Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Sly Rat Theatre Presents THE MARTYRS

Holy horror and humour

By Myron My

The Martyrs is the first production by new company Sly Rat Theatre that looks at religion, the church, and its scandalous history of child sexual abuse and pornography. Despite the heavy themes, it somehow manages to create a great balancing act between being horrifying and humorous.

The Martyrs

There was however an unfortunate feeling of general miscasting between the actors and the characters they were portraying except in the case of David Ryan Kinsman as Pastor Mike Foster, the zealous and energetic leader of the ‘Earthquakers’ who really jumped in and let himself be enveloped by the role. Another notable mention would go to Marika Marosszeky who played the adult-porn writer Valerie with great conviction.

The inclusion of a Jim Henson-esque ‘horror’ puppet as Chloe Barker was an intriguing decision. The collaboration of puppeteer (Cameron Powell) and voice actor (and producer Jennifer Piper) was very charming and humorous to watch. The swap from puppet to human was also an interesting idea which worked quite well. In contrast, the use of the clucking chicken-like anti-pornography group as an ongoing metaphor did pull you out of the show, and the narrative could have done with a little more clarity in direction as at times, as the plot did get rather too confusing and abstract for a truly enjoyable performance.

Ryan Hodge’s lighting and set design was very impressive. Throughout The Martyrs, scenes were lit in delicate degrees of brightness and shadow, playing with the idea of good and evil, light and dark, and sex and religion. The scenes that really stick in my mind are those where the actors are only seen as dark silhouettes and thus creating a very powerful impact. It was great to see the stage fully utilised and the performance being brought out into the audience: also, having us sitting in makeshift church pews helped to further create a strong connection to the themes being played out.

The Martyrs is a very ambitious first production by director Alan Chambers and writer Andy Harmsen and because of the strengths mentioned above and despite the issues noted, they have ultimately created an entertaining and reflective piece of theatre.

Venue: Revolt Productions, 12 Elizabeth Street Kensington, 3101

Season: Until 16 March (except 11th) | 9:00pm, Sun 2:00pm

Tickets: $28 Full | $25 Concession

Bookings: http://revoltproductions.com

Cabaret, Circus, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: CUT SNAKE at Theatreworks

Comic, crazy, commendable tale in a three-actor circus

By Christine Moffat

If you know the phrase ‘mad as a cut snake’, you have an inkling of what to expect from this award-winning show by the two years-young theatre company Arthur.  The show is mad, but thanks to playwrights Amelia Evans and Dan Giovannoni, there is fabulous method to the madness.

Although the show is acrobatic and surreal, with all emotions heightened, there is a base note of reality running underneath.  Evans and Giovannoni examine the central themes of friendship, love, death and the small moments in a life that change the world.

Cut Snake

The play revolves around four zany characters, Trix the snake, Kiki Coriander (Catherine Davies), Bob (Julia Billington) and Jumper (Kevin Kiernan-Molloy), any of which could justify their own circus act.  Despite this, the actors beautifully construct relationships that are accessible, relatable and touchingly domestic.

The direction of by devisor Paige Rattray is a great lesson in ‘less is more’.  The show takes place in a small circus tent on astroturf.  The ‘rough around the edges’ appearance is actually great stagecraft.  The show feels roughened, not rough: worn-in like a favourite pair of jeans.  This made the audience immediately comfortable in the high-energy, crazy, tiny theatre space.

Cut Snake is a strange, moving, funny, high-energy bundle of love and loss with a dash of experimental physics thrown in for good measure.  If you’ve ever had a best friend, ever thought about science or magic or asked yourself “What if?” then you will find yourself entertained and a little bit happier for having seen it.  As a bonus you will also find the answer to the million-dollar question: who would win in a fight between a horse and a hippo?  That alone is worth the ticket price.

Date: 25 Feb 2013 – 09 Mar 2013

Time: March 2- March 9 at 7:00pm, 11:30am matinees Wed and Fri

Price: Student groups $20, adults $30, conc/non-student groups $25 (plus booking fee)

Bookings: www.theatreworks.org.au

Location: Theatreworks, 14 Acland St, St Kilda

Please Note: This production is performed at an outdoor location near Theatre Works; meet in the foyer at least 15 minutes before performance commences.

