Adelaide Festival. Lyon Opera Ballet. Festival Theatre. 7 Mar 2020.
Trois Grandes Fugues is a compelling dance experience.
One of the most divisive pieces of music ever composed (at least by a classical composer) is set to dance, three times. The dances are performed by members of the Lyon Opera Ballet and are styled by three different choreographers (Maguey Marin, Anne Teresa da Keersmaeker, and Lucinda Childs) who are all internationally acclaimed.
The music is Beethoven’s Große Fuge (or Grosse Fugue or Great Fugue). It was originally the fourth movement from his String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op. 130, but he was persuaded to substitute it for something that would be more acceptable to the public, and the Grosse Fugue was subsequently published separately as his Opus 133.
Beethoven composed the Grosse Fugue late in his life, when he was completely deaf. In its day it was variously described as “incomprehensible”, a “babel”, and generally unplayable. It has received similar reviews even in relatively modern times. Beethoven agreed to excise it from his Op.130 through fear of box office failure, at a time when his financial circumstances were dire (which they often were).
However, the Grosse Fugue it has also been given high praise, and Stravinsky stated that it would remain forever contemporary. Even to a modern ear, the Grosse Fugue is a challenging composition. On a first hearing, it often polarises the opinions of the listener: it is either liked, or loathed (at least initially). It is strident, and at times atonal. It has complex and ever jarring rhythms that are forever changing. Individual instrumental parts are not easy to play and it is technically demanding to navigate and interpret as an ensemble.
The Lyon Opera Ballet set each iteration of the dance to a different recording of the Grosse Fuge, and they are all very different. Unlike Keersmaeker and Marin, the recording chosen by Childs is performed by a larger orchestral ensemble rather than by a strict quartet, and is therefore aurally more dense. For this reason, the Childs interpretation, at least for this reviewer, is not as effective as the other two in foregrounding the texture of the music. By contrast, Marin’s interpretation uses only four dancers and, for the most part, each follows the rhythmic and contour lines of one of the four instruments of the quartet. Indeed, it is fascinating to visualise each dancer as an instrument and to contemplate how they interact
Keersmaeker’s interpretation is most likely the audience favourite. A significant element of the choreography is ‘fall and recover’, with each recovery exploding into something different – turns, leaps, solos, duets – all of which heightens one’s appreciation of the music. Marin’s approach is also more contemporary than that of Childs, who takes a more ‘classical’ approach.
The fascination of this event is that the dance allows the music to become more accessible. One finds much more in the music by seeing it performed by dancers rather than by only hearing it performed by musicians. That might be said of any ballet, but in this case the Grosse Fugue is altogether quite a different musical beast.
The Adelaide Festival has presented us with a masterpiece.
Kym Clayton
When: 7 Mar
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Mark Trenwith. The Factory, Garden Of Unearthly Delights. 8 Mar 2020
Let’s face it; the kids, age four to nine were hanging out to see this one. And a show called Mr Snotbottom was right up their alley. I have no issue with a performance involving bum jokes, fart jokes and a song about dog poo, but I am struggling to find three reasons to like it, therefore struggling to justify three stars.
Firstly, the volume during the introduction was just too loud for kids, and the sound dynamics pretty bad. Too much middle frequency and bad headset mics, so several kids near too me were shielding their ears. Can the crew not see this?
Secondly, both the scripting and the performances were very ho-hum, and not particularly thoughtful as to their intended audience. When we eventually got to a section about breaching Occupational Health & Safety conditions (!!!) the following line was delivered: “This goes completely against protocol. Do you understand that?”
The kids did not.
Thirdly, is the show about Mr Snotbottom or his technical crew sidekick Anthony? At first the children get to focus on one character alone; Mr Snotbottom getting dressed, attempting to put on his tie and being face-slapped for his troubles, and clearing out the noxious red underpants. The kids loved it.
But when things get to OHS and there are numerous bad ‘beginnings’ for the show, all three kids became confused and their attention wandered. A faux spaghetti western with no band and no Ed Sheeran attempts to put matters to rights, as does the song about dog poo, but by this stage it’s clear this is a show which oversells in all aspects.
It isn’t horrible.
It isn’t terrible.
It isn’t really, really bad.
It is, as my parents used to say, ‘barely bloody adequate’.
And so the conclusion is predictable and in no way edifying for the kids in the audience who missed the feel good potential of the point entirely: “The world is like a big bag of jellybeans”. Leave the brown ones until last.
