BRIEFS BITE CLUB & SAHARA BECK - Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse.

Director:  Fez  Faanana – Sound Engineer: Benn Shambrook

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse November 21^st to 23^rd November, 2024.

Performance on 21^st November reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Mark Worrell leading the parade in Brief:Bite Club & Sahara Beck"

Describing themselves as cult cabaret mischief makers, circus stars and heart-stopping hooligans, the cast of Briefs Bite Club have been surprising, delighting, even occasionally shocking their audiences around the world for more than 10 years.

In that time, they’ve perfected insouciance as an artform with their cheeky mixture of burlesque, drag, amazing acrobatics and just plain silliness with a succession of unique, cleverly produced extravaganzas.

Previously proudly all-male, for Briefs Bite Club they’ve added a surprise ingredient in talented singer/songwriter Sahara Beck with her excellent three-piece band consisting of her brother Ocean Beck on keys, Damon Joel on Drums and Ben Mackay on drums all costumed rather self-consciously in op-shop treasures.

Beck is a marvellous singer, with a voice able to shift through angelic, ethereal, harsh, urgent and demanding. Her moody songs become the soundtrack for the show which commenced with her earworm “Crack Crack Bang” which introduced the five members of Brief’s with their cutely choreographed routine featuring multi-coloured feather fans.

The cast of Briefs Bite Club.

Following a long, wordy introduction from MC Fez Faanana, Beck took the stage to accompany Thomas Worrell’s amazing hoop routine with her composition “Like You” and Rowan Thomas’ cheeky Cyr wheel strip routine with “Mr Breezy”.    

The program continued with Beck featured in solos with the band, or participating in delightfully silly production numbers built around her songs, and the particular skills of Bite Club soloists, Mark Winmill, Thomas Worrell, Luke Hubbard (Nastia), Rowan Thomas and Fez Faanana whose every appearance featured an ensemble more outrageous than the last.

Thomas Worrell and Sahara Beck in Briefs Bite Club

Among many highlights during the evening was the lovely solo, “Daisy” written and performed by Beck sitting alone in a spotlight on the edge of the stage, which heralded the second half of the program.  

Mark “Captain Kidd” Winmill’s extraordinary trapeze routine dangling practically naked above, and in, a huge cocktail glass; Luke Hubbard (Nastia) performing death-defying tumbles in the highest of high-heel shoes to “Can’t Get Enough”; and the stunning finale in which all five soloists performed dazzling acrobatics to Beck’s “I’m in love” which brought the audience to its feet for a delirious standing ovation; were all memorable.

Mark "Captain Kidd" Winmill in Briefs: Bite Club

Briefs: Bite Club is one of the best of this genre currently touring, with excellent production values and exemplary skill levels. However, despite the undeniable brilliance of Sahara Beck and her songs, by placing so much focus on her, the rest of the show became her support act.

As yet Sahara Beck doesn’t possess the necessary presentation skills to carry a show of this nature and while Briefs:Bite Club with Sahara Beck is an excellent concept, perhaps a little less Beck, and a little more polish to the compere’s presentation, would lift it into the world class show it has the potential to be.  

                                                               Photos by Lachlan Douglas

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

 Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Directed by Caroline Stacey, The Street Theatre. Nov 9-24.

No doubt it’s a classic. 

Two down at heels wanderers, Vladimir ( Christopher Samuel Carroll) and Estragon ( P.J. Williams) lurk around a roadside near a bare tree waiting for a mysterious bloke called Godot. They encounter the urbane Pozzo (Craig Alexander) and his slave Lucky  (James Scott) and are visited fleetingly by a Boy (Sterling Notley) who brings messages of a sort from Godot. In the second half of the play the tree puts on a few leaves.  Optimism ebbs and flows. 

Carroll and Williams are an ideal pairing. Carroll’s Vladimir is a tall dreamer, Williams’ rotund Estragon is much more concerned with the state of his feet than matters of existence. 

