Category: Events

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION

Poignant and personal theatre at its best

By Kate Boston Smith

MTC’s production of Circle Mirror Transformation is sleek, perfectly timed and beautiful.  American writer Annie Baker has crafted a poignant play about four unlikely characters signed up for a six-week acting course.  Director Aidan Fennessy has stripped back any of the hyperbole of theatre and left us with real characters and situations that we can relate to and truly care about.

© Photo by Paul Dunn

Set in the dream-catcher that is a community college, short, sharp scenes are played out over the duration of the acting course.  The classes are run by the free-spirited, enthusiastic Marty played by Deidre Ruberstein who guides her four students, shy sixteen-year old Lauren (Brigid Gallacher), recently divorced Schultz (Ben Grant), femme fatale Theresa (Kate Cole) and James (Roger Oakley) her dutiful husband.

The group runs through a range of abstract acting exercises that help them focus in and open up to the task at hand.  Absolutely absurd to watch, the audience, (who have likely participated in these kind of games at acting school or corporate team-building days) delighted in seeing these activities played out on stage. Baker combines numerous moments of stillness with snappy dialogue that unravels the story with exact precision.  We watch as these five characters open and connect like flowers on a vine. 

© Photo by Paul Dunn

Casting is divine, with direction that was perfectly timed.  Staging and props were kept to a minimum, which was ideal for this situation as smaller moments were not lost in the wash of production.   There were several times where a mere eyebrow raised by Theresa or slight head drop from Schultz could bring the audience to tears.  It was the combination of these minute physical details and extremely considered conversations between characters that wove a rich and seamless show. 

Particularly heart-warming are the different points through the piece when one character introduces themself as another, describing who they are, what they do and why they are enrolled in the class.  At these instances we see not only how a character has viewed a fellow classmate, but also the empathy they share with them.   Watching, we are reminded of when we have put ourselves into vulnerable situations and how a little encouragement has meant the world or an unlikely friend  – or a moving theatre experience – can warmly affect our lives.

Melbourne Theatre Company presents
Circle Mirror Transformation
by Annie Baker

Director Aidan Fennessy

Venue: The MTC Theatre, Lawler Studio | 140 Southbank Blvd Southbank, VIC
Dates: August 17 – September 17, 2011
Tickets: from $35 (Under 30s $25)
Bookings: MTC Theatre Box Office (03)8688 0800 | mtc.com.au

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Performances, Review

REVIEW: Emily Taylor and Scott Brennan in IS THIS YOUR LIFE?

Improvisation + cabaret = a great night of comedy!

By Kate Boston-Smith

As you walk into the ever-gorgeous and oh-so intimate space of The Butterfly Club’s showroom, there is electricity in the air. 

Already on stage, performers Emily Taylor and Scott Brennan with accompanist Gordon Dorin are primed and ready.  Such is the energy and connection between the three that Taylor and Brennan literally cannot stand in stillness. 

Stalking the stage like playful lion cubs ready to pounce, these highly skilled performers are itching to grab their audience, and lovingly get them involved in the piece.  And this they do with generosity, care and feather-in-the-ear tickling play. 

Obviously seasoned improv artists (Taylor and Brennan from Spontaneous Broadway, Dorin from Impro Melbourne), these three have an unspoken understanding and pitch-perfect musical intuition together.  

Their joint performances of spontaneous song and invented narrative come from the seamless interweaving of offers from audience conversations generated in the first ten minutes of the show. It is beautiful to observe how they listen to each other and us, and to see how they then develop the story on the spot. 

Their musicality is matched by their imagination and the audience travels with them as they paint very detailed imagery with their stories and songs.  Brennan, a crackerjack to watch, oozes character and wit. 

Dorin on piano is heavenly to listen to, and is so incredibly in synch with the other two performers that you would think each song has been rehearsed several times over.  The only time his eyes were not on the performers was when he dropped his head to laugh at the spontaneous hilarities happening on stage: always a delight to see!

