The Queen's Nanny

 

The Queen’s Nanny by Melanie Tait.  Ensemble Theatre September 6 – October 12 2024.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
September 28

Playwright: Melanie Tait
Director: Priscilla Jackman

Set Designer: Michael Hankin; Costume Designer: Genevieve Graham
Lighting Designer: Morgan Moroney;
Composer & Sound Designer: James Peter Brown
Dialect & Voice Coach: Jennifer White
Stage Manager: Sean Proude; Asst Stage Manager: Madelaine Osborn
Costume Supervisor: Lily Matelian
Secondments: Sherydan Simson, Chelsea McGuffin

Cast:

Duchess of York; later Queen Elizabeth; later again the Queen Mother – Emma Palmer
Marion Crawford – ‘Crawfie’: Elizabeth Blackmore
J, Nanny, Bertie, Ainslie, Lilibet, George, Bruce, Gould – Matthew Backer



There is really no better way to show you Matthew Backer in his wonderful long list of characters than in these production thumbnails, on the Ensemble site:
https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/the-queens-nanny  

You’ll have to see the show, of course, to follow the story through all these scenes and more – a very full and highly satisfying 90 minutes.

Somewhere hidden in our house full of books, my wife is sure we must still have The Little Princesses; or perhaps it’s with one of our daughters.  She recalls the positive impact on her, aged 5 in 1950 when the book was published, towards the Royal Family.

I also remember, migrating from London as an anti-monarchist in 1955, being very surprised, while practice-teaching, to find the Australians in the group as Menzies-royalist as they come.

As the century morphed into Boris Johnson etc, I admit that I came to see Lilibet to be the highly astute woman that Crawfie helped make her.  Melanie Tait has written, and the Ensemble has presented, a terrific lively story of how The Little Princesses came to be written and published, almost as if in preparation for Lilibet’s accession to the throne as Elizabeth II.

But here’s the punchline.  In her Writer’s Note, Melanie Tait puts her work in context:

“I started working on this play around the time the Albanese Labor Government was voted in.

“Full of hope, I felt certain when the play got to the stage, we’d have lived through a successful Australian Indigenous Voice Referendum and, in an election year, movement would be ramping up about a new Republic Referendum.  I wanted this play to be part of that conversation.

“Instead, I write this note a week after a cabinet reshuffle, where, in the wake of last year’s referendum, the Albanese Government has abolished the Assistant Ministry for the Republic.  We’re about to welcome (and spend tax-payer money on) a visit from King Charles III and Queen Camilla, who’ve just had £45M of public money added to their annual income while the rest of the UK suffers a crippling cost of living crisis.”

Her play is not just fascinating to watch, each twist and turn of the relationship between the Duchess and the Nanny from Marion’s surprising interview showing how and why she got the job through to the Queen Mother’s disgust at the book’s publication – and most awful, to the new Queen’s putdown of the woman who made her what she was.

It’s a play that needs to be seen throughout Australia ready for next year’s election, probably in May.  You need to understand Marion Crawford’s story before you vote.

Maybe the Albanese Government could fund Touring Australia with some extra special funds.  I suggest you write to your local Federal Member of Parliament, now.

Good on you, Ensemble Theatre, for this new Australian play – surely in the tradition that Hayes Gordon would rise again from his grave to see.

 

 

 

 

 

GOLDNER STRING QUARTET

Snow Concert Hall, Red Hill September 28

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

It was a bittersweet evening as this concert was a farewell performance by the Goldner String Quartet. First formed in 1995 and named after Richard Goldner, founder of Musica Viva Australia, the founding members of the group are still together 30 years later.

Dene Olding, violin, Dimity Hall, violin, Irina Morozova, viola and Julian Smiles, cello played three masterpieces from the string quartet repertoire – works by Robert Schumann, Carl Vine and Franz Schubert.

The concert commenced with Robert Schumann’s Quartet No. 3 in A major, Op.41 No. 3. Composed in 1842 it was the last string quartet that he wrote. It was followed by the 1994 Quartet No. 3 by Australia’s Carl Vine and Franz Schubert’s Quartet in C minor D810, Death and the Maiden, composed in 1824, was the last work on the program.

As expected, the Quartet gave each of these very different works a superb performance. The clarity of their playing brought out additional depth and colour in the works and it was almost like hearing them for the first time. The exciting finale of the Schumann was especially well played, as was the well-known third movement of the Schubert work. Their playing of all three parts of Carl Vine’s Quartet was electrifying.