Alexander is perhaps too understated as Pozzo, disturbing but not quite disturbing enough in his pseudo elegance and real cruelty. Scott as the downtrodden Lucky suffers slavery with stubborn  stoicism behind a ferocious little moustache and infuses his one huge outburst with tremendous (and understandable) tension and anger. 

Spectacular though the set and lighting ( both by Veronique Benett) are, the play does become at times a little lost in the vastness of the main Street stage and auditorium and in the difficulties of reaching all of the audience in a traverse set up.  The tree is abstract and the moon is huge and the path down which the Boy comes trails off to a vanishing point.  Epic images perhaps threaten to overwhelm the text.

However, in the hands of a capable cast, it does more than survive. There’s the humour, there’s the tensions, there’s the excellence of the cast’s presence and teamwork. 

A couple near me did not come back after interval. There is no doubt that Beckett can be  hard work for an audience and not everyone takes to his work. But I have to say he is worth the effort.

 Alanna Maclean

BRIEFS: BITE CLUB

 

Briefs: Bite Club featuring Sahara Beck. 

Director and co-founder Fez Faanana. Co-founder and Key Creative  Mark “Captain Kidd” Winmill, Rehearsal director and Ensemble Thomas Worrell. Luke Hubbard – Nastia- Ensemble. Dylan Rodriguez- Serenity- Ensemble. Rowan Thomas  Ensemble and featuring Sahara Beck and her band. Produced by Cluster Arts The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. November 21-23. Bookings 62435711 or canberratheatre.com.au.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

“Are you ready to party Canberra?” Briefs co-founder and host Fez Faanana cried out. A chorus of deafening whoops rose from the adoring crowd in the Playhouse.  Briefs return with their outrageously proud celebration of difference and identity.  This time however the tantalizing and teasing troupe of performers inject their familiar glitter and glam with a sparkling innovation. Their decadent blend of luxuriously costumed drag, cabaret, circus and cheeky burlesque delight their audience throughout a night of spectacle, physical theatre, circus  skills and humourous banter from Faanana.

 

Sahara Beck

For the first time the Briefs boys have spiced up their divine decadence with the introduction of captivating seductress of song, singer/songwriter Sahara Beck. With a voice that haunts one moment, soars the next and weaves a web of accompaniment to the acts, Sahara Beck is a dazzling star in Briefs repertoire. Backed by three talented musicians including her younger brother on keyboard, Beck gives the show a tight structure and an added gloss. Her original songs are a powerhouse of emotion from the sultry to the seductive, the joyful to the jubilant and the soulful to the dynamic. Beck is Briefs’ Muse. Her voice spins Rowan Thomas’s circling of the Cyr wheel, Thomas Worrell’s agile aerial act on the trapeze, Mark “Captain Kidd’ Winmill’s audaciously mischievous splashing in a chalice of water, Dylan Rodriguez’s (Serenity) heart-stopping backflips in stilettos and former gold medal winning diver Luke Hubbard’s (Nastia) perfectly controlled hand stands.

Thomas Worrell

Fantasy and frivolity flavour the night with a feast of fun. It’s a spicy banquet of classy irreverent cabaret, made even more delectable by the stunning talent of Beck. It is an innovation that breathes new life into Briefs and fits in perfectly in the Playhouse setting. Faanana breaks the fourth wall with his banter with the audience and an unsuspecting raffle winner is enticed onto the stage in a fairy tale scene surrounded by each member of Briefs: Bite Club demonstrating their finely tuned talent.

But it is not all floss and gloss and romping campery. Faanana’s opening acknowledgement to country and his Pacific roots and later appearance in a Miss So Sorry 2020’s sash offer a touch of political bite in a show that is slick and sassy. Briefs; Bite Club and featuring Sahara Beck has transcended its journey from humble beginnings to Spiegeltent performances to a proscenium stage, but the show has lost none of the artistry of the talented team, and with its latest inclusion of the remarkable Sahara Beck, Brief’s Bite Club is a dish well worth the tasting. But be advised, the show is billed for audiences over 18 and strictly for the open-minded who would not be offended by full frontal male nudity.  Blink and you’ll miss the moment on the Cyr wheel. Brief’s Bite Club is ultimately a celebration of what it means to be human. It is in the acknowledgement of each member’s talent and in the lyrics of Beck’s songs. Brief’s Bite Club is an affirmation of acceptance and Entertainment with a capital E.

