Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) opens a season of a new play, Spurboard, by Nick Enright next week in Sydney. Well known for Blackrock, the play and film based on the murder of Leigh Leigh, Enright has turned his attention to rural young people. Should Mitchell escape from Burradin for 8-second thrills on the rodeo circuit? Will his brother Greg find direction by staring at the stars? Is it right for Karen, with or without Amy, to go to Mardi Gras?
Commissioned by ATYP, and directed by their new Artistic Director, David Berthold, the play is inspired by stories told by young people during ATYP regional workshops in Murrurundi early this year. Berthold has already directed Blackrock and Enright's Chasing the Dragon for Sydney Theatre Company. He has 16 young actors and a professional support team working in association with Pulse 10, which is STC's youth and education wing.
The venue is Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company, with previews November 4 and 5. Opening night is Saturday November 6 and there are weekday and Saturday matinees especially for school groups, with discounts available. Ring 9251 3900 for details.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Tuesday, 26 October 1999
Wednesday, 20 October 1999
1999: Tommy Murphy - Troy's House. Report.
I can only say "I told you so" about Queanbeyan's Tom Murphy. Young Shakespearean of 1997, in many eyes a potential actor, Murphy showed me his script, then called The House on the Hill. Interviewing him for The Canberra Times in May 1998 I concluded: "Murphy is, to my mind, at core a writer. He is excited by writing. He is worried about the writing."
Now called Troy's House, Murphy's play has been picked up by the new Artistic Director of Australian Theatre for Young People, David Berthold, and was presented at A.T.Y.P Studio 1 at The Wharf in Sydney for a 5-night season October 12 - 16.
Murphy rewrote and directed Troy's House for a Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS) season in September this year "greeted with full houses and rave reviews". David Berthold, currently directing Spurboard, a new play by Nick Enright (author of Blackrock), for a November season at The Wharf for Sydney Theatre Company, said "I saw [Troy's House] at the Cellar Theatre at Sydney Uni and there spent one of the most thoroughly entertaining, funny and heart warming nights I've had in theatre. I had to enable this wonderful production to extend its life. It's exactly the kind of production you long for: warm, witty, intelligent and generous."
SUDS has been producing theatre continuously since 1889, and lays claim to Neil Armfield, John Bell, Clive James, Germaine Greer and Gough Whitlam. Now known as Tommy, Murphy is among illustrious company. We shall watch his career with interest.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Now called Troy's House, Murphy's play has been picked up by the new Artistic Director of Australian Theatre for Young People, David Berthold, and was presented at A.T.Y.P Studio 1 at The Wharf in Sydney for a 5-night season October 12 - 16.
Murphy rewrote and directed Troy's House for a Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS) season in September this year "greeted with full houses and rave reviews". David Berthold, currently directing Spurboard, a new play by Nick Enright (author of Blackrock), for a November season at The Wharf for Sydney Theatre Company, said "I saw [Troy's House] at the Cellar Theatre at Sydney Uni and there spent one of the most thoroughly entertaining, funny and heart warming nights I've had in theatre. I had to enable this wonderful production to extend its life. It's exactly the kind of production you long for: warm, witty, intelligent and generous."
SUDS has been producing theatre continuously since 1889, and lays claim to Neil Armfield, John Bell, Clive James, Germaine Greer and Gough Whitlam. Now known as Tommy, Murphy is among illustrious company. We shall watch his career with interest.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
1999: Tell her that I love her... Somebody's Daughter Theatre Company
Tell her that I love her... Somebody's Daughter Theatre Company directed by Maud Clark. Tuggeranong Arts Centre: Performances and Workshops October 19 to Sunday October 24, 1999. Phone 6293 9099 for details.
The essence of tragedy is that we learn - too late to save the most vulnerable - that we are each responsible for ourselves. We are indeed alone in the universe.
The key to good drama is for the writer, designer, director and performers to work sincerely. Everyone must believe in what they are doing for the audience to believe in the drama. One false note and the trust is broken.
