tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36131625278852826962024-03-12T18:50:45.393-07:00Theatre From The Back SeatJodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-57262015565180980102016-04-29T06:33:00.002-07:002016-04-29T06:33:59.661-07:00How to Hold Your Breath<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First of all - it's been a while since I've written a review! In the year or so since my last review, I finished my PhD, graduated, and moved to Tasmania to take up a new job at the university here. Now that I'm all relocated and settled, I'm hoping to write reviews a little more regularly than the "not at all" I've been doing lately (although the Sydney focus has obviously been replaced with a Hobart one!). </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How to Hold Your Breath</i> (Loud Mouth Theatre Company) runs at the
Moonah Arts Centre from April 29-May 7 2016. By Zinnie Harris, directed by
Julie Waddington.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zinnie Harris’ play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How
to Hold Your Breath</i> is a play preoccupied with ideas of transaction. A
young woman, Dana (Simone Dobber), sleeps with a young man (Robert Maxwell),
who thinks she is a prostitute. When she refuses to accept money for sex, he is
unable to comprehend this, because he is a demon (one who has sold his soul),
and cannot bear the thought of being in debt to her. He tries repeatedly to
repay this debt, but Dana will not let him: a researcher whose area is the
intersection of the commercial and the emotional, she is fascinated by the way
the relationship between vendor and consumer is like a romantic relationship. “I
do have power over you,” she crows to the demon, when he unwillingly reveals
that he is falling in love with her, demonstrating that she, like him, is
obsessed with the notion of transaction, but levies her toll in emotion, not
money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what happens when this capitalist economy falls apart?
As Dana and her sister Jasmine (Elka Bezemer) travel from Berlin to Alexandria
so Dana can interview for a research fellowship – an opportunity she feels she
has not earned, but is eager to take up anyway – all the banks in Europe fall
apart. The rules of transaction change. Emotion is worthless in this new world
order (and indeed, the most emotional character, Jasmine, is broken by her
emotionality and left unable to function). Dana and Jasmine find themselves cut
adrift from society, moving from bourgeois comfort to refugee status overnight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This exploration of the commercial and the affective, using
the European refugee crisis as a lens, ought to be a good match, but sadly,
this is not the most coherent production of what is not the most coherent play.
Harris has a lot of balls in the air with this script, and she never adequately
manages to reconcile the theoretical underpinnings, the magical realist plot
about the demon, and the meditation on the refugee crisis. What results is…
well, kind of a mess. Mess can be creative and productive and beautiful and
meaningful, but in this particular case, some moments of brilliance are lost in
meandering conversational pieces which seem designed to hammer home a point
rather than move the story forward.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the subject of movement: this particularly production
suffers greatly in this regard. The surrealist nature of the script suggests
the need for fluidity in the play’s progression – several episodes, such as
Dana’s interactions with the librarian (Ivano del Pio) take place in a liminal otherworldly
space, which overlays and overlaps with the more realistic political world – but
the insistence on light changes, stoppages, and set changes after every scene
gives the play an odd staccato rhythm which does not fit at all. The momentum
is halted, and any energy that had been created dissipates – often quite
unnecessarily (the set changes are, I would contend, not needed,
particularly given that this is not a play that requires an especially
naturalistic treatment). Likewise, the performances of the cast never generate
the momentum required to push the show forward: and given that, at almost two
and a half hours, the show is already much too long, this is a considerable
weight that needs pushing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can certainly understand the decision to program this play:
given its subject matter, it obviously has resonance in the Australian
political climate. However, Harris’ script is uneven at best – there are some
excellent moments, but other scenes in which I found myself completely tuning
out (particularly the ponderous scenes between the two sisters), as well as a
graphic depiction of sexual violence that felt unnecessary. It is reminiscent
in parts of Sarah Kane’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blasted</i> (which
had its premiere at the Royal Court twenty years before this play premiered there),
but it never reaches the poetic heights that play did: instead, it feels like a
mish-mash of different ideas smashed together, beginning with an almost comic
tone and ending in heavy-handed didacticism, with not a lot of overall
coherence. With stronger design and direction – which in turn probably would
have contributed to stronger performances – it’s possible this could have been
quite compelling, but as it is, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How to
Hold Your Breath </i>never quite comes together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-64785414046886817052015-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:002015-03-06T18:29:41.574-08:00Caress/AcheI reviewed <i>Caress/Ache</i> at Griffin Theatre Company. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201503067176/reviews/sydney/caress/ache-|-griffin-theatre-company.html">here</a>.Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-73699295203228015282015-02-28T16:10:00.000-08:002015-02-28T16:10:32.399-08:00Blue Wizard
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Blue Wizard runs at Belvoir from
19 February – 15 March 2015. By Nick Coyle. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I </span><a href="http://theatrefromthebackseat.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/friend-ship-blue-wizard.html"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">first
saw and wrote about</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Nick Coyle’s <i>Blue Wizard</i> at PACT in 2013, when
it was part of the Tiny Stadiums festival. My friend Hannah and I was utterly
entranced by it. We were thrilled when we heard it was coming back to play at
Belvoir, and we took the opportunity to drag a whole bunch of friends along
with us this time so that they too could understand its fabulousness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Blue Wizard</i> is such a special piece of theatre. It’s
ridiculous and sublime and silly and touching and spectacular all by turns. The
Blue Wizard (Coyle) has come to earth on a special mission from his home – a
crystal planet where everyone’s gay – but when his dance of erotic greeting
isn’t exactly received the way he’d hoped and he realises that he can’t contact
home (in particular, he can’t contact his beloved boyfriend, John Quark Jon),
things take a darker turn. Alone except for a truly creepy wizard baby that he
christens Meryl Streep, the Blue Wizard must work out how to survive in an
unfriendly and lonely world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The story of a fabulously sparkly gay wizard isolated in a
world that does not welcome him is not a particularly subtle allegory, but
there’s no reason for it to be. What I remember most from the last time I saw
this show is how funny it was, but what struck me this time was just how sad it
was as well. That’s something that’s clearly been built on in development,
because the underlying level of pathos in this version of <i>Blue Wizard</i> is
much more poignant. The Blue Wizard is fabulous and funny, but he’s also
horribly lonely. He tries to do the best he can and to parent Meryl Streep
insofar as he is capable (parenting is not something that Blue Wizards – the
wizards of flirting, fucking and dancing – are usually that good at), but he misses
his home, and he misses his life, and he misses his boyfriend, and he misses
belonging. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a really wonderful piece of queer theatre and it’s
perfect for Mardi Gras. I’m so, so glad I got to see it again, and that I could
make more people experience it too. It also clearly contains the best use of
Britney Spears’ song <i>Perfume</i> in the history of theatre, ever. It has a
truly startling and moving ending (which is still a shock even when you know
it’s coming), and the end sequence with the treadmill is hair-standing-up-ingly
spectacular. I was worried that it wouldn’t be as magical the second time
around, but I was wrong – the Blue Wizard’s spell is even more powerful this
time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Also, I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to know more about
the Pink Wizards of Love and Passive Aggression. I would watch a show that was
just about them doing day to day tasks and living their crystal planet lives.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-29657126304800356722015-02-28T16:03:00.004-08:002015-02-28T16:03:55.279-08:00As You Like ItI reviewed Bell Shakespeare's <i>As You Like It</i> over at Australian Stage. You can check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201502277167/reviews/sydney/as-you-like-it-|-bell-shakespeare.html">here</a>. Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-26427880529384673322015-02-19T18:04:00.001-08:002015-02-19T18:04:23.649-08:00Kill The MessengerI reviewed <i>Kill The Messenger</i> at Belvoir St. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201502197151/reviews/sydney/kill-the-messenger-|-belvoir.html">here</a>. Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-53562078530620511752015-02-06T17:48:00.002-08:002015-02-06T17:48:47.289-08:00Between Us
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span><strong><em>Between Us</em> plays at ATYP from February 4-21
2015. By the 2014 National Studio Writers and the 2014 ATYP Writer in
Residence, directed by Sarah Parsons.</strong> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Voices Project,
for those not in the know, is a great initiative that ATYP put on every year.
