Tag Archives: drama

Review: Mercury Poisoning (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Mar 15 – 30, 2024
Playwright: Madeleine Stedman
Director: Kim Hardwick
Cast: Violette Ayad, Shaw Cameron, Anna Clark, Melissa Jones, Shawnee Jones, Nikita Khromykh, , Tinashe Mangwana, Teodora Matovic, Brendan Miles, Jack Richardson, Charlotte Salusinszky, Sarah Jane Starr
Images by Clare Hawley

Theatre review
Madeleine Stedman’s Mercury Poisoning involves three women in the 1960s, inspired by true stories about their respective relationships with space travel. These lives never cross paths, but they are in some ways parallel, not only in aeronautical terms, but also with their fights against structural sexism, which proves a defining force. While well-conceived, more effort could be made for the narratives in Mercury Poisoning to intertwine, instead of having them completely segregated.

Direction by Kim Hardwick attempts to make up for that lack in coherence between the different threads, with creative use of visual compositions. There is a sincerity in her presentation that helps with our logical engagement with the piece, but a persistent coolness in temperament prevents us from investing sufficiently into the emotions being explored.

Set design by Meg Anderson and lights by Jimi Rawlings are effective in evoking outer space, but the imagery being produced is too relentlessly dark, which makes it a struggle for the production to lift in energy, especially noticeable in comedic scenes. Sound design by Rowan Yeomans and Jay Rae is however very strong, bringing to the storytelling, an enjoyable sense of theatricality.

Actors Violette Ayad, Shawnee Jones and Teodora Matovic play the main roles, all able to convey authenticity and vulnerability for these discussions about challenges faced by women at the workplace. A big roster of supporting cast members bring variety to the experience, admirable for the frequent rotation of characters they bring to the stage.

In Mercury Poisoning we see the ways in which power manifests, and how so much of our resources is  organised around concepts of deprivation. The three women are deterred from attaining what so many of their white male counterparts have achieved. Through their stories, we observe how a certain caste of society is determined to keep privileges to themselves, convinced that there is not enough for everyone. It is clear they know, that what makes them feel special about their own lives, can only come from the dispossession of others.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.instagram.com/snatchedtheatreco | www.whiteboxtheatre.com.au

Review: Holding The Man (Belvoir St Theatre)

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Venue: Belvoir St Theatre (Surry Hills NSW), Mar 9 – Apr 14, 2024
Playwright: Tommy Murphy (from the book by Timothy Conigrave)
Director: Eamon Flack
Cast: Danny Ball, Tom Conroy, Russell Dykstra, Rebecca Massey, Shannen Alyce Quan, Guy Simon
Images by Brett Boardman

Theatre review
Timothy Conigrave’s 1995 memoir Holding the Man remains one of the most important Australian books in the queer canon. It details Conigrave’s love story with his high school sweetheart John Caleo, and their struggles with AIDS, at a time when infection by the HIV virus meant all but a death sentence. Playwright Tommy Murphy’s stage adaptation first appeared in 2006, reformatting the writing for Conigrave’s other love, the theatre, and bringing it to a wider audience.

This update of Murphy’s play, comes at a time when HIV no longer poses a threat to our lives, as it had done those decades before. Director Eamon Flack is keenly aware of this transformation in climate, presenting a show that understands our renewed relationship with the AIDS crisis, and the psychological distance we currently require, as we try to heal and move on, from the devastating period of queer history, that figures so centrally in Holding the Man.

Flack’s portrayals of nostalgia are mercifully light-hearted, allowing us to regard the recent tragic past from a new vantage point; reminding us that that was then, and we now need to learn to sit with that trauma in a more objective manner. The romance between Tim and John, released from that previously foreboding darkness, becomes sweeter, less grief-stricken. Flack facilitates a perception of the couple’s early years together as joyful and winsome, celebrating the fact that these two gay men had found love at a time when homophobia was rampant and severe.

