Review - Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit

Poppy Seed Festival Presents:

Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit

Playwright, director and lyricist – Jean Tong

Composer and sound designer – James Gales

Dramaturge – Kim Ho

Musical Director and composition support – Will Hannagan

Set and Costume designer – James Lew

Performers:  Sasha Chong, Nisha Joseph, Margot Tanjutco, Pallavi Waghmode and Louisa Wall

This great positive lively show played to an almost full house on Saturday.  It is truly worth catching as theatre with a message that doesn’t preach but wholeheartedly entertains. It is youthful, joyful and delivered with a lovely light touch and showcases some exciting emerging talent.   

Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit tells a coming of age story of first love between two rather naïve lesbians.  The setting, in the milieu of a loving family with conventional expectations of their daughter and her friend, shines light on the very real tensions experienced for those who are not able to partner as anticipated. 

This work is romantic, feminist, domestic and partially race blind - all at the same time.  In fact the cultural references and discussions are a very liberating aspect of the whole.  And how timely!

As chorus and ancillary characters Nisha Joseph, Pallavi Waghmode and Sasha Chong tell the story and move the proceedings along with loads of clever and smooth segues.  The whole moves with lovely coordinated precision.  When called on to people the stage Lisa Wall as Darcy and Margo Tanjutco as Juliette exude romance with a touch of irony.

The singing is lovely and the songs (lyrics Jean Tong/music James Gales) are great  - particularly the boppy finale of ‘F… You’ that send the audience from the Auditorium on a high.  I was singing as I navigated the stairs through the kooky bar/lounge spaces of the Butterfly Club to emerge in Carson Place.

Jean Tong as Playwright/Director and Lyricist is inspired has a splendid sense of humour.  The program suggests that she is an excellent collaborator as she has garnered some first-rate creatives and great support and assistance.

There some little things that I would love to see worked on; such as a back stage that is not a cluttered mess.  And so often of late I have wondered if performers warm up adequately to be able to pack a punch at the beginning of a show.  The initial stages of this performance were seemingly tentative.  At the same time I do admit this could be part of its charm, this kind of makes the whole thing accessible and the performers appear humble.   However I would favour a more concerted polished approach from go to woe. 

A short show is a good show - so is a proficiently timed show.

Great fun and well suited to the venue and totally worth catching and supporting.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

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)