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Review: Calpurnia Descending (Sisters Grimm / Sydney Theatre Company)

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sistersgrimmVenue: Wharf 2 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), Oct 9 – Nov 8, 2014
Playwright: Ash Flanders, Declan Greene
Director: Declan Greene
Cast: Paul Capsis, Ash Flanders, Sandy Gore, Peter Paltos
Image by Brett Boardman

Theatre review
Calpurnia Descending borrows heavily from the 1950 Hollywood films, All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard. With an exploration into the evolution of show business and media, we observe that artifice and female rivalry persist as dominating themes that shape our consumption of popular culture through the years. Ash Flanders and Declan Greene’s script is a decadent high camp romp that exercises its creators’ eccentric and original vision, with a resulting beast that is more about heresy and iconoclasm than it is about entertainment or storytelling. In spite of its meaningful central ideas, the work does not aim to deliver poignancy but is interested instead, in unusual perspectives of theatre and innovative modes of experiencing live performance.

Half of the show is seen on a cinema sized screen. We can hear sounds from the live action emanating from behind the projection, so we know that the actors are creating the show in real time, but the significant length of the filmic portion means that it feels strangely close to being at the movies. It is understandable that Greene, as director, chooses the video format to discuss our obsession with screens big and small, but placing the production in a theatrical context is a curious decision, given the obvious affiliation with film and its possibilities. Nevertheless, Greene’s work is vibrant, colourful and thoroughly quirky, often with an air of vaudeville permeating the atmosphere. He is sensitive to energy levels, and although the show’s sense of humour is specific, he maintains a pace that is tight and lively, ensuring an amusing experience for most audiences.

Paul Capsis does his best Norma Desmond in the role of Beverly Dumont, a star of the Broadway stage poised to make a sensational comeback at the ten-year anniversary of her misreported death. Capsis brings a drama and grandiosity that the part requires, along with excellent comic timing and a gripping presence. The role is simple, but the actor’s work is beautifully complex, adding gravitas to something that is determined to revel in its silliness. Calpurnia Descending‘s version of Eve Harrington is the duplicitous Violet St Clair, played with mischievous exuberance by Flanders whose wide range of camp extends from delightful to macabre. The actors form a strong and balanced team in their portrayal of a malevolent sisterhood, but not much is made of the inevasible drag element. There is no obvious commentary that arises from the casting of male performers, and the production would not present too differently without it, so perhaps a point is made about the irrelevance of gender in the narratives we weave.

At a time when some of us can spend virtually every waking moment in front of a screen of some description, the production should be able to provide some resonance with its interest in the way we relate to mass media and its celebrities, but its preoccupation with depicting shallowness prevents us from connecting in an authentic way. Be that as it may, the show is memorable for being adventurous and rich with original thought, and it is the artists who dare to push the boundaries that we must value the most.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au | www.sistersgrimm.com.au

Review: Mojo (Sydney Theatre Company)

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mojoVenue: Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), May 17 – Jul 5, 2014
Playwright: Jez Butterworth
Director: Iain Sinclair
Cast: Tony Martin, Lindsay Farris, Eamon Farren, Ben O’Toole, Josh McConville
Images by Brett Boardman

Theatre review (originally published at auditoriummag.com)
When boys grow up and begin to find their feet in the adult world as men of stature, the acquisition of masculinity often becomes critically important. The characters in Jez Butterworth’s Mojo seem to spend all their waking moments satisfying that overwhelming and insatiable need to be seen and treated as men of worth, and in the London underground gangland of the late 1950s, this involves unthinkable violence, and outrageous criminality. Butterworth’s daring and extravagantly brutal 1995 script illustrates a world of sex, drugs and rock and roll, where sons are raped, fathers are murdered, and honour is maleficently displaced.

Butterworth’s work starts up in high gear. He gets to the mayhem quickly without setting up thorough introductions for its story. There is a disorientation that occurs in the beginning, and the viewer is required to be alert, in order to decipher manic events while keeping up with the fantastically rich dialogue. Iain Sinclair’s direction in the initial scenes emphasises speed and energy, which can be a challenge for the plot, but a hyper-reality is firmly established for the play’s time and space. We are transported to a past that fits our imagination in part, but also controversial. The play’s rampant drug taking and extreme profanity is a far cry from the innocence of Grease, and the sophistication of Orson Welles’ Touch Of Evil. Sinclair’s work owes more to David Lynch’s 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet in its handling of ultraviolence and surreal personalities. An air of menace sets in quickly and the pressure it exerts is unrelenting. The production has a magnetic quality in spite of its obscure otherness. It plays like a riddle, glutted with suspense and eccentricity, and we are seduced at every step, desperate to peek around every impending corner.

