State Opera Of SA. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 12 Nov 2016
“My dream of love has vanished forever,
the moment has fled, and I die in despair,
and I die in despair
and I have never loved life so much, so much!”
…sings Mario Cavaradossi as he awaits his impending execution by firing squad. These verses capture the essential heart of Puccini’s much loved opera Tosca, in which devoted love is sorely tested but ultimately wins through, although with tragic consequences.
They are the final verses of E lucevan le stele (And The Stars Shone) which is of the most heartbreakingly beautiful arias in Puccini’s Tosca and in the entire canon of tenor arias. Rosario La Spina sang it with his hallmark passion, understanding and emotion, and he amply demonstrated why he is one of Australia’s leading tenors; always embraced by an admiring public when he graces the stage of the State Opera of SA. His Recondita armonia (Concealed Harmony) in Act 1 filled the vast stage.
Kate Ladner, in the eponymous role of Tosca, was also excellent and her performance alongside La Spina in Act 1 was a highlight of the production. She was coquettish and portrayed the playfully jealous lover with uncommon style. Their duet was evocative, and her Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore (I Lived For Art, I Lived For Love) in Act 2 demonstrated her ‘goldilocks’ vibrato soprano voice (not too tight, not too relaxed, just right), and her ability to project and sing in full voice while in recumbent positions was impressive.
Baron Scarpia, the man who put himself between Tosca and Cavaradossi, was played by baritone Mario Bellanova with sufficient, but perhaps not enough, dark menace. Smaller in stature than Ladner in particular, director Cath Dadd needed to find a mechanism to accentuate Scarpia’s control and cruelty, especially in arias such as Ha piu forte sapore (For Myself The Violent Conquest) in which he comments about the pleasure of conquest and how it surpasses the ecstasy of romance, showing himself to be the embodiment of evil.
Rounding out the cast in the smaller roles were Bernard Hull (Spoletta), Pelham Andrews (Sciarrone), and Robert England (The Gaoler). Jeremy Tatchell made an important contribution in the role of Angelotti, and John Bolton Wood was an enjoyable scene stealer as the Sacristan.
Ashley Martin-Davies’ scenery and costumes were impressive. Each of the three acts were staged on imposing sets, and the enormous statue of Saint Michael holding his sword dominated Act 3 and evoked Castel Sant Angelo. The cavernous nature of the settings for Acts 1 and 2 perhaps made it more difficult to create scenes of intimacy and menace respectively, although Nigel Levings’ sensitive lighting greatly assisted.
The chorus does not have a lot to do in Tosca, but the State Opera Chorus, under the tight direction of Timothy Sexton, were spectacular when called upon, and Angus Brill Reed sang a beautiful off-stage shepherd’s song.
Under maestro Nicholas Brathwaite’s baton, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra were outstanding throughout, and the brass and horns were especially fine. Special mention must be made of the off-stage use of the mighty Silver Jubilee Organ at the hands of the talented Andrew Georg.
It was a great pleasure to speak to several members of the very large audience during the intervals who confessed they were opera ‘newbies’ and were loving the experience. Opera can be for everyone. It is not elitist. It is perhaps the greatest art form, and this production of Tosca by State Opera SA deserves your attention, but there are only three more performances left. Get in quick. It is just ….terrific!
Kym Clayton
When: 12 to 19 Nov
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Matt Byrne Media. Holden Street Theatres. 27 Oct 2016
12 Angry Men is a play about deliberation. Unlike most whodunits or crime dramas 12 Angry Men is not about innocence or guilt, but rather the interpersonal relationships which playout in the community microcosm of the jury. The characters have myriad multi-layered interactions shaped by contextual, processual, temporal, social, political and emotional factors, all of which are littered with prejudice.
The premise of the play surrounds the conviction of a young Puerto Rican boy who is accused of murdering his father, and the jury’s requirement to reach a unanimous decision on the outcome. Execution is the penalty for a guilty sentence.
Opening in the court room we find 12 jurors, frustrated both by a relentless heatwave and now three-day long trial in which the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the defendant is guilty. There is a vote, and all but one votes guilty. The protagonist is juror number 8. An architect. He doesn’t believe the defendant is innocent or guilty – he actually doesn’t know what to think – only that he wants to talk it through before making a decision that could end a young boy’s life. And so, the deliberation unfolds.
Written by Reginald Rose as an adaption of the 1954 teleplay of the same name, the dialogue is characterised by defensive arguments, personal agendas, ineffective listening, and personal and racial prejudice. It makes for a gripping piece of theatre.
The Matt Byrne Media production stars David Grybowski in the role of juror 8, as made famous by Henry Fonda in the film. Grybowski is pragmatic and considered. His characterisation provides a neutral zone from which stronger and weaker characters can centre themselves, and then leverage from. Grybowski’s performance is thoughtful and well balanced. Juxtaposed to juror 8 is juror 3 played by Director/Designer, Matt Byrne. Byrne’s characterisation sits in stark contrast to Grybowski’s. He never settles, is rarely considered, and flies off the handle in fits of cringe worthy hypocrisy. Byrne’s penultimate emotional breakdown is affecting stuff, and some of the best work one has seen him do in recent performances.