Goldner String Quartet

For an encore, they played the second movement of Dvořák’s American Quartet. This work with its exquisite melody was the perfect end for the concert.

Violinist, Dene Olding, gave short informative introductions to each of the works. With his dry humour he mentioned that, although this was Canberra’s farewell performance by the Quartet, they might “do a Nellie Melba”. We can only hope!

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 29 September 2024.

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/.

Colder Than Here

 

Colder Than Here by Laura Wade.  Ensemble Theatre, Sydney September 16 – October 12 2024.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
September 28

Playwright: Laura Wade (UK)
Director: Janine Watson
Set Designer: Michael Hankin; Costume Designer: Genevieve Graham
Lighting Designer: Morgan Moroney; Video Designer: Mark Bolotin
Composer & Sound Designer: Jessica Dunn
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley; Movement Coach: Tim Dashwwod
Intimacy Coordinator: Chloë Dallimore; Costume Supervisor: Lily Matelian
Asst Stage Manager: Bernadett Lörincz

Cast:
Myra – Hannah Waterman; Alec – Huw Higginson
Their adult daughters Jenna – Airlie Dodds and Harriet – Charlotte Friels

Airlie Dodds, Huw Higginson, Hannah Waterman, Charlotte Friels
as Jenna, Alec, Myra and Harriet
in Colder Than Here by Laura Wade, Ensemble Theatre 2024

This is Ensemble’s summary of Colder Than Here:

Myra’s typically middle-class family are scarily normal in their eccentricities, especially when it comes to dealing with her illness. The boiler is on the blink, the cat’s gone missing and the perfect funeral needs planning but her husband Alec would rather bury his head in a newspaper while daughters Harriet and Jenna have their own problems. Myra might be busy researching flatpack coffins and creating a PowerPoint presentation of her dying wishes, but her last big project is to fix her family.

In my early years I was brought up in this London, wearing Wellington boots to walk to school, perennially cold in the smog.  So I could sympathise with the idea of a play about a woman, diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her family trying to find somewhere nicer for her to die and to be buried.

In 2005, at least the titles of Laura Wade’s first plays – Colder Than Here and Breathing Corpses – suggest things were getting her down a bit, even though they won the writer the [UK] Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright.

So I’m sorry to have to say that I felt for the actors, having to struggle with a script which can’t really make up its mind whether to be a comedy or a sentimental but nice homily about being realistic about death.  

As a comedy it begins well with Myra’s attempt at a Powerpoint presentation of how she wants to prepare for the inevitable.  But the boiler on the blink business (by the way, the extension lead plug that Alec tries to fix is a sealed unit which cannot be taken apart, so his jabbing himself with his screwdriver is just silly) and what happened to Jenna’s cat, and whether Jenna’s relationships with her boyfriends have or will hold up, and why Harriet seems to be so inexplicably dependent on her mother, get in the way of comedy.

Yet the possibilities of drama of depth never develop either in this playscript.

Fortunately it is the set design and video projection that rescue the play as far as it can go.  As the daughters look for locations for the burial, the backdrop image of a calm and attractive woodland scene (well away from whether the boiler in the house really did ever get fixed) made it almost acceptable for Myra to lie down on her side there and slowly roll on to her back as she dies (having lasted till a warmer time in summer) – because (as we know from the earler scene with the cardboard coffin) she wouldn’t fit in if she stayed the way she sleeps.

Yet that final scene is quite unrealistic.  From what Myra tells Jenna, husband Alec is now busy fixing things around the house himself – so he’s not there with her.  What Harriet is doing is not clear – but she’s not there either.  And then, Jenna leaves her mother to it – to die alone.

Perhaps the author meant this to have sad and telling implications about people not facing up to death, but I found after the beginning warmth of a little bit of comedy, the rest of the play – except for the very last moment – left me cold.

Hannah Waterman as Myra
in the final scene of Colder Than Here by Laura Wade
Ensemble Theatre, 2024

 

 

 

 

WORK, BUT THIS TIME LIKE YOU MEAN IT

                    

 

 

WORK,BUT THIS TIME LIKE YOU MEAN IT by Honor Webster-Mannison.

