KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly3MBS Sat2 Nov2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Phillipa Edwards about Golden Blood  by Merlynn Tong at MTC, Your Name Means Dream by Jose Rivera at Red Stitch. I also briefly mention Made in China 2.0 upcoming at Arts Centre Melb in Nov.

Your Name Means Dream REVIEW 31 Oct 2024 *****

THEATRE

 

 Written by José Rivera, by Red Stitch Theatre

At  Red Stitch until 24 Nov 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***** (5)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS on Sat 2 Nov 2024. KH

Lucy Ansell, Caroline Lee - Your Name Means Dream - image James Reiser

 

Your Name Means Dream is that rare thing in theatre: a production in which all the parts create a cohesive, compelling and totally creatively successful and satisfying whole.

 

US playwright José Rivera’s script is complex, intelligent, witty and disturbing; Kat Henry’s direction is meticulous and seamless; the two performers, Caroline Lee and Lucy Ansell, make a perfect duo, with impeccable timing, perfect balance, sensitivity and exceptional chemistry.

 

Lee plays Aislin, a stroppy, hard-drinking, ailing 65-year-old. She fully inhabits Aislin and is completely credible as this belligerent, mouthy, determined, resentful and desperately lonely woman. Her son, Roberto, rarely sees or speaks to her since her husband’s death years earlier and she feels abandoned and guilty.

 

In order to keep his distance, Roberto has organised the ideal carer for his mother: Stacy (Ansell) is efficient, skilful, obliging and a perfect physical specimen. She is also a robot!

 

Ansell makes this non-human creature a living, learning, feeling, almost-human being. It is remarkable to watch the complexity and easy athleticism of Ansell’s physicality, and her total immersion in Stacy’s character, her initially childlike responses, seemingly emotional reactions and her commitment to learning to be human-like and to be the best possible carer for Aislin.

 

Rivera’s play is set in one room in an apartment in the East Village of Manhattan. In this enclosed and isolated space, the powerful relationship between Aislin and Stacy develops in waves, shifting from combative and resistant, through needy and dependent, to warm and familial and finally into what seems to be love.

 

Henry’s production is swift-moving, and her direction is imaginative and richly layered, exploring and exposing the nuances of the two characters and their burgeoning relationship. Your Name Means Dream is as much about the inhumanity of society and the way it treats its ageing population as it is about the potential humanity and emotionality in the inhuman.

 

This may be the future for aged care, or even for social networks, friendships and families.

 

See this!

 

By Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Caroline Lee

Lucy Ansell

 

Creative Team

Writer: José Rivera
Director: Kat Henry
Set & Costume Design: Hahnie Goldfinch

Lighting Design: Amelia Lever-Davidson

Assist. Set/Costume Design: Louisa Fitzgerald

Stage Manager: Finn McLeish.

 

Caroline Lee - Your Name Means Dream - image James Reiser

 

Golden Blood REVIEW MTC 30 Oct 2024 **1/2

 THEATRE

Written by Merlynn Tong, by Melbourne Theatre Company

At  Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until 30 Nov 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **1/2 (2.5)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 2 Nov 2024. KH

Golden Blood.- Merlynnn Tong, Charles Wu- Image Credit Prudence Upton

 

 

 

 

Golden Blood is a two-hander written by Merlynn Tong and performed by Tong with Charles Wu.

 

In a series of episodes, the play tracks a Singaporean girl and her older brother as they renegotiate their relationship after the death of their neglectful, alcoholic mother which leaves them orphaned.

 

The Girl believes her mother left her a significant inheritance, but her brother pressures her into accepting him as her guardian, and he remains her guardian until her 21st birthday.

 

The rituals of traditional Chinese funerals are dotted throughout the play: burning cash and offering gold. Bad omens and unlucky actions or words are woven into the narrative.

 

The play does not glamorise their lives or their culture. These are not the privileged middle class of Singapore. The brother and sister, known only as Girl and Boy, are born of criminals and live the life.

 

The Boy is a criminal working for a crime gang and living a tough life trying to make millions out of lame projects and getting beaten for every failure.

 

Tong’s script has some funny exchanges and some compelling ideas and imagery. However, the dialogue and story are repetitive and laboured in this 100-minute play. It could be done in 30 to 45 minutes.