Tragedy sincerely dramatised is both deeply sad and simultaneously uplifting: Tuesday dies knowing that only she can stop herself taking drugs; Jess could not help her, but learns the truth from Tuesday's death. Jess will survive. Every character, like the actresses in this play - Debbie Murray, Donna King, Tara Watson, Sam Davis and Kharen Harper - has been locked up in prison for the crime of needing to block out the pain of abuse. Like Tuesday, many, far too many, real women have died.
Somebody's Daughter helps more survive. Tell her that I love her... helps the rest of us understand, through good scripting and song writing, strong directing, a visually exciting set and acting full of energy.
These brave people invited questions afterwards, saying that by acting out their own stories they felt the message was getting through: they have the same ambitions, the same fears, the same strengths and make the same mistakes as we all do. There, but for the luck of the draw, go we all.
The play made me angry that we "protect" children but deny them love and their right to self-worth; and then jail them when they fail to cope as adults, denying them their freedom instead of helping them to regain the freedom we all deserve - from the violence, sexual abuse, emotional manipulation, financial pressure which we do too little to restrain.
One audience member suggested they perform in Federal and State Parliaments so the lawmakers understand the real impact of their deliberations. I, along with the rest of audience, hope this will be done.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
The essence of tragedy is that we learn - too late to save the most vulnerable - that we are each responsible for ourselves. We are indeed alone in the universe.
The key to good drama is for the writer, designer, director and performers to work sincerely. Everyone must believe in what they are doing for the audience to believe in the drama. One false note and the trust is broken.
Tragedy sincerely dramatised is both deeply sad and simultaneously uplifting: Tuesday dies knowing that only she can stop herself taking drugs; Jess could not help her, but learns the truth from Tuesday's death. Jess will survive. Every character, like the actresses in this play - Debbie Murray, Donna King, Tara Watson, Sam Davis and Kharen Harper - has been locked up in prison for the crime of needing to block out the pain of abuse. Like Tuesday, many, far too many, real women have died.
Somebody's Daughter helps more survive. Tell her that I love her... helps the rest of us understand, through good scripting and song writing, strong directing, a visually exciting set and acting full of energy.
These brave people invited questions afterwards, saying that by acting out their own stories they felt the message was getting through: they have the same ambitions, the same fears, the same strengths and make the same mistakes as we all do. There, but for the luck of the draw, go we all.
The play made me angry that we "protect" children but deny them love and their right to self-worth; and then jail them when they fail to cope as adults, denying them their freedom instead of helping them to regain the freedom we all deserve - from the violence, sexual abuse, emotional manipulation, financial pressure which we do too little to restrain.
One audience member suggested they perform in Federal and State Parliaments so the lawmakers understand the real impact of their deliberations. I, along with the rest of audience, hope this will be done.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 15 October 1999
1999: Pipeline - Works in Progress. Presented by The Jigsaw Company
Pipeline - Works in Progress: The Nameless Dead by Judith Crispin Cresswell; The Count by Emma Newman, Dora Kordakis, David Michel and Mary Sutherland; "Dualities of dance" improvisation by Trevor Patrick and Peter Trotman; The Mechanics of Love by Neil Roach; Performance Art "ACME in the Dining Hall". Presented by The Jigsaw Company in association with the Festival of Contemporary Arts and the Choreographic Centre, Gorman House, October 15, 1999.
These five pieces "in the pipeline" were very uneven packets of information travelling in quite different directions down the optic fibre of life. My modem connected but my software couldn't unscramble all the code.
The Count was too easy to understand. If it's going to develop into substantial theatre, the text needs to be much more original for successful satire of the way love is ruled by technology - yet bits of the movement, when close to real dance, showed some strength of imagination.
Neil Roach, on the other hand, has an excellent text - Flacco-esque in its actors playing mechanics in industrial gear, manipulating our idea of love via carrots, celery, steam trains and a film projector. He intends to turn it into live action, but I felt happier for the script to remain a storytelling experience which stimulates the listener's imagination more than concrete realisation.
ACME's restaurant, full of obsessive compulsives - woman with household cleansers, violinist with unfinished variations, girl who must keep off the floor (and becomes an angel), drunkard building a tower of champagne glasses, lovers focussed on the kiss, poet who spouts, woman in tutu, waiter who grinds the roses, real people from the audience who eat a pizza (delivered by a real pizza deliverer) and the ultimate builder of a ten-foot sponge cake tower with real cream, chocolate sauce and candles - was often very funny. But not very original, or new in theatrical terms.
