Velvet Chase Productions. Scot's Church. 14 November 2019
The Scot's Church is a friend of the LGBTIQA+ community, but I’m sure the first bishop of two centuries ago would be turning in his grave to see the goings-on around the alter under the gigantic organ. While the theatre presented here is stark and confronting, graphic and noir, it is also designed to enlighten, to empathise and to give hope, and this is what Scots Church stands for today.
I am completely in awe by the creativity in this production, and by the mission of its creators, Dannielle Candida and Serena Wight, and their co-developmental cast. Dannielle says, “We have created an organic cathartic expression of both our pasts. We found comfort in each other by sharing our stories that for so long had kept us silent and closed off to most people who came into our lives, due to the fact of feeling not worthy enough because we were too broken - who would want us? We both had these feelings and we understood each other and therefore we weren’t alone, so maybe there are others who could possibly feel this way. We wanted to show that our past doesn’t define who we are, but there are reasons – experiences – that cause mental health illness.”
#nofilter in social media terms means one is seeing exactly what the sender sees in their real lives. This show arrives straight from experience – not only from Dannielle and Serena but from all cast members and their friends – alive and tragically deceased.
The 19th Century Anglican Church’s lofty Gothic revival architecture is a perfect backdrop to director Dannielle Candida’s set of older style furniture, costumes and chiaroscuro lighting. The show comprises nearly two dozen vignettes of mental health issues and their causes. Dannielle begins each scene enigmatically, and, illustrated with the elements of Gothic horror as popularised in such works as Frankenstein and Dracula, or the 1922 German Expressionist horror film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, invoking feelings of dread, anxiety, uncertainty and threat. Symbolic characters from 18th and 19th Century European folklore are employed to perform the role of a demon or shadow, who encourages and abets depression and suicide, and a golden fairy who comforts and abides. We see people succumb to horrible thoughts or the deeds of perpetrators in the dead of the night. Demons also manifest with modern symbols of lack of self-worth, drugs, humiliation, eating disorder, transgender journeys and abuse. Degenerating mental health seeps like a spreading blood stain. But Candida does not always leave each scene in mire. There is the fairy-like character of Hope & Faith who intercedes – occasionally – to keep people strong, to keep them going, to say, “It’s OK to say, I’m not OK.”
Like real life, there is not always a happy ending. Close to the end of the show, a tribute with candles and photos is made to suicide victims known to current and past cast members, including to fallen cast member lost last year. Riveting and heartbreaking.
Each scene is accompanied with a recorded track of perfectly pitched selections, some augmented with the violin of Sarah O’Brien. The music ranged from classical to dance, and my favourites were the counterintuitive renditions of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Like A Virgin and finally The Sound Of Silence which excited the last scene into a rousing climax.
Dressed in provocative costumes of black, Donna Lavill and Saskia Sanders play menacing shadow persons encouraging harm via the ever-present inner voice. Kendall Goode wears a gold dress like a fairy to represent Hope & Faith. Jack Tailor plays himself as a transgender expressing the frustration of prejudice in his transformation. Dannielle Hunter uses her circus movement training to convey issues of eating disorders, self-worth and image. Mime Emily Josephine transforms with white Japanese-style Geisha makeup in her scenes dealing with drug addiction and domestic violence. Tyson Gaddes and Dannielle Candida don bell hopper outfits (in tribute, I believe, to one of the fallen). One of them suicides and should have stayed dead as a symbol of finality. Serena Wight fooled me completely as the male perpetrator in a drug switch and difficult-to-watch date rape scene.
Dannielle Candida said to me after the show, “Being broken doesn’t define who you are.” That statement sums up the tremendous empathy her company has towards persons struggling with mental illness and it seems all cast members come from similar places to the ones they are portraying in the show, sometimes the real thing of their own experience. Very brave.
This isn’t a just a show with a special theme. This is a gift from people who are thankful for their lives and support each other to rise above their circumstances and contribute to normalising the conversation on mental health. A standing ovation was given generously. Double bravo!
The 2019 Feast Festival was Season 5 in three years for #nofilter, including fifteen shows in the Avignon Festival in 2016.
