Review: Cain And Abel (Belvoir St Theatre / The Rabble)

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rabbleVenue: Belvoir St Theatre (Surry Hills NSW), May 15 – Jun 8, 2014
Creators: Kate Davis, Emma Valente
Director: Emma Valente
Actors: Dana Miltins, Mary Helen Sassman
Image by Brett Boardman

Theatre review
In certain religious texts, Cain and Abel were the first children born of Eve, and Abel was the first human to die. The brothers’ story is one that has undergone much speculation and scrutiny, with Cain’s motives for murder being the key point of contention. In Kate Davis and Emma Valente’s subversive vision, the first children are daughters, so it is a woman who inflicts the first act of violence. They do not investigate the reasons for the infamous slaying, but explore instead, by substituting male for female, meanings and expressions of gender and its social perceptions in relation to human traits and behaviour.

This is a theatrical work that is heavily influenced by fine art. Dialogue is sparse and reliance on words to create and communicate meaning is minimal. Davis and Valente are concerned with arresting the senses and talking viscerally, resulting in a fascinating show that is almost hypnotic in its appeal. Shades of Japanese Noh theatre can be observed in the mesmerising leading ladies, Dana Miltins and Mary Helen Sassman, who work with a grave stillness that has more to do with spirituality and metaphysicality than storytelling. In this Cain And Abel, we are required to read not only with our eyes and ears, but also to engage with its energies and instincts. As an Australian work, it is distinctively original, even within the realm of experimental theatre.

Miltins performs an understated but terrifying aggression. Her Cain is not a femme fatale, as women do not exist as temptresses on this stage. In multiple scenes depicting various imagined manifestations of the fabled carnage, we are forced to witness her sister’s slaughter repeatedly, and to contemplate wildly, our own ideas about the artist’s themes, and beyond. Indeed, the abstraction of the piece resonates strongly, and in the absence of simple narratives, our personal thoughts are taken on adventurous odysseys.

Visual and sound design are not facilitators for something greater, they are integral to the theatrical experience, and executed to perfection. A main feature is an enclosed set made of clear acrylic, that allows for brutality to be contained (along with assorted offending liquids). The creation of distance provides a membrane of psychological protection, so that our minds gain enough detachment and security to indulge in meditations over the blood-letting before us.

Davis and Valente’s work is brave, iconoclastic and important. Religion is deeply rooted in many, and its unchecked authority affects every society. This disruption of the Cain and Abel story is emancipatory, because it encourages an intellectual response that is evolved and compassionate. It asks questions that matter, and it is incumbent upon us to consider them with a pure conscience.

www.belvoir.com.au | www.therabble.com.au

5 Questions with Melita Rowston

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rsz_img_4054What is your favourite swear word?
Crikey.

What are you wearing?
Polka dots.

What is love?
A holocaust.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
Scenes From An Execution at The Old Fitz, it was full of stars.

Is your new show going to be any good?
Theatre is good for nothing but to inspire something.

 

 

Melita Rowston is directing Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them, at the New Theatre in Newtown.
Show dates: 3 – 28 Jun, 2014
Show venue: New Theatre

5 Questions with Romney Stanton

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romneystantonWhat is your favourite swear word?
I’m not sure i can say it, my mother would hit me, not that she’s into that or anything. There’s two words actually that go hand in hand perfectly – c*nt features.

What are you wearing?
I wish I could say it was something interesting… jeans, spotty jumper, converse and my favourite necklace from the NYC library (it has a quote from Hamlet engraved on it). Oh and I have odd socks on yay! I love odd socks.

What is love?
When your loved one hands you the last hot chip or olive from their plate, then you know it’s true love.

What was the last show you saw, and how many stars do you give it?
His Mothers Voice at ATYP by Bakehouse Theatre Co. I wish it was still running because it was incredible and I would have loved to have seen it again. 4 stars out of 5 baby!!!

Is your new show going to be any good?
Ahhhh, maybe ask me on opening night!?! I bloody well hope so! Couldn’t ask for a better group of actors to work with, great director and awesome characters and script… how could anything go wrong?!

Romney Stanton is appearing in Love Song, by Gamut Theatre Co.
Show dates: 11 – 22 Jun, 2014
Show venue: TAP Gallery

Review: #Three Jerks (Sweatshop)

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rsz_sweatshopVenue: Wharf 2 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), May 24, 2014
Playwrights: Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Peter Polites, Luke Carman
Director: Roslyn Oades
Performers: Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Peter Polites, Luke Carman
Image from ABC TV

Theatre review
The show takes the form of a rehearsed spoken word presentation. Three authors are positioned with scripts on music stands, and a projection screen behind them bearing the image of an Australian map with the words “Under New Managment (sic)” scribbled across. The men read their own stories, and chime in with the others’ for dramatic emphasis when required. There is very minimal movement involved, and there are no costumes. This production is not in any way elaborate, but the writers work thoroughly with their voices to communicate their vivid and powerful writing.