Photos by Lachlan Douglas

 

WAITING FOR GODOT - The Street Theatre, Canberra.

PJ Williams (Estragon) - Christopher Samuel Carroll (Vladimir) in "Waiting for Godot"

Written by Samuel Beckett – Directed by Caroline Stacey.

Set, Costume and Lighting Design: Veronique Benett

Sound design by Kimmo Vennonen – Movement Consultant: Ashlee Bye

The Street Theatre from November 8 to 24, 2024. 

 Performance on November 17^th, 2024, reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

PJ Williams (Estragon) - Craig Alexander (Pozzo) -Christopher Samuel Carroll (Vladimir) - James Scott (Lucky) in "Waiting for Godot".

                                 

Whether you’re a devotee of the works of Samuel Beckett, or have never experienced any of his plays, it’s doubtful you’ll get an opportunity to experience a better production of his most famous play, Waiting for Godot than this production currently on show in   The Street Theatre in Canberra.

Performed by four of the city’s most accomplished actors under the direction of Caroline Stacey Waiting for Godot challenges its audience as to its purpose, and that of its characters, who spend their time challenging each other with endless propositions and circular comments as to the meaning of everything and nothing.

The only thing the two main characters are sure of is that they are waiting for someone, or something, called Godot but have no idea who that is, or when he will arrive.  This is a play that has intrigued generations of theatre goers.

Stacey’s superbly modulated production reveals why.  Performed on an elaborate, though sparse, setting designed by Veronique Benett, audience is seated on stage on either side of a long road that runs up through the theatre into apparent infinity.  At one end of the road is a large rock, then a long way further up the road is an abstract tree, the purpose for which is revealed as the play proceeds.

A shabbily dressed couple, Vladimir (Christopher Samuel Carroll) and Estragon (PJ Williams) are discovered waiting on this road.  Their relationship appears ambiguous and although they are both engaged in the same activity, it is never revealed why.

Despite the endless waiting, the play is by no means static. Stacey’s adroit direction ensures Vladimir and Estragon are rarely inactive as they engage each other in pointless word games and challenges.

Superb actors both, who have worked together previously, Carroll and Williams revel in the opportunities offered by Beckett’s intriguing script to constantly play off each other to contribute vocal and physical nuance to their interpretations within the parameters of the script and Stacey’s detailed direction.

As the play progresses Vladimir and Estragon encounter two other travellers, Pozzo (Craig Alexander) and Lucky (James Scott). Better dressed than the others Pozzo appears to be the dominant personality because he‘s leading Lucky by a long rope tied around his neck. Lucky is also laden with parcels and appears to be mute.  Although when Pozzo reveals that he and Lucky have been together for 60 years and they are heading to the market to sell Lucky, he proves he’s certainly not mute by breaking into a long, unintelligible rant.

Craig Alexander (Pozzo) - James Scott (Lucky) in "Waiting For Godot".

They also meet a boy (Sterling Notley) who claims to work for Mr. Godot, who he says in answer to interrogation, “Does nothing” though he doesn’t know why. Later the same boy denies being the boy they had met the previous day. 

One of the bonuses for sitting opposite other members of the audience is the opportunity it presents to watch their facial responses register shock, surprise, hilarity, bemusement, even sadness at the absurdities of the script.   

Yes!  It’s that sort of play. So, if that sort of play sounds right for you, here’s your opportunity to experience a terrific production of what many consider the most influential play of the 20^th century.

PJ Williams (Estragon) - James Scott (Lucky) - Christopher Samuel Carroll (Vladimir) in
"Waiting For Godot"

                                          Photos by Nathan Smith Photography.

