University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 7 May 2015
You could be forgiven for thinking - upon entering the familiar stalls of the Little Theatre - that you are taking a seat in an Italian garden. Under Mediterranean lighting, the unfriendly bricks are disguised with something like a veneer of Mt Gambier Limestone blocks and the balcony is lined with a pleasingly proportioned balustrade. The balustrade motif is also manifested as a realistic shadow along the two stairs. The coup de grâce (or in this case, the coup de grass) is that the entire floor space is covered by artificial turf gratefully gifted by Termi Turf (set design: uncredited).
But director Megan Dansie has eschewed Sicily's Messina in Shakespeare's script to instead set the action at Lenato's mansion called "Messina" somewhere in England just after WWII, so the place is crawling with servicemen and aristocratic officers. Of course, General Patton and later Field Marshal Montgomery took Messina off the Krauts in 1943 - that might have done the trick. The conceit didn't really further the action, but it certainly provided a great excuse to have lots of handsome men preen about in authentically tailored military uniforms complete with insignia ranks and the right haircuts. Bravo! (costume design: B G Henry-Edwards).
The student-rich audience, of course, knew the plot. Claudio falls for Hero. At their wedding, Claudio accuses Hero of infidelity. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice exchange rapid-fire quips and puns, and the conspiracy to have them match up reaches its conclusion around the time Don John's mischief is exposed and the Claudio/Hero thing is on again. Touted as a comedy, Dansie also digs deep to comment on contemporary themes including sexism, honour killings, and dating.
The director's second job after getting the gig is to cast wisely, and Dansie has supported herself well, and especially so for such a large cast. The older cohort of familiars comprising Tony Busch and Gary George had the right combination of officer class and sensitivity.
Lindsay Dunn, as head of the thematically correct Home Guard, was very funny mixing his metaphors and murdering the King's English. Brad Martin as the villain Don John (interestingly, the bad guys were in RAF greys, and the good guys from the army) played a part of few words with a devilishly sly mode of expression.
Love leads Alex Antoniou and Olivia Lilburn as Claudio and Hero looked a perfect match - youthful and vibrant. Adam Tuominen was a dashing Benedick - debonair, confident, yet suddenly vulnerable at a moment. Most of those moments were created by Beatrice. Bronwyn Palmer in this role brought a huge dose of natural ease, including a song and accompanying herself on the ukulele. This aplomb is no doubt earned through her voice training at the Elder Conservatorium and performing in her one-woman show at this year's Fringe with the unselfconscious title of My Breasts and Me. All other parts were played well and even better.
The double wedding dance ending the show was a merry mix of Medieval and modern movements that was both cute and naff. The Time Warp and Thriller came to mind (choreography: Lauren Scarfe).
The other production values that I haven't mentioned were also of a very high standard. Costumier Henry-Edwards had excellent frocks and 40s hair for the ladies, and Hero's brief scene in a wedding dress would have made any parent proud and groom blush. Richard Parkhill's lighting often had that ephemeral quality of light filtering through autumn leaves while Mark Reynolds's soundscape invoked even suspense. Dansie had the troupe move on and off stage with drill hall precision. Yet, for all this goodness, there is that last few percent of giving that gets ungiven. The key relationships of Beatrice and Benedick, and Hero and Claudio, didn't quite have that crackle that makes you barrack for them, that makes you indignant on seeing an injustice, and compels your heart to cheer when love is in the air. For me, it was just nearly there.
Megan Dansie has built a well-deserved and recognised reputation with Shakespeare and other productions in recent years and this is yet another success. A strong cast and compelling production values in an accessible Shakespeare is once again on offer.
David Grybowski
When: 2 to 16 May
Where: Little Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
G&S Fest. Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA. Arts Theatre. 2 Apr 2015
Princess Ida came to life on stage in 1884, satirising the great fuss of the time, the Women’s Rights Movement.
How should one react when a Princess locks herself away to run a University for Women, in which students forebear contact with men for all time, sparking war between her petulant, sarcastic father King Gama and father of the boy Hilarion she was betrothed to at birth, King Hildebrand?
Princess Ida disappeared from stages for 38 years, before being revived.
Gilbert’s problematic libretto (largely taken from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem of the same name) offers dialogue in blank verse alongside lyrics in iambic pentameter, yielding patchy, yet at times richly rewarding, character moments which coalesce perfectly with Sullivan’s vibrant, wide ranging musical score.
In short, a bit hit and miss.
Musical Director Peter Deane and Director/Designer David Lampard’s semi-staged production is very smooth moving, decorative and effective. It shows off the best side of Princess Ida; the musical score. This allows forgiving, thoughtful consideration of the libretto’s weaknesses without detracting from fun found in exploring the ‘man versus woman’ core to the work, of which there’s abundance - and ensemble to do justice to the challenge.
