Marie Clark Musical Theatre. Goodwood Institute. 31 Oct 2014
I had a very happy Halloween at the South Australian premiere opening of funny man Mel Brooks's comic musical masterpiece, ‘Young Frankenstein’. ‘Young Frankenstein’ played for over a year on Broadway around 2008, not long after his other comic musical masterpiece, ‘The Producers’. Both were popular films before stage hits.
Young New York brain surgeon Dr Frankenstein (say Frank-en-steen) sojourns to Transylvania merely to receive the estate of the late Dr Frankenstein - the one from the 1931 movie. Instead, he is enchanted and encouraged by Igor (say eye-gore) and Inga - the comely country girl cum lab assistant (Is that what you call it these days?) to continue his grandfather's work of monster-making in the old lab. The chorus of local yokels are endlessly fascinated and fascinating.
Director Brian Godfrey, musical director Ben Stefanoff and choreographer Rachel Dow are so simpatico with Mel Brooks' shtick that you couldn't tell where the writing genius ended and the production expertise began. Chris Daniels as the transplanted Frankenstein was absolutely delightful - he danced and sang the storyline and charmed his way through his every scene, which was nearly every scene. One look at Kristin Stefanoff as Inga in her cute little milk maid dress was enough to bring out the monster in me. Her numbers and nuances were fully professional. Katharine Chase accomplished the bitch of a role as the shallow fiancé through which Brooks mirrored the excesses of Manhattan. Shay Aitken made the monster come alive, finding the right balance between malice and cute. The ‘Puttin' On The Ritz’ number was a real boot scooter thanks to his monster's mal-footedness. Penni Hamilton-Smith landed a role that is totally aligned with her signature vocality and stage presence. Her solo number was an absolute hoot. Igor got the Anton Schrama treatment of complete head-to-toe transformation in a perfect blend of expectations and surprises. Schrama has a unique virtuosity comprising emotional sensitivity and theatrical craft that I can only marvel at. Bravo!
The creative triumvirate of Godfrey, Stefanoff and Dow led the chorus into wow territory for business, song and dance. Lighting designer Rodney Bates supplied watts needed except he did not oblige with the obligatory lightning and sparks that many expect to accompany the animation of the monster. Not enough noise either in my view. And the costumes? Not only was Renee Brice busy with the Singers, and in procuring and coordinating, but her movie quality make-up for the monster was magnifico. Bravo!
What's not to like about this show? From the opening number to the closing reprise, I was laughing when I didn't have a smile on my face. It was eye candy to watch, melodious to listen to, and multi-layered in comedy. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 31 Oct to 8 Nov
Where: The Goodwood Institute
Bookings: trybooking.com
State Opera of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 28 Oct 2014
Verdi’s penultimate opera Otello is based on Shakespeare’s famous play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. I won’t dwell on the plot – one can easily resort to Google if needed – except to say that Otello is a successful general who runs foul of Iago, his ensign, by promoting someone else (Cassio) above him. From then on Iago manipulates those around him to cause Otello’s downfall in spectacular fashion. Otello murders Desdemona, his wife, because he has been duped into mistakenly believing she has committed adultery with Cassio. When he realises Iago has manipulated him, Otello commits suicide.
Verdi ignores Act 1 of the play – well at least his librettist does – and other scenes are abbreviated, but the key theme of racism is not omitted. Otello is a Moor, but director Simon Phillips has taken the decision not to have the artist playing the role wear at least a swarthy complexion. This choice immediately eliminates the possibility that Iago’s hatred of Otello is racially motivated, at least in part, but it also (thankfully) removes the obvious and somewhat cliché (offensive?) imagery of good versus evil with a ‘black’ Otello and a ‘white’ Desdemona.
In his director’s note, Simon Phillips opines that Verdi’s opera Otello “surpasses its source”. This statement probably waves a red rag to a bullish Shakespeare devotee, but even if it was true, Phillip’s production has one major flaw – he locates it in present time and sets it entirely in the confines of a lower deck on an aircraft carrier. There are two aspects of the plot that do not translate well into such a time and setting: a lost handkerchief being proof-conclusive of Desdemona’s infidelity just doesn’t wash; and Otello’s cruel and humiliating treatment of Desdemona in full view of a prestigious military assembly is simply unbelievable. A different setting in a past era avoids such anachronistic absurdities. But, some aspects of the setting did work extremely well, such as the closed-circuit TV monitors that allowed Iago to spy unseen on others around him.
However this is grand opera and belief is to be suspended after all, so perhaps such things don’t really matter - but I think for many of the audience they did.
