Watching Me, Watching You

Photography and Videography | Brian Rope

Watching Me, Watching You | Jemima Campey

Tuggeranong Arts Centre Foyer | 8 to 29 October 2022

Jemima Campey (Ngunnawal/Ngambri lands) graduated from the Australian National University in 2021 with degrees in English and Visual Arts. She is currently completing her Honours in Visual Arts.

 

Campey makes photos, performances, installations and films. Through the use of appropriated and reworked materials which are borrowed from a day-to-day context, she touches various overlapping themes and strategies, including performance and contemporary culture. Her text and photographic works are often deeply personal, providing insight into her act of making art.

 

I’ve previously seen only a little of Campey’s artwork – videos in which she examined the phenomenon of the ‘apology video’, exploring how the spread of social media was impacting and re-shaping the nature of peoples’ emotions.

 

In this exhibition, Watching Me, Watching You, she has worked with both appropriated material and newly created photographs, and presents a selection of her recent works, united by their focus on the intersections of contemporary culture, online behaviours, and performance.

 

She has drawn from her own experiences growing up during the rise of social media and from the writings of Rayne Fisher-Quaan, a Canadian political commentator who, aged seventeen, created the organisation March for Our Education to lead student actions protesting the repeal of the sex education content of a Health and Physical Education curriculum.

 

Campey has used video and photography to make sense of some aspects of online life and subcultures that may not be well known to those who do not engage with particular trends or online platforms. A 500cm long inkjet print titled Doomscrolling reveals the types of interactions that might be read on some platforms, such as Pinterest. Here is just a tiny section of the text on the scroll:

 

SHE IS BEAUTIFUL. HER BODY IS BEAUTIFUL. With that said, she is clearly tilting a lot and flexing to make herself look thinner and more toned. she’s also using the clothing to her advantage to make her body look how she wants, which is her right, just remember that everything on the internet can be so tainted and altered from its natural state.

 

And one response to that:

 

yesss, thank you also notice that she like purposely took her shirt off for the pic

 

We all know that social media can infiltrate almost every part of our lives. We can present ourselves to others in whatever way we choose. Some opt to perform for their audience, whom they may or may not know, to create the image they wish to portray. Doing so raises such questions as “What are the impacts of adopting a moral superiority within your online persona and brand?”

 

Campey does not claim to answer these questions. Rather, she considers how authenticity and perception come into play in various online spaces, such as dating apps.

 

That’s All I Have to Say (a 9-channel digital video which runs for a little over three minutes) is intriguing. It is important to put on the headphones and listen to the words spoken by numerous people whilst viewing the images scattered on the screen.

 

That’s All I Have To Say. 2021. Still from video 03_07

Lovers’ Hands, (a ten-minute long looped video screening within a lovely and very small handmade frame) is also well worth close inspection.

 

Lovers Hands (2021). Installation image supplied. Digital video and handmade frame. 10_02, looped

There is a performance video piece, Routine, showing the artist herself engaging in a somewhat drawn-out and surreal process performing wellness and wellness-related activities – skincare, vitamins, hair brushing and so on.

 

Routine (still) 27_45. 2022

 

And to complete this modest but thoughtful exhibition, there is just one photograph. It is a self-portrait, Saint Belle, again focussing on the wellness industry, which is booming as consumers spend on products to improve their health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep, and mindfulness.

 

Saint Belle. 2022. Inkjet print, 84.1x59.4 cm

This review was first published online on 17/10/22 by the Canberra Times here and then in print (page 27) on 24/10/22. It is also available on the author's blog here.

MURDER ON THE NILE

 

Kim Wilson as Canon Pennefather

Written by Agatha Christie

Directed by Jon Elphick

Tempo Theatre production

Belconnen Theatre to 29 October

 

Reviewed by Len Power 21 October 2022

 

 

One of the great Agatha Christie novels, “Death On The Nile “, was first published in 1937.  It was dramatised as “Murder On The Nile” and opened in London’s West End in 1946.  It’s probably best known to audiences who flocked to the 1978 film adaption with Peter Ustinov and an all star cast and the TV version with David Suchet in 2004.  The least said about the overblown 2021 film adaptation by Kenneth Branagh, the better.

