WHAT DO YOU DREAM? - Ausdance ACT 2024 Youth Dance Festival.

"Enter the Doll House" - UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra.

 Canberra Theatre Centre 6^th – 8^th November 2024.

 Opening night performance on 6^th November reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

 

 Ausdance ACT has been staging its annual Youth Dance Festival in the Canberra Theatre for a remarkable 40 years.  

Countless potential dancers, choreographers and theatre technicians received their first experience of dancing on the Canberra Theatre stage while representing their school in one of these festivals.

"Obession" - Hawker College

 Under the Creative Directorship of Ausdance ACT’s current Director, Dr. Cathy Adamek, this year’s festival celebrating that achievement carried the title “What Do You Dream?” with each participating school being tasked with producing a short work responding to that theme for its presentation.

 The festival is proudly non-competitive, and such is the popularity of the festival that three nights are required to present the resulting works.  

 On the opening night dance works from ten schools and colleges were performed with teams from UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra, The Woden School, Marist College, Kingsford Smith School, Lyneham High School and Hawker College, each contributing a unique work while Melrose High School, Mount Stromlo High, and St Francis Xavier College and Caroline Chisholm School contributed two works each.    

 Following an Acknowledgement of Country performed by the Buchanan, Laverty and Rix families, the program proper commenced with an inspirational commemorative work, commissioned by Adamek in celebration of the 40^th anniversary of the Youth Dance Festival.

 Created by Youth Dance Festival alumni and star teachers and choreographers, KG from Passion & Purpose, Caroline Wall from Fresh Funk and Francis Owusu from Kulture Break it was entitled “What Do You Dream”.

 Presented in a seamless flow of segments representing the myriad dance styles represented in the festival, “What Do You Dream” offered an innovative introduction to the theme of the festival and received a stylish performance by the large team of dancers from participating ACT schools, and repeated each performance of the festival.

Enter the Doll House - UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra

 Some schools interpreted the “dream” aspects of the theme quite literally, with nightmares, zombies, and sleeping bodies featuring in quite a few of the works.

 Others chose more abstract interpretations, and although the performance level and presentation varied between the various offerings, the imagination and enthusiasm of the participants shone through in every case.

 Because every work was supported with professional lighting and production the resultant works impressed with the standard of presentation achieved, while the variety of ideas on display in the works ensured a stimulating and entertaining evening of dance.

 The fact that it requires three evenings of performances to accommodate the schools and colleges that wish to participate augers well for the future of the Ausdance ACT Youth Dance Festival.

"Obsession" - Hawker College

                                                     Images -  ART ATELIER PHOTOGRAPHY

 

 

  

Drizzle Boy

 

Drizzle Boy by Ryan Enniss. Queensland Theatre at Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse, November 13-16, 2024.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
November 13

Creatives

Writer Ryan Enniss
Director Daniel Evans
Set and Costume Designer Christina Smith
Lighting Designer Matt Scott
Composer/ Sound Designer Guy Webster
Video Designer Nevin Howell

Stage Manager Kat O'Halloran
Assistant Stage Manager Nicole Neil

Cast

Drizzle Boy - Daniel R Nixon
Mother/ Juliet/ Valentina Tereshkova/ Dustin Hoffman/ Google/ Doctor - Naomi Price
Father/ Hans Asperger/ Baphomet/ Google/ Doctor - Kevin Spink



There are two ways to appreciate this modern-style theatre work.

First it is a highly original way of using theatre as a kind of adult theatre-in-education about how being autistic is a natural condition in some people, which the person concerned cannot change.

Second, it is a play about other people unfairly judging autistic people as abnormal or even subnormal, at best trying to treat them psychologically or at least trying to help them; at worst disrespecting them as figures of fun, as social failures, or even with aggression because they don’t change to suit ‘normal’ expectations.

Being “on the spectrum” is now a commonly used term, which at least recognises that every autistic person is different in their own way.  The line in the play is “If you have met one autistic person, you have met one; if you have met another autistic person, you have met another one.”

Because people with autism don’t respond in the expected ways to emotional subtext cues, they may – as David does – create fictional characters drawn from stories, and perhaps especially from movies, which they imagine to be real and may be called on for help; or may seem to impose judgements about what they are doing.

The key moment in the play, as a relationship is developing between David and Juliet in their late teens, is when she has expressed love for him.  David stops, looks at her in an objective kind of way, and asks “Are you real?”  Juliet says simply “Yes.”

