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 - Kiss Sigh Shout Laugh Cry Dream

La Mama Theatre presents

Kiss Sigh Shout Laugh Cry Dream

By

The La Mama Youth Ensemble

Curated by Adam Cass

Creators and Cast

Alanah Allen, Jade Biezen, Caitlin Duff, Megan Elis, Louise Giavas, Bridget Grace, Stephanie Haley, Kim Ho Poh Choo Kee, Sara Laurena, Phillis Lim, Sophie McCrae, Campbell McNish, Tiffany Mestrinho, Taylah Sheppard, Lauren Sheree, Anna Grace Smith, Jue Theng Soo, Isabella Tolley, Harriet Wallace-Mead, Nick wright and Aly Zhang.

This youth work offers much to a big crew of emerging and developing theatre makers and their audiences.  Although all aspects may not be fully formed or acutely realized, as an ambitious conceptual piece brought to production, it is inspirational and inspiring.

So much youth literature and many contemporary stories are post apocalyptic.  Well this work is apocalyptic.  One is submerged in the events of global flooding (pardon the pun) and La Mama is a base - a refuge.  Desperate times are being explored.  And really what timing for such an event in view of the severe weather warnings we have been experiencing in Melbourne.

The stakes are very high.  It is a matter of survival.

Starting with three or four strangely dressed and masked individuals harrying the audience from outside the fence and creeping into the courtyard.  Kiss Sigh Shout Laugh Cry Dream is sight specific - set in found places in and around the theatre and based on some curious and at times noteworthy writing.  Heaps is happening with varying degrees of success.  Some scenes are very strong and clear and some found spaces work better than others.  

The little garden shed makes an excellent retaining area for enforced solitude and self-reflection.   By contrast what happens in the kitchen area, mostly due to production values, is not as convincing. 

Walking along the street and around the block away from the immediate site offers a chance to dwell on the juxtaposition of our extremely affluent life style, with the pending doom that could be realized through global warming. 

All the acting is strong due to the very focused commitment of all performers.

Some scenes could be more subtly and empathically teased out.  The strange charming yet dangerous lurking creatures in masks could do with a more lavish and uniform costume design.  Issues of how our behavior will be affected and changed in such times of crisis could perhaps be more fully explored.

This is an extremely ambitious organic beast of a work that would need mountains of time to truly cover all bases.  And doubtless it is developing and being tweaked in performance as I write.

It boldly ticks many boxes.  Most particularly offering numerous young performance makers the opportunity to explore a variety of aspects of their craft and demonstrate commitment and the capacity to negotiate and develop and bring to fruition a fascinating piece of theatre that is relevant to them.      

And it is marvelous to witness a large troupe of young adults growing as artists honing their skills as theatre makers.

This troupe is fortunate to have Adam Cass working as curator and support.  He has a great track history from his work with Platform Youth Theatre and obviously the knowledge, experience and accepting understand nature required.

What rings beautifully true are the singing voices.   Singing brings cohesion and coherence at the beginning and the end of the work.

Kiss Sigh Shout Laugh Cry Dream leaves me wondering how our behavior and ways of relating to each other will change as we are faced with the inevitable difficulties brought on by the pressure cooker of global warming.

Full marks to La Mama and Adam Cass for facilitating this bold strong and thought provoking venture.

Suzanne Sandow 

(For Stage Whispers)  

Review - 100 Reasons for War

La Mama Presents

100 Reasons for War

(War, What is it Good For?)

By Tom Holloway

Directed by Bob Pavlich

Lighting Designer – Tom Willis

Lighting and Sound Operator – Julian Adams

Stage Manager – Rebecca Bassett

Costume co-ordinator – Bethany Tweedale

Set co-ordinator – Elysia Janssen

Photography – Matthew Howat

Videos made by Bethany Tweedale (Beginning of the Universe)

And Elysia Janssen (Bliss Symbolics)

Performed by Joshua Brodrick, Meghalee Bose, Walter Dyson, Marnie Henderson, Elysia Janssen, Karanvir Malhotra, Simon Nixon, David Peters, Lucy Rees, Jessica Sterck and Bethany Tweedale

La Mama

June 21 to June 25 - 2017

This production by La Trobe’s Student Theatre is most impressive and completely engaging.  Performed by eleven young adults with clarity and poise.  This is a testament to the skills of Director Bob Pavlich as a very experienced director of Student Theatre having been the Artistic Director of Student Theatre and Film at Latrobe University for 21 years. 

All performers present a lovely fresh clear presence and deliver their dialogue with lucid conviction in a comfortable uncluttered manner.  Each of these individuals is either a consummate theatre maker or very successful academic students or both. 

Eveningwear is worn as a kind of ‘blacks’ – highlighting individuality and yet fashioning a sort of uniformity at the same time.  Doubtless each audience member picks favorite players but everybody ‘stands out’ to a similar degree.