While the novel and films feature the beloved character, Hercule Poirot, it’s a surprise to find that the play does not include him.  Instead we have a parson, Canon Pennefather. This enabled Christie to have a character with a believably murky past so that suspicion falls on him, too.  Christie felt that this change gave the play more drama as audiences would have decided that Poirot was above suspicion.

The drama all takes place on the observation deck of the paddle steamer, “Lotus” on the River Nile in Egypt between Shellal and Wadi Haifa.  The nicely designed set by the director, Jon Elphick, gives plenty of playing area for the substantial cast.  The play moves at a good pace and the director has ensured that the cast give well-rounded characterisations.

Kim Wilson takes the lead as Canon Pennefather and is particularly fine and believable.  The rest of the cast all give good performances.

Of particular note are Christina Grant, as the harried companion, Paul Jackson as Dr. Bessner, with a realistic German accent and demeanour, Jacqueline Forrester as the newly-wed rich girl, Kay Mostyn, and Mark Ritchie as her bridegroom, Simon Mostyn.

Another Kim Wilson as Jacqueline De Severac, the spurned and jealous girlfriend of Simon Mostyn and Kah-Mun Wong as Louise, a mysterious passenger from Paris, also give good performances.

A big surprise in this production was that Kim Wilson, who played Kay Mostyn, Kah-Mun Wong and Jacqueline Forrester are relatively new to acting on stage.  Their performances were confident with a believable sense of the characters they were playing.  They performed as though they had been acting for years and have a bright future.

My companion, who had not seen the show in any film adaptation and had not read the novel was completely fooled by the ingenious plot.  For those who know the plot from the novel or films, it’s a rare chance to see how it works on stage.  This is one of Tempo Theatre’s better productions.

This review was first published in the Canberra CityNews digital edition of 22 October.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

The Caretaker

 

 

 

 

 

 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter.  Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, October 14 – November 19 2022.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 22, 3.30pm

Cast:
Darren Gilshenan – Davies; Anthony Gooley – Aston; Henry Nixon – Mick
Understudies: Laurence Coy; Tim Walter

Creatives:
Director – Iain Sinclair; Assistant Director – Danielle Maas
Set & Costume Designer – Veronique Benett
Lighting Designer – Matt Cox; Sound Designer – Daryl Wallis
Stage Manager – Lauren Tulloh; Costume Supervisor – Renata Beslik
Dialect Coach – Linda Nicholls-Gidley; Combat Director – Scott Witt

Mick, a man in his late twenties; Aston, a man in his early thirties; Davies, an old man

____________________________________________________________________

Kirribilli Village – multi-multicultural, just below Sydney Harbour Bridge – having coffee before the afternoon show, at the Bakery, near the Japanese, Thai and Italian restaurants, not far from the Indian restaurant for dinner; a world away in time and distance from Harold Pinter’s London of my childhood in the 1950s.  

I’m sure like many of the people around me of migrant origin, I am more than grateful for my sense of freedom in Australia – even though only from the English class system which I fear would have held me back in my working class culture.  Like Aston, the elder brother in The Caretaker, my mental confusion might have led to electroconvulsive shock treatment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electroconvulsive_therapy_in_the_United_Kingdom
while we are seeing the Eton / Oxford upper class culture play out in the Conservative Party political disaster in the UK right now.

You might have thought the sound of rain on the roof of the Ensemble Theatre, and the drips into the bucket hanging from the ceiling were real, but ‘I can tell you’ (a favourite phrase from the old Cockney, Davies) that the rain of three La Ninas in Sydney is nothing like London’s drizzle.  From October 1952 until well after Easter 1953 I never saw the sun and had to walk home from school unable to see my own feet because of the smog – which killed my grandma that Easter.  I understood those drips, despite laughing along.

