Presented by Joanne Hartstone in co-production with Greenwich Theatre. The Queens – The Red Queen. 20 Feb 2016.
Fable is one of three productions by the Flanagan Collective this Fringe. It’s a gem, but it’s not easy theatre. It is a story about two individuals, J and Blair, who are not content with simply accepting what life throws at them in a modern capitalist society. They are not content to merely be ‘numbers’. They want something else and both want to leave a mark signifying a life well lived.
Initially we are introduced to J who is a physics teacher in Birmingham, and despite working hard and having the interests of her students deeply at heart, she becomes an unemployment statistic. In truth she always wanted to be an astronaut, or at least involved in the space program. One might say her head is in the clouds but actor Holly Beasley Carrigan imbues J with a veracity that is quite disarming and draws you in. You believe that her becoming an astronaut is indeed a possibility, despite her congenital heart defect. In the aftermath of her losing her job, J accesses a dating app and hooks up with Blair.
Blair is a tree surgeon with a penchant for poetry, and he seems to take some inspiration from the writings of Goethe. He, like J, is a restless soul and dreams of being part of the natural world and of travel. Dominic Allen plays Blair with a steely aloofness that initially creates a barrier between him and the audience, but this is soon broken down by the downright niceness of Beasley Carrigan’s J. The interaction of the two characters creates mind-worlds in time and space and the use of projections and live music create visual and aural back drops that add further impact.
Fable is a well-acted and richly layered play. It encourages us all to aim for the stars. The words of Goethe perhaps echo in our minds: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Kym Clayton
When: 12 Feb to 14 Mar 2016.
Where: The Queens – The Red Queen
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Presented by Royal Croquet Club & The Last Great Hunt. Royal Croquet Club - Ukiyo. 19 Feb 2016
Fag/Stag is a beautifully written and superbly acted story about two young men, Corgan and Jimmy, who are ‘besties’ and who are pushing through particularly difficult periods in their loves. The play explores the things they share, and the things that make them fundamentally different, especially their sexuality: Corgan is heterosexual, and Jimmy is not – hence the name of the play.
The narrative is grounded in their mutual desire for meaningful and lasting relationships, and although sexuality is a central theme it is merely a frame around which richly detailed and highly credible characters and situations are constructed and brought to life on stage. The fun aspect of the story is that Corgan and Jimmy each tell the same story, but their accounts are different, often hilariously so. This is also a serious piece of theatre and strives to give an insight into Australian maleness.
Fag/Stag is co-written and acted by Jeffrey Jay Fowler (Jimmy) and Chris Isaacs (Corgan). These two young artists are highly skilled writers who are able to clearly tell a story and who don’t get self-obsessed with the act of writing. As actors they are admirable: excellent projection and diction (which they needed it to overcome the ambient noise of the venue); physical expressivity; emotional facility; superb monologue techniques; and a deep sense of partnership with each other.
The venue? Ukiyo? One has to wonder at the names given to the various Fringe venues. Apparently Ukiyo is a Japanese word that loosely translates as ‘floating world’ and describes the ‘pleasure-seeking’ aspects of urban lifestyle of an earlier time. It is then perhaps fitting that Fag/Stag should be staged in the Ukiyo. Corgan and Jimmy are temporarily ‘floating’ about and trying to make sense of their situations, but Fag/Stag is much more than about seeking pleasure.
Fag/Stag is a highly entertaining and affecting stand-out show.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: Royal Croquet Club – Ukiyo
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Presented by Nick42Berlin. Tuxedo cat – Cusack Theatre. 19 Feb 2016
If the Fringe was a curated event, this ‘show’ would never even be allowed to finish its audition.
What I thought was going to be a touching, possibly risqué story about one man’s coming out, instead turned out to be a smutty, feebly scripted, and poorly delivered disorganized array of pornographic stories that simply confirmed that the ‘actor’ is untalented and has a penchant for giving offense.
Forty-five minutes into this hellish experience, the ‘actor’ wandered over to where his long-suffering tech was sitting and mumbled whether there was time for another ‘story’. You could almost hear the audience collectively intone the words “Please God, No! Turn on the lights and let us out of here.”
Execrably bad.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 Feb – 1 Mar
Where: Tuxedo Cat – Cusack Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
State Opera of South Australia. Freemason’s Great Hall. 18 Feb 2016.
Die Zauberflötte (The Magic Flute) is one of Mozart’s most loved and accessible operas.
It’s a crowd pleaser.
Its story line can be considered at a range of levels and, at its most basic level, is about the emotional journey of young lovers finding each other and wanting different things from relationships.
In that sense it’s an eternal story, but there is also a deeper level.
It is also about the journey of humankind progressing from original sin through to enlightenment grounded in humanism that transcends religious fantasy.
The opera is also imbued with the mystical traditions of Freemasonry – both Mozart and librettist Schikaneder were Freemasons – and so it is apt that State Opera should mount this production in the Freemason’s Great Hall on North Terrace.