He means the question literally: is she real or a figment of his imagination?  She means literally that she is real.  While in the ‘normal’ audience, we know that she really means she really does love him for what he is, as he is.

The presentation of the story in theatrical terms is quite remarkable.  The choreographed movement work is amazingly complex and so precisely done.  The use of voice over and other sound effects are quite stunning, as is the lighting.  And I found it hard to imagine how the two actors working with David – the Drizzle Boy – could possibly have managed all those costume changes – in addition to their character, voice and accent changes.

So, first the show is entertaining just for the performances, staging and technical impacts.

While, second, it commands respect for the actors as actors, and for the frustrations and difficulties that people with autism face on a daily basis – and must always face, even when intellectually they can learn to understand yet can never be sure of succeeding in emotional situations.  The play remains realistic about autism as a condition, but gives us hope that more people will find ways to treat each other with the respect we all deserve.

This hope comes from the experience, which I certainly had, of realising that we all surely have to learn to better appreciate and respect others for being who they are, because most of us – perhaps men, especially – are at least a little bit like David, the Drizzle Boy.

 

 

 

 

WILLIE WONKA AND THE THEMED LANDS - "Legs" Performing Arts

 

"What The World Needs Now" the opening number of "Willie Wonka and the Themed Lands".

Concept, Design, Scripting and Direction” Michelle Heine – Sound Editing: Kevin Heine

Costume Manager: Lynda Alchin – Ballet Mistress: Julie Rummukainen

Erindale Theatre November 9^th 2024.

Matinee performance on November 9th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The Canberra region is rich in excellent dance schools, and this is the time of the year when these schools display the fruits of their year’s work through their annual displays.

One of those schools is “Legs” Performing Arts, which was established in Canberra 35 years ago by Michelle Heine who, after retiring to Canberra following a successful career as a professional dancer, decided to create “Legs” Performing Arts as a way of sharing with young dancers the skills and knowledge she had learned during her career dancing in multi-million-dollar extravaganzas in South Africa.

In that 35 years “Legs” has established a solid reputation for turning out dancers equipped for a career as commercial dancers proficient across all forms of dance including ballet, tap, acrobatics and contemporary styles.

Many of its graduates have gone on to carve out successful dance careers in international venues such as The Lido and The Moulin Rouge, but also in Australia in Jupiter’s Casino, professional musicals, film, television and cruise liners. Some returning to pass on their skills to current students.

To celebrate this 35 year landmark Heine conceived, designed, scripted and directed her own extravaganza, “Willy Wonka and The Themed Land” to showcase the work of more than 250 young dancers who performed some 52 individually choreographed dance sequences during the show.

Opening with a glittering Las Vegas style presentation, “What the World Needs Now”, performed by the Senior Team, the show quickly moved into Willy Wonka mode, led by Sian Gray, a standout as Willy Wonka, expertly lip-synching “The Candy Man” and the explanatory dialogue which connected the various dance sequences.

Routine after routine followed in quick succession, each seemingly more dazzling than the last, each featuring impeccably groomed dancers in a jaw-dropping variety of costumes, who impressed with their well-drilled routines and delightful portrayals of the Willy Wonka characters.    

The second half of the program was devoted to routines with which “Legs” had achieved significant success at events during the year. Among them the Tianjn International Children’s Festival, the Brindabella Dance Festival and the Australian Dance Festival in Sydney, mingled with other imaginatively choreographed works which allowed students at various levels of achievement to demonstrate their talent. These included the Dream Team and even some mums and dads intent on embarrassing their offspring.

Particularly impressive was the ingenuity of the choreography, the stunning video backdrops and the efficiency with which the huge program was achieved without any hint of fuss or confusion, concluding the program with a nod to the Paris Olympics with a white hot routine entitled “Parlez Vous Francais”. 

"Legs" Dancers perform "Parlez Vous Francais"




Photos by Paul Knight - Smashing Panda Photography. 

 

 

 

Photographer Hilary Wardhaugh named Artist of the Year at 34th Annual Act Arts Awards

 Canberra photographer Hilary Wardhaugh has been named 2024 Canberra Citynews Artist of the Year at the 34^th annual ACT Arts Awards evening, held in the ANU Drill Hall Gallery on Tuesday, November 12.

