Crunch Time

John Wood and Guy Edmonds

Crunch Time by David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, February 19 – April 9, 2020.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
February 19

Director – Mark Kilmurry; Set and Costume Designer – Lauren Peters; Lighting Designer – Nicholas Higgins; Sound Realiser – Anthony Lorenz

Cast (alphabetical)
Diane Craig (Helen); Megan Drury (Susy); Guy Edmonds (Luke); Matt Minto (Jimmy); Emma Palmer (Lauren); John Wood (Steve)

Photos by Prudence Upton

Diane Craig and John Woods
as Helen and Steve
in Crunch Time by David Williamson
Ensemble Theatre 2020

Crunch Time is a quite harsh-sounding title for a realistic study of generational succession told with some tenderness and humour.  Perhaps, since the author has announced that, after 50 years, this is definitely to be his last play, he may be sensing a Sword of Damocles descending. 

That’s certainly the feeling David Williamson has given Steve, as he retires, when he has to decide which son – the younger Jimmy with a Business Management degree; or the elder Luke with a combined Engineering/Law degree – will be given control of his highly successful engineering company.  The complex intra-family relationships are played out very well indeed by John Wood, Matt Minto and Guy Edmonds – the  father, himself trained as an engineer and somewhere on ‘the spectrum’, knowing that Jimmy’s social communication skills are essential for the continuing and expanding success of the company, cuts the highly intelligent but also autistic Luke off the Board.

Steve married Helen because he was fascinated by her playing the cello – the Goldmark Variations – when they were students.  Diana Craig’s playing on stage at the key moment of tenderness is a highlight. But, she points out, the Goldmark is the only piece of music – and indeed the only work of art of any kind – that Steve can recognise.

Diane Craig and Megan Drury
as Helen and Susy

Megan Drury playing Jimmy’s wife Susy (they have three children) gives us the most rational clear-sighted character in the play, recognising how she was so attracted to Jimmy – and why so many other women were and still are; and how she can become a genuine friend for Luke while they supervise their combined grandchildren.  Though Jimmy says he will “never do it again”, we laugh with Susy and recognise her right to independence.

Megan Drury and Matt Minto
as Susy and Jimmy

Susy also explains to Luke how being ‘ordinary’ is the right thing for him, even though Emma Palmer as Luke’s wife, Lauren, can’t stand his insistence on being himself, which means stating with great accuracy every truth, about her and everything else, any more.  So she leaves the children to him to find a less ‘ordinary’ life.

Emma Palmer and Guy Edmonds
as Lauren and Luke

Guy Edmonds and Megan Drury
as Luke and Susy

Of course, rumours will abound that David Williamson has finally written an autobiographical play, since he originally trained and even lectured as an engineer, and finally married a writer (they met in 1971) who is quoted on the ABC in 2009: “And Kristin says their blended family - two of her children with her ex-husband, two from David's first marriage and one mutual child ('They call him the love child') - cringe at their bohemian tales.”
[ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-04-03/wifes-biography-turns-tables-on-david-williamson/1639908  ]

It is true that this play’s family relationships feel to me more personal in nature, but then I have reviewed formally only about a dozen of his more than fifty plays.  It is the character of Steve, facing up to serious adversity, that brings up those feelings.  John Wood’s performance is so much deeper than being a character who represents a man of a particular place and time.  Whereas in the past I have seen Williamson’s work as highly valuable “comedy of manners” social commentary, this play – not only in Steve, but especially in Guy Edmond’s Luke and Megan Drury’s Suzy – shows psychological understanding of a different order, I think.

Of the playwriting and production, I suspect there is more development work to do.  It may be Williamson’s last play, but perhaps he may not retire absolutely yet.  The performance by Diane Craig of Steve’s wife Helen needed to create much more empathy in us, watching.  The clue, for me, was in the question on how Steve had rated Jimmy at 10, but Luke at only 8.5; while Luke had rated his father at only 2, but his mother at 10.

As a fly-on-the-wall audience member, I wanted to rate Helen at 10 but she came through to me at about 6.  Yet at the every end, she completely unexpectedly reveals her ‘bad girl’ behaviour before meeting Steve – her bohemian tale, I guess.  It’s either in the writing, or maybe in the directing, but Diane Craig’s performance needed to establish that aspect of Helen’s character – the liveliness and warmth it implies – from early in the play.

