2025: Stars in 3D - Dance Week

 

 

Stars in 3D.  The Stellar Company at Gorman House Arts Centre, Canberra.

Featuring the Chamaeleon Collective with special guests Hilal Dance Australia.

Director, Producer & Film Editing: Liz Lea
Stage Manager: Rhiley Winnett
Technical Consultant: Craig Dear
Social Media: Olivia Wikner
Auslan Interpreter: Brett Olzen

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 30



Stars in 3D is a meditation in dance, audio and video, on our place in the universe.  

Unpretentious in performance and design, yet warm-hearted, intellectually stimulating, and emotionally positive, being present in the moment is much more than merely watching as an audience.  It’s like taking part in an important ritual cultural celebration – of true scientific understanding.

Diversity – even down to the varied number of protons, neutrons or electrons in a simple atom like helium – is what makes our universe what it is; just as we each are individually different yet come together to create new generations.

The story of our universe is represented symbolically in the choreography.  We see the amorphous gas being drawn together by gravity to form stars; the formation of galaxies, twin stars and black holes; culminating in the mathematics of the Golden Ratio in the Fibonacci spiral – the dance of the universe -  in “Legs: A joyful and empowering dance piece performed by a group of mostly senior women. Set to a song that celebrates their resilience and spirit, it’s a tribute to their love of movement, sense of fun, and refusal to stop dancing—at any age.”

The integration of video – from real astronomy, backing, or often surrounding, the dancers on stage, to scenes of the dancers on screen combined with those on stage – accompanied by an enormous array of sounds, music and song, was a highly original approach to using theatrical space (pun intended).

After the show, 3D headsets can take you further, by linking to your smart phone, into experiencing your place in our all encompassing universe.

For me, two important themes come to mind.  

First is the essential place of women in our understanding of living in this universe, as they are the elements of physical change – not just symbolically but in actuality.  The family groups with their children enjoying the dancing in such an enthusiastic atmosphere were a special feature of my experience last night.

Second, and equally significant, is the realisation that Art and Science are unified in our amazing human capacity for imagination.  They work together in this show, placing us thoughtfully where we belong, however briefly, in ‘our’ universe, where we have proven Einstein’s maths predicting gravity waves to be real – with the strong possibility that this universe, of which we can see only some 5%, may return to a singularity and explode again into another different universe in an infinite series.

WOW!  What a show this is!



Creatives and Performers:

Link to the Full Program, with details of performers, films and computer simulations.

 

For an equally fascinating but different angle on our understanding of mathematics, read how we (in this case mainly men in the form of ancient Indian Buddhist monks) 'invented' the idea of 0.  

From a philosophy of meditating in a state of 'nothingness' came the idea of counting needing to include a number in the space between +1 and -1.  Without zero, Einstein could never have made the calculations to prove the existence of the universal force we call gravity.

 The history is recounted from the time of Buddha, about 450 BCE, to the present day in another work of art - The Golden Road, How Ancient India Transformed The World - by William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury 2024).

 

The Stars in 3D in action
Photo by O&J Wikner Photography

 Copyright: Frank McKone, Canberra

Romeo and Juliet, Daramalan College

 

Romeo and Juliet Written by William Shakespeare, adapted by Tony Allan.  Directed and designed by Joe Woodward.

The Joe Woodward Theatre, Issoudun Performing Arts Centre, Daramalan College, Canberra.  26 and 30 April and 1, 2, 3 May at 7.00pm and 3 May at 1.00pm

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 26




William Shakespeare almost certainly attended the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon until he was 14 or 15. This grammar school, just like Enfield Grammar School which I attended in the 1950s, was a free school, supported by Queen Elizabeth I, for boys and was located near his family's home.  

Though I studied his Henry IV and played the young Prince Hal when I was 13, William may well have read the story of Romeo and Juliet, about the families and the tragic results of their parents’ enmity in Verona, which was well-known in Italy for 100 years before his birth in April 1564.  

