★★★★★
Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre. Ruby’s at Holden Street Theatres. 16 Feb 2022
Creative director Martha Lott of Holden Street Theatres has innovated again. Using loot from the Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award, she has brought to Adelaide four 70-minute film renditions of theatrical productions emanating from Vancouver, Canada, that were first shown at the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe. In today’s Covid-compromised world, this is another way to see world-class theatre as it can’t always come here by Qantas. Lott makes the viewing experience a very comfortable one with widely spaced comfy chairs - and side tables for your dinner and drinks purchased on site - facing a wall-mounted screen in a lovely room of a Hindmarsh heritage home.
Performer Tetsuro Shigematsu is a storyteller extraordinaire who has earned critical acclaim as a playwright, actor, filmmaker and Radio Canada broadcaster. All this experience, plus some thorough research, the gift of the educator (PhD), and the flair of the magician combine to give a most entertaining, informative and kinetic 70 minutes akin to a TED talk (in fact, he gave a TED talk in 2011).
Dr Shigematsu makes the point that Voyager carried messages to the universe, but he judged them bland and not representative of humankind. Instead of institutional history, why not a story of an individual that represents all of us? This is an idea also developed by Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orham Pamuk with his book The Museum of Innocence and accompanying physical museum in Istanbul. With ferocious physicalised flair complementing his Van Dyke beard and handlebar moustache, Shigematsu scientifically, forensically and chronologically dissects the remarkable life of Canadian-born Japanese Mas Yamamoto. Shigematsu has a lyrically sonorous voice very similar to David Suzuki and augments his fascinating narrative with projected historical pictures and live GoPro images of model objects used on stage. He’s rather busy and segues between scenes with some rather naff dancing.
Yamamoto’s story is the shameful story of the Canadian West Coast Japanese during World War II. 20,000 were rounded up because of their race and - without crime or even charge - were removed to camps located in interior BC to prevent possible collaboration with any potential Japanese war effort on Canada’s west coast. He was 14 and unfortunately his surname was the same as the Japanese admiral that bombed Pearl Harbor. Shigematsu makes the point that the Canadians had nearly a hundred years of rounding up and removal experience with the native people of Canada. A further injustice was that they were not allowed to return to their homes on the west coast until 1949 – 4 years after the war ended! And by that time, their fishing boats and homes were nearly completely confiscated.
But this isn’t a sad story as Yamamoto went on to reinvent himself a number of times and lived a bloody incredible life of education, business, marriage and kids. Shigematsu recorded 36 hours of interviews and replayed about 18 minutes of Yamamoto telling his own story, imprinted on a 33 rpm record, harking back to Voyager. And you are all ears.
This is a hugely compelling production of showmanship and science, history and humanity. And a warning of how racism and fearmongering in our current age of rumours of war still makes the world an unsettling place. A place where one’s security can be swept away in a blink, even in what you may think to be the most benign of nations, Canada. Bravo!
The filmed theatre concept shapes up better than you may think too, as all four of the shows use edited footage from multiple camera angles, like a proper film. But you can’t see the whole stage at once - the camera does all the focusing for you. The nervy interaction between audience and performer is missing and you can’t talk to them after the show. But are these disadvantages enough to keep you at home? No way.
The other three shows of the On Screen Program are: Inside/Out: A Prison Memoir, do you want what I have got? A Craigslist Cantata, and The Darlings: A Provocative Evening of Drag from Vancouver.
David Grybowski
When: 15 Feb to 20 March
Where: Ruby’s at Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
State Theatre Company South Australia. Dunstan Playhouse. 28 Jan 2022
American Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a hit from the get-go. Albee made his name with a confronting play of prejudice – The Zoo Story – in 1959, and Woolf was his first full-length play. It opened on Broadway in 1962, winning the best play gong in both the Tony awards and from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. Woolf wowed them again as Mike Nichols’ 1966 movie starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis; unbelievably, Nichols’ directorial debut. The film was nominated for 13 Oscars and won five. In other words, a must-see play/film.
Must you see this production? Not so sure. George and Martha, married for 23 years, arrive home tipsy after a soiree at Daddy’s, Martha’s father, who is head of the Ivy League university where George teaches history. As Martha announces, that should be an advantage for George, but it is the cynical George who is now history. A younger academic new to the place, and his wife, are invited from the party for a nightcap. They are the perfect audience for George and Martha’s psychologically dangerous and bitchy games where marriage is theatre. And when they tire of driving each other to despair, the guests are fair game. The action is fueled by hard liquor and shrinking inhibitions.
