Author Archives: Suzy Wrong

Review: Hilt (Mirror Mirror)

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hiltVenue: Old 505 Theatre (Surry Hills NSW), Mar 12 – 30, 2014
Playwright: Jane Bodie
Director: Dominic Mercer
Actors: Alexandra Aldrich, Joanna Downing, Stephen Multari, Sam O’Sullivan

Theatre review
Jane Bodie’s script seduces with intrigue and structural complexity. Her characters divulge little of themselves, but we witness their interchanges at close range. At play is the way these contemporary Australians interact with each other, and we see how connections are formed in our modern lives. Bodie sets up what at first seems to be unconventional relationships, but over the course of her storytelling, we begin to question whether these are exceptional cases that we witness, or actually, a rare confession of common experiences.

Direction and performances tend towards naturalism, which makes Hilt “audience friendly”, turning challenging ideas into digestible concepts. Director Dominic Mercer succeeds in creating believable characters and communicating details of their stories, but could benefit from taking a little artistic license in expression. Real life sometimes needs sprucing up for the stage.

Mercer’s cast is a focused one, and all have clear trajectories with their individual motivations and destinations. Alexandra Aldrich plays Kate with a lot of graveness, which is an accurate depiction of the dark world in which she dwells, but prevents some of the dialogue from being more dramatic and punchy. Stephen Multari is effective in highly emotive scenes that require anger and frustration. Both actors seem constrained by the subtle and minimalist setting. Supporting actors Joanna Downing and Sam O’Sullivan provide excellent support and necessary lightness, helping add variety to the show’s palette of moods.

This is an Australian story that is as valid as any. It does however, have an unexpected sophistication in the incisive way it talks about family, marriage and sex. Nothing in the twenty-first century can truly be claimed as being unique to any cosmopolitan city, but Hilt certainly articulates a lot about what life today is like in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, etc. It provides a mirror into the things we do. Its accuracy and originality might be disorientating, but good art is known to do that.

www.venue505.com/theatre

5 Questions with Zach Beavon-Collin

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zachbeavoncollinWhat is your favourite swear word?
(Removed 9/9/2014 at Zach Beavon-Collin’s request)

What are you wearing?
Collared shirt and shorts. Suitably non-descript.

What is love?
Openness and vulnerability generated by complete understanding.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
SUDS’ Much Ado About Nothing and I thought it was fantastic. 4/5

Is your new show going to be any good?
Only if explosive death and dark Australian humour are your idea of a fun night at the theatre.

 

Zach Beavon-Collin is directing Quack for Sydney University Dramatic Society.
Show dates: 19 – 22 Mar, 2014
Show venue: Studio B, University of Sydney

5 Questions with Tom Stokes

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rsz_stokes-tom-2013-pic-e1380091246743What is your favourite swear word?
Fuck. So many variations and uses, ie: “All those fucking fucks are fucked, ay.”

What are you wearing?
I’m wearing some very loud shorts that are making up for the fact that I have no shirt on. It’s very muggy. The shirt I just took off, though, was an AS Colour t-shirt, shadow cut, navy blue. Available online or in store for $24.99.

What is love?
I think love is a simple word for a lot of very complex things. I think it means an array of different things to different people, so I don’t know that I can come up with a sufficient answer. What it is to me is the feeling I have with my family, with Liz Blackmore, with a few friends and with the Fremantle Dockers.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Once In Royal David’s City. It was tops. I admire how much of himself Michael Gow is prepared to put into his plays. He’s a seasoned professional that still gets that writing what you know is very effective. 4/5

Is your new show going to be any good?
Ken Oath.

Tom Stokes is appearing in Music, from Stories Like These is part of Griffin Theatre’s 2014 Independent Season.
Show dates: 2 – 26 Apr, 2014
Show venue: Griffin Theatre

Review: Monkey (Creative Practice Lab UNSW)

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rsz_monkey-505Venue: UNSW Io Myers Studio (Kensington NSW), Mar 11 – 15, 2014
Director: Ben Winspear
Playwright: Les Winspear (based on the traditional Journey To The West)
Actors: Students from UNSW School of the Arts & Media

Theatre review
The enduring tale of Journey To The West is one of enlightenment and aspiration. It is also about mentoring, development and progression, all of which come together to make Les Winspear’s contemporary retelling of Monkey a natural thematic choice for a production involving young people. The characters in the story are mischievous, imperfect and unafraid of failure. This serves as great catalyst for students to approach their play with a sense of playfulness and daring.

Director Ben Winspear’s style is brave and bold. He is faithful to the story, but is audacious in vision. Rules are made to be broken, and one is tempted to conclude that rule-breaking is a method he cherishes when creating magic in the theatre. Or perhaps, it is simply his outrageous imagination that reaches beyond convention and the predictable, into a space that feels refreshing and original for contemporary audiences. Indeed, the director’s ability at materialising the fantastical details of Monkey, not only gives us a work that is dynamic and highly amusing, it provides a safe and spacious springboard for his student actors to experiment and perform. The wildness of this world they create, encourages lively expression but also comprises a healthy protection for those who need it. This is a stage so full of colour and vigour that nothing can look out of place.

