BLANC DE BLANC

Directed by Scott Maidment

Presented by Strut & Fret in association with the Canberra Theatre Centre

Fortuna Spiegeltent, Canberra Theatre Centre forecourt to May 20

Reviewed by Len Power 27 April 2018

‘Blanc de Blanc’ at the Spiegeltent advertises itself as ‘a blend of vintage glamour, high end spectacle and titillating acts’.  We expect promoters to talk their shows up to excite and attract an audience and it’s great when a show matches our expectations.

Touring Spiegeltent shows of the past few years have generally provided an evening of off-beat, sophisticated adult entertainment with original and memorable international circus and cabaret acts.  This new production has a few good acts but its emphasis is more on the sleazy side of sex, promising a lot but then not delivering.

Monsieur Romeo and cast

Monsieur Romeo, the James Bondish-ish maitre d’ led the small company through a predictable evening of double entendre, flashes of nudity, gross-out moments and embarrassing audience-member participation with thunderously loud pre-recorded music.

The few decent circus acts with excellent lighting were a welcome relief from the padded out, boring banter between acts.  Costumes, makeup and choreography were designed to exude a rampant animal sexuality which has been seen so often before that it now has no impact.

The hula hoop act by Jess Mews was original and very well performed.  The highlight of the second half of the show was a beautiful aerial ballet performed by Hampus Jansson and Milena Straczynski.  The show needed more acts of this class.

This is the first time I have seen a show stopped in the middle of the second act and audience members invited to take selfies with the cast members for five minutes.

Opening night started 25 minutes late.  You have to queue outside until they open the doors so dress warmly and bring an umbrella if it looks like rain.  Premium ticket holders go in first and get the pick of the unreserved seats so you need to queue outside early if you want to be close to the stage.  The amount of leg room in Economy on an aircraft is luxurious compared to what awaits you in the Spiegeltent and with everyone crammed in so tight the sightlines to the stage are poor.

This show will appeal to an audience who is still shockable and prefers their entertainment to be predictable.  If you’re hoping for sophistication, wit and a reasonable number of high quality, unique circus/cabaret acts, this won’t meet your expectations.

Photos by David James McCarthy

 

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on his ‘On Stage’ performing arts radio program on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3.30pm on Artsound FM 92.7.

Review: 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'

AS the filmmaker behind every second person’s favourite comedy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, the director Mike Newell has had a bit to live up to since 1994. 
This, his latest film, is in similar vein to that modern classic with a trans-Atlantic romance, an ill-matched couple, and a cosy sense of Englishness.
Initially, I hadn’t found the sound of it enticing, but when it began I was quickly won round by the lead character, the medley of endearing personalities, the old-fashioned charm, and the production polish. And once we move from London in the aftermath of WWII to the stone cottages and plunging cliffs of the Channel Islands, it looks beautiful too—with Devon and Cornwall standing in for Guernsey.
For those who have not read the book (of the same title), I can report that it involves a spirited young woman who earns an excellent living from her writing. No food stamps for Juliet (Lily James). She finds some of the fashions irresistible – who wouldn’t? – and she makes enough to afford a fine apartment too, but she rents a modest room in a boarding house instead. At the moment it is a sea of red roses sent by her boyfriend, a smooth American, Mark (Glen Powell).
Otherwise, she is alone, having lost her parents during the war, and tends  to follow her heart and instincts, rather than those of her business-oriented friend and publisher, Sidney (Matthew Goode). She is on the point of dropping the silly nom de plume, Izzy Bickerstaff, with which she became famous, and doing something serious.
James and a brace of the actors besides her have appeared in television on Downton Abbey, not everyone’s cup of tea. If this is a selling point it is lost on me and maybe others, but the performances (from Penelope Wilton and Jessica Brown Findlay, etc) are spot on.
As is Dutch actor Michiel Huisman - who others may know through TV's astonishing Game of Thrones - the pig farmer, Dawsey, who writes to Juliet asking for help finding titles for his book club. It prompts her to visit.
Juliet’s welcome on Guernsey is uneven. The postmaster’s grandson is pleased to see her, but others—especially her landlady and the matriarch of the bookclub, Amelia (Wilton)—border on rudeness, and cannot bring themselves to welcome this stranger, however honourable her motives, into the insular community.
In flashbacks early on, the film explains how it came by its incongruous title, and asks for our indulgence. The idea of a bookclub apparently came in a moment of desperation when a group of islanders were surprised by a Nazi patrol while making food deliveries during curfew.
The Nazis occupied the Channel Islands, a British protectorate, from 1940-45, or for most of the war. To explain themselves, on the spot, the miscreants invent the idea of a bookclub and name it after the spud pie one of their number is carrying. Surely it wasn’t necessary to burden the film with it too.
And yet, despite this handicap and some risky nostalgia for an idealised past, Newell’s film has a winning combination of easy charm, lively characters and romance to more than make up for it.
A subplot involving a young German doctor stationed on Guernsey underlines the generosity and humanity of this sweet tale. It may be a confection, but a slice of such accomplished escapism with characters to care about has never hurt anyone.
Reviewed by  Jane Freebury
3.5 Stars

THE RESISTABLE RISE OF ARTURO UI.