Possibly based on truth, it was first published as a short story written by Tommaso Guardati in 1476, as a novel by Luigi da Porto in the 1530s, in another version by Matteo Bandello in the 1550s, and then translated into French and English, in the form of a poem, by Arthur Brooke: The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which William Shakespeare adapted for the theatre when he was aged 30 in 1594.

Now in the Internet Age you can begin more research by going to www.veronissima.com/en/romeo-juliet-true-story.html (and have a look at Enfield Grammar School https://www.enfieldgrammar.org )

I tell you this to give the modern Australian young people a sense of the literary and theatre tradition within which Shakespeare wrote his plays 400 years ago (and still in the English tradition of my day, at least, some 70 years ago.)  This is to be in keeping with Drama Teacher/Director, Joe Woodward’s intention that “DTC’s new theatre production of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a rare Hermetic presentation to create a total theatre experience of drama, music, media, interactive entertainment, food and drink and visual art.”  

And indeed all these elements were there, with many in the audience seated at cafe tables, and a bar in the foyer beforehand, at interval, and after the show.  I did look up the meaning of ‘hermetic’ – “complete and airtight /  or, relating to occult tradition encompassing alchemy, astrology, and theosophy.”

I’m not sure all of that was covered, but the design, music, audio-visuals, costumes and choreography of movement made for an interesting approach, while the measure of success was very much in the final scenes, where education in and through drama came to full strength.

This was achieved not by too much talk and show-off action in the vein of Romeo’s ‘mate’ Mercutio, but in the stillness and silences of the tomb, the recognition of the tragedy they have caused by the Montague and Capulet fathers, and a very important last image added in perhaps by Woodward as teacher/director – or hopefully by the students in a rehearsal workshop.

In my script, which I guess is the 1623 Folio version (there were 7 versions after William’s first effort), the play ends with no more than a homily from the Prince of Verona:

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

But in this presentation, in the silence following this speech, Juliet’s mother – never a pleasant parent before this moment – picks up her now dead daughter, aware now of the poison and the dagger, and lays her down, down stage almost amongst the tables of food and drink, and holds her Juliet there, in tears. As the lights dim to blackout.

William has, of course, castigated the men throughout the play for their insistence on their ‘right’ to win at all costs, but Shakespeare still left those men in charge.  

In this largely gender-blind casting, these modern young Australians have taken up the rights of women in that one powerful ending moment.  This is learning through drama in action of the best educational kind.

Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, Tybalt
Act III, Scene 1, Romeo and Juliet
Daramalan College, 2025

 

Mother, Nurse, Juliet, Capulet Father
Act III, Scene 5
Daramalan College, Romeo and Juliet 2025

 Copyright: Frank McKone, Canberra

 

 

2025: Sophocles' Antigone - Greek Theatre Now, Canberra

 

 

Antigone by Sophocles, translated by Ian Johnston (Vancouver Island University, Canada).  Greek Theatre Now at Burbidge Amphitheatre, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra. April 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

Cast
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus – Ella Buckley
Ismene, daughter of Oedipus, sister of Antigone – Sienna Curnow
Creon, King of Thebes – Ian Russell
Eurydice, wife of Creon – Sarah Hull
Haemon, son of Creon and Eurydice, engaged to Antigone – Alastair McKenzie
Teiresias, an old blind prophet – Michael J Smith
Guard, a soldier serving Creon – Justice-Noah Malfitano
Messenger – Crystal Mahon
Chorus Leader I – Neil McLeod
Chorus Leader II – Kate Eisenberg
Chorus, people of Thebes – Jessica Beange, Samuel Thomson, Selene Thomson, Sarah Hull, Justice-Noah Malfitano, Crystal Mahon, Alastair McKenzie, Sienna Curnow, Michael J Smith

Creatives
Graphic Designer / Photographer – Carl Davies
Costume Designer – Tania Jobson
Movement Director – Lachlan Ruffy
Director / Designer – Cate Clelland

Producer – Michael J Smith



Greek Theatre Now has the right show, in the right place, and on this Good Friday, the right weather.

