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 - Bliss

A Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir Production

Bliss

By

Peter Carey

Adapted for the Stage by Tom Wright

Direction – Matthew Lutton

Cast:  Marco Chiappi, Will McDonald, Amber McMahon, Charlotte Nicdao, Susan Prior, Anna Samson, Mark Coles Smith and Toby Truslove

Set and costume Design Marg Horwell

Lighting Design – Paul Jackson

Sound Design and Composition – Stefan Gregory

Stage Manager – Kristen Marr

Merlyn Theatre

4 May – 2 June 2018

Bliss is a fascinating ‘look back’ at the heady days of abundance and hedonism in Sydney of the 1980’s through the sharp incisive writing of Peter Carey - filtered by way of the perceptions and dramaturgical skills of Tom Wright.   It is presented by an eclectic ensemble of versatile actors on a surprising set by Marg Horwell with exceptional Lighting (Paul Jackson) and Sound (Stefan Gregory) and highly polished by Direction by Matthew Lutton.  It is a lengthy, ambitious, keenly conceptualized and executed, hypnotic work that spans three hours including interval.

One assumes the text is pretty much completely drawn from Carey’s writing from the book of the same name, published in 1981 that won the Miles Franklin Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award. It flows eloquently and contains arresting imagery and marvelous smatterings of insight and indeed wisdom.

At the commencement of the performance Toby Truslove unassumingly breathes life into Carey’s words through his engaging stage presence and adroitly modulated voice. 

In contrast to my memory of Barry Otto’s shocked and startled Harry Joy from the 1987 film (Directed by Ray Lawrence and starring Barry Otto, Lynette Curren and Helen Jones), Truslove’s Joy seems to take the unsettling events in his stride as they unfold.

I can still hear Otto’s voice ringing in my ears and remember the film to be very lush and fecund.  By contrast although fecundity is mentioned a number of times in this work it is set on a stark empty revolving stage with a feature of a kind of glass house.  In this way it is Carey’s language that features and the actor’s characterization that resonate with sharp clarity.

Much emphasis falls on what was the thriving world of advertising and the exorbitant amount of money, alcohol, food, drugs, sex and general decadence and debauchery that went hand in hand with this bourgeoning industry.  Though I think it is fair to say this decadence was experienced in many walks of life in the 1980s.  Carey seems to be identifying, with at times, outrageous levity, some of the damage indulged in and perpetrated particularly on a personal level.

Although financially the bottom fell out of the 1980’s the relentless world of advertising is only partially losing its hold in present times.  Much of what is being examined seems to have become more pertinent and relevant today as we are belatedly trying to grapple with the concept of sustainability.

The casting of this stage version of Bliss is partially ethnicity, gender and age blind which adds to the over all charm of the flowing but rather epic story.  In fact nobody misses a beat.

Marco Chiappi excels, particularly as Alex, Harry’s partner in the advertising company, when accidentally institutionalized for insanity.

As Joy’s longsuffering, but not to be suppressed, wife Amber McMahon wows with energy commitment, vitality and vivaciousness.

Honey Barbara, a truly fascinating, strong and complex character, is richly fleshed out by Anna Samson.

Susan Prior plays a variety of roles with aplomb, flexibility, generosity and humour.

There are some issues with voice levels and actors projecting unnecessarily - as they are all wired for sound.  But hey that really is my only quibble.

An enriching adventure.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Blak Cabaret

Blak Cabaret

Presented by Malthouse Theatre and SummerSalt

10 – 22 February 2015

Concept and Creative Production – Jason Tamiru

Text - Nakkiah Lui

Staging – Matthew Lutton

Directing Consultant – Michael Kantor

Set and Costume Design – Chloe Greaves

Sound Design – Jed Palmer

Dramaturgy – Mark Prichard

Performers – Kamahi Djordon King as Queen Consitina Bush and Nikki Ashby

Musicians – Deline Briscoe, Emma Donovan, Kutcha Edwards, Bart Willoughby

Between the two rusting and one old brick facade of the Malthouse Courtyard, place an elevated stage and an exceptional sound system.  Then, as balmy evening is about to fall, add some of Indigenous Australia’s most glorious, honey and velvet voiced, musicians playing and singing their own songs - and this beautifully blended recipe will just ‘take you away’.  

But there is more, there is more – a crazy contemporary, wickedly provocative and sadomasochistic,

Kamahi Djordon King and Nikki Ashby - Photo Pia Johnson

big, black and beautiful Drag Queen – Queen Constantina – the monarch of a reversed colonialism demanding the audience’s allegiance at every turn.  Perplexingly she is at odds with the rich spiritual milieu set up by the musicians, and yet, this cabaret is not jarring, just crude fabulous fun, acutely funny and acerbic – full of irony and wit.   There are ‘no holes barred’ as Constantina obsesses over her ‘mutt’ and enthusiastically espouses rimming and fisting.  Pauline Hanson cracks a mention, as, more than once, does the popularity of the book Fifty Shades of Grey.

Nikki Ashby and Kamahi Djordon King - Photo Pia Johnson

Layer on layer - on the surface it is a clever, sharp and witty piece that inverts reality - pretty much successfully.  However this work, enigmatically, touches on the most vital, brutal and important issues affecting Indigenous Australians.  In that it is strong.  Conversely like a bare foot it treads softly, its heart is gentle and exudes the vast spiritual depth evoked by the music, songs and poems that call for understanding.  It is biting but not savage and maybe a testament to how, these clever Indigenous, Performance Makers have a foot in both cultural camps.  

The totally rich and mellow sound of Kutcha Edwards seduces whilst he also displays wicked vocal dexterity.  His voice blends divinely with those of Deline Briscoe and Emma Donovan and Bart Willoughby’s drumming is something to behold.  Kevin Gilbert’s poetry touches the soul.

The audience is targeted a bit so you may not want to sit up the front.  All in all it is a delightful way to spend a balmy evening under the stars. 

Great fun but not frivolous!

(For Stage Whispers)