NOEL COWARD'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Adapted and Directed by Emma Rice
Kneehigh Production
Canberra Theatre
2 - 5 October 2013

Review by Len Power
 
The 1946 British movie ‘Brief Encounter’, is one of those perfect romantic gems that you can watch and enjoy over and over again.  Noel Coward expanded his one act play, ‘Still Life’ into a screenplay entitled, ‘Brief Encounter’ about a doomed love affair between two very proper English people bound by the behavioural standards of the time.  Directed by David Lean and starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, it became and remains one of the most loved romantic movies of all time.  Who would dare to try and turn it into a stage play and hope to retain its magic?

Kneehigh productions’ stage version of ‘Brief Encounter’ takes on the impossible and gets it right.  It’s already played in London and on Broadway with great success.  With the movie as a starting point and, using music, dance, puppetry and the latest in audio-visual technology, they have created a memorable entertainment that will please fans of the movie but also delight everyone else.

The international cast of six plus two musicians are a talented group.  As the lovers, Alec and Laura, Scotland’s Jim Sturgeon and Australia’s Michelle Nightingale effortlessly capture the spirit of the characters in the movie and their parting at the end of the play remains quite moving.  England’s Annette McLaughlin is very funny as the tough tearoom manager, Myrtle, putting on airs and graces that fool nobody but herself.  England’s Joe Alessi convincingly plays the dual roles of Fred and Albert and his passionate pas de deux with his love interest, Myrtle, is one of the funniest moments in the show as well as being very well danced.  Australia’s Kate Cheel as Beryl, Myrtle’s assistant in the tearoom shines in her ‘Mad About The Boy’ number and is a dry comedian with a great sense of timing.  USA’s Damon Daunno as her love interest, Stanley, is very funny and has a very appealing singing voice.  Musicians Dave Brown and James Gow, accompanying the cast throughout the show, are excellent.

One of the strengths of this production is its use of audio-visual technology.  With projection and film designers, Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington and sound designer, Simon Baker, working together, actors are able to jump in and out of film projected on screens with realistic sounds of railways stations of the period.  There was even a full size express train screaming at high speed across the stage to the delight of the audience.  Puppetry by Lyndie Wright works amusingly well and the designer, Neil Murray, has done excellent work with the clever set and period costumes.

The show was adapted and directed by Emma Rice who has taken a much loved movie and turned it into an imaginative, hilarious, tuneful but still touching and magical theatrical experience.  The original movie is a must see classic and now so is this stage production.

Broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress Circle’ program on Sunday 6 October 2013.

ANNIE

Book by Thomas Meehan
Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Martin Charnin

Musical Director Rose Shorney
Directed by Kelda McManus
Phoenix Players at the ANU Arts Centre
October4 -19, 2013

Review by Len Power

I wonder how many people who are now adults can trace their love for musical theatre back to being taken to a production of the musical, ‘Annie’, when they were children?  This 1977 musical, based on the long running American comic strip, ‘Little Orphan Annie’, by Harold Gray, comes around in a new production every few years to delight a new generation.  It’s one of the great musicals that everyone should see at least once.

Phoenix Players have mounted an entertaining production with a large cast.  There are alternating casts of Orphans and the main character, Annie.  At the opening night, Annie was played with great charm by Lydia Milosavljevic, who also sang pleasantly with great assurance.  Don Bemrose was in fine voice as Daddy Warbucks, but seemed less sure of his ‘too busy making money’ character in the first act compared to the second act when Annie brings out his human side.  Judy Satrapa was a delightfully boozy, lazy and grouchy Miss Hannigan, giving a fine rendition of her big number, ‘Little Girls’.

Amongst the large cast there were fine characterisations by Dim Ristevski as the sleezy Rooster, Miranda Cookman as the glamorous and efficient secretary, Grace Farrell, Maigan Fowler as the dim-witted and gravel-voiced Lilly St. Regis and Bill Lord as a loveable, President Roosevelt.

The big number by the Orphans, ‘Hard Knock Life’, was well sung and performed with energy, enthusiasm and charm.  The large Ensemble sang and moved well to simple but appropriate choreography by Annette Sharpe.  It was good to see seasoned players Barbara Denham, Gaby Schmid, Dennis Bittisnitch and Steve Galinec giving their level of experience to the ensemble.

