Mr Burton

 Mr Burton – Movie.  Dendy Canberra preview August 7 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone


Director: Marc Evans
Producer: Trevor Matthews, Ed Talfan, Josh Hyams, Hannah Thomas
Writers: Tom Bullough & Josh Hyams

Cast 
Toby Jones as teacher Mr. Burton; Harry Lawtey as his student, Richie Jenkins who becomes Richard Burton.
With  Steffan Rhodri, Lesley Manville, Daniel Evans, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Aneurin Barnard

Rating: Mature themes and coarse language

Film making is an enormous undertaking.  For the full cast and crew listing go to IMDb at www.imdb.com/title/tt5171016/fullcredits/ 

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Whatever view you may have of the one-time world famous Welsh actor, Richard Burton, you must see this remarkable movie to appreciate what he really was like – as an actor and as himself.

The publicity overview is useful, especially if like me you had no idea of Richard Burton’s personal life: Set against the grit of post-war Wales, MR BURTON is the extraordinary true story of a working-class boy destined for greatness and the teacher who saw it first. When Philip Burton, a principled and passionate schoolteacher in Port Talbot, meets Richie Jenkins, a volatile yet gifted teen from a fractured home, he recognises a spark that others have overlooked. Through mentorship, discipline, and love, Philip shapes Richie’s raw talent, setting him on the path to becoming Richard Burton, one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.

The details of Richie Jenkins’ family and how he was brought up by his elder sister, and his relationship with Philip Burton, form the central through-line of the drama, which brought me to tears, of fear for his future and joy for his success as he performed Prince Hal at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon in 1951, directed by Anthony Quayle.

The remarkable thing about the film is how these actors – particularly in the key roles of Philip Burton and Richie Jenkins developing into Richard Burton – have to be such wonderful actors that they can make us believe in these other actors.  Philip Burton realises from Jenkins’ reactions in English class that he has the capacity to perform but needs to be trained.  So we see Richie being trained in some surprising, sometimes very funny, ways, which means that we see Toby Jones acting demonstrating how to act, and Harry Lawtey acting innocently badly until finally he acts Richard Burton acting as he really did as Prince Hal – after he has acted Richard Burton become a drunkard and smoker, and telling off Anthony Quayle (played by Daniel Evans) in rehearsal.

After you’ve seen the movie, and know how you feel about how Richie Jenkins felt from the age of about 13 to 26, it’s interesting to read, for example, what his younger brother Graham Jenkins and other local people told of the family in the setting of the mining country in Wales in Memories of Richard Burton at https://dramaticheart.wales/our-valleys/afan-valley/richard-burton/memories-of-richard-burton/.  And at https://lisawallerrogers.com/tag/richard-burtons-father in Lisa’s History Room there’s more fine detail about Dic Jenkins (played by Steffan  Rhodri).

And I have to confess, only two years after Burton’s first great success in 1951, my English teacher had this 13 year-old, in Form Two, up on stage in a public reading at Enfield Grammar School – as Prince Hal!  Of course, though I had no Philip Burton to adopt me and change my name, it is true that that was the beginning of my drama interest and future academic and teaching career.  

And for Canberra readers especially, it was only last Tuesday that the invited speaker, at our Canberra Critics’ Circle gathering, was Lexi Sekuless, producer at the Mill Theatre, whose work is reviewed here.  She gave us a fascinating run-down of her actor training in London, and the differences between the approach at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), with its more formal convention – something like the Royal Shakespeare Company style which Richard Burton faced in Stratford upon Avon – and the more modern style of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where Lexi acquired the far more varied skills and approaches to characterisation and staging styles which we see in Mill Theatre’s production of Enron, finishing shortly.

Watching Richie Jenkins under Philip Burton’s tutelage reminded me of Lexi Sekuless’s explanation of how that Central approach had broken actors away from the other famous technique – the American Method – and how working all these ways through in Australia has resulted nowadays in a kind of practical strength in our actors who do so well in the modern film industry.

