University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 11 Oct 2014
It was a great idea of director Geoff Brittain to present both Strindberg's ‘Miss Julie’, and English comedian and playwright Patrick Marber's version of the famous Swedish three-hander. You can see them together in one night, as I did, on the closing night of the season on 18 October, or only ‘After Miss Julie’ during the week preceding. Unfortunately, the ‘Miss Julie’-only season is kaput.
Strindberg is famous for his innovations in, and essays about, theatre, and particularly as a proponent of the new-fangled thing called naturalism. ‘Miss Julie’ is all of a love triangle, class struggle and kitchen drama. Not to underestimate the challenge, the action seemed to easily transfer to Marber's setting on the day of the 1945 British election when Labour won over Winston Churchill.
Geoff Brittain's set, manifested by Tony Clancy was complete, detailed and adequately passed for the servant's quarters of a manor both in 1888 Sweden and 1945 Britain. I loved Ben Todd's costumes and Jennifer Morris's work on hair and make-up. She considerably enhanced the female roles, especially as the actors traded roles between a servant cook and an aristocrat in the two plays.
Nick Fagan's man servant, betrothed to the cook but risking a roll in the hay with Miss Julie, was grumpy from beginning to end in both plays. I sensed that Fagan missed copious opportunities to find a broader range of responses. Rosie Williams was Miss Julie in the original and Christine the cook in the adaptation - Marber made the latter a diminished role. Williams reached a suitably high level of distress as the Miss, but unfortunately lost considerable power due to breathlessness. Cheryl Douglas was very convincing in both her roles with flashes of brilliance, imbuing her Christine with dignity and her Miss Julie with coquetry. Excellent posture helps. Come to think of it, Williams was pretty good in the hot and horny bits, too.
Notwithstanding the above, ‘Miss Julie’ had edge-of-seat tension throughout. Miss Julie's sensually dangerous games and her improper exertion of power and subsequent fall had a similarity to Salome (which actually post-dates Miss Julie by three years). While I perceived this during ‘Miss Julie’ (no, really, ask my companion that night!), Marber actually mentions this in ‘After Miss Julie’. Geoff Brittain coached his actors to find Strindberg's razor sharp transformations of shifted status, changed plans, and switched loyalties with terrific timing, and demonstrated the same with ebullient blocking. The tension lifts a teeny bit in ‘After Miss Julie’, simply because you get the plot, but there is great pleasure in hearing the 1945 vernacular, and you get carried away with it anyway.
I would certainly choose to be there on Saturday, 18 October.
David Grybowski
When: 4 to 18 Oct
Where: The Little Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Stirling Players. Stirling Theatre. 12 Oct 2014
Written by John Hodge and directed by Megan Dansie, Collaborators is based on real characters and events (with a healthy dose of dramatic licence) and finds famous Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, a heavily censored Russian playwright who is considered an enemy of the Soviet authorities, commissioned to write a play about Stalin's life for the celebration of the ruler's 60th birthday. In a show of force, Bulgakov is told that if he doesn’t complete the play his career will be destroyed by the closing of his latest work, Moliere, and his family is at risk of assassination. Bulgakov is morally opposed to Stalin's oppressive regime and has made his politics felt, however oddly he somewhat owes his career to the soviet leader who is apparently one of his biggest fans, and after all what choice does he have? So he decides to write the play; but does he?
This play is wonderfully constructed. Hodge presents a darkly comic interpretation of a horrible time in history and then further blurs the lines between reality and dream worlds. The show makes for great debate after leaving the theatre – both about the happenings on stage and the intention of the playwright underpinning it all. Perhaps Hodge didn’t have an overarching message to deliver; maybe it was a simple, time worn, comment on society (human conflict, freedom speech, revolution, etc). Either way director Megan Dansie leaves it hanging up in the air – a risk if the players are not all on the same page – but a risk that has, in this instance, paid off.
So many of the questions I had when I left the theatre remain, but I feel OK about that because it intrigues me. Is Stalin real or a hallucination personified by the guilt Bulgakov feels about writing the play? Does Stalin really write the play on Bulgakov’s behalf in that dank basement of the Kremlin, or is it all in Bulgakov’s head? Is Bulgakov really ordering the NKVD to carry out Stalin’s requests or merely making connections in his mind to recent local events? Are Bulgakov’s improved living conditions a reward for being Stalin’s new friend or just a coincidence? Is Bulgakov deluded by his terminal illness or is that his ‘method’ for writing a story he despises? The play presents a lot of reasons why you might believe one thing or another at any one time. Most interesting perhaps is that it never clears it up.
Gary George plays Mikhail Bulgakov with wonderful light and shade. His torment is gradually revealed as the play within a play unravels. George’s Bulgakov is wonderfully challenged by the complexities of governance and his utter disbelief at how a simple order can tear a country apart is evident. George gives Bulgakov a gut wrenching sense of self-loathing towards the end and you cannot help but feel empathy towards the man. His continuous energy onstage was unrivalled.