Tim is played by actor Tom Conroy, whose compelling vulnerability endears us to the lead role, making us invest unreservedly and effortlessly in this iteration of Holding the Man. There is a tender innocence in Conroy’s passionate work, ensuring we remember that not a single person deserved the suffering brought on by the epidemic, and certainly that gayness deserves no punishment, especially at a time when queers were persistently villainised and scapegoated.

Danny Ball is captivating as John, commendable for bringing a stillness to his depictions, inviting us to connect with an authenticity that exists so resolutely at the core of this production. There is an abundance of enjoyable theatricality surrounding Ball’s performance, but it is his commitment to a deeper honesty, that gives this event its soul. The supporting cast comprises Russell Dykstra, Rebecca Massey, Shannen Alyce Quan and Guy Simon, who bring great warmth and exuberance, along with remarkable creativity, to every thoroughly considered scene.

Set design by Stephen Curtis introduces visual motifs emblematic of seventies and eighties Australia, with a homely theatre-in-the-round configuration that emphasises the communal aspect of an experience many of us had gone through together. Costumes by Mel Page are similarly evocative of the period, with the addition of eccentric touches that liven up the vista. Phoebe Pilcher’s lights are meticulously calibrated, successfully guiding us through the innumerable spaces we visit, in both physical and psychic terms. Music and sound by Alyx Dennison are boldly rendered to accompany the big emotions involved, memorable for helping to deliver many of the show’s stirring moments. It is worth nothing however that the lack of microphones is on occasion a detraction, for a play that we have fallen for, and want to hear every word of.

Things have changed so much since the days of Tim and John, but one thing that remains true, is that queer people will be left behind, if we ever abate from insisting on our inclusion. The AIDS crisis revealed that our solidarity, and our ability to organise, are how we can overcome marginalisation. We can find spaces that deliver justice and equality, but they will never come without a fight.

www.belvoir.com.au

Review: Frame Narrative (Old Fitz Theatre)

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Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), Mar 8 – 30, 2024
Playwright: Emily Sheehan
Director: Lucy Clements
Cast: Madeline Li, Megan O’Connell, Jennifer Rani, Charles Upton, Emma Wright
Images by Phil Erbacher and HollyMae Steane Price

Theatre review
Movie star Angelica is making a comeback, after taking time off to raise her child. Filming however, is not going at all smoothly, with constant personality clashes on set making the project a painful ordeal. In Emily Sheehan’s Frame Narrative, people get in the way of art; whether a result of self-sabotage or  interpersonal discord, we see artists unable to focus on the real matter at hand, forever transferring their energies away onto the wrong drama.

Often very funny, and with a clever plot structure, Sheehan’s play delights with its constant supply of surprises. Its moralistic ambiguities however, resists our emotional investment in its characters, who we always distrust. Direction by Lucy Clements does not attempt to hide the deficiencies inherent in these humans, portraying them truthfully as flawed beings. Her show bears an enjoyable theatricality, fuelled by the text’s explorations of artistic form, along with an investigation into the nature of reality.

An ambitious set design by Soham Apte helps us imagine a place much like Hollywood, where artifice reigns supreme. Costumes by Rita Naidu provides definition to personality types, but requires finessing to better represent the extraordinary wealth of this cohort. Spencer Herd’s lights are intricately conceived, to convey the many different spaces, both physical and conceptual, that we traverse in Frame Narrative. Sound design by Sam Cheng is rendered with a quiet sophistication, surreptitious but highly effective in its calibrations of atmosphere and temperaments.

Actor Megan O’Connell brings vigour and integrity to the complex role of Angelica. Charles Upton too is unwavering in his commitment to playing Hendrick, completely believable whether being decent or despicable. Madeline Li introduces great tension to the experience, through her embrace of Elsa’s precarious unpredictability. Jennifer Rani’s intensity as Margot demands our attentiveness, and Emma Wright’s vulnerability as an unnamed writer, attunes us to a sense of depth for the play, at its closing scenes.