Creon’s belief that being king gives him absolute power, never to be challenged by ordinary citizens, because good and stable government depends on having one man in charge, is a theme very relevant to the democracy / autocracy warfare by arms or in trade happening today.

His belief that men are superior to women is an equally relevant issue.

Though this amphitheatre is small by Ancient Greek standards in 440 BCE, Sophocles would be pleased with the acoustic quality here – as good as I was amazed to experience at Delphi, with its seating for 4,500! – and with the added advantage of so much more intimate contact with the audience here.

When Antigone confronts her expected to be father-in-law with “YES”, and tells him what-for in no uncertain terms why she broke his law, we felt for her, along with our friends in the Chorus.

And like them, we could see the different sides of the political argument and try to work out what was the truth, where was justice if the law was unjust, and when standing up for human rights is necessary, despite the personal consequences.

The small scale of this production, and clarity of this modern translation, made me feel that I was sitting near Sophocles and feeling along with him how exciting it was to see the message getting through.

I’m sure he was pleased with all of the actors, perhaps especially with Ella Buckley who made her Antigone such a force to be reckoned with; and impressed with Michael J Smith’s contrasting roles both in acting and in producing the show.

He also could see how definitively Cate Clelland had directed and shaped the performance – and surely was as concerned as all of us were for her brief episode of ill-health, with sincere hopes for her quick recovery.  Cate is one of Canberra’s long-standing and experienced directors and deserves a special acclamation for her work on Antigone.

Copyright: Frank McKone, Canberra

 

 

 

 

Ratburger by Maryam Master, based on the book by David Walliams

 

 

Ratburger by Maryam Master, based on the book by David Walliams.  Canberra Theatre, April 15-16, 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

Creative Team

Director: Liesel Badorrek
Designer: Isla Shaw
Lighting Director: Jasmine Rizk
Sound Designer: Ross Johnston
Video Producer: Mic Gruchy

Cast

Zoe: Jade Fuda
Burt: Nicholas Hiatt
Albie: Mason Maenzanise
Tina/Sheila: Billie Palin
Dad/Mr Grave: Christopher Tomkinson
Understudies: Connor Banks Griffith, Hannah Wood

Watching Ratburger as I am in my second childhood, I feel more frightened than when reading any of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales in my first.  I’m sure Zoe’s step-mother in Ratburger is closely related to both Gretel’s mother and the wicked witch in the Hansel and Gretel story.

Reading the Grimm’s dark stories was a calm and thoughtful experience for me in my first childhood – as I hope it is for eight-year olds reading Walliams today – but this presentation of Ratburger on stage is loud audially and visually, turning the essential dark story into a kind of black comic satire.

This is what frightens me.  The set and video design is absolutely fascinating, intriguing to watch, drawing in even the toddlers in the audience.  The choreography is fast, theatrical and often funny.  The amplified voices range from loud to screaming, and cannot be ignored. The images are designed to create curiosity, especially about how the shadow effects are done – including when Zoe’s step-mother and Burt the Burgerman cause her father’s final divorce as they race each other off and into his grinding machine.  

The puppetry is exquisite.  The dialogue is full of ‘woke’ phrases.  And then we adults understand the satire.  

The young will only see the horror of nasty grown-up untrustworthy woman  and conniving even criminal man making burgers from rats, as they break up Zoe’s family again; and Zoe’s incompetent but loving man – the father she loves – coming good and helping save her favourite rat from the grinder.  

If they are old enough, they may see the extreme presentation as funny. In the performance I saw there were not many laughs.  Middling youngsters laughed at obvious gags (words and in actions); some adults laughed at the ‘woke’ dialogue; little youngsters mainly watched with little apparent reaction; some fiddled with the cushions they were given to lift them high enough to see the stage.

As an example of responsible theatre for children, it concerns me that those too young to cotton on to the satire will remember family breakdown and how unloving adult women behave; and will pick up on the sentimental message of the girl saving the rat despite everything, (and learning to like the girl next door, but only after she has apologised).