Some of the country's best young playwrights go away together for a week,
tasked with writing a monologue for a young actor. Ten of the best pieces then
form ATYP's first show of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I love this
project. I've seen it for for a few years now, and it's been so exciting to see
the level of work produced. Sadly, I don't think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Between Us</i>, this year's showcase, quite lives up to the standard of
previous years. There's some good work, and certainly that work that has
potential, but I didn't leave wowed, as I have before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The theme this year
was “secrets”, and I wonder if this might have something to do with it. While
the ten pieces presented definitely had distinct authorial voices, there was
nevertheless a sort of sameness across them beyond thematic consistency. I
think this might be because secrets are necessarily linked with confession –
particularly when the art form being used is the monologue, which abets this
confessional tone. Every piece was, in essence, a confession. While there's
nothing wrong with this, it feels repetitive ten times in a row.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Between Us</span></i><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> was staged in promenade – that is, the audience was active, following
the actors around the space. Ultimately, I think this was a good choice,
because it functioned to break up the showcase's repetitive confessions a
little (even though as a lady of very little height, I generally dislike
promenade theatre as I invariably get stuck behind someone super tall). While
some of the actors pushed their performances a bit too hard, verging on
overacting at times, overall, director Sarah Parsons did a fine job with the
material.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This might not be
the best ever instalment of the Voices Project, but there's definitely some
potential in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Between Us</i>. It's a
worthy project which supports and develops young artists, and I will always be
excited to watch them grow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-48284330183558045102015-02-04T16:00:00.000-08:002015-02-04T16:00:09.825-08:00Asylum
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Asylum plays at the Old 505 Theatre from
February 3-21 2015. Presented by Apocalypse Theatre Company. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Asylum</span></i><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> is important theatre. A collection of rehearsed readings of plays
responding to the implementation of the Operation Sovereign Borders policy, it
is an evocative mosaic of the issues facing and the lives of those seeking
asylum in Australia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> This is a
massive project. Over 65 artists are participating, and the effort that
Apocalypse Theatre Company have gone to in order to bring <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asylum</i> to the stage is incredible and must be applauded. The season
is broken into five blocks of five or six plays each, so it would be possible
to attend a number of times and have an entirely different experience. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I saw the second
block of plays. There is a tendency for a lot of political theatre to be
didactic – which I think would have been more than understandable in this case,
given the issue – but the pieces I saw didn't really veer too far in this
direction. (As an aside – I think verbatim theatre has become popular in
political stories as a way of combating this tendency towards didacticism.)
This wasn't a two hour lecture and it wasn't preachy. Instead, it focused on
small, human, individual stories – often a much more powerful way of
communicating – and on evoking the mythic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There were some
standout pieces in the block I saw. Melita Rowston's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bread and Butter</i> was a beautiful story about an Afghani woman who sought
asylum in Australia, and has now finally found happiness and a new family to
replace the one the Taliban took from her in the bakery where she works,
although she remains haunted by fears that her temporary protection visa will
be revoked and she will lose everything. The writing was a tiny bit heavyhanded
at times, but any flaws were masked by a luminous, joyous performance by Josipa
Draisma, who I could easily watch for hours. Similarly brilliant is Jan Barr in
Mary Rachel Brown's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Self-Service</i>.
This piece – in which Pamela, who works at Woolworths, is forced to deal with
her trainee Abdul-Rasheed becoming her boss – manages to be hilarious at the
same time as horrifying as Pamela's unthinking casual racism is slowly
revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> But I think
my favourite piece of the night was Amir Mohammadi's Gol Pari, a distinctly
Afghani piece (like, literally – it was translated from Dari the day before the
performance) which had a whiff of the mythic about it. It reminded me of the
myth of Psyche and her sisters, or Cinderella and her stepsisters, as Pari Gol,
the third wife of a rich man, is victimised and falsely accused of immodesty by
the other two wives and her community. The most remarkable thing about this
piece is its context. Mohammadi is from Afghanistan himself, a radical
theatremaker who campaigned for women's rights, illegally rehearsing plays like
this one and secretly showing them to an all-female audience. Someone needs to
give him a big arts grant immediately, because this is the kind of theatre we
need to be seeing – theatre that can bring hope, foster rebellion, and change
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even leaving aside
the fact that it is certainly vital and necessary theatre, Asylum is enjoyable
theatre. It is evocative, engaging, and incredibly moving, and you should
definitely spend your money on it - not least because all profits go to the
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*NB: I’m just about to
hand my PhD in, so a more regular reviewing schedule should resume. My
apologies if you invited me to something in the last six or so months and I
didn’t respond – my inbox got super out of control with thesis revisions.