Human destructiveness usually looks like a force that exerts outwards, but its reverberations always seem to come back around. In Frame Narrative, colleagues inflict toxicity at one another, never noticing the harm that inevitably descends upon the work they try so hard to create. We all have unhealthy impulses, but how we choose to act on them, is what truly matters.

www.oldfitztheatre.com.au | www.newghoststheatre.com

Review: The Ghost Writer (Flight Path Theatre)

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Venue: Flight Path Theatre (Marrickville NSW), Mar 6 – 16, 2024
Playwright: Ross Mueller
Director: Jane Angharad
Cast: Emma Dalton, Mel Day, Mark Langham, Shan-Ree Tan
Images by Braiden Toko

Theatre review
A child has been murdered, and her mother, who happens to be illiterate, is selling the story. Complications arise not only because Claudia the ghost writer turns out to be the publisher’s daughter, she is also sleeping with a prosecutor embroiled in the case. There is no shortage of conflict and tension in Ross Mueller’s The Ghost Writer, in fact there are possibly a few too many convolutions in the 2008 play. Directed by Jane Angharad, the production never really finds a focus, and it becomes a struggle trying to elicit meaningful emotional investment, for what should be a gravely stirring experience.

The cast of four is however commendable for their unequivocal commitment; Emma Dalton, Mel Day, Mark Langham and Shan-Ree Tan demonstrate admirable dedication to the craft of performance, in roles that are full of depth and complexity. Set design by James Smithers is sharp and elegant, memorable for introducing a sense of drama to the piece. Lights by Travis Kecek are appropriately stark, if slightly too cold and alienating, with a notable lack of sound and music in the production, that further exacerbates our disconnection from all that is happening on stage.

We should feel deeply concerned about little Megan who has died tragically in The Ghost Writer, as we should every atrocity being reported, from every corner of the planet. It is however, quite human to respond with apathy, when all we know is helplessness, in the face of so much that is indomitable and daunting. It is unreasonable to expect boundless sadness, that we should be able to feel adequately for every disaster. What is reasonable however, is that each person insists on right from wrong, and holds firm on resisting transgressions, even when emotions are utterly depleted.

www.flightpaththeatre.org | www.secrethouse.com.au | www.cryingchairtheatre.com.au

Review: The Lehman Trilogy (Theatre Royal)

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Venue: Theatre Royal (Sydney NSW), 26 Feb – 24 Mar, 2024
Playwright: Stefano Massini (adapted by Ben Power)
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Aaron Krohn, Howard W. Overshown, Adrian Schiller
Images by Daniel Boud

Theatre review
It was 1844 when Henry Lehman first arrived in Alabama from Rimpar in Germany. His American Dream began with the provision of fabrics and suits, but with his two brothers joining ranks in the following decade, their family business quickly ceases being about the supply of goods, to become something much more ephemeral, obscure and spurious.

Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy chronicles the rise and fall of a notorious financial institution, telling the story of Lehman Brothers as an organisation exemplifying modern capitalism. Voracious with its profit motive, but ethically anaemic and bereft of social responsibility, the Lehman legacy is one of rapacious greed, bolstered by a system that believes in individual success over all else. Although concerned with the trials and tribulations of a single entity, The Lehman Trilogy is revelatory of the way our values have evolved universally. We see ambition become greed, and greed becoming the key destructive force that has made life unbearable for the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitants.

These profound resonances are conveyed through Sam Mendes’ splendid direction of a theatrical experience unforgettable for its expansive vision and fast-paced kineticism, generated from a piece of writing that could easily be considered dry and inert. Set design by Es Devlin features a glass encasement on a revolve, evoking handsome but generic corporate spaces. In tandem with sensational video work by Luke Halls magnificently projected on a curved cyclorama, the production proves an unexpected visual treat, as the narrative escalates from Antebellum greyness, to the manic high-definition technophilia so characteristic of contemporary existence.

