyard Studio.
Canberra Theatre Centre. July 18-21. 2017.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
How stale and unprofitable is the
theatre that has nothing to say. It is a criticism that could never be levelled
against the Krewd Sisters, Shadow House Pits or Acoustic Theatre. This daring
triumvirate is presenting three performances at The Courtyard Studio. A Krewd Incarnate bursts forth with the
sheer force of Butoh. Trinculo’s
Bathtub2: Annihilation is bathed in the cynicism and post Modern diatribe soaked
in the anarchy of Artaud. Acoustic Theatre Troupe offers a
provocative take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet
with Lucy Matthew’s reinvention, Ophelia’s
Shadow. At times rough and raw, often electrifying and always challenging,
theirs is the theatre of confrontation, risk taking and experimental,
questioning and postulating and exciting in its sheer force and earnest
passion. Though not to everybody’s taste, loud and brash, Krewd Sisters under
Bambi Valentine, Shadow House Pits with Joe Woodward and Lucy Matthews’
Acoustic Theatre compel intellectual engagement. They are the inescapable provocateurs
of intellect and emotion, devoid of artifice and driven by the belief that
theatre is the conscience and the voice of today’s new world.
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| Bambi Valentine, Luke Middlebrook and Benjamin T.B. Russell |
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Between the flesh and the bone springs forth the Dance of
Darkness. It is the inner scream for identity and acknowledgement. The animal
in us all twitches and turns, snaps at the bone, pecks at the air, stretches
and curls, splashes and slides as the regal mistress of their animal world
plays dominatrix to their search for meaning. The animal within subjects to
command and hierarchy. Bestial in instinct, human in parody, they are the
unfortunate victims of existence. Gradually, repetitively, achingly the frenzy
builds. The Butoh dance of darkness rises to frentic fury to the incessant
rhythms of the death metal music. The rest is silence and we are left to wonder
and to ponder. Make of it what you will but Butoh performers Bambi Valentine,
Luke Middlebrook, Miriam Slater, Frances McNair and Benjamin Russell and
musicians Lucy Matthews and Hannah Feldman unleash a longing for change that
stirs the spirit and provokes response.
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| Joe Woodward as Trinculo in Trinculo's Bathtub 2: Annihilation |
Joe Woodward’s Trinculo is no stranger to the stage of
confrontation. Part demon, part angel, Trinculo recalls the hellish world of
Bosch, reincarnated through the revolutionary Marat and espousing the dialectic
of a Hitler or a Trump, megalomaniacal in the quest for supreme power, yet the
victim of his own revolutionary fervour. Trinculo’s realm is the Parnassus of Persuasion
– the all-knowing, the all-seeing, the omnipotent potentate. Woodward is the
cynic, the satirist, the humourist with throw-away commentary that deflates the
arrogant supremacy of his alter ego and is in turn subjected to the same fate
as Jean Paul Marat. Woodward inhabits his character with all the mastery of
political and philosophical conviction. If you have not seen Trinculo espouse
his maniacal rhetoric, this is a performance not to shie away from.
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| Luke Middlebrook and Miriam Slater in Ophekia's Shadow |
On his tomb Shakespeare states “Cursed be he who moves my
bones” It is a brave soul who dares to tamper with his work. Lucy Matthews’
intention in her adaptation Ophelia’s
Shadow is to focus our attention on Ophelia’s plight in a resonating plea
for understanding and confirmation of society’s suppression of the female in a male
dominated domain. The overpowering presence of Polonius’s voiceover, spoken by
Woodward, the lustful enticement and cruel rejection of Hamlet (Luke
Middlebrook), the stern reproachment and authoritative command of her brother
Laertes (Benjamin T.B. Russell) as well as the manipulation of harpy -like
creatures (Bambi Valentine and Frances McNair) subject Ophelia (Miriam Slater)
to alternative will, depriving her of an individual and independent voice.
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| Miriam Slater and Benjamin T.B. Russell |
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Of all three works, Ophelia’s
Shadow is in need of the most careful, objective direction, precisely
fusing the elements of performance, music and dance in a tightly woven thread
of theme and action. In Shakespeare’s words this very clever interpretation,
performed by versatile and talented performers, needed to pay homage to Hamlet’s
advice to the Players: “Suit the word to the action and the action to the word.”
The use of original songs, composed by Matthews, requires perfect diction. McNair’s
powerful voice does the emotion full justice
while in many songs losing the lyrics. Middlebrook’s charismatic smiling rock
star delivery of “To be or not to be”, while not pensive in its mood, is
expertly sung and clearly pronounced. At
times, focus is sacrificed to dual action upon the stage, and the physical connection
between Ophelia’s inner voices (Valentine and McNair) and Ophelia is at times
blurred, though always expressive. It is during the moments that are “pure”
Hamlet that Slater and Middlebrook capture the spirit of the relationship and
empathy flows for Ophelia’s subjugated state. Both performers could well hold
their own in a full production of Shakespeare’s original tragedy.
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| Frances McNair, Bambi Valentine, Lucy Matthews and Hannah Feldman |
Nonetheless, Ophelia’s
Shadow is original, provocative and performed with passion and serious
intent by a talented troupe of young and committed performers. Shakespeare’s
bones need not rattle in dismay. Acoustic Theatre has done full and persuasive
justice to his theme, his language and his characters. Too often relegated to
the shadows, in Matthews’ thoughtful adaptation, Ophelia is brought into the
light to shine a torch for all women of all time.
I did not stay for the Dance Party or even use my ticket for
a free glass of champagne, but I left entirely satisfied with a night of
theatre that all theatre aficionados and practitioners should see. Though not
without some fault here and there, Shadow House Party is theatre that stimulates
the intellect, provokes thought, experiments and challenges and ultimately
reminds us that all theatre should hold the mirror as ‘twere up to Nature and
show us who we are and who we should be.
Photography by Reid Workman (Workmanlike Images)