However, the Freemasonry symbolism is obscure except to the cognoscenti, and Director David Lampard’s design doesn’t really make it any clearer.
His design concept, which is explained in detail in his programme notes, is an interesting addition to the canon of the re-imaginings of traditional opera, but without his notes it is not really obvious what he is trying to achieve, and therefore it fails. A large proportion of the audience are left wondering why some things in the design are the way they are.
That criticism aside, the production is colorful, the music is… well it’s Mozart so nothing more needs to be said, and the orchestral ensemble under the direction of Luke Dollman is terrific. The English translations of the dialogue (by Lampard) and the lyrics (by Timothy Sexton) ‘work’ well and are entertaining, and the singing for the main part is quality with some real standouts.
The opera has fourteen different scenes in multiple diverse settings, which presents a substantial challenge for any designer. Lampard’s split-level set design comprises a number of structural elements that are frequently dragged or trucked around the stage, but they are over-used and eventually their use becomes monotonous, clumsy, distracting and generally slows the pace of the production.
Some of the structures are imposing and make effective conduits for the Masonic symbolism; strongly illuminated in stunning fluoro-colours.
Daniel Barber’s lighting design is a true highlight of the production, although some of the finer aspects get lost, such as the visual effects cast by motorized gobos on the high and expansive celling of the Great Hall.
In all, there is an over-emphasis on the look of the show that results in something close to excess. Less would have been more.
Brenton Spiteri is excellent as the love struck Tamino, with lyrical flowing tenor lines. His scenes with Nicholas Spiteri as Papageno are entertaining. Lampard gives Papageno a “knock-about” feel, which at times seems to be underplayed.
Joanna McWaters is fabulously menacing as the Queen of the Night and uses her flowing costume to great effect. Her two famous arias, which almost define the entire opera and which the audience leaves humming at the end of the night, include several extremely difficult three-lined high F’s that are so high “only dogs can hear them”, as the inimitable Anna Russell once said! McWaters is not entirely comfortable with such stratospherically high notes but this does not diminish her solid performance.
Adam Goodburn is outstanding as the totally unpleasant Monastatos – he looks the part and his vocals again demonstrate his ever increasing stature in the local opera scene. Robert England is austere as Sarastro, and one longs for him to be more obviously benevolent.
Unfortunately one can easily but erroneously believe that he is the villain that the Queen of the Night holds him out to be. He struggles with some of the very deep basso profundo notes early in his performance.
Naomi Hede is superb as the virtuous Pamina and is responsible for some of the beautiful bel canto moments in the production. The Queen of the Night’s Three Ladies, sung by Deborah Caddy, Rosanne Hosking and Meran Bow is excellent, as are the three ‘child spirits’ sung by Sarah-Jane Pattichis, Lisa Cannizzaro and Rachel McCall. (Their curtain call hilariously borders on up-staging!) The supporting male roles are sung well, and Jeremy Tatchell again is imposing.
The Great Hall is stiflingly hot inside, and this may have contributed to the warm but not excessively exuberant applause from the audience at the end of the performance.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 to 24 Feb
Where: Freemasons Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Botanic Gardens – Noel Lothian Hall. 19 Feb 2016
One of three shows in The Bunker Trilogy season, Macbeth is the only one adapted from an existing work. Written by William Shakespeare the piece follows the murder of the King, Duncan, by Macbeth who conspires with the queen in the act, and is then later assassinated by Macduff for his crimes.
For the purposes of this trilogy the play has been significantly cut in length, and edited in context, to fit the WWI bunker theme in which it is set. For the most part the cuts work; the dialogue is snappy, the ‘boring’ bits are gone, and the content is entertaining. Some of the edits however don’t work. Anyone unfamiliar with the work may leave the theatre with a few dangling questions – particularly who Macduff was and why he decided to avenge the King’s death.
Placing the action in a WWI bunker is interesting and effective, but doesn’t really add anything to the story line. Unlike the Trilogy’s other 2 shows, Morgana and Agamemnon, the bunker is used as a device here that is incongruent with many of the scenes; most particularly the royal banquet. In this particular instance the audience is included in the piece – the audience that wouldn’t normally be there if this were a WWI bunker – further confusing the themes and breaking any suspension of disbelief.
It is a production from which one has mixed feelings. The performances are top notch. Bebe Sanders plays a wonderfully engaging Lady Macbeth; though the emotional anguish she suffers when she begins to be haunted by her actions may have been just out of reach in this particular performance. Sam Donnelly plays just about the best Macbeth one has ever seen, with great passion, excellent diction and a pervasive madness that grows ever stronger throughout the performance. Donnelly and Sanders have a beautiful connection.
A tight reimagining of Shakespeare’s greatest killer that is not quite elevated by its new contextual surroundings, yet with spectacular performances.
This Macbeth is a mixed bag.
Paul Rodda
When: 18 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: Adelaide Botanic garden – Noel Lothian hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au