Up For Grabs by David Williamson. Sydney Theatre Company directed by Gale Edwards at The Playhouse May 30 - June 2, June 4-9.
Casting Garry McDonald as the ruthless Manny, fifth richest man in Australia with an interesting sexual identity problem, has to mean a thoroughly entertaining night. His comic timing is superb; his transition from veniality to vunerability is wonderful to watch.
McDonald was offered the part by Gale Edwards because she knew his integrity as an actor would do the trick (watch out for the end of Act 1), and the whole ensemble - Helen Dallimore, Tina Bursill, Angela Punch McGregor, Simon Burke, Kirstie Hutton and Felix Williamson - came up to scratch, sometimes literally (though on opening night Punch McGregor did get stuck on a high pitch and volume for a while, losing comic effect and audience sympathy, before regaining strength in her final revelation speech).
David Williamson, whom I have criticised before for not having full control of dramatic form (seeking to be naturalistic when one-liners and neat finishes are at odds with this quest), has found in Edwards a director who sees the style his work needs - while Williamson has also at last clarified his understanding of form by allowing characters to speak direct to the audience in soliloquies which reveal themselves to us and draw us along with them into the action.
As a result, Dallimore's art dealer, Simone, doing everything (the details of which I won't reveal) to make her 2 million dollar sale remains a character we can feel sympathy for. It's interesting, perhaps ironic, that through non-naturalistic devices the characters seem more real. And Williamson's writing seems much freer and more daring than in many earlier plays. His younger damagecontrol.com instant new wealth couple, Mindy (Hutton) and Kel (Williamson) display a wildness that I think is new and exciting.
Everyone I spoke to on opening night emphasised how entertaining the performance was, and especially how exquisite the stage and lighting designs are, so no-one will be disappointed in this night out at the theatre. Yet for me, this play is less layered with meaning than, say, Face to Face, though it is better than his other financial competition play, Emerald City. I guess I'm looking for a harder satirical edge which could make this play greater than just a great night out.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Thursday, 31 May 2001
Tuesday, 29 May 2001
2001: Tuggeranong Community Arts - Community Cultural Development Project. Feature Article.
"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."
This comment in reviewing Tell her that I love her..., performed by Somebody's Daughter Theatre at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in October 1999, remains true of director Maud Clark's recent work for Tuggeranong Community Arts: a five weeks' project funded by the Community Cultural Development Fund of the Australia Council.
Bringing together some 20 young people from Inanna's Well Being Group, the Karalika Therapeutic Community and Dickson College's Alternative Program with TCA workshop directors Garry Fry and Eulea Kiraly, Community Arts Officer Louise Haigh and Gallery Coordinator Susie Edwards, Clark worked with Somebody's Daughter Musical Director Greg Sneddon and Odyssey House Visual Art Consultant Maria Fillipow on an integrated arts development workshop with several objectives.
While the TCA staff were learning new techniques for engaging young people in the process of discovering and expressing their understanding of love, in all its positives and negatives, the young participants, many of whom have had difficulty fitting in with social norms, were finding new levels of self-confidence, learning to work successfully in a new group, and creating a work-in-progress last Tuesday to show in visual, musical and theatrical forms how "Love is an onion" - many layered, rich in texture and shape, bringing tears to the eyes. Poems and mimed images in the Gallery space were followed by movement and music in the Dance Studio, and song and text-based scenes in the Theatre.
Eulea Kiraly will take some members of the group, and others who may join, further in what Clark refers to as "opening a window", and next year plans to use the Somebody's Daughter approach to work with teenage boys involved in bullying. Clark explains that the work is not specifically therapy, but aims at leading young people to find a passion to follow - maybe in theatre, art or music, or indeed in surfing - the theme of one scene developed from one boy's writing in this group. Clark calls this "crossing the bridge to understanding why".
Helping to allay young people's anger and frustration is important community arts work: TCA is based at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, but works with people across the city. Contact TCA General Manager Ms Evol McLeod if you are interested in, or would like to take part in this kind of project. Ring 6293 1443.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
This comment in reviewing Tell her that I love her..., performed by Somebody's Daughter Theatre at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in October 1999, remains true of director Maud Clark's recent work for Tuggeranong Community Arts: a five weeks' project funded by the Community Cultural Development Fund of the Australia Council.
