2023: Holding Achilles

 

 

 Holding Achilles.  Produced by Legs On The Wall, Dead Puppet Society, Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Glass Half Full Productions.

Sydney Festival at Carriageworks Bay 17, January 19-22, 2203

Reviewed by Frank McKone
January 20


Director and Co-Creator David Morton
Movement Director and Co-Creator Joshua Thomson
Creative Producer Nicholas Paine

Lighting Designer Ben Hughes
Sound Designer Tony Brumpton
Rigging Designer David Jackson
Composers Tony Buchen and Chris Bear with Montaigne
Puppet Design Dead Puppet Society
Music performed live by Montaigne
Dramaturg Louise Gough
Set Co-Designers Anna Cordingley and David Morton
Associate Director Matt Seery
Costume Designer Anna Cordingley
Associate Producer James Beach

Cast:
Achilles Stephen Madsen
Paris / Chiron Nic Prior
Patroclus Karl Richmond
Briseis Christy Tran
Ajax / Hector / Puppeteer (Baby Bear) Ellen Bailey
Priam Caroline Dunphy
Odysseus John Batchelor
Thetis Montaigne
Agamemnon / Lead Puppeteer (Bear) Lauren Jackson
Ensemble / Counterweight Johnas Liu
Meneleus / Peleus Christopher Tomkinson

The ideas behind this conception of the Trojan War are interesting and worthwhile.  But the style of presentation – in the writing of the dialogue, the acting, the sound composition and singing, and the symbolic aerial dance work – makes the performance a re-enactment of an idea, rather than a creative work of art with the emotional impact that the ideas deserve.

Perhaps the intention was to attract a young generation brought up on The Game of Thrones, but subtlety is not the word for what needed to be an intimate development of the love relationship between Patroclus and Achilles, nor for the depth of anguish felt by Patroclus as the machinations of the powerful play out in the continuing use of violence for political ambition.

Considering what is happening in Ukraine right now, and the changing – and improving – attitudes on the human rights of people across a wide range of differences, the issues arising in the story of how, why and what happened in Ancient Greece are highly relevant today.

(Wikipedia records: Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War are derived from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the 12th or 11th century BC, often preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes, 1194–1184 BC, which roughly correspond to archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy VII, and the Late Bronze Age collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War )

But Holding Achilles mixes up theatrical genres in a way that tells a story – through a kind of ‘grand’ style interspersed with action in aerial acrobatic form symbolising warfare almost like circus – yet with spoken dialogue in very ordinary modern day language.  The massively over-loud music and singing is oppressive rather than impressive; the dance sequences are far too long, seeming indulgent rather than progressing the drama; the spoken scenes are ‘acted out’ rather than expressed from within.  Only a few of Odysseus’s explanations of political necessities and some of Patroclus’s expression of frustration at the acceptance of violence create some empathy on our part.

If you want a modern, highly effective – and wonderfully affective – account, written with depth of characterisation and achieving the kind of impact that Holding Achilles misses, you can’t go past the novels by Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls (Penguin 2018) and The Women of Troy (Hamish Hamilton 2021).

There you will find the story of the woman Briseis, Achilles’ concubine, with a sincere interpretation which I think reflects more deeply on the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles than Holding Achilles gives us.

The messages about the need for love as individuals and for non-violence in international politics are clearly there in the Holding Achilles version of Homer’s Iliad – and surely we need to hear what David Morton, Nicholas Paine and Joshua Thomson have to say.  The production is big and loud, but needs much more subtle development for the emotional impact worthy of its themes to come through.

 © Frank McKone, Canberra

2023: Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream

 

 

Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis.  Indian Ink Theatre Company (New Zealand) for Sydney Festival 2023 at Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta January 17-22, 2023.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
January 18

Creatives
Writer/Director – Justin Lewis
Dramaturg – Murray Edmond
Set Design/Projected Imagery Artist – John Verryt
Costume Design – Elizabeth Whiting
Composer/Sound Design/Musician – David Ward
Musician – Adam Ogle
Lighting Design/Production/Tour Manager – Andrew Potvin
Projected Imagery/Photographer/Editor – Bala Murali Shingade


Performed by
Writer/Actor – Jacob Rajan
Puppet Designer/Builder/Puppeteer – Jon Coddington

Jacob Rajan and Jon Coddington
in Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream

 It’s hard to know where to start and end discussing Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream.  It is a play with seven characters all performed by a man who is dead at the beginning, just as a traditional vulture begins to clean his bones; and places himself in the same position at the end for the vulture to continue providing its service to humanity.

In the intervening 110 minutes we are thoroughly entertained while learning about the way of doing business in Mumbai, especially selling ice cream; about the need for conservation of the dwindling population of vultures (I wondered if human induced climate change is a factor in addition to our poisoning them - https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Indian_vulture_crisis); and about human cultural rituals in response to the knowledge that the most consistent feature of life is that all of us will die.