I found Trotman and Patrick's improvisation of independent yet oddly parallel existences either side of a wall, with brief contact at the end, too predictable. It might the basis of a fuller choreography, but I also could not discern a definitive style or complexity of relationships to build on. Clarity and toughness are missing as yet.
The only work with excellent stamped on it is The Nameless Dead. When this Mahler / Richard Strauss / Brechtian / Japanese opera - very powerfully presented by Stopera (with no funding support!) in this oratorio preview - comes to full production next year, don't miss it. Judith Crispin Cresswell tells me Larry Sitsky accused her of writing too much Verdi, so this is her answer: an unsentimental representation of a Buddhist dream of death, percussive yet strangely tuneful, with delicate cadences and silences which will translate on stage into an inescapable drama.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
These five pieces "in the pipeline" were very uneven packets of information travelling in quite different directions down the optic fibre of life. My modem connected but my software couldn't unscramble all the code.
The Count was too easy to understand. If it's going to develop into substantial theatre, the text needs to be much more original for successful satire of the way love is ruled by technology - yet bits of the movement, when close to real dance, showed some strength of imagination.
Neil Roach, on the other hand, has an excellent text - Flacco-esque in its actors playing mechanics in industrial gear, manipulating our idea of love via carrots, celery, steam trains and a film projector. He intends to turn it into live action, but I felt happier for the script to remain a storytelling experience which stimulates the listener's imagination more than concrete realisation.
ACME's restaurant, full of obsessive compulsives - woman with household cleansers, violinist with unfinished variations, girl who must keep off the floor (and becomes an angel), drunkard building a tower of champagne glasses, lovers focussed on the kiss, poet who spouts, woman in tutu, waiter who grinds the roses, real people from the audience who eat a pizza (delivered by a real pizza deliverer) and the ultimate builder of a ten-foot sponge cake tower with real cream, chocolate sauce and candles - was often very funny. But not very original, or new in theatrical terms.
I found Trotman and Patrick's improvisation of independent yet oddly parallel existences either side of a wall, with brief contact at the end, too predictable. It might the basis of a fuller choreography, but I also could not discern a definitive style or complexity of relationships to build on. Clarity and toughness are missing as yet.
The only work with excellent stamped on it is The Nameless Dead. When this Mahler / Richard Strauss / Brechtian / Japanese opera - very powerfully presented by Stopera (with no funding support!) in this oratorio preview - comes to full production next year, don't miss it. Judith Crispin Cresswell tells me Larry Sitsky accused her of writing too much Verdi, so this is her answer: an unsentimental representation of a Buddhist dream of death, percussive yet strangely tuneful, with delicate cadences and silences which will translate on stage into an inescapable drama.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Saturday, 9 October 1999
1999: Summer of the Aliens by Louis Nowra
Summer of the Aliens by Louis Nowra. Rep Fringe directed by Nina Stevenson at Theatre 3, Wed - Sat October 8 - 23, 1999 (matinee October 16, 2pm).
I was pleasantly surprised by a light whimsical presentation of Aliens, which I have previously seen done as hard-nosed social criticism. The adult Nowra looks back on himself as a 14-year-old in 1962, parading the sad working class characters of Singapore Street, fringe-dwelling where outer suburbs meet the paddocks. Young Lewis (Toby Wilkins) lives with the news that World War 3 is about to begin and the belief that aliens in UFO's abduct people - except that it never happens to him. He discovers too late, but never forgets, that he really did love Dulcie, played by Cally Robinson with an accurate and therefore almost shocking sexuality.
Rep Fringe has grown from presenting $5 readings to $10 productions with the special intention of encouraging young people on stage and backstage.
It was brave to cast young actors at the ages of the characters, but maybe this is why the play is so much lighter in tone that it might be. The Director's Notes talk of "important themes", "the struggle to understand the world" and claim that the play "is caustic", but her cast is not up to investing such depth into the work. Yet they were directed well to form an effective ensemble and so I found myself responding to a more gentle Leunig-like humour.
