Room on the Broom

CDP presents Tall Stories’ magical musical adaptation of Room on the Broom adapted from the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.  Original director: Olivia Jacobs.  Music and lyrics by Jon Fiber, Andy Shaw and Robin Price.

Director for Australia: Morag Cross;  Resident Director: Jane Miskovic; stage design by Morgan Large; lighting design by James Whiteside; puppets by Yvonne Stone.  At The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, April 8-12, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 9

It is a great satisfaction to see a show for young children which is entirely appropriate both theatrically and educationally.  And the business behind the scenes, I discovered, was a complicated mystery in itself.

The opening of the show cleverly takes the audience – young children who cannot be expected to automatically respond to standard conventions – through the transition from ordinary life (where they even had to be taught by their adult minders that each person has just one seat) to the fictional world of theatre.

With house lights still up and children still being brought in and seated, and the stage open but in shadow, the four actors – Andrew Threlfall (understudy for Stephen Anderson): Dog; Josie Cerise: Cat; Crystal Hegedis: Witch; and Damien Warren-Smith: Bird, Dragon – appear without fanfare.  They are playing hide-and-seek (“Coming, ready or not!) among the children in the audience, who become involved in the game, pointing out where someone is hiding.

The set on stage is highly evocative – a large rising full moon seen dimly through a chunky forest, with an owl calling – and the “children”, who are camping out, don sleeping bags and form a sleeping heap on stage; except for excited and fully-awake Josie, who comes out of hiding, realises she must join the others, gets a front-row audience member to help zip up her sleeping bag and joins the heap.  I think this is the first play I can remember which begins with everyone going to sleep, as the house lights fade.  Now everyone, on stage and in the auditorium is silent.  Now the drama can begin.

Already the children watching have learned by osmosis what theatre is all about, and have no trouble going along with the next transition by the actors from the camping children to the witch and her cat flying on the broom stick, through all the characters in costume and puppet form, or even occasionally as briefly out-of-role narrators, and finally back to the sleeping children.  Josie, of course, having played the Witch, puts a spell on the boys to stop them snoring, and everyone, on stage and off, joins in the accompanying spellbinding song to bring this lively entertainment to a thoroughly enjoyable end.

At the same time, of course, the text of the book is teaching rhyme, rhythm and vocabulary, while the story is teaching about positive relationships, scary situations, and even tricks to save friends from fiery dragons.

We adults may know, of course, that even to mention a witch is a strict no-no.  Women were actually accused of riding on a broomstick in the 16th and 17th Centuries in Europe and often had to face their own kind of fiery dragon, but the children here are safe with a witch who has friends and makes room on the broom for them all – even to the point where it breaks in half!

Mentioning Europe is my fashionable “segue” into the mystery of who were these performers, and why was the owl clearly of the English barn variety?  Where was the mopoke or the boobook, or even the tawny frogmouth?  Yet there were the occasional Aussie references:  Damien (I think it was) couldn’t quite read the label on his sleeping bag which seemed to say “flec bag”, but of course we bushwalkers knew it was really “flea bag”.

So I found out from director Jane Miskovic that the UK company Tall Stories, whose team had devised the original adaptation, as well as of the Gruffalo stories, tour their productions world-wide – except that, in Australia, CDP and Tall Stories have negotiated an arrangement where the plays are directed and performed by our local professionals, allowing them to include some humorous Australianisms in the text to complement the exuberant physicality of the Australian acting style.  This makes the show a family affair, including the adults in the fun.

Jane has a degree in education and psychology and several others in the team have similar education and training, including at NIDA.

So it was no wonder that I was seeing a top-class performance.


http://tallstories.org.uk/shows/room-on-the-broom
http://www.cdp.com.au/home.html

If you miss the show in Queanbeyan, on 14 April 2013 – 27 April 2013 it will be at
the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House (whose image I have borrowed above).

Richard, Professor of Literature

 Richard, Professor of Literature written and performed by Stéphane Georis; written and directed by Francy Begasse, at The Street Theatre, Canberra, April 4-7, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 5

Georis, visiting from Belgium, clearly works out of the French mime tradition and the European background of puppetry (which in England is represented by Punch and Judy).  I remember a puppet version of Blanc Neige for children in Paris some decades ago.  Somewhere there’s a memory of commedia dell’arte in Georis’ style as a comedian, as well.