Together Bradley Daley (as Otello) and Miriam Gordon-Stewart (Desdemona) lacked chemistry in their love scene, ‘Gia nella note densa’, but individually they excelled. Daley’s aria of vengeance, ‘Si pel ciel marmoreo giuro’ was chilling, and Gordon-Stewart’s ‘willow song’ in the final Act, as she recollects a sad story about one her maids, was a high point of the production. Douglas McNicol played Iago with extreme cynicism and brooding hatred. His ‘Credi in un Dio crudel’ (I believe in a cruel God) was sung with authority and total believability (he deserved his copious ‘boos’ and jeers from the audience in the curtain calls!). Catriona Barr was excellent as Emilia, Pelham Andrews was resonant and commanding as Lodovico, and Jason Wasley (Roderigo), Thomas Millhouse (Montano) and Jeremy Tatchell (Herald) convincingly rounded out the minor principals.
The pleasant surprise of the night was Bernard Hull’s inspired performance as Cassio. He has never sounded or looked so confidant and at ease on the SASO stage. Bravo!
Brad Cohen extracted the very best from the mighty Adelaide Symphony and the superb SASO Chorus.
Kym Clayton
When: 25 Oct to 1 Nov
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Matt Byrne Media. Holden Street Theatres. 24 Oct 2010
‘The Breakfast Club’ is a cult 80s film by writer John Hughes that traces a day in the life of 5 teenagers stuck in detention on a Saturday. The group could not be more different, but by the end of the day they discover that despite these differences they could not have more in common. The character-focused story explores stereotyping, social politics and relationships.
Byrne has taken a huge gamble in attempting to mount a performance of such a well-known film; audience expectations are high, and translating a film to stage is never an easy proposition – particularly such a close character study. Sadly for me this production only made it half way there.
Before walking into the theatre I knew that solid casting and tight direction were the crucial ingredients this show would need to succeed. The actors all show great potential, and each develops an interesting character to watch. In this piece however, they have been left to their own devices too much and there is a real disconnect on stage that makes the play jar.
The cast is comprised of Jamie Hornsby, Kristen Tommasini, James King, Kacy Ratta, Loccy Hywood, Brendan Cooney and Matt Byrne. There are some strong performances amongst the group, but the material is complicated and their potential is left unexplored by Byrnes directing. Each of the young players work hard on their own stories, but the whole is still raw, unrefined, and in need of some tough direction to create a polished piece.
The ensemble would benefit from a lot more pace throughout the show; serving both to lift the energy during the arguments and heighten the poignancy of the silences. During intense scenes, the amount of pacing, shouting, desk-banging and feet stamping inevitably detracts from the real, raw emotions; this could have been better handled by Byrne. The choice to use American accents is understandable, but poor execution made it distracting, and it pulled focus at crucial moments in the story.
As the productions designer, Byrne has developed a very workable set which succeeds in locating various scenes throughout the show clearly and with minimal set changes. The intermedial use of projected photography and music does a wonderful job at guiding audience members who are unfamiliar with the film through the action.
Whilst I wasn’t entirely captivated by this production, equally I didn’t find it hard to watch. The truth is it doesn’t reach the same poignant and emotional heights as the original, and the journey doesn’t feel nearly as rewarding, but it is by no means a bad show, so if you are interested to see what Byrne and his young cast have done with a cult classic, I would still encourage you to check it out.
Paul Rodda
When: 22 Oct to 8 Nov
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: bass.net.au
State Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. Space theatre. 25 Oct 2014
Thank goodness someone has written a play that shows the Chinese nationals to be the way they really are, or is it the way we think they are? Or demonstrates in no uncertain terms what they think of us - koala-like loafers lazily lounging on a treasure of resources lacking ideals - or is this the way white Australians think Chinese nationals think about us? Where sits the experience and the stereotype?
Kryptonite is a new Australian work co-produced by our state theatre and Sydney Theatre Company by accomplished playwright Sue Smith. While the world premiere took place in the harbour city last month, the work was directed by State's very own Geordie Brookman.
We follow the on-off relationship of Aussie surfie-uni bloke cum Green senator Dylan and Chinese student cum businesswoman Lian over twenty-five years. From the late '80s to today, the fulcrum moments - the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Beijing Olympics - provide temporal bookends for China's modern coming-of-age. The genius of the writing is that Dylan and Lian also represent their native lands, and their personal discourse gets geopolitical and progressively accusative and nasty. The love story is more a story of yearning at the foot of insurmountable cultural and character abutments.