Indeed, the production succeeds as a piece of narrative-driven entertainment. It is engrossing, amusing and thrilling, with a good amount of shock value thrown in for a sense of gangster authenticity that also gives the show a cool edge. Its themes are not immediately evident, but they resonate afterward. The show does not ask questions directly, but it certainly encourages us to question what had been seen. Sinclair might be comfortable with dramatics that strike like a sledgehammer, but his ability to probe our conscience about bigger issues is as accomplished as it is subtle.

Also displaying excellence is Sinclair’s design team. Visual aspects, including lighting, costumes and sets are adventurously creative and intelligent. Nicholas Rayment’s lights are exhaustively explored, fulfilling functional and aesthetic requirements equally brilliantly. There are moments of beauty that look to be inspired by film noir, and also memorable incidences of dread that are as sinister as a dank lane way in any cosmopolitan city at 3am. Pip Runciman’s set design ingeniously creates spaces out of the usually nondescript Wharf Theatre stage. Levels and doorways are introduced to great effect, and the representation of a nightclub that is attractive in front, and dilapidated behind, is efficiently managed.

Percussionist Alon Ilsar’s work is perhaps the most inventive. He provides accompaniment for most of the scenes, underscoring action by amplifying mood and manufacturing tension. Ilsar’s background sounds are noticeable but not intrusive. When it does come to the fore, it is in the style of experimental jazz, which adds considerable sophistication to the production.

Chemistry in the cast is strong, and mesmerising. The actors are perfectly in tune, and together, they present a microcosm that we find believable in spite of its irrationality, and irresistible even though it is deeply repulsive. Josh McConville is comically frantic as the amphetamine fuelled Potts. His consistent buoyancy gives the play a propelling energy, and prevents the darker sections from becoming too melancholic. There is an enjoyable vibrancy to his performance that keeps an important sense of youth and juvenility in the story. Together with Ben O’Toole’s slightly more innocent Sweet, they portray a couple of young men keen to prove themselves, and to make a mark in their sordid world. Lindsay Farris is enigmatic as Baby, a deranged personality who is central to the play’s interest in maturity and manhood. Farris takes the opportunity to depict his unorthodox character with a liberal measure of offbeat artistic choices, and carves out a fascinating performance that is simultaneously alluring and poignant.

The young men in Mojo are in a state of confusion. We see them exercise the impulse to impress, to emulate, and to succeed, but their role models are severely impaired. Masculinity is highly valued, and in many of our lives, it is through acquiring masculinity that men achieve social acceptance and establish status. The definition of masculinity is then a matter of great concern. Greed, violence, destruction, deception, betrayal and criminality are all inextricably linked with notions of success and fulfillment in Mojo. It is a bleak picture painted of the past, but it seems that the proposition made here is that evolution is illusory, and that boys will be boys.

Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company
Mojo 2014 Sydney Theatre Company

www.sydneytheatre.com.au

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: Perplex (Sydney Theatre Company)

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phpwU61WAPMVenue: Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), Mar 31 – May 3, 2014
Playwright: Marius von Mayenburg (translated by Maja Zade)
Director: Sarah Giles
Actors: Andrea Demetriades, Glenn Hazeldine, Rebecca Massey, Tim Walter
Images by Lisa Tomasetti

Theatre review (originally published at auditoriummag.com)
Life is what you make of it, and in Perplex, life is a comedy no matter what shape our circumstances may take. Marius von Mayenburg’s script is a mischievous existentialist meditation on middle class life, and a work that uses the stage as a laboratory to examine wide ranging beliefs about the nature of being human and our various theological conceptions of what occurs beyond.

Mayenburg’s writing is also interested in narrative construction, and how stories are told in ultimately predictable and typified successions. Things have to make sense, and Perplex exposes our ravenous need for logic in both life and narratives, to be farcical. There are no real characters in the play, only actors who use their own names, playing different scenarios that are only momentarily coherent, before subtle shifts in time and space bring everything into disorientation and a new scenario emerges. It is a crucial point that despite these shifts of contexts, the actors attempt to portray basically the same selves. This elasticity of being brings into question the constitution of personal identities, and the congruity of fate and destiny.

