Author Archives: Suzy Wrong

5 Questions with Toni Scanlan and Jamie Oxenbould

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Toni Scanlan

Toni Scanlan

What characters do you play in Good Works?
Toni Scanlan: Mrs. Kennedy – who is a working class woman with a strong connection with Catholisism and who has a daughter who challenges and disregards the social and religious expectations of the church.
Mrs Donovan – initially from a poor background and is now a social pillar of society. She is a glamorous, controlling woman who completely understands her role in her adopted community.
Sister John – A nun.

Nick Enright , the writer of Good Works, is a theatre legend. Did you ever meet him or work with him?
I met Nick through a couple of his friends who became mine – which inadvertently led me to being cast in his first production of Daylight Savings at the Q Theatre. I remember saying to him after the first read of the play on that Monday morning, “Don’t worry Nick I’m a better actor than I am a reader”. He just laughed this warm wonderful thing. Nick’s are the best “deathbed anecdotes” I have ever heard. Told to me by two of his closest friends. I’ve been telling them now for some time. They make me feel less worried about dying!

What’s you earliest memory of performing?
Earliest memory of performing was at the drinks party Mum held at home for the Chairman and bosses from the “shipping and export” department at Wesfarmers. This is the 60s. Mum’s high heels, shorts, mid-drift top and castanets. Humming a Spanish tune. This was my idea – my mother was completely unaware of what I was about to do.

Name your 3 most memorable shows, either as audience or performer?
1. Richard III performed by a Georgian Company. I was at Drama School in London. This was at the Round House. The play was, of course, spoken in Russian, I had never read it and it was the clearest Shakespearean play I have ever seen to this day.
2. An Evening With Erik Satie. In the tiniest theatre (max 30 people) on Isle de Cite, Paris – one man, one girl, a piano and 50 minutes. Heaven!
3. All My Sons was a major thing for me. I’ve now performed in a few plays by Arthur Miller and they are all up there with, arguably, some of the best work Ive done but there was something about this production… the cast and the director, Iain Sinclair, it was incredibly special and I will never forget it.

What’s your dream role?
Easy. Bessie Berger from Awake And Sing by Clifford Odets. Any takers?

Jamie Oxenbould

Jamie Oxenbould

You play several characters in the play, can you briefly tell me who they are?
My characters are Alan – a friend of Tim, one of the two central boys, who we meet in a gay bar in 1981. Iain Sinclair (our director) described him as a gay Mr Miyagi (Karate Kid reference for those in the dark). Brother Clement – who is a homophobic, sadistic teacher at the country Catholic boys school where our two central boys meet. Barry Carmody – who owns the local pub. A bit of a boofhead, besotted with Rita the firecracker barmaid and also partial to giving boys a beating. And Mr Donovan – the town’s lawyer and church elder who represents the puritanical, patriarchal side of rural Australia in the 1960’s.

Nick Enright , the writer of Good Works, is a theatre legend. Did you ever meet him or work with him?
I did meet him a few times. And I also worked with him acting in The Three Sisters at the Old Fitz many years ago. A true gentleman, a bit cheeky and a very charming actor. He was an icon of the industry and I would have loved to have been taught by him at some stage.

What’s your earliest memory of performing?
I did a play called Charlie’s Aunt at high school. I must have been about 16. It was a very corny farce and I got my first taste for laughs. I’ve been on the hunt ever since.

Name your 3 most memorable shows, either as audience or performer?
La Fura Dels Baus. A Spanish company that toured here in the 80’s. Just wild anarchy and visceral madness in the Hordern Pavillion. There were chainsaws and blood and weirdness. You had to run out of the way of the performers or risk injury. To a youngster starting out in theatre it was a real eye opener. Nicholas Nickleby – The STC did it in the 90’s (?). It was about an 8 hour production with a massive cast and just a fabulous piece of storytelling. I laughed and cried for the whole Dickensian ride. As a performer I would say Fully Committed at the Ensemble Theatre. It was the first one man show I did and basically after doing that you lose your fear of doing anything.