Things are basically back to normal now!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-60220422396181174332014-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:002014-11-14T13:30:09.922-08:00Trojans<b><i>Trojans </i>runs at PACT in Erskineville from November 14-22 2014 as part of the Tiny Stadiums Festival. </b><br /><br /><i>Trojans </i>by Project Mess at PACT Sydney is not the greatest piece of theatre you’re ever going to see. It’s probably not in the top twenty either. But it is a lot of fun: and fun, as far as I’m concerned, is a good enough reason to see anything.<br /><br />The conceit behind <i>Trojans </i>is one drawn from Mexican telenovela (essentially soap operas, generally of the most hyperbolic kind). The story moves so fast and the actors are required to film so many pages of script in a day that it isn’t possible for the actors to learn their lines, so dialogue is fed to them via radio as they tape. One take, one chance: that’s it. In <i>Trojans</i>, the lines are delivered to actors via radio and they deliver them as we watch, the action happening in real time against a green screen.<br /><br />I love this idea. Like, I LOVE IT. The idea of genre fiction and maligned popular artforms – which most definitely includes telenovela and soap opera – on the stage is one that appeals to me greatly, so when I heard about <i>Trojans</i>, I pretty much hallooed HELL YES to the reverberate hills. <i>Trojans</i>, sadly, does not make the most of this conceit – at least not in the episode I saw, which was the episode performed on November 14, written by Annalise Constable. Instead, it delivers a fairly staid episode of a knockoff <i>Cheers</i>: a kind of sitcom set in a bar where two mental patients converse about pretty much nothing.<br /><br />It’s not without its charms. Barman Brett (Brett Johnson) is a pretty entertaining fixture, and there are a couple of amusing exchanges. But telenovela is so big, so dramatic, so ridiculous and spectacular, that I wanted something more – something soapier. The program notes state that Project Mess visualise <i>Trojans </i>“as more of a sitcom than a soapie”, so I guess the <i>Cheers</i>-esque vibe suits that, but… why give up a golden opportunity to do telenovela on stage and make it awesome, especially when you’re adopting the conceits of its delivery? The recent success of <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQ3HxGIvy8">Jane The Virgin</a></i> shows that telenovela can be brought and brought well to a mainstream audience, even if the soap opera is the most maligned of televisual forms. I wish Project Mess hadn’t backed away from the spectacularised form of the telenovela and opted for the more acceptable sitcom. I feel the former would have made better theatre.<br /><br />That said, even though the script on the night I saw <i>Trojans </i>was pretty ordinary, the evening is a great deal of fun. Interspersed with ad breaks and audience engagement, it’s definitely an enjoyable night out at the theatre. Every night features a new writer, and I’m coming back next week to see what another episode of the show has to offer. It’s a short night – the show clocks in at only an hour – and while it might not necessarily be great theatre, it is very entertaining. Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-74041801037423063902014-10-25T15:46:00.002-07:002014-10-25T15:46:41.389-07:00Emerald CityI reviewed Griffin Theatre Company's production of <i>Emerald City</i> over at Australian Stage. You can check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201410257028/reviews/sydney/emerald-city-|-griffin-theatre-company.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
(Reminder that I'm in the final throes of my PhD and thus mostly confined to a study cave right now, so not reviewing as much as normal. Regular programming will recommence in 2015!) Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-63471996573159656802014-09-29T16:33:00.001-07:002014-09-29T16:33:58.096-07:00KryptoniteMy review of <i>Kryptonite</i> at Sydney Theatre Company is now up at Australian Stage. Check it out <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201409176987/reviews/sydney/kryptonite-|-sydney-theatre-company.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
NB: I'm only reviewing a small amount of shows for the next few months - my doctoral thesis is due at the end of November and as such, is keeping me pretty busy! Regularly scheduled programming will resume by the New Year. Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-50193648927908621972014-08-07T17:12:00.002-07:002014-08-07T17:12:46.202-07:00Joan, Again
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joan, Again</i> (subtlenuance, SITCo) runs at the Old Fitzroy Theatre
from 5-23 August 2014. Written and directed by Paul Gilchrist. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Ten years
later, in a quiet little village known mostly for making cushions (“where
France learns to sleep!”), she has returned. Or has she? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Joan, Again</i> explores the power of narrative as a way
of understanding the world. Every character in the play knows the story of
Joan, and on each of them, it has had a different effect. For gregarious
Bernadette (Bonnie Kellett), Joan represents the promise of power, righteousness,
and agency: the story of a girl who has done something is deeply inspiring for
a girl who has been able to do so little. For her mother Isabelle (Helen
Tonkin), Joan represents war, a monstrous horror which stole her son from her.
The story of Joan reminds Gerard (James Collette) of all the things he did and
did not do when he was at the Siege of Orleans. It is a great example of how a
story is somehow more than itself: that it is polysemic, containing many
layers, and that it can be interpreted and read many ways. When Joan or someone
claiming to be her (Sylvia Keays) appears in the village, all these disparate
readings of her story are thrown into sharp relief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think there were some really clever ideas underpinning <i>Joan,
Again.</i> I’m very interested in the polysemic nature of narrative in my
academic work, and it was exciting to see it explored in such an interesting
way here. I was particularly intrigued by the way that the work put the
emphasis on women’s stories, particularly in the first act. Throughout the
play, the female characters are continually being told to be quiet by the male
ones – that speaking is not feminine. The play opens begin with a collection of
four female characters talking (and talking about how they talk too much).
Throwing Joan – that woman who dared not only to speak, but to speak to kings
and armies and to God himself – into that mix was very potent indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sadly, I think this element of the story fell away a bit in
the second act, as stories about God and the politics of the church became more
important. Overall, while I was very interested in the way <i>Joan, Again</i>
dealt with questions of narrative, I think there was just too much <i>stuff</i>
in the play for it to be really effective. It was kind of ironic that in a play
so focused on the power of narrative that the narrative was obscured. This was
mostly because there were simply too many words. I know I say this about a lot
of shows (and it is obviously indicative of my own theatrical preferences), but
at two and a half hours, this show was too long. If it had been cut down
to about ninety minutes, I think it could have been scintillating. Pared back,
with some of the unnecessary dialogue stripped away, and maybe less indulgence
in one-liners (the play is very, very funny is some places, but I think
sometimes this came at the expense of the pacing), <i>Joan, Again</i> could
have been an absolute bombshell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As it is, it’s still quite an absorbing play. There are some
great performances, particularly from Helen Tonkin as Isabelle and Sylvia
Keays, who is luminescent as Joan. It’s a very thoughtful piece of theatre.