I also think that, in the directing, and perhaps because of the writing, the first several scenes lost focus and energy because they come through as not much more than exposition.  They tell us bits of the story, but it’s not until maybe 20 minutes in that our attention begins to become focussed, and therefore engaged, in the feelings of the characters as they interact.  Then we begin to work out for ourselves what is now and has been going on between these people.  The backstory needs to grow out of the immediate present, from the very first scene.

It was, of course, a great privilege to be present on the opening night of the last play of what I can only call (awfully) an ‘iconic’ Australian playwright.  I deliberately have not given away too much here, because it’s important for me not to preempt your expectations.  There’s a depth of humanity in this play which should catch you by surprise.

I think, finally, it’s not unreasonable to point out the role of the Ensemble Theatre’s relationship with David Williamson, and especially his relationship with Sandra Bates, who first attended the classes of the Ensemble’s founder, Hayes Gordon, in 1968, and was invited by him to become artistic director of the company in 1986. 

Since 1995 Ensemble Theatre has staged “24 Williamson plays…including 19 world premieres, and produced three national tours.”  Sandra Bates herself directed 15 of these in the boatshed in-the-round, beginning with Emerald City, as well as additionally directing the three plays, Face to Face, A Conversation and Charitable Intent in the Jack Manning Trilogy at The Concourse, in Chatswood in 2014, before handing over the artistic directorship to Mark Kilmurry in 2016.

David Williamson has written on her retirement: "The Ensemble Theatre and I have had a very fruitful relationship now for many years.  I love this little theatre and I love the philosophy that guides it and that philosophy has been driven for over thirty years now by one remarkable woman, Sandra Bates. 

“Her philosophy of theatre is disarmingly simple.  Program contemporary plays from Australia, America and elsewhere that have something to say to contemporary society.  Program plays that tell a strong story that impacts on the audience rather than plays consumed by their own cleverness that few relate to or understand.  Plays of emotional impact that tell stories about real people facing real and pressing problems.

“The Ensemble is a theatre in which storytelling about contemporary society comes first and that's what I love about it.”

Indeed.


[see http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/news/sandra-bates-retire-ensemble ]

Emma Palmer as Lauren

REMEMBERING THE CARPENTERS

Lisa Budin Price, singer

Queanbeyan Bicentennial Hall

18 February

Reviewed by Len Power

Siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter were known for their distinctive soft musical style, combining Karen's contralto vocals with Richard's arranging and composition skills.  During their 14-year career, they recorded ten albums, selling more than 90 million records worldwide.  Their career together ended in 1983 when Karen died from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia.  Their music continues to be enjoyed by fans around the world.

In her show, ‘Remembering The Carpenters’, Canadian-born singer, Lisa Budin Price, pays tribute to the music of the Carpenters.  She has a fine voice and pleasant, easy-going personality.  She performs the songs very well and is supported by a four piece band and one female backup singer.

In an almost two hour show, highlights amongst the songs presented included ‘For All We Know’, ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’, ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’, ‘Close To You’ and ‘Top Of The World’.

The four band members and female backup singer gave Lisa Budin Price fine support.  Especially notable was Craig Walters with his expert flute and saxophone playing.

The show did not play well as a theatre presentation.  Random anecdotes about the Carpenters were presented but it lacked dramatic continuity which could have lifted the show to a higher level.  The Carpenters’ career was an interesting one that ultimately ended in tragedy.  A well-written, compelling narrative accompanying the songs would have been more effective.

A distracting slide show projected on screens both sides of the stage during the show appeared to be the singer’s personal photos from a visit to a 50^th anniversary of the Carpenters music in Los Angeles.  They were mostly of poor quality and of little relevance to the show.  Audience participation moments in the show also lacked imagination.

This tribute show was entertaining musically but needed better production values for a theatre presentation.

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.

‘Theatre of Power’, a regular podcast on Canberra’s performing arts scene with Len Power, can be heard on Spotify, ITunes and other selected platforms.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, adapted by Steve Rodgers from the novella by Peter Goldsworthy.  A Riverside National Theatre of Parramatta production presented by Belvoir, at Belvoir Street Upstairs, February 6 – March 8, 2020.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
February 16

Director – Darren Yap; Set and Costume Designer – Emma Vine; Lighting and AV Designer – Verity Hampson; Composer and Sound Designer – Max Lambert and Sean Peter.

