Category: Performances

Musical Theatre, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Amity Dry in MOTHER, WIFE AND THE COMPLICATED LIFE

Reality TV star turns music theatre mum

By Jessica Cornish

Swapping her reno boots for stage shoes, Amity Dry the 2013 Block All Stars winner has written and produced her premiere musical comedy, Mother, Wife and The Complicated Life, exploring the not-so-glamorous side of motherhood and marriage.

Following the lives of four female friends, we learn how each woman is struggling to juggle her own situation. Kate (played by Amity) finds herself pregnant to a man she has only been with six months, and feels that motherhood is consistently beyond her.

Mother Wife and the Complicated Life

Meanwhile, Lily (Rosanne Hosking) is believed to have the perfect marriage but business finds her relationship crumbling, Jessie (Rachel McCall) is the young newlywed bridezilla who is determined to maintain her sex life and not become a boring grumpy mother, and finally Bec (Nikki Aitken, who stole the show) provides comic relief as she gets on with all the everyday, thankless tasks that a mother just does.

Disappointingly, the production side of the show struggled at this venue. Several audio cues were missed, leaving cast talking without amplification, and the lighting was poorly focused, creating patchy dark spots across the stage. Some of the staging was odd whereupon on numerous occasions the cast were performing with their back to the audience: it would have been nice to see their faces rather than their back sides.

However, don’t get me wrong! The crowd really loved this show: the audience were consistently laughing and cheering through the performance, so I don’t think they were affected by the technical issues.

The songs were cheeky and blunt, but then serious when needed with some beautiful four-part harmonies. All the performers were excellent singers, and with the majority of them coming from strong musical-theatre backgrounds, their individual performances were faultless.

Mother,Wife and The Complicated Life will be performed tonight at 8pm at Karralyka Theatre in Ringwood East, before heading up to Sydney and Adelaide.

 

SYDNEY: Everest Theatre

Date: 23 May- 1 June, Wed – Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm

Tickets: $59.50, Conc $55.50, VIP $89.50

Bookings: 02 9351 7940

 

ADELAIDE: Star Theatre

Date: 7 June, 8pm

Tickets: $49.50, Conc $44.50

Bookings: http://www.motherwifemusical.com/events/Default.aspx?EventGroupID=1

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Nijala Sun’s NO CHILD

Compelling school tale reaches new audiences

By Myron My

I missed Nijala Sun’s No Child when it was first performed during the Melbourne Festival in 2012 so when I heard Theatreworks was bringing it back this year for a limited run I jumped at the chance to see it and am extremely glad and grateful I had the opportunity.

No Child

No Child revolves around a new enthusiastic tenth-grade teacher at a rough Bronx high-school in New York where the children run circles round their educators. Miss Sun has a vision of these students performing Our Country’s Good, a play about British convicts on the first fleet. Ironically, the more we see of life in this school – and the students’ lives in general – disheartening parallels can be drawn between the two environments.

The unique thing about this production is the minimalist approach Sun employs in telling this story. There are only four chairs on stage and minimal props, no costume changes and Sun portrays all the sixteen characters. Her detail and commitment to each and every character’s physicality and personality is impressive and the transformations between them are flawless. Along with the strong story, No Child is therefore full of visual delights and thought-provoking dialogue and issues.

These issues are problems teachers face every day: how to engage children who – on the surface – don’t want to be engaged. Sun looks at this from various points of view and she questions how we can inspire students and have then feel safe enough to take risks, when we have all this testing and accountability to contend with. However, Sun doesn’t get preachy and tell us what we need to be doing, but her work encourages discourse on the matter with all – especially with children.

Adding to the performance is Mark Barton’s lighting, whose work created another layer of emotion into the show. The light changes happened quite subtly but with much effect, especially with the more emotive scenes at the end. Hal Brooks’ direction is strong and gives much support whilst also allowing much freedom for Sun to do what she does.

Despite the fact No Child is a commentary on the New York City public school system, it’s fair to say that anyone involved in the education system here will find relevance in the issues raised. If you haven’t seen this show you need to do everything you can to make sure you do. We all could learn a little something.