Emotionally, Jon Coddington’s vulture is beautiful; while Jacob Tajan’s physicality, even to the most extraordinary facial expressions, is reminiscent of and equally powerful as the master of mime, Marcel Marceau.  

Then, David Ward explains, Each new Indian Ink production presents new challenges, new instrumentation, new techniques and technology, and Paradise has been no different! Significant this time around has been the move away from live musical instruments, towards a much more atmospheric sound design. The lack of physical props and minimal set, means that sound effects play a huge role in defining the sense of place and atmosphere. This has meant delving into hundreds of sound effects and many, hours editing and mixing them to create the sound world. Marceau could never have imagined such a sound and video-imagery setting, becoming a character in its own right in this constantly surprising, often funny yet thoughtful play.

As a Festival presentation, the originality of this work, the quality of the performance, the cross-cultural standing of the Indian Ink company, and its origin and history in Aotearoa New Zealand makes Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream an ideal choice.

Jon Coddington and Jacob Rajan
in Paradise or The Impermanence of Ice Cream

© Frank McKone, Canberra

2023 Girls and Boys by Dennis Kelly

 

Girls and Boys by Dennis Kelly (UK).  State Theatre of South Australia at Seymour Centre, Everest Theatre, in Sydney Festival 2023, January 5-15, 2023.
 
This play was first presented at Royal Court, London (2018); this production for the Adelaide Festival, Odeon Theatre, (February – March 2022); and it will be shown again in Dunstan Theatre, Adelaide in August 2023.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
January 14, 2023

Director - Mitchell Butel
Set & Costume Designer - Ailsa Paterson
Lighting Designer - Nigel Levings
Composer - Alan John
Sound Designer - Andrew Howard
Assistant Director - Rachel Burke

Performed by Justine Clarke

Sydney actor Justine Clarke makes a quite remarkable lower-class London girl into a story-teller, who begins seeming like a stand-up comedian; develops into a wife, a mother dealing with her strong-minded son and daughter, and a woman becoming a creative successful documentary maker; and ends as a tragic survivor whose own story is true for far too many women the world over.

I have a habit of avoiding reading up on plays new to me, and I recommend this especially for Girls and Boys.  I have already told you too much.  I can certainly tell you how well Justine caught the personality and style in the early scenes that I remember personally from my bringing-up in the very Wood Green in London she makes fun of, along with Paris and Rome.  The prejudices as well as the romance of travel (based apparently on Dennis Kelly’s own experiences) are very English, and works very well as comedy for Australians, according to last night’s audience.

But you may wish to put aside the rest of what I have to say until you have seen the play yourself.  I certainly recommend a trip to Adelaide in August.

__________

Dennis Kelly decided that he would not give his central character a name, intending of course for her to represent all the women who face what she calls – literally – marriage destruction.  In Australia, the play cannot help but remind us of the 2015 Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty, who has taken on such a powerful role in the campaign to prevent family violence since her husband’s murder of their son.

Perhaps Justine Clarke had her example in mind when concluding the play with such a sense of determination that we, these actual ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ in the audience, appreciate the reality that any of us can make assumptions about our close relations that are wrong; that for our own emotional needs we can misinterpret the other’s behaviour.  

In an interview (www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/feb/22/dennis-kelly-interview-girls-and-boys-carey-mulligan-royal-court) shortly before the first production with Carey Mulligan performing, Lyn Gardner reported “There are only two characters in this play: the actor and the audience,” says Kelly. “You risk running the audience out of the play when it gets hard.” The going gets very hard indeed, and anyone who has tickets for the sold-out hit may not want to read any further. As Kelly says: “You can’t talk about the play without giving away what’s going on.” But he thinks we do need to talk about it – and it’s his job to do it.

The point of seeing the play is that, as ‘Justine’ talks directly to us, acts out scenes with her invisible children and husband, talks to herself as we overhear her thinking, often trying to work out what is happening, and why – including, as she matures, philosophical questions about human relationships and even thoughts about the evolution of power and violence – we ourselves are placed in her kind of situation.  When at last the worst that we can imagine might happen actually does, we are as overwhelmed by the fact that it was as unforeseen by us as it was by ‘Justine’.

The effect is quite extraordinary.  We feel a tremendous sense of respect for ‘Justine’ and her strength in the aftermath of the moment, just as much as we feel respect for Justine in having created the role and held us in her thrall for 110 minutes.

No wonder the whole audience gave Justine Clarke, and ultimately Dennis Kelly and the State Theatre of South Australia team, a genuinely felt standing ovation.  

Justine Clarke in Girls and Boys by Dennis Kelly
Photo: Sam Roberts

© Frank McKone, Canberra

Sydney - A Biography by Louis Nowra. Book Review

 

 Sydney, A Biography by Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist Louis Nowra.  
Published by NewSouth Publishing, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney 2022.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

A pot-pourri of a book: an eclectic collection of pecadillos, full of fascinating anecdotes.  Sydney: born in 1788, still growing up in 2022, with touches of maturity and little sign of premonitions of old age.  Louis Nowra is a playwright: here we read his observations and background research for his characterisation of the protagonist, in late pregnancy named romantically Albion; but pragmatically named at birth, on Gadigal land, after an absent progenitor, Lord Sydney.