The terrific creation by all three actors, led by Darren Gilshenan in one of, arguably his best performance, of that Cockney culture was a delight for me.  It has a long literary history. The language and the ironic, often deliberately politically incorrect humour, is there in the Gravedigger in Hamlet and the Porter in Macbeth, so the connection through my maternal grandfather, who was born ‘within the sound of Bow Bells’ which rang to introduce each scene (and could also have been Big Ben) took me right back to Shakespeare.

And, of course, Davies’ disgust at the dirty ‘blacks’ next door and the ‘Poles’, as the Commonwealth people with British citizenship immigrated and the beginning of Britain’s connection with what became the European Union was under way, has now created that other disaster, Brexit.  Ironically today, Davies would never have read the works of the “Polish-British” writer (as I had always known him) Joseph Conrad [https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Joseph_Conrad] who was actually born in 1857 in Berdychiv, Ukraine [https://www.britannica.com › ... › Novelists A-K].

So I must give special thanks to Ensemble Theatre and the one-time Canberran ANU Theatre Arts student,  Iain Sinclair, for a stunning presentation of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker.  Pinter became famous for his ‘pause’, the moments when nothing happened, in silence, while the characters react internally and work out what, if anything, they might let themselves say next.

In his Director’s Note, Sinclair writes:

Aston: Where were you born then?
Davies: (Darkly) What do you mean?
Max Stafford Clark who ran The Royal Court Theatre in UK taught me the most important lesson I have ever learned in directing and he used the above two lines from The Caretaker to do so.

Sinclair’s direction, though, also has about it the physicality for which Australian theatre has become legendary.  Just watch for the ‘rugby league’ football training scene using the bag of second-hand clothing the kindly-hearted Aston has bought for the down-and-out Davies, thoroughly against his younger brother’s wish to kick Davies out.  Nothing was said for at least five minutes – but everything was meant in the frantic hand-passing of the bag.

Particularly because Mack Davies himself often plays for laughs (his ‘papers’, entirely fictional of course, are held at Sidcup: The Sidcup in The Caretaker comes from the fact that the Royal Artillery HQ was there when I was a National Serviceman and its almost mythical quality as the fount of all permission and record was a source. " To English ears," Billington continues, "Sidcup has faintly comic overtones of suburban respectability." https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Caretaker), the play is often funny, but Sinclair, Gilshenan, Gooley and Nixon have accurately captured the absurdity of the play, and of life as Pinter saw it in 1960.

Is the play, and its production in Sydney in 2022, still relevant without knowing about Shepherd’s Bush and Finsbury Park, or Tottenham Court Road?

Yes, because in the end, though nowadays it will seem out of place with no female (or diverse) characters, it is essentially about what is universal: what does it mean to be a caretaker?  Is it enough to take care of oneself, without regard for others?  Is it possible, and how do you do it, to take care of someone else?  Should not we all be caretakers in attitude towards everyone, however different from each other and from ourselves?  Towards the environment, even?  

With care, our world may be a better place.  That’s the legacy Harold Pinter’s artistry passes on to us, today.  Davies not only says “What do you mean?”, but also “Know what I mean!”  Now we know and are thankful.

L-R: Darren Gilshenan as Davies, Henry Nixon as Mick, Anthony Gooley as Aston
in The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
Ensemble Theatre
Photo: Prudence Upton

Concept to Publication, 2022

Photobooks | Brian Rope

Concept to Publication| Beata Tworek, Caroline Lemerle, Claire Manning, Con Boekel, Grant Winkler, Ian Houghton, Jamie Hladky, Louise Grayson, Rob Lee, Sara Edson, Yvette Morris

Photo Access | 13 - 22 October 2022

PhotoAccess recently launched numerous independently published photo-books, all made during its inaugural workshop program Concept to Publication. Guided by Canberra-based documentary photographer Dave Hempenstall, eleven photographers came together to explore the potential of the photographic book.