Cast (alphabetical)
Valerie Bader (Grandma / Dr Eve), Emma Jackson (Linda), Mark Lee (Grandpa / Priest), Liam Nunan (Ben), Grace Truman (Wol), Matthew Whittet (Rick)

__________________________________________________________

Though I am used to being emotionally stirred by theatre, this presentation of a controversial story as a live performance disturbs me. 

When reading a fiction, I can set myself at arm’s length, pause to consider the author’s intention, and decide whether or not to read any further.  In the theatre, as the father’s intention to kill himself and his 12-year-old daughter at some point of his choosing when it seemed that her leukaemia could not be stopped from killing her, I could not stop being taken beyond an unacceptable conclusion.

Though some people may simply consider this to be a ‘sad’ story of a father willing to sacrifice himself in the name of ‘love’ for his daughter – by keeping her company right through until the end – this motivation (in a fictional character, remember) is warped in the extreme.  This father justifies committing suicide, and murder.

Perhaps Peter Goldsworthy’s intention was to open up the reader’s thinking about this family’s twisted faith, apparently acceptable to the fictional priest.  Perhaps it was meant to be enlightening about the nature of a God who can kill a child.  Perhaps voluntary euthanasia was the issue in Goldsworthy’s mind – except that Wol (fictional again, don’t forget) was too young to be legally responsible, and Rick was certainly not terminally ill – nor of sound mind.

Perhaps, as I thought the title of the work meant, the novella and the play would be taking a severely critical view of religious belief which, for example, can lead Catholic priests to refuse to report confessions of child abuse, and protect their confreres from criminal charges.  That God is certainly not Love – and Rick’s ‘love’ makes him think that he is God.

The adaptation for the stage, unfortunately, is not clear in its intention.  The style is essentially naturalistic, except for an occasional speech from the father which seems to be aimed directly at the audience.  If the whole play had been presented in this out-to-us form then perhaps I could have stood mentally back enough to see the story as simply being about issues.  But the apparent realism of the interactions between characters, particularly between Linda and her mother and the treating doctor, and the understandable sullenness in Ben’s responses, made the play awful to watch.  So then the ending, when his mother reminds Ben, now four years older, of how his father carried out injecting his daughter and himself, as if this was a normal – in fact loving – thing to do, was just sickening.

I didn’t feel sad.  If anything, it made me feel angry that Rick had left his wife and son with no support after the unavoidable death of her young daughter and his younger sister. 

So, on reflection, I think if Goldsworthy intended to make Rick a heroic loving father, then that was a serious error of judgement on Goldsworthy’s part.  Reviews (at, for example,  https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/615999.Jesus_Wants_Me_For_a_Sunbeam )
range from “This may be the worst book I have had the misfortune to encounter. One of the most utterly hideous, contrived and disingenuous novels I have ever read.” to “I nearly shed a tear at the end of this novella, not because I was sad that the father and daughter were dying, but that the father was spinning the biggest lie - that they would be together in death.” [because] “A rejection of God and Jesus would result in them not being together and his ultimate suicide was really for nothing.”

One said simply, “A very good read. I read it at one sitting.”

Be warned, then, that you will see a well-designed and very well performed show; but be prepared for what you might shed a tear for.

Set design by Emma Vine
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeamby Peter Goldsworthy
Riverside National Theatre of Parramatta
presented at Belvoir 2020
Photo: M McKone

No Pay? No Way!

No Pay? No Way! by Dario Fo, adapted by Marieke Hardy.  Sydney Theatre Company at Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, February 10 – March 20, 2020 (and at Riverside Parramatta April 1-4, 2020).

