Tag Archives: spark youth theatre

Review: Haunted (Spark Youth Theatre)

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Venue: Petersham Town Hall (Petersham NSW), Oct 29 – Nov 8, 2019
Concept: Felicity Nicol
Directors: Felicity Nicol, Scott Parker
Cast: Alan Fang, Andrea Mudbidri, Bedelia Lowrencev, Caitlyn Wright, Ellie Oppen-Riley, Emily Pincock, Fanar Moonee, Jeno Kim, Jeremy Lowrencev, Mason Phoumirath, Niamh Kinsella, Pedro Luis Barrientos Rios, Rebekah Parsons, Tirian Tanious
Images by Patrick Boland

Theatre review
It is night time, and a group of young adults are exploring a disused hall, spinning tales involving missing persons from a 1940’s debutante ball. The audience too are on foot, lingering and observing, and soon we find ourselves standing in as ghosts, when the adventurers begin seeing things. Felicity Nicol’s Haunted makes extensive use of an old town hall, one that is similar to the hundreds that exist all over Australia, with performers dispersed throughout the venue, and us behaving like voyeuristic apparitions, tracking their activities over ninety spooky minutes.

Directed by Nicol along with Scott Parker, the work is fresh and playful, impressive in its exhaustive and imaginative use of space. There is pleasure not only in investigating the many curious satellite occurrences, but also in the very experience of exploring a forgotten building. Sensational work on sound by Nate Edmondson heightens all our senses, to have us feeling as though immersed within a world of horror cinema. Lights by Benjamin Brockman are extravagant at pivotal moments, to help convey varying states of surrealism, for a story about young people discovering their local history.

A cast of fourteen performers demonstrate excellent commitment and verve, relying on intuition and physicality, rather than dialogue, to deliver a thrilling, inventive and often beautiful work of modern theatre. Mason Phoumirath and Niamh Kinsella are memorable in their featured roles, proving themselves to be compelling actors, with limitless potential.

The present collides with the past in every moment, but we are rarely encouraged to look back, whilst we wrestle with busy existences dominated by demands of the rat race. Mistakes may not have to be made again, if only we understand their previous incarnations, and evolution would only be in positive directions, if only we remember all former failures. Individuals are only young once, and as a community we too should always strive to mature with each passing day. Lessons learned must not be forgotten, or we will forever be in positions of regret.

www.sparkyouththeatre.com

Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre
Haunted 2019 Spark Youth Theatre

Review: Political Children (ATYP)

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innerwestyouthVenue: ATYP (Walsh Bay NSW), Mar 1 – 3, 2017
Playwright: Felicity Nicol
Director: Felicity Nicol
Cast: Sebastian Cutcherwirth, Emma Hooton, Elodie Jake, Lola Rose van Overdam, Theo Tunks
Image by Michael Snow

Theatre review
Felicity Nicol’s Political Children emerges from the Safe Schools debacle, that saw a national program designed to protect LGBTQI children, turn into a battle ground, on which members of government and the media were able to focus their hateful rhetoric for political gain. A pretense of public debate allowed prejudice and misinformation free rein, culminating in a state of hysteria that saw ignorance and idiocy triumph.

An opportunity to educate new generations on the true nature of human sexuality and gender expressions, was quickly shut down by forces of bigotry. Fearful of enlightenment and the consequential benefits to society, the disdainful have severely hindered what was to be the end of our worst prejudices. Not only are there people who want to live in lies, it seems that they are the ones who have the power to preserve a particular modus operandi that relies of the systematic subjugation, vilification and abuse of parts of our community.

It is a piece of verbatim theatre, of sorts. Composed of material from Australia’s vast media landscape, what we hear in Political Children are things people have said, previously documented on different platforms, now collated and presented on this stage. Nicol as both writer and director, is exacting and forceful. There is nothing ambiguous in what the play wishes to express.

Lights by Benjamin Brockman and music by Nate Edmondson are employed with a deft touch to guide us boldly through every unequivocal statement; technical design for the production is heavily relied upon not just to cue emotional responses, but also to help us with all the character and plot details we need to know. It is a very young cast of actors, teenagers full of gumption, ready to discover the wondrous magic of the art form, along with a deep exploration into the complex social aspects of sexual and gender diversity.

When it comes to pleasures of the flesh, there is nothing to fear but fear itself, yet our consciousness is filled with taboos and prohibitions, oppression and suppression, and a whole lot of guilt, in relation to the experience and conception of sex. Our practice of gender too, is informed by wholly arbitrary and harmful rules that wish to limit each person’s potential, all of which seek to control, and to persecute. Nobody stands to benefit from the persistence of this utter and cruel stupidity, not even its most fervent advocates.

www.atyp.com.au