Category: Review

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

REVIEW: Porcelain Punch Travelling Medicine Show

Porcelain Punch: It’s the pick of the bunch

By Deborah Langley

The Butterfly Club has been transformed from quirky little cabaret venue into a big top for the Porcelain Punch Traveling Medicine Show being performed as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2011.

The show begins in the style of a silent movie before our performers take to the stage to announce our evening’s sponsor (all great shows must have a great sponsor, right?)

This show is sponsored by Porcelain Punch If you haven’t heard of it, you will by the end of the night!

I personally am sold on its medically proven abilities: why, it’s the creme del a creme of health tonics, god bless!

The evening is hosted by two exceptional performers, MC Lenny (Luke O’Connor) & Miss Ellie Mae Rose (Madeline Hudson) who keeps the audience in wonderment as the proof of the punch is explored through the experiences of those who get to try just a sip. 

Hudson is a standout as she sings and accompanies most tunes and performs with the most wickedly expressive face that suits the era to a tee (oops, I mean ‘punch’).

Other highlights have to include when our MCs were able to cure a man from the audience of… (What was it he had? Gangrene?) One sip of the tonic and he was dancing a jig in perfect health.

Audiences are enchanted by some great sideshow characters and their unique approach to the ridiculous.

The ensemble including Alexander Gellman, Emilie Minks, Christy Flaws and Kate Boston Smith bring farcical humor, unique circus skills, hilarious satire and just a touch of magic to the stage in a night of old school entertainment at its best.

True to form, the Porcelain Punch Traveling Medicine Show is a gang of misfits that roll into town to perform their tricks with great enthusiasm and humor.

A brilliant show which I recommend you all brave the cold nights to see, before they blow out of town again.

Dates: Tues 27 Sept – Sun 2nd Oct

Times: Tues, Weds, Sun at 8pm – Thurs, Fri, Sat at 9pm

Tickets:$27, $24 conc, $23 groups 8+

The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com

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

Review: ANA-LUCIA AND THE BARON (Episode One)

Bring on Episode Two!

By Bradley Storer

Lisa Nightingale returned with one final performance of her sell-out show, Ana-Lucia and the Baron: Episode One, previously seen at The Butterfly Club and brought back as part of the Butterfly @ Trades programme last night. Entering the stage to rapturous applause, Lisa began with an eerie Sondheim-style ode to her most treasured possessions: her precious diamonds (which Ana-Lucia repeatedly tells us she most certainly did not steal from the Baron!). From start to finish, the aptly-named Nightingale held the audience in the palm of her hand.

Playing the deliciously ditzy Frenchwoman Ana-Lucia, Nightingale is shamelessly entertaining in the best possible sense. Ana-Lucia is a saucy and cunning gold-digger in the mould of Lorelei Lee from Gentleman Prefer Blondes, a comparison highlighted by Ana-Lucia’s rendition of the classic ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’ (here hilariously chained onto Travie McCoy’s ‘Billionaire). Her dubious French origin later provides the basis for a side-splitting Edith Piaf send-up which skewers every French stereotype imaginable. The enormously self-dramatizing heroine returns home while recovering from amnesia brought about by a mysterious accident – in hot pursuit is the dreaded Baron, who may or may not be her former lover. Ana-Lucia is aided during her moments of lapse by her partner-in-crime, Juan Pablo (pianist Trevor Jones) who chimes in at the appropriate moment to trigger flashbacks and lost memories.

Nightingale is a strong singer, her voice ably handling a range of songs from Cole Porter to Lady Gaga. Jones proves an appealing comic partner to her brassy but forgetful persona. Nightingale’s occasional memory lapses (not all of them scripted, I think) were quickly integrated into the comic exchanges between the two players, actually making complete sense in the context of the amnesiac character.

The real strength of the show was Ana-Lucia’s interactions with the audience, cast as the guests at Ana-Lucia’s ‘welcome home’ party. Nightingale engaged the audience in treasure hunts, party games and sing-alongs to great comic effect. She even managed to make a running gag of the continuous stream of late-comers entering the show, who were then forced to come to the front of the stage to receive party bags and hats. With such a strong command of her audience, it’s no wonder this show has sold out three previous seasons.

However, this strength also becomes a weakness at points – beginning with a series of giggle-inducing plot twists, the story meanders towards the middle of the show as the emphasis shifts to audience participation. In particular the inclusion of a Beyonce number, however funny and charmingly performed, seems unnecessary and slows down the action.

This quickly changes towards the finale of the show, ending on a climatic cliff-hanger which promises interesting revelations for Episode Two.

Ana-Lucia and the Baron (Episode One)

The New Ballroom, Trades Hall

Thur Sept 29, 7:30pm

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: MTC’s Production of CLYBOURNE PARK

A funny, confronting and fascinating look at life over the fence…

By Diana Tarr

MTC’s latest production Clybourne Park, the Pulitzer prize-winning play by Bruce Norris, is a frank and honest depiction of the racial tension in northern American cities in the 1950’s and raises the question of what, if anything, has changed in our attitudes in the subsequent years.

In 1959, in the affluent Chicago suburb of Clybourne Park, a white couple is forced to consider the impact that selling their home to a black family will have on the neighbours they are leaving behind.  Fast-forward fifty years, and a young white couple tries to go forward with their plans to demolish the same, though now sadly decrepit, house and rebuild – with considerable resistance from their soon-to-be (black) neighbours.

The set, designed by Christina Smith, included just the right details to send me straight back to the homes and neighbourhoods of my childhood in suburban Detroit: the built-in bookcases, the string dangling from the basement light, even the sound of footsteps on the carpeted stairs.