Peter Davies plays Joseph Stalin like something out of a comedy sketch show and it works wonderfully. Davies’ characterisation makes the penultimate twist all the more perverse and transformed Stalin from an every man, misunderstood and irresponsible to a paranoid psychopath.
Steve Marvanek in the role of Valdimir, a secret policeman, is equally menacing and tormented. Vladimir has a small story of his own bubbling away in the background and Marvanek really makes something of that adding an extra dimension to the piece. He also successfully avoids the easy comedy (a secret policeman with artistic tendencies!) and gives Vladimir more human qualities that ultimately transition well into his suspected defection and eventual ending. Vladimir’s internal torment is evident.
Sharon Malujilo as Yelena Bulgakov (Mikhail’s wife), Alex Antonio as Grigory, a censored novelist and friend to Bulgakov, David Lockwood as the Doctor and Samuel Rogers and Joshua Coldwell as the actors presenting the play within a play were all standout supports.
Rogers and Coldwell offer up some fantastic elements of comedy which (although only occasionally stealing the focus) lighten the mood and point up the comedy of the piece. Antonio had some of the most poignant lines in the play. His troubles are clear and his suicide very evocative. Malujilo makes her Yelena not only a critic of her lover’s work but also a measure of his delusion, transforming her performance as his deterioration takes hold; like holding up a mirror.
The set, designed by Malcolm Horton, fits the stage well but offers some very odd entrance and exit points which do confuse the action in the first half. Once the energy of the play builds late in the first half these frustrations became less of a problem. The repeated use of doors and set pieces to represent different locations does take a while to get used to, but Dansie has made use of this confusion to give the piece a strong and punchy pace that keeps the action very tight and intense.
This is a very enjoyable production of a most intriguing play. There are only 3 performances left, so I encourage you to check it out.
Paul Rodda
When: 3 to 18 Oct
Where: Stirling Community Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
State Theatre Company of SA. The Bakehouse Thaetre. State Umbrella. 11 Oct 2014
The latest word in agit prop theatre, Ian Meadows' Between Two Waves expounds, extrapolates and exhorts on the issues of climate change. There's nothing subtle about it. It is a full throttle anxiety play. It is not just the scientific issues of climate change but the characters who are cracking up under the fear and frustration of it all.
The principal character is a scientist who goes to work for the government's climate change department hoping to make a difference. But politics has corporate interests at heart. The more you say , the more impenetrable the brick wall. Perhaps.
One hopes that Meadows' doomsday scenario will not be realised in real life. After all, Daniel, the scientist of the piece, has problems other than climate change. He is severely dysfunctional in almost every way; some may see him as having Asperger’s syndrome. He is work obsessed and has family issues, childhood guilts, acute anxiety and science-nerd ineptitude in dealing with women. On top of all this, his view of climate change is apocalyptic.
And there it is all around him - flooding rains which bring the insurance agent to catalogue the damage in his world. Of course, she is also the enemy - a front for corporate exploitation and legal clauses contrived to evade payouts.
Enter Elena Carapetis with sheath dress, stilettos, clipboard and mobile phone as the evil claims stooge. And what a lovely performance of corporate doublespeak. She doesn't miss a trick - and she is pretty tricky. It is a character which develops as the plot evolves and we meet her heart and vulnerability as the weather closes in. It's a Carapetis coup.
But she is not alone in powerful performance because Matt Crook is there on stage beside her - an exceptional young actor. He is all angst and uncertainty in the role of Daniel, strong only when trying to explain the science to the media. But Daniel has no common touch so Crook spends a lot of the play as a bit of a shuddering mess, from time to time having massive panic attacks which are exhausting to watch. It is not an easy role but Crook, under Corey McMahon's direction, makes him something of a tragic hero, weighed down by his belief in the imminence of climatic apocalypse.
This and his general nerdiness hamper his ability to forge relationships with women - until Fiona comes along. She plays by her own rules and, as it happens, works for the very climate department in which Daniel goes to work. They strike up a relationship. Ellen Steele steps into her skin and gives it intense vibrancy. She is more than engaging. There is something luminous about her, and it is not just the red hair.
James Edwards plays the one other character, the university professor for whom Daniel had worked before getting his PhD and heading out to work for the government. It's a simpatico performance, ably complementing the senior actors in the pivotal roles.
It's a complex play with simultaneous timelines which are quite effective. It also is wordy and didactic but with lots of passion and expressions of human vulnerability. It's a tragedy but it is not without hope.
McMahon gives it a strong, punchy pace, making it tight and intense.
The set helps. Olivia Zanchetta has designed a tropical-style room with long, louvred windows and a ceiling which one feels coming in on one. The walls are cunningly created to be semitransparent and, at the play's climax, to be pelted by water which pours in torrential rivulets down its panels. Throw in Nic Mollison's usual standard of perceptive lighting and Jason Sweeney's smart sound design, and one has a terrific production.