If Richard Trevaskis’s King Gama offers the most perfect comically, snide unpleasant character realisation of musical score and libretto in battle with Peter Hopkins’ King Hildebrand, Joanna McWaters perfectly realises Lampard and Deane’s take on Princess Ida as a highly intelligent bare foot, t-shirt and jean-clad warrior princess.
McWaters offers fierce charismatic presence and voice, matching up nicely against James Nicholson’s Hilarion. Nicholson plays the role with the assured air of a well to do, lightly smug toff of honest heart, with romance soaked voice to express it. His boon companions, Florian (Nicolas Perrotta) and amiable Cyril (Beau Sandford), pair perfectly with him.
Amongst Princess Ida’s University world of potential St Trinian style rebel girls, it’s lecturers Lady Psyche (Victoria Coxhill), Lady Blanche (Meran Bow) and her student daughter Melissa (Vanessa Lee Shirley) who provide not only sharp lyrical lines and witty comic stage business but the catalyst, along with the invading men Hilarion, Cyril and Florian, that determines Princess Ida’s fate.
David O’Brien
When: 23 Apr to 2 May 2015
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: gandssa.com.au
State Theatre Company. The Dunstan Playhouse. 28 April 2015
Australian Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is regarded as a turning point in Australian drama for its realistic depiction of ordinary Australian battlers. Lawler was riding the crest of a wave initially generated by Eugene O'Neill and perfected by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Glass Menagerie (1944) and Streetcar Named Desire (1947) all preceded the Doll (1955). Each of these plays takes place in a household where a change disrupts the family situation. The authors accomplish their narrative without flashback or narration, and condense their play's critical conflict into a singularity which explodes like a dying star… and things can never be the same.
This is the seventeenth year that besties Roo and Barney travel south from the cane fields for the lay-off. They descend on the Melbourne abode of Olive, Roo's girl, and her mum, Emma, for five months of laughs. This year is different. Barney's squeeze, Nancy, has left the scene after seventeen years, and Olive has invited her barmaid pal, Pearl, to fill the gap. There's also heaps of new baggage brought from the cane fields, and it's all got to get sorted before final applause.
I didn't care for this production. Set designer Pip Runciman's interpretation of a 1950s Melbourne worker's cottage resembled a funeral parlour, and its expansiveness dissipated the energy. The enormous cornices belonged in Toorak. Lizzy Falkland's overly severe, negative and dour Pearl, with the set and from the get-go, too strongly foreshadowed the lifting of the veil on the lay-off set-up, and badly diminished the play's journey. Elena Carapetis's Olive had hard work against these features in trying to establish the excitement and anticipation of the boys coming back. The only stuff on the set was what was absolutely required, and this was insufficient to manifest the nearly two decades of accretion that ought to be so violently disassembled in the second half.
Chris Pitman's Roo was reduced to a Neanderthal brute - too lost in self-pity and one-dimensional. Tim Overton's Johnny Dowd - the young ganger and threat to Roo ruling the roost - performed in a straitjacket labeled threatening - and his offer of reconciliation looked disingenuous. Even the affable Barney, in the hands of Rory Walker, seemed an insidious schemer instead of a comic waster. Annabel Matheson did Bubba (the young neighbour) well, and Jacqy Phillips as the irascible Emma stole her every scene. The scuffle choreographed by Duncan Maxwell was not good.
Clearly there was a design intention in these performance and production elements under the direction of Geordie Brookman. But the result was mannered and turgid. The subversion of naturalism, lines being delivered out front, the overwrought performances and sad and heavy characterisations failed to convey the arc from hopefulness to loss. They were doomed from the start.
David Grybowski
When: 24 April to 16 May
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au
Photography by Shane Reid
G&S Fest. Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA. Arts Theatre. 23 Apr 2015
Pinafore is the first of a triple bill which is completed by Princess Ida and Ruddigore. Three different directors, three different musical directors, three casts but one choreographer and one set designer in one theatre.
One may fairly safely bet than anything the Gilbert and Sullivan Society turns on is going to be of pretty high quality. The Society draws on some of the top up-and-coming talent in town as well as a stable of seasoned performers. They come from the Conservatorium, State Opera, and music teaching or if they don't, they have to seem as if they do.
Traditionally, the company has presented conventional proscenium stage costume productions with all the theatrical trimmings. Here in this triple bill over three consecutive nights, it has scaled things right back to a semi-staged version. One may throw away reservations that the lower production values would undermine the show.
On the Pinafore opening night, it was a matter of minutes before one had adjusted to the changed onstage arrangement; albeit the overture with the performance of a weird quasi-advertisement for genealogy services was extremely disconcerting, if not downright alienating. It was trying to say that people were descended from earlier people, even sea captains as in HMS Pinafore. But why?