This is a very funny show. Its absurdity allows for performances to stretch as far as the players’ abilities can reach, and fortunately, this is a cast of great talent and gumption. Andrea Demetriades brings with her a sense of the everyday person. She looks and feels like the person next door, without an overbearing star quality or flamboyant theatricality. Her presence is strong, but she sets herself apart with an ability to portray ordinariness, which sits perfectly with the show’s attempt at dissecting our daily realities. Demetriades’ sense of humour is understated but effective. She works consciously with her flashier cast members, often creating counterbalances to ensure that the jokes translate well.

Perplex‘s surrealness is not outlandish but it is thorough and insistent. Rebecca Massey embodies this quality strongest. Her creation is consistently bizarre, but always hidden just under the skin. She juxtaposes normalcy with its opposite, almost in deception. It is this simultaneous duality that gives her creation an enigmatic intrigue. Her characterisations are also the most fluid and unfettered, which makes her the most unpredictable of the cast. A crucial feature of the play is its dramatically shifting plot trajectories, and Massey manages them with great flair.

Tim Walter provides the cerebral element of the quartet. In the production’s more obvious moments of intellectualism, he is the mouthpiece for Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche and Plato. The decision for Walter to appear completely naked for two lengthy sections discussing Evolution and the Allegory of the Cave, is an interesting one. The play is determined to restrict the impulse that may give excessive gravity to any of the big ideas it may conjure. Everything must reveal its shortfalls and temporalness. Walter’s commitment and focus is commendable. He is clearly an actor in control, with an excellent understanding of the economy of movement, which reaps maximum results with minimal (but well considered) effort.

On hand to provide all the show’s fortissimo quality of madness is Glenn Hazeldine. His penchant for physical comedy, and instinctual connection with the audience makes him an irresistibly funny actor. Slapstick is not to everyone’s tastes, but when deftly executed, it becomes disconcertingly amusing. Hazeldine knows how to create laughter, but more to the point, he understands emotions. A highlight of his performance comes after an exceptionally unorthodox sex scene when the entire theatre is in dizzying heights of fitful hilarity. Hazeldine dissolves from mania to depression before our eyes, while we have yet to catch our breath. His tears are flowing even before our laughter has subsided.

It must be noted that this an ensemble of impressive unity. The balance they achieve in supporting each other’s strengths, and the incredible comfort at which they encompass different personal approaches to humour, are the reasons for the production’s success at enthralling its audience, especially considering the lack of, or perhaps “non-sense” brand of narrative.

It might not be clear whether director Sarah Giles could have achieved as funny a show with a lesser cast, but there is no doubt that the clarity at which Perplex‘s big existentialist questions are communicated, affirms the strength of her faculty and vision. It is tempting to lose oneself in an absurd, surreal and illogical wilderness that delivers only entertainment and jubilance, but Giles’ work here fastidiously unearths the true and central essence of the scripts ideas and themes.

The show ends with a song, sung in the style of Kurt Weill. It is a tribute and acknowledgement of course, to the work of both Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Indeed, the Verfremdungseffekt features heavily. We laugh because we are made to see the normal and the familiar in different lights. It is how we live that is on show, and it is the subversive way we are made to look at ourselves that tickles. Perplex might not inspire much talk about politics and governments, but it is nonetheless entirely about our social selves. Sydney Theatre Company’s take on the “epic theatre” might just be applauded by Brecht in heaven, even if God is dead.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex
Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Perplex

Review: Travelling North (Sydney Theatre Company)

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rsz_398087-6086798c-83c3-11e3-b691-c4bd5b62f2b6Venue: Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), Jan 10 – Mar 22, 2014
Playwright: David Williamson
Director: Andrew Upton
Actors: Alison Whyte, Bryan Brown, Harriet Dyer, Russell Kiefel, Emily Russell, Andrew Tighe, Sara West

Theatre review
David Williamson’s 1979 play about a Melbourne couple moving up north, finds new life with the Sydney Theatre Company. Andrew Upton once again focuses attention on people and stories, and keeps visual design to a minimum. Set and props are rendered virtually invisible, except for an effective three tiered curved stage reminiscent of Australian landscapes. Upton’s direction brings out the realism of relationships and characters, creating everyday personalities that we are able to identify and relate to easily. There is a tendency for Williamson’s concepts to appear overly mundane as a result of Upton’s minimalist vision, but the production is kept buoyant by a healthy dose of humour that thrives in the midst of its pervasive simplicity.