Bringing together some 20 young people from Inanna's Well Being Group, the Karalika Therapeutic Community and Dickson College's Alternative Program with TCA workshop directors Garry Fry and Eulea Kiraly, Community Arts Officer Louise Haigh and Gallery Coordinator Susie Edwards, Clark worked with Somebody's Daughter Musical Director Greg Sneddon and Odyssey House Visual Art Consultant Maria Fillipow on an integrated arts development workshop with several objectives.
While the TCA staff were learning new techniques for engaging young people in the process of discovering and expressing their understanding of love, in all its positives and negatives, the young participants, many of whom have had difficulty fitting in with social norms, were finding new levels of self-confidence, learning to work successfully in a new group, and creating a work-in-progress last Tuesday to show in visual, musical and theatrical forms how "Love is an onion" - many layered, rich in texture and shape, bringing tears to the eyes. Poems and mimed images in the Gallery space were followed by movement and music in the Dance Studio, and song and text-based scenes in the Theatre.
Eulea Kiraly will take some members of the group, and others who may join, further in what Clark refers to as "opening a window", and next year plans to use the Somebody's Daughter approach to work with teenage boys involved in bullying. Clark explains that the work is not specifically therapy, but aims at leading young people to find a passion to follow - maybe in theatre, art or music, or indeed in surfing - the theme of one scene developed from one boy's writing in this group. Clark calls this "crossing the bridge to understanding why".
Helping to allay young people's anger and frustration is important community arts work: TCA is based at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, but works with people across the city. Contact TCA General Manager Ms Evol McLeod if you are interested in, or would like to take part in this kind of project. Ring 6293 1443.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 25 May 2001
2001: Museum Theatre: Making Our Stories Accessible. Feature article.
Museum Theatre: Making Our Stories Accessible
"Banging a visitor over the head with a message will only serve to concuss their mind, not expand it." - Catherine Hughes, Boston Museum of Science, Executive Director of the International Museum Theatre Alliance (IMTA). So I'll begin with an old joke, along the lines of when is a horse not a horse? When it turns into a field.
When is museum theatre not museum theatre? When it's in a museum, not in a theatre. Traditionally, museum theatre - in the theatre - is an unimaginative reproduction of an old play with no modern relevance beyond maybe an academic interest in how it was done a century ago. But museum theatre in a museum turns all this on its head. And it's happening right here at the National Museum of Australia. This is where the audience participation starts.
Old dark brown timber, linoleum floor, green and cream wall tiling and glass cases with fascinating stuffed animals and ancient spear points. This was the Australian Museum I remember in Sydney in the 1950s. For me, an exciting place which turned me on to anthropology, archaeology and environmental issues. But Greg Lissaman, director of Canberra's Jigsaw Theatre Company, says things have changed.
Young people live now in a visual and information world in which not only is museum theatre (in the theatre) irrelevant, but museums need to be interactive places where learning happens through people participating. Machines and computers, of course, can provide exciting activities - go to K-Space at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) to see the children in action inventing their own instant-video city of the future - but theatre has a special role to play.
At the NMA, a team led by Lyn Beasley, manages theatre performances, like Strike It Rich (by Susanne Ellis, as the wife of a goldminer) and Alien Invasion (by Alexis Beebe, Special Agent Scruffy, and Stephen Barker, Special Agent Mouldy from the Bureau for Feral Invasions) specifically for school groups during term time. Another team, led by Daina Harvey, focusses on young people up to age 24 outside the school context, including next July a Federation show by justly famous Canberra satirists Moya Simpson and John Shortis.
A quieter theatre scene at the NMA is inside the Boab Tree, where storytelling takes place, especially but not only for the very young children. With manager Denise Fowler, I watched Marina Knight from the Storytellers Guild enacting her story of the rainbow serpent who sloughed her skin, leaving a beautiful magical light show for all the insects to explore, except the grasshopper - until the mantis wisely suggested weighing the grasshopper down with bullants and beetles so he couldn't suddenly jump and damage the delicate membrane. Her description reminded me of Chihuly's glass exhibition at the National Gallery, except that he didn't have a choir of ants to complete the visitor's experience.