There are no weak links in this cast but there certainly are a few standouts. Juror 7 is played by James Black with a tremendously believable characterisation. Black gives a consistently strong performance but really comes into his own when his characters convictions are internally challenged. David Havilland gives a measured performance as juror 4 and James Whitrow is positively menacing as the outwardly racist juror 10.
Angus Smith’s Foreman strikes a nice balance between being jovial and forthright, and James McCluskey-Garcia’s juror 2 is reticent and dweebish until he is pushed too far. Nathan Quadrio plays juror 5 with sensibility and strength, and Russell Ford is urbane in his treatment of juror 6. John R. Sabine is captivating as the jury’s elder and always has a poignant thought to add and Sam Davy is direct and engaging as juror number 12. Neville Phillis imparts juror 11 with respectability and logic and the cast is rounded out by Rohan Richards as the guard.
Byrne has designed a winner with the seating traversing both sides of the action. It adds an element of realism to the staging and gives both sides of the audience and interesting perspective on the reactions of the rest of the room. One personally discarded the innocent/guilty chip early in proceedings as it was too hard to read in the dark and distracted from the on stage action.
The concept of reasonable doubt and the complexities of establishing undeniable fact in a trial such as this make for interesting thinking and debate. The play may harbour irrelevancies in gender equality, but it remains thematically fresh and interesting despite this.
Matt Byrne has created a compelling, exciting, and interesting evening of theatre which is fully deserving of the praise it has received. The season is shortly to close, and many of the performances are now sold out, but it is still worth your attention.
Paul Rodda
When: 12 to 29 Oct
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: seatadvisor.com
Australian Dance Theatre. Adelaide College of The Arts. 5 Oct 2016
The art of going places no one expected of him is becoming the spectacular norm for Australian Dance Theatre’s Garry Stewart. We were promised a work which would explore the objectification of the human body in art. We got that, and a whole lot more!
Objekt is a grand scale work in which Choreographer/Set Designer Stewart, Lighting Designer Mark Pennington and Costume Designer Lucia Vonchein have designed, built on, painted and robed the ensemble with the same power a choreographer choreographs moves on them.
The visual impact of Objekt is immense, all the more so because Stewart’s choreography daringly deals with the human body as it is seen or imagined in our contemporary digital world, looking back to the past ever so briefly, to what we call naturalism.
Pink strobe lines on the floor reference the iconic film Tron, as do Vonchein’s skin tight head to toe pink costumes with inverted blue triangles. The human as a digitised avatar, a functional cog in a machine world of the imagination. Objekt builds a resolutely mechanistic, functional environment in which touches of blood, skin and bone humanity manage to flare ever so briefly into existence.
Stewart’s sharp, angular, moment to moment choreography blended with rich swathes of sweeping turns and gracious tableaux never loses you. The sense of deep conflict Objekt builds between ‘man is machine’ and ‘man is human’ is ever present. In so many ways, Objekt is a contemporary dance realisation of Germany’s pioneer electronic artists, Kraftwerk, whose whole artistic raison d’ê tere is exploring the unity of man and machine. I can’t stop thinking of their We Are The Robots.
David O’Brien
When: 5 to 8 Oct
Where: Main Theatre, Adelaide College of The Arts
Bookings: trybooking.com
Lost In Translation. Holden Street Theatres. 16 September 2016
Although A Steady Rain was only Adelaide's Nick Fagan's second theatrical production, the two-hander earned the annual Best Ensemble award from the Adelaide Theatre Guide, as well as a nomination for Best Show Drama. Fagan decided to reprise his 2016 Fringe offering this weekend at Holden Street Theatres for those unfortunates who missed it first time around.
Former medical journalist Keith Huff wrote this film noir play in his spare time. How could he know it would later be produced on Broadway starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, or that he would be a major contributor to the initial run of House Of Cards?
But maybe one could have foretold Huff had a budding career in televised drama because this cop story packs enough egotistical, sociopathic, paranoiac, prejudiced, maniacal, angry and just plain bad behaviour and bad luck to fill a few series of viewing. Perhaps reviving the direction of Ben Todd, the actors begin by sipping hot coffee sitting in office chairs widely spaced on the stage. Nick Fagan starts off the action as bad cop Denny. Dressed for undercover ops in Chicago, his jackhammer delivery takes a bit of getting used to at first. This story of the tragedy of Denny - a man incapable of introspection, in perpetual war with the underworld while becoming part of it, blindly justifying it all as he supports his family while dragging them into the danger. Fagan's Denny reminded me of Arthur Miller's Eddy in A View From The Bridge. Fagan travels a consistent arc to Denny's oblivion with ample opportunity to distress the audience. Joey is the not-so-bad cop who holds a mirror of reality up to Denny, who tragically cannot see his reflection. Dressed in a suit for contrast, Rohan Watts's Joey couldn't be more different than his squad car partner. Watts was very effective making Joey a gentle giant, soft spoken and patient, sensible and very worried about his friend. A great strength of this production is how plausible their love is for each other after stripping away all the macho bullshit. Fagan's Denny and Watts's Joey are shown to be fragile and worthy of our attention and sympathy, as well as authentically from the mean streets.