Over ten months, they investigated different forms, discussed significant historical and contemporary works, experimented with making and the materiality of the photo-book and refined their authors’ voices to make the books that then were put on exhibition at Photo Access. Copies of some of the books were also available for purchase.

Spending time in the gallery looking at, and through, each book is a most pleasant way to spend time. The books are diverse in every way. There are, in fact, more books than authors. Rob Lee has a set of eight slim books about eight different places where books are to be found. They include a reading room, a museum, various libraries and, even, the Lifeline Bookfair’s warehouse. Perhaps, next, he might make books in people’s home bookshelves, in bedside table piles, or even in their hands being read whilst traveling on public transport?

Sara Edson has two books on display, both very small. Transfer from Dalton is tied in a tiny parcel. It is a delightful little concertina folded book that one could play with for hours turning it about in many directions. Both contain numerous pleasing colour photographs.

 

Transfer from Dalton. Book by Sara Edson. Image by Dave Hempenstall

Louise Grayson’s book shows images of Deception Island, Antarctica. The photos are a mix of monochrome and colour shots amongst quite a number of blank white pages. Where there are images on facing pages, I was unsure about some of the juxtapositions but that in no way diminished my enjoyment of the publication. I particularly enjoyed the images of birds in flight over the landscapes and, especially, one essentially black and white image with just a small splash of red – a worn jacket and hat.

Con Boekel also has blank pages amongst his fine images of wounded trees. This book is about the small urban nature island known as Dryandra Street Woodland, where many trees have been cut with axes or chainsaws. He sees the wounds on the trees as symbols of the damage inflicted by humans; and trees there that flourish as symbols of hope for the future. This is a great project, and the book is appropriately dedicated to Canberra’s nature conservation volunteers.

Caroline Lemerle has taken what might be described as a traditional approach but, regardless of whether that is the case or not, she tells her story That 50^th extremely well showing, through splendid imagery the friendships, family, food, fanfare and feasting of what clearly was a great celebration.

Beata Tworek’s Everyday Magic includes some shots that might initially be seen as mundane. But all are, indeed, magical. Again there are some blank pages – this time some are white but others black. There are also a number of beautiful transparent pages of photographed flora – these add immensely to the finished product.

Yvette Morris has also included blank pages in The Space Between, so I presume the project identified that as an option participants might incorporate into their books. This particular work explores transient space through black and white images of dirt mounds – again mundane subject matter. Morris successfully draws an analogy between the transitory space of unnoticed changes in the mounds and everyday subtle changes in people.

 

The Space Between. Book by Yvette Morris. Image by Dave Hempenstall

 

In Wrong Way, Go Back, Grant Winkler acknowledges his wife’s encouragement to persist and also the value of the interactions with other participants and Hempenstall. Whilst the photographs in the book might at first seem random selections, spending time with them effectively enables the viewer to get his message.

Jamie Hladky’s When we drove out of town to escape the bushfire smoke is a spiral bound collection of moody black and white, smoky images. Another excellent book in this collection.

Moments We See is Claire Manning’s contribution. It is a delightful hand-bound book of fold out pages, each of which open to reveal words about pairs of photos revealing how she sees and interacts with her world. It is a most successful and clever creation that could be enjoyed repeatedly.

Moments We See. Book by Claire Manning. Image by Dave Hempenstall.

Last, but not least, there is Ian Houghton’s Ginninderra Creek. This is a lay-flat book of quality double-page spread images about the creek which is a green corridor through urban areas of Gungahlin and Belconnen as well as across rural land. Again, it tells a great story.