Reviewed by Frank McKone
February 15

Director – Sarah Giles; Designer – Charles Davis; Lighting Designer – Paul Jackson; Composer and Sound Designer – Steve Francis

Assistant Director – Madeleine Humphreys; Fight and Movement Director – Tim Dashwood; Voice and Text Coach – Charmian Gradwell; Literal Translator – Thomas McPherson

Cast (alphabetical order):
Giovanni – Glen Hazeldine; Luigi – Rahel Romahn; Antonia – Helen Thomson; Sergeant/Inspector/Undertaker/Old Man – Aaron Tsindos; Margherita – Catherine Văn-Davies
 

Photos by Prudence Upton

_____________________________________________________________

Helen Thomson (Antonia) and Glenn Hazeldine (Giovanni)
in No Pay? No Way!
Sydney Theatre Company 2020

Behind the uproaringly side-splitting laughter in Marieke Hardy’s adaptation of this Italian 1970s political farce (almost certainly by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, dubbed “the person behind the political”) is a highly intelligent design and directing concept.  Sarah Giles and Charles Davis parallel the collapse of the capitalist economic system by making the stage set of a neat, just adequate but seemingly substantial housing unit, break into scattered pieces around the characters, who struggle along until the point is reached where there is nothing left to do except sing a sad song of hope.

Though Hardy writes “if all else fails, let’s just be together for a spell and hold hands and laugh at how messed up it all is”, Sarah Giles’ ending is less hopeful.  Her characters sing quietly and beautifully, but distinctly apart from each other among different bits of their shattered environment.  They have made us laugh with references to our very own daily political farce, then sing us into a blackout which is a grateful pause in the madness.  We applaud in a moment about which we can only think, this is “Sad but True!”

I suspect, from the Youtube examples I can find, that Giles and her designer Charles Davis have taken us a step further into the absurd than Fo and Rame envisaged.  Other productions seem to finish on a note of defiance, still in the neat home setting, for which audiences cheer as the last line is spoken.  We went quiet in the darkness before the absolutely justified burst of applause as the lights came up for the curtain call.

Farce, of course, relies on surprise, so there is no way – with or without pay – that I can describe what happens in this production.  You simply must go along to the prestigious Sydney Opera House to laugh at pretension and laugh at the collapse of the ordinary good order of life.  Just watch out for the caesarian breaking of the waters, the brine and the olives.

Say no more – though you may understand a few more jokes if you know Italian.

It is a terrific production – an adaptation that Fo and Rame would surely be proud of, however horrified they might be to know that we still need to face up to the same, perhaps even worse farcical state in Australia and the world today.  I remember George W. Bush ringing in the new century 20 years ago with the cry “A New World Order!”

Ha! Ha!  No Way!

Rahel Romahn (Luigi)

Catherine Văn-Davies (Margherita)

Aaron Tsindos (as Sergeant)

The Deep Blue Sea

Marta Dusseldorp
in rehearsal for
The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan
Sydney Theatre Company
Photo: Brett Boardman

The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan.  Sydney Theatre Company at Roslyn Packer Theatre, February 4 – March 7, 2020.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
February 15

Director – Paige Rattray; Designer – David Fleischer; Lighting Designer – Nick Schlieper; Composer and Sound Designer – James Brown.
Assistant Director – Kenneth Moraleda; Fight and Movement Director – Nigel Poulton; Voice and Text Coach – Charmian Gradwell.

Cast:
Hester Collyer – Marta Dusseldorp; Freddie Page - Fayssal Bazzi; William Collyer – Matt Day
Mr Miller – Paul Capsis; Mrs Elton – Vanessa Downing
Philip Welch – Brandon McClelland; Ann Welch – Contessa Treffone; Jackie Jackson – Charlie Garber
______________________________________________________________

The play begins with a beautiful scene.  A blue ocean extends beyond our horizon as if it stretches on forever.The sky is a clear uninterrupted pale blue.

In the ocean is a tiny island, dark against the light.  A point of focus in this Deep Blue Sea.  This is Hester.  She is her tiny island – her dark world.

By the end of the play we understand, as Mr (one-time Dr) Miller tells Hester, “… the world is a dark enough place for even a little flicker to be welcome.”

Marta Dusseldorp and Paul Capsis
as Hester Collyer and Mr Miller
in The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan
Production Photos: Daniel Boud

Why is clearly-gay Miller no longer entitled to be ‘Dr’?  Because in 1950s Britain, homosexuality was a crime, punishable by jail.

Suicide was also a crime, though quite what the Christian belief behind the law imagined would be the punishment is a moot question.  Of course, to attempt suicide….

What if, though, you were a woman, daughter of a local vicar, marrying ‘above’ your station into the expectations of the ‘greater public school’ men – wealthy, elite?