What’s your dream role?
Either King Lear or Mary Poppins. I’m going to go with Mary Poppins.

Catch Toni Scanlan and Jamie Oxenbould in Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s production of Good Works, by Nick Enright.
Dates: 31 October – 29 November, 2015
Venue: Eternity Playhouse

5 Questions with Sinead Curry and Nathaniel Scotcher

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Sinead Curry

Sinead Curry

Nathaniel Scotcher: What animal that would play you in the story of your life?
Sinead Curry: An otter would play me in the movie of the story of my life. It would be called “Call of The Wild: One Otter’s Journey from River Obscurity to Voice Over Success”.

If your character was an ice cream flavour, what flavour would she be?
Melanie would be a double scoop combo of Vanilla and Pralines, served in a children’s-sized cone. She’s watching her weight.

If your character and Nate’s character went on a date, where would you go and what would you say to keep him interested?
Randy, being 14, must surely still be interested in parties; Melanie would take him to a funland playground-cum-bistro, and they would eat fish fingers and talk at length about his fork collection. If Randy could resist his urge to stab, that is.

Do you think Nate’s picture should have been on the postcards instead of yours?
Definitely. Nate’s bone structure is way more alluring and would lead to more ticket sales. Also, Nate’s skin tone is warmer and more welcoming than my pasty hue. Maybe if we had Nate’s face on the Australian currency instead of the Queen the AUS Dollar might improve?

If you could be Nate for a week, what would you do?
I would dance all of the time, and in my breaks from dance, I’d swim the English Channel. I’d also get many tattoos of Rabbits.

Nathaniel Scotcher

Nathaniel Scotcher

Sinead Curry: If Randy was a song, what would it be?
Nathaniel Scotcher: “Living Dead Girl” by Rob Zombie or “Gay Bar” by Electric Six.

What do you know about rabbits?
When I was a young lad I used to breed dwarf rabbits and sell the babies to pet shops. They were very cute and I spent many hours looking after them, however, I’m not sure that I ever really knew them.

If you could give Sinead one piece of career advice, what would it be?
Just be the artist you are and you will continue to shine brighter than the sun. Be true to yourself, coz yourself is marvellous!

What is your favourite piece of Sinead’s clothing?
Sinead has an eclectic assortment of tiny T-shirts that are tricky to decipher, this amuses me when I get bored in rehearsals. She also looks smokin’ in them.

Could Sinead be any more attractive?
I don’t believe she could be any more attractive, especially when she is doing her odd little Kath and Kim dance in the show… so elegant.

Sinead Curry and Nathaniel Scotcher are appearing in Roadkill Confidential, by Sheila Callaghan.
Dates: 11 – 28 November, 2015
Venue: Kings Cross Theatre

Review: Round Heads And Peak Heads (Actors College Of Theatre & Television)

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acttVenue: Bondi Pavilion (Bondi NSW), Nov 5 – 9, 2015
Playwright: Bertolt Brecht
Director: Lex Marinos
Cast: Simon Benjamin, Campbell Briggs, Alex Brown, Cait Burley, Sarah Anne Carter, Abbie Coco, Keegan Fisher, Joseph Hallows, Reilly Anne Keir, Richard Littlehales, Angelika Nieweglowski, Jake Scherini, Amy Shapiro, Romney Stanton

Theatre review
Bertolt Brecht premiered Round Heads And Peak Heads in 1936, when Hitler was leading Germany. The play talks about racial persecution, without specifically naming the Jews, and how ethnic minorities are used as a scapegoat of sorts for people in positions of power. It explores the dynamics between greed and justice in a way that is not far different from discourse today, although its cautious language (as a result of censorship) is certainly much more indirect than we are used to.

The production, directed by Lex Marinos, is an energetic one, with variations in texture that occupy our senses, but a more explicit adaptation to current political climes and social concerns would make it more engaging. Performances are uneven in the 14-strong cast, with some talents outweighing others. Cait Burley is a striking Isabella De Guzman, with intense and raw emotion accompanying a studied physicality that displays a daring adventurous spirit. Romney Stanton and Campbell Briggs have interesting roles that they sink their teeth into, both providing colourful portrayals energised by impassioned creativity. Also noteworthy are Angelika Nieweglowski and Alex Brown, who exhibit interesting presences and excellent commitment to their charmingly idiosyncratic roles.

