University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 5 May 2023
The Wonderful World of Dissocia is an incredibly vivid, heartwarming and heart-rending - and where useful, quirky and humorous - exploration into an illness of the mind. In the program notes, director Tom Filsell openly opines his sojourn with getting back on track dodging his own dark spaces. If you don’t think you are on a spectrum of some sort, you are probably kidding yourself and missing opportunities to empathise with those who have been nudged a little more along the continuum than you. Filsell has done a great service by offering Adelaide this opportunity to forgive ourselves, understand each other and heal.
Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson has a reputation for confrontational theatre and has written enough plays over 30 years to fill a computer screen. …Dissocia is smack in the middle in 2004 and won the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland for best play.
The production might be best enjoyed if you just go, it’s great, take my word for it, and revel in the reveal of the clever writing and brilliant performances. STOP READING NOW AND BUY A TICKET!
However, if you have the mental condition where you must know exactly what you are in for and take no risks, read on.
In the first half, we get a look inside Lisa’s head ala Samuel Beckett, only way more interesting and less stodgy and esoteric. Having taken Psychology 101, I diagnosed Lisa with a psychosis and couldn’t understand her dissocation from the colourful mayhem going on in there. D’oh! Dissociation. I get it. In the second half, we go through the looking glass into Lisa’s rollercoaster ride of on-the-drugs and off-the-drugs, the hated side effects and the even worse outcomes for loved ones. The condition looks rather fun compared to subjugation through medication.
The huges success of this production is the copious workshopping that was undertaken to realise Neilson’s script with scant stage instructions. The playwright worked with actors in originating the play and the same research, reflection, self-examination and spontaneity has been fetched by this director and cast, and the ensemble work is joyous and thoughtful.
In the first half, Filsell and actor Nadia Talotta recreate a sort of Dorothy in Oz or Alice in Wonderland with Lisa as she travels places populated with fantastical people and experiences, some of them scary. And did we ever think these young women had dissocia? The set is full of lighting trickery, highly styled costumes, outrageous props and actors delighting in expressive abstraction. Lisa’s dissocia has her respond with the equanimity of Mario in the original Super Mario digital game - trips up, dusts off and keeps going without emotional engagement. Not really in the real world. Talotta is a Jedi warrior of performance – a NIDA graduate, and it shows.
The second half is in contrast, sober, or more like the morning after a binge – in the realm of morbid hospitalization. The theatre expediency of doubling up roles for actors carries a strong message of how the brain works its dreamlike imagery in this show. Using the Oz analogy, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion and the tin man have real life persona.
Sound design by Nick Butterfield, Abi Steele’s scenic design and prop making, Gillian Cordell’s costumes, and Stephen Dean’s lights are all necessary goods contributing to a fulsome theatre experience.
The workshopping resulted in super realistic performances when naturalism is required manifested in playful banter, overtalking and speechless signalling. The script is thusly reinvented by the team. I was especially moved when Paul Pacillo as Lisa’s partner and Talotta as Lisa both realise the impact of unhealthy behaviour on each other - the one inside trying to look out and the other outside trying to look in. A moment of great pathos that summed up what this production was trying to achieve. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 4 to 14 May
Where: The Little Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Matt Lombardo. Holden Street Theatre Company. 4 May 2023
Screen star Tallulah Bankhead (Martha Lott) has been called into the studio to loop (we say overdub) a line from her last film. This does not happen to plan.
Three things start to assert themselves in the difficult working relationship between Tallulah, stand in sound director Danny (Chris Asimos) and off-stage sound tech Steve (Robert Cusenza). The careful reveal of Tallulah and Danny’s inner realities, fantasies, and sense of self.
This trio of conflicting, interleaved life complexes are brilliantly managed in Director/Set Designer Peter Goers’ sublime, riveting directorial reading of Matthew Lombardo’s deceptively rich Looped.
Tallulah, the famed flaming torch bearer of rebellious living, is not having a bar of time-stressed Danny’s strict get to work attitude. He wants out of that studio as fast as possible.
Tallulah wants to drag this assignment out. She does so with fantastic, no holds barred, overbearing control that Danny is largely incapable of fighting.
Lott’s Tallulah is on a mission. Herself, her image, her all-consuming power over everything and everyone around her. Lott’s creation of character is extraordinary in its sheer fierceness and superb, delicately balanced delivery of zinging lines ensuring dramatic power in them is equal to comedic effect.
Goers’ sound studio set is intrinsic to facilitating the physical dynamic between the characters. These characters, though extreme opposites, nonetheless have and express the need to own the space around them which is absolutely crucial to work’s success.
The sparring between the two pushes Danny into defensive mode as Tallulah starts poking around Danny’s personality, as she perceives it. Danny isn’t afraid to snap back.
Asimos’s Danny is a tightly strung coil of barbed wire. He holds himself in tighter and tighter as Tallulah keeps getting closer and closer to his protected inner self. The intense emotional rawness of this struggle is superbly developed over two acts. The first act only scrapes the surface of the larger-than-life star and 9 to 5 straight-laced film editor, the second act goes much deeper and reveals the unexpected.