It was Fowler who articulated the special role of theatre: no matter that machines and computers can do wonders, visitors to the NMA respond to the humanity of performance by people. In the end it is the human touch which transforms a green-and-cream wooden, glass and linoleum museum, or even a whirring, buzzing multimedia museum, into a contemporary museum of stories and dramas which touch people's real lives. This is what museum theatre can do.
So what's the connection between the National Museum of Australia, the International Museum Theatre Alliance and The Jigsaw Company? The answer: The Australia Council for the Arts, which offers grants in its Emerging Artists Fund to artistic directors in their first 4 years. Greg Lissaman has been at Jigsaw for 3 years, with a remarkable achievement in expanding Jigsaw's program.
When Jigsaw began, as you may imagine from its name, it was an offshoot of the long-gone Canberra Children's Theatre, providing essentially theatre-in-education for the school system. Now Lissaman has built on the work of 25 years' worth of professional artistic directors to make The Jigsaw Company a theatre for young people, which not only can serve the needs of schools through its contract with the ACT Department of Education, but has as its core the presentation of quality theatre. In effect Jigsaw is operating in parallel to Daina Harvey's team at the NMA.
Jigsaw's base is the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, but the company has never been restricted to a theatre venue, as Peter Wilkins' recent review in The Canberra Times of Kings Hall 9 demonstrates: the Chambers of Old Parliament House make the perfect setting for this Federation drama.
In fact it was this work which led to Lissaman receiving a grant from the Australia Council for an 8 week study tour of zoos and museums in USA and England in May 2002. In Dallas he and Michael Richards of Old Parliament House will co-present a paper to the Annual Meeting of the prestigious American Association of Museums, while Lissaman goes on to the Smithsonian in Washington, the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Region History Centre, Philadelphia Zoo, Boston Museum of Science and the London Museum of the Moving Image, where he will make a more lengthy study of the training of actors for scripted and improvised museum theatre work, and the model of consultancy which makes this Museum a successful provider of museum theatre across Europe.
This is where not "banging a visitor over the head" comes in. Catherine Hughes founded the International Museum Theatre Alliance, writing in 1998 "As the museum theatre field grows, criticism of it may as well. In fact, when engaging the full power of theatre, it should spark healthy debate. The aspect that should not be up for debate is quality. It is imperative to produce well-acted, well-written, well-researched, and well-supported museum theatre. A lone actor in period costume with no structure or support from an institution will appear foolish. A simplistic, badly written play will not keep anyone's attention. Bad or overzealous acting will ruin more than just one experience."
Daina Harvey from NMA will be at the IMTA conference for four days in September. Greg Lissaman will meet with Catherine Hughes next May. The NMA Performance Advisory Group has been established to build on the high-level enthusiasm of the internal staff, chaired by Children's Programs General Manager Dr Darryl McIntyre, by bringing in the expertise of not only Greg Lissaman, but Canberra Youth Theatre's Linda McHugh, Elbow Theatre's Iain Sinclair, College drama teachers Lorena Param and Peter Wilkins, Melbourne Theatre Company dramaturg Peter Matheson, and Robert Swieca from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, who is also a Board Member of IMTA.
The object of the exercise is to ensure that Hughes' injunction about not compromising on quality is followed through. This is Jigsaw's main point: quality theatre is the core - only then can quality experience and learning take place. I guess parents and teachers around Canberra will back Jigsaw's reputation on this point.
Of course, the other issue raised by Hughes will be the one to watch. Will the funding for the NMA support the current enthusiasm? Will museum theatre become entirely dependent on box office (already partly the case for some performances at NMA)? Professionals need to be paid at professional rates, so will budgetting in the long term recognise the continuing need for quality?
ANM Director, Dawn Casey, expresses no doubts however, explaining that museum theatre is directly related to the Museum's central concern: making Australia's national stories accessible. As exhibitions change and develop, so will the museum's theatre be embedded in the process not only of presenting our stories but creating stories, where, for example, a school or community may bring their own theatre to the museum. Already, she says, museums overseas are keen to learn from the way we do things here where we aim to integrate visitors' experiences around themes and national narratives.