However, it could definitely have been improved if the really interesting
thoughts that underpin it had been allowed to shine through the web of verbiage
a little more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-3155893198774008742014-08-07T16:45:00.000-07:002014-08-07T16:45:03.757-07:00Mr KolpertI reviewed Mr Kolpert (pantsguys) at ATYP over at Australian Stage. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201408026926/reviews/sydney/mr-kolpert-|-pantsguys.html">here</a>. (Spoilers: it was awesome.) Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-55496135840057928352014-07-24T15:32:00.001-07:002014-07-24T15:32:49.138-07:00Jack Kerouac's Essentials of Spontaneous Prose
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jack Kerouac’s Essentials of Spontaneous Prose </i>plays at the Bondi
Pavilion as part of the Bondi Feast Festival from July 22-26 2014. By Jessica
Bellamy and David Finnigan, directed by Gin Savage. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jack Kerouac’s Essentials
of Spontaneous Prose </i>is a gentle, contemplative, rich piece of theatre.
Actually, I’m not entirely sure it’s technically “theatre” per se (but then we
would get into a whole debate about what constitutes theatre and there would be
definitions and stuff and no one wants that). It’s certainly not theatre in the
traditional sense. It’s more akin to a radio play, but it’s not quite that
either. I wondered for a while if it would have been best as prose – I think I
certainly would have liked to read it, because there’s a lot in it and I’m sure
I’ve forgotten a bunch of stuff – but on second thought, I think theatrical
conceit added a lot to it. We as audience sit around a pool of water, watching
and listening as conversations and snippets of stories ripple across its
surface. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the stories Scheherazade tells in the Arabian Nights
(I think that’s where I remember it from!) is about a man who, entranced by a
pool of water, sticks his head into it. While his head is in the water, he
lives lifetimes: he conquers cities, defeats dragons, rescues princesses, all
that kind of thing. When he removes his head from the water, only a few seconds
have passed. (This story was part of Kenneth Slessor’s inspiration for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Five Bells,</i> BTW.) It’s easy to imagine
that the pool of water in this show is the same kind of pool – full of infinite
stories. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this case, the stories were framed by, or came from, or
maybe even emerged in spite of, Jack Kerouac’s guideline for writers, which are
being discussed and talked through by two writers sitting in a café. Normally,
I would find a show about two writers sitting and talking about writing
unbearably self-indulgent – and there is certainly an element of indulgence
here – but one of the things I really liked about this show was the way that
stories kind of kept crowding their way over the top of the rules for prose. The
two writers describe the best way to get close to the story, a kind of
monstrous creature which you must submit to. There was one line which described
language not as a dress you can pull off but as a tattoo, something imprinted
on you, something bound to you. And yet in the midst of this, story is
happening anyway without much interference from them – they are distracted by
people sitting a few tables away, wondering if they’re getting married or
divorced. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s a Daoist meditative ritual called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">zuowang</i> – literally, sitting and
forgetting – where you sit and stare into water and forget all your training
and education in an effort to learn simply to be, to return to a state of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pu</i> (lit. “uncarved block”), which is the
natural state of humans. I was reminded irresistibly of this during <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jack Kerouac’s Essentials of Spontaneous
Prose</i>, staring into the limpid pool that was our theatre. Many of Kerouac’s
rules were kind of about this: removing barriers and preconceptions and
pretensions to literary technique so that you were able to face the story in a
kind of pure state. I don’t think we as audience ever exactly achieve a
meditative state – there is way too much to think about in this – but there is
something very enchanting about staring into water and letting words bubble
over you. It removes a number of the barriers that usually stand between
audience and language in the theatre. There seems to be an inherent
contradiction in Kerouac’s rules, in that rules in general seem to be figured
as a kind of restraint. I think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jack
Kerouac’s Essentials of Spontaneous Prose</i> is fascinating in its theatrical
realisation of this idea.</span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-65028208286103615192014-07-13T18:57:00.000-07:002014-07-13T18:57:28.328-07:00The EffectI'm back in Sydney after some time spent researching overseas. The first play I saw on my return was <i>The Effect</i> at Sydney Theatre Company. You can read my thoughts <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201407136902/reviews/sydney/the-effect-|-sydney-theatre-company.html">here </a>at Australian Stage.Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-65692697111417642312014-05-15T16:08:00.000-07:002014-05-15T16:08:29.476-07:00Scenes From An Execution
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Scenes From An
Execution </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">(Tooth and Sinew) runs
at the Old Fitzroy Hotel from May 13 – 31 2014. By Howard Barker, directed by
Richard Hilliar. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Scenes From An Execution</i> is an incredibly rich,
textured piece of theatre. There is so much here to chew on, intellectually and
emotionally. At its heart is an enthralling female character, prickly, complex
and utterly engaging. The show raises fascinating questions about art and
authority which I’ll continue to mull over for some time.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The play is set in Venice in 1571. Controversial artist
Galactia (Lucy Miller) is commissioned by the Doge (Mark Lee) to paint a picture
commemorating the Battle of Lepanto, one of Venice’s most comprehensive
victories over the Ottoman Empire. He expects her to conform to certain
artistic boundaries – to celebrate the victory and the glory of Venice. But
Galactia has a different story in mind. After an encounter with Prodo (Peter
Maple), a war veteran made ridiculous by the arrow shaft stuck in his head, she
decides to paint a portrait of the battle as it really was: a bloody, merciless
slaughter.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t want to give too much of the plot away and spoil it
– particularly as this is a show well worth seeing for yourselves – but the
ongoing story of the painting and its contentious ownership raises questions
about art and intention that I’m very interested in. This play might be about
sixteenth century Venice, but these are questions with ongoing resonance. I’m
not sure whether there was a similar moment in art history, but I am familiar
with some of the literary theory around these questions. Schleiermachian
hermeneutics, one of the early forms of literary criticism, placed the author
at the centre of the work. In this model, the reader became a sort of
detective, puzzling over the text in an effort to reach the author’s true
intentions. But in the twentieth century, the New Criticism emerged, which
centred the text, rather than the author. In 1968, Roland Barthes famously
declared that the author was dead. Michel Foucault made a similar claim when he
called the author a function. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While this is congruent with literary development at the
time, it is also not coincidental that this is a period when marginalised
writers’ voices started to be heard: voices from writers disenfranchised by
their race, class, orientation and/or gender. The dead author trope became
another way of marginalising them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see
something similar in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scenes From An
Execution</i>, particularly in the second act. Galactia is so certain her work
belongs to her, but a new mode of criticism is emerging, represented here by
the critic Rivera (Katherine Shearer). </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let’s talk a bit about Galactia, this fascinating female
artist, and her relationship with her work. Her character arc in this play is
remarkable, centring as it does around art and her pursuit of truth rather than
her relationships, as so many female arcs do. (I have absolutely zero problems
with female arcs centring on relationships, but this should not be the only
option open to women.) Indeed, the most important relationship she has in this
play is not with her lover Carpeta (Jeremy Waters), but with her art – and, by
extension, with truth. Galactia believes she is doing a brave and noble thing
with her art: an important thing, an incontrovertible thing, an intrinsically <i>political</i>
thing. But she does not take into account the fact that ownership of her work
might be challenged. I found the way this idea of truth and art is treated and
mobilised in <i>Scenes From An Execution</i> so, so interesting. I want to say
a lot more about it, but a) a lot of it involves Foucault and that’s a bit
boring, and b) I don’t want to spoil the show.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is a really good production of a very difficult script.