Words and rhythms and subtext are paramount in conveying Albee’s powerful word play of snakes and ladders, but director Margaret Harvey has introduced so many additional theatrical elements that the medium becomes the message. Albee discourages any forelock-tugging one might have done in reverence of the dominant white culture of academia by opening up its underbelly, but Harvey actually defocusses the target with what she calls “colour-conscious casting.” While casting in film is still largely true to description, this has been given up long ago in theatre. I have seen a dozen productions of Ibsen without a single Norwegian, so what does it matter if the actors are whatever ethnicity? When someone is described as older, and they look younger, or narrow-hipped and they’re not, or 185 pounds and they’re obviously less, well, so be it. And colour-conscious is not the same as “colour blind.” Television star Jimi Bani as George plays a George who is obviously of Aboriginal heritage (the dance in the water was a clear signal), as much as African Rashidi Edward playing the younger Nick is African. They aren’t black men playing white men, they are playing black men true to themselves. That’s good and different, but it seems like difference for difference’s sake and why is it about race?
Set designer Ailsa Paterson eschewed the older house described in the play and presents a modern idiom. The performers are within a Perspex box, sort of like an aquarium, except the water is on the outside - say a terrarium for the evening’s blood sport. The poor acoustics and random reflections were annoying. Thankfully, these transparent walls were flown away long before the end of the play. The repeated writing of the play’s title on a never-ending and dominating blackboard was distracting. The moat was a more interesting invention and sometimes useful. The sexually charged scenes were hot! And not normally on display, so that was good.
Director Margaret Harvey puts up with, or directs, a lot of shouting which unfortunately suppresses the required nuance, and the battle between Martha and George seemed more like checkers than chess. There were some wonderful positions (legs up post-near-coitus dysphoria) and juxtapositions, and inventive imagining conveying the more conventional stage directions (eg – doors, doorbell, bathroom, bedroom). Sound designer/composer Andrew Howard’s subtle drumbeat synchronised one’s heart with the dramatic tension.
Margaret Harvey in her notes describes her reasons for factoring in multiple reflections on race, but the production doesn’t comment on race simply by saying it does. It still should be about George and Martha.
David Grybowski
When: 27 Jan to 6 Feb
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: statetheatrecompany.com.au
A play by Richard Tulloch. Adapted from the books by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. 18 Dec 2021
It’s a nice touch as two ‘gardeners’ walk on stage before the lights go down. They take their time placing leaves onto the bare branches of a windswept tree, arranging the strappy leaves of floriferous plants, and hanging a huge acorn amongst the newly minted leaves.
The narrator begins, and it’s a bit shaky at first as the levels get sorted; we can’t really hear above the music. When it settles down, we’re introduced to Little Nut Brown Hare who is busily trying to waken Big Nut Brown Hare. After all, it’s summer and there’s so much to do! Unfortunately, Little Nut Brown Hare is just not big enough yet for all the things they want to do, as Big Nut keeps reminding them.
But like all short people, they go on and on until they get their way. And so, as the tree reflects the changing seasons, so too is Little Nut’s growth reflected. With each season’s ‘guess how much I love you’ comes a response that kindles Little Nut’s sense of adventure: “I love you all the way to the river! Can we go there? No. Oh all right”. Then on to the woods, and then the hills; the tree revolves, leaves change colour, and snow falls - autumn, winter and spring each bring a new and adventurous journey for the pair.
Costuming is just lovely; Drew Wilson’s Big Nut Brown Hare’s life size but puppet-like costume reveals the actor who cleverly navigates his way through the action, working seamlessly with Catherine McNamara manipulating the smaller puppet that is Little Nut Brown Hare. The narrator assists with bird, owl, caterpillar, butterfly and frog as Little Nut goes through the seasons and the milestones.
The cast are dressed in 1930s era boy’s clothing; trousers, suspenders and knitted vests topped with cloth caps, referencing a bucolic England, a time of innocence and simplicity.
The show ends rather suddenly but with the very familiar, ‘ I love you right up to the moon and back” which is a little difficult to get to, no matter how big you are!
The books and television series delight small children, and this show adds to that. It can get a bit repetitious in places and could probably use some bright dynamics or some interactivity to keep the little ones engaged. A half-hearted song needs work but for the most part the production entertains the chatty audience.
Arna Eyers-White
When: Closed
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
Adapted by Richard Tulloch from the book by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton. CDP Theatre Producers. 14 Dec 2021
If you want to get an audience of 6 to 12 year olds involved from the get-go, farts will do it. Without fail. And lots of farts will get lots of laughs, especially different sounding ones. Yay for farts!
This adaptation of the first book in the Treehouse series (2011) opens with the theatre plunging into darkness. The kids are onto it immediately as Andy (Mathew Lee) and Terry (Teale Howie) flash their torches into the blackness, looking for each other and indeed the theatre itself. But wait! There’s an audience here! Why?!
Turns out that Andy and Terry have their dates wrong; this isn’t a rehearsal, it’s the performance! And Val (Rebecca Rolle), the ‘professional’ stage manager, wastes no time in letting them know what she thinks of ‘amateurs’!