Venue: Theatreworks, 14 Acland St, St Kilda

Season: Until 26 May | Tues-Sat 8:00pm, Wed-Thurs 1:00pm and Sun 5:00pm

Tickets: $45 Full | $35 Conc and under 30

Bookings: 9534 3388 or www.theatreworks.org.au

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Bangarra Dance Company’s BLAK

Traditional and contemporary clash and coalesce

By Tania Herbert

Founded in 1989, the Bangarra Dance Company has been heralded as one of the most important Indigenous performance groups in Australia, and it’s easy to see why with their newest work, Blak.

Blak takes the audience members on a journey of exploration of what it means to be an Indigenous Australian in modern society, with several stories through dance depicting stories of men and women caught in a clash of cultures old and new.

BangarraDanceTheatrePresentsBlak

The show opens with seven men in hoodies and skinny jeans- urbanized, disenfranchised and often violent, dancing an urban corroboree caught out of place and time. Through dynamic explosions of movement, we see the men slowly revert from lost inner city boys to men celebrating their traditional culture.

From the men we move to the women- and see a reverse story of women first from the sea, then moving to the village and into modern society  Equally engaging and impassioned, the piece deals with strong and emotive issues of women being silenced in modern society, a mother mourning the difficulties of passing on her culture to her daughters, and the fear of speaking out.

For me, however, the highlight of the performance was the following piece- where we saw men and women come together equally. Barely able to be differentiated from one another, the partner work was beautiful and uplifting. The performance closes with a stunning rain effect, and if the standing ovation of opening night was any indication, the audience was able to connect with the plethora of emotions portrayed by an amazingly talented troupe of dancers.

This is well and truly a contemporary dance show– the basic concepts are communicated clearly, but some of the complexities of the stories being told were not always so clear. However, when dancing is this beautiful, it is easy to just sit back and absorb.

The soundscape by composer David Page is an engaging as the dancing, with deep electronic beats interwoven with a haunting score, sounds of indigenous instruments, and stories told in English, Creole and Language. Costumes were beautifully designed and the onstage costume changes between modern and traditional presentation (including application of body paint) greatly added to the immersion experience.

Blak is playing at the Playhouse, Melbourne Arts Centre, and will then be touring in NSW. See website for more details: www.bangarra.com.au

Melbourne performances:

Tues 7 May, 6.30pm

8 – 11 May 2013, 8pm

Saturday 11 May, 2pm matinee

Tickets: $29 – $89

Bookings: http://artscentremelbourne.com.au or call 1300 182 183

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Mockingbird Theatre’s HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE

Steering audiences into daring but dark theatre

By Ross Larkin

Melbourne’s Mockingbird Theatre are fast building a reputation for tackling challenging, confronting and somewhat heavy-handed works – a risk for even the most iconic and established theatre companies to consider.

Drive - Jason Cavanagh and Sarah Reuben jpg 2

It would be reasonable to question whether such a choice were wise in a relatively young collaborative.

Incest, mental illness, homophobia, sex and violence have been the hot subject matters of late for Mockingbird; the mere suggestion of which would drive the less brave to contemplate a Wizard of Oz remake.

An astonishing relief, therefore, to not only feel comfortable Mockingbird can pull it off, but to know they can, and have, knocked it out of the park.

How I Learned to Drive, by American playwright Paula Vogel, is arguably the closest to the bone Mockingbird have ventured to conquer thus far. The 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning script, examines perhaps the heaviest and most controversial of issues imaginable. Pedophilia.

Not a subject many of us care to discuss, let alone be subjected to head on in theatrical format. However, herein lies the success of the play. It delicately and subtly unpacks the story of a teenage girl, affectionately referred to as Lil’Bit, growing up in Maryland, during which time, her uncle Peck teaches her to drive.

Some of the most poignant moments of the play evolve from the insinuating language, as Uncle Peck warns her of the dangerous drivers on the road, and how to defend herself as a driver. Truth be told, the real monster is right beside her in the vehicle, grooming and brain-washing, to later take advantage of her in various calculated ways.

While her Aunty insists Lil’Bit “knows exactly what she is doing”, and cries about wanting “her husband back”, How I Learned to Drive becomes Lil’Bit’s struggle to defend herself against, not only her predator, but the scorning, victim-bashing tongues of the time.