The characters narrate the recent events in turn with relatively much less interaction and dialogue. They vividly refer to a panoply of characters that you could swear there was more than two in the cast. Can't wait to see the Steven Spielberg movie.
David Grybowski
When: 15-17 September
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
Marie Clark Musical Theatre. The Goodwood Institute. 31 Aug 2016
The all-too-rarely performed Rent has only graced South Australian stages twice in the last 10 years; it is a relatively young musical only officially opening Off Broadway in 1996. It is a wonderful show full of challenging human emotional conflicts, poignant political perspectives, and a sexy score comprising both little and well-known numbers; Seasons Of Love being amongst the most well-known.
It is, however, exceptionally complicated and incredibly demanding - perhaps why so few companies have the courage to mount a performance.
Marie Clark Musical Theatre’s production is, for the most part, an enjoyable night of theatre. On arrival one is impressed by the look and feel of the set. Director/Set Designer, Mark Stefanoff, has laid out both an attractive and a functional space that easily serves as multiple locations without cumbersome set changes. To the uninitiated those locations won’t be altogether clear and this may lead to confusion about what’s going on. But the pace cannot be faulted and for Rent aficionados the ‘feeling’ is just right.
Matt Ralph has designed striking, complimentary lighting to Stefanoff’s set. The featured LEDs, strip lights and fairy lights communicate time and place effectively. A few scenes are overly flushed with white and the follow spot is underutilised, but the overall look is very attractive. The sound design by Rodney Bates, however, is odd and very patchy. The excessive and altogether random use of echo effects makes it seem like parts of the show are sung in a bathroom. Adding to the frustration are poorly set and inconsistent volume levels. When it does all work together the production values are stunning - moments like Seasons of Love, La Vie Boheme, and Will I - but unfortunately these issues are prevalent and unforgivable.
Each and every player gives their all and shows complete commitment to the story. Sadly, few seem to really plum the emotional depths of their characters’ plight leaving one feeling shallow and empty. Vocally they are generally excellent. Ben Stefanoff is Musical Director and he steers a tight ship, his tiny band produces a big sound.
Of the leads the notable performances come from Damien Quick as Mark, Fiona DeLaine as Maureen, and Sarah Whiteley as Joanne. Quick imbues the often underappreciated role of Mark with real sense of solemn insecurity. DeLaine and Whiteley are at their absolute best when they toil as two headstrong lovers in Take Me Or Leave Me. Director Mark Stefanoff takes up the part of Angel and does a beautiful job of a very tough role (in even higher heels!); one questions the decision to go so big with the drag queen persona at the expense of a more genuine transgender* offering though.
Jennifer Trijo’s Mimi is a vocal powerhouse when she stands and sings Out Tonight and Anton Schrama seemed to find the right amount of melancholy in Roger, despite not quite having all the rock notes in his vocal bag of tricks. Sadly though their couple’s chemistry is lacking and one is not captivated by their burgeoning romance and tumultuous relationship. Angus Birdseye does some nice work as Tom Collins, and he and Mark Stefanoff achieve a beautifully believable relationship. Ron Abelita completes the cast of leads as the defector, Benny.
The show is completely stolen at one point by two ensemble members in Sophie Guidolin and Jordan Tomljenovic who dance a gorgeously distracting contemporary routine to the sombre sounds of Santa Fe. From that moment on, every time they grace the stage, one’s eyes are drawn to them. Choreography throughout by Nina Richards is excellent – in particular both the routine and execution of Tango Maureen.
It is a bitter sweet production of Rent that Marie Clark has produced. It looks amazing, and often sounds even better – until it doesn’t... The cast are committed, but the acting is forced… The energy and passion is abundant, but the emotional integrity is missing… the harmonies and voices are spine-tingling, and yet the tissues stay in the box.
I love Rent. It is a love-it or hate-it kind of show. This production is almost entirely sold out, and as well it should be, as it is so rarely mounted. If you’ve already got your ticket, you’re probably a love-it type like me so, vive la vie bohème!
Paul Rodda
When: 31 Aug to 3 Sep
Where: Goodwood Institute
Bookings: marieclark.asn.au
*It has never been made explicitly clear whether that character of Angel Dumott Schunard is a drag queen, transexual, or transgender. For the purposes of this review, and to avoid any offence, the term transgender has been selected under the assumptions that Angel is outwardly gay, identifies as a woman, and choses to be referred to in this manner by her friends, and is less likely to have undergone any gender reassignment at the time of this show's writing.