Hilary Wardhaugh,  2024 Canberra Citynews Artist of the Year. Photo: Peter Hislop

New ACT Arts Minister Michael Pettersson presented a certificate and cheque to the value of $1,000 to the artist’s son, Henry Gilmour, as she was interstate.

Wardhaugh, well-known in the Canberra community for her family portraits, is also a press and fine art photographer who was singled out by the judges in the Canberra Critics’ Circle for her provocative, innovative and creative artworks and endeavours.

Her #everydayclimatecrisis Visual Petition has gained international recognition and was also tabled in the Australian House of Representatives.

The critics also praised her passionate solo exhibition Monachopsis (meaning a persistent sense of being out of place) at Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka, and also A Meditation of Death.

Joel Horwood on stage in Ordinary Days

Earlier in the evening, the Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting was presented by Canberra Theatre director, to Joel Horwood for his poignant interpretation of Konstantin in Seagull for Chaika Theatre and his empathetic performances in Queers for Everyman Theatre and Ordinary Days for Q the Locals.

The award is an initiative of the Tsongas family to keep alive the memory of the late Canberra actor Helen Tsongas Brajkovic.

The awards evening  also featured the circle’s own awards, which went to:

Music

Louis Sharpe and the National Capital Orchestra

For creating and presenting a concert of exciting and energetic movie music to a capacity audience in their performance of Heroes and Villains - Music from the Movies.

Edward Neeman and Stephanie Neeman

For their extraordinary performance of a four-handed piano arrangement of William Bolcom’s The Serpent’s Kiss, a ragtime inspired work that told the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. This unique work was given a playful and thoroughly enjoyable performance, complete with foot-stamping, piano-slapping, unexpected vocalising and physical comedy.

Andrew Koll

For his conducting of the St John Passion for the Canberra Bach Ensemble, which brought out a glorious, nuanced performance. For devising and leading a thrilling concert featuring the three Bach Cantatas that he would later take to the Leipzig Bach Festival in Germany.

Luminescence Chamber Singers

For their world premiere performance of Andrew Ford’s song cycle, Red Dirt Hymns, performed at the Canberra International Music Festival. The crystalline voices of the six singers, in groups and as soloists, performed musical settings of Australian poetry, enhanced by Sammy Hawker’s subtle artwork.

Shortis and Simpson

For their original musical series, Under the Influence, in which the duo wove their own stories and music together with those of guest artists Keith Potger, Karen Middleton, DJ Gosper, Nigel McRae and Beth Tully, culminating in sessions with Mikelangelo and Fred Smith. This initiative proved a creative way of highlighting leading Canberra region popular musicians.

Theatre

Karen Vickery

For offering contemporary Canberra audiences a fresh look at Chekhov's dialogue through her erudite and at times colloquial reinterpretation of his play, Seagull.

Amy Kowalczuk

For her incisive, sensitive and powerful performance as Blanche DuBois in Free Rain Theatre's production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Joel Horwood

For a moving and totally believable performance as the tormented Konstantin in Chekhov's Seagull, for Chaika Theatre.

Christopher Samuel Carroll and PJ Williams

For their perfectly matched, deeply psychological performances as the murderer Raskolnikov and the police inspector Porfiry in The Street Theatre's production of Crime and Punishment, adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe and Curt Columbus.

Karen Vickery and Steph Roberts

For their tremendous double act as Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots in Luke Roger’s production of Kate Mulvaney’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart.

Dance

Australian Dance Party

For Co_Lab:24, an engaging collaboration by dancers, musicians, lighting designers and visual artists, which drew on improvisation as a technique and which made use of a performing space in an experimental manner.

Nathan Rutups

For his stylish, aggressive choreography which eschewed dance steps in favour of evocative moves and attitudes to advance the storyline of Queanbeyan Players’ impressive production of American Idiot.

The Training Ground

For Wired, its full-length abstract contemporary dance work exploring the psychological implications of a true event. It was notable for the originality and excellence of its presentation, which showcased the technical accomplishment of the 18 dancers who executed the demanding choreography with exemplary confidence, precision and engagement, supported by outstanding lighting and technical effects.

Larina Bajic

For her dazzling performance as The Watcher in The Training Ground’s production of Wired in which she displayed extraordinary command of technique and characterisation in a series of demanding solos and duets.