Because Rep Fringe is low budget, the set is simple, but I must say the backside of a Housing Commission redbrick with concrete apron was exactly right. Technically the production runs smoothly with lighting used to move from scene to scene. However I did find that the older Lewis, who narrates his story and occasionally interrogates his younger self, would have been better left on stage throughout rather than entering and exiting each time he speaks. This was a distraction and, thematically, I wondered where he went to when he disappeared. I was reminded of Tom in The Glass Menagerie who stays visible and moves into and out of the action, making it clear that this is a memory play, like Summer of the Aliens.
A value-for-money evening at Rep.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
I was pleasantly surprised by a light whimsical presentation of Aliens, which I have previously seen done as hard-nosed social criticism. The adult Nowra looks back on himself as a 14-year-old in 1962, parading the sad working class characters of Singapore Street, fringe-dwelling where outer suburbs meet the paddocks. Young Lewis (Toby Wilkins) lives with the news that World War 3 is about to begin and the belief that aliens in UFO's abduct people - except that it never happens to him. He discovers too late, but never forgets, that he really did love Dulcie, played by Cally Robinson with an accurate and therefore almost shocking sexuality.
Rep Fringe has grown from presenting $5 readings to $10 productions with the special intention of encouraging young people on stage and backstage.
It was brave to cast young actors at the ages of the characters, but maybe this is why the play is so much lighter in tone that it might be. The Director's Notes talk of "important themes", "the struggle to understand the world" and claim that the play "is caustic", but her cast is not up to investing such depth into the work. Yet they were directed well to form an effective ensemble and so I found myself responding to a more gentle Leunig-like humour.
Because Rep Fringe is low budget, the set is simple, but I must say the backside of a Housing Commission redbrick with concrete apron was exactly right. Technically the production runs smoothly with lighting used to move from scene to scene. However I did find that the older Lewis, who narrates his story and occasionally interrogates his younger self, would have been better left on stage throughout rather than entering and exiting each time he speaks. This was a distraction and, thematically, I wondered where he went to when he disappeared. I was reminded of Tom in The Glass Menagerie who stays visible and moves into and out of the action, making it clear that this is a memory play, like Summer of the Aliens.
A value-for-money evening at Rep.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 8 October 1999
1999: Miss Julie by August Strindberg
Miss Julie by August Strindberg. Translation by Michael Meyer, directed by Eulea Kiraly in a double bill (with Elektra a.d. by Christos Tsiolkas). The Street Theatre Thurs 7 - Sat 9 and Wed 13 - Sat 16 October, 1999. 8pm. Matinee Sat 16 Oct, 2pm.
"We'll go to another country, to a republic" says the servant Jean to his lady Miss Julie. Why a republic? Because now they have made love across the rigid divide of 19th Century social class, neither can be free in a monarchy - even Sweden. Strindberg switched this little spotlight on, and see it now glint even on our very own referendum on November 6 a century later.
Some have thought this play an early naturalistic drama, but Eulea Kiraly has directed it precisely for its symbolism - and her actors have met her high expectations. Each twist and turn of seduction in the triangle of Christine (Alexis Beebe) - the servant who knows her place; Jean (Lachlan Abrahams) - the ambitious servant seeking entrée to the nobility; and Miss Julie (Lenore McGregor) - the unstable lady who falls from grace, is marked by a movement, a look and a silence which leaves us in no doubt about what is happening. These people are trapped in a social hierarchy about to collapse around them.
Of course, the Republic of Indonesia has shown us that the trappings of monarchy are not so easily disposed of: Miss Julie, effectively penniless, kindly commits suicide in Strindberg's black optimism, rather than thrashing the living daylights out of the lower orders in her death throes.
This production is worth seeing not just for its messages, but because the cast have invested emotional integrity into a script that could too easily be merely melodramatic, despite the author's intentions, just because it is a 19th Century play. Their timing is excellent, often deliberately paced to allow the intensity of the moment to grow but without going over the top. An audience on opening night of theatre buffs, easily critical if not cynical, found humour and horror in the lights and shades, and audibly felt relief at the end.
