THE WILD PARTY

A new stage adaptation of the 1928 classic narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March.

Adaption, direction and design by Pauline Wright.

Musical Direction by Jiri Kripac

Performed by Pauline Wright and Joe Woodward

Musicians: Jiri Kripac and David Bates

The Famous Spiegel Gardens, Senate Rose Garden, Canberra

16^th March 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

 

First published in 1928, this long Jazz Age narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March was originally banned in Boston because of its risqué content. Its violent story of a vaudeville dancer who throws booze and sex fuelled party quickly achieved popular success however and was made into a film in 1975, and formed the basis of two musicals.

Both musicals were presented in New York in 2000. The version composed by Michael John La Chiusa was presented on Broadway, and the other composed by Andrew Lippa, (whose musical “The Adams Family” opens in Sydney this week), was presented off Broadway. A concert version of the Andrew Lippa musical was presented at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2005 with a cast which included Simon Burke, Sharon Millerchip, David Harris, Chelsea Gibb and Eddie Perfect.

What better venue then, in which to present Pauline Wright’s  new adaptation of the original poem for which Jiri Kripac has written an original score, than the deliciously decadent atmosphere of the  1920’s Belgian spiegletent,

The presentation was as simple as it was sophisticated. Just two musicians, David Bates on piano and Jiri Kripac on trumpet and two actors, Pauline Wright and Joe Woodward, and a stage dressed with two gold antique chairs, separated by a small antique table holding a  glowing lamp ,a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

After an appropriately bluesy overture, Wright and Woodward each sing a song which sets the context and mood before both sit on the chairs to read the rest of the poem. They read, rather incongruously, from hand-held electronic readers. Convenient perhaps, but somewhat at odds with the otherwise carefully evoked period atmosphere.

The static presentation placed the emphasis very much on Joseph Moncure March’s extraordinary writing and Wright and Woodward, both skilled actors and storytellers, drew on their formidable vocal skills to invest the protagonists and the many lesser participants with a variety of accents and personalities. They wisely relied on Moncure March’s idiosyncratic and evocative words, enhanced by Kripac’s evocative music, to do the rest. Very soon the willing audience found themselves inexorably drawn into the seductive world of prohibition, decadence, drugs, booze and sex.

Despite the interval, which rather broke the spell, and the unfortunate competition from Skyfire towards the end of the performance, this delightful presentation of “The Wild Party” proved to be a memorable experience as captivating for the uniqueness of its spiegletent presentation, as for the opportunity it provided to engage with one of the more provocative and celebrated poems of the twentieth century.

 

 

The Chalk Pit by Peter Wilkins

The Chalk Pit by Peter Wilkins.  The Acting Company directed by Tom O’Neill at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, March 15-16 and 20-23, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

Based upon Wilkins’ research into the history of the Hon Thomas John Ley,  Parliamentarian and Minister in NSW and Commonwealth governments in the 1920s and 1930s, this play is a lengthy narrative displaying the personality of a charismatic murderer – a psychopath.  To this end, I must give credit where it is due: to Craig Higgs, who successfully presented this worst kind of politician.  His carefully managed charm covering up his megalomania, his corrupt dealings, gradually releasing more of his essential violence as life deals its inevitable disappointments, was well done.

Otherwise, what has been a long term project for Wilkins, which began in 1986 with a chance discovery of Ley’s papers at the National Library of Australia, to cover this quite extraordinary story from the 1890s to Ley’s death in Broadmoor Prison in 1947, still needs a great deal of work – to trim and focus the drama, and to establish a consistent style.

In the first half I was strongly reminded of the 1953 folk musical by Dick Diamond, Reedy River.  There were the rambunctious bush characters, fighting for their various political causes (in Reedy River’s case around the 1890s Depression and the Shearers’ Strike), the political speeches, the softer and sometimes grim tones of Henry Lawson’s poetry (such as The Faces in the Street), and a propensity to burst into song.  Though I came to Australia a couple of years after the New Theatre staged Reedy River, I quickly absorbed this traditional culture through songs like The Ballad of ’91 from the 10” Diaphon LP which I still have, and was grateful to see the whole play performed at the National Folk Festival a few years ago.

But even in the first half, the writing in The Chalk Pit could not match Reedy River.  Dee Sheville, the singer, and Sabrina Tesfouxis on piano, had an unenviable task.  Only once, as Miss Collins, did Sheville’s singing have a role to play in the action – when invited by Ley to sing to the crowd to follow his rousing electioneering speech.  After that, songs – usually only snatches of song – were interspersed among the dialogue, sometimes with some relevant words but often with no apparent purpose beyond filling in a gap.  In Reedy River all the traditional songs are integral to the action and mood of the play, and in fact drive the drama along.

