The Red Shoe from the novel by Ursula Dubosarsky, adapted and directed by Kate Shearer. The Jigsaw Company at The Street Theatre, August 28 – September 6: Mon – Tues: 10.30am & 1.00pm, Wed – Fri: 10.30am & 7.30pm, Sat: 7.30pm
This play frightened me, and it concerns me that the Arts Around Canberra website recommends it for “anyone over the age of 10”. I haven’t read the novel, but reviews tell me that there is a great difference between reading a novel and watching a play. One blog talks of “a gorgeous sense of dread”. Reading allows you to sense the dread at one remove. On stage I felt the dread directly and left the theatre quite shaken.
The play is about children, but not those too young. The ideas in it may well be good for discussion from about age 14, but the emotions that well up need the maturity of at least 16 year olds. From what I’ve read, the novel also lays out the historical context of the Petrov Affair in 1954 as a distancing device, but on stage, even if you already know the history, the newsreel images and voice overs horribly increase the sense of dread.
This doesn’t make it a bad play, just one not suitable for young children. What scared me most was that the central character, 6 year old Matilda, quite naturally, misinterprets reality. Kate Sherman’s creation of this character is so strong that we see and feel the world through Matilda’s eyes – and we are left at the end of the play never knowing the truth about events that seem to have been horrific. The idea that none of us can ever know the whole truth – about the historical past or even our own personal lives – is an adult concept. It is a truth that many of us find difficult to accept, and I took an hour after the performance to shake off the feeling that at any moment the worst might happen. Reviews suggest that the novel ends in a clear positive light, but on stage it was hard to trust the reappearance of Matilda’s father to be reality, when it might be vain hope.
This is, of course, a fully professional production and the acting and design are up to the standard we should expect. I did think, though, that not all the moving of characters on and off stage in the brief blackouts was seamless, so the theatrical illusion was broken too often. On opening night, too, lack of coordination of lights, sound and video was disappointing.
For me, then, Jigsaw presents a challenging piece of theatre which some young people may find disturbing, so parents and teachers should keep this in mind and be prepared to work through emotional responses as well as reasoned discussion.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Saturday, 16 August 2008
2008: Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. Free Rain Theatre Company directed by Catherine Mann at The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre. Friday-Saturday August 15-16, Wednesday-Saturday August 20-30, 8pm. Matinees Saturdays 2pm, Sunday August 24, 5pm.
In this translation, by Nicholas Wright, the doctor Chebutkyn (Oliver Baudert) declares “It doesn’t matter,” as lives fall apart all around him, emotionally and literally. But we know it does matter that Chekhov created this drama of the unfulfilled lives of the three Prozorov sisters, Olga (Lainie Hart), Masha (Leah Baulch), Irina (Alison McGregor) and their brother Andrey (Dallas Bland).
We also know that it does matter that director Mann and all her large cast, including Barbara Sekuless (Anfisa), Duncan Ley (Vershinin), Soren Jensen (Baron Tuzenbach), Duncan Driver (Solyony), Scott Cummings (Fedotik), Paul Leverenz (Rodé), Robert de Fries (Kulygin), Hannah Meredith (Natasha), Richard Anderson (Ferapont) and Katherine Olsen (Maid), provide us with a well-crafted presentation of Chekhov’s characters, their relationships, their dreams of future happiness - in 300 years, they say.
What an irony it is to look around our world after 104 years since Three Sisters was first performed. Maybe more people than ever before have more material wealth, but the Russian and Georgian armies still behave as they did in Chekhov’s days, and clinical depression seems even more common. Yet Chekhov saw strength in his women in the end. Masha says “We shall be left alone to start our life anew. We must live.” Irina says “The time will come when there will be no more secrets, when all that is now hidden will be made plain.” Olga says “I want to live. We shall be forgotten . . . but our sufferings will pass into joy for those who live after us.”