The Season at The Street is enhanced by this production. Highly recommended.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
"We'll go to another country, to a republic" says the servant Jean to his lady Miss Julie. Why a republic? Because now they have made love across the rigid divide of 19th Century social class, neither can be free in a monarchy - even Sweden. Strindberg switched this little spotlight on, and see it now glint even on our very own referendum on November 6 a century later.
Some have thought this play an early naturalistic drama, but Eulea Kiraly has directed it precisely for its symbolism - and her actors have met her high expectations. Each twist and turn of seduction in the triangle of Christine (Alexis Beebe) - the servant who knows her place; Jean (Lachlan Abrahams) - the ambitious servant seeking entrée to the nobility; and Miss Julie (Lenore McGregor) - the unstable lady who falls from grace, is marked by a movement, a look and a silence which leaves us in no doubt about what is happening. These people are trapped in a social hierarchy about to collapse around them.
Of course, the Republic of Indonesia has shown us that the trappings of monarchy are not so easily disposed of: Miss Julie, effectively penniless, kindly commits suicide in Strindberg's black optimism, rather than thrashing the living daylights out of the lower orders in her death throes.
This production is worth seeing not just for its messages, but because the cast have invested emotional integrity into a script that could too easily be merely melodramatic, despite the author's intentions, just because it is a 19th Century play. Their timing is excellent, often deliberately paced to allow the intensity of the moment to grow but without going over the top. An audience on opening night of theatre buffs, easily critical if not cynical, found humour and horror in the lights and shades, and audibly felt relief at the end.
The Season at The Street is enhanced by this production. Highly recommended.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
1999: Elektra a.d. by Christos Tsiolkas
Elektra a.d. by Christos Tsiolkas. Directed by David Branson in a double bill (with Miss Julie by August Strindberg). Music by Greg Raymond and Pip Branson. The Street Theatre Thurs 7 - Sat 9 and Wed 13 - Sat 16 October, 8pm. Matinee Sat 16 Oct, 1999. 2pm.
This play is an intriguing modern tragedy of enduring hatred, using the ancient Greek story of Electra to tell the modern story of the division of Cyprus and the Cypriot Christian/Moslem refugee experience in Australia. The parallels are drawn in the play with the Sarajevo conflict, and it takes little imagination on our part to see Kosovars and East Timorese in these roles.
In the original Oresteian plays by Aeschylus, centred on Electra's brother Orestes, Electra is the force for justice through retribution, for death in the name of her family's traditional rights. American writer Eugene O'Neill translated this story to the Civil War in the famous play Mourning Becomes Electra, in which her tragedy is never to give in but to turn away from society, entering the family's cold stone mansion to eke out the remains of her life alone.
Tsiokas has similarly made his Elektra isolated in her factory job, refusing to learn the hated harsh language, English, watching the news of war in Europe on a tacky television in a tiny Melbourne flat. Her elder brother, Orestes, is missing in action; her mother has married a Moslem, and produces a new cross-breed half-brother, whom Elektra murders.
The strength of the play is in Tsiolkas' writing, paralleling the language of the ancient Sophocles' version of Electra - the "Elektra b.c." presumably. All the actors use the language well, but special praise goes to Louise Morris (Elektra), Estelle Muspratt (Elektra's sister Chrysothemis) and Joe Woodward (her mother's new husband, Aegisthus). David Branson notes that the play is still in development, and I expect the script to be trimmed and added to in time, and transitions between scenes to become better integrated. The visuals are relevant but at times distract from the action, and the live music - excellent as it is - can be knitted into the play much more.
The Greek tragedy form, where characters objectively describe their thoughts, works powerfully here: well worth the experience.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
This play is an intriguing modern tragedy of enduring hatred, using the ancient Greek story of Electra to tell the modern story of the division of Cyprus and the Cypriot Christian/Moslem refugee experience in Australia. The parallels are drawn in the play with the Sarajevo conflict, and it takes little imagination on our part to see Kosovars and East Timorese in these roles.
