Review - Good Muslim Boy

Malthouse Theatre Presents

Good Muslim Boy

By Osamah Sami

Adapted for the stage by  - Osama Sami and Janice Muller

Direction Janice Muller

Cast

Rodney Afif

Nicole Nabout

Osamah Sami

Set and Costume Design – Romaine Harper

Lighting Design – Ben Hughes

Sound Design and Composition – Phil Slade

Stage Manager – Jess Keepence

The Beckett

9 Feb to 11 March 2018

Personable, enigmatic star of the autobiographical film Ali’s Wedding Osamah Sami takes us on the journey of a lived memoir, from his own story Good Muslim Boy, of an almost unbelievable romp in Iran.  Well timed, beautifully underscored with sound and music (Phil Slade) on a very functional set designed by Romanie Harper three actors bring to life this gem of a ‘stranger than fiction’ narrative.    

As an especially funny story it offers a night of laughs.  The action commences with a chat to the audience that has the feel of stand-up-comedy about it and then proceeds to detail a chain of events in the form of numerous vignettes that swiftly morph – one into the other.  Osamah Sami plays himself as he battles, with characters of the bemusing and confusing Iranian bureaucracy, to bring home the body of his Father who suddenly died on a father and son holiday/personal pilgrimage to Iran.   

The opening works well.  However throughout Sami could reach out more fully to his audience and take greater advantage of the organic nature of Storytelling in live theatre.  As audience we are very keen to connect to this extremely charismatic protagonist.  If he spoke to us more fully more often it would be gratifying.

The work is particularly fascinating because the cultures of the Middle East tend to mystify us.  Since the Iranian revolution of 1979 the West could be forgiven for thinking what was once Persia is a very dangerous place.   Sami and director Janice Muller subtly imbue the action with the sense that danger could be lurking around any corner and behind any official counter.   Yet, as the story unfolds Sami courageously unswervingly follows instructions and takes massive risks, such as travelling without a passport, to succeed in his daunting quest.

As a whole Good Muslim Boy comes across as intense Iranian experience from Western eyes.  What is extraordinary is the nerve, pluck and daring Sami garners to get through the mysteries of the intense ordeal and home to Australia with his father’s body.

Rodney Afif beautifully fulfills his roles, including that of Osamah Sami’s father, with clean definition and commitment.  Nicole Nabout in her depiction of numerous characters displays exquisite versatility and is quite magic at times.  

The lighting by Ben Hughes, however, doesn’t fully support the staging.  Too often it is murky and dark and lacking variation and definition.  This could signify pollution, or be intended to enhance the pervading sense of mystery in the machinations of the treacherous series of events.   However I feel there is too much shadow.

All in all - Good Muslim Boy is a most entertaining, enlightening and enjoyable evening of theatre. 

Most enjoyable!

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Anti Hamlet

The New Working Group & Theatre Works Present

Anti-Hamlet

Writer/Director – Mark Wilson

Associate Artist - Olivia Monticciolo

Set and Costume Design – Romaine Harper

Lighting Design – Amelia Lever-Davidson

Sound Design – Tom Backhaus

Dramaturg and Producer – Mark Pritchard

Cast:  Marco Chiappi, Natascha Flowers, Natasha Herbert, Brian Lipson, Marcus McKenzie, Charles Purcell and Mark Wilson

Theatre Works

3 – 13 November

Anti-Hamlet is a clever slick journey opening with Mark Wilson as Hamlet engaging the audience with fabulous sparkling heightened energy.  This energy is embraced by all actors and doesn’t let up as we are taken on a fast a wild and lengthy ride through a sort of Australian ‘boy’s own’ contemporary Australian Hamlet, which, mainly through their absence, highlights aspects of Shakespeare’s original. 

It offers thought provoking perspectives for those who know the text.  For those who don’t, I would hazard a guess, is a wacky sort of parody of aspects of Australian politics that replaces God with Sigmund Freud and contains an eye opening and kind of shocking visceral explanation of the Oedipus Complex.

There is never a dull moment in this wacky romp and Wilson has made some great choices.  However his characters are pretty two-dimensional but excellent, mostly very experienced, troupe of actors serve the ideas and flow of the whole wonderfully.

Natascha Flowers plays an Ophelia who gets off very lightly as a sort of bland clever young woman a Rhodes Scholar who shrewdly spots Hamlet’s homosexuality before it makes mince meat of both of them (assuming it was one of the difficulties in their relationship).  However, wittily she does end up in a swimming pool. 

Horatio played by Marcus McKenzie hovers generally being useful and perhaps a bit pedantic.  Brian Lipson makes a great Freud who replaces the sometimes wise but mostly silly Polonius, although unlike Polonius he is indestructible and omnipresent.  Marco Chiappi is energetic and brazen as a Claudius who is nowhere near as personally threatening to Hamlet as Shakespeare’s invention.  Edward Bernays is a very sleazy politician played as a total controlling slime by recent VCA graduate Charles Purcell.

But it is Natasha Herbert who ‘takes the cake.’   She is glorious as a glamorous Gertrude who is dressed for cocktail party after cocktail party.   Much more than a coat hanger, Herbert’s Gertrude is sublimely over the top.  It is wonderful watching a usually serious actor throw herself successfully and courageously at such an outrageous piece, her range of emotional states is extensive. 

In Anti-Hamlet, Wilson’s Hamlet is not riddled with maudlin self-doubt and indecision and there is not a ghost, grave or a skull insight.

Sound (Tom Backhaus) is kept to a minimum.   Set design by Romaine Harper is austere and practical – indicative of music concert stage.  It left me wondering if the whole would feel less like a work in progress if it had a more theatrical staging.

This is a work that is likely to be referred to often in years to come.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)