I could say, street theatre at The Street rather than in the street :-)

The role of Richard, Professor (as in Professeur) of Literature is played by Georis as if he is not acting, but is merely a person talking directly to us – and interacting with the front row of the audience – out of role.  I’ve called him Professeur rather than Professor because his “lecture” on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Richard III, is more in the style of a teacher of younger children than as a university academic.

But this is not a children’s show, though I would certainly recommend it for senior secondary students.  It deals with death as failure, death for love, and death for power.  It begins with the question “To be, or not to be” as an intellectual study of angst, works through the tragic sadness of the Montague and Capulet story, becoming gross in the gore of chopping up fresh meat to represent the Lancaster and Plantagenet families’ murderous history.

The lesson’s conclusion is “Why don’t we just stop the killing?”

Yet, to reach this conclusion, Richard uses his books, newspapers, cooking implements and ingredients (I could call this “kitchen bench drama”) to create the characters of Hamlet, Romeo, Juliet – and finally a piece of meat for Richard III, while he himself travels from point to point in time and space on a motorbike (or rather on a Vespa motor scooter as I imagined it).  As well, the Professor wears hats and masks, playing himself and William Shakespeare – every now and then revealing himself to remind us “It’s me”, like playing peek-a-boo.

So we are at times a bit embarrassed by his childishness, yet we can’t stop laughing at his ridiculousness – and nor can we ignore his message: don’t take things or ourselves too seriously, for that’s how we end up killing people.

I can only agree with the quote in the program notes from Ouest-France reviewing Richard, le polichineur d'écritoire, de Stephane Georis: “ingenious, full of surprises and screamingly funny.”  Just watch his upside-down coffee pot tell you about Life, and you’ll see what I mean.

AN IDEA TAKES FLIGHT

Guy Edmonds in "The Witches"

Presented by the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)

Gorman House 4 – 6^th April

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A program of three works under the banner "An Idea Takes Flight" showcasing the accomplishments of three of the six graduates of the 2012 NIDA directing course, together with an exhibition of designs and costumes selected from their larger annual exhibition "Exponida", is currently being staged  at Gorman House by NIDA  in an impressive demonstration of the standard of work currently being achieved by this training organisation.

Part of the enjoyment of this presentation is the clever way in which the ambience of Gorman House itself has been exploited as an integral element of the experience, as the audience moves between the two venues in which the productions are staged.  Decorated  with strings of white lights encouraging visitors to the beautifully mounted exhibition, the courtyard provides a charming space for conversation between acts.

The first play, “Play House”, by British playwright, Martin Crimp, and directed by Luke Rogers, is presented in the CYT theatre.  In a series of apparently unconnected episodes a young couple  go about setting up house.  The audience are seated on both sides of the sparse but effective setting, designed by Georgia Hopkins, which runs the full length of the theatre, consisting  mainly of a sofa and refrigerator separated by a bed.  The dialogue is astringent, economical and absorbing and NIDA graduates Sam O’Sullivan and Kate Skinner give fascinatingly nuanced performances. Of particular interest is the polished use of costume, props and pauses by the director and actors to create mood and tension, and the use of sound to maintain this tension between scenes.

The audience moved across to the QL2 theatre for the second presentation, a 40-minute version of the American musical by Joe Dipietro and Jimmy Roberts, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” given a very slick and polished performance by the cast of four, Nat Jobe, Simon Brook McLachlan, Cinzia Lee and Canberran, Amy Louise Dunham, directed by another former Canberran and CAT Award winner, Derek Walker, and accompanied by and excellent three piece ensemble.   Again the clever use of a mobile set and projections, designed by Chris Pitcairn, were a compelling demonstration of how much can be achieved with limited resources.

Then it was back to the CYT Theatre for the final offering of the night, a dazzling performance of Roald Dahl’s “The Witches”.  Directed by Lucas Jervies, and given a frenetic, virtuoso performance by Guy Edmonds, utilising little more than some kitchen utensils, a ball of string and a few mechanical mice, to transport the willing audience into the  wonderfully funny world of  wicked witches.  