If you missed this Feast, the company will premiere to the world a new show during the Adelaide Festival entitled, Affair in the Gallows, at the Adelaide Gaol on March 6 and 7. It promises to be a “fair” for one weekend only, and besides being an intensive treatment of mental health and incarceration, it will feature performances of #nofilter (6th season) and Gorelesque (4th season), where “burlesque noir and horror collide, where art house pushes the boundaries. Not for the squeamish.”
David Grybowski
When: 14 to 16 November
Where: Scot's Church
Bookings: Closed
The Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Arts Theatre. 15 Nov 2019
There’s nothing like ending the year with a standing ovation. It’s like a Christmas gift, if you’re a theatre company. And, for the Adelaide Rep, it was well deserved as a response to its production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Of course, it is not the Dickensian tale as such that is played. It is Patrick Barlow’s droll adaptation which cleverly turns corn into ham.
And then, it is director Megan Dansie’s magic touch with dancing, comic timing, fanciful phantoms and puppetry to tickle the funny bone. Not to mention her casting, which comes somewhere close to perfection.
This may be Tony Busch’s finest performance yet. He is a consummate Scrooge, a wonderfully whiney, mean man. His loathsomeness makes all the better his transformation at the end of this now classic old morality tale. It is truly touching. Of course, sweet Bob Cratchett is the story's character counterpoint and Matt Houston makes quite a meal of the role, using artful physicality in an oversized and shabby suit to evoke a sense of the poignancy of long-suffering diligence. However, Cratchett is not Houston’s only role. He is multiple Cratchetts and Scrooges and he leaps skilfully and amusingly from character to character. He is not alone in playing multitudinous parts. At times, this modest cast with its wealth of witty puppetry veritably crowds the stage out. It is immense fun and the audience thrives on every scene as extortionate and loveless old Scrooge is dragged through the netherworld of ghostly replays of things which eventually transform him from heartless sod to philanthropist.
David Salter could play this show as an audition reel for almost any part in showbiz. He gives his superlative all to each and every character, from ever-loving family man to sadistic teacher. And he plays a bit of accordion for good measure. Georgia Stockham seems eminently at home in the broad Cockney culture of 1843, from heartbreakingly impoverished Mrs Lack to a wild and zany ghost in Christmas-theme hoops. Laura Antoniazzi gets the sweeter parts and, oh, what undulating eeriness she imparts to the Ghost of Christmas Past. Max Rayner and Jacqui Maynard complete this all-class cast, filling in as extras and gliding about quickly to move the sets and handle puppets. Door-moving is a comedy routine all of its own in this lovely piece of Christmas diversion. There are songs and vignettes, outright silly moments and tender scenes all played out on an austere stage on which the set-pieces are ever on the move. Indeed, the efficiency of set movements is another sign of the discipline and taut teamwork of Megan Dansie’s cast. She’s a good director. She has a good team. This is a good show.
Give yourselves a Christmas present and buy a ticket.
Samela Harris
When: 15 to 23 Nov
Where: The Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
State Opera Of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 14 Nov 2019
With a lush score by Giacomao Puccini and Italian libretto (principally) by Luigi Illica based on a short story by John Luther Long, Madama Butterfly is one of the world’s most favourite operas. It has everything: a believable and emotional story, wonderful arias, hummable tunes (that stay in your head long after the curtain has come down) and an opportunity for dramatically evocative settings, costumes, lighting and other production elements. It is the type of theatrical event that one doesn’t tire of seeing, and this is the fourth production of Madama Butterfly by the State Opera of South Australia since 1999.
The current production is conceived and produced by New Zealand Opera, and its design by Christina Smith is a winner. The simple set comprises large wall-sized screens that are seamlessly moved by the ensemble to create different acting spaces. Matt Scott’s lighting design is sublime, and the tragic finale and especially the transition from Act 2 to 3 are simply beautiful and completely affecting. Lump in the throat stuff.
The story line of Madama Butterfly is uncomplicated. Pinkerton, an American navy officer, takes a young Japanese geisha by the name of Cio Cio San as his wife to ‘entertain’ him, but it is a marriage in name only and he intends to eventually take a ‘proper’ American wife. Cio Cio San however is committed to the relationship to the extent that she abandons her Japanese heritage, including her religion, and makes enemies of her entire extended family. She has a son by Pinkerton but does not learn of this until he returns after an absence of three years when he intends to cease the relationship because he now has an American wife. Cio Cio San is devasted and is persuaded to hand over her son into Pinkerton’s care. Her last selfless act is to take her own life to smooth an easy path for her son to start a new life.