Costumes by Katrina Lindsay are appropriately nostalgic, and remarkable for the range of movement they allow, in view of the rigidity of 19th century styles. Jon Clark’s lights provide clear demarcations to help us shift sensibilities across interminable scene changes. Sound design by Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey envelopes us in the increasing vigour of the storytelling, with the inclusion of live piano accompaniment by Cat Beveridge representing the immaculate attention to detail, delivered for all elements of the staging.

An extraordinary cast of three takes us through the 164-year saga, each actor deeply compelling, and as a team, simply flawless. Adrian Schiller’s uncanny ability to communicate nuance, is a marvel to witness, and a real gift for a show that can sometimes move too fast. Aaron Krohn brings exceptional agility, physically and otherwise, to the widely varying roles that he so perfectly embodies. Howard W. Overshown’s effortless gravitas reminds us of the nature of power, in a narrative that is almost always about exploitation and abuse.

Lehman Brothers no longer exists as a functioning enterprise, but its demise does not mean an end to the predatory and mercenary qualities of how we have come to arrange our collective lives. In fact, the intensified concentration of money and power, as we so clearly observe in 2024, only points to an exacerbation of those depravities. As a work of art, we may be moved to regard The Lehman Trilogy as a cautionary tale, but it seems the machine has grown so ubiquitous and all-encompassing, that any effort to rage against it, can only ever feel futile.

www.thelehmantrilogy.com

Review: Grain In The Blood (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Feb 23 – Mar 9, 2024
Playwright: Rob Drummond
Director: Victor Kalka
Cast: Kim Clifton, Nick Curnow, Siobhan Lawless, Genevieve Muratore, Ciarán O’Riordan
Images by Clare Hawley

Theatre review
Isaac is allowed home for a short visit, where Autumn is in desperate need of her father’s help, even though the two had never met before. Rob Drummond’s Grain in the Blood is a story about atonement, taking place on a remote Scottish farm, where past sins cannot help but haunt its remaining inhabitants. There is of course an air of the macabre, but the play is also surprisingly humorous, within all the darkness being explored, about guilt and generational trauma.

Direction by Victor Kalka provides a commendable clarity for the entangled relationships being presented, but the show never quite feels dramatic enough to match the inherently baroque quality of Drummond’s writing. Kalka’s set design however is a delight, wonderfully evocative of a rustic countryside, yet unquestionably sophisticated with its manipulations of colours and textures.

Costumes by Lily Mateljan are convincingly rural, giving us an accurate sense of place and personalities. Lights by Jasmin Borsovszky are designed with a confident simplicity, memorable for the moments of folkloric atmosphere they engender. Madeleine Picard’s wonderful score is an excellent addition, if slightly too sparingly utilised, in a tale involving a great amount of repressed emotions.

Performances by the uneven cast of five are not always strong, but Kim Clifton impresses as young Autumn, bringing both ingenuity and authenticity to her interpretations of a challenging role. Also noteworthy is Siobhan Lawless whose Sophia establishes for our understanding of the story, a complicated mixture of love, bitterness and regret in all its heart-breaking familial dynamics.

Forgiveness can be hard, even when one’s own emancipation depends on it. We all want to be free, but it seems many have a tendency to be absorbed in grudges, unable to let go. It is understandable that we want retribution for those who have wronged us, but less easy is to perceive the punishment inflicted on ourselves, when we refuse to absolve and forget. Time will always run out, and we know that some things can be left until it becomes too late.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.virginiaplaintheatre.com

Review: Back To Birdy (Fruit Box Theatre)

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Venue: The Imperial (Erskineville NSW), Feb 21 – Mar 1, 2024
Playwright: Z Bui
Director: Sean Landis
Cast: Gemma Dart, Chloe Jayne, Angelica Lockyer, Hayden Moon
Images by Matthew Miceli

Theatre review
Emily and Warren are having a long overdue catch up. Although besties for almost twenty years, they have in recent months grown apart, largely because of Warren’s gender transition. Even though the two had over time become comfortable with their respective and shared queerness, Warren’s second coming out as trans, has not been easy. Z Bui’s Back to Birdy examines the journey of acceptance within queer communities, when compatriots experience momentary tumult and fracture. Warren is no longer a lesbian, and Emily needs time to come to terms.