“The Witches” provided the perfect finale for a stimulating and entertaining evening of excellent theatre making, which in turn provided a superb demonstration of the quality and professionalism of the country’s premier theatre training organisation.  One would hope that this Centenary Year visit, will be the first of many more such visits to the National Capital by NIDA.

IN WONDERLAND

Dance and multimedia installation by James Batchelor.

Choreography and cinematography – James Batchelor.

Creative Associate – Emma Batchelor

Courtyard Studio – Canberra Theatre Centre until 13^th April.

Reviewed by Bill Stephens.

Initiated in 2010 by an Australia Council JUMP grant, and an Arts ACT Start Up grant, “In Wonderland” has evolved from its original 10 minute film and living statues format, first seen during the QL2 – On Course season in 2011, into a 35 minute multi-media presentation involving 3 dancers (Emma Batchelor, Chloe Chignell and Amber McCartney), digital projections and a variety of other elements. It has toured to various arts centres and galleries as a festival event and this current short season of free performances in the Courtyard Studios provides Canberra audiences with the opportunity to see how this work has developed.

For these performances, The Courtyard Studio has been stripped of all seating. On entering the auditorium, the audience is offered the choice of a gallery stool, a chair, or to simply walk around, view the various installations at close range, and stand for the performance. The installations include a large spot-lit circle on the floor surrounded by dozens of small rabbits, a large gold-framed screen, a wall of fleece in front of which is an up-turned chair. Taking up the entire back wall, a long table, surrounded by chairs and laden with delicious party food, brightly coloured tea-pots and crockery.

The lights dim, a dancer in a long blue dress begins to twirl in the circle of rabbits, to the accompaniment of an electronic soundscape. Is she “Alice” falling down the rabbit hole?  At one point she looks horrified and begins to pick at her dress and back. Is she being attacked by ants or bees?  Is she suffering from some sort of delusion? 

The lights fade and the gold frame screen flickers to life with purposely over-exposed film of another girl, similarly dressed, who appears to be trying to escape something. What ? Then attention moves to a brightly coloured film, projected onto the fleece, depicting this same young girl experiencing a series of encounters in a green hedge maze. The meaning of these encounters also is left to the imagination of the audience.

Attention moves to the long party table, above which excerpts from “In Wonderland” are projected onto a white screen hanging over the table. In a series of pantomime episodes the three dancers, in bright costumes, move around the table.

The effect is surreal, slightly disturbing, but constantly engaging. Questions arise constantly. Most of the dancing is abstract and fairly unintelligible and no synopsis is provided, so each member of the audience is left to respond to the episodes as they will, and draw their own conclusions as to the intent and meaning of the piece.

 More performance art than dance theatre, “In Wonderland” is a delightfully surreal, diverting and playful experience for those willing to exercise their imaginations  and take the plunge down the rabbit hole.

By the way, if you want to exercise your taste-buds, partake of the delicious home-cooked goodies on offer at the “In Wonderland Tea Shop” before and after the show.   

Showcasing the work of NIDA

An Idea Takes Flight: showcasing the work of NIDA’s Directing, Acting, Costume, Properties and Production students and graduates.  At Gorman House Arts Centre, Canberra, April 4-6, 2013

By Frank McKone
April 4

The NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) showcase consists of an interesting exhibition of costumes, set and costume designs and portrait paintings, and three short performances: Play House by British playwright Martin Crimp; selections from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! by US musical team Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Robert; and a solo peformance of Roal Dahl’s children’s story, The Witches.

The visual art work in the exhibition was excellent quality, as were the skills demonstrated in the technical work in lighting and sound, the live musicians in I Love You..., and the acting, but I felt rather as though I was watching an audition session.

When I looked more closely at the program notes by NIDA’s Director/Chief Executive Officer, Lynne Williams, I found that the only purpose of the tour is to give experience to the creative and production teams, led by three of the six directors who studied and graduated from NIDA in 2012 – Luke Rogers, Derek Walker and Lucas Jervies.

