After Hamlet
From the play by William
Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Trent
Baker
Cast: Jason Cavanagh – Hamlet
2 and Polonius, Susannah Firth – Gertrude, Sebastian Gunner – Claudius and
Ghost, Tom Molyneux – Hamlet 1, Polonius and Laertes, Freya Pragt – Ophelia and
Rosencrantz.
Season Ended
This production is a
beautifully edited from the original by Director Trent Baker (assumedly
with the assistance of Dramaturge - April Albert), expressively lit by Doug
Montgomery and atmospherically underscored with richly evocative music by James
McGauran. The initial scenes introduce Trent Baker as
Director/Auteur who, one senses, would tightly arrange and coordinated everything
to an exacting standard if he had the required time. As it progresses it melds, perhaps
inevitably, into something of an actor’s showcase. However it begins artistically with a
beautifully lit Tom Molyneux as Hamlet in a rarefied atmosphere that is
enchanting.
The original text is so
finely edited that many of the well-known and often quoted lines are
highlighted throughout. It is however
difficult, with a pretty sound knowledge of the story, to know if this edited
narrative, with actors playing multiple roles and even doubling in the role of
Hamlet, makes complete sense to the un-initiated.
Jason Cavanagh as Hamlet
displays the energy and strength he brings to the stage as a serious actor. Susannah Firth’s Gertrude is contained
elegant and commanding. Freya Pragt makes a lovely straightforward Rosencrantz and a complicated
misguided Ophelia of a forthright innocent but slightly damaged nature. As
youthful Hamlet Tom Molyneux is convincingly petulant and troubled. His Laertes he is clearly a young man doing
what must be done in the face of great misfortune. Sebastian Gunner portrays a colorless and
unlikeable Claudius.
With strong, effective
atmosphere created with light and sound - it would excellent if this ‘mise en
scene’ could be extended to Design and Costume Design. Perhaps five designers could be included in
next years repertory season (if there is to be one).
From where I was sitting
there were some exquisite photo opportunities although I think some of the
other viewing angles may not have had such great sightlines.
After Hamlet left me
wondering if, in this rather unrehearsed process, the director has license to
add and tease things out from day to day.
I can boast that I have seen
the first night of the first play in this season Pygmalion and the last night in the fifth play After Hamlet.
SO CONGRATULATIONS 5pounds -
you did what you said you were going to do!
And yes it was well done, successful and was fascinatingly as an
exercise, and entertaining and satisfying as Theatre. And, blimey, it must surely have been rich a
training ground for five lucky, brave and hardworking actors.
Falling Petals
By Ben Ellis
Directed by Rob Reid
Jason Cavanagh – Females
Susannah Firth – Sally
Sebastian Gunner – Males
Tom Molyneux – Phil
Freya Pragt – Tania
The Owl and the Pussycat – 34
Swan St Richmond
27 November – 1 December
This, paradoxically ambiguous
yet insightful, play is simply presented, with the clarity and confidence one
would expect, from capable and discerning Director Rob Reid.
Stripped back to its bare
bones Falling Petals is a story that
highlights the perceptions and behaviors of three teenagers, two of whom; the
sharp and determined Phil (Tom Molyneux) and the mean and somewhat calculating
Tania (Freya Pragt) are under the hammer to do well at school in order to
escape the small country town they grew up in.
By contrast the other, Sally (Susannah Firth) is happy to stay put,
feeling she has a satisfactory future.
Over-shadowing these rather brutal and seemingly compassionless kids is
some sort of creeping plague like lurgy that is slowly infecting the children
of the village and ultimately killing them.
This work combines naturalism with a simple application of magic realism
in the use of petals to symbolically represent the fallen children. In turn its metaphorical symbolism could be
open to other interpretations, such as, the stifling grip of small
town culture consuming and therefore limiting and constraining its children and
potential.
As with 5pouds Repertory
Season so far, all the performers are strong, engaging and convincing in their
roles. There is a clear sense they have
an awareness of the subtext and subtleties in the work, but as would be
expected on first night after one week of rehearsing, not everything has quite
come to the fore.
Tom Molyneux who was delightfully
funny in Pygmalion and Sally is most particularly displaying
the capacity to portray a convincingly naturalistic character by contrast.
As I watched Falling Petals I was reminded of Declan
Greene’s play Moth in that both texts
deal with the depth and intensity of teen angst and self-expression. Both
highlight vulnerabilities exposed in working through the tumultuous time of
change and self-actualization in relation to circumstances and environment that
adolescence can be and often is.
Well worth catching tonight
or tomorrow night, if you can. After all
it is just a train ride to Richmond Station.
The Unnamed
Directed by Danny Delahunty
Ensemble: Jason Cavanagh,
Susannah Firth, Sebastian Gunner, Tom Molyneux and Freya Pragt
The Owl and the Pussycat - 34 Swan Street Richmond
20 -24 November
There is a great sense of
community going into the same ‘shop front’ theatre space every week to see a
new offering from a bunch of lively, interesting and courageous actors. Maybe the work is not as polished as it would
be if they had had even a few more days rehearsal time, let alone two or three
more weeks. But every production has had
heaps to recommend it and has been a joy to watch.
Unnamed is a bemusing little
piece with heaps of room to grow and develop in to a really intriguing work
that explores what, in a tense and highly charged environment, even a slight
shift in the status quo can do to equilibrium.
What is really going on here is any body’s guess.
Five workers in an enclosed
room are doing something both amazing and ridiculous with sand that is intermittently
delivered to them in an ingenious way.
