The Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Online Production via YouTube. 28 Jun 2020
You can’t keep a good theatre company down. The dear old Rep may have a long way to go in terms of new-era online technology, but it has bitten the bullet and had a jolly good go.
And, to add gloss to the kudos, it has done so in the name of youth and our upcoming talent.
Rounds of applause.
Geoff Brittain directed this new online production which had a very well promoted “opening night” at 7PM on Saturday June, 27th. Well, 7:10PM, to be precise. Who knows why the upload was delayed.
But there it was with its youthful cast and its disturbing story of drug-addled teens and country kids feeling hopeless and out of the loop.
Rattling the Keys has been written by young local playwright Zoe Muller and is set in Coober Pedy. It depicts a group of friends who are at a turning point in life, riven by family loyalties and a quest for education and a future in Adelaide. A neighbour has died. Did one of these meth-heads do it and not recall? It does not make a pretty picture of life in Coober Pedy. Indeed, not only does it depict angry young men ravaged by meth and heroin but also, and rather graphically, a town plagued by heat and aggressive mosquitos.
This is a debut play by Zoe Muller and it won the 2018 Young Playwright of the Year Award from State Theatre and Flinders University. It was presented on stage earlier in the year at The Mill under auspices of Deadset Theatre.
Critics noted that The Mill’s claustrophobic stage space enhanced the mood of the play and it must be said that the social distancing expanses on the big stage in this Rep production does quite the opposite. It takes some time to identify who is where as the camera sweeps across couches and through a door to somewhere. One understands that the performance was filmed in two sessions and edited together. One wonders why the company did not realise in the process that it is not working and that the sound is so far out of kilter it is often offensively deafening or muffled, with extraneous onstage sounds intrusive.
The camerawork has not followed the examples of the many stage companies whose filmed archive productions have been streaming online during the pandemic. Some of these have been simply spellbinding, deflating the old argument that stage plays cannot be translated to film. We have had for example: Griffin Theatre’s Emerald City; Sydney Theatre Company/Malthouse with Michael Gow’s Away; and the many offerings of theshowmustgoon line YouTube channel. Digitised versions of live theatre have come to the fore, along with iso-special theatre productions on Zoom. A new skillset is evolving.
Meanwhile, as the narrative of Rattling the Keys evolves and the histrionics lessen, some acceptable performances emerge, most particularly that of the playwright herself. Muller is really quite engaging in the role of Arcadia, the stoic sister of troubled addict Teddy. He, on the other hand, comes across in an assault of shouting as performed by Henry Solomon. Matilda Butler charms as the nice girl, Billy, a character devised to inject hope into the grim world of isolated adolescence. Albert Ngo also achieves some balance as Kai and Alex Whitrow shows the needed glimmer of decency as Ashton. But much of the performance seems to be pushing against the odds and one wishes the director could have reined the actors in.
This play speaks well for the passions of aspiring playwrights. It is a passionate, youthful achievement in this hardest of arts. It will be interesting to see where Muller goes from here.
While the Rep has made a brave attempt at the evolving genre, it is clearly a learning curve. Future productions are promised on its YouTube channel and one waits with growing expectations. Every month, a new show.
Bookmark the channel and make sure to subscribe.
Samela Harris
When: Online for one month from 27 Jun
Where: YouTube Link
Bookings: Free; donations welcomed – Link
Adelaide Festival. Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, Houston Grand Opera & Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, in association with Adelaide Festival. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 15 Mar 2020.
Directed by Tom Morris, Breaking the Waves is this year’s headline opera event of the Adelaide Festival. It has much to commend it, but it doesn’t fully hit the mark and many audience members left somewhat dissatisfied.
Breaking the Waves is a modern three act opera based on Danish film director Lars von Trier’s 1996 film of the same name. This reviewer has not seen the film, but is firmly of the view that irrespective of the opera’s provenance it must stand on its own as a piece of performance art regardless of any back-story. Unhappily, it does not, and any interest and dramatic tension that is created at the start falls away only to be regained mid-way through the final act.
The story line follows Bess who falls in love with, and marries, Jan, a fly-in/fly-out oil rig worker. Bess lives on the Isle of Skye and is subject to the social mores of a strict Presbyterian upbringing. By contrast, Jan is a foreigner and the local church elders do not approve of the marriage. Not long after the wedding, Jan sustains critical injuries in a work accident and is repatriated to the mainland for intensive and protracted medical treatment. It is not certain that he will ever recover and he is concerned for the emotional welfare of Bess, to the extent that he encourages her to seek out liaisons with other men. She is at first reluctant but is persuaded by him and thus begins her slide into emotional decay. The most uncomfortable aspect of this part of the plot is that Jan wants Bess to give him a full description of her sexual encounters so that he might continue to enjoy a sex life of sorts with Bess, at least vicariously.