Each of the actors and the musicians is labelled ‘Guest Artist’, but without biographies or any other kind of recognition.  Very strange!

The pieces chosen for what now I understood to be demonstration exercises were suprisingly light-weight.  Play House was a good exercise for the actors Sam O’Sullivan (Simon) and Kate Skinner (Katrina) who competently handled the instant changes of relationship; I Love You... required strong singing and musical comedy skills, again well demonstrated by Nat Jobe, Simon Brook McLachlan, Cinzia Lee and Canberran Amy Louise Dunham; while Guy Edmonds playing all the roles in a quite manic mime/movement format in The Witches turned the children’s story into almost a holocaust scenario.  Here the director, Lucas Jervies, tried too hard: Edmonds had to work hard to keep up the momentum when simple story-telling would have done the trick.

But since the actors were not the point of the productions, I’m left having to wonder why NIDA chose these items.  Surely there is Australian writing, for a start, of much greater significance than any of these pieces.

According to Lynne Williams’ notes “The recently launched National Cultural Policy ushers in an era of renewed vision for the arts in Australia.”  Really?  If this is meant to be NIDA’s contribution – and I assume that bringing the “showcase” to the Federal Capital has something to do with policy pushing – then I couldn’t see any “vision” taking flight here.

Circa

Wunderkammer

Canberra Theatre
Season 26 – 28 March 2013
Reviewed by Samara Purnell

 

After being told by Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz that the first twenty minutes of this show was going to be like “fugue” until you stop fighting it and give in, I somewhat nervously Googled what a “fugue” was to see what sort of possible psychiatric condition may befall me in twenty minutes time and downed a specially named “Wunderbar cocktail” in anticipation.

This Queensland based circus was unlike most others where performers specialise in one or two areas and perform just those routines. Here, Freyja Edney opened the show with her impressive hoop skills, and was soon joined by the remaining six members of the ensemble, who presented this demanding show. Many of them were involved for the majority of the performance, itself a feat of stamina, focus and endurance.

However, in a solo act, poignant and tender, with Peter Gabriel’s “Book of Love” playing, Jarred Dewey undressed on trapeze – hanging by his heels at one point. That set the bar pretty high, so to speak. But more than just an excuse to “get his kit off” it encapsulated the vulnerability on display every time the troupe takes to the stage – vulnerability to injury, to scrutiny, to each other and to analysis of his or her body and sexuality. Following Dewey’s dismount, slapstick comedy ensued, when he attempted to regain his clothes from another performer. These acts summarised the variety of the show.

There were many laugh-out-loud moments, including Alice Muntz’s exploration of bubble wrap. And in one of her first scenes, where in the blink of an eye, her clothes appeared to have been nicked, she re-dresses in a most agile manner. Uniform costumes of red and black satin and lace gave the show a slick, appealing look and cabaret “cuteness” meant putting clothes on never looked so good!

There were times though, when acts seemed to default to undressing almost for the sake of it – usually when a lot was happening on stage. One wonders how much of the audience was watching the balancing acts going on simultaneously… but it was light-hearted rather than titillating, including the finale, which was meant to be hectic but ended up just rather silly.

Almost everything else was performed with panache, making the less demanding manoeuvres look intense and the insane look easy. 

A spellbinding act between Todd Kilby and Lewis West on a flexible mounted pole was the most stunning and beautiful act of the evening, executed with grace and impeccable timing, with a wonderful interplay of trust and strength.   

The exceptionally skilled and disciplined troupe balance and lift each other, taking turns to literally carry the weight of the company on their shoulders, the girls included, despite being so petite. It seemed possible that the tiny hoop Melissa Knowles squeezed through would need upsizing if she ate so much as a baked bean. They impressed with their strength, comic timing, likeability and the ability to go from jovial chaos to a state of focus in seconds. In some of the acrobatic routines, a fraction out on timing and every muscle in arms and backs could rip. Equally impressive was the sense that this bendy bunch has possibly been born immune to the forces of gravity.

