Review - Dancing on the Volcano

‘Dancing on the Volcano’ 

A biting satirical journey through Berlin cabaret of the 20s and 30s

By Robyn Archer

With 

Michael Morley – Piano

George Butrumlis – Accordion 

 July 9-11 2018 at the Fairfax Studio – Arts Centre Melbourne

This show is a true delight moving its audience from laughter to tears.  Robyn Archer’s extraordinary capacity to engage with some of the darkest aspects of human nature, and then rise above it, whilst ushering her audience on a deeply entertaining expedition to source rare gems of perception, is nothing short of an exceptional gift.  

Musicians Michael Morley (piano) and George Butrumlis (accordion) work in wonderful well-oiled synchronicity with Ms. Archer on this intense and very moving, yet seemingly, brief and fleeting journey.  The 90 minutes, (twenty two musical numbers and two poems), of this show pass swiftly and leave one elevated.

Part disarmingly imparted History lesson the evening is presented with, clearly elucidating, explanations between each musical number. Many of these songs are not only pertinent but also acutely disturbing in relation to their place in history and relative to our escalating appetites and growing insensitivity to those around us who find themselves in desperate and precarious situations.

Ms. Archer is able to sing as though a bloated misogynist lecher transcending gender – presented as a kind of statement of fact, with reference to the ‘Me Too movement’.  By contrast she croons ‘Falling In Love Again’ with all the sensuality of Marlene Dietrich.  And yes an excellent rendition of ‘Mack the Knife’ from The Threepenny Operais included.

Then we also have the opportunity to listen to Frederick Hollaender’s satirical song set to Bizet’s music ‘The Jews’, a sharp reminder of how easy it is to slip into the inhumane behavior of ‘othering’ and blaming minority groups.  Ms. Archer also takes the opportunity of reminding us that it was the 1929 Wall Street Stock Market Crash that brought about the devastating world-wide Great Depression.  

And there is much to delight in in the awe-inspiring sagacious propensity of cabaret writers of Berlin in the 1920s and 30s. All men of exceptional talent and sadly impeded longevity.

I expected a marvelous night and couldn’t have asked for more.  Educated, entertained and deeply moved, my guest and, I left the Fairfax Theatre feeling satiated and uplifted.

Suzanne Sandow

Marie Antoinette - Review

Marie Antoinette 

By David Adjmi

Directed by Rachel Baring

Performed by Elisa Armstrong, Jessica Tanner, Eleanor Howlett, Heath Ivey-Law, Gabriel Partington and Conor Gallacher

Lighting Design by John Collopy

Set and Costume Design by Eloise Kent

Sound by Linton Wilkinson

Composition by Claire Ewing

West Wing Studio 2 – Northcote Town Hall

5 – 15 July 2018

Beautifully staged with design by Eloise Kent, competently directed by Rachel Baring and peopled with characters amalgamated by skilled actors Marie Antoinetteis a fascinating and insightful work.  Although a highly stylized it does bring us closer to the sense of Marie Antoinette as a very real person.

The space – West Wing Studio 2 - at the Northcote Town Hall is a great little black box with just the right kind of flexibility.  However there are times when a number of actors over project - vocalizing way too much gusto for the size of the area and number of audience. Over projection can be due to performers thinking that they are not getting the appropriate message across or perhaps due to feeling the audience is not really listening to them.

Some of the production values are excellent for example the costumes and wigs designed by Eloise Kent.  Movement from scene to scene is dealt with competently and smoothly.   And in the early scene Eleanor Howlett brings a lively fresh joyful sense of play on stage with her.

All cast members are trained and experienced and do a great job.  However,

subtlety and variation are missing as the evening progresses..  The work seems to be pitched at the same level and tempo from about midway through.  For me, this suggests, way to little rehearsal time.  There is no evidence that the extremes of the work have been explored in rehearsal.   This production needs to do more to convey the dramatic life and death concerns of the text by American playwright David Adjmi.  Strangely the acting becomes flat and neutral - not what could be expected from a work that was produced by Steppenwolf in New York.

Marie Antoinette requires a more dynamic approach to fully succeed and ‘pack the punch’ it truly could.

Now-days too much Theatre is under- rehearsed.  Even with the flag-ship companies we, too often, arrive at opening nights where works are precariously balanced between not being ready and almost being ready.   As a reviewer I often feel required to sense the potential for growth and to write of what can and probably will be realized in future performances.  With a season as short as the one set for Marie Antoinettethere is really not enough time for all actors to achieve their personal best by the last performance if the rehearsal period is inadequate.

(I saw the last performance.)