Bui’s text rings with authenticity, but is often overly detailed. Comprised mostly of a lengthy conversation in a bar between two characters,  the play goes deep into the minutia of Emily and Warren’s discord, and their history as lifelong friends. Unable to bring sufficient excitement to these extended scenes of reconciliation, director Sean Landis jumps at every chance to introduce a sense of theatricality, during significant moments of flashback, in a story about people changing.

Set in an actual Sydney bar, production design by Soham Apte dresses up the space to facilitate comfortable viewing, but also to preserve a sense of integrity with the immersive experience. Illumination by Aron Murray makes full use of the venue’s colourful lighting equipment, to add visual flamboyance to the storytelling. Aisling Bermingham’s sounds are excessively restrained, although commendable for not obscuring the actors’ voices, in a room that proves acoustically limiting.

Performer Gemma Dart brings a vibrant presence, as well as an important quality of vulnerability to the role of Emily. Hayden Moon is convincing as Warren, and young versions of the two are played by Chloe Jayne and Angelica Lockyer, both demonstrating admirable dedication to their parts.

As we learn about people being assigned inaccurate genders at birth, it should only follow, that we question the purposes of assigning genders at all. There may be compelling reasons for the identification of people’s biological sexes in medical realms, but to relegate individuals to gendered (or any other) types, is ultimately meaningless and eternally fraught. If only humanity is able to just let us be.

www.fruitboxtheatre.com.au

Review: The Swell (Old Fitz Theatre)

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Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), Feb 15 – Mar 2, 2024
Playwright: Isley Lynn
Director: Julia Billington
Cast: Jessica Bell, Katherine Hopwood Poulsen, Deborah Jones, Alexandra Keddie, Fiona Press, Monique Sallé
Images by Phil Erbacher

Theatre review
Annie and Bel are planning their wedding, when Flo returns from out of town for a visit. A surprising connection blossoms between Flo and one of the brides-to-be, instigating drama to ensue in the most unimaginable way. An electrifying plot twist in Isley Lynn’s The Swell brings us to the edges of our seats, in an otherwise slightly pedestrian tale, of a queer love triangle.

There is a leniency in Julia Billington’s direction of the piece, that is perhaps overly reliant on what their cast chooses to bring to the stage. It is a delicate work however, with a sense of integrity, that prevents The Swell and its undeniable sensationalised aspects, from feeling in any way unrefined or pulpy.

Hannah Yardley’s set design is extremely simple, forming an appealing representation of rural England, although not always sufficiently vivid with how it helps us imagine the physical contexts, in which the three women intertwine. Lights by Saint Clair are suitably moody, bringing an alluring edge to this dark romance. Sound design by Clare Hennessy is consistently subtle, effective at harnessing tension, but could benefit with a bolder approach to achieve a more stirring result.

Six generous actors perform the roles across two generations, in a story spanning thirty years. Jessica Bell, Alexandra Keddie and Monique Sallé play the young women, each creating distinct personalities, but are not always convincing with the chemistry being generated. Katherine Hopwood Poulsen, Deborah Jones and Fiona Press deliver senior versions of the same characters, admirable for bringing the show to a satisfying climactic conclusion.

As we become increasingly comfortable with queerness in our art and lives, it is important that the particularities of our experiences as queer people are not disregarded. The Swell talks specifically about lesbians. In a climate of radical inclusivity, it is tempting to wish to represent as many marginalised people as possible, in each instance of theatre making, but we risk erasure of valuable differences pertaining to our LGBTQIA+ identities.