The simple but practical set design by Stenita pays homage to the musical’s newspaper origins.  Lighting by Liam Ashton was a bit unsettled on opening night but the sound balance designed and operated by Kieren Gillis was fine.  The large number of costumes by Judy Satrapa and Jennie Norberry were in the correct period and were worn well by the cast.  The ten sewing assistants listed in the program shows how much work goes into this aspect of a big show.

Musical direction by Rose Shorney was superb from the rousing overture to the finale.  Every melody in the music score was given its correct balance and colour.  It was a delight to listen to and as good as any professional recording I’ve heard of this show..

The director, Kelda McManus, has brought together a pleasing production of a much-loved musical which, hopefully, will inspire more young people to go to musical theatre for the rest of their lives.

Broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress Circle’ program on Sunday 6 October 2013.

Emily Eyefinger

Emily Eyefinger based on the books by Duncan Ball adapted by Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge & Tim McGarry.  Monkey Baa Theatre Company:
Director     John Saunders
Designer     Mark Thompson
Lighting Designer     Martin Kinnane
Sound Designer     Rowan Karrer
Dramaturge     Caleb Lewis
Animation     Andrew Hagan
at The Street Theatre, Canberra, October 1 – 5, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 5

Since Monkey Baa makes considerable claims http://monkeybaa.com.au/info/history/)  such as Founding members Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge and Tim McGarry established Monkey Baa to raise the bar of work for young people in Australia..., their production of Emily Eyefinger needs some detailed consideration.

The style of acting and the construction of the storyline can only be described as zany pantomime.  Like traditional British pantomime there was nearly as much for the adults to recognise and enjoy in the story of entering the tomb in the Ancient Caves of Tutenkamouse, with its mystery of the curse upon the first to enter, and in the characterisations especially of Great Aunt Olympia and the evil Arthur Crim, as for the target audience of 5 to 10 year olds.

There were some younger children in the audience when I saw it, and they were a bit frightened by some of the sound effects and Arthur Crim’s coming off stage into the audience – and they probably didn’t follow the story very well, especially since the transitions between scenes were often unpredictable.  In fact, in academic terms, “zany” could almost be classed as “absurdism”.

On the other hand the older children clearly got the hang of the visual jokes and clowning, and recognised the reactions of the young characters, especially of Malcolm sulking because his mouse researcher father insisted he wear  a mouse costume all the time, and of Emily’s feeling that she had lost her identity because her finger with its third eye had become the centre of attention.  The fact that they both took control of their lives – Malcolm taking his mouse head off in front of his father, and Emily realising she should keep her eyefinger and even enjoy being different rather than ‘normal’ – was an effective educational message, presented as a natural part of the action without obvious moralising.

On the point of standards (raising the bar), the acting was certainly up to high chin up level in characterisation and movement skills, and I was impressed with the set, props, sound and video design (and technical quality), especially considering the limitations you might expect when touring.

Having seen only one Monkey Baa production, I can’t say anything about the quality of their work overall, but within the range of the style of Emily Eyefinger, this production is certainly at a very good professional standard.

The Book Club at The Q

The Book Club by Rodney Fisher, from the play by Roger Hall.  Performed by Amanda Muggleton, direction and set design by Rodney Fisher.  Produced by Christine Harris and HIT Productions at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, October 3-5, 2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 3

Amanda Muggleton is justifiably the darling of Queanbeyan, despite making an awful error in the city’s 175th Birthday year.  Speaking to the audience after two curtain calls, thanking us for being so responsive (which indeed we were), she opined “I just love coming to Canberra!”  Oops!  After all Canberra is a mere 100 years old this year.

But no matter.  We understood and we appreciated her role as our favourite actor, while someone in the front row explained politely to her that Queanbeyan has an identity of its own.

Apart from her fortitude in performing solo for two acts of an hour and a quarter each, which in itself commands our respect, her flexibility and comic ingenuity in playing the role of Deborah, who also acts out all the characters from the book club, in her family and in her breakaway relationship with the author, Michael, after inviting him as speaker, was a wonderful demonstration of her acting skills.