200 years to go. Can we make it? The intelligence and sense of unity in this production says we can. The art of theatre is to create the illusion of truth. Chekhov wrote the truth, and Free Rain have successfully staged his work. There is satisfaction in their art which says, yes, “We must live.”
©Frank McKone, Canberra
In this translation, by Nicholas Wright, the doctor Chebutkyn (Oliver Baudert) declares “It doesn’t matter,” as lives fall apart all around him, emotionally and literally. But we know it does matter that Chekhov created this drama of the unfulfilled lives of the three Prozorov sisters, Olga (Lainie Hart), Masha (Leah Baulch), Irina (Alison McGregor) and their brother Andrey (Dallas Bland).
We also know that it does matter that director Mann and all her large cast, including Barbara Sekuless (Anfisa), Duncan Ley (Vershinin), Soren Jensen (Baron Tuzenbach), Duncan Driver (Solyony), Scott Cummings (Fedotik), Paul Leverenz (Rodé), Robert de Fries (Kulygin), Hannah Meredith (Natasha), Richard Anderson (Ferapont) and Katherine Olsen (Maid), provide us with a well-crafted presentation of Chekhov’s characters, their relationships, their dreams of future happiness - in 300 years, they say.
What an irony it is to look around our world after 104 years since Three Sisters was first performed. Maybe more people than ever before have more material wealth, but the Russian and Georgian armies still behave as they did in Chekhov’s days, and clinical depression seems even more common. Yet Chekhov saw strength in his women in the end. Masha says “We shall be left alone to start our life anew. We must live.” Irina says “The time will come when there will be no more secrets, when all that is now hidden will be made plain.” Olga says “I want to live. We shall be forgotten . . . but our sufferings will pass into joy for those who live after us.”
200 years to go. Can we make it? The intelligence and sense of unity in this production says we can. The art of theatre is to create the illusion of truth. Chekhov wrote the truth, and Free Rain have successfully staged his work. There is satisfaction in their art which says, yes, “We must live.”
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 15 August 2008
2008: Emily Loves to Bounce by Stephen Michael King
Emily Loves to Bounce based on the books by Stephen Michael King. Patch Theatre at The Playhouse, Wednesday August 13 to Saturday August 16 10am and 11.45am. Canberra Ticketing 6275 2700
Henry, aged 6, has just so many ideas that they float about in the air around him. Amy, also 6, thinks some of his ideas are silly, but soon gets into the action. This is not a play with a conventional storyline, because ideas can pop out all over the place. It’s all about imagination and enjoying the unexpected.
You might think this sounds a bit abstract for 4-8 year olds, but don’t worry. I took my 3 year old grandson among a full house of mainly pre-schoolers yesterday. He understood everything with a little helpful commentary from me, while the slightly older children followed all the twists and turns with great excitement.
Patch has focussed on educating the young children to respond to subtleties of theatrical presentation, from quiet musical moments to visual surprises, from straightforward teaching of spatial concepts like up-down, front-back, left-right to interpersonal relationships.
Emily certainly does bounce in all sorts of ways. This is enjoyable for the children and meaningful for their adult minders. Highly successful. If you don’t have time to ring, some seats may still be available at both sessions.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Henry, aged 6, has just so many ideas that they float about in the air around him. Amy, also 6, thinks some of his ideas are silly, but soon gets into the action. This is not a play with a conventional storyline, because ideas can pop out all over the place. It’s all about imagination and enjoying the unexpected.
You might think this sounds a bit abstract for 4-8 year olds, but don’t worry. I took my 3 year old grandson among a full house of mainly pre-schoolers yesterday. He understood everything with a little helpful commentary from me, while the slightly older children followed all the twists and turns with great excitement.
Patch has focussed on educating the young children to respond to subtleties of theatrical presentation, from quiet musical moments to visual surprises, from straightforward teaching of spatial concepts like up-down, front-back, left-right to interpersonal relationships.