And, I suspect the acting in this film, made in Wales – not in the English establishment setting – has some of that flair that we have in Australia.  Whether you thought you liked Richard Burton with Elizabeth Taylor or not, you can’t not like Harry Lawtey with Toby Jones, with the women, Lesley Manville and Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Ma Smith (Philip Burton’s landlady) and Cis (Richie’s sister) who held the real Richie together and whose acting hold the movie together, in my view.

Not to be missed – from August 14th.

Toby Jones as teacher Mr. Burton; Harry Lawtey as his student, Richie Jenkins

 

 

 

Ballet International Gala VI

Presented by BIG Live
Canberra Theatre Centre
August 2
Reviewed by Samara Purnell

I was chatting to someone in the foyer before BIG VI (Ballet International Gala), who was commenting on how much “rolling around on the floor” they had seen recently in dance productions of various kinds and how they missed “elevation”. Boy did they come to the right show!

This Australian company invites dancers from across Australia and the world to join their ranks to perform touring productions that (in the case of the Gala) showcase the “best bits” of classical ballets. The evening usually includes one or two contemporary pieces by their star dancers too. 

The production began its medley of perfect partnership pairings with Summertime, danced by the director of BIG, Joel Burke, and Brisbane-born Abbey Hansen. They were accompanied by the BIG band, featuring singer Lily Burke.

Returning star Daniil Simkin partnered Alice McArthur in Le Corsaire where the lifts brought on goosebumps. McArthur also performed the solo from Giselle, giving her a demure, Edwardian-ghost appearance. This emotionally intense performance, with brilliant characterization and light footwork, felt like seeing Giselle through fresh eyes. 

From goosebumps in Le Corsaire to tears in the absolutely exquisite Thais, set to Jules Massenet’s Meditation, where the chemistry and ease between Iana Salenko and husband Marion Walter was on display. This intimate pas de deux by the returning stars was composed of beautiful lifts and ended with Salenko, in a soft, golden satin dress, held above Walter’s head, like a dancer in a music box, as the spot-light faded.

Salenko danced to the heart-wrenching strains of Arvo Part’s Spiegel im Spiegel in Sola, a contemporary piece exploring schizophrenia, sadness and fragments of memories. 

Iana Salenko in Sola. Image from Instagram
@iana_salenko

From the elegance of Makar Mikhalkin (Bolshoi Ballet) in Talisman and Romeo and Juliet to the youthful joy and male energy in Diana and Acteon (performed by Hansen and Ervin Zagidullin), each pas de deux had beautiful arm and leg lines, executed in perfect unison. The lifts were unusual, complex and graceful and the men’s leaps, jumps and splits were ridiculously good, eliciting gasps and “phwoahs” from the audience. 

  

The second half began with an excerpt from BIG’s upcoming production of Dracula. Don Quixote perhaps should have closed the show (it was the penultimate number). Salenko, held in the air in one hand by Adamzhan Baktiyar, casual as you like, for an extraordinary amount of time, delighted the audience, who clapped them on in their solos and spins. 

Iana Salenko and Adamzhan Baktiyar.
Image from Instagram @iana_salenko

A second contemporary piece concluded the show - Simkin’s Lohengrin. The drawcard of this work was the shape of his muscular body and the shapes his body made, along with his perfect balance. 

Daniil Simkin.
Image from official program

A few of the dances were accompanied by the band, with the rest performed to recorded music, which could have been louder - not a comment often made these days. The pre-recorded clapping on one of the numbers was accidentally amusing and certainly not required to get the audience of this sold-out show involved and enthusiastic.

As with former productions, there were no sets and minimal lighting design, with clunky black-outs in between as they reset for the small cast, performing multiple dances.  

The hectic finale, with band included, used the same formula as previously. Control and poise gave way to complete abandon, with men hurtling themselves across the stage and lifting their partners above their heads. The size of the stage meant some nervous moments as some sequences ended almost in the wings and at times we worried they might fly right off the stage. 

BIG Live is a chocolate box of ballet with all your favourites. It showcases wonderful dancers from here and abroad, with lovely casting of each role, in a night that sold out well in advance. No doubt people will be looking in the calendar for next year’s production. In the meantime, BIG Live will be presenting Dracula and The Nutcracker later this year. 