It is very intense the whole way through and perhaps could have benefited from
a little more light and shade, but when I think about where that stillness
could go, I’m at a loss. Like Galactia, this play is relentless – and that is
part of its appeal. Director Richard Hilliar has put together a great ensemble
– Lucy Miller as Galactia and Jeremy Waters as Carpeta are particular
standouts. There is so much going on in this piece, and it would have been easy
for it to get bogged down in its own verbiage. But happily, this does not
happen. I found <i>Scenes From An Execution</i> utterly fascinating. Make time
to go and see it. </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-30212930585661719372014-05-15T08:05:00.000-07:002014-05-15T08:05:24.110-07:00Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore PornographyI reviewed <i>Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography</i> at Griffin Theatre. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201405126826/reviews/sydney/eight-gigabytes-of-hardcore-pornography-|-griffin-theatre.html">here</a>. (Spoilers: I thought it was boss.)Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-92218218259559143742014-05-05T19:44:00.000-07:002014-05-05T19:44:21.214-07:00Thom Pain (based on nothing)
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thom Pain (based on nothing) </i>plays at the Old Fitzroy Hotel<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>from May 5 – 10. By Will Eno, directed by
Julie Baz</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">NB: I saw a preview of this show.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s hard to know what to say about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thom Pain (based on nothing)</i> that isn’t just, “…um, what?” It’s one
of those things which seems to be an exercise in pointlessness – the “based on nothing”
in the title is not false advertising. It’s a long, rambling monologue
(complete with interval) about nothing.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This play was a critical darling when it was first performed
in 2004, but to be honest, it’s not a type of theatre I have a great deal of
patience with. Its self-conscious performativity – the title character (played
here by David Jeffrey) is very, very aware that he’s telling a long, confusing,
pointless story to an audience – is frustrating. While there are some great
lines in it (I especially enjoyed, “I disappeared into her, and she, not
knowing where I went, left”), it’s very self-indulgent… and dull, to be honest.
A big chunk of the audience in the preview I saw left at interval, and it was
hard to fault them.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Afterwards, I spent a lot of time thinking about why: what
was the point? why should we be interested in listening to Thom Pain ramble
about his life? why should this man’s confused ramblings be considered worthy
of our time? (“There’s going to be a moment when you only have thirty seconds
to live,” Thom says at one point. “You’ll think of me then.” And I probably
will, still trying to work out what exactly I was doing with the hour and a
half of my life I spent watching this play.) I found it interesting that Eno
has imbued Thom Pain with a name – and a resonant name at that. It’s hard to miss
the allusion to Thomas Paine, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Rights of Man</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Age of Reason.</i>
So why this name? why this allusion? Because Paine was a revolutionary and this
Pain is… painful.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t really have an answer to this question, but it did make
me start thinking about another revolutionary pamphleteer from the same period:
Mary Wollstonecraft. (The fact that I was thinking about this during the show
is probably testament to the fact that I wasn’t really engaged by what was going
on onstage.) And that made me wonder what would happen if the central character
was a woman. Would this play be nominated for a Pulitzer if it was about a
woman narrating confusing, rambling episodes from her life? Would listening to
her talk be considered literature, a worthy demand on our time?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Obviously I can’t prove this, but I don’t think it would be.
I read </span><a href="http://www.katieheaney.com/post/84363821169/re-that-facebook-message"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">an
interesting piece</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> the other day by Katie Heaney where she talks about the
three types of hate mail she and other female writers receive. One is a type
she has called, “Announcement of My Male Existence.” And that’s what this felt
like – an announcement of Thom Pain’s male existence, to an audience that is
expected to listen to him, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> to
listen to him, even though he really has nothing to say. Which made me wonder if
this was a deliberate exercise in dullness, but either way, it’s dull, you
know?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Others may feel differently, but I find this kind of
self-conscious theatre very frustrating. I’m just not that interested in
hearing a man self-indulgently talk about nothing and expect me to listen. David
Jeffrey does his best as the titular character, but for me, there was no saving
this play. If someone’s going to talk about themselves for an hour and a half,
I’d like it if they were saying something worth listening to (or even something
interesting). </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-56583467085849421382014-04-30T17:08:00.000-07:002014-04-30T17:08:15.063-07:00Antigone: The Burial at Thebes
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Antigone: The Burial at Thebes </i>(Furies) runs from April 30 – May 4
at the Tap Gallery. By Sophocles, translated by Seamus Heaney, directed by Chris
McKay. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the first questions I ask when it comes to restaging
classic works like <i>Antigone</i> is the question of relevance. Why this play?
Why now? What is the significance? Of course, “interesting intellectual
exercise” is a perfectly valid reason, but for a play to truly strike the mark,
there needs to be some sort of resonance.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this sense, if one has only the canon of Greek tragedy to
choose from, <i>Antigone</i> was a smart choice to put on. The figure at its
heart, Antigone (played in the performance I saw by Krystiann Dingas, who is
alternating the role with Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou), is a fascinating,
complicated heroine. Forbidden by the patriarchy of Thebes, the city of which
she was once princess, to bury her brother Polyneices, she is defiant,
unapologetically seizing agency. It is a fascinating portrait of a woman in
rebellion against an unfriendly society: something which I think many women
relate to quite viscerally.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Antigone is portrayed as heroic – that word is explicitly
used in this translation by great Irish poet Seamus Heaney. She places honour
above everything else, even her own life. Honour is a character trait most
often coded masculine (and, indeed, Antigone’s sister Ismene cannot live up to
this standard), as is filial devotion. But Antigone is most definitely a female
character: subverting patriarchy by asserting agency. This dynamic is one I
find so, so interesting, especially considering how many thousands of years old
this play is.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a shame, then, that although Antigone is the title
character, the play is mostly about Creon, the patriarch whom she defies. This
can’t really be helped, given the ancientness of the play, but Creon is
significantly less interesting than his niece. The second half of the play is
mostly about his man-pain, and it’s nowhere near as powerful as the first –
although it is very interesting to see how the patriarchy deals with being destabilised
by a defiant woman, something Heaney highlights brilliantly in his translation.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve talked so far about the play: let’s focus now on the
production. It is a good one, but not a great one. I wasn’t ever bored, and the
cultural idiosyncrasies of Greek theatre were translated well to the modern
stage. (I wasn’t entirely sure what the relationship of the chorus character,
played by Peter Jamieson, to Creon was supposed to be, but it wasn’t <i>that</i>
big a concern.) All in all, it was a very tidy one and a half hours of theatre.