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

  

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR - Capitol Theatre, Sydney

The Ensemble - "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Lyrics by Tim Rice – Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Directed by Timothy Sheader – Directed for Australia by Shaun Rennie

Choreographed by Drew McOnie – Choreographed for Australia by Bree Tipoki

Musical Director: Laura Tipoki – Set and Costume Design by Tom Scutt

Lighting Design by Lee Curran – Sound Design: Nick Lidster

Lighting Design Australia: Gavan Swift – Sound Design Australia: Michael Waters.

Capitol Theatre, Sydney until January 26^th 2025.

Opening night performance on November 14^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Michael Paynter (Jesus) and the ensemble of "Jesus Christ Superstar"

It was hard to escape the feeling of Deja vu while sitting in the same theatre which 52 years previously had housed the Australian premiere of Jesus Christ Superstar in a production directed by Jim Sharman and hailed by lyrist Tim Rice as “better than Broadway’s”.

The Capitol theatre had been freshly painted in Taubman’s Superstar Brown (formerly called Mission Brown) especially for the occasion, but still smelt of decay and in danger of demolition.

Relative unknowns destined to become Australian theatre legends made up the cast led by Jon English, Trevor White, Robin Ramsay and Michele Fawdon with other like Stevie Wright and Rory O’Donoghue listed among the ensemble.

Now all these years later, having experienced numerous productions of this musical since, a visceral response to the opening chords of the lone guitarist spotlit high above the stage, heralded a sense that this production was going to be something special.

Originally produced for the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016 as a re-imagining of the musical, this production directed by Timothy Sheader and choreographed by Drew McOnie won Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical Revival.  

Sheader and McOnie’s direction and choreography has been stunningly reproduced for this Australian tour by director Shaun Rennie and choreographer Bree Tipoki with a cast with artists relatively unknown as theatre performers but possessing impressive rock concert credentials, with Laura Tipoki leading a brilliant band perched high above the action.

In what will surely become his break-out role, Jesus is played by Michael Paynter, best known as a session singer and guitarist. He performs with the Australian band Icehouse and is one half of the 2023 Aria Award winning production team MSquared.

As Jesus in this production he reveals himself as a charismatic actor with a remarkable singing voice.  His phenomenal performance on opening night when his rendition of Gethsemane literally stopped the show earning not one but two standing ovations, will undoubtedly ensure him of a future in musical theatre should he choose.

Javon King (Judas) - Michael Paynter (Jesus) in "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Similarly, Javon King who plays Judas is already an experienced Broadway performer and an Australia a Green Room Award-winning actor. He first came to national attention with his light-hearted singing/dancing role as Seaweed J. Stubbs in the 2024 national tour of the musical Hairspray.  But that role contained little clue to the powerful voice and commanding presence he is able to bring to his riveting performance as the tortured Judas in this production.

Perhaps best known among the principal cast is Mahalia Barnes. Well known to Australian audiences for her television and concert performances, it is a surprise to learn that the role of Mary Magdalene is her first theatre role. In this production Mary Magdalene is a constant calming presence and Barne’s renditions of Everything’s Alright and I don’t know How to Love him are standouts for the beauty of her phrasings and the clarity of her lyrics.

Michael Paynter (Jesus) - Mahalia Barnes (Mary Magdalene) in "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Peter Murphy is a dignified presence as Pilate and his rendition of Pilate’s Dream provides one of many stand-out moments with another being Tana Laga’aia’s superb rendition of Peter’s Denial.

Elliot Baker and John O’Hara bring contrasting presence and vocal colour to their roles as the strikingly costumed priests Calaphas and Annas.

Cabaret artist Reuben Kaye as Herod provides exactly the right amount of razzle dazzle and visual spectacle with his turn as Herod in a production where the overall costume concept is rock grunge. Kaye provided his own review of his performance with an audible “nailed it” as he left the stage amid cheers at the end of his spectacular rendition of “Pilate and Christ.”

Reuben Kaye as Herod in "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Designer Tom Scutt’s decision to go rock grunge as his overall concept for his set and costume designs is by no means boring. His flaying costumes are perfect for the arresting movement demanded by Drew McOnie for his sweeping choreography which is brilliantly executed by an extraordinary team of dancers led by crimson-haired Darcey Eagle as a mysterious character, Mob Leader. McOnie’s choreography also provided an unnerving reminder of how easily an adoring crowd can turn into a baying mob.  