2025 BALLET INTERNATIONAL GALA - BIG VI Canberra Theatre

Iana Salenko and Marian Walter

Artistic Director: Joel Burke    –     Executive Director : Khalid Tarabay

Company Manager: Jennifer Burke - Marketing Manager: Jonathan Oakes

Canberra Theatre. August 2nd, 2025. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS


BIG Live premiered its 2025 Ballet International Gala tour before a capacity audience in the Canberra Theatre with a performance that was sold out a week before the company arrived in town.

Established four years ago by dancer, Joel Burke, and entertainment lawyer, Khalid Tarabay with an ambition to create stable, long-term employment for Australian performers without relying on government funding, BIG Live has already succeeded in building an impressive national audience for its productions.

Founded on the belief that ballet should be open and inclusive, BIG Live has challenged public perceptions of the art form by presenting commercially viable, audience-focused productions that are respectful of tradition but adapted to contemporary audiences.

Central to this aim is its annual Ballet International Gala which each year brings together some of the world’s most accomplished dancers featuring guest artists from leading ballet companies from around the world performing iconic solos and pas de deux.

Daniil Simkin performing "Le Corsaire"

 

This year’s guests include three celebrated principal dancers from the Berlin State Ballet, Daniil Simkin, Marian Walter and his wife, Iana Salenko who is also a guest principal with the Royal Ballet.   

Adamzhan Baktiyar is a principal dancer with Astana Opera Ballet, and from the Mariinsky Theatre are soloists, Makar Mikhalkin, Maria Khoreva and her younger sister, Sofya Khoreva.

Maria Khoreva and Sofya Khoreva

Originally from New Zealand, Alice McArthur trained in Stuttgart, danced with Paris Opera Ballet before joining the Australian Ballet. She is moving to the Vienna State Ballet in September this year.

The Gala lineup also includes principal dancers from BIG Live. Company co-founder, Joel Burke, the first dancer to represent Queensland Ballet Academy in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne; Ervin Zagidullin, a former principal with Ankara State Ballet; Brisbane born Abbey Hansen who trained with the Australian Ballet School before becoming a principal with BIG Live; and soloist, Huw Pritchard, another Queenslander who graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance and danced with Ballet Collective Aotearoa before joining BIG Live.

Ervin Zagidullin

The lineup for the gala also includes a rock band which featured in the opening and finale. With one other exception, all the other items were performed to recorded music.

An unfortunate lighting glitch as the curtain rose, marred the opening item, which was meant to be a romantic duet choreographed to Gershwin’s Summertime by Joel Burke and performed by himself and BIG Live principal, Abbey Hansen.

While the dancing was quite lovely, the mood was ruined by over-amplified live vocals and vocal phrasing at odds with the choreography.

Any flaws were quickly forgotten when Daniil Simkin and Alice McArthur took the stage with a bravura performance of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux which drew the first of many cheers throughout the evening.

Iana Salenka performing "Thais"

Marian Walter and his wife, Iana Salenko, followed with an exquisite performance of the Thais Pas de Deux set to Massenet’s Meditation. Abbey Hansen returned to the stage, this time partnered by an ebullient Ervin Gagidullin for an exhilarating performance of the pas de deux from Diana & Acteon.

Marinsky theatre soloists Maria Khoreva and Makar Mikhalkin enchanted with their elegance and precision in a dreamy performance of the Talisman Pas de Deux which proved the perfect entre to a breathtakingly exquisite performance by Alice McArthur, this time partnered by Adamzhan Baktiyar, of the Act 2 pas de deux from Giselle.

Other pas de deux featured in the program were from Romeo & Juliet performed by Maria Khoreva & Makar Mikhalkin, and a sensational version of the famous pas de deux from Don Quixote performed with exactly the right amount of playful competitiveness by Iana Selanko and Adamzhan Baktiyar, that had the audience screaming with excitement.

