Venue: Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay (Sydney NSW), Aug 6 – Sep 14, 2013
Playwright: Tom Stoppard
Director: Simon Phillips
Actors: Tim Minchin, Toby Schmitz, Ewen Leslie

Theatre review
Tom Stoppard’s 1966 work is embraced by many for its extraordinary wit and intellect. Sydney Theatre Company attracts vasts numbers of audiences, and it is a brave choice to present this play that many a lay person will find too wordy, philosophical, and abstract. Big chunks of text and their associated big ideas are delivered successively and quickly, and it is a challenging experience trying to keep up with every concept being discussed. However, like many great works of art, it is not only what you understand, but also what you don’t understand that makes the consumption of it necessary and worthwhile. Art inspires and elevates, even while it confuses.

From a technical perspective, the company continues to impress. Design elements are faultless, and execution of sound and lighting are perfectly honed to a fine craft. The theatre seats 900 people but it never feels too vast, even for a show like this where majority of the action involves just two actors. Performances are excellent, with Tim Minchin’s uncanny ability to blur the line between actor and role consistently outshining his counterparts. He seems so completely natural on stage, one can hardly imagine a different “real person” existing separately when the show is over. Ewen Leslie is the real showman in this production. He creates a mischievous character, infectious in his playfulness, and setting the stage alight at every entrance. After Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Belvoir St Theatre, and the Tony Krawitz film, Dead Europe, it is thrilling to see Leslie’s departure from dark and broody roles to one that is full of vigour and hilarity.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead can be considered highbrow, but it’s central theme of “life and death” is universal. Playing with words, theatrical mechanisms, philosophical theories will not appeal to all, but we can relate to the existential conundrum that is the one constant in our lives. It is infinitely more satisfying to watch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern wrestling with the meaning of life, than for one to be engaged in endless self-examination. With any luck, you might even encounter ideas that could provide some level of enlightenment and make that arduous process, sometimes known as life, a bit more bearable.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Venue: Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay (Sydney NSW), Jun 4 – Jul 20, 2013
Playwright: Jean Genet
Director: Benedict Andrews
Actors: Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert, Elizabeth Debicki

Theatre review
It’s difficult to find Genet’s script relevant in Australia today, as the concept of “domestic help” is far removed from our day-to-day realities. Of course, the employee/employer relationship is commonplace, but our experience of it isn’t quite as oppressive and stifling an environment as portrayed in the play. Therefore, it is form rather than content that is of interest in this production by the Sydney Theatre Company.

All three actors are charismatic, vibrant and thoughtful in their interpretations of the text. There are many macabrely humorous moments played with twisted aplomb by these fearless women, providing not just comic relief, but also a sense of gravity and doom while avoiding a monotonous heaviness that could have easily permeated throughout. A very large screen captures these enigmatic faces in tight close ups (with cameras in the wings), feeding the adoring audience with the star power they desire. This same medium however, is also often distracting and awkward. Our eyes are kept too busy, trying to keep up with too much action, and we quite literally lose the plot at several points.

The set design and lighting are sumptuous. Several costumes look like real couture pieces the script proclaims them to be, and they are truly mesmerising (one is said to be a McQueen). The seductive glamour and luxury of the visual design makes sense within the context of the decadent world in which they dwell. On the other hand, the choice and use of music does not work nearly as well, with inappropriate tunes jumping jarringly in at several points, as though someone had clicked the wrong button on an iPod.

Ultimately, this production is about performance, and the art of acting. Huppert’s less than perfect command of the English language is a minor fault, but witnessing the best in the world onstage tackle an outlandish and flamboyant text is not only satisfying, but thoroughly and wonderfully exhilarating.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au