Robert Cusenza’s off stage role, Steve, is a terrific piece of comic business. Cusenza creates a deep sense of character and personality to Steve that feels like that of a surprised voyeur.
The second act is easily the most challenging of the work; breaking down these two strong personalities to their actual reality. It is done with such fine control. Pauses in the right place and perfect placement on stage. Never once does the pace falter, a line fall the wrong way, or a moment of doubt creep in. It is spell binding and kicks in with one gently delivered line from Tallulah.
Rare are opportunities to see Martha Lott on stage. More wonderful is the return of Chris Asimos after injury. Perfectly paired they are for the challenge of this work.
Here is that much sought after thing, the perfect production.
David O’Brien
When: 2 to 20 May
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
State Theatre Company South Australia. The Space Theatre. 3 May 2023
Playwright Duncan Macillan is probably best known for co-writing the stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 a few years back. He also penned People, Places and Things to get the discussion going on drug and alcohol addition and recovery. That went so well – Best New Play at the Olivier Awards in 2015. But before that, he tackled suicidality with a short story that he subsequently developed with co-writer and British comedian, writer and performer, Jonny Donahue into Every Brilliant Thing. Donahue has played the role in this one-hander 600 times, but in Adelaide, Jimi Bani smashes it with his sensitive, quirky, kind and gently wry expressiveness. Bani made his formidable presence known in State’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? last year.
Reading the playwrights’biographies, along with that of local director, Yasmin Gurreeboo, they are like-minded in their strong desires to deliver meaningful theatre about the hardest issues of personal tragedy with an ardent belief that theatre ought to be transformational.
Every Brilliant Thing is absolutely charming and engaging in its concept and execution. Jimi Bani, simply by entering the stage, has the audience in the palm of his hand. We see a young boy’s introduction to unfathomable unhappiness complete with incomprehension, guilt and an aching desire to help. Help comes in the form of writing down every brilliant thing in the world. A list to show Mum life is worth living. The list starts: 1, and an audience member calls out a brilliant thing. Then 2, 3, 4…531, 532…789… more brilliant things; you guess how many. They are not all spoken, of course, but you get the drift. The boy has counselling at school by a councillor’s hand puppet so he is reached. The boy grows up and the list gets longer. Her love life blossoms but there is a shadow. 11,278…11,279. Mum has a second attempt. 538,675, 538,676…
The theatre space is set up with bleachers on four sides, and the lights are kept on throughout. There is nowhere to hide. Audience members are selected in the most solicitous, non-threatening way to participate as say, the father, the girlfriend, the mother…no, she is never seen. The fight or flight mode get switched off and audience members are amazingly co-operative and even helpful. Everybody loves what’s going on.
And it wouldn’t be this way without Jimi Bani’s gifts. He’s a rather large man with a great sense of rhythm shown by enviable dance steps in a plethora of styles and, you would think it’s not possible to demonstrate a love of music without actually loving music. There are plenty of tunes because our life - everyone’s life it seems - is signposted with songs. He even got a young woman to get down on one knee and propose to him in their characters. By this time, I think anybody in the swooning audience would have done anything for him. There is a euphoria of participation and eager to laugh and a few moments later to wipe away a tear from the warmth or the sadness in sympathy with the struggle.
The script moves between amusement and message with ease. There is a showstopping, “Don’t do it,” and then on the play travels to some Lifeline advice and inbetween there is the excitement of the list. Bani and Gurreeboo know when to pause, to laugh, to bring the audience into the intimacy, to encourage an understanding of the ramifications of suicide on the remaining loved ones symbolised by this man’s experience from seven and for a lifetime.
This is my second State Theatre opening this week – the other being Prima Facie – and both earned enthusiastic standing ovations. I am with them. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 28 Apr to 13 May
Where: The Space Theatre
Bookings: my.statetheatrecompany.com.au
State Theatre Company South Australia. The Space Theatre. 2 May 2023
Prima Facie has been wowing audiences around the globe since Griffin Theatre Company produced the world premiere at the SBW Stables Theatre in Darlinghurst, Sydney, in 2019.
In this one-person law lesson performed with aplomb by Caroline Craig, Australian-British playwright Suzie Miller exposes a flaw in the law; why does a woman who is a complainant witness in a sexual assault case have to undergo rigorous and personally invasive investigation, and then in court - perhaps wholly populated with male legals and lawmen - have to relive the experience in excruciating and humilitating detail, sometimes years later, while the usually male defendant can look on in distain and does not have to say a word?
Does this sound familiar? It should because it’s exactly what happened in the recent Lehrmann trial where we read how Brittany Higgins had to sweat it out during police proceedings and again in court. The point is that Prima Facie addresses issues of justice concerning rape and other sexual assault that are relevant right here, right now.
Suzie Miller knows what she’s talking about. She has written previous plays by drawing on her years as a human rights lawyer and children’s rights advocate in New South Wales. She and her plays have won more awards in Britain and Australia than I can possibly list and she has a laundry list of projects underway. Prima Facie has been 5 stars all the way and earned a standing ovation on my viewing on opening night at the State Theatre Company.