Bryan Brown is miscast as the elderly Frank. Brown is charming, handsome and carries an air of magnificence that is completely at odds with the story about a sick man at the end of his days. We love his performance, which is always funny and sometimes poignant, and we understand everything his character goes through, but ultimately Brown’s celebrity gets in the way of the depiction of a regular old “cobber” we should feel sorry for.

Alison Whyte plays Frances with a lovely balance of strength and gentility, and while her role makes life choices that might not be entirely clear, the actor manages enough conviction and solidness to sell us her story. Noteworthy in the support cast include Harriet Dyer who does not miss any opportunity for comedy, and Andrew Tighe who makes good use of his physicality and costumes to carve out a very memorable character. Tighe brings authenticity and lightness to the production, and we anticipate his every appearance.

The relevance of Travelling North‘s staging today is not immediately relevant. Its themes of family, marriage, ageing, and seachanges unify many of our lives, but this 35 year-old play struggles to make a fresh statement about the Australian experience. It does, however, showcase some of our idiosyncrasies as a people, and is an occasion for us to excel at quite a bit of self-deprecating humour.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Mrs Warren’s Profession (Sydney Theatre Company)

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STC_MrsWarrensProfession_HelenLizzie_AM18323.jpg 788×1181Venue: Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), Jul 4 – 20, 2013
Playwright: George Bernard Shaw
Director: Sarah Giles
Actors: Helen Thomson, Lizzie Schebesta, Eamon Farren, Drew Forsythe, Martin Jacobs, David Whitney

Theatre review
This cast of six in Shaw’s late 19th century work is truly remarkable. All players are convincing, nuanced and colourful, and their chemistry with each other is frequently breathtaking. The two female leads are particularly enthralling, both effortless with their magnetic charisma. It is important that this mother-daughter pairing appeals to the audience symmetrically in order for the philosophical ideas in Shaw’s work to be effective, and in the case of this production, this balance is indeed one of its great strengths.

Ms Helen Thomson plays Mrs. Kitty Warren, and her performance is astoundingly brilliant. With every entrance, the stage is lit by her luminous presence, which is entirely appropriate and necessary for such a grandiose and controversial character. Thomson’s every calculated variation in her voice and perfectly designed physical gestures create not only the most alluring and commanding character onstage, but also presents a vigorous philosophical argument to the central theme of morality that could have easily collapsed at the hands of a lesser actor.

While it is easy to be lost in the actors’ magnificence, this production of Mrs Warren’s Profession explores morals, money and motherhood both effectively and intriguingly. It is a testament to the strength of Giles’ direction that the themes in this 120 year-old play still come across contentious and fascinating.

Special mention must be made of the beautiful costume and hair design, which are effectively transformative for the players, and help to create a sense of time and space within the minimal set design. The backdrop, also visually stunning, works effectively in conjuring up visions of splendid English gardens within the confines of a modern black box theatre. Music between scenes sets the tone perfectly for the action that is about to begin again.

Mrs Warren’s Profession by the Sydney Theatre Company is quite simply unmissable.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Fury (Sydney Theatre Company)

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Fury_716x402_3[1]Venue: Wharf 1 Sydney Theatre Company (Walsh Bay NSW), Apr 15 – Jun 8, 2013
Playwright: Joanna Murray-Smith
Director: Andrew Upton
Actors: Sarah Peirse, Robert Menzies, Harry Greenwood

Theatre review
Murray-Smith’s new work is complex and nuanced, exploring the anxieties of contemporary middle-class Australia. A broad range of themes are explored, from class and racial politics, to marriage, parenting and the education system.

The performance commences disappointingly with a young actor seemingly unsure of her role in the plot, yet distractingly forceful with her facial expressions. Thankfully she exits early on and allows for the stronger players to take over, but her subsequent appearances do nothing in assisting with the development of the story.

On the other hand, Sarah Peirse is wonderfully compelling in the lead role. Her thorough understanding of the character’s world and the writer’s words are impressive and she provides the audience with a generous dose of drama that is both profound and entertaining. At times, however, it looked as though she would have benefited from a less minimal set. The bareness of the stage might have established the coldness of the intellectual “ivory tower” in which the family resides, but it also demanded too much of the actors who looked stranded in empty spaces for so much of the play’s duration.

Upton’s direction is particularly strong in conveying the play’s crucial ideas. Some complicated ideas are staged and performed with palpable clarity, and this is a great achievement. Less successful are the lighter moments, especially in the first half, which come across contrived and tired. There is however, no doubt that the strength of the “important scenes” more than make up for those momentary lapses.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au