The focus flows from one featured person to another.  This allows the audience to be comfortably positioned to think about the text.  Much of which is Australian playwright Tom Holloway’s but there are some excerpts from other sources.

There is an ambiguity about how this text connects directly to war - although discord is often expressed.   Many of the duologues that follow swiftly on the heels of each other speak of self-interest and disconnectedness, disruption and pending violence.

The choice of music by Director Bob Pavlich is great and there is an extraordinary piece of animation by Bliss Symbolics that works as a kind of bookend with the initial video about to brutal beginning of the universe.  In a way it is this initial video that introduces the hypothesis that we come from a mercilessly ferocious beginning  - violence begets violence.

This season has ended and was fully booked out.

Excellent Student Theatre from La Trobe University – congratulations!

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Evocation of Butoh

La Mama presents

An Asia TOPA performance

 

Evocation of Butoh

Artistic Director – Yumi Umiumare

Lighting Design  - Bronwyn Pringle

Program 2

Yumiko Yoshioka – Before the Dawn

Until Sunday March 12 2017

This is the most marvelous opportunity to be entranced by world-renowned Butoh practitioner Yumiko Yoshioka who brings her own unique form of Butoh. Butoh was first created in 1959 in Japan and has been a unique form of physical expression that is grounded in the grotesque and does not err from the abject and dark and taboo subjects.

Yumiko Yoshioka, who is from Tokyo but has lived in Germany since 1988, is the most extraordinary performer.  She is an exceedingly beautiful woman who has been practicing this grotesque dance/physical performance for approximately three decades.  Every muscle sinew and fiber of her body is given over to her method.  Such a strong toned body is mesmerizing to watch in action.

The work Before the Dawn is described in the program as ‘a dance of metamorphosis, where darkness melts into brightness.’    This is such an apt description of Yoshioka’s performance – a fluid piece in which transformations that are often sudden and remarkably crisp.  Semblances range from horror, distortion and disfigurement to achingly beautiful states of simplicity and acute human beauty.  Throughout the audience is transfixed.

The lighting (Bronwyn Pringle) is wonderful and assists in highlighting subtle changes in Ms Yoshioka’s physical and spatial placement.  Light is used to marvelous effect in changing colour and creating shafts of illumination for Ms Yoshioka to move and evoke in.

Sound is electronic and often sharp in nature.  It seems often to be the aberrant distortions of natural sounds that assists in creating an unnatural atmosphere that, in turn, accentuates the profoundly natural human form.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Tales of a City by the Sea

Tales of a City by the Sea

By Samah Sabawi

Original Direction – Lech Mackiewicz

Remount Direction – Wahibe Moussa

Set Design Lara Week

Lighting Design – Shane Grant

Sound Design - Khaled Sabsabi

Producer - Daniel Clarke

 

Cast

Jomana – Helana Sawires

Rami - Osamah Sami

Lama/Relative at Hospital – Emina Ashman

Ali – Reece Valla

Abu Ahamad/Relative at Hospital – Alex Pinder

Samira/Relative at Hospital/Wedding Guest – Rebecca Morton

Nurse/Um Ahmad/Security/Mother – Cara Whitehouse

Singer – Asell Tayah

Mohanad/Security/Father/Wedding Guest – Ubaldino Mantelli

La Mama Courthouse

May 11 – 29, 2016

(Part of the 2016 VCE Drama Playlist)

An excellent ensemble of multicultural performers work closely together to draw together and express the story of star crossed lovers who are both, perhaps a little surprisingly, Palestinian.

He, Rami (Osamah Sami) is a doctor who runs a medical clinic in the USA and she, Jomana (Helana Sawires) a journalist who was born and raised in the Shanti (beach) Refugee Camp in Gaza.  He comes and goes into this volatile site of the bitter struggle of the siege of Gaza that took place in 2008.  They are just like young lovers from anywhere and any culture. 

It is not a story of conflict, of brutal ingrained enmity between Israeli and Palestinian but a story of romantic love with a backdrop of engrained enmity that’s conflict extends into every nook and cranny of life. 

This poetic production is framed with the glorious haunting Arabic songs sung by Aseel Tayah who is dressed in traditional costume.   And staged on a set (Lara Week) of curtains (apparently made of sheets) that allow for a flow of expressive imagery and the creation of potentially unlimited environments.  The sea is a very strong motif as emphasized through sound as designed by Khaled Sabsabi.

As a piece of theatre it has an engaging and engrossing through its linear narrative and all performances honor the writing that is glistening poetry at times.

Generous nurturing direction by debuting director Wahibe Moussa, with an emphasis on emotional sincerity that is at times frustratingly static, supports the poetic nature of Samah Sabawi’s writing and endorses clarity.  Perhaps with some more time, inventive and adventurous, risks in staging could have been played with and incorporated.

This is a work that all creative artists, cast and La Mama should feel great pride in bringing to a Melbourne audience - particularly in view of any controversy drawn from where the story is set and the wonderful mix of multicultural performers.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)