Review - Heart is a Wasteland

Heart is a Wasteland

Written and Produced by John Harvey

Direction – Margaret Harvey

Cast

Aaron Pederson

Ursula Yovich

Anna Liebzeit

Dramaturgy – Mark Pritchard

Production Design – Alison Ross

Lighting Design – Lisa Mibus

AV Design – Desmond Connellan

Musical Direction and Sound Design – Anna Liebzeit

Sound Design - Steve Stelios Adam

Songs by Lydia Fairhall

Stage Manager – Ainsley Kerr

Malthouse Theatre

The Beckett

29 June – 16 July 2017

John Harvey’s play Heart is a Wasteland is a testament to the healing power of falling in love.  It is a delightful romantic comedy grounded in a rich contemporary indigenous context.

Commencing with the best welcome to country ever, flying in from the West, it is a very finely tuned work throughout.   This is a confirmation of the high degree of skill of all who have created and work on it.   It is a co-production with Brown Cabs and made with the support of Footscray Community Arts Centre.

Although an indigenous story, in a unique setting, it is the universal story of finding love.  In this instance through risking all in a half intoxicated state in a fairly ordinary bar – not an uncommon story.  Raye (Ursula Yovich) is an independent Country singer doing a tour through South Australia and Central Australia to Darwin.  She hooks up with Dan, a miner, who is a beautifully fleshed out with a rich and interesting characterization by Aaron Pederson. 

Ms Yovich has a delightful stage presence and sings like an angel.  She brings sense and gusto to some very meaty contemporary, politically sensitive chunks of dialogue.

The whole is staged (Alison Ross) simply on a minimalist set and scenes are changed through the use of projection on a wonderfully textured screen/back wall.  Sound (Steve Stelios Adam) is used to great effect.   Ms Yovich’s sings several poignant songs by Lydia Fairhall.  Guitar accompaniment is most skillfully provided by Anna Lievzeit.

This most enjoyable heart-warming theatre is well worth braving the cold to get to.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - My Lovers' Bones

My Lovers’ Bones

Brown Cab Productions

Melbourne Festival

From a story by Cameron Costello

Margaret Harvey – Director/ Performer/Devisor

Kirk Page – Performer/Devisor

Alison Ross – Production Designer/Devisor

Anna Liebzeit - Composer/Sound Design

Lisa Mibus – Lighting Designer/Devisor

Alexandra Harrison – Choreography/Devisor

Ainsley Kerr – Video Design/Devisor

Footscray Community Arts Centre – 45 Moreland Street Footscray

14 – 18 October

My Lover’s Bones is a contemporary interpretation of a very old story of an Aboriginal youth trapped by his own sorry misadventure.  It is a haunting tale of a young hunter leaving the comfortable intimacy of his lover’s embrace when lured by the call of the hunt.   

 

Kirk Page by Deryk McAlpin

As a darkly fascinating reinterpretation of a retelling of a Bunyip story, by Cameron Costello a Ouandamooka man, it reverberates with the mystery of an absorbing multi-layered tale, mesmerizing, dark and rewarding.  

Throughout is an ominous sense that something is dreadfully wrong – a pervading sense of evil.   This, along with an ambiguity in some of the imagery, satisfyingly, allows for an individual interpretation.

A very skilled group or artisans have collaborated to craft this work with Production Design attributed to Alison Ross.  Much of its magic is generated through various forms of media overlapping and enriching each-other.  Projected visuals (Ainsley Kerr) are many and varied and often disjointed.  They are at times bemusing such as small projections on the body.  The use of electronic sound (Anna Liebzeit) to convincingly portray vast natural landscapes is inspired and otherworldly when permeated with the sound of a human voice.  Light (Lisa Mibus) is used to enhance, craft, express distress and create tension.  The set design is versatile though a little crowded together somehow, perhaps with a view to leaving space for the performers.

Clearly displayed is the physical skill of Dancer Kirk Page and the beautiful subtleties of emotion and feeling that he is able to express with sometimes very small movements of groups of isolated muscles.  Much of the Choreography (Alexandra Harrison) is restrained and understated often exuding with an earthy feel.

Bewitching, mysterious and mesmerizing.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)