Scutt’s rusting metal crosses and scaffolding which form the basis of his setting, provide a perfect surface for the Lee Curran’s extraordinary lighting as well as a table for a re-enactment of Da Vinci’s iconic Last Supper painting.

Michael Paynter (Jesus) Mahalia Barnes (Mary) and ensemble in "Jesus Christ Superstar"

The imaginative use of microphone stands and leads harken back to the days of microphone cord spaghetti, but also provide the means for Judas to hang himself and the cross on which Jesus is crucified.

Jesus Christ Superstar has always provided a tantalising vehicle for imaginative directors and creatives. So while ever there are creatives with the intellect and skills of Sheader, Scutt and McOnie, it is not too far-fetched to imagine that there will be audiences filling this very theatre in another 50 years marvelling at the relevance of  Lloyd Webber and Rice’s remarkable re-imagining of the last days in the life of that  person called Jesus Christ.  

                                                               Photos by Jeff Busby

            This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 18.11.24

  

DRIZZLE BOY - Queensland Theatre

Daniel R. Nixon as "DRIZZLE BOY"

 

DRIZZLE BOY – Queensland Theatre

Written by Ryan Ennis – Directed by Daniel Evans

Set and Costume Design by Christina Smith – Associate Designer: Madeleine Barlow

Composer and Sound Designer: Guy Webster – Video Designer: Nevin Howell

Lighting Designer: Matt Scott – Lighting Associate: Christine Felmingham

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse: November 13^th to 16^th 2024.

Opening Night Performance reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Daniel R Nixon (Drizzle Boy) - Anthony Gooley (Father) - Judy Hainsworth (Juliet) in
"DRIZZLE BOY"

Drizzle Boy, as he is known to his family and friends, is an autistic young man who is beginning university study in the hope of one day becoming an astronaut. He’s desperate to assert his independence as he embarks on his journey into adulthood.

Playwright Ryan Ennis has based his character for his 2022-2023 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award-winning play, on his own experiences as a neurodivergent person. It is directed by Daniel Evans who is neurodivergent, with neurodivergent actor Daniel R Nixon, quite brilliant as Drizzle Boy. 

Throughout the play we experience the world through the eyes of Drizzle Boy, aided by a remarkable set design by Christina Smith, which on entering the theatre, appears to be a raised circular blue stage set in the vastness of a normally unseen backstage environment.  

As the play progresses, through the inventive lighting by Matt Scott and video projections by Neville Howell, the stage, replete with myriad drawers and trapdoors. gradually morphs into a succession of unlikely spaces that make up Drizzle Boys’ world, including a lecture theatre, his mum’s kitchen, a park, the inside of a spaceship, until finally, a starry planetarium.  

Throughout the play all the relevant people in Drizzle Boy’s life are performed by just two actors, who, with the help of clever costuming, populate his world.

Judy Hainsworth (Juliet) - Daniel R Nixon (Drizzle Boy) in "DRIZZLE BOY"

Expertly manipulating a series of lightning-fast costume changes, Judy Hainsworth, seen earlier this year in Canberra in Shake & Stir’s production of Fourteen, plays, among others, Drizzle Boy’s girlfriend, Juliet; his idol Russian astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova; Dustin Hoffman; and most importantly, his mother; who’s driven to distraction by Drizzle Boy’s inability to express his feeling and his rejection of her help as he fights for his independence.

Similarly, Anthony Gooley undertakes a number of roles including a monstrous Baphomet who haunts him; Hans Asperger; and his loving father, desperate to connect with a son who is unable to tolerate his efforts to establish father/son intimacy.

Daniel R Nixon (Drizzle Boy) - Anthony Gooley (Hans Asperger) in "DRIZZLE BOY".

Throughout all this, Daniel R. Nixon, who never leaves the stage, offers a tour de force performance with his creation of a lovable character who while seeking acceptance from those around him is determined to live his life his own way while marching to a different drum.