 

Ginninderra Creek. Book by Ian Houghton. Image by Dave Hempenstall

Photo Access has suggested that the wonderfully diverse approaches and final forms are a testament to the participants dedication to the process. I agree. The program was deemed so successful that Photo Access has already announced another such event for 2023.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

H.M.S.PINAFORE - Queanbeyan Players

 

David Cannell (Sir Joseph Porter) and ensemble

Direction and Set Design by Jude Colquhoun – Musical Direction by Matt Greenwood

Choreographed by Belinda Hassall – Costume Design by Janetta McRae

Lighting Design by Jacob Aquilina – Sound Design by Nick Cossart.

The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre – 14^th to 23^rd October, 2022.

Performance on 19^th October reviewed by Bill Stephens.

Veronica Thwaites Brown (Buttercup) and ensemble. 

Ever since it was first presented in 1878, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “H.M.S. Pinafore” has been delighting audiences with its catchy melodies packaged in a delightfully silly story about a Sea Lord, Sir Joseph Porter, who’s intent on marrying Josephine, the daughter of the Captain Corcoran, the master of the H.M.S. Pinafore, despite her lowly rank.

Josephine however is in love with Ralph, one of the sailors on the HMS Pinafore, despite his even lower rank, but feels duty-bound to respect her father’s wishes and marry Sir Joseph. How this predicament is sorted out is wonderfully implausible and doesn’t really matter because the whole thing is played out with such infectious enthusiasm by the whole cast that it is impossible not to just sit back and enjoy. 

Jude Colquhoun has achieved exactly the right tone for her production, which respects the traditions of Gilbert and Sullivan presentation, with its attractive setting, colourful costumes and rigid lines for her large chorus. However she has avoided mustiness by inserting entertaining interpolations for her actors, while some inventive moves by choreographer Belinda Hassall effectively break up those rigid chorus lines while still retaining the traditional effect.

Katrina Wiseman as Josephine

Colquhoun has been fortunate to be able to cast excellent singers in the major roles. Katrina Wiseman as Josephine and Veronica Thwaites Brown as Buttercup are both outstanding singers and both embellish their roles with fine comedic performances.

Rounding out his trifecta of Gilbert & Sullivan patter roles, David Cannell’s outlandish performance as Sir Joseph Porter is worth the price of admission alone. An accomplished performer, Cannell’s excellent diction, mastery of the G & S technique, including writing witty alternate lyrics for his songs, and his command of the stage, stamps him as an exemplary interpreter of these roles and his performance is a joy to behold.

Veronica Thwaites Brown (Buttercup) - Adam Best (Captain Corcoran)

Adam Best as the bumptious Captain Corcoran and Andrew Finegan as the delightfully fey object of Josephine’s affections, Ralph, round out a fine principal cast. At this performance Elliot Cleaves gave an energetic performance as Dick Deadeye, standing in for Paul Sweeney, while Dale Rheynolds as Hebe, Wally Allington as the Bosun and Chris Bennie as Tom all participated enthusiastically in the fun.

Particular pleasures of this production was the excellent singing by the large ensemble, and the original orchestral D’Oyly Carte arrangements for the fine orchestra, conducted by Matt Greenwood, which after a painfully out-of-tune first few bars of the overture, quickly settled into providing excellent accompaniment.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan operetta’s this delightful production of one of their most popular comic operas by Queanbeyan Players is thoroughly recommended as an entertaining night of live theatre.

 

                                                       Images by Michael Moore 

 

THE TIME OF ROSES

 Art Song Canberra

Jill Sullivan, mezzo-soprano

Donna Balson, piano

Wesley Music Centre 16 October 2022

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Think of roses and their romantic scent the scent and it’s no wonder composers wrote so many songs focussing on this flower.  In ‘The Time Of Roses’, Art Song Canberra’s latest concert, mezzo-soprano, Jill Sullivan, and pianist, Donna Balson, presented a range of songs and music celebrating roses and romance by composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Grieg, Mahler, Sibelius and Mendelssohn.

Jill Sullivan, mezzo-soprano, has performed throughout Australia in opera and concert.  She has performed with Opera Australia, the West Australian Opera and the Queensland Opera.  She has an extensive concert, chamber and recital repertoire.