QL2 Dance

For its presentation of Hot To Trot, a high quality, polished cohesive production incorporating a myriad of styles, music and lighting designs where young dancers impressed with their dedication and execution of their own and others' choreographic projects.

Musical Theatre

Queanbeyan Players

For its dynamic production of a difficult musical, American Idiot, which bristled with energy, flair and attitude, performed by a totally committed cast directed by Bradley McDowell, choreographed by Nathan Rutups and musical direction by Jen Hinton and Brigid Cummins.

Chris Zuber

For his pitch-perfect design and direction of the chamber musical, Ordinary Days, for Q The Locals, flawlessly cast, with musical direction by Matthew Webster and performed by Vanessa Valois, Joel Horwood, Kelly Roberts and Grant Pegg.

Free Rain Theatre

For its exuberant production of Billy Elliott, a demanding musical set in times of turmoil, directed by Jarrad West, choreographed by Michelle Heine with musical direction by Katrina Tang and Caleb Campbell.

Marcel Cole

For his impeccably researched and performed cabaret, Ukelele Man, about British entertainer George Formby and his wife Beryl, for which he was assisted by Katy Cole and directed by Mirjana Ristevski as part of the inaugural ACT Hub Canberra Cabaret Festival.

Visual Arts

Caroline Huf

For her digital video, Shipwreck, shown as part of the Abode exhibition at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in April and later at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka, in June. It explored, through beautifully staged imagery and wry commentary, the acute plight of refugees seeking a place of safety and the labyrinth of bureaucracy they need to negotiate.

Alex Asch and Mariana del Castillo

For their exhibition, Compression, at Beaver Galleries in September. Each of these two artists have created in their own individual way, works that are the result of a deep and sensitive experience of the Australian environment, yet together they have also created a potent dialogue that unites, deepens and enriches the exhibition experience.

Susie and Martin Beaver

For over forty years of showcasing the art of Australian craftspeople and artists to Canberrans at Beaver Galleries, exhibiting the work of probably thousands of craftspeople in the full range of materials. Objects and art works have been displayed in dynamic exhibition programs and they have represented their artists at Australian art fairs.

David Mac Laren

For over forty years of presenting the art of people working in wood to Canberra and its regions at Bungendore Wood Works Gallery and for showing us that furniture can be made for generations and still be functional, easy to live with and most of all, be attractive. The gallery he founded showcases the best of woodcraft available in this country and exhibits the works of many talented artists and makers.

Eva van Gorsel

For her imaginative and creative observations in photography, often combined in blended composites, beautifully displayed in high quality archival pigment prints that motivate viewers to pursue long-lasting cohabitation with the natural world, and, in particular her key part in the exhibition Emotional Landscapes I at ANCA Gallery in July-August.

Hilary Wardhaugh

For her ongoing and wide-ranging provocative, innovative and creative artworks and endeavours that include analogue and digitised lumen prints, cameraless lumagraphs, film photography and cyanotypes, in particular for her passionate solo exhibition Monachopsis at CCAS Manuka in March 2024.

Memoir/History

Andra Putnis

For Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me, a work that seeks to bridge the distance between the present and the past and to balance a granddaughter’s search for connection with a writer’s search for stories. The author honours a family’s silences as much as its traumas to produce a work of compassionate moral reckoning.

History/Biography

Kate Fullagar

For Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled, a dual biography whose bold reversal of the narrative expectation of history recasts a received idea of total divergence as an inevitable convergence. In this startling presentation, the relationship between these two emblematic figures renews the possibility of a shared history.

First Nations History

Craig Cormick and Darren Rix

For Warra Warra Wai, How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook & what they tell us about the coming of the Ghost People. This is a collaborative project of generous and attentive listening, which honours and exemplifies the depths of First Nations oral storytelling and collective memory.

Poetry

Jeanine Leane

For gawimarra gathering, a work of unwavering force and clarity that voices the contradictions of post-referendum Australia. Leane meets our moment. Here is a poet at the height of her power.

 

Poetry of Place

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

Poetry of Place I Julia Charles

ANCA Gallery I 30 October - 17 November 2024

Julia Charles has tertiary qualifications in Landscape Architecture, Environmental Horticulture, and Photoimaging. She teaches in applied object design and is a self-employed photographer.