So museum theatre has jumped out of its old theatrical pigeonhole and wombatted its way into the Mr Squiggle design of the National Museum of Australia where it will create ever diverting tunnels for the unwary - and will be impossible to remove without the whole structure falling down about our ears like a dunny kicked by an emu. Museum theatre has certainly turned topsy-turvy, to become the theatre of the future instead of the theatre of the past.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
"Banging a visitor over the head with a message will only serve to concuss their mind, not expand it." - Catherine Hughes, Boston Museum of Science, Executive Director of the International Museum Theatre Alliance (IMTA). So I'll begin with an old joke, along the lines of when is a horse not a horse? When it turns into a field.
When is museum theatre not museum theatre? When it's in a museum, not in a theatre. Traditionally, museum theatre - in the theatre - is an unimaginative reproduction of an old play with no modern relevance beyond maybe an academic interest in how it was done a century ago. But museum theatre in a museum turns all this on its head. And it's happening right here at the National Museum of Australia. This is where the audience participation starts.
Old dark brown timber, linoleum floor, green and cream wall tiling and glass cases with fascinating stuffed animals and ancient spear points. This was the Australian Museum I remember in Sydney in the 1950s. For me, an exciting place which turned me on to anthropology, archaeology and environmental issues. But Greg Lissaman, director of Canberra's Jigsaw Theatre Company, says things have changed.
Young people live now in a visual and information world in which not only is museum theatre (in the theatre) irrelevant, but museums need to be interactive places where learning happens through people participating. Machines and computers, of course, can provide exciting activities - go to K-Space at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) to see the children in action inventing their own instant-video city of the future - but theatre has a special role to play.
At the NMA, a team led by Lyn Beasley, manages theatre performances, like Strike It Rich (by Susanne Ellis, as the wife of a goldminer) and Alien Invasion (by Alexis Beebe, Special Agent Scruffy, and Stephen Barker, Special Agent Mouldy from the Bureau for Feral Invasions) specifically for school groups during term time. Another team, led by Daina Harvey, focusses on young people up to age 24 outside the school context, including next July a Federation show by justly famous Canberra satirists Moya Simpson and John Shortis.
A quieter theatre scene at the NMA is inside the Boab Tree, where storytelling takes place, especially but not only for the very young children. With manager Denise Fowler, I watched Marina Knight from the Storytellers Guild enacting her story of the rainbow serpent who sloughed her skin, leaving a beautiful magical light show for all the insects to explore, except the grasshopper - until the mantis wisely suggested weighing the grasshopper down with bullants and beetles so he couldn't suddenly jump and damage the delicate membrane. Her description reminded me of Chihuly's glass exhibition at the National Gallery, except that he didn't have a choir of ants to complete the visitor's experience.
It was Fowler who articulated the special role of theatre: no matter that machines and computers can do wonders, visitors to the NMA respond to the humanity of performance by people. In the end it is the human touch which transforms a green-and-cream wooden, glass and linoleum museum, or even a whirring, buzzing multimedia museum, into a contemporary museum of stories and dramas which touch people's real lives. This is what museum theatre can do.
So what's the connection between the National Museum of Australia, the International Museum Theatre Alliance and The Jigsaw Company? The answer: The Australia Council for the Arts, which offers grants in its Emerging Artists Fund to artistic directors in their first 4 years. Greg Lissaman has been at Jigsaw for 3 years, with a remarkable achievement in expanding Jigsaw's program.
When Jigsaw began, as you may imagine from its name, it was an offshoot of the long-gone Canberra Children's Theatre, providing essentially theatre-in-education for the school system. Now Lissaman has built on the work of 25 years' worth of professional artistic directors to make The Jigsaw Company a theatre for young people, which not only can serve the needs of schools through its contract with the ACT Department of Education, but has as its core the presentation of quality theatre. In effect Jigsaw is operating in parallel to Daina Harvey's team at the NMA.
Jigsaw's base is the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, but the company has never been restricted to a theatre venue, as Peter Wilkins' recent review in The Canberra Times of Kings Hall 9 demonstrates: the Chambers of Old Parliament House make the perfect setting for this Federation drama.
In fact it was this work which led to Lissaman receiving a grant from the Australia Council for an 8 week study tour of zoos and museums in USA and England in May 2002. In Dallas he and Michael Richards of Old Parliament House will co-present a paper to the Annual Meeting of the prestigious American Association of Museums, while Lissaman goes on to the Smithsonian in Washington, the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Region History Centre, Philadelphia Zoo, Boston Museum of Science and the London Museum of the Moving Image, where he will make a more lengthy study of the training of actors for scripted and improvised museum theatre work, and the model of consultancy which makes this Museum a successful provider of museum theatre across Europe.