However, it was a bit awkward and one note in places, and I felt it could have
been imbued with significantly more nuance. Several characters fell victim to
declaiming, pronouncing their long monologues with great gusto but only one
emotional level. This was particularly true of Brendan Layton’s Creon, who was
hard to get a handle on. His emotional arc was clear from his words but not
necessarily from his acting: he went from autocratic! to angry! to sad! without
very much in the way of transition.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because the play had this very flat emotional trajectory, it
made it very hard to connect with. I was talking about it afterwards with my
theatre date, and he said that, “I believed that they [the actors] felt it, but
I didn’t feel it.” I agree completely. More care needed to be taken with the
show’s emotional tapestry for it to be truly affective for the audience.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Also, the bit with Tiresias really doesn’t work at all. It
verges on the parodic: Tiresias is played by Peter Bertoni as a kind of
caricature of a prophet. And whoever decided to put him in a luminescent orange
toga really isn’t doing him any favours, especially since everyone else in the
play is dressed in modern clothes.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, though, I think this was a solid production of a
difficult play. I very much enjoyed Krystiann Dingas’ performance as Antigone,
and I’d be very interested to see how Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou, who was fabulous
as Ismene, does in the same role. The most interesting part of the show is its
female characters: they are what makes this ancient play resonant and relevant.
</span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-61765048836324776272014-04-19T06:13:00.000-07:002014-04-19T06:13:28.723-07:00Construction of the Human Heart
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Construction of the Human Heart </i>runs from April 16 – May 3 2014 at
the Tap Gallery. By Ross Mueller, directed by Dino Dimitriades. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Construction of the
Human Heart </i>is one of the cleverest pieces of writing I’ve ever had the
privilege of seeing onstage. It’s dense and difficult, but it’s also complex,
nuanced, multi-layered. As the layers are peeled back and back and back,
more and more is revealed. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is normally where I’d offer a brief précis of the play.
The “plot” of this show, if it can be said to have one (it is picaresque, more
interested in scenes than in a linear narrative) is relatively simple. Two
writers, a man and a woman, are in love, have a child, and lose that child. But
to reduce the show to this brief description is doing it a major disservice. There
is so much in this play that seems to be about so little.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Writers writing about writers writing has the potential to
be – and often is – the height of self-indulgence. What sets <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Construction of the Human Heart</i> apart is
the fact that, although it features writers, it is not really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i> them. Instead, it’s about stories,
about scripting: about the way we script the narratives of our own lives, how
we use stories to save us, and how we construct our own emotional worlds, our
human hearts.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s the kind of play I’d like to read so I could unpick and
unpack more of the ideas embedded within it, but the performative aspect to it
is key. I’m not normally a huge fan of the Brechtian alienation effect (distancing the audience
emotionally from the work so as to force them to think about it analytically)
but it was perfectly employed here. Director Dino Dimitriades has mounted a
very intelligent production of what must have been a horrendously difficult
script to approach.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Construction
of the Human Heart</i> touches on very emotional issues – love, life, loss – it
is not really emotionally engaging. I do not think it was at all intended to
be: the alienation effect sees to that. But intellectually…? SO ENGAGING. I was
transfixed. I was glad it wasn’t longer (it’s only an hour), because I think it
would have become exhausting. The delicate threads of story and scene and art
and performativity are woven together here to form a fascinating cerebral
tapestry. It made me think, and I think I’m going to keep thinking about it a
lot. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If it’s not already obvious, I thought <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Construction of the Human Heart</i> was a fantastic piece of theatre. It
was theatre that had to be theatre. No other medium would have sufficed. It’s a
difficult piece – do not go along if you simply want to be entertained – but I
thought it was so, so fascinating. And the production does the script justice. If
this is indicative of the level of work they’re producing, I’ll be extremely
excited to see what Apocalypse Theatre Company do next. </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-74864564984777466252014-04-17T17:10:00.000-07:002014-04-17T17:10:16.052-07:00Lies, Love and Hitler
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lies, Love and Hitler </i>runs at the Old Fitz Theatre from April 17 –
May 3 2014. By Elizabeth Scott, directed by Rochelle Whyte. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I should begin this piece with a disclaimer: I know and like
many of the people involved in this show, including the writer and several
members of the cast. This fact makes it harder for me to say what I have to say
about this show, which is that I found it deeply problematic.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is not a problem with the production itself. All three
members of the cast execute their roles with aplomb. The play is cleverly
directed – the only issue I took with that aspect was to do with an over-reliance
on blackouts, which made some scene changes seem jerky where fluidity would
have been preferable. And I think the writing is good too: witty, snappy,
funny.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But <i>Lies, Love and Hitler</i> and I suffer from a
fundamental ideological incompatibility, and I don’t think there’s anything
that can be done to fix that. While I think other people might really enjoy
this show – and, indeed, the opening night audience seemed to enjoy it a lot –
it managed to hit on several areas about which I have very strong opinions. It’s
a play about ambiguity, but for me, some of the questions it touched on were
not ambiguous at all. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Lies, Love and Hitler</i> follows theology professor Paul
Langley (James Scott). Langley teaches ethics, and while teaching the works of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a German pastor who conspired to kill Hitler – he finds
himself visited by Bonhoeffer’s ghost (Doug Chapman). As he negotiates a
nascent romantic relationship with his student Hannah (Ylaria Rogers), he finds
himself tormented by a series of ethical questions, which he seeks Bonhoeffer’s
advice in solving.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first of these questions is posed right at the beginning
of the play as we watch Langley teach his ethics class. Would it be, he asks,
morally right to kill Hitler? Bonhoeffer, a devout Christian, was regarded as a
hero for attempting to do this – but was it ethical? Does the end justify the
means?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Personally, I don’t think this is a particularly interesting
question. Most people would say yes, on the basis of simple mathematical
calculation – one life versus many lives. We can see a similar question in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game of Thrones</i>: Jaime Lannister broke
his oath and killed King Aerys Targaryen, but Aerys was mad and wanted to burn
the entire country, so... what was he supposed to do? (It would have been intriguing,
actually, if the play had explored someone who faced this question and said no –
a far more interesting position to defend.) But it is not in and of itself
problematic. No, what I found problematic was the line drawn between
Bonhoeffer’s dilemma – is it moral to kill Hitler? – and Langley’s: is it okay
for a teacher and a student to have a romantic relationship?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As an academic myself, I have some fairly strong views on
this question, which basically boil down to one word: no. “Is there anything
objectively wrong with a teacher and a student falling in love?” Bonhoeffer
asks Langley at one point. Langley’s answer is “no,” to which I raised an
eyebrow, because my answer is definitely – and unambiguously – “yes”. There is
a reason that teacher/student relationships are proscribed, and that reason is
to do with abuse of power. Conflicts of interest can arise over mere friendly
acquaintanceships, let alone romances. This is not a grey area. Hannah and
Langley have known each other for many years, which ostensibly complicates the
matter, but a) the fact that she is in his class and he is marking her
assignments is already a conflict of interest, and b) he has known her since
she was a little girl, by which time he was already a young man, which kind of
makes it even grosser. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And all this is leaving aside the big problem: the equation
of whether or not to kill Hitler and whether or not to engage in a
teacher/student relationship, as if these were in any way equivalent.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is not the only problematic parallel drawn in the play.