Life is often not fair. Ability does not guarantee success, and hard work does not always see commensurate returns. We exist in predetermined structures that will identify and subjugate the weak, but fortunately in this lucky country, some semblance of democracy exists, and individuals are able to attain their heart’s desires against all odds. What the secret ingredients are, is anyone’s guess, but it is the very definition of success that needs to be evaluated and re-evaluated every step of the way.

www.actt.edu.au

Review: Good Works (Darlinghurst Theatre Company)

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darlotheatreVenue: Eternity Playhouse (Darlinghurst NSW), Oct 31 – Nov 29, 2015
Playwright: Nick Enright
Director: Iain Sinclair
Cast: Taylor Ferguson, Lucy Goleby, Anthony Gooley, Stephen Multari, Jamie Oxenbould, Toni Scanlan
Image by Helen White

Theatre review
In Nick Enright’s Good Works, we are often confused about time and characters. It is a deliberate ploy to have us focus on what people are doing to each other, regardless of when things had taken place or who those people might be. It probes us to consider if contexts matter when we are unkind. It talks about how we treat children, and how behaviour is perpetuated beyond the illusion of growing up. The play’s plot structure is perhaps its most interesting feature. The story and its themes are not unusual or spectacular, but through its highly inventive way of communication, we are required to relate to its ideas on a level of intimacy. If we do not have certainty about characters, we can only understand events by applying them conceptually, to our selves.

Director Iain Sinclair’s construction of space through Hugh O’Connor’s complex multi-tiered platforms is theatrical magic. The constant profusion of movement, visual depth and dimension is an aesthetic joy, and also an effective mechanism for providing demarcation for minute scene transitions. Sinclair’s knack for creating dramatic tension and his ability to extract meaning from them, ensures that the play unfolds with a gravity necessary for its poignant messages to hit home.

It is a strong cast that presents this challenging work. Each player is required to embody a range of ages and personalities, and although not every scene is equally powerful, there is no questioning the authenticity and thoughtfulness of their approach to individual parts. Lucy Goleby leaves an impression with studied stillness on a stage buzzing with energetic activity. Her eyes are, on more than one occasion, our sole focus as they convey quiet but intense emotion. Taylor Ferguson brings remarkable exuberance and strength to a character who faces multiple setbacks. The resilience and fallibility of humanity that she demonstrates is touching, and beautiful.

There is not much point to life if we do not try to do good, but Good Works shows us the conflict and complications that occur in communities when flawed individuals try to do their best within their inevitable limitations. We examine how it is that we can come to conclude which decisions are best, without resorting to convenient solutions that religions are keen to provide, and we question if there is possibility for behaviour to be anything else than emulation. Whether Enright’s play is pessimistic or otherwise, would depend heavily on one’s own outlook on life.

www.darlinghursttheatre.com

Review: Duck Hunting (Contemporarian Theatre Company)

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contemporarianVenue: King Street Theatre (Newtown NSW), Nov 4 – 29, 2015
Playwright: Aleksandr Vampilov
Directors: Shai Alexander and Toby B. Styling
Cast: Michelle De Rosa, Nicholas Drummond, Paul Gerrard, Louise Harding, Christian Heath, Jessica Saras, Carlos Sivalingham, Anthony Sottile, Joshua Wiseman
Image by Toby B. Styling

Theatre review
Craig’s only passion is duck hunting, but he spends every second of his life avoiding it, preoccupied with all the petty mundanity of a bourgeois existence. He seems full of hatred for his job, his new home, the women around him, and most of all, himself. We see him snorting cocaine and downing copious amounts of alcohol, fantasising about better times, to which he never commits. The eccentric 1976 script by Aleksandr Vampilov is about a small man’s state of crisis. There is hardly anything likeable about Craig, but we do recognise the issues that he grapples with. The play is transposed to a modern day Australian context fairly effectively, but the sheer length of the work at three-and-a-half hours is a challenge. A heavy edit would most certainly make things more dynamic.