Adamzhan Baktiyar

There was also a sneak peek from BIG Live’s forthcoming full length ballet Dracula, performed by Abbey Hansen and Huw Pritchard accompanied on keyboards by Tobi Clark. Dracula will tour widely later in 2025.

Outstanding among many highlights and superb dancing was a poignant mini-ballet Sola performed by Iana Salenko and Marian Walter set around a ballerina haunted by schizophrenia.

A solo version of the Russian Dance from Swan Lake was performed with elegance and fastidious attention to detail by Sofya Khoreva, as was the stunning solo by Daniil Simkin entitled Lohengrin in which the essence of the opera was distilled into a transfixing solo which demanded extraordinary virtuosity and presence.

The program ended with a unique speciality of the annual BIG Gala. A ballet mash-up in which the entire cast takes to the stage to participate in a semi-staged finale.

However, freed from the restriction of repertoire, the dancers began to improvise. Egged on by the band and the audience, they risked life and limb to challenge each other to invent ever more daring balletic moves. The thrilling, good-natured competition may have given their entrepreneurs palpitations but sent their already charged up audience home thrilled at having had the rare experience of witnessing world famous dancers at play.

Following this Canberra performance the BALLET INTERNATIONAL GALA is scheduled for Brisbane on August 6th and 7th, Sydney on August 14th, Melbourne August 16th, Cairns August 22nd and Auckland 29th.

Ballet International Finale

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

Are You Pulling My Leg? Accessible Arts and Crips & Creeps in association with Arts on tour. The B. August 2. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean

 

This was a one night stand for a somewhat wild and woolly night at The B, (which is the old Bicentennial Hall barn of a hall converted into a flexible theatre space  next to The Q).

Helmed by the dry and one armed MC Maddie Stewart, a very adroit bunch of comics took to the microphone to share stories of the world from the point of view of those who have more than the usual set of life challenges.

Jamal Abdul warmly took the audience into the world of those with minimal sight and Elliott McLaren put together some pretty sharp observations on being gay, a Maori in Sydney and  having more than a few medical obstacles in his life.

Loz Booth has hands that may not be conventional and that’s no obstacle to the power and humour in her perceptions and the fun of her performance.

Alexandra Hudson’s dry comments on the ableist world around a person who’s seen as disabled had an understated power that said it all.

Add to this a screen where the on stage patter was rolling through in print, an Auslan interpreter with a great personality and a large  audience who clearly understood the territory. It was an evening that was both funny and an education.

MARROW Australian Dance Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse.

 

Karra Ban in "Marrow"

MARROW Australian Dance Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse.

Choreographed by Daniel Riley – Artistic Associate: Brianna Kell

Project Elder: Major “Moogy” Sumner AM – Production & Lighting Design: Matthew Adey

Costume Design: Ailsa Paterson – Composition & Sound Design: James Howard

Production Manager: Ninian Donald – Stage Manager: Katya Shevtsov

Technical Manager: Ellen Demaagd

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse: July 31- August 1, 2025.

Performance July 31 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Dancers of ADT in "Marrow"

Over the course of a week, Canberra audiences have had the pleasure of viewing two productions by major indigenous dance companies, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Australian Dance Theatre. Both companies strove to express aspects of the indigenous experience through dance, and both companies called upon cultural collaborators to assist in this mission.   

There was particular excitement surrounding this visit of ADT because its current Artistic Director, Daniel Riley, rose to his present position, through a career trajectory which took in training with Canberra organisation QL2 Dance, and a distinguished professional dance career as a dancer with Bangarra Dance Theatre.

The publicity for ADT’s production described the work as imagining a new shared future for our nation.

 Even though disappointed at the failure of the Voice referendum, which occurred during the creation of Marrow, Riley stated in his program notes that he was keen to use the opportunity offered by Marrow, “to feel, very deeply, what a different version of an Australian experience might be, and to dream in a different direction”.

His work commenced in pitch blackness with a pounding drum setting the mood and timing. As the lights slowly rose to reveal a smoky backdrop, a single dancer marched aggressively around the perimeter of the stage to the driving drumbeat. Two more dancers joined him and then two more, until all the dancers were marching around the stage.