The Lawson poems might have had a better impact if they had been given much more stage prominence, rather than coming from spaces outside the central acting area.  Though Martin Hoggart and Kristy Richardson tried hard, their skills as performers were not good enough to overcome the staging.  Lawson’s poems are powerful enough to have been used as deliberate action-stoppers which reflect critically at each point in the life of John Ley.  Perhaps this was the intention, but it was lost in this production.

By interval, the first apparent ‘suicide’ by one of Ley’s opponents, but probably a murder, has taken place.   If we were to pick up the folk drama tradition, we could expect the second half to expose Ley as he becomes step by step more paranoid, more aggressive, more violent, and literally more murderous.  The style for this development might use a melodrama form, or of course move into something Brechtian as in Mother Courage and her Children, the climax of which is devastating.

But it seems that Wilkins became tied up in the minutiae of the truth of Ley’s story, which moves to England and becomes almost a comic Cockney cop story with a detective who says things like “I can feel it in my bones” that Ley is guilty of murdering John McBain Mudie, with a representation of the Old Bailey trial full of cliché lawyers and seeming to belong to some early 19th Century court rather than anything like one which would have taken place in 1946.

Along the way, the genre shifted dramatically towards artifices like having Ley arguing with both his wife – in Australia – and his mistress – in London – as if they were in the same time zone.  And, finally, we see the device where characters from his past throw up at him remembered words, I suppose reinforcing his paranoia, while he declines and dies isolated in the insane section of Broadmoor Prison, ironically escaping being murdered by the State after all.

Were we supposed at this point to feel empathy and sympathy for this psychopath?  Hardly, especially after a tedious, far too long, second half.  We had been spoken to, during the court scene, as if we were the jury, but on the evidence in this script, I was certainly somewhere beyond reasonable doubt, not about Ley, but about the play.

It’s a shame, since the virtually unknown story of this figure, elected to both the NSW and the Federal Parliaments – and therefore a warning to us all for the need to be very, very careful about those who would claim to represent us – should be made into a drama for our times.  This will be a demanding task - as the effort that Wilkins has already put in shows.  It needs, perhaps, an Andrew Bovell.

IL TROVATORE



Arnold Rawls as Manrico

By Giuseppe Verdi

 Joan Sutherland Theatre -Sydney Opera House

26^th February 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Regarded as one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas, possibly because of the inclusion of “The Anvil Chorus”, “Il Trovatore has some of Verdi’s finest music bound up in a fairly turgid story of sibling rivalry, maternal sacrifice and passionate love affairs which offers plenty of scope for bold characterization and strong, dramatic confrontations.

If you judge the success of an operatic production only on the quality of the singing then certainly Opera Australia’s current production of “Il Trovatore” is an outstanding success. The singing is consistently glorious throughout. According to Opera Australia Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Enrico Caruso was fond of saying that ““Il Trovatore” is easy to stage all you need is the four best singers in the world “.

Daria Masiero as Leonora - Arnold Rawls as Manrico

Even if they’re not the four best singers in the world – and who’s to judge that? – Milijana Nikolic, Michael Honeyman, Daria Masiero and Arnold Rawls still constitute a formidable quartet.  Their singing, both solo and combined, together with the full rich sounds elicited by conductor Arvo Volmer, from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and the Opera Australia chorus, resulted in a deeply satisfying aural feast.  

Michael Scott-Mitchell’s towering, flexible set design, lit quite magically by Nick Schlieper, made sure the eyes were appropriately feasted also.  Particularly memorable is the scene in which the great doors of the convent slowly open to reveal multiple red-lit icons which in turn slide away to reveal nuns.  

However, moving of the period to the 1936/39 Spanish Civil War robbed costume designer Judith Hoddinott of the opportunity for spectacular costuming. The best that can be said of the current, not particularly flattering, costumes is that they ‘look right’. However many of them also look as though they have been cherry-picked from other productions and those for the female principals being particularly unflattering. Why do directors continually feel the necessity to bring ‘relevance’ to their productions by changing the period? What’s the matter with presenting the opera as the composer intended and take advantage of contempory staging techniques to make them more acceptable to modern audiences if necessary.  

The nude scene for the soldiers seemed snappier than previously remembered, and certainly made the audience sit up in their seats, but why the old-fashioned semaphore acting style adopted by the principals?  At times the acting was so overstated that it bordered on the ridiculous, often so extreme that it was hard not to giggle instead of being moved by the plight of the characters.  This over-acting was not remembered from previous productions, and as Matthew Barclay is credited with the direction ‘based on a production by Elke Neidhardt’, one can only imagine that this must surely be some misconceived innovation he has imposed.