Multi-award-winning director David Mealor chooses the actor he wants to work with then he chooses the play. Caroline Craig was in the Class of 99 at NIDA and went on to a stellar career including the role of Sgt Tess Gallagher in Blue Heelers, and later in Underbelly. Crime, cops and courts all the way with this lot!
With Caroline Craig’s entrance onto a stage dressed bare but one chair, attired in a barrister’s wig and gown, she shows us Tessa’s battle face and also her human face. The audience knows already we were in the presence of greatness. Tessa is a defender of men accused of sexual assault and we learn a lot about the law for we have an insider’s information. There is no truth, only law truth. Never ask your client if they actually did it. Your job is to understand the evidence and let the jury decide. We hear how defending barristers – only some barristers, I hope - can justify their ethical stance for the sake of the great game of winning at all costs.
Craig, Miller and Mealor have teamed up to turn our lawyer into a victim. It is fascinating then riveting. Miller takes her time establishing Tessa’s credentials and her nascent relationship with another lawyer with whom she burns the midnight oil in the office. Later, another night, after too much to drink, we witness the harrowing experience of a date rape. All the more awful to be someone you know under trusting circumstances.
Tessa decides to prosecute and she cross-examines her own case with doubt and distress. Mealor keeps the action swift and the emotional rollercoaster running riot without let-up. The changes from home to cab and bedroom to court proceed apace. Tessa has walked through the lawyer’s looking glass and Craig captures all of her hurt, confusion, humiliation, vulnerability, betrayal and sorrow. She has lost trust in her colleagues and the legal system has turned from a game to a struggle for dignity – “It was the first time I was in court without my armour.” Throughout, I felt it was Tessa telling the story and never Caroline Craig.
Does she win or lose? Like I’m going to tell you. But be sure all women in this situation have lost a lot even before the jury returns. Tessa delivers a final spray to the court – a monologue plea of Shakespearean proportions. Bravo for this and all the rest!
David Grybowski
When: 28 Apr to 13 May
Where: The Space Theatre
Bookings: my.statetheatrecompany.com.au
Famous Last Words. Goodwood Theatre and Studios. 20 Apr 2023
This world premiere is an exceptional piece of theatre not to be missed!
The original Miss Julie was written by Swede August Strindberg in 1888. The play has always been controversial with feminists because Miss Julie is a bit off her game and her creator attributes this in part to “the excitement of dancing,…the strongly aphrodisiac influence of flowers,... and her monthly indisposition.” Writing After Strindberg’s is a bit of an industry (Patrick Marber, Polly Stenham, Simon Stone) and it was even a dance in a 1958 German production. And now James Watson.
Local playwright, director and producer James Watson has stripped away the blah-blah and the rubbishy reasoning and created a taut, tense and terrifying 75 minutes absolutely focusing on the love triangle and setting it in our time. He has taken an old fossil, recovered the useful DNA and conjured up a new creature that is thoroughly modern and relevant.
Miss Julie is the alluring discombobulated daughter of a wealthy man sinking in a sea of privilege and meaninglessness. Daddy’s PA, Jean, is a handsome dreamer and his wife, Kristine, has befriended Julie out of pity. We first see the girls partying and later Jean arrives. Dangerously, Julie and Jean spend the wee hours awake and alone until the light of dawn when the shit really hits the fan. And thus we have a pulchritudinous love triangle.
Watson has written a fitting adaptation to our times. Circumstances aren’t stated but drip-fed through action. Dance music, mobile phones, drinking games, and ultra-authentic chit chat hitch a ride on the narrative arc. The creative team convey the rhythms and rankles of young adults trying to find their way with frightening verisimilitude.
The performances are fantastic. They are so fantastic I was embarrassed as an eavesdropper witnessing the intimacy. Pauses, glances, worried looks, and askances convey as much as the dialogue. Kate Owen (Julie), Emelia Williams (Kristine) and Christian Bartlett (Jean) and Watson are all graduates of Flinders Drama Centre, and Watson and William’s Famous Last Words theatre company reminds me of the Flinders graduates who performed amazing work at the now defunct Bakehouse Theatre back in the 80s. The ending could have been more satisfying. It looked like everybody just gave up and went their separate ways.
Watson didn’t mind utilising the female body types to convey motivation. Owen as Miss Julie is indeed a siren beckoning her sailor to the rocks. Her mad enthusiasm is infectious and dangerous and the anticipated train wreck is excruciating to behold. The tension never lets up. Jean and Kristine are battlers and respectful of earned money; Jean wants to live the American dream and Julie sees her saviour through coke-stained eyes. Julie and Jean’s longing for escape are a perfect storm. To get there, Watson and his actors convey frequent changes of status and its an audience’s guessing game where it’s going, unless of course, you already know, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be fascinated and horrified by the predicament so realistically portrayed - it could be you.
Double bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 18 to 29 Apr
Where: Goodwood Theatre and Studios
Bookings: eventbrite.com