Last, but by no means least, Emily Taylor performs with a constant twinkle in her eye.  With cool dexterity she switches between characters and unabashedly creates and explores the most absurd scenarios. 

In this instance, her adoption of a human-sized bunny moving through society is both ridiculous and incredible.  She is a fearless performer, and deserves the rewards the audience throw to her. 

Is This Your Life? is a great piece for those who love to see a little bit of themselves on stage.  These three performers are brilliant at their craft, and clearly enjoy what they do and achieve, making this show is a joy to watch. 

Date: Thurs 25 to Sun 28 August


Time: Thur – Sat at 9pm, Sun at 8pm 


Tickets: $22/$18

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com


Duration: 60 min approx

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: CAFE SCHEHERAZADE

Unexpectedly moving…

By Anastasia Russell-Head

Cafe Scheherazade is a tale of survival, of hope, of culture, place and time. Based on Arnold Zable’s novel of the same name, this play tells the story of proprietors Masha and Avram Zeleznikow and three regulars at their café in 1990s St Kilda. They all emigrated to Australia as Jewish refugees after World War II and come together five decades later to tell their stories to a young journalist, Martin.

Drawing both laughs and tears from the audience (for me the image of a young exiled Jewish boy in Shanghai discovering an old man practicing Tai Chi in the misty dawn was unexpectedly moving), the importance of telling and knowing history is revealed and debated as the protagonists slowly reveal their moving personal stories.

Performances from the cast were uniformly strong, with Richard Bligh and Marta Kaczmarek especially standing out. The staging at fortyfivedownstairs evoked the modest post-war styling of the café, with its vinyl seating and laminate tables. Unfortunately sometimes the clarity of speech was lost in the “boomy” space, but otherwise Adrienne Chisholm’s deceptively simple design was very successful, with the audience surrounding the action on three sides.

Music is used to great effect in this production, with Ernie Gruner and Justin Marshall providing a superb Klezmer-based live soundtrack.

The story of displaced people escaping persecution and building a new home in a foreign country is particularly relevant in Australia today, and the stories told in this play take on a new poignancy in light of recent political debate. Engaging, affecting, and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.

Café Scheherazade

A play based on the novel by Arnold Zable

Written by Therese Radic

Directed by Bagryana Popov

Fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane

Until 11 September

Tuesday – Saturday 8pm

Sunday 5pm

Matinees 2pm Wed 24 & 31 Aug

4pm Sat 27 Aug & 3 Sep

$45 / $40 / $37.50

Bookings: 03 9662 9966 or www.fortyfivedownstairs.com

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: N3rd Girl Versus The Zombie Apocalypse

The zombies are finally here!

by Kate Boston Smith

N3rd Girl Versus the Zombie Apocalypse is the debut performance for Jen Coles. Self-proclaimed nerd and zombie-flick lover Coles transforms the ever-gorgeous Butterfly Club showroom to an apocalypse-survival bunker where zombies are a very real and a literal threat. 

Taking the role as ‘leader’ Coles is fully equipped with facts, tips, instructions and imitation artillery….(very cute). 

For the zombie uninitiated (such as myself) she takes us through a thorough information session complete with song and group audience participation (beware the faint of heart!). The lengthy introduction to the world of zombie awakening soon gives way to some very clever songs about what to do and how to cope in these new surroundings.

Rowland Brache on piano is not only a gorgeous accompanist but brilliant co-actor.  The play between the pair is effortless and sweet.  You can tell that together they have had great fun devising these moments and one can only imagine the antics and hilarity that ensued during the rehearsal process.

On a side note, the performance felt like it lacked a certain urgency. Perhaps more fear in the character, more fuller electricity, is needed to really propel the zombie experience forward. That said, it was opening night and I am sure Coles will “feel the fire” of the brain-eating apocalypse as the season progresses. 

Coles’ songs grew and grew throughout the piece.  My favourite moment was her heart-warming and hilarious ballad of love to an unsuspecting audience member. This was on par to the grand finale, which was a romping good time in itself. There is nothing like a few surprises saved til the very end to leave your audience grinning with delight.