The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht. Directed by Kip Williams.  Set design by Robert Cousins. Costume Design Marg Horwell. Lighting design. Nick Schlieper. Composer and Sound designer. Stefan Gregory. Cinematographer. Justine Kerrigan. Fight director. Nigel Poulton. Assistant Director Alastair Clark. Voice and text coach. Charmian Gradwell. Ros Packer Theatre. March 27 – April 28 2018.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Hugo Weaving as Arturo Ui in THe Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. Photo: Daniel Boud

As we witness the outcomes of a Royal Commission into Banking and the Financial Services and the appalling malpractice and fraudulent corruption that it exposes, a play depicting graft and corruption in the Chicago fruit market trade may appear somewhat trivial by comparison. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bertolt Brecht’s veiled 1941 parabel of the rise of Hitler  in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui is a chillingly timely and prophetic condemnation of the political, social and economic systems that permeate a corrupt and opportunistic society.

The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. Photo: Daniel Noud

Kip Williams’  vision of the rise of a psychopathic narcissist is unrelenting in its menacing momentum. Video cameras simultaneously capture the stage action on film, projecting close-ups onto a large screen, so that we are overwhelmed by enlarged visions of true motivation.  We see Cabinet Minister Doughborough’s struggle to resist bribery, until persuaded to succumb in order to help his disabled son, a capitulation that will set him on the slippery slope to dishonourable obligation. Veteran actor, Peter Carroll strikes a tragic figure as an honourable and honest man, destroyed by the malevolent and persuasive power of the manipulative Fruit Market Syndicate.

But it is Hugo Weaving’s Arturo Ui that presents the most chilling lesson to us all of the ever present threat of megalomaniacal ambitions. Weaving is superb in the role of Brecht’s villainous paragon of evil. Ui rises from humble, unknown beginnings to weasel his way into the city’s fruit market enterprise through an insidiously contrived pathway of ingratiation, convincing persuasion, plausible protection and ultimately ruthless terror. Although originally set in Chicago, Williams’s setting could very easily apply to the fruit market industry of any Australian capital city. After all the precedent of corruption, grafting and terrorism has not gone unnoticed in Australian fruit markets during the last century. Brecht’s play is applicable to any corrupt enterprise and only a matter of days after seeing the production, I heard of Ron Medich’s conviction for the murder of fellow developer, Malcolm McGirr after arranging for one of his associates to murder McGirr in front of his 9 year old son. In Arturo Ui, it is Ui’s psychopathic offsider, Ernesto Roma (Colin Moody), who commits the murders, only to eventually fall foul of his leader and suffer an appropriate fate . 

Murder most foul is the name of the game, and director,Williams spares nothing to portray the violence graphically on stage and screen. What plays before our eyes is a Shakespearian drama of mammoth proportions and Tom Wright’s translation in part owes allegiance to Shakespearian masterpieces. There is a brilliant scene in which Ui learns the actor’s art froma  theatre director, played with eccentric flamboyance and intensity by Mitchell Butel. It is not accidental that Ui should deliver a rousing rendition of Marc Antony’s speech over the body of Julius Caesar from Shakespeare’s Roman play. Nor is it inescapable that Ui’s sly wooing of Betty Dullfleet (Anita Hegh) over the body of her slain husband, the newspaper editor Ignatius Dullfleet (Tony Cogin) should bear resemblance to Richard lll’s unlikely wooing of the widow Anne over the coffin of the husband that Richard had murdered.

Hugo Weaving as Arturo Ui and Peter Carroll as Dogsborough
Photo by Daniel Boud

Observance of Brecht’s Alienation Effect, designed to prevent us from cathartic capitulation while heightening our judgement is reverently observed by Williams. Actors are seen warming up, chatting, fiddling with costuming and generally strolling about the stage as the audience enters. The plot for each scene is projected, so that we are not seduced by the story, but able to see how characters interact and the consequence of their behaviour. Close-ups on the screen illuminate attitude and motive and each scene clearly represents Ui’s inevitable rise to power. It is a frightening vision of humanity’s inescapable powerlessness in the face of resolute evil.