I would love to see this work restaged after a really gutsy period of work-shopping the imbedded ideas.  Certainly a troupe of performers who are dedicated to their craft and have a future.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Crazy Brave

Crazy Brave

By Michael Gurr

Director – Melanie Beddie

Set and Costume Design – Jessie Keyes

Lighting Design – Bronwyn Pringle

Sound Design – Sydney Millar

Video – Mitchell Piera

Cast

Harold – Tom Considine

Nick – Grant Foulkes

Alice – Sharon Davis

Deborah – Chanella Macri

Paul – Bejamin Nichol

Jim - Andrew Carolane

La Mama – Courthouse Theatre – 4 – 15 July 2018

Opening night of Crazy Bravefelt like an homage to the very perceptive, insightful and unique individual that was Michael Gurr.   Many people were deeply saddened and disturbed by his demise at fifty-five and I am guessing, like me, are moved to better understand him.  So this production is timely.

Crazy Brave is a play about - well – ostensively the politics of the Labour Party and about individuals motivated by a desire to deconstruct what we have to create a more ‘fair’ world.   Gurr looks at agendas and levels of commitment for the greater good.  From a loving observation of the old school radical left to illuminating a sharp new anarchistic politics he paints as lurking in Melbourne of the at the turn of the millennium. This anarchism seems to be compensating for the waning vitality of the old school Left.   However with its rich subtext Crazy Braveis also about the deeper issues of what it is to be human. Politics and identity appear inseparable for Michael Gurr.

It is very much a play of its era.  And a particularly courageous undertaking by Director Melanie Beddie - in view of the fact that Gurr used to work in close collaboration with Director Bruce Miles in the rehearsal room.  Beddie proves herself to be strong and capable despite not having the writer in the room except perhaps in spirit.

Crazy Bravelike most of Gurr’s plays seem to beg for a stylized slick streamlined production.  This is partly because of the smooth musicality of his writing; particularly his use of beats – short pauses between statements. Naturalism doesn’t cut it chiefly as there are perpetual jumps from scene to scene.   Yet underneath the glassy façade are deeply and acutely felt concerns and very real innate, intense and messy emotions.  

Crazy Braveis a little bit talking heads.  It is best suited to a skilled cast, who has strong and well-trained voices.  There are vigorous eruptions in emotions however any ferocity is expressed off stage and described for the audience.  Flare-ups are explained not exhibited - described rather then expressed.  For example Nick breaks into his ex wives house out of desperation to get in touch with her, under the guise of seeing that she is fine.  He talks about this house break as though a perfectly natural thing to do.  But to an observer it appears to be pretty neurotic, he’s stalking.

It’s a play of its time – first produced 18 years ago.  It is hard to imagine the kind of disparate group of anarchist characters coming together today in a considerably more multicultural Melbourne where our livelihoods are going backwards financially and there is less privilege and a much greater threat of terrorism.  Apprehensions about the future seem to be driving us all towards developing varying degrees of debilitating anxiety.

Alice is Crazy Brave’s main protagonist.  She is a person who is vital and passionate and has her ‘heart in the right place’ however she is vulnerable and flighty and seems to stumble on causes that drive her.  She is passionate but not particularly articulate and though ferociously independent - vulnerable to manipulation. 

The romantic old politician played by Tom Considine in a marvelously clear and tangibly fleshed out manner.   He is a witty true believer.  His perspective is tinged with an ironic hindsight.

Grant Foulkes is an engaging actor, his is character Nick’s genuine, quirky and obsessive nature is convincingly conveyed.

Alice as played by Sharon Davis appears to be just a truly nice and ordinary looking young woman.   Ms. Davis makes a good fist of the role however I think this characterization is missing an edge of ratty sophistication, edginess and urgency.

The other three characters:  Deborah played by Chanella Macri, Paul by Benjamin Nichol and Jim by Andrew Carolane are well fleshed out.

Over all Crazy Brave exhibits a restrained quality that could be mistaken for a dry sensibility and yet at the same time it is a very emotional and moving work.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Melancholia

Melancholia

By Lars von Trier

Adapted for the stage by Declan Green

Direction – Matthew Lutton

Cast

Alexander Artemov

Maude Davey

Steve Mouzakis

Eryn Jean Norvill

Liam Smith

Leanne Walsman

Gareth Yuen

Set and Costume Design – Marg Horwell

Lighting design – Paul Jackson

Sound Design and Composition – J. David Franzke

Stage Management – Hristina Tsingas

Malthouse Theatre – The Merlyn – 13 July to 12 August 2018

Here is a production that starts with terrific aesthetic beauty and with a lovely energy from its performers.  Superbly realized and splendidly cast  - Melancholiais a feast for the senses.

Unfortunately as the evening progresses the energy wanes and it feels a little under-rehearsed.  Or is it the weight of Melancholia and the strange ambiance, like a vortex, sucking us all in?  Or perhaps it is the mark of a highly successful production - to be unsure if the supernatural lure of melancholia has not actually taken an inactivating grip on its audience.

The Film Melancholia by Danish Screenwriter and Director Lars von Trier is adapted for stage by Declan Green and directed by Matthew Lutton – an especially challenging and no doubt rewarding undertaking for the two.  