This is a cabaret for those who love their zombies, musicals and fantasy served on a cranium-platter….

Mmmm, brains!

 

N3rd Girl Versus the Zombie Apocalypse

Written and  performed by Jen Coles

Directed by Kim Edwards

Accompanied by Rowland Brache

Fri – Sat 7pm, 6pm Sunday

Tix $22/19/18 group

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Cabaret, Events, Festivals, Opportunities, Whats On

Submissions Now Open For SHORT+SWEET CABARET 2011

So… what can you do with ten minutes?

This month marks the annual return of one of the most exciting and challenging cabaret opportunities Melbourne has to offer, as submissions open for this year’s Short+Sweet Cabaret.

The ‘biggest little play festival in the world’ also includes theatre, dance and song programs, but Short+Sweet Cabaret has proven to be a particularly creative and invigorating development for the festival in Melbourne.

As the festival’s name suggests, successful applicants only have ten minutes in which to perform their cabaret piece and showcase their talents.

Whether it’s burlesque or vaudeville, hilariously comic or thrillingly creepy, New York-style or cabaret noir, festival director Emma Clair Ford (herself an accomplished and award-winning Melbourne cabaret artist) is welcoming submissions in any cabaret form. 

Short+Sweet Cabaret Festival 2011 will be held at Chapel Off Chapel in Prahran from October 26th to November 6th.

The festival functions as a platform for artists to present new, emerging and recent works to both industry professionals and an enthusiastic audience, and Ford has revealed that she is particularly looking for ‘fresh and well thought-out ideas’.

Porcelin Punch: Photo by Rebecca Humphries

There are not only the judges’ and people’s choice awards to be won, but Short+Sweet is also an invaluable chance to gain significant recognition and explore further networking and performance possibilities.

Previous festival winners and participants have included Porcelin Punch Travelling Medicine Show (pictured), song-writer and comedian Geraldine Quinn, Chants Des Catecombes’ Anna Boulic, Hannah Williams as Mercedes Benz and The Jane Austen Argument‘s Tom Dickins.

To enter a submission:

  • Simply email a 100 word or less description of your proposed 10-minute cabaret concept to emma@shortandsweet.org
  • Include your name, phone number, cast and creative team, and a list of any props, technical and musical requirements.

Submissions close on Friday September 9th 2011.

For more information please visit www.shortandsweet.org

Cabaret, Events, Performances, Whats On

N3RD GIRL VERSUS THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: A Cabaret

Next week the dead will rise…!

In case you haven’t heard, our world is about to be overrun by brain-hungry zombies.

Lots of them.

Luckily for you, N3rd Girl Jen Coles is here to help you survive this impending apocalypse with an hilarious horror cult cabaret in homage to zombie film classics, gaming culture, and all those things that go “Grr Argh” in the night…

From Night of the Living Dead and 28 Days Later to Resident Evil and Call of Duty, Coles calls the show ‘her lovesong to nerd culture’ with songs from such diverse sources as R.E.M, Jonathon Coulton, Weird Al and the soundtrack of L.A. Noire.

Preparing for the apocalypse hasn’t been all hot photo shoots, and fun and gaming however.

Filming of the short videos that punctuate the show was plagued not by zombies, but by the crowd of interested brain-dead bystanders who kept accidently kept shambling into shot…

(Check out the preview HERE)

Coles is a recent graduate of both Box Hill’s music theatre program and the Melbourne Cabaret course, and this, her quirky debut show, may just unleash your inner zombie-hunter and save you from a horrible undead death.

We have learned the last remaining bunker for humans who survive the initial outbreak will be The Butterfly Club next week: 7pm Thur-Sat Aug 11-13, 6pm Sun Aug 14. 

Entrance is only $22/$18, and you don’t want to be left outside the perimeter when the doors are closed, so book your place NOW. Your life may depend on it.