Directed by Luke Rogers. Set and costume designer Kathleen Kershaw.  Lighting and video designer Ethan Hamill. Sound designer and composer  Patrick Haesler. Production stage manager Rhiley Winnett. Canberra Youth Theatre. Courtyard Studio. Canberra Theatre Centre.September 20-29 2024.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Youth theatre tends to be most successful when it speaks with the voice of its young writers and directors under the guidance and mentorship of professional theatre artists. Canberra’s professionally funded Canberra Youth Theatre has earned a prestigious reputation as a company of dynamic, highly relevant and professionally staged theatre. Canberra Youth Theatre’s latest production by its senior ensemble is no exception.  Playwright of WORK, BUT THIS TIME LIKE YOU MEAN IT and winner of Canberra Youth Theatre’s 2022 Emerging Playwright’s Commission Honor Webster-Mannison takes a sharpshooting shot at the employment of young people in the fast food industry. Fast is the word. In fact frenetic may be more like it.  Under Luke Roger’s energetic direction, the hard working ensemble explodes with vitality. Shift manager (Tom Bryson) is positively apoplectic as he tries to organize his staff. Register One (Kathleen Dunkerley) and register Two (Emma Piva) perform their cute welcome routine with robotic precision.  At the same time newcomer on Kiosk (Georgie Bianchini) and Quinn Goodwin on the Drive Through try to maintain some control. Food prepper (Sterling Notley)  and Deep Fryer (Matthew Hogan) keep the yellow balls on Kathleen Kershaw’s  colourful set flying like projectile beef burger bun missiles through the air across the stage and into the hands of the frazzled worker. Only Regular (Hannah Cornelia) offers some sense of normality apart from the obvious craving addiction fed on fat and sugar I suspect. Too often she becomes lost upstage in the mayhem when subtlety and nuance are sacrificed for speed and noise.

Webster-Mannison has written a very clever, witty, surreal satire, punctuated by hilarious video design with finger-licking good animation and burger bounce along lyrics. The play draws on the experiences of young people and the conditions of working for a corporate franchise in the fast food industry. It exposes the unfair conditions, the short work breaks, the bullying bosses and the relationships that lead to workplace relationships. Anyone who has worked for Maccers or KFC will recognize Webster-Mannison’s characters. Food Prep’s workplace accident is no rare occurrence and the young employees work for low wages at the mercy of Bianchini’s moustached Texan owner (no surprises there). Director Rogers ensures that the play’s message is not lost when Notley assumes the imaginary role of Union Rep for young employees. It is a call for the rights of the exploited. Webster-Mannison’s play becomes a  manifesto for proper regulations and recognition of just working conditions in an industry heavily reliant on the labour of young people under the age of eighteen, underpaid, overworked and under-represented.

WORK, BUT THIS TIME LIKE YOU MEAN IT is the kind of work that one might expect from a youth theatre concerned about the welfare and rights of its young emerging artists. The company bursts with talent and promise. Webster-Mannison and Rogers avoid the didactic and get their message across with comedy and carefully choreographed stage business. The introduction of more effective moments of stillness and introspection like Notley’s proposed Union monologue and the direct address by Bryson to the audience might have given useful pause for thought. 

All in all, Canberra Youth Theatre and its young artists deserve congratulations for serving up entertainment  that also gives plenty of food for thought.  

Photos by Andrew Sikorski                

 

THE CRITIC

 

The Critic.. Screenplay by Patrick Marber, Based on the novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. Diected by Anand Tucker. Produced by Bill Kenwright, Jolyon Symonds and Anand Tucker. Starring Iam McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong,Ben Barnes, A;fred Enoch,Romola Garai and Lesley Manville. Cinematography by David Higgs. Edited by Beverley Mills. Music by Craig Armstrong.Produced by BK Studios, Fearless Minds and Seven Stories. Distributed by Lionsgate. Palace Cinemas September 25 2025.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.

Ian McKellen as the critic. Gemma Arterton as the actress in The Critic

 

Set in 1934 London, The Critic, in a taut and compelling adaptation by Patrick Marber of Anthony Quinn’s novel Curtain Call  is riveting cinema. This is largely due to director Anand Tucker’s ability with the assistance of cinematographer David Griggs to capture the period so evocatively and transport the viewer to prewar London and a time when London’s theatreland was thriving. It was also a time when the drama critic could break or make a show and Jimmy  Erskine (Ian McKellen) epitomizes the vitriolic and vindictive reviewer for the right wing paper The Chronicle. Erskine exerts his influence through his damning reviews of  actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) a darling of the West End stage. Any attempt to change his entrenched opinion falls on deaf ears until an unanticipated turn of events sets in motion a sequence of suspenseful twists and turns.