 

Wu’s performance is animated and charged with anxiety and bravado of a young man living on the edge of a danger with a criminal gang. He manages to give the character more layers than the script provides and bring an edge of danger to the stage when he sees and hears his mother’s ghostly presence.

 

Tong’s performance is more convincing in the latter part of the play when Girl is older and wiser and develops into a wily, 21-year-old businesswoman. However, Tong’s characterisation lacks range and nuance as the young, teenage Girl.

 

Director, Melissa Leong, sets the production on an almost empty stage and focuses on the rapid interactions between the pair. She uses evocative lighting (Fausto Brusamolino) and atmospheric sound (Rainbow Chan) to establish the chaotic, drug-fuelled, anxiety-driven lifestyle of this odd couple of siblings.

 

Golden Blood has potential as a play but the script needs significantly more development.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Merlynn Tong – Girl

Charles Wu – Boy

 

Creative Team

Melissa Leong – Director

Set & Costume Designer - Michael Hankin
Lighting Designer - Fausto Brusamolino
Composer & Sound Designer - Rainbow Chan
Dramaturg - Jennifer Medway
Effects Consultant - Emily Parsons-Lord

Stage Manager - Jennifer Jackson
Assistant Stage Manager - Liz Bird.

Golden Blood- Charles Wu- Image Credit Prudence Upton

Made in China 2.0 2023 REVIEW (NB: Re-posted review from 2023)

NB: This is a review of the production from 2023 season. 

The 2024 season in At Arts Centre Melbourne from 6 to 16 Nov 2024.

(I may be able to mention it on Arts Weekly on 2 Nov or 16 Nov 2024).

THEATRE

Written, co-directed and performed by Wang Chong

Malthouse Theatre

At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, Southbank until 19 March 2023

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ****
This is not a review in the traditional sense, although I've given the production stars.

This print comment will be published only on this blog. . KH

 

Wang Chong_Made in China 2.0_credit Tamarah Scott

 Made in China 2.0 is the second production presented in Australia by Wang Chong, a Chinese theatre director, writer and performer. The first was Little Emperors in 2017, also at the Malthouse, written by Chong with Lachlan Philpott.

In this unusual, solo performance, co-directed by Emma Valente, Chong begins with a casual, direct address to the audience that reveals him to be, a charming, ebullient performer as he talks engagingly about his development as a theatre artist and his life in art. 

What follows is a sometimes surprising, often harrowing but always enlightening representation of his risk-taking theatre style and his personal views on art and life.

Chong is magnetic and his theatrical style is challenging and will leave you with plenty to think and talk about on the trip home - and perhaps for days after.

I am unable to discuss the specifics of this production, so this is not a review as such. You’ll have to see Chong's charismatic performance to judge it for yourself.

By Kate Herbert

 Credits

Wang Chong – writer performer, co-director

Emma Valente -co-director, production designer

Emma Lockhart Wilson – co-designer

Wang Chong_Made in China 2.0_credit Tamarah Scott

KATE HERBERT Interview on Southern FM MON 28 OCT 2024

This radio spot is me as the interviewee, talking to Maureen Andrew and William Bond on The Breeze, Southern FM 88.3FM. We talked about my work as a playwright, my recent play, LUNG, my COVID musical, Pande-Effing-Demic, Panda-Effing- Monium, and a bit of my history as a theatre artist in comedy, improvisation, acting, directing and theatre reviewing. Monday 28 Oct at 5.05pm on The Breeze program.

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly3MBS Sat19Oct2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Mal Chambers – show host for today and fabulous visual artist – about Global Smash Club, by Finucane & Smith 17-19 Oct 2024 (It’s the 20th anniversary show by this burlesque company), and After Rebecca, On Screen at La Mama until 29 Oct.

 

 

After Rebecca REVIEW 16 Oct 2024 ***1/2

THEATRE ONLINE

Written by Emma Gibson

At La Mama On Screen only, until 29 Oct 2024

https://watch.lamama.com.au/programs/after_rebecca?category_id=223063

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***1/2

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 19 Oct 2024. KH

After_Rebecca_Michelle Cooper-image by Darren_Gill

After Rebecca is a solo, self-narrated piece that effectively translates Daphne du Maurier’s gothic novel, Rebecca, into a contemporary context.