 

N3rd Girl Versus the Zombie Apocalypse by Jen Coles

Accompanied by the Man in the Hat, Rowland Brache

Directed by Kim Edwards

The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne

 

N3rd Girl Online

On Facebook

In the News

 

(You should come, you know. If you want to stay alive…)

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: OBSERVE THE SONS OF ULSTER MARCHING TOWARDS THE SOMME

A brave war effort in theatre

By Anastasia Russell-Head

This new Melbourne production of Frank McGuinness’ iconic play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme visually transports us to another place and time.

From the moment we entered the theatre space at the Brunswick Mechanics’ Institute and were confronted with a mist-shrouded cross-shaped catwalk-style stage, the somber palette and earthy textures of World War I set the mood very effectively.

Telling the story of eight young Northern Irish soldiers who are thrown together by circumstance, and who must navigate their own fears and prejudices, this play is compelling in its subject-matter but yet left me strangely unsatisfied. There were some fine performances from the ensemble cast, who bravely took up the challenge of the Irish accents, and Dan Walls is to be commended for his portrayal of the subversive Kenneth Pyper. Nicholas Brien also showed depth and sensitivity as the young blacksmith David Craig.

The play itself is a little heavy-handed – as The Guardian’s Michael Billington writes, McGuinness puts an “excessive emphasis on an apparent Ulster death-wish”. The shortcomings in the script, coupled with perhaps some lack of subtlety in direction, prevented this story from fulfilling its potential to be truly moving. Lighter comedic moments really hit the mark, however, evoking genuine laughs from the audience, and providing a bitter-sweet counterpoint to the main plot.

Visually and spatially this production is quite successful. Having the audience in the round gives visual depth and interesting angles from which to view the action, and I enjoyed the surprising moments of intimacy which this offered. This stage layout is of course much more challenging for sight lines and lighting – a challenge that was generally met very well.

Hoy Polloy has taken the challenge of a tough ensemble play – a work not without its flaws – and has produced a solid production supported by an excellent cast of young actors. If you want to see the next generation of leading men strut their stuff, this is the show to see.

Featuring: Nicholas Brien, Angus Brown, Karl Cottee, Kevin Dee, Mathew Gelsumini, Tosh Greenslade, David Passmore, Ian Rooney & Dan Walls

Season runs until 13 August, 8pm Tue to Sat

Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre (cnr Sydney & Glenlyon Rd, Brunswick)

$30 /$24/$20 Tue

Bookings www.trybooking.com

 Enquiries 9005 6734

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Le Gateau Chocolat (UK)

His motto? “In drag, but not a drag!”

By Kim Edwards

On his opening night for this year’s Melbourne Cabaret Festival, UK cabaret sensation and star of La Clique Le Gateau Chocolat got a standing ovation from his wolf-whistling, foot-stamping and highly delighted audience.

Even the demure middle-aged lady to whom he had given the vigorous and pelvis-thrusting lap dance, the young guy who had earlier made the ‘wrong’ choice of dance over song, and the poor straight man he’d made joyous fun off in the front row were on their feet applauding until their hands were sore.

Melbourne announced emphatically that they loved this plump, pleasurable  and piquant performer, and with his grandiose voice and outlandish personality, there is certainly plenty in this performance to enjoy.

Le Gateau Chocolat is everything that’s fabulous about drag, but with his revealing one-piece lycra suit, his beard surmounted by spectacularly beautiful makeup and luscious lashes, and his rich and rumbling bass-baritone voice, this diva is not at all about female impersonation.

His performance, like his ridiculous and glorious wardrobe, is shameless in calling attention to anything and showing off everything. The show exploits all the classic cabaret diva cliches, and his relentless showtune song list is an exemplar of everything cabaret performers should normally avoid – but the wonderful charm of his outrageous character and the fabulous musical arrangements that showcase his beefy and beautiful baritone sound were triumphant crowd-pleasers.

Accompanied by an excellent pianist and cellist, and starring alongside his beloved costume rail Bruce and over-sized suitcases of lycra, Gateau is all dolled up to feed your showtune cabaret and sugary chocolate addictions.