Emancipation naturally means that we will ultimately be freeing ourselves from labels, and we should always work towards a future of fewer limitations and greater possibilities, but there is power in embodying markers, especially those that carry with them, glorious histories of resistance, resilience and triumph. Lesbians have improved the world for everyone, in countless ways, and we must insist on their enduring and conspicuous presence.

www.oldfitztheatre.com.au | www.instagram.com/akimbo_co

Review: Low Level Panic (KXT on Broadway)

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Venue: KXT on Broadway (Ultimo NSW), Feb 7 – 17, 2024
Playwright: Clare McIntyre
Director: Maike Strichow
Cast: Marigold Pazar, Charlotte De Wit, Megan Kennedy
Images by Georgia Jane Griffiths

Theatre review
Three young women share a home, each with a different relationship to their own bodies. Clare McIntyre’s Low Level Panic examines the often unstable nature of the self-image, in connection with the sociality of existing in a modern world. Characters in the play are concerned, consciously and subconsciously, with notions of gender inequality, sex and popular media, as they navigate the challenges of attaining a sense of assurance and confidence, for their physical selves.

McIntyre’s ideas are rendered with subtlety, using a gentle humour to explore these difficulties shared by most women. Direction by Maike Strichow is perhaps slightly too nebulous, in a style too naturalistic, making the show feel somewhat pedestrian and emotionally detached. Marigold Pazar, Charlotte De Wit and Megan Kennedy form a convincing cast, but are excessively lenient with the pertinent messages of the play.

A more pronounced theatricality is needed to fortify our engagement with the concepts and the enjoyment of the work. Lights by Lyndon Buckley are fortunately able to deliver some visual punctuation to sustain our attention. Set design by the aforementioned De Wit is also charming, in its winsome representation of a familiar scene.

We may be able to identify the reasons for our feelings of inadequacy, but changing those nefarious influences seems to require several lifetimes. What we can do every day, whilst finding ways to survive these unremarkable conditions, is to cultivate forms of resistance. Psychological fortification is hard work, but is absolutely necessary, for women to define our individual and private selves, so that we may be able to be at peace when it matters most, as we negotiate the relentless daily violence, of being told we are not enough.

www.kingsxtheatre.com | www.herproductions.com.au

Review: Homos, Or Everyone In America (New Theatre)

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Venue: New Theatre (Newtown NSW), Feb 6 – Mar 9, 2024
Playwright: Jordan Seavey
Director: Alex Kendall Robson
Cast: Axel Berecry, Sonya Kerr, Eddie O’Leary, Reuben Solomon
Images by Chris Lundie

Theatre review
Jordan Seavey’s Homos, or Everyone in America takes place between 2006 and 2011, with the relationship between two unnamed Manhattanites as its central focus. New York and the United States provide the backdrop and political context, in which we examine modern gay life in Northern America.  The young men bicker and fight throughout the play, as we look at the more dramatic moments of their time together.

Direction by Alex Kendall Robson is correspondingly turbulent, as we witness the couple’s volatility at various points of their 5-year history. The narrative is presented anachronistically, resulting in a somewhat poetic, if slightly chaotic, theatrical presentation. Production design by Zara Pittioni creates effective visual spatial demarcations, but the lack of scenery walls requires performers to speak loudly, to overcome acoustic limitations. Lead actors Eddie O’Leary and Reuben Solomon are generally persuasive and very well-rehearsed, but the unmodulated volume of their speech can prove grating.

Supporting players are Sonya Kerr who brings an enjoyable precision, and Axel Berecry whose mischievous disposition leaves an impression. Also noteworthy are lighting design offering variety to the imagery being showcased, along with sound and music by David Wilson, assisting proficiently with tension and energy, in a show about the Big Apple.

The gays yell a lot in Homos, or Everyone in America, maybe because they have experienced little tenderness, in a world that has for far too long, regarded them only with contempt and disdain. Traditional modes of masculinity further prevents them from accessing softer aspects of being human, qualities necessary for making intimate relationships work. The damage done by homophobia and sexism, is extensive and exhaustive. Legislation can change things overnight, but what happens in the souls of the downtrodden, will take generations to heal.

www.newtheatre.org.au