Adelaide Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. 13 Mar 2014
The house lights came up. The announcement was made. The show was cancelled. A technical hitch had glitched out a highly technical production on its Adelaide Festival opening night.
The audience had been in an existential otherworld when it stopped.
They were spellbound by a cube suspended centre stage in the Dunstan Playhouse. It was presented as a seedy little Paris hotel room which turned and pivoted and, with video projections and a haunt of jazz music, transformed itself into a streetscape, a recording studio...
It dominated a wonderful, extraordinary, very different piece of theatre, one delivered by the Canadian company Ex Machina and which told a tale of Jean Cocteau and Miles Davis. Its narrative emerged as if from the memories infused into the walls of the hotel room. This was the room once occupied by Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It passed on to the young Juliette Greco with whom the American jazz musician, Davis, was to fall in love but then refuse to marry because of the racial tensions of the day.
In the now, the hotel room is occupied by a Quebecois actor, in Paris to do voiceovers for a documentary on Juliette Greco - and also to lick the wounds of his own broken relationship. He chooses the room because of its history.
The room hangs - a surreal entity in the blackness of the stage.
At the beginning, it is a cube which sparkles and illuminates Cocteau line drawings and filmic credits for the play. And then, the character of Robert, the French Canadian actor, soars on wires and there it is, a mean little low-budget room. And the room pivots and becomes a package from which Cocteau may sprout, delivering his Lettre aux Americains. Again and again, the floating cube changes angles and the performers defy gravity to inhabit it.
At the same time, its core identity as the cheap hotel room grows in familiarity and purgatorial intensity. One's heart belongs to the commonality of Robert's lonely pain therein.
Needles and Opium is the revived early work of writer and director Robert Lepage, he who brought to the 1998 festival that vividly memorable work, The Seven Streams of the River Ota.
This work has an autobiographical string along with a rich counterflow of poetry, philosophy and music. It delivers the character of Jean Cocteau, his art, his words, his association with opium. It brings forth Miles Davis, who introduced bebop to Paris, and his flame, the lovely bohemian singer, Juliette Greco.
Among the exquisite and extraordinary scenes Lepage depicts in Needles and Opium is that of the trombonist being captured by Greco's performance through the basement window of a nightclub. Black and white, window bars and shadows, the visiting musician an outsider looking in. Music to music. Black and white. French and American.
Lepage uses myriad ingenious aesthetic and technical devices through the production. He uses the tinny amplification of telephone voice to play with immediacy and distance. Ditto language problems with switchboard girls. He injects irony and humour along with spectacle and artistry.
The lighting of Bruno Matte is sublime. The room which gives so many views is a masterpiece of theatre design from Carl Fillion - albeit, somewhere in its technical sophistication, it let us down - or, more precisely, left us in the air.
The play was almost three quarters in when it stopped on opening night. To come were the subjects of its title - the experiences of opium and needles in the lives of the characters living and dead.
Miles Davis was depicted by a Toronto-based gymnast and dancer called Wellesley Robertson III and already the audience had sampled his power and agility. His big drug dance scene was to come - and so much, crucially more, from the lovely Quebecois star, Marc Labreche so elegant, understated and poignant in the role of Robert.
Yet, the evening incomplete, the audience left with a sense of wonderment and delight. It had been an exceptional experience. Darkly ethereal.
In the added drama of its cancellation, it had become historic as well as memorable.
It had been another privileged dip into the mind's eye of one of the world's great theatre art practitioners.
There is a particular pace to Lepage productions. Just as the cube is somewhere, nowhere in space, the action is measured so that it suspends in time. And, for a play which is borne of the existentialist experiences, it is perfect.
Samela Harris
When: 13 to 16 Mar
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Arts Theatre. 8 Mar 2014
A visit to see Amos at the Arts during February and March has now become a tradition in my festival season. He is after all one of my all-time favourite comedians, a fact I have admitted to in reviews past.
This year’s show was, as expected, a great belly laugh – a couple of jokes were recycled, and early on in the piece I was nervous I had shown up to see a re-run of last year’s performance. With clipboard in hand (again) Amos told us that he was testing out a new show which he was unfamiliar with, and that he would be ticking off the successful jokes and crossing out the flops. We laughed (again). He ticked the joke off (again), and the show was underway.
The Fringe set is an hour long, making it great value. That hour also has loads of new material too, but Amos shines brightest when he is adlibbing and playing off the audience. By round of applause we were asked at the end of the show how many had seen him live before and how many were new, of the packed house more than half were having their first Stephen K experience, and it sounded like they loved him as much as I do.
Amos is a great story teller, and even when he’s not telling a joke is really engaging to listen to. Do yourself a favour – newbie or fan, get along and check him out! Oh, and what does the ‘K’ stand for? Well you’ll just have to see the show to find out!
Paul Rodda
When: 11 to 15 Mar
Where: The Arts Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. The Royalty Theatre. 7 Mar 2014
The Kransky sisters are back at the Royalty with their unique brand of macabre humour. Their new show ‘Piece of Cake’ has similar themes to their others, following the sister’s travels and life stories and interspersing it with the covers of well-known songs.
This sisters gave us their take on numbers such as ABBA’s ‘Money, Money, Money’, Beyonce’s ‘All the Single Ladies’, as well as some AC/DC. Not all of the covers were new for the trio, having been previously performed for television, but seeing them live was a real treat.