Design is excellent. All aspects, from costume and props, to set, sound and lighting are thoughtful, inventive and confidently executed. It is by no means a show about polished production values, but what this crew achieves with a minuscule budget in the most basic of venues, is impressive. It is a beautiful collaboration of disciplines that works together to tell a story with clarity, wonder, and a lot of fun.

All performers appear to be students. It is a big cast, with varying degrees of ability, but unified by a common level of enthusiasm and commitment. Some seem to be appearing on stage for the very first time, and others are brazen and ambitious. Most are allowed their moment in the sun, and each bask in their own, in idiosyncratic, joyful ways. There are performers who impress with their use of voice, and some with their dance. Actors who charm us with comic timing, as well as those with outstanding physicality, and presence so strong, they steal our attention for a second or two.

Although Monkey and his friends reach a penultimate moment of glory, what we remember most after all the dust has settled, are his qualities of mischief and joy. We often forget the importance of the light, for the weight of darkness makes for easy victories, especially in the arts. It is unimportant what the scriptures at the end of Monkey may contain, if the journey that is taken fills itself with all that is gallant, and good.

https://sam.arts.unsw.edu.au

5 Questions with Sonya Kerr

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sonyakerrWhat is your favourite swear word?
Bollocks. It’s fabulous to say, can be used for a variety of circumstances and you can add extra words to it to make it a positive i.e. the dog’s bollocks.

What are you wearing?
A Superman t-shirt, jeans and combat boots. Coz that’s how I roll!

What is love?
Baby don’t hurt me….sorry. Seriously though, love is sharing the last glass of wine.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Technically, the last I saw was actually on digitaltheatre.com – and it was Private Lives. 5 stars. (is that cheating?)

Is your new show going to be any good?
It’s going to be the dog’s bollocks!!

Sonya Kerr is appearing in A Moment On The Lips, with Mad March Hare Theatre Company.
Show dates: 25 Mar – 12 Apr, 2014
Show venue: The Old Fitzroy Hotel

5 Questions with Yannis Simonides

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yannissimonidesWhat is your favourite swear word?
Politics

What are you wearing?
The mask of Socrates

What is love?
An all-encompassing tenderness for humanity. Love is listening and communicating, and love is tough. Loving others enough to tell them what they don’t want to hear.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
The human drama in the streets of Kiev and Athens and Madrid and Rio and Istanbul and Cairo, and I give it all the stars in the sky.

Is your new show going to be any good?
Our show, Socrates Now is 2,500 years old and 150,000 people have seen it in 16 countries, and they come back for seconds and thirds and fourths, so it may be alright.

Yannis Simonides channels the ancient philosopher (and “the horsefly that bit the arse of Athens”) in Socrates Now.
IN ENGLISH
Show dates: 14 – 15 Mar, 2014
Show venue: Seymour Centre

IN MODERN GREEK
Show dates: 16 Mar, 2014
Show venue: The Factory Theatre

Review: Seven Kilometres North-East (Version 1.0)

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rsz_7km_ss_3Venue: Seymour Centre (Chippendale NSW), Mar 8 – 22, 2014
Devisor and performer: Kym Vercoe
Singer: Sladjana Hodzic

Theatre review
Kym Vercoe’s Seven Kilometres North-East is structured like the travels she has been on. Adventurous and purposefully vague, we don’t really know what is happening until we get there. The experience of exploring unfamiliar terrains is replicated in Vercoe’s work. We are at times bewildered and anxious, trying to make sense of everything that is exotic, alien and strange; and at other times, we discover people who tell fascinating stories and places that narrate histories, beautiful and horrific.

The plot of the piece takes us on winding roads, and bumpy rides. It is not the most comfortable of journeys, with challenges appearing at almost every turn. Vercoe does not aspire to make things easy to stomach. Instead, she places emphasis on authenticity, and a sense of reverence for all that she had met during her time in the Balkans. Her performance style is dynamic and colourful, which keeps us engaged. She has a warm enthusiasm that asks for our trust, and we stay on with her, subconsciously aware that our guide is peeling layers off an onion with a core that will be worth the trek. Indeed, the concluding moments of the show is as dramatic and powerful as any work of fiction that aims to hit you like a ton of bricks.

At tonight’s performance, three people walked out. The third chose to leave at a particularly heightened and tense section towards the end. The stage is on ground level, and at that moment, the performer was standing close to the audience and near the exit. The departer got out of her seat and walked deliberately in front of Vercoe and headed our of the theatre. It looked like a protest. Perhaps there are nuances in the politics of the region that are too complex for an 80 minute performance to encapsulate, or maybe Vercoe is making a statement that is shocking to some. For those of us who are afar, and frankly, only mildly familiar with the travesties in recent Bosnian history, Seven Kilometres North-East seeks to appeal on a humanist level. What Vercoe shares comes from the personal and it speaks to us personally. Larger contexts are not required, when telling tales of murder and genocide.

PS (10 Mar 2014): Some information has come through about the walkouts after the review above was published. The producers say that one relates to urgent work matters and another was the result of an audience member texting during the show and being asked to stop by someone else.

www.versiononepointzero.com