Alfred Enoch as Tom Turner. Ian McKellen as Jimmy Erskine

When asked by the founding proprietor's son Viscount Brooke (Mark Strong) to tone down his hyperbolic and offensive critiques, Erskine refuses citing freedom of expression and leaving the proprietor no choice but to demand his resignation, which prompts a veangeful response from Erskine. With Machiavellian flair Erskine with the unwitting aid of his secretary and lover Tom Turner (Alfred Enoch) exploits Land’s desire for critical favour and Brooke’s infatuation with the dazzling actress. In a deadly quest for survival, Erskine resorts to blackmail to force his reinstatement. It is all stock crime thriller stuff in the grand old British crime thriller movie tradition. 

What prevents the film from lapsing into a predictable narrative is director Tucker’s firm control of the film’s dramatic moments. Close ups probe the very thoughts of the characters. Brooke’s immersion in the spell of Land’s performance captures the tear that trickles down the cheek. Erskine’s desperation at the threat of exposure by Land reveals his dark purpose. Tucker’s cast is superb. McKellen gives an outstanding performance as the odious critic bent on revenge. Arterton plays the victim with the inevitability of naïve consequence. Strong and Enoch are similarly utterly convincing in roles that become pawns in Erskine’s deadly design.

Gemma Arterton as Nina Land in The Critic

The film is at times Shakespearian . The characters caught in Erskine’s web of deceit and manipulation expose the fatal  flaw that brings about their downfall. Novelist Quinn takes his revenge on any critic whose ego would cloud his judgement and McKellen takes delicious delight in playing the villain. Any self respecting critic could only deplore McKellen’s superb portrayal which remains a salutary warning to any critic who would transgress his role and responsibility. Lovers of crime thrillers and the world of theatre will find The Critic absorbing entertainment. Do  not judge critics too harshly unless of course  they remind you of Jimmy Erskine. 

Mark Strong as Viscount Brooke in The  Critic

 

 

ARC by Erth

 

ARC by Erth.  Canberra Theatre Centre, Playhouse, 26–28 September 2024.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
September 26


Credits (as recorded by Arts on Tour)

Artistic Director  Scott Wright
Head of Design  Steve Howarth
Producer  Scott Andrew
Writer  Alana Valentine
Creative Associate – Puppet Design  Gabrielle Paananen
Associate Director  Solomon Thomas
Composer/Sound Designer  James Brown
Composer/Sound Designer  Daniel Herten
Lighting Designer  Frankie Clarke
Video Designer  Solomon Thomas
Cast  Scott Wright, Gabrielle Paananen, Rose Maher, Albert David, Tom Caley (subject to change)
Production Manager  Rick Everett

 No printed program was available at Canberra Theatre Centre, so I have assumed the company here is the same.

Erth describes the show in this way:
“ARC is a scalable and site-specific participatory theatre work designed around a menagerie of naturalistic critically endangered and extinct animals. Giving the audience small moments of highly intimate, transformational engagement with fragile, vulnerable life, the work will be led by children, who will enable the transition of wonder and preciousness onto participants.
 
“This is at a time when we are hearing stronger and younger voices speaking up on matters that affect their world. The work is a confrontation with the reality of species extinction, and at the same time, a provocation of hope. These guides are messengers, reminding us of the resilience of nature, our power as individuals to both protect and preserve, and the inherent hope and creative genius of children, who are our future.”
 
Though I can find no explanation by Erth for the meaning of the title ARC (which has many possible meanings), Scott Wright has written:
“The genesis of arc came about from a creative visioning residency with Healesville Sanctuary in 2016 supported by Zoos Victoria. During my visit I was lucky enough to be taken to where they were breeding Leadbeater’s Possums to increase their number, at a time when their population had been reduced to one small colony of around 30 individuals - the only Leadbeater’s Possums remaining in the world.

“A small furry bundle was placed in my hands, and like lightning it struck me: this moment was charged with empathy and awe. Right then I knew that if everybody could experience this delicate action of holding one of these beautiful creatures in their hands, an intangible connection between two species would be made and their continued protection would continue. Not from guilt from the wrongs we have done, but from love and compassion.”