DRIZZLE BOY is one of those rare productions which surprises from beginning to end. Not only does it delight as an entertainment, it also performs a valuable service by shining a light subtly subverting our preconceptions about those born to live life differently.  

                                                         Photos by Morgan Roberts

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

The Ukulele Man

 

The Ukulele Man by Marcel Cole.  At Smith’s Alternative, Canberra City, November 15-16, 2024.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Nov 15th

Written and Performed by: Marcel Cole as George Formby
Performed by: Katie Cole as Formby’s wife and manager Beryl, and other roles as necessary.

Directed by: Mirjana Ristevski

‘The Ukulele Man’ is the true story of wartime comedian and ukulele legend George Formby. From the Music Halls of Blackpool to the battlefields of Europe, this is the untold history of Britain's greatest entertainer!

He was banned by the BBC and committed to a psychiatric hospital by his wife, and yet still became the UK’s biggest star.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Katie Cole as Beryl and Marcel Cole as George Formby
in The Ukulele Man 2024

For an hour while thoroughly engaged in Marcel Cole’s re-creation of George Formby’s unassuming, I might even say shy, positivity – his humanity – I never for one moment thought of Donald Trump.  Not one jot.

Mirjana Ristevski’s thoughtful, careful, tight directing of still relatively youthful Marcel Cole’s remarkable capacity for living in the moment as if from within his character, while also placing his musician mother, Katie, into roles particularly crucial to Formby’s life, makes us feel we are in the presence of the real George Formby – even up to the point when he describes the crowd of 150,000 lining the way from the funeral parlour to the site where his ashes are interred next to his father’s.

The Ukulele Man is real theatre.  Absolutely Not Netflix.  It’s weird but wonderful to find oneself responding to Formby, laughing and singing along with him, just as I remember we did when I was a child in England in the nineteen forties and fifties, seeing him on our brand-new television in the same year as we had the set switched on for 12 hours straight for the coronation of the new Queen Elizabeth.  

But Marcel Cole has done much more than bring back memories for old people.  The story of George Formby’s life through World War I and his entertaining the troops through World War II is disturbing.  He is still entertaining us today until, after the show has ended, we are left with the real possibility of World War III.  

I don’t want to think about Donald Trump again, but will remember the artist, George Formby, keeping up his ordinary person’s gentle, if a little bit risqué, sense of humour, leaning on a lamp-post, watching and waiting for a certain little lady to pass by.

If you want to know about the whole story of George Formby, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby#Biography .

To understand George Formby and feel for the life of an independent artist, go to Marcel Cole’s The Ukulele Man.

About Marcel Cole

Marcel Cole is a multi-disciplinary artist from Canberra. He comes from a family of musical performers and so music, singing and performing have been a part of life ever since he could walk. Since then, he has trained extensively as a dancer in Canberra and at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington, NZ, and has studied theatre, mask and clown in Australia, London and Paris, most notably at the prestigious École Philippe Gaulier.

Wikipedia records:

Formby’s films are, in the words of the academic Brian McFarlane, "unpretentiously skilful in their balance between broad comedy and action, laced with ... [Formby's] shy ordinariness".

The film  Keep Your Seats, Please in 1936 contained the song "The Window Cleaner" (popularly known as "When I'm Cleaning Windows"), which was soon banned by the BBC. The corporation's director John Reith stated that "if the public wants to listen to Formby singing his disgusting little ditty, they'll have to be content to hear it in the cinemas, not over the nation's airwaves"; Formby and Beryl were furious with the block on the song. In May 1941 Beryl informed the BBC that the song was a favourite of the royal family, particularly Queen Mary, while a statement by Formby pointed out that "I sang it before the King and Queen at the Royal Variety Performance". The BBC relented and started to broadcast the song:

    "To overcrowded flats I've been,
    Sixteen in one bed I've seen,
    With the lodger tucked up in between,
    When I'm cleaning windows!