Sarah Reuben is exceptional as Lil’Bit, portraying innocence and fear with a believability that moves and disturbs, while the equally engaging and nuanced performance by Jason Cavanagh as Peck, will send tingles down your spine.

Meanwhile, viewers battle between hatred and pity over such an unhinged, yet somehow frail character as Peck, who is, apparently oblivious to the horror of preying on the teenage girl he claims to love.

A remarkable supporting cast, and the usual firm direction from Chris Baldock, makes How I Learned to Drive another proud notch in the Mockingbird belt, and one certainly not to be missed.

How I Learned to Drive is playing now at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick, Tuesdays to Saturdays 8pm from May 3 – 18, 2013. Bookings via Trybooking.com or bookings@mockingbirdtheatre.com.au

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: The Graduates Present CRUISING PARADISE

Seeking connections and searching for identity

By Myron My

Cruising Paradise

Cruising Paradise by Terence O’Connell takes a number of Sam Shepard’s (American writer, playwright, actor, and television and film director) short prose tales and stages them as a variety of monologues and scenes. Presented by graduates of The National Theatre Drama School in St Kilda and performed at fortyfivedownstairs, the piece is certainly an interesting and ambitious project.

Shepard is well known for creating environments of loss, desolation and solitude in his stories which Cruising Paradise is able to convey, but it is at the loss of allowing the audience to remain fully engaged with the piece. Part of the problem is that too many stories are performed; Shepard’s stories are already so rich and demanding for an audience that it just felt unnecessary to have so many similar stories on stage in such a short time.

Furthermore, there is little differentiation between how the majority of the monologues are delivered, which made it difficult to follow some stories. It’s quite a shame as the cast (Mandie Combe, William Ewing, Camille Meghaizel, Lucy Norton and James Stanistreet) have clearly put significant thought and effort into their roles, with notable mentions going to the more senior members of the company Meghaizel and Combe, who embrace their characters with much gusto.

The stories that did work well were therefore the ones that had the actors interacting with each other in some way or where there was a slight costume change that greatly assisted in distinguishing between different tales. Unfortunately this did not happen throughout the night.

The musical interludes were entertaining to watch and a nice break from all the monologues. The composition by Paul Norton was well-suited to the voices of the three main singers Combe, Ewing and Meghaizel.

Overall, the stories in Cruising Paradise dealt well with themes of lonely people who are looking for a connection, trying to figure out who they are and searching for an identity. I only wish the show itself could (instead of simply drowning us in so many of Shepard’s stories) have had some of that insight and been able to give each tale individuality, while drawing all the pieces into a whole.

Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Season: Until 12 May | Tues-Sat 8:00pm, Sun 5:00pm

Tickets: $36 Full | $28 Conc

Bookings: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com or 9662 9966

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Snafu Theatre Present TEN MONTHS IN A COLD TOWN

Spy thriller hits the bullseye

By Myron My

SNAFU Theatre is back with their eighth production Ten Months in a Cold Town. In it, a man (James Gand-Hunt) enters a woman’s (Samantha Hill) house. They are both spies and he is there to receive some important documents. We watch as they wait for a fax transmission to come through before the documents are handed over…

Who is telling the truth? Is everyone who they say they are?

Ten Months In a Cold Town

Sam Wilson and May Jasper have written an intriguing and captivating script. I particularly enjoyed watching as scenes went from comedic and light-hearted to dark and serious quite fluidly and unexpectedly. The further we progress with the play, the more extreme the pendulum swung between these two contrasting genres and moods. It’s not until we are introduced to Irina (Cazz Bainbridge) that the story comes full-circle.

The scenes in Russian are intriguing to watch as you are left to your own devices to translate what is being said. Despite the fact I speak no Russian, the actors seemed quite comfortable with the language and apparently spoke fluently, and should be congratulated on their efforts.

This is predominantly a character piece rather than a narrative piece and with Gand-Hunt and Hill on stage from beginning to end, there is a lot riding on them being able to pull these characters off and they do exceptionally well.