Le Gateau Chocolat’s final solo show is tonight 23 July at 8.30pm in the Grand Hall of South Melbourne Town Hall, but you can also have your cake and hear him too tomorrow night for the festival’s Big Gay Cabaret Sunday Finale! See www.melbournecabaret.com for the details…

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: HEY WORLD, HERE I AM – The Streisand Story

Australian artist Avigail Herman celebrates our favourite Funny Girl

By Kate Boston-Smith

 There is no faulting Avigail Herman’s vocal ability and technique. A mainstay of Australian music and theatre, people are more likely to recognize her voice than her name, and it is with this exceptional voice and her tremendous talent that she channels Streisand into the room with us for this year’s Melbourne Cabaret Festival. 

Performing in a difficult space, Herman opens her heart through the songs of Barbra Streisand to her audience. Herman is a true professional in every sense of the word. This show is classic and sleek and Herman is as intelligent as she is talented. 

As the show title suggests, she tell stories of Streisand and her 40-year career while flawlessly covering her beloved and expansive body of music, including classics we all know and love to more obscure numbers that are playful and fun.

Lovers and fans of the stage and Hollywood diva will be on the edge of their seat as each song starts, and again when it finishes as there no knowing where Herman is going to take us next on this journey. The Streisand-uninitiated will enjoy learning about this incredible woman, all she has achieved and where she has come from. 

Songs are breath-taking and wonderfully recognizable.  At times I heard audience members singing along, tapping their feet and at one point, holding their beloveds in romantic embraces.

It was a beautiful show, and ideal for those wanting to be transported to a New York cabaret lounge for an hour of the wintery evening.

Performed by Avigail Herman and accompanied by Peter Bailey

Tonight and Sunday 24 July, 9.15pm


Tickets: $38 / $35


The Liber Room next to the South Melbourne Library (opposite Town Hall)

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: The Tiger and Me, and The Nymphs

Speakeasy vagabonds and wartime songbirds

By Kim Edwards

Indie-pop meets wartime swing harmonies as The Tiger and Me, a stunning and atmospheric band of great vocalists and multi-instrumentalists, and The Nymphs, a female quartet with sensational harmonies and style, join forces for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival.

Merging the astonishing talents last night of artists Jane Hendry, Ade Vincent, Tobias Selkirk, Gerard Mason, Tim Keegan, Sarah Galdes, Clare Hendry, Rebekah Chapman and Kelly Day was beautifully slick and musically sophisticated as the groups both traded songs and joined together to perform swing, jazz, torch songs, and elegant indie reinterpretations of unexpected music from the last seventy years.

The atmosphere created was exactly right for a smoky and seductive speakeasy, with simple clever costuming, a wonderful variety of instruments and voices blending sensually, and some sleek and sultry standout numbers such as Brother Can You Spare a Dime and Bei Mir Bist Du Schon.

Unfortunately however, although the musicians and vocalists were wonderfully in tune, the structure of this performance was in severe discord. With all respect to the nice older gentleman in the tux at the podium who provided the incongruous history book readings between every song, the clunky and incongruous lecture-like introductions and overhead projections constantly and irrevocably broke the delicately-evoked mood, and undermined any chance for us to get lost in the musical eras explored.

Cabaret is about interactions not introductions, and integrating music and script in subtle and organic ways. With such talented performers, presenting this history of music as personal anecdotes perhaps by the costumed characters and singing to the crowded audience rather than looking over our heads would prevent the feeling of distancing and disruption that is familiar in concerts and gigs, but so alien to the cabaret genre.

These assembled ensemble of artists ready create spectactular music and atmosphere for cabaret. When their format and scripting builds rather than unsettles this in the future – they will be remarkable.

You can still catch The Tiger and me and The Nymphs tonight and tomorrow 23/24 July @ 6.45pm, though at $33 / $30, tickets are selling out fast.
Performances at The Incubator, Auspicious Arts, 228 Bank Street Sth Melbourne (next to the town hall)