In my role as a grown up, I see the play for what it is – a satire of the tragedy of life where divorce is increasingly common and there are plenty of rats who make burgers from rats.  

But I think Master’s play is more for adult education than for children.  I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book by David Walliams, but hope children who read it may respond as I did to the Grimm Brothers’ fairy stories.


Copyright: Frank McKone, Canberra

 

 

 

 

2025: Henry 5 - Bell Shakespeare

 

 

Henry 5  Bell Shakespeare, Canberra Theatre Centre, Playhouse, April 11 - 20, 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 11

Cast

King Henry: JK Kazzi; Dauphin: Jack Halabi
Westmoreland: Alex Kirwan; Alice/Messenger:Odile Le Clezio
Katherine/Boy: Ava Madon; Michael Williams/Scroop: Harrison Mills
Exeter: Ella Prince; King of France/Canterbury/French Soldier: Jo Turner
Montjoy: Mararo Wangai;
Grey/English Soldier/Understudy: Rishab Kern
Grey/English Soldier/Understudy: Ziggy Resnick

Creatives

Director: Marion Potts
Set & Costume Designer: Anna Tregloan
Composer & Sound Designer: Jenthro Woodward
Movement, Intimacy & Fight Director: Nigel Poulton
Voice Director: Jack Starkey-Gill
Stage Manager: Sean Proude

The action begins in preparation for the Battle of Agincourt

In a highly original approach to Shakespeare’s asking for our indulgence for two hours, Marion Potts has made Henry V – the third in the Henry IV and V set – fit neatly into 1 hour 50 minutes with no interval:

Act 1, Prologue: PROLOGUE
Act 1, Scene 1: London. An ante-chamber in the KING'S palace.
Act 1, Scene 2: The same. The Presence chamber.

Act 2, Prologue: PROLOGUE
Act 2, Scene 1: London. A street.
Act 2, Scene 2: Southampton. A council-chamber.
Act 2, Scene 3: London. Before a tavern.
Act 2, Scene 4: France. The KING'S palace.

Act 3, Prologue: PROLOGUE
Act 3, Scene 1: France. Before Harfleur.
Act 3, Scene 2: The same.
Act 3, Scene 3: The same. Before the gates.
Act 3, Scene 4: The FRENCH KING's palace.
Act 3, Scene 5: The same.
Act 3, Scene 6: The English camp in Picardy.
Act 3, Scene 7: The French camp, near Agincourt:

Act 4, Prologue: PROLOGUE
Act 4, Scene 1: The English camp at Agincourt.
Act 4, Scene 2: The French camp.
Act 4, Scene 3: The English camp.
Act 4, Scene 4: The field of battle.
Act 4, Scene 5: Another part of the field.
Act 4, Scene 6: Another part of the field.
Act 4, Scene 7: Another part of the field.
Act 4, Scene 8: Before KING HENRY'S pavilion.

Act 5, Prologue: PROLOGUE
Act 5, Scene 1: France. The English camp.
Act 5, Scene 2: France. A royal palace.

And it works a treat, because it concentrates the play into realising our understanding of the real autocrat behind the playboy Prince Hal.  He doesn’t become this just because he becomes King Harry.  He just is a coercive control freak, which director Marion Potts makes clear in the final scene of enforced acceptance by the French Princess Katherine that he “loves” her.

Katharine has no real choice

 The great thing about this production, in addition to Nigel Poulton’s marvellous impact as Movement, Intimacy & Fight Director, is the clarity of the voices – in French as well as English – achieved by Jack Starkey-Gill’s directing.  Instead of speaking in standard Shakespearian stage English like in the Olivier film of the 1940s, everyone from the King down makes absolutely sure that whoever they are talking to – including us – understand exactly what they mean.

If you thought this theatrically choreographed version, in modern dress, is just a “modern” interpretation to make Shakespeare “new”, you’ll find yourself surprised, especially through the character of Prologue, how modern Shakespeare was in his time – for he clearly shows how manipulative and self-serving dictators are; in this case in the Plantaganet/Tudor family of his very Queen.