 

The content is challenging: a naïve and under-confident, single, young production assistant on the reality show, The Farmer Wants a Wife, is swept off her feet by a handsome contestant and whisked away from the show, her job and her life to his remote and enormous farm.

 

Soon after arriving at his property, she realises to her astonishment and eventual horror, that she is a virtual prisoner, isolated and controlled by a man who still mourns his dead wife. 

 

Performer, Michelle Cooper, captures the creeping sense of foreboding that follows the woman’s initial, romantic infatuation. This glamorous man, Max, treats her with physical and emotional cruelty and she is unable to escape his coercive control.

 

Emma Gibson’s script is a clever reworking of Rebecca, and its self-narration allows the audience to conjure the locations and characters from prose that is dotted with some dialogue.

 

Cooper hits her stride in the later, more dangerous section of the story but, initially, the nervous giggle that she employs to express the woman’s anxiety and uncertainty, becomes repetitive and distracting.

 

The message is clear: look before you leap! Glamorous strangers can take you up a perilous path - and leave you there!

 

By Kate Herbert.

 

Written and co-directed by Emma Gibson

Performed and co-directed by Michelle Cooper

Designed by Daniel McCusker

 

Global Smash Club, REVIEW 17 Oct 2024 ***1/2

CABARET/BURLESQUE

Created by Finucane & Smith

At Trades Hall Ballroom until Sat 19 Oct 2024 (7pm & 9pm on 18th & 19th)

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***1/2

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 19 Oct 2024. KH

Moira Finucane -FRINGE_LOWRES_@MAXROUX

If you’ve always wanted to see a Finucane & Smith burlesque show, Global Smash Club is the one to see! But it’s only on this weekend, and if you’re sensitive to sexual references, content, nudity or explicit language, stay home.

 

Global Smash Club is risqué bordering on erotica, glamorous sometimes tilting into parody or even kitsch, and confronting with an occasional edge of danger.

 

Moira Finucane is the pulsating heart of this eclectic burlesque line-up and this 20th anniversary show features several of her audacious, eccentric pieces: the Milk Queen who generously sprays her bottles of milk, her hilariously chauvinist yobbo, and the soup eater who sensually splashes her tomato passata over her white gown.

 

Many of the acts are classic burlesque: cheeky, mischievous characters in flamboyant costumes that are often stripped off, simple but naughty narratives, lots of full-frontal female nudity, some simulated sexual action, and occasional confronting engagement with the audience. This includes the front row cowering under umbrellas and plastic picnic tablecloths to avoid being showered with milk.

 

Maude Davey thrills the excited crowd with several outrageous characters and wild songs, the wildest being Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again complete with the shouting audience responding, “No way! Get fucked! Fuck off!” as they did for the The Angels in the ‘80s.

 

My heart sings when I see Yumi Umiumare in anything. She enters in a red kimono, moving slowly with grace and beauty, then reveals the Samurai below, then the Ninja below that, and finally a scrap of costume that leaves her near-naked, but never vulnerable.

 

An exceptional piece is a fiercely parodic take on Hello Kitty with Umiumare, Finucane and Davey wearing cutesy Hello Kitty, fluffy, pink and white costumes, but the tone becomes darker when Umiumare transforms into a grotesque, masked feline that terrorises of the crowd.

 

Burlesque queen Imogen Kelly emerges in a magnificent swirl of hooped white lycra that transforms with a twist into a Dior gown, a Melbourne Cup hat or a floating tent. She later reappears as a sassy, begowned and bearded gal in a saucy strip routine.

 

Other acts are more serious such as Mama Alto singing a jazz-inflected ballad, Xiao singing a personal lament and a guest duet by Yorta Yorta Taungurung Wiradjuri elder, Glynnis Briggs and country star, Ian Muir.

 

Finucane & Smith’s transgressive, bold and dangerous style  has endured 20 years longer than its critics predicted 20 years ago. Squeeze it into this weekend if you can. It is wild and eye-opening!

