Review - True West

Mount Players Presents:

True West

By Sam Shepard

Directed by Travis Handcock

Set Design - Travis Handcock

Set Artist – Robert Wallace

Lighting Design – Roger Farley

Costumes - Debra Moore

Cast:

Lee – David Cubley

Austin – Lee Cook

Saul – David Runnalls

Mom – Sandy Green

Mountview Theatre Macedon

Until 11 June 2017

True West is a strong and interesting play by Sam Shepard.  It seems to be produced every now and again but not as often as Cowboy Mouth and not surprisingly as it is challenging for both actors and audience.

It is a courageous choice for Mount Players and its success it a testament to the especially strong ethic of team playing that this company thrives on.

Full of twists and turns True West surprises and shocks.  It touches on some mysterious, subterranean psychological motivations as it looks at the profoundly powerful sibling relationship/rivalry between two vastly different brothers, Lee (David Cubley) and Austin (Lee Cook).

It is dark, a very dark the story of a kind of a nightmare of interaction that can happen in the family home.  However at the same time it is almost hysterically funny especially in the second act.

This production is marvelously staged on a sort of framework/skeleton of a house, designed by Travis Handcock and heightened by one of Robert Wallace’s stunning backdrops indicative of the harsh desert environment.  Lighting (Design – Roger Farley and Operator – Roslyn Farrugia) is often used to considerable effect in creating atmosphere. 

Stage directions are honoured and the success of the second act’s deep dark humour is very dependent on this.

All actors work with integrity and commitment to their parts and the production as a whole.  And both leads do a stunning job in their own way.  However as a masterpiece of American Theatre the text is exceptionally demanding and requires a complex sense of communication between the two brothers. The drawback in this production, for me, is the casting.  Although both lead actors do a fantastic job of getting their characters over to the audience it is very, very difficult to see them as biological brothers.

It may just be my sensibility but these two need to be seen to affect each other or perhaps more importantly - actually listen to each other. Through their familial intimacy Shepard’s characters have the power to destroy each other.  The stakes are very high.  They are, fortunately, certainly not over acting but I think the piece requires a slightly more naturalistic approach.  Less acting and just a bit more naturalism could do the trick.

I would like David Cubley as Lee to take a couple of steps back, project less, and allow the audience to witness more of his thought processes.  In this way the dark insidious elements of the work could be seen to creep in and bring with them a more suspense filled atmosphere.

As audience I would like to register more shock and distress provoked by the uncanny, subtle changes throughout.

Director Travis Handcock has been very ambitious in this choice of work and it seems to be paying off.  Round the traps the word is out that this production is controversial and polarizing – some love it some hate it.  However it is getting the houses and is well worth catching if you can. 

True West is an engrossing story that offers heaps to think about.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

By Jay Presson Allen

Adapted from the novel by Muriel Spark

Directed by Andrew Meldrum

Producer – Allie Clare

Assistant Director – Kath Addicoat

Costumes – Kath Addicoat

Lighting Design – Roger Farley

Sound Design – Russell Servis

Cast:  Karen Hunt, David Runnalls, Andrew Walker, Christine Walker, Cherry Servis, Mike de Jong, Alex Mc Murray, Pam Lenders, Julia Santamaria, Amber Hemmes, Isobel walker, Tilly Munro-Lawrence, Grace Sullivan, Madison Galea, Casey Dzesa, Emily Clare Cousins, Laura Crozier and Tilly Snell.

Playing February/March 2016

Season Finished

This is such an interesting and complex play that can be accessed on a number of levels.  Above all it is fascinating and entertaining story that is certainly worth catching – if you are not too far from Macedon.

It is comfortably presented and beautifully produced (Allie Clare) on Jubilee Hall’s lovely deep stage by resident Theatre Company Mt Players.

Set in a private girls’ school in England, and spanning from early 1931 to the time of the Spanish War, it delves into a number of concerns.  The original book, that one assumes, is full of the feminist, moral and religious arguments of the time, was written by Muriel Spark and first published in 1968.  The highly successful play was adapted by Jay Presson Allen and staged soon after that.  The mores are of a bygone era, but not the issues of protecting the young and naïve, maintaining appropriate boundaries between teacher and pupil and the very deep emotional and psychological damage of betrayal.

A kind of a hologram, Miss Jean Brodie is an amazingly unconventional wonderfully caring and connected teacher.  She exudes the allure of a woman who lives a life of romantic illusion and has the charm of someone who can be daringly reckless.  Sometimes she seems to be inappropriately manipulative as she draws ‘her girls’ too deeply into her personal life.  At the same time she is a true teacher who understands and nurtures each in her care, as a revered individual.  Maggie Smith starred in the film of 1969 and won a best actor Oscar for the role.

Brodie is a complex multi faceted person with faults of self-indulgence that are palpable.   But no matter what, she must be played as charismatic and lovable for the play to make ultimate sense.  Ideally her wild and daring nature should appeal to the adolescent in us all.

The very refined and competent acting skills of the cast and relaxed clever Directing by Andrew Meldrum go along way to making this production the great success it is.  

Relationships and character journeys are beautifully drawn and presented convincingly.   Most impressive is the work of Karen Hunt as Miss Jean Brodie, David Runnalls as Teddy Lloyd and Julia Santamaria as Sandy.  Hunt confidently embodies the ‘larger than life’ character of Brody.  Lloyd engages very positively with other actors particularly through mastering a good fast and lively tempo that is infectious.  Santamaria has a lovely transparent, perhaps naïve style that goes a long way in allowing the audience to understand Sandy’s emotional experience and catastrophic decisions.

As the School’s Principal Miss McKay, Christine Walker exhibits just the right amount of principled control and manages a very telling nervous twitch when dressing Brodie down.

Cherry Servis as Sister Helena and Mike de Jong as Mr. Perry endorse and support the story skillfully in their framing roles.   And all other actors very competently and charmingly embody their characters.  They are all, without exception, to be congratulated.

Kath Addicoat had done well finding appropriate and unobtrusive costumes that support and don’t scream out look at me.  

And in response to the Director’s notes in the program, yes, this interesting and thought provoking play did entertain me.  Not only that but it left me with a lot to mull over.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)