Act 1 lays the foundations for the rest of the tragic story, and director Kate Cherry allows it to play at a leisurely pace that sometimes weighs a little heavy. This is not the case in Acts 2 and 3 where Cherry allows the glorious score and arias to weave their magic. Australian tenor Angus Wood (Pinkerton) and especially Korean soprano Mariana Hong (Cio Cio San) claim the production as their own and transport the audience to an altogether different place. Their love duet in Act 1 is an early highlight, and Hong’s Un bel di vedremo (One Beautiful Day) is heartbreakingly beautiful.
WAAPA graduate Caitlin Cassidy sings a credible, occasionally melodramatic, Suzuki. The ever-popular Douglas McNicol reprises his role of Sharpless and imbues it with the right amount of empathy, mixed with faint-heartedness when the opposite was needed to fully apprise Cio Cio San of the reality of her situation. Adam Goodburn also reprises the role of the matchmaker Goro but is restrained in his efforts to land the inherent humour in the role. The cast is rounded out by Pelham Andrews as the Bonze, Jeremy Tatchell as Prince Yamadori, Bethany Hill as Kate Pinkerton, Joshua Row as the Imperial Commissioner and young Nate Bryant as Sorrow (Cio Cio San’s son).
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra is conducted by the well-experienced Tobias Ringborg, and is at its best during the beautiful Humming Chorus during which the dynamic balance between the instruments is first rate.
Madama Butterfly plays at the Festival Theatre until Saturday 23 November. If you are opera-curious, this production is for you!
Kym Clayton
When: 14 to 23 Nov
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Sydney Theatre Company presented by State Theatre Company of South Austraia. Dunstan Playhouse. 14 Nov 2019
Yes, Black is the New White on the Australian stage and playwright Nakkiah Lui is the new creative superstar who has leapt upon the zeitgeist of Australia’s cultural melange, thrown its most serious and divisive issues and impasses skywards and brought them down in a gale of outrageous humour.
The name David Williamson whizzes through the mind alongside a sense of the exuberance of Bran Nue Dae and the poignant eloquence of Secret River and, oh, the blithe spirit of Top End Wedding and the best of smart satirical writing and the unresolved status of the first custodians of this land and, OMG, dare we be creased up in laughter at a barrage of racist jokes?
A healthy culture is one which can laugh at itself. Lui has mainlined Australia with an injection of “now” in a play which parodies the Aboriginal middle class, affluent career-driven celebrities, and their views on race and intermarriage. Here, a successful Aboriginal solicitor brings her new boyfriend home for Christmas with her family. The family holiday house is a schmick, modern McMansion with a Lloyd Wright-esque feature window framing a handsome mountainside rock face. Her dad is a renowned Aboriginal politician and her successful fashion designer sister is married to an Aboriginal sporting hero. They are black, beautiful and preening with black pride. And, Look Who’s Coming to Dinner? The boyfriend is white.
Cleverly, Lui lifts the action from conventional narrative to zany fun and folly by adding the outsider perspective of a Puck-like narrator in the pleasant form of Play School’s Luke Carroll. He not only offers occasional commentary but also leads the audience into raucous participation.
In other words, this show has everything - and then some. It has curves and bends and seemingly endless surprises.
The unemployed musician boyfriend’s parents are clichés of the bourgeois Right bringing racist debate to new peaks of absurdity, adorned by bursts of wild and impeccably-timed physical comedy.
Running ever-present beneath all the fun and games is the core seriousness of the racial mores, politics, and human misunderstandings. There are two sides in this black and white comedy.
And it is not all black and white. There’s gender diversity, feminism, patriarchy, manners, family power games and, oh, yes, love. Lots of love.