Yet there was more.  The warmth and attention for which she praised us in the audience only developed because of Amanda’s openness to our reactions.  Instead of strictly playing the script and the character, she was able to smoothly make the transition to ad libbing and communicating with us as herself and then slipping back into role as Deborah.  Only once did she have to repeat a line to cue herself back into the official script.

So we were treated to two performances in one – Amanda and Deborah – and we loved them both.

The play is cleverly written using the books the book club decides to discuss as a through-line parallel to Deborah’s marital and extra-marital story.  This allows for references to change according to the authors now in vogue – Tim Winton does well out of this – as well as keeping those in the canon – particularly To Kill a Mockingbird and Anna Karenina – which are essential to our understanding of Deborah’s emotional life.  I guess it is this appeal to the reading audience which makes the play so appropriate for middle-class Queanbeyan – Canberra.

I would also add, though, that the The Q theatre played its role.  It is perhaps the only local venue that is comfortable, has the right sight-lines and raking of the seating, and responsive acoustics, which create an intimate inclusive feeling for several hundred people.

The Q management is friendly and runs smoothly, and the director Stephen Pike has made an excellent choice in bringing The Book Club here. 

But I have to end on the only problematic note, which I have had to mention on some previous occasions.  Christine Harris likes to have her name publicly attached to her production company HIT Productions, but does her actors, designers and technical staff a great disservice by providing no more than a poster in the foyer with limited information.  Any theatre production is a cooperative venture, and all the participants should be properly publicly acknowledged.

As a model for HIT Productions, I suggest Ms Harris should take a leaf from Caroline Stacey’s book at The Street Theatre, and provide a simple but colourful small flyer to go with each ticket sale (or at least a pile of them in the foyer for people to take if they wish).  So I’m including here a picture of the flyer for The Street’s current production of Emily Eyefinger as an example, since I don’t have a program picture for The Book Club.

However, don’t let my concern on this point stop you from thoroughly enjoying Amanda Muggelton in The Book Club at The Q.

THE BOOK CLUB

By Rodney Fisher from the play by Roger Hall

Directed by Rodney Fisher

Q Theatre, Queanbeyan 3 - 5 October, 2013

Review by Len Power

The hazards of being a member of a book club are a great starting point for this play by Roger Hall and Rodney Fisher.  It’s a very funny and ideal one person show for its star, Amanda Muggleton.

Married, middle-aged and starting to feel it, Deborah, is a self-confessed bookaholic who is a member of a book club.  It’s not all rosy at the meetings as Deborah describes the individual quirks of each member and irritants like the competition over dishes brought for supper.  When it’s Deborah’s turn to host the book club at her home, she invites the author of a book the group is reading and is drawn into an affair with him.  Suddenly her life seems like one of the bad plots of the books she’s been reading.

Amanda Muggleton gives a superb performance as Deborah, a woman who seems happy with her life but who is emotionally vulnerable under the surface, especially now as her husband isn’t around all that much, their children have all left home and her ageing mother is driving her crazy.  From the start of the play, Amanda Muggleton demonstrates an almost uncanny ability to reach out from the stage and make you feel you are her trusted best friend being told a special secret.  It’s a lengthy play but Amanda Muggleton’s performance ensures that we never lose interest.

On a simple lounge room set by Rodney Fisher, surrounded by tall bookshelves, the play is directed very well by Rodney Fisher, peeling back the layers of Deborah’s character bit by bit to display the hidden depths of this apparently ordinary woman.  He wisely uses Deborah’s nervous energy to keep her on the move, giving the play a constant sense of action and purpose.

Amanda Muggleton is one of Australia’s unique and much-loved stars of the theatre.  ‘The Book Club’ displays her talents to the full and is a very enjoyable entertainment with a lot to say under the surface.