Hannah, we discover, has filed sexual harassment charges against another
professor. Langley is visited by a university sexual harassment officer who
essentially asks him for a character reference for Hannah. Coached by
Bonhoeffer, he lies to her. This officer is clearly looking out for the
interests of the university and not the student, which leads Langley at one
point to equate the investigation with the Gestapo. Now, there are certainly
horrible instances of things like this happening in universities, especially in
the USA, but it’s not common, or anywhere near this clear-cut. Sexual
harassment officers like these exist explicitly to look after students’
interests, and I imagine they would be having an ethical dilemma all of their
own if they were asked to protect the institution at the cost of the victim. (Again,
maybe that would have been a more interesting moral question to explore.) This
was a very narratively convenient way to draw a very, very problematic
parallel. To compare an investigation of sexual harassment claims to the
Gestapo, to make analogous the questions Langley faces with the interrogation
Bonhoeffer did? Oh no. Oh hell no. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had no idea why Bonhoeffer’s shade was hanging around
Langley, to be honest. Langley seems kind of terrible. What he’s doing isn’t
that morally grey. It’s pretty clearly wrong. Yes, even if the woman involved
is actively consenting.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Said woman Hannah identifies as a feminist, but this didn’t
ring true for me. This was not necessarily because of her relationship with
Langley. Rather, it was because her feminism didn’t feel real at all. There was
an “ugh, men” moment at one point, another to do with men opening doors, and
another, where she said to herself, “I’m supposed to be a feminist! An intellectual!
And yet I can’t tear myself away from these love letters!”</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am… not sure what the conflict here is supposed to be,
exactly? I am a feminist historian of love and romance, so I have more than a
few thoughts on this matter, but modern feminism (that is, third-wave feminism)
is certainly not anti-love. Hannah felt like a caricature of a feminist, and as
someone invested in seeing more explicit representations of feminism on stage,
I found this very disappointing. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Also, there was a crack about Mills & Boon readers I
didn’t really appreciate, but then, I am very sensitive to that kind of thing and
cannot expect to Hannah and Langley to share my opinions on this issue.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Lies, Love and Hitler</i> is never dull. It certainly
keeps you engaged the whole way through. A lot of the dialogue is very good –
there’s a real quality of banter and some great comic moments. But the ethical
underpinnings of this play left me a bit horrified, to be honest. The moral
dilemmas? Not that dilemma-y from where I was sitting. Morality exists in
shades of grey, and sometimes all the choices are bad – but I’m pretty
comfortable saying that things are pretty clear cut when it comes to things
like teacher/student relationships and comparing sexual harassment
investigations to the Gestapo. While others might enjoy this show a lot, I
found it very difficult to see past the political problems I had with it. </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-84109074842683988632014-04-12T01:15:00.000-07:002014-04-12T01:15:47.934-07:00Cough
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cough </i>(Unhappen) runs at 107 Projects in Redfern from April 10 –
20, 2014. By Emily Calder, directed by James Dalton. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cough </i>is an
unusual little piece of theatre. It covers a subject that I haven’t seen
represented before on stage: the imaginative capacity of children, and the
angst their parents feel when they do not and cannot follow. It took me a
little while to warm up to, but overall, I thought this was really intriguing
theatre.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are two sets of characters in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cough.</i> First, there are the children: Isla (Vanessa Cole), Jess
(Melissa Brownlow) and Finlay (Tim Reuben), who all go to the same daycare.
There they meet Frank (Tom Christophersen), older and wiser than them at the
grand age of three and a half, who tells them about a terrifying monster called
Brian who lurks nearby. And then there are the children’s parents: Isla’s
mother Isabelle (Cole), Jess’ mother Julie (Brownlow) and Finlay’s father Clive
(Reuben), angsting over the minutiae of their children’s lives and the
parent/teacher politics at the daycare. And meanwhile, a mysterious tree has
appeared in the daycare’s backyard and continues to grow and grow and grow...</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It took me some time to work out just what was going on in
this play, and just how realistically I should treat it. In the end, if I had
to fit it into a genre, I would probably call it magic realism. The world of
the children is both imaginary and not, loomed over by the figure of Brian and
the tree (a kind of evil Faraway Tree, as far as I could tell). The parents are
worried about very normal, grounded things – germs from the sandpit, how much
their kids are eating – but at the same time, cannot dismiss or deny the
effects (sometimes physical) that Frank’s fantastical stories have had on their
children. What I initially thought was not working within the play actually
turned out to be one of its greatest strengths: a kind of deliberate ambiguity
between the real and the imaginary. The ending is proof positive of this – I
won’t spoil it, but it’s wonderfully staged and viscerally affecting.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is something very sinister at play in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cough</i>, an ongoing suggestion that maybe
the monsters of our childhood do not disappear, we just forget how to see them.
The ambiguity I highlighted above plays into this beautifully. However,
sometimes I think the play runs the risk of being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">too</i> ambiguous – for example, there’s a major reveal at the end
about Frank, but the implications of this are never really explored. Similarly,
a few other narrative threads and motifs are raised and then forgotten (the
cough, for one – what happened to that?). I would have liked a few of the loose
threads to be tied up better. I also would have liked to see the play edited a
little tighter, as there were some points where I felt my attention drifting.