Alex Wheaton
Where: The Factory, Garden Of Unearthly Delights
When: until Sun 15 March
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Adelaide Theatre Academy. Norwood Concert Hall. 7 Mar 2020
With Michael Eustice and Libby Drake at the helm determined to revive the remarkable young people’s theatre spirit of The Bunyips, the Adelaide Theatre Academy is starting to show its colours.
Peter Pan is an ambitious production, not just targeting the friends and families of young stage talent but flung right out there amid the mass attractions of the Fringe and Festival program.
Herein, what makes Eustice important to Australian theatre is his investment not only in child talent under his Theatre Bugs brand, but the experience and exposure he is giving to the rising theatre figures he has so very judiciously taken under his wing as part of the Academy.
This is really quite a big deal. Eustice is airing and grooming names which are destined to be important in the future of theatre in this fecund arts state.
This production, with its huge cast of young performers, has been directed by Ben Francis. The Adelaide arts establishment has had its eye on this singing prodigy since he turned up as a mere schoolboy with the popular retro group The 60 Four. His musical career has zoomed ever since and now, not only is he in demand as a performer but also he is teaching singing at the Academy. Now he has been given responsibility for this significant showpiece, supported as production and stage manager by Adelaide’s on-the-zeitgeist, award-winning actor Matt Houston along with the likes of Jacinta Vistola as choreographer, Kate Prescott on design, Ruby Faith on lights and even Nick Ely for graphic art. Then there’s the very able musical director Jennifer Trijo conducting a damned fine band into the bargain.
It is not easy taking responsibility for a cast of young learners but Francis has moulded this large crop into a pretty efficient ensemble. At times, their singing harmonies are just gorgeous and Vistoli’s choreography keeps the shape and movement aesthetic on stage, and the facial expressions of the assorted chorus groups - Lost Boys and Pirates - are lovely. When it comes to the flying scene, they get by skimming along on roller sneakers with a few puffs of stage smoke to suggest clouds.
Of course, among the cast is the new crop of up-and-comings. Amber Fibrosi and Emma Vanderzon are standout singers as Wendy and Mrs Darling respectively. Madeleine Nunn is a singularly appealing new talent, albeit her innate sweetness outshines the arrogant cheekiness of Peter Pan. Emma Dalton is a gorgeous Tinkerbell and Jayden Ayling impresses as Mr Darling. Jaxon Joy, as Captain Hook, has a sensational voice and when he remembers not to let it drop at the end of sentences, it promises a standout future. Among others deserving mention are Lachlan Anderson, Alexandra Runjajic, Ethan Joy, and Polly Schubert, with a big tick to every last one of the cast for spirit and discipline.
This Greg Stiles version of Peter Pan is quite a complex and demanding musical and the Academy must be admired for the sheer professionalism with which it has tackled it. Keep an eye out for its future productions.
Samela Harris
When: 7 Mar
Where: Norwood Concert Hall
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Festival. Australian Premiere. Traverse Theatre Company. Odeon Theatre. 6 Mar 2020
Whose life is it, anyway?
Libby despairs that she is a complete loser. At 41 she is a disillusioned would-be playwright devoid of any sense of self-worth. She’s snatched from edge of the Edinburgh’s Salisbury Crags by another loser, Declan, a broken 17-year-old finding escape from a violent, working-class home by sitting and drawing on the Crags. And so an unlikely and awkward friendship begins. Gradually each character lets down their guard and confides in the other, and Libby sees an interesting cultural story emerging from the life of the boy. It sows a seed to break the curse of 20 barren writing years.
As performed by Shauna Macdonald and Angus Taylor, with direction by Orla O’Loughlin, Mouthpiece is an intense 90 minutes of achingly credible theatre. And for one who once lived, worked, and loved in Edinburgh, it resounds vivdly with a sense of Edinburgh: its crags and skies, vistas, and social contrasts. Libby lives in the elegant Georgian New Town while Declan comes from the struggling world of the housing estates on the wrong side of town. Although such cultural divides are not exclusive to Edinburgh, the city's contextual omnipresence adds a significant element to the play, which is spoken precisely in the two idiomatic Edinburgh accents denoting high and low society.
The play digs poignantly into the innocence and vulnerability of the disadvantaged as Libby proffers to Declan some of the privileges he had no idea were civic entitlements. His wonderment at her interest in him is edged by both hunger and resentment and he makes it clear that he has a dangerous streak.