In the original Oresteian plays by Aeschylus, centred on Electra's brother Orestes, Electra is the force for justice through retribution, for death in the name of her family's traditional rights. American writer Eugene O'Neill translated this story to the Civil War in the famous play Mourning Becomes Electra, in which her tragedy is never to give in but to turn away from society, entering the family's cold stone mansion to eke out the remains of her life alone.
Tsiokas has similarly made his Elektra isolated in her factory job, refusing to learn the hated harsh language, English, watching the news of war in Europe on a tacky television in a tiny Melbourne flat. Her elder brother, Orestes, is missing in action; her mother has married a Moslem, and produces a new cross-breed half-brother, whom Elektra murders.
The strength of the play is in Tsiolkas' writing, paralleling the language of the ancient Sophocles' version of Electra - the "Elektra b.c." presumably. All the actors use the language well, but special praise goes to Louise Morris (Elektra), Estelle Muspratt (Elektra's sister Chrysothemis) and Joe Woodward (her mother's new husband, Aegisthus). David Branson notes that the play is still in development, and I expect the script to be trimmed and added to in time, and transitions between scenes to become better integrated. The visuals are relevant but at times distract from the action, and the live music - excellent as it is - can be knitted into the play much more.
The Greek tragedy form, where characters objectively describe their thoughts, works powerfully here: well worth the experience.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Wednesday, 6 October 1999
1999: Snow White and Rose Red by Anna Simic and Cristy Gilbert
Snow White and Rose Red, written and performed by Anna Simic and Cristy Gilbert. Festival of Contemporary Arts at Canberra Museum And Gallery Theatrette, October 6-9, 1999. 7pm.
It's not usual for members of the audience to instruct this reviewer, but "generosity of spirit" was the order of the evening - not so difficult in view of the champagne flowing down the tower of wine glasses in the foyer to bring us back to adult sophistication after an hour of childhood fantasy.
We knew reality was in for a dose of emetic when we discovered that Snow White has black hair, white lips and "skin as red as blood", and I'm sure I detected Anna's brother Mikal's band P.Harness playing the grunge/spew part in the sound track. And we were not disappointed. I will always find it difficult to consume chicken with equanimity from now on. These innocent little flower girls turned smilingly cannibalistic after consorting with a black bear, a witchetty step mother, a vicious rabbit, a thieving dwarf and a prince in cloth of gold.
What did the Little Golden Book, Old May Gibb and maybe a touch of Roald Dahl do to the imaginations of these highly presentable young women who could persuade artsACT to give them a grant?
In fact with little money, Simic and Gilbert have experimented with multi-media and produced a new reflection on reality, in which the little girls in the video clips watch themselves perform their fantasies, and watch us, while we watch them simultaneously on screen and stage - and before long find ourselves watching ourselves.
Of course, strict technical standards were impossible to meet, but I found that the fuzzy home-video result blended in, perhaps accidentally but certainly fortuitously, with the fuzzy mime and deliberate slow action of the "real" characters. Somehow we saw the children re-presenting themselves through a filmy filter of adult experience. They became "wyrd sisters" and for a moment I thought I saw Jean Genet's The Maids when very young.
Experiment is what FOCA is for, and CMAG's Theatrette is the right intimate venue for this production - but small, so get there early.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
It's not usual for members of the audience to instruct this reviewer, but "generosity of spirit" was the order of the evening - not so difficult in view of the champagne flowing down the tower of wine glasses in the foyer to bring us back to adult sophistication after an hour of childhood fantasy.
We knew reality was in for a dose of emetic when we discovered that Snow White has black hair, white lips and "skin as red as blood", and I'm sure I detected Anna's brother Mikal's band P.Harness playing the grunge/spew part in the sound track. And we were not disappointed. I will always find it difficult to consume chicken with equanimity from now on. These innocent little flower girls turned smilingly cannibalistic after consorting with a black bear, a witchetty step mother, a vicious rabbit, a thieving dwarf and a prince in cloth of gold.
What did the Little Golden Book, Old May Gibb and maybe a touch of Roald Dahl do to the imaginations of these highly presentable young women who could persuade artsACT to give them a grant?