There are touches of Waiting for Godot during the lighter moments in which the actors both appeared most comfortable, as the two spies discuss their time at “spy school” and their experience of marriage. However, during the more intense moments, I felt there could have been a push to explore their darker natures through emotions and reactions.

Overall, Ten Months in a Cold Town has a strong script and strong performances. It doesn’t answer all your questions but this is not a bad thing as it’s nice to not always be spoon-fed a story, and my friend and I spent some time discussing what we believe had happened – and was going to happen…

Venue: Industrial School, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford

Season: Until 4 May | Thurs-Sat 7:30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc

Bookings:http://www.trybooking.com/CPIG

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Stand-Up Comedy, Whats On

Review: THOMAS GREEN’s Sign of the Times

Openness, intimacy, and comic ease

By Myron My

You’d be forgiven if you thought all comedy during the last few weeks was part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but you would also be wrong. When Thomas Green – fresh from his Adelaide Fringe Show – slinked into Melbourne to perform a few intimate gigs of his show Sign of the Times at The Owl and the Pussycat I decided to take a punt and I was not disappointed.

The thing I enjoyed most about Green’s show was the engaging use of the everyday normalities of life to create his stories and insights, including his job as a casual relief teacher, his marriage and an unfortunate encounter involving his parents – although perhaps this one isn’t an everyday occurrence for most people! It all comes to a hilarious end with Green confessing to us his biggest phobia in life and how he overcame it.

Thomas Green

I never usually take into consideration the number of audience members in a show – it is about quality and not quantity – but with only five people present this particular evening, I was interested to see how Green would handle this. Green asked us for our names and had a chat with us and really created the vibe of us all just being a group of friends catching up for beers and pizza.

At times during Green’s conversations with us, it felt like we were diverting from his material, but he always successfully managed to use these moments not only to create humour, but to eventually bring the show back on track. It is a testament to Green’s confidence and easy ability to make us laugh when he opens himself up so freely to spontaneity and open dialogue with his audience.

Billed as a 50-minute show, we were in the theatre for almost an hour and a half. At times I wasn’t sure if we were watching Green’s original act or if we were chatting. Either way, Sign of the Times was 90 minutes of enjoyment and laughter. Green is definitely one to look out for at next year’s
festivals.

Venue: The Owl and the Pussycat, 34 Swan St, Richmond

Season: Until 20 April | 8:00pm

Tickets: $20

Bookings: http://www.owlandcat.com.au/adelaidefringereview.html or at the door

Events, Festivals, Music, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Matt Dyktynski and Bang Mango Cools in EDIBLE PETS

Guaranteed good festival fun

By Tania Herbert

As an audience member, you are one of “The Keno Dancers” waiting for your performance at the Mordialloc Welcome Club. Sharing your backstage green room are Matt and Mango – the wannabe rock duo Edible Pets. Disgruntled musician Matt “Dyk-something-ski” and his sidekick Bang Mango Cools (name changed after a mind-altering trip to Thailand… despite being a middle-class bloke from Diamond Valley) are about to perform their final show, and it’s not exactly in style in the back room of an outer-suburbs pokies venue.

Edible Pets

We travel with Matt and Mango on their journey back through 25 years of musical mediocrity: from 80s’ teens to 90s’ try-hard rappers, to naughties’ new-agers and finally the low point of X-Factor wannabees.

Edible Pets: The Farewell Tour for MICF is nicely constructed, has good flow, great pace and comedy, and lovely audience interaction. Mango played the “Silent Bob” of the duo beautifully, with superb coming timing and understated humor in nice contrast to Matt’s tirade against the world.

The little snippets of song throughout added to the sense of pace and were well-executed, though there seemed to be a few missed comic opportunities in some of the music. However, the “pay off” song at the conclusion of the show was well worth the wait, and Mango’s description of his masterpiece- “It’s f’ing anthetic”- is well deserved.

If you’re in town for the comedy run, this is a good one to chuck on the list. Sweet, light, and personable, it’s like watching a couple of your funniest mates messing around with guitars and awesomely bad mullet wigs. And it’s probably the only time you’ll get the opportunity to see someone rap “the Little Drummer Boy”.