But was the play as good as the film?  Well I can’t say because I remember, years ago, trying to watch a DVD of the film and not managing to adequately engage with it.

There are some startling moments of elucidation that somehow seem to reduce the whole to a domestic drama.  In that particular take the suggestion is that psychological cruelness and brutality can set individuals on the road to desperate despondency.  And the superficiality of the Advertising Industry, for its ability to generate instability, is an identifiable target.

In the midst of a grey day in a Melbourne winter – it is hard to imagine how one would survive a Danish winter without feeling despairing even if surrounded by very loving family and friends.

State of the Art Design (Marg Horwell), Sound (J. David Franzke) and Lighting (Paul Jackson) do much to create the pervadingly disturbing environment. Horwell’s costumes and set are stunning.  Her silk wedding dress very gorgeously adorns actress Eryn Jean Norvill and the stage with a circular opening speaks of alien landings and unsettling lack of bounds and limits.

I once heard someone say that depression in contagious.  I imagine as an actor it is very difficult to work with melancholia, even in this rarefied exaggerated Theatrical sense, without feeling downcast.

It is Maude Davey who shines.  I know that I am not alone in this sentiment because I listened to a number of people confer in the auditorium.  Her wacky drunken speech as the Mother of the Bride is most engaging and captivatingly real.

Likewise Steve Mouzakis’s brother in law’s wedding speech is riveting although more for the reason of the shocking twists and turns in what he is actually saying. 

Leeanna Walsman brings us the confident and controlling Claire.  As the, initially exquisitely dressed, Sister of the Bride, she works with poise and clarity throughout.

Gareth Yuen plays a sincere and genuine bridegroom and is finely cast.

Eryn Jean Norvill brings a lovely vulnerability to the pivotal role of Justine.  She is  The Bride of the opening and the psychologically fragile ‘free spirited’ younger sister to Claire.

The dense academic treaties, in the form of program notes by Greene and Lutton, provide fascinating elucidation.

Certainly a must if you are a Lars von Trier fan.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Blackie Blackie Brown

Blackie Blackie Brown

The Traditional Owner of Death

By Nakkiah Lui

Directed by Declan Greene

Design – Elizabeth Gadsby

Animation and Video – Oh Yeah Wow

Lighting and Projection Design – Verity Hampson

Composition and Sound Design – Steve Toulmin

Concept Artist – Emily Johnson

Cast – Ash Flanders and Dalara Williams

Video Appearances – Elaine Crombie, Peter Carroll, Amelia Adam, Luke Carroll, Hugh Riminton, Lachlan Woods, Francis Greenslade, Nayuka Gorriem Malik Keegan, Lisa Maza, Kempton Maloney and Judith Lucy

Malthouse – Beckett Theatre – 5- 29 July 2018

Slick, tight, fast moving, massively loud and marvelously cathartic Blackie Blackie Brown is a kind of supernatural, part real and part animated, ‘Panto’.  And yes on opening night, with all its glitches, as audience we did get to call out - but not exactly; “he’s behind you!”

It feels like being a big kid - sitting too close to a TV turned up ridiculously, but satisfyingly, loud – watching a ‘grown ups cartoon,’ with images inspired by Emily Johnson.  Its an immersive, hard-hitting, clever, ironic world where there are no ‘thought police’ and no holes barred. 

Over all Blackie Blackie Brown is salacious, shocking and hysterically funny.

Hugely charismatic performers, Ash Flanders and Dalara Williams adopt appropriate personas for the numerous characters that people the versatile white significantly raked stage, designed by Elizabeth Gadsby.   They work with massive aplomb and vitality to meet and match the energy of the swiftly moving video installations that transform space, time and place by Oh Yeah Wow and complementary colossal sound design by Steve Toulmin.

Nothing is sacred and Nakkiah Lui’s script incorporates biting satire and much ‘political incorrectness’ on cultural matters - both black and white.  It is most definitely not for the faint-hearted but full of violence and brutality, particularly in the form of flying boomerangs, that leave no one unscathed or unharmed.

The central and pivotal moment of the work is the retelling of the story of an aboriginal massacre.  It is described with brutal clarity through the spoken word.  The audience then learns of the desperate, bloody and horrifying response from a mother who watched the inhumane murder of her children.  From thence us whities don’t get a chance to indulge in our pathetic shame.  Blackie Blackie Brown becomes a high octane revenge story.

A magnificent black female superhero Blackie Blackie Brown is incarnated to take a justified and vicious revenge on the descendants of those who brutalized her mob.

Strangely this ‘in your face artistic version’ of our, not so hidden anymore, history - although speaking much vile truth with clarity - is way more palatable dressed up in a witty, relentless, satiating theatrical romp then as a history lesson.

If you can get a ticket don’t miss it.

Suzanne Sandow