In fact with little money, Simic and Gilbert have experimented with multi-media and produced a new reflection on reality, in which the little girls in the video clips watch themselves perform their fantasies, and watch us, while we watch them simultaneously on screen and stage - and before long find ourselves watching ourselves.
Of course, strict technical standards were impossible to meet, but I found that the fuzzy home-video result blended in, perhaps accidentally but certainly fortuitously, with the fuzzy mime and deliberate slow action of the "real" characters. Somehow we saw the children re-presenting themselves through a filmy filter of adult experience. They became "wyrd sisters" and for a moment I thought I saw Jean Genet's The Maids when very young.
Experiment is what FOCA is for, and CMAG's Theatrette is the right intimate venue for this production - but small, so get there early.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Sunday, 3 October 1999
1999: Shakespeare Globe Centre Australia awards - news report
This year's Shakespeare Globe Centre Australia awards were announced last Saturday at the conclusion of No Holds Bard, devised and performed by 30 secondary school finalists from across Australia including 3 Canberrans: Tessa Keenan, Leah Kimball and Sarah La Brooy.
Led by Hugh O'Keefe, Sydney University director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre's National Education Program, a team of theatre professionals and teachers worked with the students for 6 days at Theatre 3, providing their services voluntarily to an organisation which receives no government funding and little sponsorship, relying mainly on entry fees from participating schools. This year some 15,000 students took part in the regional and state festivals leading to the selection of the 30 finalists.
The Abbey's Bookshop Awards for Shakespeare Expertise, presented by Sydney choreographer Jonathan Rosten and 1997 Shakespearean Teacher of the Year Wendy Dowd, went to Ben Harrison (Sydney), Kallista Kaval (Ballarat), Morgan Tucker (Armidale, NSW) and Anthony Ulijn (Perth).
Deidre Burges (Marian Street Theatre, Sydney) presented the Roger Barratt Award for Design to Julia McNamee (Upwey, Vic).
The Roger Woodward Award for Music, presented by musical director Peter Pitcher, was given jointly for excellent composition and teamwork to Tessa Keenan (Canberra), Liz Gunner and Bridget Gurry (both of Adelaide).
The major awards, enabling a teacher and a student to travel to the Shakespeare Globe Centre in London and to undertake further training and professional development, were presented by Catherine Dunn, 1998 Shakespeare Teacher of the Year, and the founder of Shakespeare Globe Centre Australia, Diana Denley.
Shakespearean Teacher of the Year is Deborah Field Farago of MLC, Melbourne, and Young Shakespearean Artist of the Year is Gordon Hamilton of Newcastle, NSW, who was chosen unanimously for "exceptional talent in composing songs and instrumental pieces" and "his ability to coach and enthuse his fellow performers". This award is given to the student seen to be most ready for the transition from school theatre to the adult experience offered in a two week intensive program next northern summer at the Shakespeare Globe in London for young people from around the world.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Led by Hugh O'Keefe, Sydney University director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre's National Education Program, a team of theatre professionals and teachers worked with the students for 6 days at Theatre 3, providing their services voluntarily to an organisation which receives no government funding and little sponsorship, relying mainly on entry fees from participating schools. This year some 15,000 students took part in the regional and state festivals leading to the selection of the 30 finalists.
The Abbey's Bookshop Awards for Shakespeare Expertise, presented by Sydney choreographer Jonathan Rosten and 1997 Shakespearean Teacher of the Year Wendy Dowd, went to Ben Harrison (Sydney), Kallista Kaval (Ballarat), Morgan Tucker (Armidale, NSW) and Anthony Ulijn (Perth).
Deidre Burges (Marian Street Theatre, Sydney) presented the Roger Barratt Award for Design to Julia McNamee (Upwey, Vic).
The Roger Woodward Award for Music, presented by musical director Peter Pitcher, was given jointly for excellent composition and teamwork to Tessa Keenan (Canberra), Liz Gunner and Bridget Gurry (both of Adelaide).
The major awards, enabling a teacher and a student to travel to the Shakespeare Globe Centre in London and to undertake further training and professional development, were presented by Catherine Dunn, 1998 Shakespeare Teacher of the Year, and the founder of Shakespeare Globe Centre Australia, Diana Denley.