The show consists of Scott musing out loud, apparently as himself rather than in a recognisably acted role, while the life-size puppets come to life in his loungeroom.  I missed how a quite large number of children appeared on stage to participate, which they did with obvious enthusiasm.

This is not theatre which you watch and react to in the ordinary way.  It is an experience, the impact of which grows upon you.  By the end it is impossible to imagine taking an unemotional rational view of the issue of ‘saving the animals’.  The warmth and depth of feeling as Scott winds up with thanks, encouragement and congratulations all round is now an expression of belief in saving the animals.

But from a theatre critic’s point of view I can see the danger of this kind of presentation.  It is nearer to a ceremony of religious faith than a drama revealing social understanding.  Is ARC, then, good children’s education; or is it – however justified – a form of indoctrination?

Though, in a general sense, I personally support the preservation of native species in their original ecological environments, examples – such as Canberra people refusing to accept the need to cull the local kangaroo population; or the people who believe the wild horses should be left to destroy the Kosciuszko national park environment – suggest to me that even children’s education through drama about preserving species can’t depend entirely on unadulterated love and compassion.

I am not seriously suggesting that ARC is a dangerous exercise.  Our fears about global warming are entirely justified.  But I am suggesting that Erth may need to create new works for children in which they learn the limits of belief and the value of action using science to understand Earth’s past and hopefully improve our likely future.

 

 

ARC by Erth, 2024

THE CRITIC

Written by Patrick Marber, Anthony Quinn

Directed by Arnand Tucker

Transmission Films

In Cinemas from October 3

 

Previewed by Len Power 25 September 2024

 

Theatre and theatre critics have always had an uneasy relationship. Reviews of shows are often viewed as a necessary evil. A good review of a show can boost box office takings while a poor review may have the opposite effect. Critics have at times been so powerful, they could make or break a show with a single review.

A cruel personal review may amuse the reader but it can have a devastating effect on a performer. Ask any actor who has received one and they can quote it from memory, even if it was written years ago.

In the film, “The Critic”, a famous and feared theatre critic in 1930s London involves a vulnerable young actress in a blackmail scheme to discredit his employer, the new owner of the newspaper that he writes for. The result is devastating for all concerned.

Ian McKellen plays the critic, Jimmy Erskine. Aware of his powerful position, Erskine feels invulnerable and his behaviour and treatment of those around him is appalling. McKellen gives this character a colourful theatricality that is initially amusing but Erskine soon loses our sympathy as his evil nature comes through. It is an exceptional performance of great depth.

Ian McKellen (Jimmy Erskine)

Gemma Arteton gives a fine performance as Nina Land, the vulnerable young actress who is desperate for Erskine’s approval and there is good work from Alfred Enoch as Erskine’s live-in assistant, Tom, Lesley Manville as Nina’s mother and Mark Strong as David Brooke, Erskine’s new employer.

Ian Mckellen (Jimmy Erskine) and Gemma Arteton (Nina Land)

“The Critic” is a good film with a memorable performance of pure evil by McKellen. It will certainly appeal to those with an interest in the theatre world and, for others, it has a rattling good blackmail plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

 

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 Critic - Movie 2024

 

The Critic – Movie 2024.  A reimagining of the novel ‘Curtain Call’ by Anthony Quinn (Penguin 2015) set in the 1930s - described in Bookseller as “An elegant literary 1930s murder mystery”.


Sun 29 Sep  Wed 2 Oct  Thu 3 Oct
Dendy Canberra
10:45 am    2:00 pm    7:00 pm

Limelight Cinemas Tuggeranong
12:10 pm

Palace Electric Cinema
2:00 pm    6:00 pm

Director: Anand Tucker
Screenwriter: Patrick Marber
Production Company: BKStudios

Cast

    Ian McKellen as Jimmy Erskine             Gemma Arterton as Nina Land
    Mark Strong as David Brooke                 Lesley Manville as Annabel
    Ben Barnes as Stephen Wyley                 Romola Garai as Madeleine
    Alfred Enoch as Tom Tunner                  Matthew Cottle as Graham Meadows
    Beau Gadsdon as Freya                           Nikesh Patel as Ferdy Harwood
    Rebecca Gethings as Joan                       Éva Magyar as Dolly Langdon
    Jay Simpson as Slyfield                          Jacob James Beswick as Robbie
    Nicholas Bishop as Richard Pugh          Albie Marber as Lennie
    Grant Crookes as Critic                          Debra Gillett as Mrs. Keefe