Each of the superb cast (including Patrick Brammall, Bert LaBonte, Zahra Newman, Luke Ryan and Alison Whyte). portrayed at least two unique characters, though Greg Stone and Laura Gordon produced the most convincing and dramatic transformations in mannerisms, voice and characterisations for the second act. As grieving father Russ and then forthright tradie Dan, Stone gave the stand-out performance of the night, inspiring incredulous belly laughs and shocked silences from an audience that was eating out of his hands from his first bite of Neapolitan ice cream.

There is so much of the familiar in Clybourne Park, which is at times comforting but also self-convicting: not only in acknowledging the awkward relationships and social niceties, but particularly in recognising the people with good intentions who either don’t realise or don’t want to acknowledge how much they misunderstand about the experiences of others.

By the end of the first act, I was mentally kicking myself for even considering that perhaps a few of the arguments for keeping the neighbourhood unchanged might just have a certain logic to them. By the end of the second, I was cringing by how much I recognised myself in the comments and ideals of the yuppie wife, Lindsey (Gordon). But although Clybourne Park acknowledges these feelings of confusion and guilt, it does not seem to try to invoke them – just poke fun at them.

And oh my, what fun it was!

 

Clybourne Park: The Black and White Picket Fence

17 September – 26 October

The MTC Theatre, Sumner

140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank

Tickets: $30 (29 & under); $86-$97 (full)

Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: TENDERNESS – Two Plays

Teenage years need some tenderness

By Deborah Langley

Walking into the Footscray Community Arts Centre was a little like stepping back in time into a black box, a quiet gymnasium with just a hint of white smoke. Enough equipment to know we were back at school, but not enough to imagine these kids could be in any way privileged. 

Tenderness begins with Christos Tsiolkas’ play “Ugly” – a story of three young people who love each other through epic milestones with horrific consequences. With dynamic physical performances these three actors take us into their world: a world where the boys need to be men – bigger, stronger, tougher – and the girls are either pretty or invisible. 

Matt Hickey embodies male toughness, almost enough to be frightening. This hedonism oozed teenage frustration and complete loss. Supported by brilliant performances by both Stephanie Capiron and Rebecca Mezei (who justified the setting with effortless circus-style rope work), this play was beautifully indirect, weaving physicality and narrative through the labyrinth of the teenage mind. 

In a short silence of the brilliant soundscape laced through both plays, our young boy disappears and new performer Peta Sergeant steps onto stage, offering up a new story by way of a bowl of chalk dust.

“Slut” written by Patricia Cornelius tells the female story of playground games; laughing, fighting, teasing, ostracizing. With the addition of extra ropes, we are no longer inside the gymnasium but instead taken to the battlefield of growing up and finding yourself: who you are, who you want to be and how those choices can affect the rest of your life.

The energy shift from such a strong male sense is a little jarring, but it doesn’t take long for these three amazing performers to hit their stride and pull us into this new world – a world known by too many – of sexuality and the innocence of youth combining to a frightening outcome. 

Two modern morality plays, distinct from each other in their voice and form, Ugly and Slut are pulled together with some compelling theatrical techniques, that at times are excessive, but give space to raw and powerful performances.

Tenderness– Two Plays

Performing until Sun 11 Sep 2011

8pm Tue – Sat, 5pm Sun 

Post-Show Matinee Forums (approx. 45 mins)

12pm Thu 1 Sep, Fri 2 Sep, Wed 7 Sep and Thu 8 Sep 4pm Sat 10 Sep

Footscray Community Arts Centre

45 Moreland Street, Footscray

Tickets: $20, $10 conc, $5 secondary students

Events, Musical Theatre, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Magnormos presents FLOWERCHILDREN

Welcome to the 60s…

By Maxine Montgomery

Flowerchildren traces the ups and downs of 60s group The Mamas and The Papas, and  recaptures the freedom of an era along the way. This new musical is an engaging journey through the pivotal moments and inner dynamics in the life of the group.

Writer Peter Fitzpatrick has crafted a show that captures all of the success, betrayal, passion and regret experienced by the four singers. The narration element is used well to allow each character to express their take on a particular happening, and then to fit into the scene described.

The central cast were remarkable. Each is a fabulous singer in his/her own right – combined, they created the iconic sound and tight harmonies of The Mamas and The Papas flawlessly. Casey Donovan as Mama Cass was quite the surprise of the evening. I was in no doubt that she could sing the role, but it was fabulous to see her more than hold her own in the company of three seasoned performers. Donovan’s comic timing was apparent (she had the line of the night – I will never again see a muumuu in quite the same way!) and also her ability to give gravitas and commitment to the more heartbreaking moments.

Matt Hetherington was brilliant as Papa John. He gave the role all the charisma and edge required to bring the songwriter to life. His rendition of “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers)” was, for me, a highlight of the night – his vocals gave the piece sweetness and desperation all at once.

Dan Humphris, as Papa Denny, has a beautiful voice with great range and the technique to use it to his best advantage. I particularly enjoyed the scenes he shared with Papa John – it is clear that the actors have a close camaraderie as this came through on stage. Laura Fitzpatrick as Mama Michelle was perfectly cast as the woman every man wanted. Her final monologue was moving and very affecting.

Mention must go to Jessica Featherby as Jill – she was the right mix of perky and whiny that made you love to hate her.

The set, designed by Christina Logan-Bell, is simple and uncluttered. It meant that the focus was on the actors instead of involved scene changes. Sophie Thomas leads a small, tight band which complements the singers very well.

Flowerchildren is worthy of a very successful premiere season – great music and strong performances put it in the ‘must-see’ category. The season runs till September 10th so get down to Theatre Works in St Kilda for a trip to the 60s.

Tickets available through www.theatreworks.org.au

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

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