Shakespearean Teacher of the Year is Deborah Field Farago of MLC, Melbourne, and Young Shakespearean Artist of the Year is Gordon Hamilton of Newcastle, NSW, who was chosen unanimously for "exceptional talent in composing songs and instrumental pieces" and "his ability to coach and enthuse his fellow performers". This award is given to the student seen to be most ready for the transition from school theatre to the adult experience offered in a two week intensive program next northern summer at the Shakespeare Globe in London for young people from around the world.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Saturday, 2 October 1999
1999: In Her Own Flame. Dance theatre directed by Niki Shepherd
In Her Own Flame. Dance theatre directed by Niki Shepherd. Festival of Contemporary Arts, at the Choreographic Centre, Gorman House October 1-3, 1999.
In the same way that World Music draws on traditional folk music forms from many cultures and has developed a new identity, Niki Shepherd with dancer Jennie White and musicians Cris Clucas and Andrew Purdam, narrate an ancient Greek myth in the language of classical Indian dance - and in the process have begun to create a new exciting form of dance theatre - World Dance, perhaps.
The story of the conception and birth of Dionysos, the Greek god of theatre and intoxication, told through the experiences of his mortal mother Semele in her relationship with the god Zeus and his wife Hera, is about ecstasy and its tragic consequences.
Hera persuades Semele, already pregnant from her first encounter with Zeus in human form, to encourage him to make love in his divine form. Hera knows this will destroy Semele - but the god Hermes rescues the unborn Dionysos. Later Dionysos leads his mother out of Hades to become goddess of ecstatic rage, akin to the Indian goddess Kali.
Working out of her Indian Kuchipudi dance training, originally with Padma Menon and now with Anandavalli Sivanathan, Shepherd has collaborated with Jennie White (trained by Mrs Nandana Chellapah in Bharata Natyam style, and also now with Anandavalli) in exploring the Greek myth from the perspective of Siva, the Indian god of dance and ecstatic experience. The live music grew in concert with the choreography: Andrew Purdam's percussion and especially the voice of Cris Clucas are quite extraordinary. The result is a "modern dance" creation of women's experience of love, betrayal, survival and finding a new internal strength.
Each performer is so secure in their newly created form that much of the work is improvised rather than strictly notated, giving the work a living tension which draws the audience into the experience. This is a product of time and space made available by the Choreographic Centre, directed by Mark Gordon, and proof of the value of this resource to Canberra.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
In the same way that World Music draws on traditional folk music forms from many cultures and has developed a new identity, Niki Shepherd with dancer Jennie White and musicians Cris Clucas and Andrew Purdam, narrate an ancient Greek myth in the language of classical Indian dance - and in the process have begun to create a new exciting form of dance theatre - World Dance, perhaps.
The story of the conception and birth of Dionysos, the Greek god of theatre and intoxication, told through the experiences of his mortal mother Semele in her relationship with the god Zeus and his wife Hera, is about ecstasy and its tragic consequences.
Hera persuades Semele, already pregnant from her first encounter with Zeus in human form, to encourage him to make love in his divine form. Hera knows this will destroy Semele - but the god Hermes rescues the unborn Dionysos. Later Dionysos leads his mother out of Hades to become goddess of ecstatic rage, akin to the Indian goddess Kali.
Working out of her Indian Kuchipudi dance training, originally with Padma Menon and now with Anandavalli Sivanathan, Shepherd has collaborated with Jennie White (trained by Mrs Nandana Chellapah in Bharata Natyam style, and also now with Anandavalli) in exploring the Greek myth from the perspective of Siva, the Indian god of dance and ecstatic experience. The live music grew in concert with the choreography: Andrew Purdam's percussion and especially the voice of Cris Clucas are quite extraordinary. The result is a "modern dance" creation of women's experience of love, betrayal, survival and finding a new internal strength.
Each performer is so secure in their newly created form that much of the work is improvised rather than strictly notated, giving the work a living tension which draws the audience into the experience. This is a product of time and space made available by the Choreographic Centre, directed by Mark Gordon, and proof of the value of this resource to Canberra.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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