Theatre director Ray Omodei dies at 84.

Raymond Omodei

By Helen Musa

LAST week the Australian theatre lost one of its most literate and most influential directors when Raymond Omodei died at Rosewood Care in Leederville WA after complications from aphasic Alzheimer’s.

He was, in his heyday, as famous in the East and the West for his striking productions of the classics, whether Sophocles, Shakespeare,  Restoration high comedy, 20th century Irish drama, Patrick White and Chekhov.

But in Canberra he was best-known for his hit commercial production of “Shirley Valentine” starring Amanda Muggleton and for his work at the ACT Curriculum Research and Development Centre.

With a penchant for tight psychological work, Omodei was sought-after by female performers, notably Muggleton and Angela Punch, (later Punch-McGregor) whose first professional engagement was as Pegeen Mike in his production of Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World” for the Old Tote Theatre in 1973.

The illness which eventfully cut him short was the worst possible fate for a brilliant raconteur and wit — “it was like having Oscar Wilde in the room” — one friend said.  After colleagues started to notice a marked deterioration in his capacity to form sentences and complete his witty epigrams, it was to the verbal classics that he wants to turn.

In early March 2018, I attended his production of Congreve’s “The Way of the World,” at Guildford’s Garrick Theatre, his fourth staging of the play. The presentation was of impeccable quality, all the more extraordinary considering his worsening condition, but, supported around the clock by team of willing friends and carers, he came through with flying colours.

Omodei’s life was entirely devoted to the theatre and by the time of his illness he had staged over 200 productions.

The eldest child of Helen and Ray Omodei, he grew up in Wiluna, once home to the biggest gold mine in Western Australia, but when gold ran out, his family left the town and settled in in Kalgoorlie, where from the early 1950s he acted, danced and directed with the Goldfields Repertory Club.

He then trained as a school teacher in Graylands Teachers College, Perth while throwing himself into roles with university and amateur companies in Perth. In 1968 he moved to London for three years, founding a theatre company there.

Back in WA, he was from 1971-73, associate director at Edgar Metcalfe’s National Theatre Company before being headhunted by Robin Lovejoy to become a resident director at the Old Tote Theatre Company in Sydney for three years.

His east coast career, working with his long-time collaborator Jake Newby, include a stint as artistic director of the Australian Theatre for Young People, a teaching position at the University of Newcastle and from 1977-78 the artistic directorship of the inaugural Armidale Project , a regional theatre initiative.

In Sydney he met up with old WA colleagues like the playwright Dorothy Hewett, whose notorious “Bon Bons and Roses for Dolly” he had directed in Perth during 1972, as well as Katharine Brisbane and Philip Parsons, who had founded Currency Press, and with them immersed himself in the burgeoning Sydney theatre scene of the 1970s.

After working for the Curriculum Research and Development Centre in Canberra, he returned to WA, where he became artistic director of the Mason-Miller Theatre Company then from 1982 the artistic director of the Hole-in-the-Wall Theatre Company.

In that year he was named Western Australian Citizen of WA for his contribution to the arts, culture and entertainment.

After a period of commercial theatre production, during which he made a name for himself Australia-wide, he became the first and only artistic director of the State Theatre Company of Western Australia (now the Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA ) from 1991-93.

Omodei’s latter years were spent teaching theatre and staging independent productions like “A Long Day’s Journey into Night” at the Subiaco Theatre Centre in 2004 with Angela Punch McGregor as Mary Tyrone. He emerged in 2011 to become director-in-residence for the (80th anniversary celebrations of the Goldfields Repertory Club.

Omodei was a larger-than-life personality. He combined the flamboyance of his paternal Italian heritage with the canny financial caution inherited from his mother’s side in a remarkably comfortable career for a theatre practitioner. He lived grandly in Perth in a mansion in Leederville, in a Georgian residence in in North Perth and finally in an apartment with breathtaking views of the Swan River, dispensing Veuve Clicot, clever words, Italian opera and his famous spaghetti vongele with equal aplomb.

A voracious reader and documenter of theatre, his collection of theatrical material now rests with the Museum of Performing Arts.

Omodei is survived by his sibling Cathy, Mont and Vincent. A private funeral will take place on April 15. He would have been 84 today.

Raymond Douglas Omodei, April 11, 1936 to April 2, 2020.

BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED

Streaming on Netflix

Reviewed by Len Power 1 April 2020

The documentary ‘Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened’ takes its title from the lyric of a song in Stephen Sondheim’s musical, ‘Merrily We Roll Along’.  This unusual and compelling documentary details the journey of a much anticipated musical from auditions to opening and beyond.

After Sondheim’s Broadway smash hit of 1979, ‘Sweeney Todd’, his next show was to be a 1981 musical version of the 1934 play ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Such was the anticipation for this show that CBS Television started filming auditions and early rehearsals for a planned documentary.  However, when the show was a surprising flop and closed after only 16 performances, the project was shelved.

Many years later, the filmed footage was re-discovered and given to original cast member, Lonnie Price, who was now a highly respected director and writer.  He created this documentary called ‘Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened’ from the footage.  It charts the hopes and dreams of the group of young actors excited by their good fortune to be cast in the latest Sondheim musical.  Years later, cast members reminisce about the experience of being part of the show and the shock of its early closure.  Some recovered and moved on to have successful careers in showbiz but many of them were deeply scarred by the experience.

Watching the discussions and decisions being made by the creators are fascinating.  Knowing that the show was ultimately a flop makes it especially poignant as we see the enthusiasm and joy of the very young cast when told they have been cast in the show.

Original leading man, James Weissenbach, who had been replaced prior to opening night by Jim Walton, talks about the crushing blow he experienced personally.  He seems remarkably philosophical about it now.  Jim Walton, who replaced him, is also on hand to talk about being a cast member suddenly promoted to leading man.

Director of the documentary, Lonnie Price, is seen watching footage of himself during rehearsals.  It clearly has an immense impact on him.  He tells us that he has directed every Sondheim musical for the theatre over the years since but has never directed a production of ‘Merrily We Roll Along’.

It’s an electrifying, bitter-sweet documentary and anyone who’s ever been actively involved in a theatre production will find this a particularly moving experience.

‘Merrily We Roll Along’ may have been a flop on Broadway at the time but has continued to have a life ever since.  It was one of the shows scheduled to be performed at the Hayes Theatre in Sydney in April.  Due to Covid-19, it has been postponed to 2021.

‘Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened’ is currently streaming on Netflix and for theatre lovers, it shouldn’t be missed.

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 or at https://player.whooshkaa.com/shows/theatre-of-power.

The Hairy Panic

Photography Review by Brian Rope: The Hairy Panic. Sophie Dumaresq. Nishi Gallery.

Was scheduled to run until 4 April but, sadly, the physical exhibition has now been taken down and the gallery closed because of COVID-19. A virtual version is going to be put on the Art, Not Apart website. In the meantime, you can view some of the images here or at https://artnotapart.com/artist/2020/sophie-dumaresq/.

Sophie Dumaresq’s body of work “The Hairy Panic” comprises a series of photographs of a land art installation on the windswept grasslands surrounding Lake George, plus her pink tumbleweed sculptures that feature in the images. This work is a significant part of the “Today I, Tomorrow You” exhibition which, in turn, was part of the recent “Art, Not Apart” Festival. There are also half a dozen other photographers’ images to see.

Hairy Panic, Untitled #4

Each tumbleweed was made by Dumaresq’s own hands from chemically processed and hand-dyed human hair and painted pink steel. The pink colour references harmful pesticides. They took something of a battering when exposed to the elements for the photography, but still look great. I’m told that Dumaresq has been regularly and lovingly combing the hair.

Hairy Panic, Untitled #6

A Canberran, Dumaresq is an artist working in photo media, in addition to large and small-scale sculptural installation. In 2009 she attended a student internship program at Questacon. She completed her Diploma in Photography (Honours) at Spéos School for Photography (Paris and London) and has participated in group exhibitions in Australia, France, Greece and Germany. She is currently studying at The Australian National University’s Sculpture and Spatial Practices Workshop.

“Pancium effuse” (commonly known as Hairy Panic), is a species of grass native to inland Australia that, in dry and windy conditions combined with soil toxicity levels, can thrive and become a tumbleweed.

Naming the project after the tumbleweeds was done to share a narrative with viewers, causing us to reflect on past and present-day treatment and documentation of the land and its inhabitants.

Hairy Panic, Untitled #10

What consequences will our present-day treatment practices have for the future? What do our patterns of consumption, destruction and creation demonstrate? How do we relate, show empathy for and evolve with and within our surrounding environment?