Over-acting aside, it was a pleasure to revisit this production and thrill to Verdi's sublime score, especially when performed as superbly as it is by this current cast. 

Milijana Nikolic as Azucena - Michael Honeyman as Count di Luna

                                                                All photos by Branco Gaica

CAROLINE NIN - "HYMNE a EDITH PIAF"

The Famous Spiegel Garden,

Senate Rose Garden, Canberra

13^th March 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens.

 

 

Amid the faded rococo splendour of the antique Famous Spiegel Garden, in which it is reputed that Marlene Dietrich has also performed, a packed house of rapt Canberrans were treated to an exquisite performance of the art of cabaret, when French chanteuse, Caroline Nin gave the only Canberra performance of her show “Hymne a Edith Piaf”.

Caroline Nin is the real deal. She spends most of her professional life singing at the Paris Lido, but finds time to tour Australia annually with her stylish cabaret shows, among which “Hymne an Edith Piaf” is her signature show and her most acclaimed. It was nominated for a Helpmann Award for the best cabaret show of 2012.

As the name suggests, this show is not an autobiographical telling of Piaf’s life. Nor does Nin imitate Piaf’s guttural singing style. However, during the course of the show we do learn quite a lot about Piaf, and the songs evoke the sound and passion of Piaf's voice as a result of the way they are written.

Besides being a superb vocalist, Caroline Nin is also an arresting story-teller, with a sure sense of the use of movement and stillness. Each of the songs, often given brilliant jazz-inflected accompaniments by John Thorn on piano and Jonathan Zwartz on double bass, was preceded by a mesmerising set-up.

Sometimes Nin, tall, elegant, clad in a tight black dress slit to the thigh, simply quoted the English lyric in her warm heavily accented voice prior to singing the song in French.   For “L’acccordeoniste” she became “a girl of joy” – a sex-worker - who dreamed of having her own brothel complete with an accordionist. For “If You Love Me” she told of how Piaf first sang that song at a concert on the same night that she received word that her lover had been killed in a plane crash.

Her introductions on each occasion were engrossing, often cheeky and playful, always enlightening, creating the perfect ambiance for the song which followed, whether it be passionate or tender, regretful or defiant.

Some in the audience may not have understood the language, in which the song was sung, but they certainly understood the meaning of every word and all were conscious that they were participating in a rare, sublime cabaret performance.

ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD

 

Todd McKenney as Pluto

Operetta by Jacques Offenbach
Libretto by Hector Cremieux and Ludovic Halevy
in a new performing version by Jonathan Biggins and
Phillip Scott from a condept by Ignatious Jones.
Conductor: Andrew Greene
Director:    Jonathan Biggins
Designer:   Mark Thomson
Lighting Design: John Rayment
Choreographer: Amber Hobson


Opera Australia,

Sydney Opera House until 27^th March 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Thank heavens for surtitles! Not because the singers didn’t sing clearly enough, but without them we would have missed many of Phil Scott’s brilliant gunshot-fast gags. A lethal combination, director, Jonathan Biggins, and writer Phil Scott, both best known for their annual Wharf Revues, have taken to Jacques Offenbach’s mad romp and, with the enthusiastic participation of a very game cast, have come up with a production which is delightfully silly, lavish, campy, cheeky, occasionally tacky, but most of all great fun. It is also one which brilliantly captures the essence and intent of the original in the way that it satirises current political figures, media and morality.

The performance gets off to a great start with conductor Andrew Greene, resplendent in red velvet jacket, setting a brisk beat for the orchestra for what surely must be one of the loveliest operetta overtures. However, the overture is rudely interrupted by Public Opinion, Suzanne Johnston, delightfully authoritive, as the guardian of morality and good taste.

Rachelle Durkin (Eurydice) Andrew Brunsdon (Orpheus)

Everyone seems to be having way too much fun, certainly in Arcadian Thebes, where we first meet musician, Orpheus (Andrew Brunsdon) and his strung-out wife Eurydice (Rachelle Durkin). Eurydice seems more interested in running off the shepherd next door than in Orpheus’s latest composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachelle Durkin (Eurydice) Todd McKenney (Pluto)

 It turns out that that shepherd is really the god Pluto, (Todd McKenney, revealed in a marvellous on-stage transformation). As Pluto, Todd McKenney looked and sounded great in his heavily muscled black leather breastplate and silver codpiece, however on opening night, he seemed not to have decided on how to play the character, vacillating between campy and heroic, and dropping character altogether when he joined the line-up for the energetic can-can towards the end.