 Marrow is very much an ensemble work, and the dancers were Joshua Doctor, Yilin Kong, Zachary Lopez, Karra Nam, Patrick O’Luanaigh and Zoe Wozniak. 

Ultimately, structured patterns dissolved as the dancers transitioned into smaller groups, executing dynamic individual acrobatic movements and variations.

Smoke figured prominently in the production, which was expected, as the publicity had described Marrow as a smoking ceremony for a country trapped in the past, and the smoke as a seventh dancer.

So the dancers, each outfitted in uniquely tailored, loose-fitting garments made of straw-coloured textured fabrics, designed by Ailsa Paterson, made liberal use of hand-held smoke machines throughout the performance, not only to purify the body and ward off negative energies, but also as an effective visual element of the production.  

Dancers of ADT in "Marrow"

Another descriptor in the same material described the work as existing part-way between a rave and ritual. Given that a rave or ritual requires no storyline, this idea however explained the aggressiveness of much of James Howard’s music, and the frantic energy of the dancer’s movements.

Not that any dance work necessarily requires a storyline, but when there is a declared objective, it is helpful if the observer can identify the stated objective in the work.

 It also fitted the evocative production and lighting design by Matthew Adey, which seemed to suggest that the action was taking place in a fenced area at varying times of day.

This was particularly so for the sequence in which the dancers carefully laid out a cloth, which was then folded into a bundle and raised skyward. The bundle was then lowered and embraced to suggest a mother and baby, followed by a long solo by a female dancer, which suggested a mother grieving.

 Viewed as an abstract contemporary dance work, there was much to admire. The dancers were highly skilled and deeply invested. The choreography was intense, interesting, and excellently performed, and the work contained many striking moments.   

However, given the positivity of the comments in Riley’s program notes suggesting that Marrow was offering a chance to  “ feel what a  different version of an Australian experience might be, and to dream in a different direction”, it was disappointing not to be able to identify any positive aspects in the work that suggested new directions, hope or aspirations for a new shared future,  only  familiar tropes expressing anger, rebellion and sadness.    

                                                             Photos by Morgan Sette

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

SPIDER'S WEB by AGATHA CHRISTIE

 

Spider’s Web by Agatha Christie.

Directed by Ylaria Rogers. Assistant Director Ariana Barzinpour. Set Design & Properties Sarea Coates, Lighting Design David Brown. Costume Design Ange Fewtrell. Sound Design Neville Pye Stage Manager Leeann Galloway. Production Manager Antonia Kitzel. Set Coordinator Russell Brown OAM Council Liaison.Wolfgang Hecker
Production Team: Antonia Kitzel, Victoria Dixon , Set Construction: Russell Brown OAM, Andrew Kay, Brian Moir, Eric Turner, Gordon Dickens, Wolfgang Hecker, John Klingberg, Kimmo Weel,Lucas Bremstaller Wardrobe Ange Fewtrell, Wardrobe Wenches Lighting Assistance Mike Moloney Lighting: David Brown, Lennard Duck. Sound Neville Pye, John Gildor
Properties & Set Dressing. Sarea Coates Stage Crew : Samson Ullinger, Ariana Barzinpour, Kelly McInnes, Eliza Begley Front of House: REP members & volunteers Artwork : Tiana Johannis, Helen Drum, Antonia Kitzel Marketing : Victoria Dixon, Helen Drum Promotional images : Cathy Breen Foyer Images: Ross Gould

Cast:

Sian Harrington. Terese Maguire, Manasa Kannan, Adele Lewin, Nathan McKenna, Terry Johnson, Anthony Mayne, John Whinfield, David Bennett, Robert Wearden, Leo Amadeus, Sophia Bate. The role of Pippa is shared by Terese Maguire and Manasa Kannan Canberra Rep. July 24-August 9 2025. Bookings: 62474222. www,canberrarep.org.au


Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.

John Whinfield (Jeremy) Sian Harrington (Clarissa)Terry Johnson (Sir Rowland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anthony Mayne (Hugo) and Adele Lewin (Mildred Peake) in SPIDER'S WEB.