This artist’s photography exhibition Poetry of Place has been promoted as a collection of photographic works which reveal a rare way of seeing – offering an intimate distillation of beauty in the built landscape. I’m not sure that I agree with the use of the word rare, since I am familiar with the work of various other photographers who also find beauty in selected parts of buildings. However, I certainly accept that the images in this show portray beauty in the buildings photographed; indeed they do so most successfully. 

There are 26 giclee prints, mostly in rich black and white, on archival cotton rag fine art paper in the exhibition, plus a single non-photographic piece which is laminated oak veneer and charred Oregon. The prints are sensual studies of the built form. When visiting the display, I asked the artist, Julia Charles, why she had opted to include the latter piece of artwork and was pleased to hear in response that she simply felt it belonged there – because it certainly fits with the overall portrayal of beauty.

Charles has a background in furniture making, landscape architecture and lecturing in art and design. So it is unsurprising that she included sculptural “timbers.” She also describes herself as an architectural and fine art photographer. Once again it is not a surprise therefore that the photographs are of elements of the architecture of buildings – most, she told me, being in Sydney, whilst about four portray places in Canberra. I have no doubt whatsoever that all Canberrans would instantly recognise, in Untitled #22, the landmark that is the Australian Academy of Science’s Shine Dome building.

Untitled #22, 2024 © Julia Charles

None of the artworks are titled so, whilst studying each of them we could, if we wished, try to name the buildings we were looking at. But in many cases of course we would be unsuccessful – perhaps because it is a building with which we are not familiar, or maybe we simply do not recognise the specific elements the artist has included in her photographic creation. I wonder how many exhibition visitors have been able to attach a building name to Untitled #3.

Untitled #3, 2016 © Julia Charles

Camilla Block, of Durbach Block Jaggers architects, has written “Julia Charles has an unerring artistic eye. She convincingly translates sculptural weight and power within a two dimensional medium. Julia’s pictures are somehow unafraid, deftly stepping toward feeling, shadow and beauty.” Untitled #2, the image used by the ANCA gallery to promote the exhibition is only one of the exhibits that show the artist’s keen artistic eye.

Untitled #2, 2016 © Julia Charles

The artist herself says she tries to create pictures that have a poetic quality. She works slowly, finding from experience that her patience is rewarded. As I moved around the displayed works and looked into them, I saw how Charles had explored the light and shadows being cast on her subjects and used them to remove unwanted material. I observed how she had explored the qualities of reflected, diffused and dappled light and created images revealing elements in the architecture that are beautiful and which sensitively express emotions. Untitled #4 is a fine example of her use of light and shadow.

Untitled #4, 2016 © Julia Charles

The exhibition’s title is most appropriate as the artworks combine design and art, uncovering the "poetry of place" to produce minimalist, graphic, and sculpture-based compositions.

Readers who are unable to visit this exhibition might like to look at the artist’s works on her webpages here.

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

SMILE: The Story of Charlie Chaplin

 

Marcel Cole in SMILE: The Story of Charlie Chaplin.

Written and Performed by Marcel Cole – Directed by Mirjana Ristevski.

Tuggeranong Arts Centre, November 9^th 2024.

Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS   

There is brilliance on display in this intriguing production, but there are also unsolved problems which during its first Canberra performance at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre last night made it feel like a work in progress.

Hailed around the country for his brilliant debut cabaret The Ukulele Man in which he traces the life and career of British vaudevillian, George Formby, Marcel Cole now reveals skills as a brilliant mime artist and accomplished ballet dancer with his show about an even more famous screen personality Charlie Chaplin.

Again directed by Mirjana Ristevski with whom he created The Ukulele Man, Cole tells Chaplin’s story through an astute selection of filmed titles and images in the style of one of Chaplin’s silent films.

Costumed as Chaplin’s familiar Little Tramp character, complete with whiteface make-up and black toothbrush moustache, Cole made his entrance down the steep steps of the Tuggeranong Arts Centre theatre, immediately engaging the audience with his mastery of Chaplin’s signature walk and movement style, his mime clear and concise.

Assuming the persona of the little tramp he discovers a red-covered copy of Chaplin’s  autobiography and begins his story, selecting incidents at random from the book, commencing with Chaplin’s 1925 silent movie The Gold Rush, filmed at a time when Chaplin’s silent screen persona as The Little Tramp was already well established as an audience favourite.

For these live re-enactments Cole selects random members of his audience to assist him by playing various supporting characters. This risky strategy depends on the ability of the unfortunate ‘volunteer’ to be amusing.