Rachel Durkin is a gorgeous Eurydice. She tackled the singing challenges brilliantly, and gave such a wickedly clever comic performance that she almost stole the show. Andrew Brunsdon, with more than a touch of the Elvis Presley’s, clearly relished the comedic possibilities of his role as Orpheus, while Mitchell Butell as the green and decomposing John Styx, complete with blow-flies circling his head, made a big impression in a smallish role.

Mitchell Butell (John Styx) Rachelle Durkin (Eurydice)

As well as the brilliant script, this production is packed with plenty of satisfying vocal performances, as well as marvellous visual moments, among them Mercury’s entrance,  (Stephen Smith flown in on a jet propelled motor-bike) and Eurydice’s bathtub seduction by Jupiter (Christopher Hillier disguised as a blowfly).

Sian Pendry (Venus), Jane Ede (Diana), Christopher Hillier (Jupiter)
Katherine Wiles (Cupid), Victoria Lambourn (Juno)

Opera buffs may find it all a little too trivial, but then hasn’t “Orpheus in the Underworld” always been trivial? And how often is it that you spend a night at the opera which keeps you chuckling for days afterwards?

Todd McKenney (Pluto) Mitchell Butell (John Styx)

(All photos by Lisa Tomasetti)

 

Animal Farm by George Orwell, adapted for the stage by shake&stir theatre company

Animal Farm by George Orwell, adapted for the stage by shake&stir theatre company (Brisbane), directed by Michael Futcher.  At The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, March 5-7, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
March 5

shake&stir is essentially a theatre-in-education youth theatre group – and young people came along in considerable numbers.  The applause from them and from those of us who are somewhat beyond youth was for a very satisfying piece of theatre, which made the message of Orwell’s famous cautionary tale absolutely clear.

All of us benefitted from a reminder to watch out for the con men and women of politics, especially when they spout slogans which morph mysteriously from All animals are equal to All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others!  There could be no more salutary lesson for us in this election year.

The success of this 90 minute adaptation relied on high energy precision in movement and voice by the cast of five, playing over 30 animal characters plus brief narration roles; and on equally high energy and precision in the sound track and visuals.  It was a joy for me to see multi-media and stage action thoroughly integrated, yet never becoming robotic (as I have seen in some children’s shows, for example, like Dora the Explorer performed to a pre-recorded tape).

Here, Ross Balbuziente, Nick Skubij, Tim Dashwood, Bryan Probets, and Nelle Lee (especially in her role of Molly, the horse who could not resist sugar, ribbons and a properly brushed mane) were all spot on in their timing and mood creation.  This Animal Farm was a revolution in action from go to whoa, never a comfortable fable of talking quadrupeds.  Or rather: Two legs Bad, Four legs (or two legs with wings) Good – or the chooks would never have stayed.

The set was quite extraordinarily complex, especially for a touring group to cart around the country.  It must be constructed as a huge jigsaw of pieces of myriad shapes and sizes, including speakers, lights and projector.  I can only admire the designer, Josh McIntosh, for his ingenuity – and the lighting designer, Jason Glenwright, and composer/sound designer Guy Webster – in making a set where actors, lights and sounds, and visuals on screens could all come and go in the right places at dizzying speed.

No roadie’s name is recorded in the program, so I presume everyone must be congratulated for amazing teamwork just to bump in and bump out.  Maybe Michael Futcher whips them all into place every night, unless they have all become as compliant as 457 Visa holders in the mining industry.  Whatever – it’s a great show for old and young to learn or re-learn Orwell’s warning.

MORNING STAR

Mirramu Dance Company in association with artists from Arnhem Land.

James O Fairfax Theatre,

National Gallery of Australia.

1- 3 March 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

How appropriate that the opening night of the Enlighten Festival was chosen for the world premiere of this extraordinary collaboration between traditional indigenous dancers and four highly trained contemporary dancers of the Mirramu Dance Company, to communicate a sacred song line of the Yolngu people through a modern dance work.

Six dancers lead by the indefatigable Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, together with two on-stage musicians, weave authentic ancient traditional movement with sophisticated abstract contemporary choreography to produce seventeen mesmerising interludes depicting the circle of life from sunrise to sunset.

A simple backcloth, sensitive lighting, attractive, often surprising costumes and an evocative soundscape of rolling waves and distant voices combined with the haunting sounds of a didgeridoo and sticks played live on stage,  transport the audience into a world of spirits, canoes, birds and animals through a series of group dances and solos, which include a particularly memorable brolga, danced by Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, and an extraordinary bat danced by Albert David.

At times the two styles of dance looked uncomfortable together, the meanings not always obvious. However, at one point, each of the participants introduced themselves in their native tongue. Although the audience did not understand what some said, it  knew what each was saying.  The same could be said of the movement. An engaging and potent form of enlightenment.

          (An edited version of this review appears in CITY NEWS March 6 - 12th edition)