Shai Alexander and Toby B. Styling’s highly stylised direction delivers a lot of hits, but also more than a few misses. Their experimental anti-naturalistic mode of presentation is refreshing, with an ability to add surprising dimensions to the text, but the staging needs greater finesse to ensure that its surreality does not fall into pointless gesturing and mere pretence. The tone of performance required for the piece is specific and highly unconventional, using an idiosyncratic physical language that the cast is not always sufficiently au fait with. Michelle De Rosa and Paul Gerrard stand out for their confident embrace of the production’s offbeat nature to create characters that seem strange on the surface, while providing firm logic to their respective narratives. Craig is played by Christian Heath who brings energy and presence, along with an unshakeable conviction to hold our attention. In spite of his character’s faults, the actor’s own vulnerability and his determination to portray fragility in the protagonist’s story, help us gain an unusual, albeit objectionable, perspective of the world.

Duck Hunting is an ordinary tale that the everyman can understand. More interesting is the way it attempts to explore the potentials of the theatrical medium, and how the stage conveys meaning. It is not always successful with its endeavours, but its sense of adventure and pursuit of originality should not be disregarded. We never discover if Craig has any talent at all, but we know that he does not make it to the hunting ponds. For the artist, talent will always be subjective, but as long as self-belief and commitment exist, art will be created, and that alone, is achievement.

www.contemporarian.com.au

Review: Cats (The Really Useful Group / Capitol Theatre)

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catsVenue: Capitol Theatre (Sydney NSW), from Oct 30 – Nov 29, 2015
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: T.S. Eliot, Trevor Nunn, Richard Stilgoe
Book: T.S. Eliot
Director: Trevor Nunn
Resident Director: Stephen Morgante
Cast: Daniel Assetta, Amy Berrisford, Madeline Cain, Jade Hui-Wen Coutts, Christopher Favaloro, Keanu Gonzalez, Delta Goodrem, Dominique Hamilton, Ross Hannaford, Ashleigh Hauschild, Sam Hooper, Thomas Johannson, Emily Keane, Sarah Kate Landy, Bree Langridge, Tobias Madden, Matt McFarlane, Holly Meegan, Samantha Morley, Brent Osborne, Josh Piterman, Taylor Scanlan, Stephanie Silcock, Jason Wasley, Patrick Whitbread

Theatre review
Cats first appeared in London in 1981, and remains one of the world’s longest running musicals. This Australian tour is based on last year’s West End revival by its original team, with minor updates that preserve its familiar charm, while taking the show into the twenty-first century. Cats has a distinct quietness that sets it apart from the bold and brash shows of today, where humour tends to be obvious and songs are unsubtle. We are transported back to the theatrical age of Bob Fosse and Alvin Ailey, rediscovering that lost sophistication in sound and movement.

The emphasis on dance is its most glorious feature, and this energetic Australian cast executes all the show’s feline frolic with impressive athleticism, discipline, accuracy and flair. Christopher Favaloro’s turn as Mr. Mistoffelees is delightfully memorable, exceeding expectations by delivering technical excellence along with a superbly effervescent characterisation of the magical cat.

It is an exceptionally well rehearsed cast, and although vocal abilities can vary quite starkly depending on the level of dance required in roles, each performer is accomplished in their own right. Matt McFarlane as Munkustrap, the narrator and second-in-command of the Jellicle tribe, is the strongest all-rounder of the production, with a voice and physicality that has the necessary power to direct our attention at will, and a sex appeal that seems to transcend boundaries of species. The mainstream hit song “Memory” is a significant motif in the show, sung by Delta Goodrem, whose indisputable commitment to her role of Grizabella, complete with suitably raspy tones, almost delivers the goods. Goodrem’s portrayal of age and faded glory is not quite up to scratch, and her trouble with the lower registers of her song are clearly audible in spite of the pronounced reverb effect appearing quite abruptly. Nonetheless, her louder belting sections are crowd pleasing, and help make the production an unforgettable musical theatre debut for the pop star.