Circa is a roaring success in Europe, according to Lifschitz, but closer to home the responses are a little more varied, depending on venues. This performance seemed to be a hit with the typically more conservative Canberra audience. (Although there’s a small chance the three ovations could also have been due to the fact they were taken in G-strings and bras.)

Fugue or not, the show was riveting, funny, and completely enjoyable with beautiful, gasp aloud moments.

*NB: Apparently a fugue is a psychiatric condition, where too much is happening at once and the brain needs to choose what to focus on, and during which one is apparently conscious of one's actions but has no recollection of them after returning to a normal state. This effect is also achievable through consumption of a few too many Wunderbar cocktails.  

THE ADDAMS FAMILY

Chloe Dallimore (Morticia) & John Waters (Gomez)
dance the "tango de Amour"

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice

Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa

Directed by: Jerry Zaks

Musical Direction: Luke Hunter

Capitol Theatre, Sydney from 23^rd March 2013

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

 

 

Based on the familiar Charles Adams drawings “The Adams Family” tells the fairly predictable story of what happens when Wednesday Addams (Teagan Wouters), the daughter of an unconventional family, who has had an unconventional upbringing, but has fallen in love with a nice young man, Lucas Beineke (Tim Madden) from an ultra-conservative family and background (although not quite as conservative, in the case of his mother, as we were first lead to believe). 

The Addams Family and ancestors 

 

Wednesday’s family is the macabre, Addams Family, who live in a huge Gothic mansion, and include her father, Gomez (John Waters), her mother, Morticia (Chloe Dallimore), her brother Pugsley, whom she regularly tortures, (Liam Faulkner-Dimond at the performance reviewed), and her extended family of  Grand-ma (Meredith O’Rielly), Uncle Fester (Russell Dykstra) and a half-dead butler, Lurch (Ben Hudson). The Addams family are also surrounded by a collection of long-dead relatives who provide spectacular support in a series of cleverly-staged production numbers for which Sergio Trujillo has devised some appropriately quirky choreography.

When Wednesday invites Lucas Beineke’s family to the mansion to meet the rest of The Addams Family a series of events occur which provide the momentum for this surprisingly engaging musical.

Guided by legendary Broadway director, Jerry Zaks, who also directed the Broadway and National tour productions of “The Addams Family”, this beautifully detailed production moves at a leisurely pace, making sure the audience has sufficient time to savour each laugh line and inventive piece of stage business. There are visual surprises aplenty, and even the lavish red velvet curtains develop a life of their own.

The Adams Family
Meredith O'Rielly (Granma)Ben Hudson (Lurch) Teagan Wouters (Wednesday) Russell Dykstra (Uncle Fester)
Liam Faulkner-Dimond (Pugsley) Chloe Dallimore (Morticia) John Waters (Gomez)

 

John Waters is charming and funny as Gomez, as is Russell Dykstra as the fey, rather surreal Uncle Fester whose love affair with the moon yields some surprising results. Meredith O’Rielly as Grandma, and Ben Hudson as Lurch get their fair share of laughs, and Teagan Wouters  is a breath of fresh air as Wednesday. Tim Madden as her boyfriend, Lucas Beineke, is engaging but has yet to find the key to make his character memorable. Tony Harvey does as much as he can with the rather stock of the anal father Mal Bieneke.

Katrina Retallick gives a stand-out performance as his wife, Alice Beineke, pulling out all the stops to hilarious effect in her number “Waiting”.

However it is Chloe Dallimore, as Morticia Addams, who steals the show. Tall, elegant and drop-dead gorgeous in her black wig and long gowns, she moves with a ballerina’s grace and dominates the stage whenever she is on. Towards the end of the show she tucks up her gown to reveal ridiculously long million-dollar legs to dance the “Tango de Amour” with Gomez, and the effect is stage magic.  

With its seriously funny scenes and special effects, which delighted the many children in the audience, “The Addams Family” is a musical to savour. More likely to charm than excite, with songs that are catchy rather than memorable and characters who are loveable, but perhaps not as ‘out-there’ as one might expect, it's a musical which still offers a surprisingly elegant, gothic and funny comment of the value of family. 

Russell Dykstra as Uncle Fester and Ensemble

Photos by Jeff Busby