This is where not "banging a visitor over the head" comes in. Catherine Hughes founded the International Museum Theatre Alliance, writing in 1998 "As the museum theatre field grows, criticism of it may as well. In fact, when engaging the full power of theatre, it should spark healthy debate. The aspect that should not be up for debate is quality. It is imperative to produce well-acted, well-written, well-researched, and well-supported museum theatre. A lone actor in period costume with no structure or support from an institution will appear foolish. A simplistic, badly written play will not keep anyone's attention. Bad or overzealous acting will ruin more than just one experience."
Daina Harvey from NMA will be at the IMTA conference for four days in September. Greg Lissaman will meet with Catherine Hughes next May. The NMA Performance Advisory Group has been established to build on the high-level enthusiasm of the internal staff, chaired by Children's Programs General Manager Dr Darryl McIntyre, by bringing in the expertise of not only Greg Lissaman, but Canberra Youth Theatre's Linda McHugh, Elbow Theatre's Iain Sinclair, College drama teachers Lorena Param and Peter Wilkins, Melbourne Theatre Company dramaturg Peter Matheson, and Robert Swieca from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, who is also a Board Member of IMTA.
The object of the exercise is to ensure that Hughes' injunction about not compromising on quality is followed through. This is Jigsaw's main point: quality theatre is the core - only then can quality experience and learning take place. I guess parents and teachers around Canberra will back Jigsaw's reputation on this point.
Of course, the other issue raised by Hughes will be the one to watch. Will the funding for the NMA support the current enthusiasm? Will museum theatre become entirely dependent on box office (already partly the case for some performances at NMA)? Professionals need to be paid at professional rates, so will budgetting in the long term recognise the continuing need for quality?
ANM Director, Dawn Casey, expresses no doubts however, explaining that museum theatre is directly related to the Museum's central concern: making Australia's national stories accessible. As exhibitions change and develop, so will the museum's theatre be embedded in the process not only of presenting our stories but creating stories, where, for example, a school or community may bring their own theatre to the museum. Already, she says, museums overseas are keen to learn from the way we do things here where we aim to integrate visitors' experiences around themes and national narratives.
So museum theatre has jumped out of its old theatrical pigeonhole and wombatted its way into the Mr Squiggle design of the National Museum of Australia where it will create ever diverting tunnels for the unwary - and will be impossible to remove without the whole structure falling down about our ears like a dunny kicked by an emu. Museum theatre has certainly turned topsy-turvy, to become the theatre of the future instead of the theatre of the past.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Saturday, 19 May 2001
2001: Cosi by Louis Nowra
Cosi by Louis Nowra. Three Dice UCU Theatre Co, directed by Michele Lee and Jenni Sainsbury. University of Canberra Theatre 8 pm May 18, 19, 25, 26, June 1, 2. Bookings 6201 5350.
One might compare Cosi with the other famous asylum play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but what Nowra could do - and Ken Kesey couldn't - is write delicate light characters, edging on satire but leaving no doubt about the reality of their psychoses. Funny, but sad.
And sad it was at the end as each of the ill people parted from Lewis, who had succeeded in directing their play not by the rules of theatrical convention but by responding to their feelings, encouraging their sense of self-worth. At the same time the "well" people - Lewis' girlfriend and his best mate - were fighting ideological battles in the anti-Vietnam moratorium marches and betraying him, while the social worker maintained a spurious concern for the patients' welfare, always setting "them" well away from "us".
It took most of the first half on opening night for the actors to relax but by the end they had the feel of the roles and the rhythm of the play - ending the curtain call with an exuberant, superficially silly conga-line exit - yet just what this edgy satire needed. It seemed to me that the co-directors had probably been a bit too earnest about developing characterisation in the early scenes, but you can't keep a good play down, and Nowra is such a good writer that the script does the work.