Lovers of the Queen of Crime are certain to enjoy director Ylaria Rogers’ Canberra Rep production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web. It is classic Christie with eccentric English characters caught in a murderous web of false clues, red herrings, secret rooms, and plodding coppers on the trail of the murderer.

Adele Lewin (Mildred) and Robert Weardon (Oliver Costello)

In the tradition of comic parody Christie’s characters are a collection of clichés and stereotypes. The flighty lady of the house, Clarissa Hailsham-Brown is given to fanciful flights of fantasy and imaginative supposing. Sian Harrington is perfect in the role of the hostess of the house trapped in the reality of a true to life murder. She enlists the help of three men in her life to cover up the discovery of a body in her house before the return of her husband Henry (Nathan McKenna). Terry Johnson plays a very droll guardian, Sir Rowland Delahaye. Anthony Mayne is the proper stiff upper lip JP Hugo Birch and John Whinfield as Jeremy Warrender is the third member of this trio of coopted accomplices with a certain affection for Clarissa. Rogers’ talent for physical comedy comes to the fore when the trio attempt to remove the body of the nasty drug dealer Oliver Costello, played with the right touch of menace by Robert Weardon. It’s a moment of sheer slapstick. And then there is the butler, of course. David Bennett’s Elgin, strikes a sombre presence in contrast to Adele Lewin’s Mildred Peake. Lewin’s busybody rustic is sheer caricature but not without purpose as audiences will later discover.

Leo Amadeus as Inspector Lord

As the twelve year old stepdaughter, Pippa, Terese Maguire is a delight to watch on the stage. Her performance is natural, lively and animated. In a play of tangled motives, oddball suspects and silly characters, Maguire’s portrayal of a young girl caught up in a frightening situation for which she believes herself to be responsible rings totally true. Here is a young performer with a bright future as an actor. Only Leo Amadeus’s Inspector Ford seems out of period for Christie’s highly successful play that premiered in 1954. Amadeus’s long pony tail and casual Seventies costuming by Ange Fewtrell may seem oddly anachronistic. As did Elgin's costuming as the Butler. As Inspector Lord Amadeus gives a highly credible performance of a young country inspector, combining youthful authority and ambition with perceptive awareness and a determination to get his man or woman. His crisp Oxford University articulation ( an audible and welcome asset on the Rep stage) betrays the conventional view of the lugubrious sleuth. Sophia Bate as offsider Constable Jones exudes the appropriate air of impartial detachment and professional duty,

Terry Johnson (Sir Rowland) and Adele Lewin (Mildred Peake)

Spider’s Web ran for an impressive 774 performances after its premiere on London’s West End. It is far short of The Mousetrap’s phenomenal run over several decades but it nonetheless attests to Christie’s talent for keeping an audience guessing. Rogers’ production crackles along, keeping the action on top throttle, but taking the moments to allow an audience the opportunity to let suspicions flare and falter as fresh clues lead audiences down a different path. It all ends happily enough, except for the villain and the victim. Inspector Ford gets his culprit. Clarissa learns the peril of the tangled web she weaves when first she practises to deceive and some of the audience may be heard muttering as they leave the theatre “I knew who did it all along”

Spider’s Web may appear dated to an audience flooded with new crime stories and stage and screen whodunnits but the Queen of Crime still holds a special and original place in the chronicle of the crime drama. It is a genre that Canberra Rep excels in. There would be very few amateur rep companies that could boast the extraordinary quality of Rep’s production values. Saria Coate’s set design, David Brown’s lighting design, Ange Fewtrell’s idiosyncratic costuming and Neville Pye’s sound design, all assisted by an excellent production team achieve the highest standards of production in Canberra Rep’s intimate theatre.

Terese Maguire as Pippa. Terry Johnson as Sir Rowland
and Sian Harrington as Clarissa Hailsham-Brown in Spider's Web

Theatre Rep’s stylishly staged production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web throws down the gauntlet and challenges you to solve the crime. For a cosy evening of entertaining and puzzle solving crime drama, Christie enthusiasts and amateur sleuths won’t be disappointed.