This key feature of the plot is ‘uncomfortable’ because the libretto lacks sufficient substance that might encourage the audience to actually believe that Jan’s request of Bess is in any way socially acceptable. The opera presents it in a matter-of-fact fashion with only some resistance from Bess. We already know at the outset that Bess has suffered deep psychological scars at the death of her brother, but now we wonder whether she has deeper persistent problems, and whether Jan might also be significantly ‘troubled’. Whether this is actually a sub plot or not, it has an unconvincing genesis.
The success of any opera relies on its libretto and score, of course. Missy Mazzoli’s orchestral score is quite superb, with interesting instrumentation that strongly features percussion and also includes electric guitar and synthesizer. However, the tone of the score often conflicts with the libretto, such as sweeping legato melodies accompanying arias depicting profound human distress and torment. This does not help sustain a suspension of disbelief. However, in the third act, when the council of elders cast Bess out of the church – in a scene that is the dramatic highlight of the whole opera - it really is stunning. The music to which the male chorus is set is all of a sudden fully complementary to the context of libretto and, from an audience perspective, it becomes much easier to engage with. This of course is not to suggest that the whole thing needs to be more melodramatic – it does not, and Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrfek have worked assiduously to avoid that – but the libretto and score do not always work together despite each other’s inventiveness.
As Bess, American soprano, Sydney Mancasola is outstanding. She rarely leaves the stage, if at all, and gives a bravura performance in both acting and vocals. Bess is always at the centre of attention, and Mancasola is equal to the task. Australian baritone Duncan Rock is imposing as Jan. He is totally believable as an irresistible sexual force, and his warm and resonant voice negotiates the challenges of the score with apparent effortlessness.
Mancasola and Rock are well supported by Wallis Giunta (playing Dodo, Bess’s sister in law), Elgan Llŷr Thomas (Jan’s attending physician), and especially Orla Boylan, as Bess’s uncompromising but devoted mother. Francis Church and David Lynn are convincing as the brutal sailors who menace Bess. Byron Jackson gives a credible performance as one of Jan’s knock-about friends. Freddie Tong looks menacing and imperious as the principal church elder, but occasionally struggles with maintaining evenness across the vocal range of the score. The male chorus is outstanding throughout the production.
Soutra Gilmour’s single set design is visually striking and one of the most evocative and effective this reviewer has ever seen on any operatic stage. It comprises thirteen angular rectangular pillars set on a revolve stage. As it rotates, it variously becomes a range of locations including a church council chamber, a wedding reception, a ship’s prow, a hospital ward, a dingy street, and an oil rig. Richard Howell’s superb and incisive lighting design (including lighting projections that are not credited in the program) allowed the set to become all these things in the blink of an eye.
The musical ensemble comprises soloists from the Orchestra of the Scottish Opera and is led by conductor Stuart Stratford. Aural balance is maintained throughout, and vocalists are never overshadowed. Because of the conflicting qualities of the score and the libretto, it is likely that the overall effect may be enhanced if some instruments are foregrounded to enhance the counterpoint in the music.
The ending of the opera, like its start, is visually and musically affecting, but not enough to finally send the audience home wanting to seek out a CD recording or to want to see it again.
Kym Clayton
When: 15 Mar
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Platform Academy. Nexus Arts – Lions Arts Centre. 12 Mar 2020
If you want to see a Broadway musical in the making, this is the ticket. Danny Ginges wrote a bunch of songs about the development of, and moral considerations about, the atomic bomb - as you do - and teamed up with composer Philip Foxman to create this fetching, informative, flowing and entertainingly thoughtful musical. The Sydney-siders managed to mount the whole shebang off-Broadway for a six-week season, but to actually get onto Broadway, well, they got that it needs a bit of tweaking. So the show is being performed by local theatre companies around Australia as Ginges and Foxman fly a few ideas up the flagpole and see who salutes. This Fringe production – attended by Ginges and Foxman – is directed by Kim Spargo who puts on the stage the youthful talent she is training in the Platform Academy – a performance arts training school that she founded in 2013.
The narrative arc follows the trajectory of the brilliant Leo Szilard who was instrumental in developing practical nuclear physics. He left Nazi Germany to eventually work on the Manhattan Project which developed the bomb. Szilard is the ideal protagonist for his conflicted views and actions concerning science and ethics.
The opening scene of raincoat-clad commuters fretting over their morning newspapers with atomic bomb anxiety in 1945 immediately connected me with current concerns over the coronavirus. Perfect timing, Kim! For a kind-of cerebral subject, Spargo perfectly manifests the kinetic energy that inhabits the book and songs. So much so, that the frequent tender moments between Szilard and his much put-upon wife seemed like a hand brake. The songs are typically short and snappy, well-contextualised into the narrative, and set to, well, not exactly rock music - it’s not Jesus Christ Superstar - but more what you expect for rock musicals these days. Mind you, there wasn’t a live orchestra.