How prescient he was, when we look around the world today, when we see men in power pushing on to win Battles of Agincourt in real wars as well as trade wars in our nightly news.

Bell Shakespeare has made Henry 5 out of Henry V, an exciting and important contribution to our thinking about politics – democratic and autocratic; about the anti-humane character of warfare; and about the destruction of personal worth and integrity, at the individual level – especially, but not only, for women.

This a Bell Shakespeare production which should tour world-wide.

King Harry incognito, pretending to be a common man,
while gathering intelligence.

 

Copyright: Frank McKone, Canberra

2025: The Pirates of Penzance - Hayes Theatre

 

 

 

 

 The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan, “re-wired and re-booted” by Hayes Theatre Company (Sydney) at Canberra Theatre Centre, The Playhouse, April 2-6 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 3

    
Cast & Creatives

Starring
Trevor Jones as The Major-General and more
Jay Laga’aia as The Pirate King and more
Brittanie Shipway as Ruth, Mabel and more
Maxwell Simon as Frederic and more
Billie Palin as Isabel, Barry and more/onstage swing

Director Richard Carroll
Co-Arranger & Musical Supervisor Victoria Falconer
Musical Director and Co-Arranger Trevor Jones
Assistant Director & Choreographer Shannon Burns
Set Designer Nick Fry
Costume Designer Lily Mateljan
Lighting Designer Jasmine Rizk
Sound Designer Daniel Herten
Production Manager Abbey Pace
Stage Manager Sherydan Simson

Hayes Theatre has brought the most rambunctious, humorous, outrageous production of The Pirates of Penzance from exciting Sydney to cautious Canberra – to a standing laughing cheering ovation.

Don’t miss it if you dare, or you’ll have nothing to talk about in your 3 days in the office.

The point is, of course, that The P of P is a political satire, and the Hayes’ rewiring makes not too subtle but plenty of LOL connections with the pirates of today, while telling the complex story of the moral dilemmas of the orphan Frederic learning proper behaviour.  It could all be happening in Parliament House where Frederic, after battles and promises to marry, finally realises he is really a teal independent simply asking for conflicts of interest to be dealt with through reasonable diplomatic discussion.

Google AI tells me: The Pirates of Penzance was written by the famous duo, with the libretto by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan in 1879. It premiered with a single performance in Paignton, England, on 30th December 1879 and had its official debut in New York the next day, where it was an instant hit.

Penzance is a pretty bay very near the end of Cornwall in UK, a nice little harbour town remote enough for real pirates, while Paignton is easterly, just along the south coast where I used to holiday as a child and learned nice manners, just like Frederic.  G&S for me was quite gentle social satire, rather like a good David Williamson in Australia today.

But their secondary title, The Slave of Duty, had and still has much more significance.  Wikipedia tells us: The Third Socialist Workers' Congress of France was held in Marseille, France, in 1879. At this congress the socialist leaders rejected both cooperation and anarchism, both of which would allow the existing regime to continue, and adopted a program based on collectivism. The congress also adopted a motion that women should have equal rights to men, but several delegates felt that essentially woman's place was in the home…. The congress has been called a triumph of Guesdism and the birthplace of French Marxist socialism.
[  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Workers%27_Congress_(1879)  ]

And there are all the clues in The Pirates of Penzance.  Frederic becomes a socialist, just as did my parents and therefore I did in the following half century.  

This is where, in the Hayes’ Re-wiring, we stop laughing.  They give an extra solo to Frederic to end the operetta, about his new understanding: we must not allow ourselves to be slaves to duty when the powers that be command you to kill.  

Though G&S could not be so direct in their day, this is what they imply in making fun of the assumption that pirates are all lower class who must kill the upper class to keep their thieving business profitable; and that Major-Generals and Police should therefore imprison and kill all pirates.

Frederic, the orphan pirate, and Mabel, the upper class sophisticated daughter of the Major-General, love each other – a symbol of peace without violence.