At an hour and twenty minutes it’s not long, but I think if it was brought down
to an hour or so it would be a much stronger piece of theatre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the things I liked best about this play was the way
it was staged. I was initially unsure about the use of dolls (they were used to
represent the children at the beginning of the play), but they grew on me. This
is a very small space and it was used to wonderful effect, particularly
vertically – the ladder scene at the end was superb. One thing I would note,
though, is that the smoke machine is used and abused, to the extent where I
think it set the fire alarm off at the end of the performance I saw. I’m not a
smoke machine fan at the best of times, and this really was a bit much. (The
title “cough” was quite apt for many people in the audience!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, although there were some areas for improvement, I
really liked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cough.</i> It’s one of the
more unusual pieces of theatre I’ve seen in 2014, and I applaud its ambition
and creativity. I’ll be very interested to see what Unhappen do next. </span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-67181793765375343242014-04-09T16:26:00.001-07:002014-04-09T16:26:37.076-07:00WonderlandMy review of <i>Wonderland</i> (Lexx Productions) at the Seymour Centre is now up at Australian Stage. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201404086792/reviews/sydney/wonderland-%7C-lexx-productions.html">here</a>. (Spoilers: I wasn't a fan.)Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-77473152964293472762014-04-05T17:52:00.001-07:002014-04-05T17:52:50.642-07:00MusicMy review of <i>Music</i> (Stories Like These and Griffin Independent) is now up. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201404056787/reviews/sydney/music-%7C-stories-like-these-and-griffin-independent.html">here</a>. (Sadly, it wasn't my favourite.) Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-31517168522273219682014-04-05T15:29:00.000-07:002014-04-05T15:29:34.564-07:00PerplexMy review of <i>Perplex</i> at Sydney Theatre Company is now up at Australian Stage. Check out what I thought <a href="http://www.australianstage.com.au/201404046785/reviews/sydney/perplex-%7C-sydney-theatre-company.html">here</a>. Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613162527885282696.post-64628726147976966422014-03-27T15:06:00.002-07:002014-03-27T15:06:35.534-07:00A Moment On The Lips
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><i>A Moment On The Lips</i> (Mad March Hare Theatre Company
in association with Sydney Independent Theatre Company) runs at the Old Fitzroy
Theatre from 25 March – 12 April 2014. By Jonathan Gavin, directed by Mackenzie
Steele.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I loved this play from the moment I read the press release.
A show that focuses on the bonds between women – sisters, friends, lovers –
with an all-female cast? Oh yes. Oh HELLS YES. That is something I am
immediately interested in. These are the types of relationships that are
desperately under-explored. And call me selfish, but as a twenty-something
woman, I am totes going to be into a show about other young women. Strange, I
know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So perhaps I went in with crazy high expectations, but <i>A
Moment On The Lips </i>really bummed me out, because I did not get what I
wanted from it at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was a line at the end where one of the characters
demands of the others, “so what are we going to do now? Sit around and think up
clever new ways to be awful to each other?”. I thought that that pretty much
captured the whole play. This was a show that basically revolved around women –
sisters, friends, lovers – being awful to each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two points. 1) I do not believe that characters have to be
likeable for a show to be good. (Which is lucky, because none of the characters
in this show are.) 2) I firmly believe that women can be and often are awful to
each other. I’ve been awful to other women. Other women have been awful to me.
It’s a thing that happens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But OMG, the women in this show were SO UNRELENTINGLY awful
to each other. And that was the problem. You couldn’t understand why they hung
around each other: why the friends stayed friends, why the lovers stayed
lovers, why the sisters kept talking to each other. You never, ever understood
why they couldn’t stay away from each other. And I mean, sure, there are
terribly unhealthy relationships where you’re bad for each other and mean to
each other and still can’t stay away. But not every friend is a frenemy. I feel
like <i>A Moment On The Lips</i> was shooting for “complex, messy female
relationships” but ended up at “women being bitches to each other”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This play didn’t ring true for me at all. Not that every
play about young women should, like, replicate my life, but there was very little
in here that resonated with me. Take, for example, the character of Rowena
(Lucy Goleby), who is a PhD student writing a dissertation. That is not so far
from my life. That’s something I recognise at once. But when she starts talking
about her thesis, she’s immediately told to stop by the people that are
supposed to be the closest to her. That is exactly the opposite of my
experience. If people care about you, they’ll listen. Even if they’ve heard you
talk about it a million times. Even if they think it’s boring. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That’s quite a specific example of a broader problem with
the play. The dynamics of the female relationships just weren’t… right. This is
one thing that I think Lena Dunham’s <i>Girls</i> does very well: while some of
the characters can be totally unlikeable and are often terrible to each other,
you still understand why they hang out with each other. Hannah and Jessa, for
instance, have both been narcissistic and self-centred and showed little care
for the feelings of others, but you still understand a) why their friends are
still friends with them, and b) why they are still friends with each other. For
all its other faults, this is also something I think <i>Sex and the City</i>
did reasonably well at. Teen girl drama <i>Pretty Little Liars </i>has four
girl leads, and while it has a spectacularised hyperbolic storyline, it is
great at female friendship and its complexities. I didn’t find that in <i>A
Moment On The Lips </i>at all, and it made me so, so sad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The character I was the most engaged with was Emma (Claudia
Barrie), probably because her relationships were the most complex and nuanced.
She was the only one I really believed felt genuine affection for her friends:
one of the play’s most accurate moments came, I thought, when she lied to her
artist friend Victoria (Beth Aubrey) about liking her exhibition when she’d
actually hated it. Her storyline, however, which involved her being stalked and
almost murdered by someone who had seen her on TV, did not ring true. Other
storylines did – the selfish Victoria reliant on her career being funded by her
older sister Jenny (Sarah Aubrey), and being resentful when that money was
taken away – but the relationships felt so one-dimensional that the story too
became unbelievable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think the problem was that we don’t see any of the
characters being really genuinely nice to each other until right at the end of
the play. And that is just not how female friendship works. Sure, sometimes
friendship is performed, but most of the time? Women like hanging out with
other women. Genuinely. Really. For me, my female friendships are the most cherished
relationships in my life. And if you’re going to do a show that centres around
the bonds between women – whether they’re sisters, friends, or lovers – the
pleasures of those bonds are something that <em>need</em> to be recognised.
</span></div>
Jodihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355057648774003889noreply@blogger.com0