Reviewed by Frank McKone

“VLADIMIR: Moron!
ESTRAGON: Vermin!
VLADIMIR: Abortion!
ESTRAGON: Morpion!
VLADIMIR: Sewer-rat!
ESTRAGON: Curate!
VLADIMIR: Cretin!
ESTRAGON: (with finality). Crritic!
VLADIMIR: Oh!
He wilts, vanquished, and turns away.”
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

“London, 1934. Jimmy Erskine (McKellen) is the most feared theatre critic of the age. He lives as flamboyantly as he writes and takes pleasure in savagely taking down any actor who fails to meet his standards. When the owner of the Daily Chronicle newspaper dies, and his son David Brooke (Strong) takes over, Jimmy quickly finds himself at odds with his new boss and his position under threat. In an attempt to preserve the power and influence he holds so sacred, Jimmy strikes a faustian pact with struggling actress Nina Land (Arterton), entangling them and Brooke in a thrilling but deadly web of desire, blackmail and betrayal.”
[ The Critic – Official Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jryTK4UZ-6E ]

As critic of The Critic, I will not start by“putting the dagger in” like ‘Jimmy Erskine’ does as a fearsome attention grabber, condemning West End actor ‘Nina Land’ unreasonably.  His real purpose is nothing more than maintaining his image – and therefore his job.

But, like Jimmy, I like to display my erudition with literary quotes.  Estragon’s “Crritic!” is amusing – but in this case it’s also telling.  In the film it is Nina who “wilts, vanquished, and turns away” at first – until her anger makes her turn upon Jimmy and demand an apology, in the street: in public.

A strong beginning for a film with lots of possibilities but not much in the way of probability – a bit like waiting for Godot.  I have not read Anthony Quinn’s novel, which is described as “utterly pleasing from the first page to the last” by Sadie Jones, (Guardian).  The essential problem in this movie is that the screenwriting is contrived, as if the characters’ actions, talk and reactions are predetermined to get Jimmy Erskine from his over-the-top, aggressive, unkind copy for the Daily Chronicle review of the performance of ‘The White Devil’ (the tragedy in five acts by John Webster, performed and published in 1612) through the ‘deadly web’ to his unlikely, unfortunate and unpleasant survival.

On the way he reviews fairly, Nina’s excellent acting as Olivia in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night – but only for his central self-centred purposes.

The film then seems to be too stagey, as if it is all being acted out as if it were on stage, and so never achieves the true illusion of reality which is what film can do, but acting a play cannot.

At the same time it is fair to say that the actors in this film are as excellent as we might expect. But the writing and directing leave us with unfulfilled possibilities.  

For example, the song and scene At Midnight in the 1936 setting where the gay Jimmy and his ‘secretary’ Tom are set upon by Nazi characters was never developed as it could have been – especially when we see these groups in action in real life today.  The role of 1930s police also should have been much more fully developed, raising issues about the law and the treatment of gays and women.

And most disappointing, I thought, was the shallow characterisation of Nina, as if women actors were so easily manipulated by their needing to be praised.  Of course the issue was and is real, but the screenplay needed to offer other possibilities for the women.  In real life I think of how much Helene Weigel achieved in acting in the 1930s – and probably in writing – in Brecht’s plays, and in becoming artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble in the 1940s.  There is no women’s part in The Critic modeled on such a woman.

From a different perspective, you might see the movie as a fun variation of an Agatha Christie, but though there is a murder, there’s not the same engagement in mystery.  We may wonder about Jimmy Erskine’s intentions early on, but then we see it all happening until we are not surprised, as Jimmy is not surprised, at Nina’s death.  He is essentially cynical about what he does to engineer others’ actions.

This at least opens up our thinking about the nature of an unkind society.  So I lay aside my dagger at this point.

Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton
as Jimmy Erskine and Nina Land
in The Critic 2024

 

 

 

 

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024

Photography Review | Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024 | Various artists

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) | 17 August – 12 October 2024

It is always difficult to review an exhibition such as this where the artworks are from numerous artists and the only connection is that they have been selected as finalists in a competition. In 2022, a piece in the magazine Inside Imaging, said the grand prize “is an impressive $15,000 cash, making the MCPP a major Australian photo contest.” In this sixth year of the prize, the cash was doubly impressive at $30,000. 