Marcel Cole and audience member.

While those selected certainly did their best to be co-operative, and there were some funny moments, the overuse of this ploy, together with the necessity for Cole to drop character to murmur instructions to his ‘volunteers’, detracted from the magic of his silent mime, caused the pacing and flow of the storytelling to flag.

It also led to trivialising important moments in Chaplin’s life such as the onset of his mother’s dementia and eventual death, which hardly seemed subjects for hilarity.

A stunning dance sequence later in the show for which Cole stripped to black trunks and utilised a white balloon and his impressive ballet technique to represent Chaplin’s satirical masterpiece The Great Dictator was marred when the balloon was thrown into the audience. Of course the audience had fun circulating the balloon around the auditorium, but the brilliance of the original concept became irrelevant.

Cole and his director Ristevski have created a fascinating entertainment to showcase more of Cole’s talents. But Chaplin is a far more important and complex character than Formby, and despite the rapturous reception by the capacity audience at this performance, SMILE: The story of Charlie Chaplin, seems confused as to its purpose, particularly during the later sections involving incidents when Chaplin had long since left the Little Tramp behind, but Cole still presented in whiteface.

Only part of Chaplin’s long and complex life was concerned with his most famous creation, the Little Tramp. By trying to compress the whole of his story into just 60 minutes, Cole does himself and his subject a disservice.

By concentrating on just the Little Tramp period of Chaplin’s career Cole would still have a captivating piece of entertainment with which to display his undoubted mime skills.

However in choosing Chaplin as their subject Cole and Ristevski have struck gold with a subject that both have the skills and talents to develop into something far more important. Should they choose to take up that challenge, future audiences can look forward to something very special. 

                                                  Images by Cassidy Richens  

         This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 10.11.24

 

Thai theatre and Bangkok Theatre Festival 2024...

If you are in Bangkok this November you might want to pick up on the riches of the Bangkok Theatre Festival. 

I’ve long been impressed and delighted by Thai theatre and a short visit to Thailand in August confirmed that it’s still as fascinating as ever, whether it is traditional or contemporary.  

The Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre was hosting a children’s theatre festival and that yielded The Settlers. This was shadow puppet work from Homemade Puppet but with a difference. Much of the things casting shadows in their work are bits of rubbish when you see them laid out before the show. but in a dark room with selective lighting they become plants and spaceships and all kinds of images made out of mere detritus. 

The Settlers is a piece about ruthless colonising…take over a planet….push out the original inhabitants…change the terrain…and then look for a new planet to spoil… the work of Sutarath Sinnong (Tom) is not afraid of difficult themes. 

The Settlers' set up.

Tom also worked with Makhampom Theatre Group which is where I first encountered her. Makhampom’s training courses were also where I first met Tua Pradit Prasartthong, actor, director, teacher and it turned out he was directing a musical version of Romeo and Juliet called Todmala. 

Todmala.

This was a grand piece staged at the Thailand Cultural Centre. No subtitles but if you knew your Shakespeare and a little Thai the shape of the piece was clear, albeit with a Thai viewpoint. 

The opening fights were Muay Thai fights, Friar Laurence became a very Thai ajarn (teacher), the wedding seemed to be a co-celebration between him and the Nurse and there appeared to be a happy ending with Juliet leaping up from the bier to lambast everyone about the evils of blood feuds. 

It was gorgeously done with loads of feeling and singing and an orchestra pit that rose up with the orchestra still playing on it for the curtain calls and bright young performers from the pop song area who were getting a chance to work with one of Thailand’s best performers and theatre teachers.

Khon Museum display.

Outside of Bangkok near Ayuthaya there is now a workshop combined with a museum (part of the Arts of the Kingdom museum set up by Queen Sirikit) that introduces people to the making and the operation of sets, masks and costumes for traditional khon performance. The next set of performances are 7 Nov - 8 Dec this year at the Thailand Cultural Centre. 

At the museum you can wander through vast rooms that display set items and backdrops appropriately lit and in some cases they move animatronically. Theatre crafts are taught and you can watch work on masks and the painting of backdrops. One backdrop we saw in the process of being painted is clearly finished and turns up on Facebook in the show. (Interesting that it was being painted on the floor but that’s probably because it was mostly stencils.) 

 

Painting a backdrop, Khon Museum.