Libby, on the other hand, retreats from the edge of real involvement in a damaged young human being and, tediously obsessed with the idea of being a “story teller”, chooses to leave him to his sorry destiny but to take his story. Funnily enough, Declan sees this as theft. And the age-old issue of who owns whose story emerges to keep the audiences debating long after the play is over.
While it is not historically earth-shattering, this is a very nicely observed and scripted study of humankind and is given consummate characterisation and tension by the two fine Traverse Theatre Company performers.
In a strange plot device in this work by young Edinburgh writer Kieran Hurley, the aspiring playwright snatches moments aside at a microphone to analyse the creative process. It strikes one as a bit arch albeit at times interesting.
Not once but several times audiences are reminded that the theatre experience can make their hearts beat in accord and, indeed, that the theatre is a “huge empathy machine”.
That’s one thing no one will argue. After all, it is why we are all there in the first place.
Samela Harris
When: 6 to 14 Mar
Where: Odeon Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
★★★
Palmerston Projects Pty Ltd – Spoken Word. Star Theatres – Star Theatre Two. 6 Mar 2020
The loneliest woman was married to the greatest explorer Australia has ever produced. Describing Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958) as a mere explorer is a gross understatement and yet I bet you never heard of this unique South Australian from Mount Bryan East. A summary of his career – even just a list of his world firsts - would overwhelm this review, so you are directed to Simon Nasht’s un-put-downable biography, The Last Explorer.
Until eighteen months ago, Adelaide playwright Peter Maddern never heard of him either, and since smitten, counts The Loneliest Woman as his sixth play. His greatest success was Kokoda – a one-hander in the 2016 Fringe.
The opening scenes of The Loneliest Woman thrusts us into the middle of a crisis. Wilkins is piloting the first-ever attempt of a submarine voyage under the ice to the North Pole. It is 1931. The Nautilus carries a full crew of souls and there are rumors of sabotage. They have been out of communication for some time and Suzanne Wilkins - Lady Wilkins – is once again waiting at the telephone in their New York apartment for news.
The Murdoch of his age, American William Randolph Hearst, pays a call on Lady Wilkins to comfort her, he says, but there is much at stake for him in a failed adventure. He has funded the expedition to serialise the dispatches for his newspapers. This is a great set-up by Maddern loaded with potential for a rip-snorting dramatic exchange but it is disappointingly instead delivered as polite conversation. The submarine, oddly, isn’t even discussed until midway through the visit, after some reminiscence over good times culminating in a duet and dance. Without some visceral dynamism, it’s a radio play taking place in a tea room, and realiser Adrian Barnes’ attempts at coordinating some effective movement of the two characters on stage has no effect. However, all the information revealed about the situation is very helpful to the Wilkins fans.
The saving grace of the whole project is Michelle Nightingale’s stupendous performance as Lady Wilkins. She is a professional actor, vocalist and presenter with a list of credits to her name that the actress Lady Wilkins would have envied. She is every inch, in posture and poise, a convincing classy lady of Wilkins’ time. Nightingale indeed, her vocal caricature was a joy to listen to. Bravo! Her costume resembled haute couture of the time and she looked great in it (no costume design credit). An epilogue including actual footage of the famous couple and some movie footage taken from the Nautilus of the bottom of the Arctic ice were acquired from Byrd Polar & Climate Research Centre and helpfully turned a quaint story into an OMG that really happened. Mark Healy played assuredly a minor third character that one wanted to see more of. The poster picture reproduced on the program cover is compelling in evoking a sense of the ‘30s, Lady Wilkins, and what’s on her mind (no credit for graphics but Bravo!). The lack of full credits in the program is a pity. It wasn’t due to lack of space as the inner two pages are completely blank, and I’ll put them to good use when the toilet paper runs out during the course of the Chinese Flu.
PS, Wilkins failed Nautilus voyage did however prove that submarines could safely travel under sea ice. He was held in such high regard by the US Navy that they took his ashes by submarine to the North Pole and scattered them there as per his last wish. The US Navy did the same thing for Lady Wilkins years later.
PPS, Contact the Wilkins Foundation to understand more about Sir Hubert and the loneliest woman.
David Grybowski
When: 28 Feb to 8 Mar
Where: Star Theatres – Star Theatre Two
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au