Spargo did a lot with little set furniture, and props, costumes and hair more than adequately portrayed the ‘40s. Importantly, scene changes were swift and snappy. Lighting was important and well done although an opportunity was missed when the test bomb went off in New Mexico, and the flash and following rumble was poorly responded to by the observers. Spargo naturally cast mainly (or solely) from her students and they are a bunch developing at different rates of accomplishment. A compelling and authentic figure was Will Richards’ Paul Tippets, but it took a gander at the program to realise he was the pilot of the bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Bravo for a terrific new musical!
David Grybowski
When: 11 to 14 Mar
Where: Nexus Arts – Lions Arts Centre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Festival. Compagnie Carabosse. Adelaide Botanic Garden. 12 Mar 2020
French artistic collective Compagnie Carabosse has brought their fire-scape installations to Womadelaide several times in the past few years. It’s always a hypnotic delight for design and deliberation, but Fire Gardens is the Womad act on a gigantic scale. The audience enters in four half-hour increments from 8 pm to 9:30, to meter the numbers, but the trouble was, it’s so good, it seemed like nobody wanted to leave. By 9:30, it was uncomfortably crowded and a little annoying. Simple pots of fire line a garden path and invite one to follow the Congo line queue to the far end of the fire exhibit and the exotically lit Palm House (but actually, you can walk wherever you want within the lit area).
Unfortunately, the candles in the white singlets hanging inside were spilling so much wax that entry was prohibited. By this time, the soft yet thick and slightly fragrant smoke was nearly overpowering as you are in the midst of zillions of fire pots. Shadows eerily flicker off the foliage. Once the decision was made to sit out the crowds, the experience enhanced considerably. The latter part of the circuit has the best stuff – multi-pot sculptures of pots of fire mounted on kinetic structures. Coals burn in wire boats suspended above and reflected on the pond. A double bassist dressed like a hobo plays jazz without looking up from within his tiny tent while apparitions of people transit in the distant dark haze. There are many lovely aural and visual surprises that compel exploration, or simple relaxation and contemplation whilst lying on the grass or sitting on a swinging seat. When the crowd subsided, the experience was finally magical and enchanting.
David Grybowski
When: 12 to 15 Mar
Where: Adelaide Botanic Garden
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
★★★★
Night Owl Shows. Masonic – Phoenix Room at Gluttony. 3 Mar 2020
Night Owl Shows is a music show production company specialising in nostalgia. They have/had (some seasons have ended) nine shows at the Adelaide Fringe with singers replicating the songs and vocal oomph of Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, Paul Simon, The Carpenters, Nashville, a show called California Legends, and this one. Dan Clews, who leads the company, describes the shows as “show-umentary” which is an awkward conjunction meaning that the presenters reveal interesting biographical information and anecdotes when introducing the songs.
It is none other than Dan Clews who sings James Taylor in The Carole King & James Taylor Story. He does this extremely well, giving up Taylor’s nasal quality and overall sweetness, and fretting the chords like he was born with a guitar in his hand. Taylor was known in the US as “the tear ducts of America” - his melancholy chords give even hopeful songs a sense of reflection touched with regret. Must have been all the drugs Taylor used (he kicked heroin good-bye in 1983). Clews has the emotional quotient to convey all this. Phoebe Katis’ delivery is a bit breathy and formal in contrast to Carole King’s vocal power and casual breeziness, and thus not as effective a channeler of King as Clews is of Taylor. Maybe it was because she had only arrived from Paris the day before and thought she’d be ready for a show.
Taylor and King are two of the greater songwriters of their age. King’s second studio album, Tapestry, sold 25 million copies and was the highest selling album by a female artist for 25 years. Night Owl Shows I’m sure is a commercial success as many of their shows are sold out to the generation that grew up to the soundtracks of their subject matter. Following a biographic chronology, we learn King and Taylor both started their careers in New York. Carol King wrote songs with first husband Gerry Goffin (how about Natural Woman in an afternoon) at the famous Brill Building, and James Taylor’s first album was produced by The Beatles’ Abbey Road label. They relocated independently to LA and were brought together by a producer there. They were never married. But it was Taylor who encouraged King to sing her own songs which got the already famous songwriter’s performance career under way.
Taylor’s and Katis’s renditions of the famous songs – Fire and Rain, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, It’s Too Late, You’ve Got A Friend - unpack nostalgia for their target audience, and it’s likely if you had your first job in the 70s, you’ll be emotionally involved. And hopefully the same if the songs are new to you, or you’ve never heard them live, because they are beautifully and sensitively crafted, and in this show, performed; they don’t require emotional baggage to be enjoyed.
PS Taylor’s first Number 1 Hit, You’ve Got A Friend, was written by Carole King, in the same year Tapestry was released - 1971.
David Grybowski
When: 4 to 15 Mar
Where: Masonic – Phoenix Room at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au