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Mockingbird Theatre Presents BLUE/ORANGE

Profound theatre – and prodigious talent

By Bradley Storer

After a stunning debut with their acclaimed production of The Laramie Project, Mockingbird Theatre Company continues their winning streak with a smaller-scaled but equally impressive showing of Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange. This three-person play provides fantastic opportunities for the skilled actors of the company in its complex exploration of themes of mental illness, racism, colonialism and culture.

BlueOrange

The plot is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of a young African man under two psychiatrists with opposing approaches to mental illness. Kane Felsinger as the institutionalized Christopher is phenomenal, dispatching the play’s fierce Mamet-like dialogue with ferocity while never letting us forget the real emotional pain underneath his at times off-putting persona. Christopher, diagnosed continually as sitting somewhere in ‘the borders between psychotic and neurotic’, draws both his doctors and the audience through the blurry boundaries between delusion, deception and uncertainty.

Richard Edge as Robert, the older and more pragmatic psychiatrist, embodies a man who is characterized mainly by his own mediocrity alongside surprising vitality. This man, who at first attempts to downplay and normalize Christopher’s disorder before endeavouring to exploit it as fodder for his own academic gain, seems like that archetypal charismatic and slightly sociopathic career-climber we encounter in every kind of field, instantly recognizable and creepily personable. Christian Heath as Bruce, Christopher’s younger and more compassionate psychiatrist, provides a strong moral and emotional centre to the story which anchors events amongst flurries of academic debate and cultural abstraction.

The three actors are all equally brilliant, and director Chris Baldock has done a fantastic job of choreographing them into shifting patterns of empathy and aggression which make them simultaneously sympathetic and antagonistic. Even as the two doctors aim to heal Christopher his mental illness becomes simply another instrument in their battle, echoing the marginalization and exploitation of ethnic and social minorities in patriarchal Western culture which continues even today.

A wonderful and thrilling night of contemporary theatre meditating on grand macrocosmic themes, but with the aid of magnificently talented actors never leaves behind the confusion and painful reality of everyday life.

Dates: Thur 28 Feb – Sat 2 March 8pm, Sun 3 March 5pm, Tue 5 March – Sat 9 March 8pm, Sat 9 March at 2pm

Venue: Broken Mirror Studios, 2c Staley St, Brunswick

Tickets: Bookings available here

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: THIS TRICK (The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice)

To hell and back for love

By Myron My

Using the Greek myth but set in a contemporary world, This Trick invites us to be voyeurs to a very private moment for Orpheus and Eurydice, who are so in love with each other that the rest of the world is seen as a danger they do not wish to be engaged with.

I particularly enjoyed the contrast of passionate declarations of love intermingled with trivial domestic arguments such as leaving the milk out, thus allowing those simple moments to be more intense. Much of the emotional impact is to the credit of the two leads Penny Harpham and Matt Hickey, and their hypnotic performances.

This Trick

Both were very strong and capable in taking on these roles, and the scripted words flowed as naturally as any spontaneous conversation. The on-stage chemistry and level of intimacy between them was palpable, and comfortably portrayed their characters’ jealousies, insecurities and fears in giving themselves over completely to the person they love.

There is a fitting sense of visual minimalism in this production: the set  is mainly a white mattress and white curtains and some bottles of alcohol. The ethereal environment established by designer Hanna Sandgren is further alluded to with the leads also beginning in white clothing.

In contrast, the dynamic lighting design by Julia Knibbs helped emphasise the passion and enveloping darkness for the two lovers: casting many shadows on their faces and using firey red to show the fierce passion between the two reminded me very much of the related myth of Dionysus and the dangers of excess. The stagecraft and music throughout This Trick is also well-executed and you can feel a lot of work has been done on this by all involved including sound designer Jennifer Kingwell.

Writer and director Kat Henry of Stella Electrika has produced a piece of work that is sharp, witty and real – even though there are times the dialogue does reach extremes, it is perfectly fitting in This Trick. A very powerful production all round, and one that makes you question just how much love is too much love.