Frivolity will always be big business in entertainment. Masses go to musicals to forget their troubles, and for a short time, be transported and filled with wonderment. Cats is entirely fantasy, but its approach is dignified and at times, aloof. Some people will prefer dogs, but art must never aim to please everyone.

www.catsthemusical.com

Review: A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes (Red Line Productions)

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redlineVenue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), Oct 27 – Nov 14, 2015
Playwright: Joshua Rollins
Director: Andrew Henry
Cast: Martin Crewes, Kai Paynter, Gabrielle Rogers, Jeremy Waters, Kate Williams, Ezekiel Simat
Image by Vanessa Wright

Theatre review
Life is not a bed of roses. It is a hard fact to come to terms with, but we live with evil around us, and people make decisions everyday that cause harm to others. In Joshua Rollins’ A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes, we see law enforcers at work, and as they confront the darkest sides of human nature, what they reveal are some of the worst that we are capable of. The filmic script jumps between short scenes to concoct a sense of intrigue and to manufacture a plot that can be placed squarely in the suspense genre. Characters are not created with great complexity, but their narratives are strong. There are sequences that aim to shock, and even though they border on the exploitative, their effects are unquestionably powerful.

Director Andrew Henry focuses on bringing intensity to individual performances, but chemistry between actors is lacking. Leading man is the magnetic Jeremy Waters who puts on a very high energy show, but counterparts do not often meet on his level. The staging and interpretation of scenes are straightforward, with little theatricality involved. The choice for a naturalistic approach is logical, but it seems to prevent the exploration of its quite brutal themes to extend beyond the surface. The production’s literal spacial configurations also create issues with scene transitions requiring an excessive number of blackouts that inevitably cause dramatic tension to dissipate repeatedly. Sound and lights help with a sense of continuity, but the piece struggles to find a coherent and sophisticated theatrical realisation of the episodic writing.

A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes is deeply pessimistic, but its ugliness is recognisable. It exposes the duplicity that we all share, of the possibilities for good and bad that reside in all our decisions. We may not wish to acknowledge personal intentions as ever being purposely harmful, but there is no doubt that people around us act with less than honourable motives, and one can never be too careful about becoming entangled. Innocence is a beautiful thing, especially when out of reach.

www.oldfitztheatre.com

Review: Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare)

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Venue: Sydney Opera House (Sydney NSW), Oct 27 – Dec 6, 2015
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Director: Damien Ryan
Cast: Philip Dodd, Ivan Donato, Robin Goldsworthy, Josh McConville, Julia Ohannessian, Sean O’Shea, Matilda Ridgway, Catherine Terracini, Michael Wahr, Doris Younane
Images by Daniel Boud

Theatre review
Director Damien Ryan’s rendition of Hamlet takes place in mid-20th century Denmark, with surveillance technology, airport last call announcements, and broadcasts of royal weddings. The prince is deeply upset by the death of his father, and by his mother’s very quick remarriage, but within this modern context, his very well known nervous breakdown seems to also involve the pressures of nobility as we understand them today. Our memory of Diana, Princess of Wales persevere, and the way she had been spoken off as having gone out of control, serves as a parallel to this Hamlet.

Ryan’s ideas are refreshing and plentiful. They can be meaningful, or merely ornamental, but his work is invariably engaging. In our age of collective attention deficit disorder, the production’s ability to retain our interest for over 3 hours is remarkable. Every scene is energetic, whether poignant, comedic, or transitory, Ryan finds a way to deliver entertainment and a quality of intrigue regardless of the text’s intentions. This is excellent directing, that has given rise to a show that can captivate even the most cursory of Shakespeare’s fans. Visual design contributes significantly to its pleasures. Alicia Clements’ versatile set produces dimensions on the stage with minimal fuss, and lighting designer Matt Cox’s nightmarish atmosphere administers a mesmerising effect that takes charge of our gaze.