The winner of the $30,000 was Merilyn Fairskye from Newtown in Sydney. Her winning work is Focus Infinity IV (4.41am, 09 May 2024, Maralinga village), 2024 – a Solve-Glaze archival pigment print on photo rag, 100 x 150 cm. It will be acquired and join all previous MCPP winners in MRAC’s permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography.

MERILYN FAIRSKYE - Focus Infinity IV (4.14am 09 May 2024 Maralinga Village) 2024 

Fairskye’s concept statement reads “‘Focus Infinity IV' is part of my ongoing Long Life Project (https://www.longlifeproject.com). My current work looks at Australia and its looming nuclear future. On a recent visit to Maralinga, site of British nuclear tests in the 50s and 60s, I wanted to see what would be revealed if I photographed in complete darkness. My settings were f/1.4, 00:30 exposure, ISO 1600, focus ∞. Mid-exposure, I moved my camera from sky to earth.” The artist’s intentions are quite clear from that statement - and she has succeeded. The mid-exposure camera repositioning was a most effective technique to use.

Let me now comment on just a few of the other finalist works in the exhibition. Hilary Wardhaugh of Canberra is there with her work A Meditation of Death, 2024 – a digital print on archival photo rag paper 81 x 142 cm. It comprises twelve 8x10” digitised lumen prints created by first piercing an extraordinary 2000 tiny holes into black card, then using them as stencils placed over light-sensitive photo paper exposed in sunlight. The same work was also a finalist in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize.

HILARY WARDHAUGH - A Meditation of Death, 2024

The artist statement tells us that the conceptual foundation of the work draws inspiration from “the Maranasati meditation, a contemplative practice centred on the inevitability of death, encouraging introspection on the consequences of humanity's violence and impermanence.” Wardhaugh is inviting viewers “to contemplate the profound impact of conflict through a poignant marriage of technique and symbolism.”

For the artist, the twelve images together represent the 24,000 people killed as of 3 January 2024. Where? Do you need to ask? Gaza. This work is just one of several excellent pieces created by this artist in recent times in response to very important issues that she feels strongly about. The arts practice page on her website is well worth exploring - https://www.hwp.com.au/arts-practice.

Two other finalists in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize also made the cut in this MCPP. Orlando Luminere’s work here was a different one, but it was also created with one of his “trashcams” - yes, cameras he makes from trash. Wasted View, 2024 was made using a Camera Obscura digital made from trash, filled with trash.

This artist’s images created with his diverse and marvellous trashcams are always fascinating. The artwork here is a fine example of camera obscura photography.

ORLANDO LUMINERE - Wasted View, 2024

The other artist to feature in both shows with the same artwork is Caleb Arcifa. He uses sound to augment traditional processes with the subject’s energy, resulting in a unique print that is ‘signed’ by the sonic identity. Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023 uses Joini’s rendition of ‘If I Ain’t Got You’. Unfortunately, we can’t hear the sound, nor see the artifacts from the artist’s sonic experiments that explain the process behind work.

CALEB ARCIFA - Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023

Then there is a work by Tamara Dean from Kangaroo Valley, which the adjudicators highly commended - Blowin in the wind, 2024. This critically acclaimed Australian photomedia artist’s practice extends across photography, installation and moving image. This piece very cleverly and intelligently addresses the climate change crisis impacting the whole world right now - read the artist statement here.

TAMARA DEAN - Blowin in the Wind, 2024

There are many other interesting artworks in this exhibition, including Rozalind Drummond’s Scenario where photography, sculpture, and performance intersect. And Jacob Raupach’s Various Small Fires I + II, 2024, in which several small UV prints are displayed in sculptural grid-like structures made from Victorian Blackwood. However, you need to look at all the works yourself and read their accompanying artist statements. 

ROZALIND DRUMMOND - Scenario, 2024

JACOB RAUPACH - Various Small Fires I & II, 2024

Not everyone will agree, but I consider this year’s MCPP show to be the best yet overall. All the selected finalists in the exhibition can be seen in a virtual gallery here. However, it would be a much better experience to visit the MRAC and see the finished artworks up close if you possibly can do so.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. A very slightly different version is scheduled to be published in the October 2024 issue of The Printer (an online magazine by the Print Group of the Australian Photographic Society). Once published it will be available for download here.