Venue: La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond St, Carlton

Season: Until 3 March | Tue, Wed 6.30pm | Thu, Fri, Sat 7.30pm | Sun 4.30pm & 6.30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $15 Concession

Bookings: http://lamama.com.au

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Simon Stephen’s PORNOGRAPHY

Challenging play struggles to connect

By Myron My

Playing at The Malthouse Theatre, Pornography looks at a variety of characters during the seven days in London when the G8 Summit, the Live 8 Concert, the Olympic Games announcement and the London bombings all occurred.

Pornography

My biggest dissatisfaction with Pornography is its length. There is not enough juice in this play to justify a 2.5-hour show. Seven stories – five of which are roughly 20-minute monologues – is also quite a lot to take, and when the couples sitting either side of me did not return after intermission I am quite sure I am not the only one who thought so.

It’s with the other two stories that the pace changes, the characters interact with one another, and a more conventional approach to narrative is followed. We are witness to an incestuous brother and sister and a kind of romance between an old man and a young woman but these potentially dynamic plots were not enough to keep me engaged. The interactions and the characters all felt forced and not organic. I simply did not believe what I was watching.

The stories ultimately lack interest and there are no surprises along the way, as you already know how they will end. The time shifts within stories didn’t help in being able to follow the flimsy plots, as it was quite difficult to gauge how much time had passed between the lights coming down and back up again.

The actors (Imat Akelo-Opio, Emma Chelsey, Hannah Greenwood, Justin Hosking, Richard Neal, Sonya Suares and Jesse Velik) worked hard with their various British accents but the performances as a whole seemed to lack spark. However, Frances Hutson was able to breathe some much-needed life into Pornography through the final more appealing story.

I’m sorry to say that Pornography disappointed me. I walked out feeling nothing about any of the stories I had seen nor about any of the characters I had met. Yes, it did look at the acts of transgression people can commit in such emotionally-heightened times but unfortunately it failed to make me care.

Venue: The Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt St, Southbank

Season: Until 3 March | Tues – Sat 8:00pm, Sat 3:00pm, Sun 5:00pm

Tickets: $42 Full | $35 Concession

Bookings: https://boxoffice.malthousetheatre.com.au

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: LOVE ME TENDER by Tom Holloway

An important story works to be told

By Myron My

Directed by Patrick McCarthy, Love Me Tender explores the aftermath of the Black Saturday fires and the effects it has had particularly on one man and his family.

Love Me Tender

I appreciate the adage “show, don’t tell” in theatre, so for me, this performance unfortunately consisted of too much telling. I find prolonged exposition hinders the involvement that an audience member can have with a piece and makes us less likely to care for or invest in the characters.  My other issue with this was that the characters tend to spend a lot of time talking about other people and offering very little about themselves, including remaining unnamed the whole time. The obvious effort to represent universal experiences here isn’t entirely successful.

That said, actors Nick Pelomis and James Tresise had great banter and rapport together. Their scenes are reminiscent of Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot, bordering on the absurd but giving some relief from the more serious mood at hand. Sarah Ogden also provides a strong yet subtle performance as the Mother.

Lisa Mibus has created a great lighting design for this production, and there were moments where the shadows on the background dominated the scene that was being played out, adding an atmospheric sense of macabre and impending doom to the story. The set design by Ashlee Hughes was also impressive; minimal and subtly used throughout, including a lone tree void of any life after a fire has gone through as its centrepiece.

Love Me Tender attempts to cover a variety of topics including bushfires, love, family and the sexualisation of teenage girls but it doesn’t all flow smoothly and you do get confused as to what is happening. The disjointed stories made this narrative difficult to follow.

McCarthy has obviously worked hard with a difficult and ambitious script by a reputable Australian playwright, which should always be commended, but ultimately I felt Love Me Tender prevents the characters or story from developing to their full potential.

Venue: Theatreworks, 14 Acland St, St Kilda

Season: Until 2 March | 8:00pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc

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

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Performances

REVIEW: Naomi Price in RUMOUR HAS IT

Adele unplugged and – uncensored…?!