They have down time after they have collected, sieved, tested and
disposed of the sand, where they all seem to need to rest from their frenetic
activity. The atmosphere is edgy and one
senses that they are some pretty significant personal and political differences
that remain in check, as long as they all function in the prescribed way, and,
no one becomes too irritated.
Again it is fascinating to
watch the actors one saw doing something completely dissimilar, only a week ago,
taking on a completely new character in a totally different genre of work. For the third time in a row I have been
impressed by the complexity of subtext Freya Pragt is able to bring to her
work. This time I was surprised that there
was little humour in Tom Molyneux vulnerable outsider and I witnessed a new
dimension in Susannah Firth, Jason Cavanagh and Sebastian Gunner’s acting.
A casting agents joy.
‘Sally!’ A Musical
Music by Jerome Kern – Lyrics
by Clifford Grey
Book by Guy Bolton
Directed by Celeste Cody, Musical Direction By David
Bramble, Cast: Jason Cavanagh,
Susannah Firth, Sebastian Gunner, Tom Molyneux and Freya Pragt
The Own and the Pussycat – 34
Swan Street Richmond
13 - 17 November
Lively, fun and funny this
production of ‘Sally!’ A Musical is a
light and delightful ‘rags to riches’ story.
It features an innocent
heroine (Susannah Firth) who is down on her luck but meets a bumbling wide-eyed
hero (Jason Cavanagh). In a smoky
nightclub/restaurant a swanky opportunistic entrepreneurial type (Tom Molyneux)
and his brash girlfriend ((Freya Pragt) open the show with a fairly hopeless attempt at ordering dinner. The
narrative complicates to include European royalty (Sebastian Gunner), an exotic
dancer, an heir to a fortune and his socialite mother. And just about all actors play the
slave-driving restaurateur at one time or another, including the fabulous piano
player and I musical director David Bramble.
On opening night the show had
the fluidity of an under rehearsed work, that was still getting its final
touches, it was a bit ‘up and down’, and ‘hit and miss.’ But that’s to be expected after a rehearsal
period of five working days - and, frankly, who cares! Some of the jokes worked, some barely hit the
mark. Much of the singing hit the right
notes some did not. But don’t let that
put you off. As the second work in
5pounds Repertory season it is great, naïve, romantic, engaging silly good fun,
with nobody asking to be taken too seriously.
This is actually the type of
show one would expect to see in a Mechanics Institute many miles from the Metropolis
of Melbourne and as such, is a damn good romp – refreshing and entertaining.
So much fun to see 5pounds
innovative, inventive response to getting shows up and running and wowing
audiences with this ambitious repertory exercise.
I am a dedicated audience
member and keen to see what they come up with next.
Pygmalion
By George Bernard Shaw
Adapted and Directed by
Daniel Lammin
Cast: Jason Cavanagh – Henry
Higgins, Susannah Firth – Mrs Pearce
and Mrs Higgins, Sebastian Gunner – Alfred
Doolittle, Tom Molyneux – Colonel
Pickering, Freya Pragt – Eliza Doolittle
Lighting – Doug Montgomery
The Owl and the Pussy Cat - 34 Swan Street Richmond
6 - 10 November
Enthusiastically presented
with humor and energy this ‘rough around the edges’ version of Pygmalion is a highly
engaging and engrossing production that moves at a spirited pace.
Shaw’s play, about the
working class flower girl who is transformed into a lady by the master of
elocution that the film My Fair Lady
is based on, is competently abridged by Director Daniel Lammin and presented by
five actors with the aid of four chairs (possibly 5) and one occasional table. What are preserved are the characters and the
skeletal story - that was originally based on the Greek myth of the artist
Pygmalion who fell in love with his own marble sculpture that was morphed into
life by Aphrodite who was influenced by Pygmalion’s fervent desire.
Amazingly a working week
(5days) is the sum total of rehearsal time for this enlightening work about
class and sexual politics.
Freya Pragt a recent VCA
graduate cuts a fine, feisty beguiling Eliza Doolittle with just a hint of
calculation about her. Sebastian Gunner
playing her father Doolittle presents a very funny and knowing gent and manages
some of the most telling lines.
Susannah Firth handles two
beautifully contrasting characters; Mrs. Pearce who seems perpetually in a
state of shock at the behavior of those who inhabit the household she keeps and
Mrs. Higgins so assured of her position of privilege she maintains with a
relaxed yet controlling air. It needs to
be said that the exalted position enjoyed by the aristocracy so dependent
on the strivings and compliance of those below them in the social structure is something that Shaw’s writing identifies.
Tom Moylneux’s Colonel
Pickering is delightful in his intense commitment to, what is presented as the rather,
adolescent game being played with gusto by himself and Higgins in which Eliza
Doolittle is a willing pawn in search of betterment.
Jason Cavanagh’s Henry Higgins
is pivotal to the whole and he has the strength and clarity to play the role,
though in a way, he is playing the characters subtext of anger and
determination. It would be great to see
what he could do with a little more time to more comprehensively develop the
Higgins’s sophisticated exterior and then to see him expose the more fleshy
emotional side as the play progresses.
To quote Shaw’s; "You have no idea how frightfully interesting it
is to take a human being and change her into a quite different human being by
creating a new speech for her. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates
class from class and soul from soul." (Act 3) If only it were that simple or perhaps it is
that our social constructions dominate the outcome of our lives?
This work bodes well for the rest of 5pounds adventurous repertory
season of 5plays in 5weeks with 5actors and 5directors.
5must sees!
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