All of this overload of topicality, even with its “OK Boomer” snipe, is borne on the skills of a magnificent, versatile, exquisitely-cast troupe of actors, many originating from WA. One falls in love with all of them. Not for nothing is Miranda Tapsell the new darling of Australian stage and screen. She’s a captivating gem of comedic talent. But while Tapsell’s young lawyer character is catalyst to the tale, it is Melodie Reynolds-Diarra as her mother who delivers the powerful feminine heart of the play. It’s a mighty, moving performance. Tony Briggs oozes star quality as the Aboriginal politician dad while Geoff Morrell seems to revel in taking the mickey out of the ugly Australian. It’s an over-the-top and, in the end, endearing characterisation. Tuuli Narkle is the essence of facile glamour as the fashionista sister and Anthony Taufa deliriously funny as the sports star who has found Jesus. Yes, it’s all in there, including the hapless romantic hero, played like a symphony of gawky long legged clowning by Tom Stokes contrasting with Vanessa Dowling as his mum, consummate in her clever underplay to deliver the downtrodden wife of the blustering polly. But is this the full nature of the characters as herein described? No. And you don’t see it coming. They all have other sides and each one gets a big moment in the sun delivering issues of the day in this exhaustingly busy play.
The Renee Mulder set is superb. The Ben Hughes lighting is right on the mark. The Steve Toulmin sound adds a feel-good commentary of its own. And Paige Rattray’s direction makes it fast, bright, and madcap with an edge of physical danger. The spirit of the production is infectious. The cast is having fun with the work. It is a seriously silly romp.
And the first night audience did not stand to ovation. It leapt as one! It knew a hit when it saw one.
Samela Harris
When: 13 Nov to 1 Dec
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au
State Opera Of South Australia. Festival Theatre. 13 Nov 2019
At their very essence, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan were about mercilessly parodying the society for which they were written, and their ongoing success very much depends on the libretto being updated so that a contemporary audience can relate to it. The text of the current production of The Mikado by the State Opera of South Australia, which had its first outing in 2011 in Queensland, does just that, and the diverse audience that included nine year olds to nonagenarians, was in stitches of laughter throughout.
But the humour didn’t just lie in the updated and oh-so-witty text that was riddled with cutting references to the foibles of modern society, it was also due to the costuming, the stagecraft of many of the cast, the clever setting, and the razor sharp diction of the singers that expertly navigated the unforgiving technical hurdles of a score that’s riddled with tricky rhythms and tempos.
Under the tight direction of conductor Simon Kenway, a pared down Adelaide Symphony Orchestra - comprising less than twenty musicians - provided a perfect toe-tapping accompaniment. Kenway generally took a moderate pace, which the soloists found comfortable, but occasionally eased the reins such as in the ever popular Three Little Maids From School Are We. Artistic Director Stuart Maunder might have occasionally insisted on a brighter pace, complemented by more animated choreography from Siohbhan Ginty, because the production lagged a little at times, as if it were trying to become grand opera - in which it is mostly about the quality of the singing - when it is not.
Such reservations are minor when one considers the quality of the principals and the chorus. The singing was of a very high quality, with standouts across the board. Pelham Andrews was excellent as the Mikado and his brief forays into ‘high camp’ were greeted with delight from the audience. His booming but warm baritone voice suited the role, and his costuming added to his imperious stature. More exaggeration in other characters would have been welcome. Elizabeth Campbell played Katisha with controlled absurdity and used her Dame Edna-esque spectacles to great effect. Amelia Berry was the perfect Yum-Yum. Her gorgeous soprano voice cut sweetly through the syrupy text and her coquettishness had the heart of every young man in the audience ‘all a flutter’. Dominic Walsh sang and acted a perfect Nanki Poo.
The crowning glory of the cast was Byron Coll in the pivotal role of Ko-Ko. Above everything else he is a consummate actor with honed comic timing, expressive gesture, and the ability to switch on athletic and sometimes improvised physical humour at will. He also sings very well.
The production is very well designed by Simone Roamaniuk, with an inventive and flexible set expertly moved around the stage by the cast to create different acting spaces. Dramatic and colourful fly-ins add to the spectacle. Donn Byrnes’ lighting design is inspired, and uses a rich palette of colours that invokes cherry blossom and the sometimes garish spectacle of contemporary pop culture of Japan. (Think ‘Hello Kitty’.)
The State Opera have a rollicking success on their hands in The Mikado. It plays at the Festival Theatre until Saturday 23 November.
Kym Clayton
When: 13 to 23 Nov
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au