Another mystery in this production is the use of theatrical smoke. The stage and part of the theatre are hazy with smoke and one finds oneself worrying about the musicians and singers working amidst it. Smoke is not a typical effect in Pinafore - and one would prefer the show went without it.
The rest of the production does not need it. It is good.
David Lampard has devised a clever partial set with a huge ship's wheel on a partial captain's bridge. This takes up about half the stage. The other half is occupied by a good, lively orchestra under the baton of musical director Rebecca Walker. A large sail sweeps across the back of the stage. That is it. As time goes by, male and female choruses occupy back areas of the stage and, downstage, the principals perform in costume.
One way or another, there are a lot of people onstage, which is typical of a G&S Society production. There are the briny sailors led by the jolly Boatswain, strongly played by the very engaging Ian Brown. Then there are the sisters and the cousins and the aunts who flank the foppish Sir Joseph Porter who has come to marry the captain's daughter. They dress the stage and the choral fun and games very nicely in the pithy old comic opera spirit of G&S.
Porter's pretentious love-hate character totters forth most eloquently and properly through the practised artistry of Nicolas Bishop, an ever-popular figure on the Adelaide stage. The sopranos, Sarah Jane Pattichis as Josephine and Tahlia Ries as Little Buttercup, trill and please. Andrew Turner turns in a sterling performance as Ralph Rackstraw, the common sailor in love with the captain's daughter. But it is Andrew Crispe, as Captain Corcoran, who brings the house down in this production. He is possessed of exceptional physical grace along with witty inflection in a clear and lovely voice.
The rest of the cast sustains the standard. The chorus sounds as good as it looks and complements the action. The costumes are just a bit odd, but the spirit is strong and the talent abundant and nicely directed by Peter Hopkins.
All of which just underscores how lucky we are to have our splendid G&S Society regularly and solidly presenting fine musical fare.
Samela Harris
When” 23 Apr to 2 May
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: gandssa.com.au
State Theatre Company & Vitalstatistix. Burnside Town Hall. 21 Apr 2015
Who tips the scales? Ross Ganf for being creative catalyst to this show or Trevor Stuart for his embodiment of Joseph Farrugia aka Madame Josephine? Both deserve awards.
Madame is an extremely unusual piece of bio theatre. It documents the man who founded the famous old Crazy Horse strip joint up those stairs in Hindley Street.
Ganf spent several years interviewing Farrugia about the evolution of the club through the years from feathers to lap dance and also about his own sexuality and personal life. An impressive team moulded his findings into this Torque Show production with State Theatre and Vitalstatistix. Joshua Tyler worked on text with Roslyn Oades and Ingrid Weisfeldt, and Vincent Crowley worked together with him on creation and direction with Emma Webb from Vitals in the mix as well. It's a complex list of credits to be found in the most appallingly-designed, pale-text program.
The old Burnside Ballroom, glittering from its balcony with long golden fringes, is a wonderful venue. It is laid out cabaret style with white cloth tables a la Crazy Horse revue tradition and a high catwalk dominates the centre of the stage.
Hereon, three performers depict Farrugia, perhaps a little confusingly separating him into aspects of the flamboyant Madame Josephine persona and the less exciting business persona of Joseph. In a very strange casting choice, Kialea-Nadine Williams performs as Madame Josephine. She is a powerful, athletic ADT dancer - an astonishing performer. But any similarity with Josephine is beyond remote and it leaves many audience members scratching their heads.
Chris Scherer with his long-haired androgynous appearance plays the young Egyptian emigrant Joseph, oh so touchingly, albeit some of the high physicality which engenders humour is a bit startling. Scherer projects many strong and interesting facets of the character and phases of Ferrugia. He is a pleasure to watch. But it is Trevor Stuart who takes and makes the show. His is a softly, softly tour-de-force performance. From stammering insecurities to rumbustious defiance, he portrays a character who not only is still alive but is right there in the room. Yet Stuart makes him his own.
At the very end, as the three Josephines strut out to My Way, it is he who draws the eye and arouses the emotion. Funnily enough, once in full drag on stage, he could be Shirley McLaine.
Madame is an interesting show. There's some drag show-style mime, best accomplished by Williams; there's lots of narrative; there's some high-kicking and calisthenics and a spot of terrific point work; there's some camp waspishness; there's loud music; some video projection; plus lots of two piece gym outfits. In spite of all that there is a strange absence of glamor. It is a strip world stripped bare.
But one supposes that is the point.
Samela Harris
When: 21 Apr to 2 May
Where: Burnside Ballroom
Bookings: bass.net.au