And that’s before the play now begins, after ten months in love with a dashing RAF wartime fighter pilot – a famous but by now insecure past-his-prime test pilot.  Where did Lady Hester Collyer meet Freddie?  At the elite golf club, Sunningdale, of course.

Matt Day and Marta Dusseldorp
as Sir William Collyer and Lady Hester

Marta Dusseldorp and Fayssal Bazzi
as Hester and Freddie

Does this sound like your cup-of-tea, in modern Australia?  You’ll be surprised.  Just as director Paige Rattray describes:  “When I went to see the 2015 production at the National Theatre in London, I was aware of Rattigan’s reputation as an observer of the British middle-class, a society playwright, but was not prepared to meet one of the most complex, nuanced and thoroughly human female characters in the history of Western theatre.”

Scene changing by actors in character - the 'fourth wall' is broken
L-R: Contessa Treffone, Vanessa Downing, Brandon McClelland, Marta Dusseldorp and stage crew
as
Ann Welch (neighbour), Mrs Elton (landlady), Philip Welch (neighbour), Hester Collyer 

To then find Marta Dusseldorp to play this role was an inspired choice.  In this clever, also surprising set design, what would have been in the 1950s a conventional English sitting-room ‘fourth-wall’ scene turns into an exciting modern play reflecting on the past attitudes to mental health, sexual identity – and thus the position of women as independent people in control of their lives – attitudes still boiling away beneath our attempts today to change that dark world into a kinder place.

It worries me that the image in Rattigan’s play of the ‘deep blue sea’, which is attractive and offers the possibility of hope, is nowadays seen as ‘the black dog’, seemingly a vicious threat to escape from.  But Marta’s characterisation of Rattigan’s Lady Hester Collyer catches us out.  She achieves wonderfully the intention that director Paige has for this production:

“In moving Hester through her despair, through her reliance on other people to a place where she can exist for and with herself”…we have a “model for a new way to look at life, and a new way to survive it.”

If you had thought, as I had, that Terence Rattigan had less to offer than, say, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams or others of his era,  Sydney Theatre Company proves us to be mistaken. 

Not to be missed.

FAUST - Opera Australia

Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Mephistopheles in "FAUST"

Composed by Charles-Francois Gounod. Libretto by Jules Barber, Michel Carre

Conducted by Lorenzo Passerini – Directed by David McVicar

Choreographed by Michael Keegan-Dolan

Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House until March 11, 2020.

Performance on 14^th February reviewed by Bill Stephens

Teddy Tahu Rhodes resplendent in tattoos, tiara and black evening gown is not the only unsettling sight in David McVicar’s masterful staging of “Faust”. Church statues come to life, a life-sized crucifix crashes to the ground, a delicate classical ballet descends into an orgy, as Goethe’s melodramatic  story of the aged Faust who trades his soul to the devil in return for  a promise of a re-run of a life of hedonism, is portrayed by Gounod in a lush stream of beautiful melodies.

Honouring its reputation as one of the grandest of grand operas, McVicar’s staging is lavish and inventive. Charles Edwards’s opulent designs transform the stage of the Joan Sutherland Theatre with a succession of eye-popping recreations of iconic 1870’s Parisian landmarks.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Mephistopheles in "FAUST"

A crowded town square, the decadent Cabaret L’Enfer, the Church of Saint Severin, the organ loft of Notre –Dame, the stage of the Palais Garnier, all emerge from the shadows of Paule Constable’s deeply atmospheric lighting design, populated by a huge cast portraying citizens, ranging from wounded soldiers returning from battle to debauched bourgeoisie flaunting their wealth at theatrical spectacles, in stunning costumes designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel.

Richard Anderson as Wagner and the Opera Australia Chorus. 

Conducting his first opera in Australia, flamboyant Italian conductor, Lorenzo Passerini, maintained impressive control of his resources from the very first ominous chord of the overture. While allowing his soloists space to nuance their interpretations, he achieved   thrilling dynamics and balance from orchestra and ensemble for the huge choruses, particularly at the end of the opera where the chorus was positioned in the theatre, in the third level balconies, high above the audience.

It would be easy for the lead singers to become overwhelmed by the spectacle of this production, but again Opera Australia has assembled a topline cast,  headed by Russian soprano, Irina Lungu, as Marguerite, Italian tenor, Ivan Magri, making his role debut as Faust,  and of course, the stentorian-voiced Teddy Tahu Rhodes oozing devilish charm, charisma and swagger as Mephistopheles.