The capacity audience loved every minute of the show, once they got over the cramped crowding situation in the Royalty’s foyer beforehand. A highlight of the show was the celebration of Eve Kranskys birthday, when 2 unlikely audience members were plucked from their seats to participate in a musical number onstage. Donned in the infamous black and white polkadot blouse and pleated black skirt the audience participants, Greg and Jacob, soon became favourites of the love starved sisters too – parting with a hand shake and a kiss proving too much for them!
This is reliable comedy, where what you see and what you know is what you get. This act has endured because it is wholesome character based comedy and because the performers are exceptionally skilled at their craft.
If you’ve ever found a Kransky skit amusing – you’ll love watching them live.
Paul Rodda
When: 9 to 16 Mar
Where: The Royalty Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Yabba Productions. Holden Street Theatres. 6 Mar 2014
If you are unfamiliar with Kenneth Cook's book or Canadian Ted Kotcheff's movie, Wake In Fright, please return your Australian passport - you haven't been paying attention. Wikipedia says Nick Cave called Wake in Fright "the best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence." Well, of course he would, it's right up his alley. I was appalled and enthralled viewing the 2009 restored digital re-release of the movie, and this stage adaptation by Bob Pavlich - which he also designed and directed for the 2010 world premiere - is a terrific piece of work.
You know what? I'm not going to tell you anything about it. If you're familiar with the story, I don't need to, and if you're not, well, why not accompany Grant when he lobs into the outback town of Bundanyabba for a night in transit, but instead is engulfed in a beer-fuelled nightmare of 1950s hospitality Australian-style far removed from latte society?
From the opening and all through the play, guitarist Mick Hansby tickles the strings to yield David Wright's tension filled and brooding soundtrack. All set designer Darren Lever needed was some rough wooden chairs, three tables and plenty of Cooper's cans to facilitate the pubs of Bundanyabba and all other locations fashioned out of the various arrangements of this sparse furniture.
The ensemble unfailingly captures the crudity and menace inherent that might have inhabited an isolated and heat stroked outback town. We, hopefully, smugly look back at '50s rural Australia and cringe at the pub culture, insecurity and casual brawling, while others will see today's urbanised version in king hit punches. And with little steps, Grant goes down and down and down in self-degradation until there is only one way out.
With exception, the characterisations were well developed yet somewhat unskillfully played. Leigh Ormsby as the traveller Grant had by far the most difficult role but failed to convince in any of the states of drunkenness, exhilaration, fear, shame or despair. On the other hand, Madeliene Stewart's Janette was seductive and dangerous, while Phil Roberts as her father and in other parts was authentic ocker. Stuart Duffield and Jacob Pruden were energetically awesome as a couple of crudely rambunctious ex-service lads exerting a force like vice jaws on the hapless Grant. Unfortunately, they were prone to losing vocal clarity in situations of anger and squeezed out the space for menace to linger in. Shannon Woollard showed little of the world-weariness necessary for his Doc Tydon, and Kurt Mottershead just got by with his town cop. Clare Callow was every bit a bored or jaded country girl in her roles.
Director Renee Palmer pieced together a graphical and confronting portrayal. Getting the best out of the actors aside, this is a must-see production of an Australian classic.
David Grybowski
When: 9 to 15 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres - The Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Presented by Jethro Compton in association with The Centre for International Theatre and Joanne Hartstone Ltd. The Bunker. 7 Mar 2014
Written by Jamie Wilkes, ‘Agamemnon’ is one of the so-called Bunker Trilogy plays directed and designed by Jethro Compton. As for the other plays in the trilogy, it borrows themes and story lines from a classic text but then locates the action in the trenches of Western Europe in Word War One.
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae who led the Greek invasion of Troy to rescue Helen, the wife of Menelaus, who was abducted by Paris of Troy. To earn the favour of the Gods in his warring endeavours, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter and upon his return from Troy he was murdered by Aegisthus, his wife’s lover, or in some versions of the myth, by Clymenestra, his wife, in concert with Aegisthus, which is the version re-imagined in Wilkes’ gritty play.
Not knowing the Agamemnon myth does not diminish one’s enjoyment of the play, but knowing it also leads to a certain amount of confusion until you come to fully realise that Wilkes’ script has parallel streams in it: that which is real, and that which is imagined by Agamemnon as he lay dying in the trenches feverishly hallucinating about Clymenestra and how she might seek revenge on him for an act of infidelity he has committed during the war.
This play was marginally less satisfying than the other plays in the trilogy, especially compared to ‘Morgana’, because in the confines of a 60 minute performance the text tended to skate over character development and thinned out the actual story line. For example, I was never fully convinced that Aegisthus (gently played by Hayden Wood) could have been so besotted by Clymenestra that he would so easily agree to help murder Agamemnon when he returned from the war.
However, as in the other two plays, the acting was superb and James Marlow as Agamemnon was just stunning. He played the role with such intensity you could almost feel the agonising pain of Agamemnon’s mortal injuries received in his last “over the top”. Bebe Saunders gave us both love and loathing disappointment in her well crafted portrayal of Clymenestra. Sam Donnelly provided strong support as the other soldier in the trench who comforted Agamemnon in his final hours.
The empathetic and at times downright disturbing soundscape by composer Jonny Sims and sound designer Ella Wahlstrom added to the overall impact of the performance that left you speechless when the final light went out.
Another excellent production from Jethro Compton,
Kym Clayton
When: 9 to 16 Mar
Where: The Bunker
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au