Brief Encounter

Program cover image: 'Kiss'. Photo: Simon Turtle

Brief Encounter by Noël Coward, adapted and directed by Emma Rice.  Kneehigh Theatre Company (UK) at Canberra Theatre Centre, October 2-5,  2013.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 2

When Noël Coward rewrote his 1936 stage play Still Life in 1945 as the script for the film Brief Encounter, I was just 4.  I had seen Bambi and Dumbo the Elephant, but missed Brief Encounter – and remained largely unaware of the film ever since.

Growing up in the 1950s, I became very aware of Noël Coward, but only for his songs, particularly Mad Dogs and Englishmen (for its anti-colonial political content) and Don’t Let Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington which informed my drama work for the rest of my life.

Now, suddenly, in my maturity, I have been given a new appreciation of Coward, the playwright, by two productions: Private Lives at Belvoir (Canberra Critics’ Circle Tuesday, October 2, 2012) and now Brief Encounter by Kneehigh.

After the Cockney-style bit of song and dance to entertain us while settling in our seats, the beginning of the actual play reminded me of Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985).  Without knowing the script of Brief Encounter beforehand I was not expecting to be treated as if I were in a cinema (the Palladium), with the two central characters Laura Jesson (Michelle Nightingale) and Alec Harvey (Jim Sturgeon) in our front row spotlit by the ushers’ torches as they seem to have a lovers’ tiff about whether they love each other.

(I digress slightly to point out that the Palladium Cinema was closed on 3rd April 1938, so even this 1945 script had to look back to its 1936 original to make a Coward in-joke about the Palladium Cinema being too expensive upstairs – a comparison with the famous Palladium Theatre, which is still extant today and is probably too expensive downstairs.)

The connection with Woody Allen’s film is that as Laura leaves the cinema, she walks up on to the stage towards a scrim on which is projected her husband Fred (Joe Alessi) waiting for her at home.  She parts the scrim, and simultaneously appears in the movie with Fred, while Alec watches.  The theatrical trick immediately gained the audience’s applause, and our interest in these characters’ story was engaged.

The style of this production was now firmly established: movement became dance, dialogue was timed to the music, and songs were an essential part of the action.  Ordinary ideas of reality were tested at every turn, from Laura’s children being puppets, a toy train puffing out real smoke, crashing seas on the film screen seeming to drown characters in emotion on stage, even a whole express train passing through on film projected on a scrim rushed across the stage by a railway guard – in fact so many such devices that I would need to see the production several times to catch up with all the fascinating details.

And it’s certainly a production that deserves to be seen more than once.  I’m sure it would be more enjoyable each time.  On the first sighting each trick was a surprise, but on subsequent viewing it would be the anticipation and recognition, and the testing of your memory that would be exciting.  And indeed, like watching a circus, there would be the adrenalin rush of fearing that a trick might fail, especially when you know that this production has been touring for some five years now.

The real surprise of this kind of choreographed staging was that the feelings of the two middle-class protagonists – each married and having to deal with their sense of guilt and propriety – were enhanced, especially through the comic contrasts of the lower class characters’ relationships.  Almost Shakespearean, in fact, and demanding of the performers the same kind of precision of characterisation and timing.  Not a beat was missed by anyone.

So I began wondering what had Emma Rice done to Noël Coward’s original conception.  Was this a modernisation, even though everything we saw was “retro”, as in 1936?  But then how did references get in like the two soldiers, full – to the point of being threatening – with their sense of self-importance because they were “willing to lay down our lives for you”; or mention of Spitfires, or Judy Garland?  Was the staging and style, though very different from Belvoir’s Private Lives, a kind of updating of Coward’s work?

The Kindle came to the rescue, almost instantly downloading the Bloomsbury Methuen Drama publication of Brief Encounter and, wonder of wonders, there were Coward’s original words, laid out ready for filling in all the spaces in the dialogue with so much more than the minimal directions Coward supplied for the film.  The effect for me was both eminently theatrical, and effective in showing the skill, and the humanity, of Coward as a writer and a step up from where I had previously thought of him.

Not everyone agrees with me – see Murray Bramwell’s review in The Australian, September 16, 2013 at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/cowards-ironies-lost-in-the-action/story-e6frg8n6-1226719542652 for a different view, but perhaps more influenced by knowing the Brief Encounter history beyond Bambi and Dumbo.