The script is essentially composed of three soliloquies, interestingly combined, and there is potential for a more conventional theatrical rendering. #Three Jerks is fresh, original, and gutsy, with characters that many will find intriguing. It is a frank representation of young men and teenagers from Western Sydney, and providing them a voice in our cultural landscape is of great importance. The writing is colourful and dynamic, and works well in its current state, but even though the authors’ readings are surprisingly vibrant, the text calls out desperately for actors to memorise the lines, and to deliver them not just verbally but also physically. The liveliness of the stories and the power of its vernacular will provide the right theatrical practitioners with an opportunity for a work that contemporary Australian art has been hankering for.

#Three Jerks offers insight into a slice of Sydney life that seems to exist for mainstream society only in our news media. Self-assertion is necessary to correct misrepresentations of one’s own identity. Dominant cultures will always be in positions of power that uphold systems, whether intentionally or otherwise, that attempt to subjugate minority groups into persistent positions of disadvantage, and it is up to the disadvantaged to effect revolutions, and here is a solid early step.

www.sweatshop.ws

Review: Ghosts (Sydney University Dramatic Society)

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suds1Venue: University of Sydney Studio B (Camperdown NSW), May 14 – 24, 2014
Director: Finn Davis
Playwright: Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Monisha Rudhran
Actors: Diana Reid, Sean Maroney, Myles Gutkin, Ella Parkes-Talbot, Joshua Free
Image by Matthew Webb

Theatre review
This work is an experimentation in naturalist acting. The actors have absorbed Henrik Ibsen’s script and they present on stage a performance that is best described as muted. It is a young team of artists, and their lack of experience is apparent. Their portrayals might work with a camera capturing close ups for the screen, but within the conventions of a live show, communication between stage and audience proves challenging. Plot details are often missed, and the narrative becomes unclear.

Atmospherics, however, are handled well by director Finn Davis. The bleakness being conveyed is severe, and tragically beautiful. Music and sound design by Josie Gibson and Jack Frerer is sensitive and innovative. Kryssa Karavolas’ set design steals the show with its transformation of the usually unimpressive Studio B into something almost majestic in its vision. The backdrop is a Georgia O’Keeffe inspired mural that sits perfectly in the two-storey high construction, and provides a visually stunning element to the show’s conclusion.

Ibsen’s work is about concepts that endure as long as humankind exists. Ghosts is concerned with taboos, morality and our social constructs. It discusses sex from a context that has thankfully evolved over time, but the strength of the master’s writing does not wane. It does however, require maturity and wisdom to help its words speak to audiences of our contemporary cultures. There will never be a time when Ibsen becomes irrelevant, and every production that comes along should be greeted with support and enthusiasm.

www.sudsusyd.com

Review: The Young Tycoons (Spooky Duck Productions / Darlinghurst Theatre Company)

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darlinghursttheatreVenue: Eternity Playhouse (Darlinghurst NSW), May 16 – Jun 15, 2014
Playwright: CJ Johnson
Director: Michael Pigott
Actors: Briallen Clarke, Laurence Coy, Andrew Cutcliffe, Paige Gardiner, Edmund Lembke-Hogan, James Lugton, Gabrielle Scawthorn, Terry Serio, John Turnbull
Image by Noni Carroll

Theatre review
Australia’s media moguls are a source of constant fascination for the general public. We are intrigued by their wealth and power, their influence on politics and public policy, and their control over our daily discourse through news and information that they disseminate. They are part of a celebrity culture that feeds an insatiable appetite for inconsequential gossip, with their public lives exposed to public scrutiny. Our interest in the Murodchs and Packers of the world is usually nothing more than a petty fixation, but keeping an eye on the powers that be is clearly necessary, as leaving them completely to their own devices would very likely result in calamity.

CJ Johnson’s writing does not create direct links between the actions of The Young Tycoons and our own lives. They are objects presented for our examination and entertainment. It is arguable whether the characters are intrinsically interesting, but in Darlinghurst Theatre’s 2014 production, it seems that it is the actors’ work that determines how the story connects. Edmund Lembke-Hogan is spirited and comical as Kim Vogler, one of the play’s two third-generation billionaires. His performance focuses on delivering robust comedy, and it works. Equally effective is Laurence Coy’s Ted Vogler, Kim’s father, whose coarse demeanour is irresistible and an obvious favourite of the audience.