Irina Lungu as Marguerite in "FAUST"  

All acquit themselves magnificently, as does Michael Honeyman, as Marguerite’s soldier brother, Valentin, who cannot bring himself to forgive her for bringing disgrace on their family, even as he lies dying by the sword of her lover, Faust. Ever-reliable, Dominica Matthews,  makes the most of her chances as the saucy Marthe,  but it  is Anna Dowsley who takes the acting honours with her eye-catching turn in the pants role as the lanky Seibel, who has a secret crush on Marguerite.

Michael Honeyman (Valentin) - Anna Dowsley (Seibel) in "FAUST"

Of particular interest with this excellent revival is the opportunity it offers to have another look at the choreography of Michael Keegan-Dolan, who was responsible for the choreography for this production, meticulously reproduced here by Shane Placentino, who was also responsible for reproducing McVicar’s direction.

Since its 2015 season, Australia has had the opportunity to see Keegan-Dolin’s extraordinary dance work Swan Lake/Loch na hEala.  His striking choreography for “Faust”  both the Cabaret L'Enfer can-can and the Walpurgis Night ballet which ends, horrifically, with the ballet girls being raped,  was superbly danced by the large dance team, whose names, are not recorded in the free programs. Nor are those of the Opera Australia orchestra and chorus.

Dancers of Opera Australia perform "Walpurgis Nights" in "FAUST"

While the free programs, which were introduced following the decision by Opera Australia not to continue to produce souvenir programs, are welcomed, surely the omission of these names is demeaning, not only to the artists, for whom the printed program is the only record of their participation in a production, but to the many in the audience who would like to know the names of the artists whose performances they are watching and listening to.  

                                         Photos by Prudence Upton

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

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Adapted by Frank Galati from the novel by John Steinbeck

Directed by Chris Baldock 

Canberra REP production

Canberra REP Theatre, Acton to 29 February

Reviewed by Len Power 14 February 2020

“The Grapes of Wrath” is one of those classic stories that everyone knows something about, even if they haven’t read the book or seen the famous Henry Fonda movie.  Experience a John Steinbeck story and it will stay with you for the rest of your life.

This story of a farming family fleeing drought-ridden Oklahoma in 1938 and heading for California with nothing much but an optimism that is soon sorely tested, shows the good and bad side of humanity.  The personal stories of the characters resonate with us as we take this epic journey with them.

Frank Galati’s expert 1988 stage adaptation teems with the many colourful characters from the novel and distils the action down to the essentials.

The play provides actors with opportunities to create characters of real depth.  James McMahon gives a fine performance at the centre of the play as Tom Joad, the idealistic young man who is changed forever by his experiences on the road.  As Ma Joad, Karen Vickery gives a fiercely powerful performance as the woman whose family values are a tower of strength for everyone who is travelling with her.

Employing both subtlety and skill, Michael Sparks gives one of his best performances ever as the ex-preacher, Jim Casy, and Amy Dunham is heart-breaking in a fine performance as Rose of Shannon, really getting under the skin of a young woman with unrealistic expectations of life.  John Whinfield as Noah Joad is particularly effective and touching in a key emotional scene and there is strong, committed work by everyone else in the huge cast.

Chris Baldock has directed this show superbly.  His set design is an atmospheric and mechanical marvel that propels us deeply into the atmosphere of the time.  One beautifully managed complex set change early in the play got a round of applause from the opening night audience.  It was an exciting theatrical moment.

He has achieved an exceptional level of heart-felt and colourful performances from every member of his large cast.

The lighting design by Stephen Still and sound design by Neville Pye add considerable atmosphere to the show.  Helen Drum’s costume designs for these poor travellers have a pleasing period authenticity and the Properties team of Antonia Kitzel and Michael Sparks sourced an unusually vast number of period items for this show.

With its large cast and period requirements, this is not an easy play to mount successfully.  John Steinbeck’s writing is still important in this day and age and Chris Baldock’s production honours the writer while producing its own unique and stirring vision.

This review was first published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 15 February 2020

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.

‘THEATRE OF POWER’, a regular podcast on Canberra’s performing arts scene with Len Power, can be heard on Spotify, ITunes and other selected platforms.