Bill of Writes - short plays by ACT Region Playwrights: Christmas Hijinks by Bill Fleming, Alert by Jim Jones, Lifting Lucy by Eris Jane, Sweet Labrador by Noeline Milson, Smoking Kills by Joan McGillivray and Blue Italian by Katie Pollock. Part of the Made in Canberra season at The Street Theatre, November 12-15, 7.30pm
To review these plays in a competitive way would do an injustice to the work of the ACT Writers' Centre (www.actwriters.org.au) which hosts the ACT Region Playwrights group. The Centre's purpose is to positively assist writers, and these six have produced an interesting evening of local works.
It's best, I think, to imagine being at a wine tasting evening, sampling offerings from six different boutique winemakers. Not only are the grape varieties and characteristics varied, but so too are the techniques of each vintner.
Christmas Hijinks is a little sparkling riesling, on the political nose. Though somewhat conventional in style, it is well-structured, but could do with a little more satirical subtlety.
Alert is a light red with some black current undertones. The grapes come from terroir on the shady side of a cold country hill, yet the aftertaste is entirely satisfying.
Lifting Lucy is a surprising wine on the rise, a powerful shiraz which creates expectations of normality, only to be dashed with tart explosions of truth. This is a wine of strong characters, none of them sweet, which clash rather than blend. An exciting product which might not be appreciated by traditionalists.
Sweet Labrador, in contrast, humours the palate with an old-fashioned moselle, cleverly building a small storm of raspberry and blackberry flavours which settle back into yellow sunshine colours to finish.
Smoking Kills is a dry pinot gris with unusual sharp blades, making us wonder if the finish must pall. But somehow the final swallow is rich in a flavour that almost bashes one over the head. The contrast just makes us laugh out loud.
Finally, and I must say most to my taste, is a lovely long-lasting full-flavoured blend of reds. Blue Italian crosses European and Australian traditions, travelling over the tongue, warming the throat until it becomes a metaphor for everyone's lifetime search for a place to call home. Drink this wine in as you would a poem, modern in form but universal in impact. The aftertaste is indeed blue in feeling, reflective and just the wine to finish a very worthwhile evening's experience.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Thursday, 6 November 2008
2008: Unspoken by Rebecca Clarke
Unspoken by Rebecca Clarke. ANU Drama Department at The Street Theatre 2, directed by Catherine Mann. November 6-8, 7.30pm
It is a bitter-sweet irony that this 45 minute speech should be titled Unspoken. Originally a monologue, here the young woman who speaks to us about her childhood, her parents, her disabled brother, her falling in love and her coming to terms with the end of self-centred childishness, is presented by three young women - Lucy Hancock, Nicole Kerr and Isobel Nye.
The story itself is bitter-sweet. Teenage desire for sex lacks long-term fulfillment, while refusal to accept her younger sibling churns through feelings of guilt, becoming love at the point of his early death. At the age of these actors, this young woman grows up. The irony is that only as she becomes fully independent emotionally does she appreciate and feel real love for someone else. What had been spoken was a self-indulgent failure to understand. Talk is now no longer necessary.
I felt that Mann chose the right approach in not attempting a solo performance. ANU Drama is not a fully-fledged actor training course, and much more was gained by these three students as the light and shade of the words could be found in their three different voices, and movement could be choreographed, often showing us the conflicting feelings within the one character. The result is a kind of tone poem with a light touch and makes an engaging experience.
Rebecca Clarke trained under Peter Lavery at QUT, is already a published writer and successful actor and is obviously one to watch out for. This script shows promise of greater work to come.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
It is a bitter-sweet irony that this 45 minute speech should be titled Unspoken. Originally a monologue, here the young woman who speaks to us about her childhood, her parents, her disabled brother, her falling in love and her coming to terms with the end of self-centred childishness, is presented by three young women - Lucy Hancock, Nicole Kerr and Isobel Nye.
The story itself is bitter-sweet. Teenage desire for sex lacks long-term fulfillment, while refusal to accept her younger sibling churns through feelings of guilt, becoming love at the point of his early death. At the age of these actors, this young woman grows up. The irony is that only as she becomes fully independent emotionally does she appreciate and feel real love for someone else. What had been spoken was a self-indulgent failure to understand. Talk is now no longer necessary.
I felt that Mann chose the right approach in not attempting a solo performance. ANU Drama is not a fully-fledged actor training course, and much more was gained by these three students as the light and shade of the words could be found in their three different voices, and movement could be choreographed, often showing us the conflicting feelings within the one character. The result is a kind of tone poem with a light touch and makes an engaging experience.
Rebecca Clarke trained under Peter Lavery at QUT, is already a published writer and successful actor and is obviously one to watch out for. This script shows promise of greater work to come.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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