Victoria Lamb's stage is designed with the modern idioms of bare and alienating, yet is fetchingly architectural (which means it's got style). I loved the disappearing ink on the rouched silk-like backdrop. Nicholas Rayment follows suit with harsh and focused lighting. Composer DJ Tr!p (no, not a typing error) hones the edge further, and sound designer Andrew Howard gives it an ethereal effect.
Sue Smith chose to chop up the chronology in a way re-popularised by Quentin Tarantino - another technique that separates modern theatre from its proscenium stage forbears. Sometimes confusing, I appreciated its value nearer the end.
Ursula Mills gives an excellent performance in the challenging role of Lian. Her Lian, likely a creation of all of herself, Brookman, Smith, and Smith's sister-in-law, certainly was an incredibly detailed and nuanced rendition of everything I see in being Chinese - for example, her hard working impoverished student, her early peasant-like behaviours, her power woman period, frank judgments, clear thinking, passion, love of country. Bravo! Tim Walker provided no less verisimilitude and his transition from a prankster to a senator seemed the real deal. Director Geordie Brookman made the years fly by, like the pages blowing off a calendar, with inventive blocking and creative scene changes, and not least, the performances he extracted from this great cast.
I was thrilled at the pace and the scope of this production, a real roller coaster ride called Australia's relationship with China, superbly executed and presented. A time capsule of the times.
David Grybowski
When: 22 Oct to 9 Nov
Where: The Space Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Photography by Lisa Tomasetti
Vitalstatistix. Waterside Workers Hall, Port Adelaide. 16 Oct 2014
I have always considered the Vitals to be vital in the creation of new theatrical work in Adelaide, and they do so presently via three programs: Incubator - a residency program for the creation of new performance work, Adhocracy - an annual amalgam of artists and audience, and Contemporary Communities - community-based projects partnering artists with non-artists culminating in a new work. The latter sounds similar to what the dear, late and great Geoff Crowhurst used to do through Junction Theatre.
Quiet Faith is a world premiere born of Vitalstatistix's artistic director Emma Webb's Incubator program. Writer, director and performer David Williams wanted to counterbalance the bombastic and shrill political elements of Christianity that hog the publicity, with a theatrical documentary (sometimes called verbatim theatre) recalling the piety and works springing from your suburban Sunday service.
The documentary aspect comes from Williams' personal experience growing up in a church family, and through his interviews with twenty Christians from various denominations and with diverse ages and occupations. With co-performer and collaborator, Ashton Malcolm, they mimic the intonations of the interviewees in expressing their testimony. Indeed, they sought permission of the interviewees to perform their very words. How great is that? Imagine being able to interview Willy Loman or Richard III in order to provide an authentic performance!
The result is a gentle and often wry reflection on your everyday church-goer, and Christian religion and social service provider. But the first thing that will impress you is Jonathan Oxlade's fetching circular maze set in the middle of the cavernous Waterside Workers Hall. The low walls of the maze, constructed of bleached plywood with a high level of craftsmanship, function as seats for the audience. Above is a halo of diffused lighting thoughtfully designed by Chris Petridis. Whispering voices and vespers penetrate the space via eight enormous trumpet-like speakers (sound design: Bob Scott). An exceptionally credentialed creative team has been applied to this project. The design was sculptural/architectural, take your pick.
Williams and Malcolm play the various roles of social workers, pew sitters and deacons. You are immediately captured by the devotion to service thus expressed, and will identify with the political views - from "What is Abbott doing?" to "Of course, if you belong to the church you voted Liberal." Williams and Malcolm sweep amongst the audience and look you in the eye with their monologues of verisimilitude. Indeed, the script is certainly most real, with all the halted sentences and changes in thought and expression that we do when we explain or converse. This worked extraordinarily well 90% of the time. They also sang devotional hymns, and people joined in for Amazing Grace and The Lord's Prayer. Hell, I grew up with 10:30 Sunday mass at Our Lady of Sorrows, so I knew what Williams was getting at.
I was especially moved with the last scene where a couple of ministers explain how they gave baptism to a stillborn - against doctrine - to provide the requested comfort this would give the parents. They posit the question: If we can't provide compassion and assuage grief at this time of need, what use are we or our church?
Quiet Faith is hallowed ground, a little bit like going to church, and a powerful voice for the faithful who actually practice what they preach. Whether you are a full-blown atheist, one of the flock, or a complete hypocrite, you will not leave the same as you entered.
PS Ashton Malcolm says she is playing Desdemona in State Theatre's November production of Othello, and I wouldn't miss that, either.
David Grybowski
When: 8 to 19 Oct
Where: Waterside Workers Hall
Bookings: trybooking.com