Donna Balson, pianist, worked in Germany for 25 years.  She now teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  She has also performed as a singer internationally.

Donna Balson (piano) and Jill Sullivan (mezzo-soprano)

The program began with ‘Adelaide’ by Beethoven.  Sullivan’s rich mezzo-soprano was notable for its power and clarity as well as her clear diction.  She gave a fine performance of this song, bringing out an appealing rapturous sensitivity.

Other songs by Schubert and Brahms followed but the highlight of this first half of the concert was two of the Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner, ‘In the Hothouse’ and ‘Dreams’.  They displayed the power of her voice and her interpretation of the songs with their emotional range was thrilling.

Donna Balson played the ‘Fantasia in E major – The Last Rose of Summer’.  It was a fine performance, bringing out the loneliness and reflectiveness of the work.

The highlights of the second part of the concert were Grieg’s ‘I Love But Thee’, two songs by Richard Strauss, ‘Red Roses’ and ‘The Roseband’, and the Sibelius setting of Shakespeare’s ‘Come Away Death’.  All of them were an excellent showcase for Sullivan’s rich and powerful voice.  Donna Balson’s accompaniment was assured throughout.

Donna Balson also played Benjamin Britten’s ‘The Last Rose Of Summer’ with a moving sensitivity and warmth.

Both performers gave down to earth information about the songs and piano works played.  It was a memorable concert by these two fine artists.

 

Photo by Len Power

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

BIG LITTLE THINGS

 QL2 Dance “Chaos” Project 2022

Artistic Director: Ruth Osborne

Canberra College Theatre to 15 October

 

Reviewed by Len Power 14 October

 

At the Canberra College Theatre, the performers in QL2 Dance’s, “Big Little Things”, ably showed that from little things, big things grow.

39 dancers, aged from 8 to 18, presented seven items that explored our interconnectedness in many ways.  Five choreographers collaborated with the dancers to produce works filled with imagination, energy, skill and enthusiasm.

The program opened with Ruth Osborne’s “Ripples On The Pond”, a clever dance that showed how one action can have a huge impact on others.  Right from the start, the young dancers showed the discipline required to produce good work and have fun while doing it.

'Ripples On The Pond'

 Alana Stenning’s “Digging Deep: A Tale Of Tough Tradies” was infused with unexpected humour and skilful dancing as the young people donned hazard jackets and showed how it’s the little people that make big things happen.

'Digging Deep: A Tale Of Tough Tradies'

“Hidden Worlds” by choreographer, Patricia Hayes Cavanagh, was a work that focussed on people as a network of nature showing how organisms rely on each other.  It was lyrical and a moving work of calm and beauty.

Stephen and Lilah Gow’s “Inconsequential” then displayed the power and beauty of the electrical impulses of the human brain.  Dramatic and full of unexpected twists and turns, it was notable for its more demanding choreography.  The older dancers of the group deftly showed their skills in this piece.

“I Have Something To Say”, choreographed by Alanna Stenning and Patricia Hayes Cavanagh and inspired by protest, was an exciting and unusual work in which the rise and fall of the vocals were just as important as the dance.

“Broken Telephone” by Stephen Gow showed the power of rumours and how they can give rise to truthless speculations and diminishing or exaggerating facts.  The rippling movements of the dancers were particularly well-executed.

The final item, “Closing The Circle”, choreographed again by Ruth Osborne, was a celebration of the making of the show.  The high energy and enthusiasm of the dancers infused the audience.

It was interesting to observe that the younger people of the group already are displaying the discipline and basic skills necessary to go forward in dance.  The older people were given the opportunity to show the more advanced skills they have learned.  These young people have so much to look forward to, learn and enjoy as they make their way through this world of dance.

 

This review was first published in the Canberra CityNews digital edition of 15 October.

Photos by Lorna Sim Photography

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.