Costume and props were excellent. I loved Henry's toy soldiers and model ship, Zac's Wagnerian anti-Mozart Viking helmet and all the women's specific elements of self-expression, from Julie's just-enough bare skin above her jeans to Cherry's short red number. Released from the wards for rehearsals, these were the marks of freedom. Doug, of course, had to escape D ward to reappear, with Cherry's knife wounds bloodily bandaged. And then came Roy's pipe at the end! In this little theatre every detail could be seen and made its theatrical point.
While not a professional quality production, Cosi is a good play done with energy and intelligence. Worth a visit.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
One might compare Cosi with the other famous asylum play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but what Nowra could do - and Ken Kesey couldn't - is write delicate light characters, edging on satire but leaving no doubt about the reality of their psychoses. Funny, but sad.
And sad it was at the end as each of the ill people parted from Lewis, who had succeeded in directing their play not by the rules of theatrical convention but by responding to their feelings, encouraging their sense of self-worth. At the same time the "well" people - Lewis' girlfriend and his best mate - were fighting ideological battles in the anti-Vietnam moratorium marches and betraying him, while the social worker maintained a spurious concern for the patients' welfare, always setting "them" well away from "us".
It took most of the first half on opening night for the actors to relax but by the end they had the feel of the roles and the rhythm of the play - ending the curtain call with an exuberant, superficially silly conga-line exit - yet just what this edgy satire needed. It seemed to me that the co-directors had probably been a bit too earnest about developing characterisation in the early scenes, but you can't keep a good play down, and Nowra is such a good writer that the script does the work.
Costume and props were excellent. I loved Henry's toy soldiers and model ship, Zac's Wagnerian anti-Mozart Viking helmet and all the women's specific elements of self-expression, from Julie's just-enough bare skin above her jeans to Cherry's short red number. Released from the wards for rehearsals, these were the marks of freedom. Doug, of course, had to escape D ward to reappear, with Cherry's knife wounds bloodily bandaged. And then came Roy's pipe at the end! In this little theatre every detail could be seen and made its theatrical point.
While not a professional quality production, Cosi is a good play done with energy and intelligence. Worth a visit.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Tuesday, 15 May 2001
2001: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, trans. Paul Roches
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, trans. Paul Roches. The Acting Company directed by Estelle Muspratt. Hawk Theatre, Narrabundah College 8 pm May 15-19.
"You see here young and old clustered round the shrine. Fledglings some, essaying flight ... and striplings some - ambassadors of youth." Like a modern Oedipus, Muspratt represents the creation of good order among these largely youthful actors. Her search for the truth, which she describes as "taking the simplest tack I can - telling a story" is as effective as Oedipus' insistence on discovering the truth about himself - how he murdered his father and married his mother, just as the gods had ordained. Fortunately the results for Muspratt are anything but dire.
Several colleges over the years have sought to establish post-college theatre groups for their drama graduates, but The Acting Company has been the most long-standing (since 1989) and successful, with Barbra Barnett the current Artistic Director. This cast includes students at Narrabundah, ANU, Canberra School of Music and UC, while Muspratt is herself a product of Narrabundah and ANU, with a swag of successful work and a Canberra Critics' Circle Award as an emerging force in local theatre.
This production edges a little too close to the drama "workshop" style, and some actors' technical skills in language articulation require more training, but the simplicity of design, the use of group movement and chorused voices, and especially the timing of silences, makes for a sincerity and clarity in telling the story which allows the horror of Oedipus' terrible dilemma to stand out boldly in relief. Though nothing can stand up to the last great production I saw of Oedipus Rex - by Sir John Gielgud - at least this is moving in the right direction, and left the audience on opening night quite silent at the end, as it should.
Muspratt, 10 years on from College, has set herself the objective of demonstrating by her own example to those following her, a belief in theatre work in and for Canberra. This production, of a classic mythic play of such large universal implications for how we should live in society - elucidating and facing up to truth - is a worthy project for The Acting Company.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
"You see here young and old clustered round the shrine. Fledglings some, essaying flight ... and striplings some - ambassadors of youth." Like a modern Oedipus, Muspratt represents the creation of good order among these largely youthful actors. Her search for the truth, which she describes as "taking the simplest tack I can - telling a story" is as effective as Oedipus' insistence on discovering the truth about himself - how he murdered his father and married his mother, just as the gods had ordained. Fortunately the results for Muspratt are anything but dire.