Edible Pets: The Farewell Tour can be seen at The Victoria Hotel 28 March – 21 April, Tues-Sat 8:30pm, Sun 7:30pm.Ticketmaster 1300 660 013, www.comedyfestival.com.au

Events, Music, Performances, Review

Review: ERIC WHITACRE In Concert

Utterly beguiling

By Jessica Cornish

Eric Whitacre, complete with a cheeky smile and armed with a ridiculous amount of charm enchanted his audience on Saturday night.

Eric Whitacre

The young American composer conducted numerous original works and more traditional orchestral and choral pieces, performed by the Choir of Trinity College and the Monash Sinfonia.

Before every piece commenced Eric explained with passion and humour the story and significance behind each song, giving his grateful audience a deeper insight into the music.

Stand-outs and crowd-favourites composed and conducted by this golden-haired boy were “Five Hebrew Love Songs” and “Animal Crackers“, as well as Bach’s beautiful “Come Sweet Death“, which saw Whitacre stand aside, letting the choir members sing at their own pace and creating an eerie and oddly intriguing piece.

“Five Hebrew Songs” was created fifteen years ago, inspired by his ‘hot Israeli girlfriend’ at the time. Whitacre explained he had asked her to create five short Hebrew poems on the backs of different post cards, and then set these beautiful lyrics to music. Fifteen years later the couple are still together, and very much in love. Clearly besotted by his wife he consistently blew kisses to her, and passionately dedicated numerous numbers to her.

“Animal Crackers” was a quirky musical anthology which had the audiences in stitches. It was a series of short original compositions based on various animal poems by Ogden Nash. Stories included the cow, the firefly, panda and appropriately the kangaroo- ‘that should be grateful it was not transmuted by a boomerang, otherwise it would be turned in to a morang.’ As Whitacre created these intriguing little bits of comedy, he related how he would consult with his five year-old son to check whether they were in fact funny or not.

Overall his show was a delight. The choir sang beautifully, and the orchestra were seamless. Watching Eric Whitacre conduct was mesmerizing: it was like watching some strange bird dance in the wild, with flowing hand gestures and occasional little stamps and backside twists. The beauty of Whitacre is that he was so engaging and passionate about his music that he was able to make the audience feel that same love and amazement that he does when experiencing it.

Eric Whitacre In Concert was performed on Saturday 13 April at Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University

Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Graaahm’s DON’T LOOK AT ME

Poetry to ponder…

By Myron My

Don’t Look At Me for MICF stars performance artist Graaahm (Amy Bodossian) – yes, that’s Graaahm with three a’s. Throughout the course of the show Graaahm performs a number of poems and songs for her audience and gives us an insight into her life.

Graaahm’s word play was actually quite intelligent and well thought-out. Hearing her witty rhyming and clever combination of very different ideas into single words was interesting but it didn’t stop this show from becoming very difficult to follow and understand where Graaahm was going with it.

Don't Look At Me

This was in fact the most frustrating thing about Don’t Look At Me – I simply did not know what I was watching. There seemed to be no point to it. As a reviewer, I always ask myself, what is the artist attempting to do? – and I was at a loss here. I walked out of the show – once Graaahm informed the audience that it was over and we could leave – with no more clue as to its purpose as when I walked in.

Visually, the show is rather good. The stage is adorned with a myriad of objects and decorations which are incorporated into the show – even if it is for a few seconds, including that very interesting portrait of Graaahm’s grandmother. Graaahm’s outfit is also something to behold – with many thanks to what I assume is very strong body tape.

There were moments of improvisation in Graaahm’s Don’t Look At Me which worked well, and would rate as the more memorable parts of her show. Her acknowledgement of what was going on outside of the space and bringing it into the show was well executed.

Bodossian definitely possesses talent, skill and wit, but it didn’t come across as well as it could have in this Melbourne International Comedy Festival show.

Venue: The Tuxedo Cat, 17-23 Wills Street

Season: Until 21 April | Mon-Tues, Thurs-Sat 10:45pm, Sun 9:45pm

Tickets: $20 Full | $15 Conc

Bookings: www.ticketmaster.com.au, www.tuxedocat.com.au, or at the door