Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

State Theatre Company. The Dunstan Playhouse. 28 April 2015

Australian Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is regarded as a turning point in Australian drama for its realistic depiction of ordinary Australian battlers. Lawler was riding the crest of a wave initially generated by Eugene O'Neill and perfected by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Glass Menagerie (1944) and Streetcar Named Desire (1947) all preceded the Doll (1955). Each of these plays takes place in a household where a change disrupts the family situation. The authors accomplish their narrative without flashback or narration, and condense their play's critical conflict into a singularity which explodes like a dying star… and things can never be the same.

This is the seventeenth year that besties Roo and Barney travel south from the cane fields for the lay-off. They descend on the Melbourne abode of Olive, Roo's girl, and her mum, Emma, for five months of laughs. This year is different. Barney's squeeze, Nancy, has left the scene after seventeen years, and Olive has invited her barmaid pal, Pearl, to fill the gap. There's also heaps of new baggage brought from the cane fields, and it's all got to get sorted before final applause.

I didn't care for this production. Set designer Pip Runciman's interpretation of a 1950s Melbourne worker's cottage resembled a funeral parlour, and its expansiveness dissipated the energy. The enormous cornices belonged in Toorak. Lizzy Falkland's overly severe, negative and dour Pearl, with the set and from the get-go, too strongly foreshadowed the lifting of the veil on the lay-off set-up, and badly diminished the play's journey. Elena Carapetis's Olive had hard work against these features in trying to establish the excitement and anticipation of the boys coming back. The only stuff on the set was what was absolutely required, and this was insufficient to manifest the nearly two decades of accretion that ought to be so violently disassembled in the second half.

Chris Pitman's Roo was reduced to a Neanderthal brute - too lost in self-pity and one-dimensional. Tim Overton's Johnny Dowd - the young ganger and threat to Roo ruling the roost - performed in a straitjacket labeled threatening - and his offer of reconciliation looked disingenuous. Even the affable Barney, in the hands of Rory Walker, seemed an insidious schemer instead of a comic waster. Annabel Matheson did Bubba (the young neighbour) well, and Jacqy Phillips as the irascible Emma stole her every scene. The scuffle choreographed by Duncan Maxwell was not good.

Clearly there was a design intention in these performance and production elements under the direction of Geordie Brookman. But the result was mannered and turgid. The subversion of naturalism, lines being delivered out front, the overwrought performances and sad and heavy characterisations failed to convey the arc from hopefulness to loss. They were doomed from the start.

David Grybowski

When: 24 April to 16 May

Where: Dunstan Playhouse

Bookings: bass.net.au

Photography by Shane Reid

HMS Pinafore

G&S Fest. Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA. Arts Theatre. 23 Apr 2015

Pinafore is the first of a triple bill which is completed by Princess Ida and Ruddigore. Three different directors, three different musical directors, three casts but one choreographer and one set designer in one theatre.

One may fairly safely bet than anything the Gilbert and Sullivan Society turns on is going to be of pretty high quality. The Society draws on some of the top up-and-coming talent in town as well as a stable of seasoned performers. They come from the Conservatorium, State Opera, and music teaching or if they don't, they have to seem as if they do.

Traditionally, the company has presented conventional proscenium stage costume productions with all the theatrical trimmings. Here in this triple bill over three consecutive nights, it has scaled things right back to a semi-staged version. One may throw away reservations that the lower production values would undermine the show.

On the Pinafore opening night, it was a matter of minutes before one had adjusted to the changed onstage arrangement; albeit the overture with the performance of a weird quasi-advertisement for genealogy services was extremely disconcerting, if not downright alienating. It was trying to say that people were descended from earlier people, even sea captains as in HMS Pinafore. But why?

Another mystery in this production is the use of theatrical smoke. The stage and part of the theatre are hazy with smoke and one finds oneself worrying about the musicians and singers working amidst it. Smoke is not a typical effect in Pinafore - and one would prefer the show went without it.

The rest of the production does not need it. It is good.

David Lampard has devised a clever partial set with a huge ship's wheel on a partial captain's bridge. This takes up about half the stage. The other half is occupied by a good, lively orchestra under the baton of musical director Rebecca Walker. A large sail sweeps across the back of the stage. That is it. As time goes by, male and female choruses occupy back areas of the stage and, downstage, the principals perform in costume.

One way or another, there are a lot of people onstage, which is typical of a G&S Society production. There are the briny sailors led by the jolly Boatswain, strongly played by the very engaging Ian Brown. Then there are the sisters and the cousins and the aunts who flank the foppish Sir Joseph Porter who has come to marry the captain's daughter. They dress the stage and the choral fun and games very nicely in the pithy old comic opera spirit of G&S. 

Porter's pretentious love-hate character totters forth most eloquently and properly through the practised artistry of Nicolas Bishop, an ever-popular figure on the Adelaide stage.   The sopranos, Sarah Jane Pattichis as Josephine and Tahlia Ries as Little Buttercup, trill and please. Andrew Turner turns in a sterling performance as Ralph Rackstraw, the common sailor in love with the captain's daughter. But it is Andrew Crispe, as Captain Corcoran, who brings the house down in this production. He is possessed of exceptional physical grace along with witty inflection in a clear and lovely voice.

The rest of the cast sustains the standard. The chorus sounds as good as it looks and complements the action. The costumes are just a bit odd, but the spirit is strong and the talent abundant and nicely directed by Peter Hopkins. 

All of which just underscores how lucky we are to have our splendid G&S Society regularly and solidly presenting fine musical fare.