Emily certainly does bounce in all sorts of ways. This is enjoyable for the children and meaningful for their adult minders. Highly successful. If you don’t have time to ring, some seats may still be available at both sessions.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 8 August 2008
2008: Mrs Holt by Trevar Alan Chilver
Mrs Holt by Trevar Alan Chilver. Directed by James Scott for Canberra Dramatics at The Street Theatre Studio, August 7-9, 12, 14-16 7.30pm. Matinee August 16 2pm. Bookings: 6247 1223.
Mrs Holt is a play of good intentions, about good intentions. Theatrically quite gentle, almost old-fashioned in style, Chilver allows us to find humour in the ending of a life, and hope in the beginning of a new love. It’s really quite nice not to have to contend with over-the-top theatre. This play makes no great demands on the intellect, but still makes its point that preconceived assumptions about others, based on their social roles, are more than likely to be wrong.
Canberra Dramatics is an independent little theatre with a small amount of community support to pay upfront costs, paid back after each show from box office and the pockets of the Chilver family. It is pleasing, in these circumstances, to see effective casting for ages ranging from the twenties to 81. Looking physically right, and costumed well, the setting in an early 1990s nursing home was believable as it needed to be to make the issues of the day stand out. Mrs Holt (Gay Evans) automatically thinks the male nurse Jack (Pete Ricardo) is a doctor and that her grandaughter, Rachel (Sarah Daphne), is barking up the wrong tree seeking promotion in her law firm rather than concentrating on marriage and becoming a mother.
Historically speaking the script takes liberties. The nursing homes that I knew in this period did not have such fully qualified staff in permanent positions to provide the continuity of relationship and treatment that nurse Julie (Sarah Ritchie) and sister Vera (Cerri Davis) rightly insist upon. Mrs Holt’s quick mind and analytical conversation was also an extreme rarity in my experience. But Evans makes her character into a central figure, taking control of her last days, who leaves those providing care for her with positive lessons about what this means. They learn to respect her independence and respect each other.
Scene changes were a little clunky, especially with so many in an 80 minute play, and pacing a little slow when I saw the show last Friday, but the audience soon became engaged, responding to the humour, recognising the issues and applauding the Canberra Dramatics team warmly at curtain call.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Mrs Holt is a play of good intentions, about good intentions. Theatrically quite gentle, almost old-fashioned in style, Chilver allows us to find humour in the ending of a life, and hope in the beginning of a new love. It’s really quite nice not to have to contend with over-the-top theatre. This play makes no great demands on the intellect, but still makes its point that preconceived assumptions about others, based on their social roles, are more than likely to be wrong.
Canberra Dramatics is an independent little theatre with a small amount of community support to pay upfront costs, paid back after each show from box office and the pockets of the Chilver family. It is pleasing, in these circumstances, to see effective casting for ages ranging from the twenties to 81. Looking physically right, and costumed well, the setting in an early 1990s nursing home was believable as it needed to be to make the issues of the day stand out. Mrs Holt (Gay Evans) automatically thinks the male nurse Jack (Pete Ricardo) is a doctor and that her grandaughter, Rachel (Sarah Daphne), is barking up the wrong tree seeking promotion in her law firm rather than concentrating on marriage and becoming a mother.
Historically speaking the script takes liberties. The nursing homes that I knew in this period did not have such fully qualified staff in permanent positions to provide the continuity of relationship and treatment that nurse Julie (Sarah Ritchie) and sister Vera (Cerri Davis) rightly insist upon. Mrs Holt’s quick mind and analytical conversation was also an extreme rarity in my experience. But Evans makes her character into a central figure, taking control of her last days, who leaves those providing care for her with positive lessons about what this means. They learn to respect her independence and respect each other.
Scene changes were a little clunky, especially with so many in an 80 minute play, and pacing a little slow when I saw the show last Friday, but the audience soon became engaged, responding to the humour, recognising the issues and applauding the Canberra Dramatics team warmly at curtain call.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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