The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare Company directed by Peter Evans at The Playhouse, August 23 to September 2, 7.30pm.
The magic arts came to life in this production of The Tempest on opening night last Friday. Our imagination was transported to a theatrical island, a small space within a confusing universe, where we were given the opportunity to come to grips with personal and political reality, just as Shakespeare intended. Bell Shakespeare deserves our gratitude.
Evans has done the right thing by the play. The acting is simple and sincere, taking place in a beautiful forest filled with ethereal music. Designer Robert Kemp, composer Basil Hogios and the lighting designer, Canberran Mark Truebridge have created an environment exactly suited to the play’s moods.
Acting which looks so simple requires awesome technique. The cast ranges from a Gonzalo played with great clarity by Ron Haddrick, who received an MBE in 1974 for his already longstanding services to the arts, to Saskia Smith, a recent NIDA graduate, whose characterisation and singing voice as the spirit Ariel focussed our attention on the theme of power, justice and freedom.
The drunkards Trinculo and Stephano (James Wardlaw and Tony Taylor) were very funny. We felt for the honest King Alonso (Paul Bertram), and found the scheming Antonio and Sebastian (David Whitney and Andrew McDonell) hateful. They were the cause of Prospero’s banishment and justifiable desire for revenge.
John Bell, starring as Prospero, has a harshness in his voice, a quality which has annoyed me in past productions. But his ability to communicate Prospero’s feelings and thoughts, often with no more than a turn of his head, soon concentrated my mind on important matters. Ferdinand and Miranda’s love, for example, so freshly played by Stephen Phillips and Freya Stafford. Or dealing with Nathan Lovejoy’s high-energy Caliban, an angry slave who clearly deserved proper treatment. And finally in speaking directly to us, the audience, asking us to release him from his role, which we did with genuine and respectful applause for Bell and the whole company.
This is among the most satisfying performances of The Tempest I have seen.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 25 August 2006
Thursday, 3 August 2006
2006: Black Coffee by Agatha Christie
Black Coffee by Agatha Christie. Tempo Theatre directed by Jon Elphick at Belconnen Community Centre, August 3,4,5,9,10,11,12 at 7.30pm. Matinees August 5,12 at 2pm. Twilight show August 6 at 4pm. Bookings: 6247 1223 (The Street is handling their bookings)
After writing several Hercule Poirot novels, Black Coffee was Agatha Christie’s first play, written in 1930. Her works are still popular in television adaptations and particularly among amateur theatre companies. This production is one in a series of Christie classics presented by Tempo.
The attraction of murder mysteries when cleverly constructed as Christie’s are is that any number of the characters have the motivation, while only one is guilty. The enjoyment for the audience is not about becoming deeply involved with the characters’ feelings. Their main concern is the intellectual exercise of solving the puzzle.
Elphick has understood this and has not asked his actors to play up the characters. The focus is on what happens in the first act when the murder takes place, and then on following Poirot’s observations of details and his logical analysis. I found this forensic approach more appealing than the overblown characterisation that Poirot appears to have been given by Francis L Sullivan, backed by Donald Wolfit as Captain Hastings, in the original production, which began the tradition of the “lovable” Poirot still seen in the television productions.
Although pacing was often rather slow on opening night, leaving gaps while we waited for the next move rather than developing suspicious tension, the actors – especially when led by Garry Robinson as Poirot in Acts 2 and 3 – held the plot together with appropriate characters, clear voices and definite action. The set, lighting and particularly costumes were very good, despite the difficulties that often arise when setting up in this kind of theatre.
I thought the result overall was effective and stimulated some thoughts about the purpose of crime fiction – to reveal how the guilty may be trapped into telling the truth, while the not guilty are not necessarily as innocent as they may seem.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
After writing several Hercule Poirot novels, Black Coffee was Agatha Christie’s first play, written in 1930. Her works are still popular in television adaptations and particularly among amateur theatre companies. This production is one in a series of Christie classics presented by Tempo.
The attraction of murder mysteries when cleverly constructed as Christie’s are is that any number of the characters have the motivation, while only one is guilty. The enjoyment for the audience is not about becoming deeply involved with the characters’ feelings. Their main concern is the intellectual exercise of solving the puzzle.
Elphick has understood this and has not asked his actors to play up the characters. The focus is on what happens in the first act when the murder takes place, and then on following Poirot’s observations of details and his logical analysis. I found this forensic approach more appealing than the overblown characterisation that Poirot appears to have been given by Francis L Sullivan, backed by Donald Wolfit as Captain Hastings, in the original production, which began the tradition of the “lovable” Poirot still seen in the television productions.
Although pacing was often rather slow on opening night, leaving gaps while we waited for the next move rather than developing suspicious tension, the actors – especially when led by Garry Robinson as Poirot in Acts 2 and 3 – held the plot together with appropriate characters, clear voices and definite action. The set, lighting and particularly costumes were very good, despite the difficulties that often arise when setting up in this kind of theatre.
I thought the result overall was effective and stimulated some thoughts about the purpose of crime fiction – to reveal how the guilty may be trapped into telling the truth, while the not guilty are not necessarily as innocent as they may seem.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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