    Now lots of girls I've had to jilt,
    For they admire the way I'm built,
    It's a good job I don't wear a kilt,
    When I'm cleaning windows!"

WAITING FOR GODOT

 

 Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

Directed by Caroline Stacey OAM. Set, costume and lighting design Véronique Benett. Sound design Kimmo Vennonen.Movement consultant Ashlee Bye.  Production Manager Neil Simpson. Stage Manager Brittany Myers. Lighting Operator Wayne Bateup. Sound Operator Kimmo Vennonen. Design Associate Kathleen Kershaw. Set Construction Martin Thomas. Stage Technicians Wayne Bateup, Connor McKay, Kyle Sheedy, Nathan Sciberras. Publicity Su Hodge. Production Photography Nathan Smith Photography. Novel Photographic. Videography Craig Alexander. Poster Artwork Design♡Cult. Marketing Artwork Design♡Cult. Street One. The Street. November 9-24 2024. Bookings 62471223.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Christopher Samuel Carroll as Vladimir

Samuel Beckett’s literary masterpiece Waiting For Godot, currently given an outstanding production at The Street is generally regarded as “Theatre of the absurd”. Coined by Martin Esslin the term is explained by Esslin as  “the dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its senselessness; to accept it freely, without fear, without illusions–and to laugh at it” It embodies the notion of free will, of man’s ability to act without the influence of a higher power or a religion. It is therefore necessary for any production of Waiting For Godot to reflect Esslin’s definition of absurdism and the forces, both physical and psychological that act against free will. 

P.J. Williams as Estragon

Director Caroline Stacey and her cast have excelled in staging a production of Beckett’s iconic play that lurches us along the roadway of life in all its aspects. In the actions of Vladimir  (Christopher Samuel Carroll) and Estragon (P.J. Williams) as they wait to meet Mr. Godot we witness the futility of their seemingly meaningless existence. The arrival of an authoritarian Pozzo (Craig Alexander) and his servile lackey ironically called Lucky (James Scott) exposes the cruel nature of man’s inhumanity to man. And yet, in this illuminating production one is made poignantly aware of the human’s capacity for resilience. Williams and Carroll epitomize this resilience through their interdependence, their arguments and reconciliation, their clownish antics, their games to occupy their time while waiting for Mr Godot, who never comes. 

James Scott as Lucky. Craig Alexander as Pozzo

Stacey keeps the action moving with highly physical stage business recollecting Beckett’s fascination with the clowns of the silent movie era and later the comedy pairs like Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy.  In the hands of this highly professional and accomplished company Beckett’s  tragicomedy is a shining beacon casting light on our human condition. In casting Williams and Carroll as the two vagabonds eking out their time on a lonely country road, Stacey has paired the two actors who offered excellent performances in The Street’s Crime and Punishment, In Waiting for Godot they again demonstrate their ability to move us and provoke laughter at their absurd circumstance. There is excellent support from Alexander and Scott. Scott’s performan
ce as the hapless servant to the domineering Pozzo in the first act is amongst the finest interpretation of oppressed subjugation that you are ever likely to see on a Canberra stage. Scott entirely inhabits the pathos and the pain of his character before bursting forth with senseless diatribe, a cry for understanding in an uncaring universe. Every performance in this production is worthy of the highest commendation but Scott’s Lucky will remain in my memory and my conscience for many years to come.

Designer Véronique Benett has created a promenade setting with audience seated on either side of the long road that rises to nowhere below a full silvery moon. A lone tree stands on the rise and below Estragon and Vladimir wait where there is “nothing to be done” and “ Nobody comes, Nobody goes. It’s awful” There is an aesthetically pleasing uniformity in Benett’s design of set, costume and lighting, accompanied by Kimmo Vennonen’s subtle sound design, punctuated by moments of sudden alert. There is a harmony of design drawing our attention to the action and the atmosphere in a production that is not to be missed and, I suspect, has been informed by a careful analysis of Beckett’s profundity and playful humour. The season is short, the seating capacity limited by the imaginative design in the main theatre of The Street so rush to get a ticket before it is too late to wait.