Several colleges over the years have sought to establish post-college theatre groups for their drama graduates, but The Acting Company has been the most long-standing (since 1989) and successful, with Barbra Barnett the current Artistic Director. This cast includes students at Narrabundah, ANU, Canberra School of Music and UC, while Muspratt is herself a product of Narrabundah and ANU, with a swag of successful work and a Canberra Critics' Circle Award as an emerging force in local theatre.
This production edges a little too close to the drama "workshop" style, and some actors' technical skills in language articulation require more training, but the simplicity of design, the use of group movement and chorused voices, and especially the timing of silences, makes for a sincerity and clarity in telling the story which allows the horror of Oedipus' terrible dilemma to stand out boldly in relief. Though nothing can stand up to the last great production I saw of Oedipus Rex - by Sir John Gielgud - at least this is moving in the right direction, and left the audience on opening night quite silent at the end, as it should.
Muspratt, 10 years on from College, has set herself the objective of demonstrating by her own example to those following her, a belief in theatre work in and for Canberra. This production, of a classic mythic play of such large universal implications for how we should live in society - elucidating and facing up to truth - is a worthy project for The Acting Company.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Wednesday, 9 May 2001
2001: Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet. Free Rain Theatre Company directed by George Huitker. Courtyard Studio 8 pm until May 26.
All those politicians who extoll the virtues of competition need to see this horrible little play about real estate salesmen. Maybe a stint in Mitch & Murray's office would be more effective than a few days in the army. On the other hand, they might learn to be even more underhand in their dealings from Mamet's all too accurate representation of men who must make a sale or lose their livelihood. Feels like an election coming on.
And they are are all men, so language flies at its worst, to such a point of exaggeration that it's hard not to laugh at times - until we realise that the loser really is a loser. Do not sell the Harbour Bridge: go to jail. No Monopoly money here - just the reality of capitalist competition.
David Mamet has written a USA Incorporated version of something like Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, but without the British "pause". These Americans talk flat out like Woody Allen, and it's not long (about 1 hour 20 minutes) before they self-destruct. A terrible existence, but an instructive drama.
Huitker is a master of movement, visual image and timing and has passed on to all his actors a consistent and precise style which this play requires: always just beyond the bounds of reality, yet therefore able to reflect the character types which inhabit this office from hell.
In fact, the ensemble quality of these actors, despite their such varied background experiences, means it's time to stop writing silly amateur biogs on the back of the program. Mamet and Huitker demand that the actors take themselves seriously, off stage as well as on stage where they are doing so well.
Technical production, set and costumes are all excellent. High energy and speed on the preview night might slow a little as the run settles. But this should only improve the play's bite. It might shake you out of complacency if you think competition trickle-down is the economic answer. Don't be at the bottom of the sales graph, because you'll just get pissed on. See this play for the experience.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
All those politicians who extoll the virtues of competition need to see this horrible little play about real estate salesmen. Maybe a stint in Mitch & Murray's office would be more effective than a few days in the army. On the other hand, they might learn to be even more underhand in their dealings from Mamet's all too accurate representation of men who must make a sale or lose their livelihood. Feels like an election coming on.
And they are are all men, so language flies at its worst, to such a point of exaggeration that it's hard not to laugh at times - until we realise that the loser really is a loser. Do not sell the Harbour Bridge: go to jail. No Monopoly money here - just the reality of capitalist competition.
David Mamet has written a USA Incorporated version of something like Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, but without the British "pause". These Americans talk flat out like Woody Allen, and it's not long (about 1 hour 20 minutes) before they self-destruct. A terrible existence, but an instructive drama.
Huitker is a master of movement, visual image and timing and has passed on to all his actors a consistent and precise style which this play requires: always just beyond the bounds of reality, yet therefore able to reflect the character types which inhabit this office from hell.
In fact, the ensemble quality of these actors, despite their such varied background experiences, means it's time to stop writing silly amateur biogs on the back of the program. Mamet and Huitker demand that the actors take themselves seriously, off stage as well as on stage where they are doing so well.
Technical production, set and costumes are all excellent. High energy and speed on the preview night might slow a little as the run settles. But this should only improve the play's bite. It might shake you out of complacency if you think competition trickle-down is the economic answer. Don't be at the bottom of the sales graph, because you'll just get pissed on. See this play for the experience.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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