Production principles also highlight the power to both shape and be shaped by landscapes, past, future and present. The use of photographs reflects on the arguably violent legacy of the medium, through documentation within both the sciences and social sciences, towards women, indigenous communities, other minority groups and all those who have historically fallen outside of the Western definition of what is human.

Viewing the work allows us to seriously consider the intersection of humans and material culture. Human hair was chosen due to its nitrogen bonds, that can be used as fertiliser absorbed by both the soil and the crops we then consume. The hair was collected from women to draw attention to the connection of that of the female body and that of livestock, agricultural and sexual means of production and reproduction.

Using art to reflect is a common and important practice. Here the reflecting is on the history and politics behind the aesthetics of landscape documentation - as both a means of production and a means of aesthetic communication of what it is to be alien.

 Hairy Panic, Untitled #13

In addition to being works to contemplate, the images consider "how our present-day treatment of the land will not only have consequences in the future but are already happening and are here."  They explore symbiotic cycles of consumption, destruction and creation demonstrating how as a species we relate, show empathy and evolve with and within our surrounding environment.

Hairy Panic, Untitled #15

Photographically, the pink (of the tumbleweeds) works particularly well in the sunlit landscapes, particularly when the overhead clouds are similarly coloured by the light. The pink sculptures also contrast with smoky skies in those images reminding us of the recent fires, very possibly caused by our treatment of the land.

   Hairy Panic, Untitled #8

Sadly, the physical exhibition has now been taken down and the gallery closed because of COVID-19. A virtual version is going to be put on the Art, Not Apart website. In the meantime, you can view some of the images at https://artnotapart.com/artist/2020/sophie-dumaresq/.

This review was first published in the Canberra Times and is also on my own blog at https://wordpress.com/post/brianropephotography.wordpress.com/606

Mico among the nebulae

Art / Domenic Mico’s “The Cosmos”, at m16artspace.com.au until April 5. Reviewed by PHILLIP MACKENZIE.

'Eye of God,' 2019, oil on canvas.

BEING a complacent, if not complicit, citizen, I was unable to attend the opening of Domenic Mico’s exhibition “The Cosmos” at M16 Artspace in Griffith.

As it turned out, thanks to COVID-19, the exhibition was never officially “launched”, but in those relatively liberal couple of days, the show was billed as being accessible to the public. In a stir-crazy demonstration of independence, therefore, a few days later I broke my self-imposed parole and went to M16.

There was an ominous sense of emptiness as I entered the lobby, and found the gallery closed against intruders. I was, however, able to peer through the mesh roller doors and get some impression of the impressive display of abstract bursts of cosmic splendour which, I knew, Mico had been building up since his 2018 exhibition at FORM Gallery in Queanbeyan.

While that collection can now be seen as a colourful and expressionist precursor to the works, its theme had been more terrestrial. Now, Mico is joyously swanning off among the nebulae.

'Pillars of Creation,' 2018, oil on canvas

On returning home, I was relieved to find that M16 had up-loaded the entire offering at m16artspace.com.au and I had all the time I could want to browse, visit and revisit these phantasmagorical images at my leisure.

The I-version did nothing to diminish my admiration for Mico, and for his sake I can only hope that the two sales noted therein are an indication only of the fear and caution with which we are all living in the time of COVID-19.

I would happily put red stickers on “Pillars of Creation” and “Emissions” – in both of these I swear there is the vestige of the theatrical comedy mask lurking in the cosmic dust – a sly joke from Mico’s past life in theatre? Elsewhere, I might fantasise about vestigial images of the ubiquitous COVID-19 – but I doubt that even Mico’s imagination could have foreseen our present predicament.

'Blue Planet,' 2018, oil on canvas.

I would also happily put red stickers on “Blue Planet”, which put me in mind of “Whale Nation”, a long poem by Heathcote Williams which Phil Roberts and later Neil Roach and I adapted for solo performance in the 1990s. It begins, “From space, the planet is blue. From space the planet is the territory not of humans but of the whale” and on my shelves I have a deep blue glass sphere by local artist Alan Aston which, for me, conjures up the same meme.

And, I would also put a red sticker on “Eye of God”– because, well, I just liked it.

Now that art galleries are off-limits for “the duration”, I hope they will follow M16’s example and upload their offerings for house-bound art lovers to regain some sense of the real world we have been forced to leave behind.

This review was first published at citynews.com.au