Comedy Festival - Punked – at St Ali

Punked by Ross Daniels. Directed by Emilie Collyer. St Ali – South Melbourne

28 March – 7 April. Season ended.

Punked is mesmerising. 

Ross Daniels charms his audience from the moment we hear his voice-over to commence his highly relatable to show. Seamless character driven storytelling Punked is a great rocky ride through a profound and significant rite of passage in adolescence. It captures the almost arbitrary nature of teenage experience and the foolhardy commitment to the outcomes of risky, and indiscriminate, choices in the crystallisation of Daniels' memories.

Through deft direction by Emilie Collyer and comprehensive characterisation, multiple points of view are expressed. Many sensitively drawn nuances are conveyed through the beautiful realisation of characters – most particularly the characters of Daniels’ long-suffering yet supportive grandparents. The complex milieu and very different political climate of the era infiltrates the whole and is also highlighted in the representation of a dodgy 1970s police officer.

    

Technically this work is very tightly wrought together with ‘spot on’ support from sound and light.

Punked has all the ingredients to be on the VCE Drama performance list as it is a very smooth and successful example of Solo Performance and would so easily tour schools.

It is a show for anyone who remembers growing up, or/and growing up in the 1970s, or still feels the pull of the crazed obsessive or is just crazed and obsessive.

Suzanne Sandow

St Ali a new venue billed as part of the South Melbourne Collection is at 12–18 Yarra Place in South Melbourne.  It is a little hard to find and basically behind Coles off Clarendon Street.  The food smells great and the menu looks enticing. There are a number of shows to catch there up until 21 April.  www.thatgirlentertainment.com/stalicomedy

Comedy Festival - Running the Risque

Running the Risqué
Wes Snelling

Order of Melbourne

28 March – 8 April 7pm no shows 6 and 7 April

Running the Risqué is thoroughly enjoyable cabaret, with a gay twist, presented in a comfortable and relaxed manner. It opens with Wes Snellings drag Auntie Carol welcoming the audience and introducing a recalcitrant Wes. The whole is staged with little artifice and is ridiculous – good fun. 

 

Also included in the fifty five or so minutes is a new character, Wes’s cousin, Carl Snelling – a convincingly rugged sort of bloke – almost the antithesis of Wes. Carl is an interesting addition to the Snelling repertoire.

Snelling is supported by the multi-talented Stephen Weir as techie, guitarist and general foil.

On opening night the first special guest was Em Rusciano (as seen on TV in The Project and The Circle). Talk about risqué some of the anecdotes she tells about experiences of bourgeoning sexuality are fascinatingly unsettlingly and salacious; requiring an R rating. She sings beautifully and shines as a potential cabaret performer. Likewise Bart Freeman, as second special guest, is engaging and funny. The evening is capped off with an excellent surprising little drag number by Tina Del Twist.

There are a variety of special guests scheduled for the next week and it would be worth checking the website: wessnelling.com to consult the list, if planning to attend.

A show well worth catching in its short season!

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review: Tina C: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Tina C: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Created by Christopher Green. Performed by Tina C with Auriel Andrew OAM and James Henry. Presented by Malthouse Theatre, Christopher Green, Julia Holt and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Beckett Theatre, March 21 – April 14.

The Tina C: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word is classy, character driven, comedy that is not quite stand up, not quite cabaret and not quite music theatre. But Les Girls eat your hearts out – Tina C is the most beautiful (Country and Western) Drag Queen – real eye candy. Dressed in skimpy shorts and blouse that are made of fabric with an indigenous artwork print she presents as a stunning Barbie Doll with beautiful legs that ‘go up to heaven’. 

 

During the shows eighty minutes she tells anecdotes, lectures, sings and generally gives us not particularly well informed, opinions and advice about white Australia’s relationship with its indigenous (pronounced indiginous) brothers and sisters. She parodies American evangelism, expounding pretty ‘dicky’ theories with lashings of ‘love and understanding’!

Tina C is smart and sassy, so bright in fact, she is able to make sense of the complex writing of British theatre maker Christopher Green. She is Christopher Green’s alter ego. 

  

As she presents her show with two indigenous artists James Henry (Jimmy Little’s grandson) and Auriel Andrew (pictured), her plea for respecting the Aboriginal races of this nation is, kind of weirdly, authenticated. 

 

Included is a most touching rendition of Bob Randell’s song Brown Skin Baby performed by Auriel Andrew. This is incongruous with the superficiality of the whole and a real pace changer, but a highlight.

Complex, sharp, clever, witty, and a little bit brittle and caustic, there is so much about this performance that is politically unsound and potentially offensive – but it is ultimately great fun and full of laughs.

Enjoy if you can get tickets!

Suzanne Sandow                                                                                              

(For Stage Whispers)

Review: Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence

Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence by Tom Holloway. Directed by Suzanne Chaundy. Designer – Dayna Morrissey, Lighting Designer – Richard Vabre, Sound Designer – Philip McLeod. Cast: Marcus McKenzie, Philippa Spicer, Emmaline Carroll and Roger Oakley. Red Stitch until 14 April.

  

There can be no doubt that significant courage is required to work with material as deeply disturbing as the Port Arthur Massacre. And yes perhaps “To acknowledge grief is to acknowledge love.” (Director’s program notes.)

Four actors as actors frame and, as assumed characters, re-enact in disjointed monologues form incidents, in individual lives, surrounding this profoundly traumatic event. A sense of dread and danger underlies the telling that is presented as a montage, not a narrative.

We know the basic outline of what happened at Port Arthur – it is assumed knowledge. Some would have followed it intensely and have considerable insights. Some would have been touched personally to varying degrees and some touched profoundly due to experiencing traumatic life changing events.  It is volatile material that each audience member will receive uniquely.

 

Roger Oakley, a consummate actor, shines as the Old Man. He portrays a strongly crafted archetypal character with crystal clear clarity. The Old Man, true to type, finds it extremely difficult to access his subterranean emotions. Oakley is well supported by, and supportive of, the younger cast members. Philippa Spicer presents a beautiful young wife and mother with unmitigated focus. Emmaline Carroll embraces the nuances of a petulant teenager to great effect. Marcus McKenzie valiantly bridges the difficult characters of a troubled child with an imaginary friend and the somewhat ambiguously penned character of a psychopath.

The set designed by Dayna Morrissey is stunning. With its transparent, scroll like, paintings of cliff reliefs in the foreground of a mural of the coast, and the stage areas all colours of the sea. The whole suggests dark power and timelessness. Richard Vabre’s lighting is finely tuned to enhance Ms Morrissey’s work as does the initial chilling soundscape created by Philip McLeod.

All aspects of this production meld seamlessly into a whole and towards a focused culmination that still needs some delicate fine-tuning to offer the inferred release through catharsis. As the climax is approached and themes of torture and cold blooded murder converge, the counterpoint of string music does not entirely compliment and support the rhythms and intentions of the actors. It seems to negate and distract from them, undermining their potential to affect as profoundly as they could.

This rich work has much to recommend it and on opening night was received with loud affirming enthusiasm.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)