By Myron My

Rumour Has It is an intimate cabaret performance with Adele. Or in other words, cabaret artist Naomi Price has brought her critically-acclaimed show to Melbourne.She enters on stage with her trademark ginger-beehive hairstyle and for the next hour we are treated to an intimate encounter with this foul-mouthed, platinum-selling, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning songstress (and Price’s Adele makes sure we know all this!)

Naomi Price

It’s an evening of girl power with Beyonce, Spice Girls and Amy Winehouse cheekily introduced as people who inspired her or whom she respects, whereupon their songs are all mashed up with Adele’s own music. One of the highlights would therefore have to be seeing Price impersonating Adele impersonating Celine Dion and belting out ‘My Heart Will Go On’…

However, as with any worthy cabaret ‘tribute’ show, there are also a number of the artist’s great classics including ‘Set Fire To The Rain’, ‘Rumour Has It’ and ‘Rolling In The Deep’. However, the showstopper was ‘Someone Like You’ which we had to wait for, with the haunting tune on piano teasing us for quite some time. Once performed, the room was filled with silence as we took in the greatness of what we had just seen and heard. As Price/Adele stated, this is Adele’s song and she/she gives it everything she has.

The most frustrating thing as an audience member was having people coming in up to 25 minutes late into a 60-minute performance but Price did not let this affect her, having some hilarious haughty banter with the latecomers (“I thought you’d be on time to my show”) and making it all feel like it is a part of the performance.

Price’s Rumour Has It is an evening of sassy and witty fun, and if Melbourne gets to enjoy a return season, you really don’t want to get there late. Not only will you miss out on some great cabaret but you may inadvertently end up with the spotlight on you, and that’s probably not something Adele wants…

Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran

Season: 8-9 Feb, 2013

Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: I, ANIMAL at Melbourne Zoo

Taking a walk on the wild side

By Jessica Cornish

Last night my friend and I got to experience I-Animal, thus offering us the opportunity to explore our inner creatures,as well as a select few residents of the Melbourne Zoo.

Before commencing the tour we were all presented with our new best friend for the evening, ‘Zoe’: an interactive i-phone/tablet-type device fitted with senheisser headphones. We were then asked to pick our favourite animal out of a possible three choices.

From there each tour is an individual experience. There is no ‘sheep option,’ on this tour, so you can’t just mindlessly follow the people in front of you. For this night to be a success you really need to succumb to Zoe, and let her dictate your movements for the evening.

My friend and I walked through the gates of the zoo with head sets a go and literally within a minute were separated. I found myself being told to walk down a dirt path to the left, whilst my counterpart bounded straight ahead. But fear not, we were reunited at the end of the evening, eager to swap stories from our different experiences.

The unique adult-only audio tour mixed factual information about certain animals with a combination of folklore, myth and humour. Each tour group sees a different combination of three exhibits, enabling close inspection of the different animals within a small group of people. I first encountered a Sumatran tiger fiercely pacing up and down in the water waiting to snatch up its chicken for the night, whilst a walking bass line rapidly blared through my speakers.It was the most active I had ever seen a tiger and the atmosphere was thrilling. Then there was the hilarity of crazy sexual reproduction information at another exhibit, and at another time, one lady was bought to tears whilst in the process of replicating the grieving process for another animal.

It would have been nice if the tour were longer, and included more exhibits to explore. However, you are encouraged to return again to experience one of the alternate tour options.

For this event you will need to enter via the main gate.It begins promptly at 7pm, so it’s a good idea to arrive at 6.30, but don’t bother any earlier than that as nothing is open!

I-Animal is a special experience that allows reality to be suspended for an hour while you travel around mesmerised, listening to Zoe and discovering your inner animal.

Where: The Melbourne Zoo
When: 7pm daily
Cost: $39, $35.00 conc/zoo members.
Who: 16 years+

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Pat Kinevane’s SILENT

Unspoken stories given a powerful voice

By Myron My

Pat Kinevane is the writer and performer of Silent, a one-man play that combines dance, sound, silent films and monologue to create a truly captivating and touching performance.