In its efforts at bringing a newness to Hamlet, it might be argued that some dramatic tensions are unfortunately lost from the plot. The significant subdual of King Claudius’ villainy, along with the decision to play Queen Gertrude as an innocent, might be politically correct moves, but they take away from the power struggles that provide a certain spiciness to the admittedly clichéd foundations, especially in its first half. Nevertheless, the sophisticated and measured performances of the entire cast are enjoyable, and thankfully, easy to follow.

Josh McConville’s interpretation of the title role is a dynamically ranging one that exhibits a daring freedom eager to explore and experiment. McConville is powerful with all that he presents, playing comedy and tragedy equally well, but the distinction between both can appear too drastic. We understand the subject of madness involved, but it is debatable whether consistency of character can be improved in his expression of Hamlet’s state of mind. Ophelia is played by Matilda Ridgway, who shakes off the personality’s obligatory tweeness over the course of the play and puts on an impressive display of sorrow and rage in her concluding moments, for some of the most passionate and compelling scenes of the production. Philip Dodd is memorable and disarmingly funny in his parts as Polonius and Gravedigger. The actor’s confident and nuanced comic timing is a necessary element that helps with the show’s buoyancy, effectively preventing any monotony from setting in.

Revenge speaks to our base desires. A hallmark of advanced societies is the rejection of capital punishment, yet stories about vengeance resonate with no trouble at all. In Hamlet, revenge is a cancer that destroys from within. Its effects are contrary to the emotions that guide it. When enacted, the only ones who win are those from the outside, uninvolved in the eye for eye narrative. It is a profound lesson, one that is deeply, and appropriately for this text, Christian. To forgive and forget is an ideal that is unthinkable for many, but probably the only alternative to our prince’s tragic demise.

www.bellshakespeare.com.au

Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare
Hamlet 2015 Bell Shakespeare

5 Questions with Georgia Woodward and Bob Deacon

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Georgia Woodward

Georgia Woodward

Bob Deacon: Would you rather have two mouths or four hands and why?
Georgia Woodward: Definitely four hands. There are many occasions in my life where I wish I was able to carry more.

Rove McManus is just about to interview you on Rove Live. He would tell the audience as your introduction “My next guest…”
If fresh off the plane from the US where she was working on the New NBC TV Show “The Waiting Room” with co-star, Amy Poehler.

What’s the best piece of acting or life advice you have received? (please use rhyming couplets where possible)
To define what success means to you. That’s how you will get through. Being true to you.
Don’t change to fit the game. Then if you don’t get the part, you have only yourself to blame.
Kidding.
Accept that the industry is tough and won’t stroke your hair and tell you your good enough.
Accept that you are an actor, with no money, but you are surrounded by art (I want more money) and that’s good enough.

If your co-star, your director and yourself were starving escaped convicts in the Tasmanian wilderness, who would you eat first and why?
I would like them both to eat me first. One, because I would not survive in those conditions and two, they’re better people.

What will the audience enjoy most about this show?
I think the audience will love watching these characters sit in their living room and solve all world problems. Spoiler alert! Alex and I do get pretty down and dirty. We may sing and plan for our future.

Bob Deacon

Bob Deacon

Georgia Woodward: What’s the rehearsal process for Last Drinks been like so far?
Bob Deacon: We have been holding our rehearsals in a pub which is very inspiring for a play set in a pub. We sometimes drink beer in the pub after rehearsals, usually a local draft beer. Sometimes we eat some pub grub. Our director Luke has been strong in resisting urges to turn the play into a pub rock musical. The other actors are Chris whose hobbies include entertaining/creeping us out with his The Joker monologues, and Steve who unfortunately had his script stolen after the first rehearsal.