Oh, dear. They haven’t rehearsed, there are no props, there are no other actors engaged and, oh yeah, they haven’t written the play yet! Mr Bignose will be furious and Val is horrified, but she rescues the day by suggesting that they use the book as a script, borrow some props and utilise the amazing ‘2D to 3D generator’. And so they do, introducing the loved characters and situations from the 13-Storey Treehouse. Terry paints Jill’s cat yellow, creating the catnary, and without other actors to help out, they persuade Val to take on the roles of Jill the neighbour (because Cate Blanchett had lost her voice), Bill the Postman (because Chris Hemsworth is having a band-aid removed under local anaesthetic) and so on.
Terry has made a start by drawing a finger, so there is no choice but to go with it, and Superfinger goes to the rescue – cue snot joke, and bodily functions wins again! Add in some Star Wars references, and you’re ticking all the boxes.
Lee and Howie play off each other brilliantly, including the young audience in their antics from the first torch light into the eyes. When Andy hypnotises Terry with a giant 3D banana (you had to be there) Howie shows off some great characterisations as he becomes a ballerina, a chicken and an idiot.
Rolle takes on her parts with gusto, with the ensemble working together smoothly on the simple girder construction set, and a couple of songs popped into the action doesn’t overly thrill the kids, but doesn’t really detract either.
The Treehouse books have become legend in the Aussie kids’ lexicon; any treehouse that boasts a bowling alley, a tank of man-eating sharks, a see through swimming pool and a secret underground laboratory has got to be a winner. The pair have gone OTT from day one with their books, and they’re now up to 143 storeys, with each floor getting wackier as the years go by.
Tulloch has adapted other books in the Treehouse series, but this is where it all begins. Although, as Barky finds out when he meets the gorilla, it was nearly where it all ends!
Arna Eyers-White
When: 14 to 16 Dec
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: ticketek.com.au
Adaptation by Tall Stories Theatre Company. 8 Dec 2021
Contrary to popular perception, children can be hard audiences. This is never more so than when familiar characters are presented to them in an unfamiliar way.
Over the past 20 years, Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo has become a staple in the children’s fiction genre. The story of the mouse who goes for a walk in the woods and escapes various predators by inventing an even scarier one has Best Bedtime Story (because kids are okay with having the billyoh scared out of them) and Best Picture Book amongst its many awards, and quite deservedly so. The 2009 film version, a half hour animated production, was both Academy Award and BAFTA nominated, and delights both young and old. And who wouldn’t love a film/book that picks up a whole new audience every five years or so?
The Gruffalo is now also a stage production, giving youngsters yet another version of the story. And I say another, because stage shows have to work that little bit harder than film to capture the attention of the three years-plus crowd. That The Gruffalo manages it (for the most part) is a testament to an ensemble of hard-working actors and a remarkable creative team.
Onto the simple woodsy set (a couple of gnarled trunks, some rocks, logs and a moveable hollow tree) comes Mouse, played (and sung, and danced) by Sophie Kleinschmidt. It takes the little ones a moment to adjust to this creature until, with the aid of the Narrator (Joshua Whitten) she develops ears and a tail. “Oh, there’s Mouse!” cries Little Miss Three, settling back on the prickled spine of her Gruffalo costume.
Fox, Owl and Snake are the three predators who attempt to lure Mouse into their respective lairs. The three are played by Tomas Kantor who, with the aid of some snappy jackets and headgear, takes on the persona of each of these creatures. None are more delightful to the children than Snake, who turns up as a Latino / Mexican mash-up complete with matador jacket, mariachi sequins and appalling but hilarious Spanglish accent.
It’s touches like this that make the show different enough to attract the children’s attention, along with the bonus of songs, and lots of ‘em. It’s almost Gruffalo the Musical. It does mean the very little ones drift off and get a bit restless, but that’s to be expected in any audience this age. Keeping them involved is always tricky, and this production knows the best way to do so; make them part of the action by giving them their own part to play. Yeah, kids love to roar and frighten people; ask any parent. Here they get to do it in spades.
It’s also notable that the adaptation has recognised that for every child in the audience, there’s a matching adult, who will also be watching this show for an hour. Like many children’s tales these days (think Shrek, Toy Story et al.) there are enough double entendres and bons mots to keep the grownups chuckling along. Many of these are produced by Joshua Whitten as Narrator (and waiter, parrot, chicken, peacock, penguin and finally, Gruffalo) who has wonderful comic timing, at one point breaking the fourth wall to promote his varied skills and CV.
The rhyming narrative that is a feature of both book and film is not abandoned here but is tempered by the songs and physical comedy of the characters, which creates a new and different perspective to the tale. And while we know that Gruffalos love roasted fox, owl ice-cream and scrambled snake, who knew that the Gruffalo actually wanted to study art, and ancient Greece? Sadly, that’s NOT what Gruffalos do.
Arna Eyers-White
Where: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
When: 8 to 12 Dec
Bookings: ticketek.com.au