If you are in Bangkok now The Bangkok Theatre Festival is well worth chasing up. It’s an annual event showcasing more contemporary Thai theatre, although strong traditional elements and performances can and do turn up. 

There’s adult theatre, children’s theatre and workshops. Certain performances might be marked as ‘foreigner friendly’ but that’s never stopped me from going in and watching something entirely in Thai. If I were in Bangkok I’d certainly try to go to Tua’s Anatta Theatre piece Deception of the Demon for example. 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1338842013753749

These days the main venue for the Festival is the grand circular Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre, easily accessible by Skytrain (BTS), opposite the big MBK shopping mall and full of all kinds of nooks and artworks and crannies. But you might also find yourself in an old shopfront or a park or found space somewhere down the line. 

It is always wonderful to encounter cultural difference.  And if we can’t get on a plane, Facebook is filling up with tantalising glimpses.

https://www.bacc.or.th/en/events/82952

Alanna Maclean

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

 

Nice Work If You Can Get It. Music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. Book by Joe Dipetrio.  Inspired by material by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse.

Directed by David Smith. Musical direction by Brigid Cummins.   Choreography by Kirsten Smith.Production Manager Rachel Laloz. Stage Manager Morgan Cormack. Repetiteur Trevor Mobbs. Costume design Jess Zdanowicz. Lighting Design. Jacob Aquilina (Eclipse) Sound design Teila Jansen (Eclipse). Properties Master Justine Ramsay. Queanbeyan Players. The Q  Queanbeyan –Palarang Performing Arts centre. November 1-10 2024.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

It’s nice work if you can get it and Queanbeyan Players’ latest triumph has got it in spades. If nostalgia is your thing this bright and breezy musical set in the Roaring Twenties and the age of prohibition will lift your spirits to the ceiling. I caught this musical towards the end of its all too short run, but it was well worth the wait. Director David Smith, Musical director Brigid Cummins and Choreographer Kirsten Smith with an ebullient cast of talented performers have brilliantly captured the spirit of the era of early Twentieth Century musicals. Nice Work If You Can Get It revives the age of entertainment with a capital E. With music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, this 2012 revamp of the feel good musicals in the tradition of Lady Be Good and O Kay is an oh so delicious tribute to the wonderful and marvellous musicals of yesteryear.

Anthony Swadling as Cookie, John Winfield as Duke
Sienna Curnow as Billie

Joe Dipetrio’s book takes its plot from the inspiration of Twenties writers, Guy Bolton and P.G.Wodehouse. It’s stock comedy. Wealthy playboy  Jimmy Winter  (Luke Ferdinands) is to marry renowned interpretive dancer Eileen Evergreen (Anna Tully), daughter of Senator and judge ( Pat Gallagher). However, he becomes entranced by bootlegger Billie Bendix (Siena Curnow) who with her accomplices Duke (John Winfield) and Cookie (Anthony Swadling )use Jimmy’s luxurious holiday house to stash illegal booze from the eyes of Chief  Berry (Steven O’Mara) and his Vice Squad. What follows is one hilarious sequence of mix ups, mess ups, mop ups and fix ups. It makes for a night of hilarity and “delishious” escapism.

What makes this barrel of farcical fun such a highlight of the year’s musical theatre offerings is its exquisite attention to detail. It is meticulously directed, musically accompanied with exuberance by a brilliantly accomplished band of musicians under musical director Brigid Cummins and choreographed with colourful flair and slick precision by Kirsten Smith, who brings out the very best in her vice squad and chorus girls with energetic routines from jazz to swing, from jive to tap and a touch of the Charleston. Anna Tully’s interpretative dance is sheer mockery of contemporary movement.

Luke Ferdinands as Jimmy Winter, Sienna Curnow as Billie

Favourite melodies are performed with flourish and every member of the principal cast and male and female chorus are in fine voice with such tried and true Gershwin hits like Let’s call the whole thing off ( Jimmy and Billie), Swonderful  (Jimmy and Billie)( Fascinating Rhythm (Company) Someone to Watch Over Me ( Bille) There are wonderful comic moments including Eileen’s bathroom scene, Cookie’s lunchtime service, Duke’s lovesick swooning for Jeannie Muldoon (Kay Liddiard) and Lillee Keating’s drunk scene as the Duchess Estonia Dulworth. The action moves at a cracking pace  as relationships switch and swerve, plans unravel, secrets are revealed and everybody lives happily ever after. It’s not all froth and bubble. Gallagher’s Judge may evoke a sense of political cynicism and Jimmy’s mother Millicent (Fiona Hale)proffers some pertinent opinion on inane legislation. Nice Work If You Can Get It is not entirely without some social and political commentary. But let’s not get too serious. After all, this is a musical to make you merry!