Women play second fiddle in the show, but they shine brightly in their own right. Paige Gardiner elevates a somewhat amoral personality by attributing to her character Sally Kilmarten, a believable complexity and affable warmth. Gabrielle Scawthorn has the thankless task of playing the severest role in quite a boisterous comedy, but she attacks her scenes with conviction and a surprising dignity that prevents Sherilyn Moss from turning into an unfortunate caricature.

The play is composed of successive short scenes. This allows for its pace to be fast and exhilarating, but scene transitions are not always managed smoothly. Director Michael Pigott adds an understated stylistic flair, but having every scene detached and standing alone can sometimes be disruptive to the narrative flow and feels too literally interpreted. Sound design does help on several occasions, but can itself be distracting at certain points. The Young Tycoons is a funny show about people of a certain echelon. Its appeal might not be general, but it will no doubt speak to many who cannot escape the seductive and scintillating cult of celebrity.

www.darlinghursttheatre.com

Review: Scenes From An Execution (Tooth And Sinew Theatre)

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toothsinewVenue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), May 13 – 31, 2014
Playwright: Howard Barker
Director: Richard Hilliar
Actors: Lucy Miller, Jeremy Waters, Mark Lee, Katherine Shearer, Nicole Wineberg, Peter Maple, Brendan Miles, Lynden Jones
Image by Katy Green Loughrey

Theatre review
There are many pleasures to be found at the theatre but what we seek essentially, is to be fascinated by the unusual talents of live performers, and to satisfy the craving we have for stories that are engaging and meaningful. Howard Barker’s Scenes From An Execution is strangely hypnotic. His tale unfolds slowly, taking unconventional and sometimes uncomfortable diversions, but the promise of a substantial imminence is always palpable, and the conclusion is certainly gratifying. Barker’s writing is poetically beautiful, and his ideas are inspiringly radical. His varied themes include love, war, art, religion, politics and propaganda, covering with depth, many of the big questions that are as relevant today as they had been in Venice 1571, where the play is situated.

A remarkable feature of the work is its extraordinary protagonist Galactia, a painter of note, and a woman with a liberated and unorthodox lifestyle. Our own values are examined through her resolute belief in an artist’s responsibility to uphold truths, even in the face of great adversity and sacrifice. Barker’s heroine is powerful and awe-inspiring. She is a feminist ideal, and sadly, a manifestation that rarely figures in the narratives of our cultures. Galactia’s fearless determination and assertive wisdom is realised on the Sydney stage magnificently by actor Lucy Miller. Miller is convincing, compelling and electrifying. She approaches the character with raging imagination and delivers a performance completely arresting in its meticulousness and unpredictability. Even in scenes lit so dim we can barely see, Miller is riveting, and her creation is a woman on a pedestal that we all must aspire to.

Supporting Miller is an exceptional cast. It is a rare gathering (especially in independent theatre) with all actors displaying astounding talent and impressive experience. It is truly a joy to watch these artists work their magic, all performing with gusto as well as nuance, each carving out many memorable moments for themselves. Mark Lee as Urgentino is energetic and full of passion. Sharply ironic, and fabulously witty, Lee’s command of the script ensures that his scenes are consistently entertaining, and politically cutting. Jeremy Waters brings a complexity to his role of Carpeta that keeps us intrigued and enthralled. His love affair with Galactia is surprisingly dimensioned, and his depiction of an artist under the control of money and power is simultaneously funny and heartbreaking. Waters is an intense and intelligent actor, whose unmissable performance in the closing moments of Act 1 leaves us breathless.

Director Richard Hillier’s obvious talent is his thorough understanding of the craft of acting. He has created all the circumstances required for the cast to unleash their best upon us. Hillier’s sensitivity for spaces, whether mental, emotional or physical, allows him to facilitate all the action that happens between actors, and the connection between stage and audience. Hillier indulges in abstractions, but is careful to provide points of focus to always keep us reeled in. His affinity with the the play’s core message is a strong one, and the authentic clarity at which he voices it is full of flair, and indeed, admirable.

Death and taxes are said to be the only certainties in life. In Scenes From An Execution, a deconstruction of war and of our political leaders gives us an opportunity to gain insight into our part as mere mortals and pawns in a world of deceit and manipulation, rife with the glorification of needless deaths. Hogwash is ubiquitous but where great art exists, we find the eternal and the truth, and we rediscover the divine within.

www.facebook.com/toothandsinew

Review: The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice (Lane Cove Theatre Company)

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lanecoveVenue: New Theatre (Newtown NSW), May 15 – 24, 2014
Playwright: Jim Cartwright
Director: Christine Firkin
Actors: Debbie Neilson, Wendy Morton, Michelle Bellamy, Nick Bolton, Luke Reeves, Kevin Weir, Mark Reiss
Image by Geoff Sirmai

Theatre review
Northern England is a long distance away, with its own significant cultural and language affectations. The desire to stage a production from that region for a Sydney audience, demonstrates the universal appeal of Jim Cartwight’s script. The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice is a comedy that examines the darker side of family dynamics in a deceptively upbeat manner. It tackles dysfunction and neglect in the guise of a pseudo-musical, with ample measures of broad campy humour and a lot of singing.