The play, however, still seems to have some teething pains. It has been long in the making and, thought provoking as it is, it niggles with the odd logistical perturbation.
The bandage on Dan's hand is plain annoying. It is perhaps symbolic of injuries to the world, but it is also purportedly covering an injury to the character and it remains upon his person through the thick and thin of the play's timeline, becoming a puzzling distraction - which is unworthy of a play with a serious message.
Samela Harris
When: 9 to 25 Oct
Where: Bakehouse Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Promise Adelaide. Burnside Ballroom. 1 Oct 2014
Promise Adelaide presented it's first 'outing' on Wednesday October 1, 'Songs from Stage & Screen'. Self-described as an exciting new 'Not For Profit' organisation the purpose of this new production company is multi-faceted; to promote and give exposure to Youth Theatre in South Australia by creating opportunities for young adults to perform and to raise funds for a wide range of charities. This performance raised funds for Breast Cancer research through the Cancer Council.
It is hard not to applaud loudly their endeavour, initiative and tenacity.
Many of these young men and women already have impressive CV's, (Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Royal Albert Hall performances for starters!) so it was no mistake that the audience came with heightened expectations.
It was an expectation that was met and then some!
These young men and women presented a two hour feast of music that would have softened the hardened music theatre critic. To think the average age of these youngsters was around 15 year’s old, and that they took on this project, its direction, music and choreography on their own is nothing short of mind blowing.
My only criticism; they would have been better served with a live band/pianist rather than the occasional rough sounding 'midi' track - these performers all deserve better.
Highlights of the evening included Lachlan Williams' ‘Snoopy' from ‘You're a Good Man Charlie Brown' and Serena Martino-Williams’s performance of 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' from 'Evita'.
But let’s face it, to select just those two would be splitting hairs as one could easily list every performer and their pieces, such was the level of excellence attainted.
I particularly liked the full cast numbers and hope to see some more of the smaller ensemble numbers in future endeavours.
Hats off to Ben Francis for an initiative that will undoubtedly see the rise of a number of new Stars in Adelaide.
David Gauci
When: Closed
Where: Burnside Ballroom
Bookings: Closed
Peter Brook. State Theatre Company of SA in association with Arts Projects Australia, the SA Tourism Commission, Adina Apartment Hotels and the Adelaide Festival Centre. Dunstan Playhouse. 3 Oct 2014
Philemon can't help himself. His retribution may be non-violent but it is more agonising than satisfying in the end of the day. In punishing another, one risks punishing oneself.
Philemon had such a perfect life that even living in Sophiatown, one of South Africa's most deprived townships, did not depress him. He adored his beautiful wife, Matilda, making her breakfast each morning before catching the bus to work. Then a friend tipped him off that Matilda had a gentleman caller. He rushed home and surprised them. The lover ran off in his undies leaving his suit behind. Philemon punishes Matilda by insisting that the suit is now an honoured guest. He orders her to serve it dinner at the table, to sit it up in the bedroom and to give it permanence as the star of what is to become a very strange ménage à trois.
This play began in the 1950s as a short story by Can Themba and has since gone through several incarnations as a stage play; this latest English version is now circling the globe as a Peter Brook production of rather sweet simplicity. It is presented here by the State Theatre Company in association with Arts Projects Australia, the SA Tourism Commission, Adina Apartment Hotels and the Adelaide Festival Centre.
The set is dominated by brightly-coloured chairs which are moved about in various permutations along with several mobile frames and tables. It is the three-man band, its versatile musicians joining in as characters, which dresses the stage most effectively, not only adding life and humour but a soundscape of rich diversity. The musicians also accompany Nonhlanhla Kheswa who, as the oppressed wife Matilda, craves to express herself through song. Her lovely voice is a strong element of the production. Her songs echo Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, and Zap Mama.
Ery Nzaramba completes the cast as friend, lover and narrator. He facilitates some of the political commentary which anchors the play in the oppressive era of South Africa's history. These black workers did not care for their white employers. But in their own society, they were rich in community, stories and music.
The direction, attributed not only to Peter Brook but also to Marie-Helene Estienne and Frank Krawczyk, keeps the pace of the play unhurried - an easy township tempo. For a while, it becomes almost painfully slow. Then it lifts dramatically as Philemon throws a party. Nzaramba leaps into the auditorium and charms audience members to come onstage and join the behatted musicians as guests. It all works well until The Suit arrives.
This precedes the play's touching denouement which is quietly profound and quite unforgettable - as is the whole production.
The Suit is essentially a sad play but its delivery is deliciously imaginative.
In the Sophiatown simplicity of the set, the only props are The Suit and a couple of blankets. The actors very skilfully mime all other embellishments such as meals and travel. Here, William Nadylam, as the hurt husband-cum-cool tormentor is simply a joy to watch. It is a good cast, but he is an exceptionally engaging, star-quality actor.
And so it comes to pass that opening night audience members clapped until their hands hurt.
Samela Harris
When: 1 to 12 October
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au