As Jimmy Winter, Luke Ferdinands is a musical theatre star in the making. Keep an eye out for this talented performer. He shows enormous promise as a performer should he choose to pursue a professional career. What is exceptional about this production is that he is wonderfully supported by a committed and talented cast of performers, musicians and creatives that made for a night of sheer entertainment.  The performers were assisted by Jess Zdanowicz’s excellent costume designs, Jacob Aquilina’s lighting and Telia Jansen’s sound design. My only quibble was that the sound levels were too loud at the start but settled as the show progressed.

All in all, Nice Work If You Can Get It was a trip down memory lane that will remain an unforgettable musical theatre highlight of the year. On Friday night it was made even more memorable by Dave and Kirsten Smith’s interval  on stage renewal of their wedding vows on the tenth anniversary of their marriage. This was a family affair attended by their mothers and their three children. Nice Work If You Can Get It was the perfect occasion, highlighted by the cast’s formation of a receiving line before a floral wedding arch.

This is the kind of production that has you leaving the theatre with a spring in your step and a song in your heart. Nice work Queanbeyan Players!

 

WARU - JOURNEY OF THE SMALL TURTLE - Bangarra Dance Theatre

Aba Bero (Migi - Green Turtle) - Elma Kris (Storyteller)

Written by Hunter Page-Lochard – Directed by Stephen Page

Set and Costume design by Jacob Nash – Cultural Creatives: Elma Kris & Sani Townsend

Composed by Steve Francis and David Page (Dec.) – Lighting Designed by Matt Cox

Choreographed by Peggy Misi, Elma Kris and Sani Townson

Performed by Elma Kris and Abo Bero.

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse 7^th to 9^th November 2024.

Performance on 7^th November reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Aba Bero (Migi - Green Turtle) - Elma Kris (Storyteller)

Although not strictly a dance production, WARU - was inspired in part by the Turtle section of Stephen Page’s 2001 dance work Corroboree.  But for their first children’s production, aimed specifically at children aged between 3 and 7 years, Bangarra Dance Theatre entrusted the roles of storyteller, singer and dancer to the charismatic Elma Kris, who never leaves the stage during the entire 45 minutes it takes to tell the story of Migi, an endangered green turtle.  

Certainly, the majority of the children at this particular performance were within the specified age range and quickly fell under the spell of Kris’ leisurely storytelling, responding enthusiastically to her instructions on how to assist the lumbering turtle up the beach to lay her eggs.

Under Kris’s cheerful guidance they participated in hand-songs and play dances, learnt some  authentic Torres Strait Island words and even helped her chase off a marauding lizard, to pass the time until the eggs hatched and it was time to help Kris shepherd the hatchlings back down the beach into the protective ocean.

Then they also learned that the ocean itself needed protection from the ugly plastic and rubbish being washed into it by careless humans, by which time a whole year had passed and Migi had returned and the whole process of helping her up the beach to lay her eggs was repeated and then that pesky lizard returned and Kris took advantage of an old panto trick to reduce her young audience to near hysterics by deliberately misunderstanding their screamed instructions. “Behind?  Why? Everywhere’s behind! “.

Elma Kris (Storyteller) - Aba Bero (Migi - Green Turtle)

As is expected from Bangarra Dance Theatre WARU is impeccably mounted. Jacob Nash has provided a beautiful starry environment for the story, and quite wonderful costumes for the green sea turtle Migi, and the marauding lizard, both portrayed by Aba Bero, who also joined Kris for a charming play dance Kasa Kab choreographed by Peggy Misi and Stephen Page.

An atmospheric soundscape, the work of Steve Francis and the late David Page, along with Matt Cox’s moody lighting design leant an agreeable mystical ambiance to the proceedings, except for the climax of the show, which left its young audience confused by ending with an abrupt extended blackout. 

Despite being conceived as a vehicle to introduce young audiences to indigenous cultural folklore, WARU offers subtle insights into cultural practises and beliefs likely to intrigue and captivate audiences of any age. 

                                                          Images by Daniel Boud. 

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