Silent

Kinevane plays Tino, a homeless man whose cinema-crazed family named him after Rudolph Valentino. Tino looks at specific moments in his life – including the suicide of his gay brother – that have led him to become a homeless man with few possessions and who may or may not be losing his mind.

A one-man show has the potential of losing momentum and audience interest, especially when it runs at close to 80 minutes. Kinevane manages to maintain and vary the pace with different forms of narration, including short dance numbers, miming with pre-recorded voiceovers, and dynamic acting. The blending from one to another is seamless and at just the right moments- so much so, that you sometimes forget you are in fact only watching a single performer.

The large stage is left quite sparse with minimal props available, but Kinevane owns the whole performance area and with the help of well-timed lighting design, also creates an intense and claustrophobic environment thus allowing us to get further inside Tino’s head. Furthermore, the music for Silent beautifully encapsulates the emotional mood of the show and solidly supports in building on the vivid imagery that Kinevane describes to us.

Kinevane charms the audience with his character’s vulnerability and good nature and even though the material borders on crude on occasion, he manages to steer clear of actual vulgarity. His interaction with some audience members as Tino further strengthens our poignant connection to this wreck of a man.

Silent deals with the guilt and remorse we have about past actions and about trying to make amends with our own selves. This is something that we can all relate to and ultimately hope that it does not become our downfall either. A powerful story with just the right emotional strings pulled.

Venue: Southbank Theatre, The Lawler

Season: Until 10 Feb | Fri-Sat 7:30, Sat-Sun 2:00pm

Tickets: $40 Full | $35 Conc

Bookings: mtc.com.au/silent.aspx or 98688 0800

Events, Musical Theatre, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG opens in Melbourne

All the fun of being a kid again

By Kim Edwards

I went to Her Majesty’s last night with every intention of being a theatre critic. But there was the excited boy behind me who chattered until the lights went down, whereupon he sat in rapt silence. And the little girl across the aisle who asked in a horrified whisper, “Doesn’t that mean lady like children?!” And the preschooler in front who crawled into mum’s lap at a crucial moment and exclaimed, “Oh no!!” And the audience spontaneously clapping along throughout, and booing the villain, and applauding the over-excited dog who lost his way…

And my inner child kicked my shins and pulled my pigtails, and I succumbed to the joyful fun of a good family musical, and caught my breath in sheer child-like wonder at that spectacular magical moment closing Act One.

chitty-chitty-bang-bang

Written by the creator of James Bond, scored by the musical talents behind Mary Poppins, and starring a who’s who of Melbourne celebrities and theatre stars, this production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where a magic car takes a little family on a wild ride into adventure, is full of action, colour, verbal wit and slapstick comedy, and delightful music. My first compliments go to the deliciously dynamic men’s chorus whose spinning dance in Toot Sweets, infectious energy in Ol’ Bamboo, and hilarious elderly antics in Roses of Success won my heart completely. Rachael Beck does a charming job as love interest Truly Scrumptious, Tyler Coppin was wonderfully creepy as the Child-Catcher, and Alan Brough as the Baron and Jennifer Vuletic as ‘that mean lady’ the Baroness were superb comic chemistry.

It was the scene-stealing clowning of the Vulgarian spies played by Todd Goddard and George Kapiniaris however, who most pleased grownups with ribald humour and the kids with their buffoonery.

David Hobson as lead Caractacus Potts does an admirable job, and it is my nostalgic affection for Dick Van Dyke that made this genteel, velvet-voiced portrayal harder to appreciate. It is a shame the theme of overcoming class boundaries therefore gets lost, however.

So the prolonged exposition in the opening scene is clunky, the romance a little flat and unconvincing, the English accents sometimes dubious, and the ‘defeat’ of the bad guys in the finale clumsy – but who cares? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is thoroughly entertaining and the perfect introduction to the marvels of musical theatre – your kids are simply going to LOVE it.

Playing until March 17 at Her Majesty’s Theatre – book at Ticketek or call 1300 795 012