by Moira McAuliffe
La Mama at Carlton
Courthouse until May 20, 2000
Bookings: 9347 6142
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Ancient Greek theatre was a poetic form. In fact theatre was
written as poetry until quite recently when naturalism took a leap into the
foreground.
Director, Peter Green has successfully adapted Moira
McAuliffe's poem, Orpheus, for theatre. The piece had a former life outdoors
under the trees in Ringwood that would be an idyllic locale for this evocative,
pastoral imagery.
This production is inside but Green's design transforms the
often atmosphere-free Courthouse into another world. The floor is inches deep
with sand and bolts of unbleached calico are stretched from floor to ceiling
creating a woodland of fabric. In this environment, Orpheus and the rustic
women deal with his grief at the loss of his wife, Eurydice to The Underworld
God, Dis.
The poem, on the page, is written for four women (Helen
Hopkins, Mary Helen Pirola, Lynda Joyce. Maria Papastamtopoulos). The quality
of voices is paramount in this production. McAuliffe's lyrical and imagistic
text highlights the unevenness in the performers' skills.
The maturity and richness of Hopkins' vocal quality is evident and Papastamtopoulos finds
resonance and weight as Diana the Huntress. Joyce lacks the power required for
this style of work. Pirola is at her best vocally when singing with Luke Sheehy
who is Orpheus.
Sheehy has a fine sweet tenor which soars when he is not
playing his flute. Music was Orpheus's mode of communication or, as McAuliffe
says, "Orpheus called the world together with music". Sheehy captures
his passion, grief and beauty.
The text speaks in sounds -"desolation like the sound
of an axe"- and Green integrates the hacking sound of the axe on wood.
McAuliffe colours the air with potent and poignant lines such as, "the
rivers were still branches of stone and the sea was bitten metal".
The piece has a innovative form. It would be enhanced by
some more experienced actors but is a strong exploration of text, voice a and
sound.
by Kate Herbert
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