What we are witness to is a powerfully staged prophesy. Weaving is monumental in the leading tole, but this in no way detracts from the evenness of a talented and unified ensemble. Although didactic in its mission, Brecht always claimed that his theatre should first and foremost entertain. Secondly it should instruct and elicit judgement and action. The Sydney Theatre Company production is gripping and frightening theatre. Seen in the context of Hitler’s outrageous atrocities and tyrannous evil, this production may not make our blood run cold, but it will remind us , as Dogsborough suggests in the closing epilogue, that history will repeat itself and reminds us all that the dog of war is still a bitch on heat.  

The cast of The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. Photo; Daniel Boud

The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui will close at the Sydney Theatre Company’s Ros Packer Theatre on April 28^th, and I suspect that the final performances will already be sold out, but if you are able to get to Sydney to see this excellent production of Brecht’s prophetic warning, and there is a seat to be honourably obtained, it will be a purchase you won’t regret.

The Celtic Tenors

Matthew Gilsenan    James Nelson    Daryl Simpson

The Celtic Tenors – The Irish Songbook Tour.  Presented by Duet Entertainment and Sport at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, April 17 / 18, 2018.

Performers:

Matthew Gilsenan    James Nelson    Daryl Simpson

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 17

The strength of The Celtic Tenors’ performance is not so much in the quality of their singing – which ranges from high opera to pure folk – but in the sense of community they quickly establish with their audience.  They found the level just right for Queanbeyan’s The Q, the locals and the busful from Ulladulla, Moruya and Batemans Bay, silver-hairs among the golden harmonies.  It was not long before everyone was singing the chorus parts – from yodelling in John Denver’s Calypso to aaahing in Nessun Dorma.

In two 50-minute segments, 21 songs from bawdy Irish humour in Finnegan’s Wake (nothing to do with James Joyce!), to sad songs critical of the sending of young men to war (especially Eric Bogle’s All the Fine Young Men) and even of the transportation to Botany Bay of the young Irish farmer, for stealing bread to feed his wife and family in the potato famine (The Fields of Athenry which was written in the 1970s by Pete St. John).

A social conscience is a central concern in The Celtic Tenors’ songbook, about the plight of the homeless or about the crucial role played by carers for those ageing with dementia.  Yet the show is leavened with a sense of humour, often improvised in direct fun with us, and songs of homecoming like Song for Ireland (by English folksingers June and Phil Colclough).

After the expected Nessun Dorma by Puccini to conclude the show, when the audience demanded an encore, came a wonderful highlight – the traditional Danny Boy sung a capella without microphones. 

I’m not so sure about the presenters’ expertise in sport, but Duet certainly provided excellent entertainment, which continues at The Q for one more night before moving on to Tasmania at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, on Saturday April 21, and in Victoria in Traralgon April 22 and Frankston on the 24th to complete their first tour of Australia.

My only disappointment was that though we were told the name of the terrific young pianist / musical director, my silver-haired aural memory is not up to scratch.  I have not been able to find out who he is – he deserves acknowledgement as much as the singers in my view.  Nor could I find details of the technical team, whose lighting and especially sound mixing was equally excellent.

THE SPOOKY MEN'S CHORALE

The Spooky Men’s Chorale

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, 14 April 2018

Reviewed by LEN POWER

Looking like the type of guys you wouldn’t want to have moving in next door to you, twelve men dressed in black wearing quirky hats wandered on to the altar of Wesley Church.  It didn’t look good, but then they started singing a rousing Georgian table song a capella and it was clear that these blokes knew what they were doing.  It was a bit spooky and also intriguing.

Formed in the Blue Mountains of NSW in 2001 by New Zealander, Stephen Taberner, the Spooky Men first attracted wider attention at the National Folk Festival in Canberra in 2004.  They have since performed at festivals in the UK and Europe.  Their popularity in Canberra was clear with every seat in the Wesley Church filled for their concert.

The first half of the show consisted mostly of songs celebrating aspects of the Aussie male that were probably best left unsaid but they were sung in fine arrangements and with clear, confident harmonies, making them even funnier.  Song titles included ‘We Are Men’, ‘My Favourite Body Part’, ‘We Are Not A Men’s Group’ and the unforgettable ‘Don’t Stand Between A Man And His Tool’.

Stephen Taberner, who conducted as well as sang, regaled the audience with deadpan commentary as the concert progressed.  The audience reacted as if they had heard it all before and were waiting for him to say their favourite lines.  As a first timer at one of their concerts, I felt it was getting a bit too indulgent at times and needed tightening up.

The second half of the concert, while still offering enjoyable moments of great silliness, also included some unexpectedly tender songs such as ‘Fiddle and Drum’ by Joni Mitchell, ‘Picture In A Frame’ by Tom Waits and sung beautifully by group member, Warren, and ‘Crossing The Bar’, from the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

This group has a great gimmick going for them but they are also superb musicians who deserve the success they have achieved.

This review was first published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 15 April.

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘On Stage’ program on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3.30pm.