Laugh out loud along with Misters Gilbert and Sullivan, and enjoy Hayes Theatre’s genuinely funny – and powerfully performed – theatre.  But take seriously the finale:

Poor wandering ones!
Though ye have surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Your steps retrace,
Poor wandering ones!
Poor wandering ones!
If such poor love as ours
Can help you find
True peace of mind,
Why, take it, it is yours!

Maxwell Simon as Frederic and Brittanie Shipway as Mabel
in The Pirates of Penzance
Hayes Theatre 2025

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2025: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  Based on the novel by Mark Haddon; adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens.  Mockingbird Theatre Company, Canberra, at Belconnen Arts Centre, March 20 – April 5 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 1

CAST:
Christopher (at certain performances) – Wajanoah Donohoe
Christopher (at certain performances) – Ethan Wiggin
Siobhan – Leah Peel Griffiths; Ed – Richard Manning; Judy – Claire White
Ensemble – Travis Beardsley, Callum Doherty, Peter Fock, Meg Hyam, Anthony Mayne, Tracy Noble
with a special appearance from Phineas Baldock

PRODUCTION TEAM:
Director/Designer – Chris Baldock; Assistant Director – Stephanie Evans
Stage Manager – Rhiley Winnett
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Chris Baldock
Projections Design – Matt Kizer; Projection Realisation & Operation – Rhiley Winnett
Music Composer – Matt Friedman; Costumes and Props – Chis Baldock and cast
Autism Lived Experience Consultants – Jacob Alfonso and Jennyfer Lawrence Taylor
Rehearsal Prompt – Liz St Clair Long



The calculation of the square of the hyptenuse of a right angled triangle is the image which informs this thoughtful presentation of The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time.  

Though the drama of the life of Christopher John Francis Boone, accurately characterised by Wajanoah Donohoe, is not exactly exciting in a conventional theatrical way – since the central character has no empathetic capacity – we find ourselves watching the story play out at some ‘distance’ emotionally.  Rather like Christopher himself, we seem to be objectively observing a documentary about adults as parents and neighbours, including their rearrangements of sexual relations, and how difficult life therefore is for a seriously autistic child, at the stage of achieving the highest score possible in Mathematics on his way from high school to university.

Intellectual determination to complete his knowledge of mysteries, from who killed the dog in next door’s garden to the explanation of Pythagoras’ theorem is the central feature of Christopher’s life.  

So, physically, Baldock and the Design Team have us sitting in straight rows on three sides of a square, watching highly stylised acting-out of the story, in terms of choreography and costume design, surrounded by large rectangular projections of words, and even mathematics, and images of practical things like trains which illustrate the action in a Christopher-like way.

And then we discover the final ruse.  We are watching in real time Siobhan and Christopher creating a play for us to understand what happened in the past, especially including how difficult Christopher’s built-in need to only always speak the truth had been for his parents, and the reasonable resolution of their lives which was achieved.

So the play within a play parallels what the theatre company is doing – artfully creating the words of a novel in living form.  This extra level is emphasised in Baldock’s production by the abstract white costuming for the Ensemble, rather than having the characters dressed in normal street clothes. 

Wajanoah Donohue and ensemble in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Photo: Chris Baldock

 This play is not presented as ‘naturalism’, but in a form designed to illustrate the issue of how being autistic, despite one’s intelligence, is fraught with difficult situations and often unfair treatment – even when other people understand that you can’t not behave in the frustrating, for them, way you do.  

Rather than presenting this now famous play with the razzamatazz of the Grand Tour by the National Theatre of Great Britain which I reviewed (on this blog) June 2018, Baldock brings the play down to size, and in doing so leaves me with a more simple focus on the issue as it is for so many people ‘on the spectrum’.

And Wajanoah’s explanation of the proof of the Pythagoras theorem – after the curtain call, as if he was Christopher but somehow out of role – was terrific.

Thank you, Mockingbird.


©Frank McKone, Canberra