Lane Cove Theatre’s production places emphasis on the play’s light-hearted elements. We see the drunken fumblings of a desperate middle-aged woman Mari Hoff, her daughter LV’s burgeoning and very innocent romance, and their neighbour’s kooky jesting. There is some effort at depicting Hoff’s love interest with some sinisterness, but by and large, the show lacks a gravity that would give meaning to its story and characters. Little Voice relies heavily on empathy and personal identification for its dramatics to be effective, but the narrative does not always connect sufficiently with its audience. An important aspect of the play is the loss of the family’s paternal figure that causes disharmony and grief, and it is the memory both women bear of the man that provides impetus for the plot, but his presence is unsatisfactorily sparse in this staging. He leaves a hole in their lives, but we are blissfully oblivious to it.

Wendy Morton is an energetic actor who provides Mari Hoff with an emotional neediness and instability that is uncomfortably believable. There is a sense of self-abandonment in Morton’s work that is entertaining and fitting, but the character she creates has too much warmth, and comes across overly endearing. The story needs a mother with a cruel and villainous edge to justify her appointed conclusion, and to help explain her daughter’s strangeness, but Morton lacks those malevolent qualities in her otherwise delightful portrayal. LV is played by Debbie Neilson who shines in musical sections where her talents as an impressionist take centre stage. She performs as Judy Garland, Lulu, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich and Shirley Bassey, and is particularly memorable with her mimicry of Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple. It is clear that Neilson’s vocal ability contributes greatly to her part in the show, but the actor is not ideally cast. Neilson is a vibrant and gregarious performer who seems to be at odds with the timidness and melancholy that is fundamental to her character. In the role of her love interest Billy, is Luke Reeves who delivers the most consistent and convincing characterisation in the show. The script does not demand very much of the actor, but Reeves is clear of his contribution to the plot, and addresses each scene with charm and precision.

Little Voice is effervescent and colourful, but it is the exploration of the writing’s psychological and emotional depths that would give it a sense of authenticity. Death and mourning are themes that touch all our lives, and truthful theatrical renderings always resonate. Coming of age tales are appealing because they speak of hope, but they need the darkness before the light in order to hit home.

www.lanecovetheatrecompany.com

Review: Something To Be Done (Gabatwa Studios)

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rsz_10259032_782336098466784_8926997888061039248_oVenue: TAP Gallery (Darlinghurst NSW), May 13 – Jun 1, 2014
Writer: Gabriel McCarthy
Performer: Gabriel McCarthy

Theatre review
Reminiscent of work by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Rowan Atkinson, Gabriel McCarthy’s one-man show communicates without words, relying instead on the actor’s ability to create meaning with his body and face. The story is vague, but its themes are clear. McCarthy’s show is about innocence, mortality, love, and art. There is also a sense of burgeoning manhood being explored by the performer who discovers the universe around him, but within an independence that he manufactures, almost to stake his claim on a personal and self-determined identity.

The show is 75 minutes long, and while it does switch gears often and there is plenty of variety to prevent any hint of self-indulgence, its scenes are not always engaging. The format of the production is challenging, as it requires of its audience, a mode of watching that is acutely different from what is conventional and mainstream. It does what it wants, with admirable eccentricity and idiosyncrasy, but we need something more. Many great works have touched audiences without the use of words, and it is the artist’s responsibility to locate that point of connection.

Erin Harvey is stage manager, and does a splendid job with the minimal technical facilities at hand. The show looks and feels refined, with a set by Christie Kay Bennett that is basic but considered and restrained. The show’s innumerable sound cues are a key feature, and Harvey’s faultless execution is noteworthy. A thorough understanding of the show and its performer is necessary, and the chemistry between tech and talent for this production is beautifully harmonious.

McCarthy is a performer with great skill and presence. He is phenomenally agile and energetic, and his ability to convey concepts and to express intention is remarkable. There are many memorable moments of vigorous gesturing and lively leaping, but the actor is equally effective in significant pauses, unafraid of a more silent approach. There is a sincerity to the man that is endearing, but his story is less captivating. Even though it is not difficult to follow, it is too abstract. We want to connect, but it is too distant. The tale seems personal, but it is also shrouded, and maybe a little elusive with its message.

www.facebook.com/gabatwastudios