Samela Harris

When” 23 Apr to 2 May

Where: Arts Theatre

Bookings: gandssa.com.au

Madame: The Story of Joseph Farrugia

State Theatre Company & Vitalstatistix. Burnside Town Hall. 21 Apr 2015

Who tips the scales? Ross Ganf for being creative catalyst to this show or Trevor Stuart for his embodiment of Joseph Farrugia aka Madame Josephine? Both deserve awards.

Madame is an extremely unusual piece of bio theatre. It documents the man who founded the famous old Crazy Horse strip joint up those stairs in Hindley Street.

Ganf spent several years interviewing Farrugia about the evolution of the club through the years from feathers to lap dance and also about his own sexuality and personal life. An impressive team moulded his findings into this Torque Show production with State Theatre and Vitalstatistix. Joshua Tyler worked on text with Roslyn Oades and Ingrid Weisfeldt, and Vincent Crowley worked together with him on creation and direction with Emma Webb from Vitals in the mix as well. It's a complex list of credits to be found in the most appallingly-designed, pale-text program.

The old Burnside Ballroom, glittering from its balcony with long golden fringes, is a wonderful venue. It is laid out cabaret style with white cloth tables a la Crazy Horse revue tradition and a high catwalk dominates the centre of the stage. 

Hereon, three performers depict Farrugia, perhaps a little confusingly separating him into aspects of the flamboyant Madame Josephine persona and the less exciting business persona of Joseph. In a very strange casting choice, Kialea-Nadine Williams performs as Madame Josephine. She is a powerful, athletic ADT dancer - an astonishing performer. But any similarity with Josephine is beyond remote and it leaves many audience members scratching their heads.

Chris Scherer with his long-haired androgynous appearance plays the young Egyptian emigrant Joseph, oh so touchingly, albeit some of the high physicality which engenders humour is a bit startling.  Scherer projects many strong and interesting facets of the character and phases of Ferrugia. He is a pleasure to watch. But it is Trevor Stuart who takes and makes the show. His is a softly, softly tour-de-force performance. From stammering insecurities to rumbustious defiance, he portrays a character who not only is still alive but is right there in the room. Yet Stuart makes him his own.

At the very end, as the three Josephines strut out to My Way, it is he who draws the eye and arouses the emotion. Funnily enough, once in full drag on stage, he could be Shirley McLaine. 

Madame is an interesting show. There's some drag show-style mime, best accomplished by Williams; there's lots of narrative; there's some high-kicking and calisthenics and a spot of terrific point work; there's some camp waspishness; there's loud music; some video projection; plus lots of two piece gym outfits.  In spite of all that there is a strange absence of glamor. It is a strip world stripped bare.  

But one supposes that is the point.

Samela Harris

When: 21 Apr to 2 May

Where: Burnside Ballroom

Bookings: bass.net.au

Quartet

Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Arts Theatre. 15 Apr 2015

Four ageing opera singers are seeing out their last years in a retirement home for musicians.

The days pass slowly as their inflated theatrical egos sashay around, dodging each other, occasionally clashing, oftentimes hitting the realisation that their days of fame are gone.

They tell tales of great stars of yore, they bicker, they gossip, they reminisce - until they decide that the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi is cause for musical celebration and for a come-back at the rest home’s annual concert. They gird their loins, rehearse like crazy, rustle up some old costumes and, for a glorious sojourn, are a focused ensemble, albeit with the burdens of their age.

Playwright Ronald Harwood balances the pathos and bathos of ageing with some pithy humour so it makes a lovely, meaty vehicle for older actors. Director Sue Wylie with her assistant, Ian Rigney, have gathered a wonderful foursome to perform in this Quartet. They are a joy to watch.

Brian Knott delivers baritone Wilf Bond as a loud, rumbustious, and ever the fresh guy grieving for the futility of his advances. He seems in better physical fettle than the others despite the stick he carries.

Soprano Jean Horton, played by Jean Walker, is a snobbish old thing, overdue for a hip replacement. Walker gives a lovely balance as Jean’s soft side finds release from her brittle defensive shell. Meanwhile, Julie Quick moves the audience to its core as she develops mezzo Cissy Robson, from fey trouper to a poor dear soul coping with the onset of dementia. It is a glorious and vivid performance which, in the final scene, brings the house down. Last but absolutely not least is Russell Starke in a very welcome return to the Adelaide stage after too long a hiatus. He plays Reginald Paget, the old tenor on the edge of his own form of dementia. In stark contrast to Knott, Starke underplays this role and does so with masterful restraint. There’s an edge of hesitance against manic little rages and a character emerges whose spirit, the audience feels, has always risen in the face of life’s disappointments. It is a delicate and sweet character - and another memorable performance by Starke.

Director Wylie seems to have brought out the best in the actors but not in the set. And that’s a strange thing. Most of the action takes place on the rest home’s terrace. This is a row of chairs with loose cushions placed down stage with a wall and doors behind. But the row of chairs is incongruous - not a bit like a relaxing terrace. There is no table, no aspidistra, nothing else. This leaves the actors just moving around a row of chairs. It feels limited and awkward. The set screams for a table or a wicker settee.

The good set lies in wait. In act 2, the wall comes down and a fabulous music room is revealed. The actors have lots more to do physically and the pace lifts.

Quartet is not only a terrific vehicle for mature actors but also a charming diversion for old and young audiences. It is not a great play. It is a fun play - and a very nice night’s entertainment, as Dame Edna might opine.

Samela Harris

When: 9 to 18 Apr

Where: Arts Theatre

Bookings: trybooking.com