And what a complex character Sydney is!  

So what is Sydney really like, when we delve into ‘their’ transgender nature, their motivations and their self-understanding?  Do we find consistency in a sense of personal development – a positive drama; perhaps even a romantic enjoyable comedy?  Or, as many literary commentators say of theatrical characters, do they struggle with unresolvable internal conflicts – often never recognised except by others in sympathy or enmity – which turn their life’s drama into tragedy?

Will the author, like the best of dramatists, avoid pushing his view down our throats, but provide us with scenes strategically put together so that we, the readers, come to a new understanding – perhaps of more than just this character, but even of our own lives?

Here’s one episode, a short scene from one of the 49 chapters.  You will see that Nowra is writing in plain style, without literary flourishes.  Yet his work is all about storytelling and letting each story do its own thing.  This one is in the chapter called Undercurrents, beginning with his creating the TV series about Bondi Beach, The Last Resort.  He writes “The 30-part series wasn’t a success (though it was big in Malaysia), but I learned to like Bondi….[even though] the area became known as Bondi Badlands.”

But Sydney’s beaches have had another side as sites of religious fervour.  In 1924 the Star Amphitheatre opened at Balmoral Beach.  It was constructed by the Order of the Star in the East, founded by the president of the Theosophical Society, Annie Besant.  The amphitheatre was intended as a platform for lectures by the mystic Krishnamurti.

At this point I must confess feeling part of Louis Nowra’s Sydney.  A one time girlfriend’s family in Sydney belonged to the Theosophical Society and she left to attend Krishnamurti’s ashram in India in the early 1960s.

An urban legend persists that it was built in order to watch Christ’s second coming, when he would walk through Sydney Heads.  The crumbling amphitheatre was demolished in 1951.

In January 2003 one of Sydney’s most popular beaches, Coogee, a favourite party zone for backpackers, became a site of religious veneration.  One day, a man was looking out of his front window when he suddenly noticed an apparition of the Virgin Mary at the end of a wooden safety fence.  He called his friends to have a look.  By the next day, word had spread, and several hundred people flocked to the park.  Soon the crowds swelled to several thousand a day, especially in the late afternoon when the apparition materialised.  As the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Some wept, others sang, most prayed.  Scores more hiked up the cliff path 

to touch and kiss the post which had been transformed into something like a shrine.  

Pictures of the Virgin, rosary beads and flowers were piled up around the 

whitewashed fence.  Most agreed they could discern the shape of a veiled figure.

The rational explanation was that the vision was an unlikely combination of the fence’s design and colour, late afternoon shadow, and a small rise that changed the angle at the end of the railing.  Even so, the Catholic Church didn’t know how to react, with the Sydney Archdiocese issuing an anodyne message:’If people are experiencing a sense of peace by being there, then it is a good thing.’  Ten days after the Virgin Mary arrived vandals destroyed the fence where she had appeared, disappointing thousands of believers.  The fence was quickly rebuilt but with a slight alteration to the original design.  Although the Virgin Mary hasn’t returned, a tiny garden has been planted to mark the spot and people still come to pray.

Louis Nowra, a Melbournite, first saw Sydney and was “stunned and speechless” viewing the harbour while driving over the Harbour Bridge in his father’s truck, at the age of nine.  “‘It’s fantastic, isn’t it?’ exclaimed my elated father.”  Only five years before that, I, arriving from London at the age of 14, was equally amazed entering the harbour on the immigrant ship Otranto, through the Heads, tugboats guiding us under the Harbour Bridge to Pyrmont Wharf 13.   

As Nowra turns 72 and I a month later turn 82, his almost 500-page ‘Biography’ of Sydney reveals the fantastic nature not only of what you see, but of the many surprising aspects of the city’s character hidden in history.

In the end, he writes, I turn my attention back to the water.  It is a beguiling sight.  Today the air and the light of the intense blue sky and how it plays with the water seems magical.  It’s like one great act of affirmation, an open heart that invites you to take Sydney personally.  And I do.

And now I do too.  Because now I see, as Nowra quotes the author Peter Corris as saying, that Sydney – Australia, indeed the whole human world – has “its beauty, atmosphere and culture providing a spectacular contrast to its underbelly of poverty, corruption and vulgarity.”  And racism, I would add; though I would call it ‘ethnicism’ since we are all members of the only human race left on Earth.

But la commedia is not quite yet finita.  Is humankind’s a drama of positivity or tragedy?  Sydney says, I think, it might go either way.  



Frank McKone’s reviews of productions of plays by Louis Nowra – The Incorruptible (1996), Summer of the Aliens (1999), Cosi (1998, 2001, 2019, 2021), Radiance (2015) and The Golden Age (2016) – are available at www.ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com