Who is your character in the show and what qualities do you like about him?
As an acrostic poem… sure!
Daniel runs his suburban family pub ‘The Avalon’
Ask him how it’s going?
No good, he’d probably say
It’s only customers are his two larrikin mates
Everything he does is for those mates and his old man
Last drinks may be called soon

Brave New Word is a theatre company dedicated to new writing, how are you finding working with them?
The team is super! They are very supportive of emerging artists and committed to putting on truthful and thought-provoking local productions. I feel very lucky to be working with them and expect to see big things from them in the future. Before I started working with Brave New Word I used to sit in my room for hours listening to ABBA songs, but since then I haven’t listened to one ABBA song. That’s because working with them is as good as an ABBA song. It’s as good as “Dancing Queen” (please watch Muriel’s Wedding if you missed this reference).

What do you eat for breakfast?
I am ridiculously rigid in my eating habits. Breakfast is two pieces of toast heavily spread with Australia’s favourite yeast extract. If I have no bread in the house, I duck up to the local convenience store and scoff into a blueberry muffin. Breakfast during special occasions like Christmas and birthdays is always enough chocolate to make me feel ill and regret my actions.

Why should we come and see the show?
Audience member 1: “Remember that time we went and watched a double bill of new Australian plays, and one was about a pub that was actually set in a pub, in a pub? Like, literally, the theatre was in a pub?”

Audience member 2: “Yeah that was mad! I loved it! The acting, the story, the whole production… all of it was fantastic!”

Audience member 1: “And remember I found $50 in that bush on the way home?”

Audience member 2: “Yeah, good times!”

Georgia Woodward and Bob Deacon will be appearing in Last Drinks & Two Mouths Four Hands, with Brave New Word Theatre Company.
Dates: 17 – 26 November, 2015
Venue: Exchange Hotel Balmain

Review: Project #Oüahn (Baühs)

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bauhsVenue: 46 Foveaux Street (Surry Hills NSW), Oct 21 – 26, 2015
Playwrights: Gabriella Imrich, Christina Marks, Eliza Scott
Director: Christina Marks
Cast: Gabriella Imrich, Eliza Scott
Image by Diana Popovska

Theatre review
On stage are two young women, best described as anxious and frustrated. They speak in symbols, and their art is abstract. What they do is rarely explicitly named, perhaps to avoid things becoming undermined by convenient labels that can never completely address their thoughts. Instead, what we have is a series of physical and verbal enunciations that provide unmistakeable visceral sensations and clear indications about the way we experience our bodies, the construction of identities, and the political forces that dominate and disenfranchise. Project #Oüahn is a subversive work about subversion. The work aims to challenge, and because of our inevitable participation in prevalent ideologies, we do find ourselves in uncomfortable spaces in its 60-minute duration. It is hard to tell if the piece communicates universally, but its intention is not to create an “us and them” dynamic with its microcosm. There are moments of division, but its interest is ultimately about self-determination and self-empowerment. Its message is one of independence, but also of love, even if much of its language is militant and tough.

We do not find a conventional narrative structure, but the two actors Gabriella Imrich and Eliza Scott begin by setting up a visual reference to the madonna-whore complex. Their surfaces appear to be different as day and night, but as they wage war and undertake torment on each other, we soon discover that they are two of the same. It is a representation of the internal dialogues that we have and the socially complicit nature of how we monitor and police our own thoughts and behaviour. There is a precision to the performers’ motivations, that makes sense of the work’s abstractions in spite of their deliberate ambiguity. Chemistry between Imrich and Scott is flawless, and the production forges ahead with a confidence that is assertive and powerfully convincing. Christina Marks’ direction balances mystery and revelation, for a show that intrigues at every point, but is satisfying throughout. Sound design by Enola Gay is to be noted for adding a sophisticated yet dramatic dimension to proceedings.

The final section of the production is as memorable as any theatrical moment can hope to be. A mesmerising sequence that expresses divine beauty and tranquil strength, embodying an affirmation of life, lived with wisdom and courage. The art that we make is never worth more than when it is progressive. Project #Oüahn is a selfless exploration into the meaning of freedom that will touch anyone whom it is able to connect with, but freedom, like all that is worthwhile, will only discharge its magical prowess for those who know to receive it.

www.bauhsbauhsbauhs.com