Review - Alexithymia

Poppy Seed Festival Presents:

ALEXITHYMIA

Do you know how you really feel?

Citizen theatre &A_tistic

Writer and co-producer - Tom Middleditch

Director and co-producer - Jayde Kirchert

Visual designer and co-producer - Stu Brown

Dramaturge - James Matthews

Sound designer - Philip Dallas

Lighting Designer - Peter Amesbury

Performers - Nicola Bowman, Keagan Vaskess and Emma Hoy

Meat Market

8 – 19 November 2017

The opening of the third Poppy Seed Festival was dynamic and exhilarating.

This year the first production is Alexithymia.  This is a beautifully polished piece of Theatre that is presented in the round in the neat small Theatre/multi purpose space The Stables at the far west end of the Meat Market in North Melbourne.

The Wikipedia definition of Alexithymia is:  Alexithymia /ˌeɪlɛksəˈθaɪmiə/ is a personality construct characterized by the subclinical inability to identify and describe emotions in the self. The core characteristics of alexithymia are marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating.

On first consideration I thought mmm this is challenging and brave subject matter, however, through watching the production I got a sense of a condition we all experience in life - particularly during adolescence and other times of change that render us disorientated and confused.  However through this induced empathetic response I don’t want to belittle the difficulties experienced by individuals dealing with the anomalies, of not being able to read their own and other’s emotional states, in a normalized way - and respond accordingly.

There are three parts to this show, all, written by Tom Middleditch, Directed with flair by and Jayde Kirchert and performed with exemplary timing by Emma Hoy, Eagan Vaskess and Nicola Bowman.

 All three young actors serve the work most agreeably.  Firstly Ms. Bowman shares with the audience her mildly autistic perceptions about a job interview in Social_finction.exe.  This particular work is succinct, acute, pointed, very funny and relatable to, and the most successful of the three pieces of writing. 

Then the audience is treated to a sort of interactive game show, The Curious Case of You that has some marvelously surprising and funny moments but does start to feel slightly repetitive towards the conclusion. 

Nirvana Syndrome the third segment loses gravitas by the relentless interjection of superficial sound at every small scene change.  At its heart this is a sensitive piece of writing that shines a perceptive light on the confused emotional states experienced during relationship breakdowns.  As with The Curious Case of You the text could possibly do with a little more fine-tuning.

A lively light, well-realized, slick contemporary work that is certainly worth catching.   Don’t hesitate to support this festival and its many very talented Theatre makers.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Inferno

Inferno a double bill

4^th to 14 February 2016

Crestfall

by Mark O’Rowe

Directed by Jayde Kirchert

Cast:

Freya Pragt as Olive Day

Marissa O’Reilly as Alison Ellis

Marissa Bennett as Tilly McQuarie

Lighting – Peter Amesbury

Sound Design – Chris O'Neill

Purgatorio

by Ariel Dorfman

Directed by Celeste Cody

Cast:

Woman – Freya Pragt

Man – Jason Cavanagh

Other members of the production team deserve complements:  Jade Kirchert as producer, Janel Gibson – Stage Manager, Fiona Spitzkowsky – Production Manager for Purgatorio and the two interns Stephanie Clare-Clover and Alexandra Suttie.

Masterful theatre; both works in Inferno, Crestfall and Purgatorio are beautifully and skillfully produced by Citizen Theatre.  These strong offerings are the culmination of carefully considered work by skilled, hardworking theatre practitioners.  The upshot is very polished ‘poor’ theatre of high quality.

For the audience the atmosphere created at is welcoming and comfortable.

However the material is rich and confronting:

Crestfall is made up of three monologues from three female characters describing aspects of their unfortunate, troubled, tormented and harsh intertwined lives.  The heightened poetic language and imagery describes their dissolute and difficult existences.  At times it is reminiscent of Patricia Cornelius’s perceptive and confronting play Slut.

Frey Pragt and her strong bold character Olive Day open this piece.   She describes the difficult events in her brutal life with urgency.  She is a delight to watch and listen to as she immerses herself in the trials and torments of a proud but compromised woman fighting for survival.

The language used is very strong and descriptions of sex and violence extremely graphic.  Mastering this material is no mean feat and Pragt does an exemplary job.

Sound by Chris O'Neill is very subtle.

She is followed by Marissa O’Reilly as Alison Ellis whose energy and commitment to role and character beautifully endorses and extends what has been set up.  The last monologue is the culmination of the story.  Finally Tilly McQuarrie played by Marissa Bennett experiences the most positive outcome.  She receives something of a windfall.  Or perhaps she is just younger, fitter and fresher than the other downtrodden spirits.  The material is fascinating and bemusing and performances are highly engaging.  Although Marissa Bennett (an interesting and charismatic performer) would do well to attend some intensive vocal workshops to further enhance her skill base.

In Purgatorio Frey Pragt and Jason Cavanagh are a well-matched pair of actors.  Both are acutely focused and wholly engaged and able to work with nuance and subtlety in response to each-other.  

Before watching this work it would probably helpful to acquaint or re-acquaint ones-self with the story of Medea and Jason as Purgatorio is about the unresolved torment in the damage done through their cruel treatment of each other.  More and more we are hearing reports of infanticide happening around us and there always seems to be a production of Medea popping up somewhere, not surprisingly.

There is a rich humanity in this work – it attempts to extrude some reason from Medea’s horrifying actions. 

I can’t really recommend Inferno highly enough as the work of dedicated, truly talented, inspiring theatre makers who have the capacity and energy to work on a ‘shoe-string’ budget to produce rich rewarding outcomes!

Very strong material indeed.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)