Wonderland

My review of Wonderland (Lexx Productions) at the Seymour Centre is now up at Australian Stage. Check out what I thought here. (Spoilers: I wasn't a fan.)

seven kilometres north-east

Seven kilometres north-east (Version 1.0) runs at the Seymour Centre from March 8 - March 22 2014. Devised and performed by Kym Vercoe.

It’s hard to know where to begin to write about seven kilometres north-east. There is so much in this piece: travel and history and beauty and coffee and atrocity. It’s an intense experience, the kind of theatre that can leave you a little short of breath. I’m going to be thinking about this piece for a long, long time.

Devised and performed by Kym Vercoe, seven kilometres north-east is the story of her travelling alone in the Balkans and falling in love with the area. One night, on the advice of a travel guide she refers to as “the Bible”, she stays in a health spa seven kilometres north-east of Višegrad, a small town on the river Drina. On her return to Australia, she does some research and realises that Višegrad was the site of horrific ethnic cleansing in the 1990s and that this health spa was Vilina Vlas, a rape camp. On her return to the Balkans a couple of years later, she returns to Višegrad, forced to come to terms with the hideous history underpinning its idyllic surrounding: history which is so awfully, terribly recent. The eleven-arched bridge of Višegrad might have been built in the sixteenth century, but not even twenty years have passed since it was the site of countless murders.

This show is not a history lesson. It is not a travel memoir. Most importantly, Vercoe does not attempt to co-opt this narrative, from a culture admittedly not her own, for herself. Instead, the underpinning question of the piece is, “what am I supposed to do with this information?”. I liked the way that Vercoe, her journals, and the videos she took in the Balkans were the lens through which we viewed this show. At one point, she talks about walking around Višegrad on her second journey, unable to cope with the fact that the people she was passing on the street might have been complicit with or actively involved with the social genocide, and the only way she could cope with it was to look through her camera, to turn it into horror on the small screen. She successfully uses this lens on us as an audience, making the political personal. (The final image of the show is a perfect visual example of this. It is gutwrenching, a potent visual reminder of the way that the horrors of history were performed on the bodies of individuals.)

Parts of this show made me feel physically short of breath. Not because it was gratuitous – it wasn’t, not at all. But the images Vercoe evokes are so, so powerful. Perhaps the most potent is to do with Višegrad’s eleven-arched bridge, a repeatedly echoed visual motif throughout the show. There’s one scene in particular which I think I’m going to remember for a long time: an almost joyous scene set to A-Ha’s Take On Me. The simple act of dancing and the dirt and the bridge… wow.

Seven kilometres north-east is not misery porn, although with this subject matter, it easily could have been. Nor does it set out be a history lesson, although I definitely feel like I learned something (a lot of somethings). It’s intense theatre – if you’re looking for light entertainment, then this is not the show for you. It’s thoughtful and provocative and haunting, and I recommend it highly.  

Carrie The Musical

I reviewed Squabbalogic's production of Carrie The Musical over at Australian Stage. You can check out what I thought here. (A little more She's All That than Carrie, sadly.) 

Kelfi and Fikel

Kelfi and Fikel  played at the Sound Lounge in the Seymour Centre from September 14-5 2012 as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival.


Kelfi and Fikel are one of the most energetic and talentic comedy duos I have ever seen. They're fun, and they've known each other since they were ten, and they can seriously SERIOUSLY sing. I thoroughly enjoyed my night out at their show and if you can, I suggest you go and see them.

This is where I would normally launch into a summary of the plot, and Kelfi and Fikel aren't heavy on that. There are some skits, sure, but this is definitely one of those cabaret shows where theme is more important than plot. The show is about the performers, Kellie Higgins and Fiona Della Ca and their longstanding friendship (except perhaps the bit set in the Albury-Wodonga RSL - I doubt that was really something that's happened in their lives!). It covers life, love, loss, mutual ex-boyfriends, breakfast, faux pas, and everything in between. It's offbeat, irreverent, and hilarious. They act it, they sing it, they live it.

There is a small part of me that wants the band to break up. If nothing else, this show demonstrates that both Higgins and Della Ca are able to carry their own shows, and I'd love to see what they could do on their own. This said, they are a stellar team, and I think they'll be working together for many, many years to come. Both are amazing vocalists, and while I'd like to see Higgins get out from behind the piano a little more, she accompanies the show wonderfully. The songs are really their strength, and this is where their comedy really shines. They have an unerring sense of what is funny when it comes to musical comedy: I laughed so much it hurt sometimes! The parts of the show that are more sketch comedy are a little weaker. Perhaps the show's biggest flaw is that it doesn't seem to have a theme to tie it together beyond "we are best friends and we've known each other since we were ten". Higgins and Della Ca are definitely strong enough performers that their show works just fine the way it is, but when it comes to another season, I'd like to see it focused a little bit more in terms of structure. (I'd also like to see them perform in a slightly smaller venue than the Seymour Centre sound lounge - I think a more intimate setting would really suit their show.)

Kellie Higgins and Fiona Della Ca are both incredible performers. What's more, they work brilliantly as a team, without one every upstaging the other (something that is very, very common, in this kind of theatre). If you ever get the chance, I would definitely recommend going to see them. They're great actors and amazing musicians with a great sense for comedy, and they work brilliantly together. I certainly enjoyed seeing their show, and while I think they could hone their act a a bit more, it's definitely worth seeing. And also, like me, they hate audience participation, which is a definite plus! This show is guaranteed to make you laugh and leave you smiling. Highly recommended.