 NB: Many of the acts are 5 stars, but a few pieces are not at the same standard. That brings the show’s overall rating down, unfortunately. K

by Kate Herbert

 

Yumi Umiumare (back)-FRINGE_LOWRES_@MAXROUX

 Creative Team

Featuring a cascade of stars across the season:

Queen of Provocative Variety & Empress of Burlesque Bizarre MOIRA FINUCANE

Performance Art Legend MAUDE DAVEY 

Butoh goddess of dark fever dreams YUMI UMIUMARE 

The voice of angels MAMA ALTO

Las Vegas crowned Queen of Burlesque IMOGEN KELLY 

Astonishing Starlet ZITAO DENG 

Uber cello virtuoso XIAO XIAO 

NO Risque club kitten IVA ROSEBUD

Yorta Yorta Taungurung Wiradjuri elder multi-faceted artist Glynnis Briggs and country star Ian Muir.

 

Tina - The Tina Turner Musical REVIEW 3 Oct 2024 ****

THEATRE

Written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, with most songs from Tina’s catalogue

At Princess Theatre until 26 Jan 2025

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ****

Ruva Ngwenya & Ikettes TINA The Musical_credit-Daniel Boud

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 5 Oct 2024. KH

 

Ruva Ngwenya is electric as Tina Turner in this musical. She ignites the stage with her powerful presence, voice, vivacity and pure ebullience. She does not simply impersonate Tina but she channels the vocal quality and energy of Tina.

 

The audience stood as one for the last 15 minutes of the show, dancing and clapping through her remarkable performance of Simply the Best and an encore of Nutbush City Limits.

 

Ngwenya is the vivid presence at the heart of this show that is deftly and imaginatively directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The production features a fine supporting cast, and Anthony van Laast’s spirited choreography, performed by the vibrant and talented ensemble, incorporates some of Tina’s own moves.

 

Tina is a juke-book musical; unlike other musicals for which original songs are written, almost all of the songs in Tina are from the repertoire that Tina performed or recorded over her career.

 

The song list includes numerous huge hits and some lesser-known tunes. (Strangely, none of the songs’ writers are credited in the program. I had to hunt online for those.) You might think you're not a Tina Turner fan, but you’ve probably caught yourself singing along to them in the car: Simply the Best, What’s Love Got to Do With It, River Deep Mountain High, Private Dancer, We Don’t Need Another Hero and that old chestnut, Nutbush City Limits.

 

The book for Tina, written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, traces her life. The dramatic text is chronological, following Tina’s biography from her difficult childhood (child Anna Mae was played by the exceptional Zoe Desmier) when she was called Anna Mae Bullock. Her mother, Zelma (Ibinabo Jack), abandoned her but took Tina’s sister, Alline (Jayme-Lee Hanekom), to St. Louis, leaving Tina with her volatile preacher father (Augie Tchantcho). She then lived with her Granny (Deni Gordon) until Mum took her back – with a push from Alline.

 

Here begins her slow climb to singing and the ill-fated encounter with Ike Turner – played with sassy villainy by Giovanni Adams – who recruited her as a singer for his band, then used and abused her, resented her talent, and manipulated her into marrying him, evidently so he could control her and take advantage of her greater talent and marketability. After such violence, coercive control and manipulation, Tina escapes Ike, bruised, abused and poverty-stricken with two kids; it is a slow crawl up a very long hill towards the Tina we recognise.

 

Translating a biography into dramatic form is tricky; a life rarely has a clear dramatic arc and there are so many episodes, twists and turns and characters that must be edited and contracted to form a cohesive and coherent dramatic story. (Jersey Boys was the most effective of this form.) This may mean that too much or too little is included. In Tina, rather too much of her early life and some later, less fully developed episodes are included, and her chequered life is a lot to cram into a musical once you add the songs.

 

Some characters are not fully fleshed out, including her second husband, Erwin Bach (Matthew Prime), and her Aussie manager, Roger Davies (Mat Verevis). This is a reflection on the writing rather than the performances.

 

Despite its few shortcomings, Tina is an exhilarating production and Ngwenya’s ebullient and impassioned performance makes it a memorable night.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

 

Cast

Ruva Ngwenya -Tina Turner

Giovanni Adams -  Ike Turner

Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy -Tina Turner alternate

Zoe Desmier Chidl Anna Mae

 

Ibinabo Jack -Tina’s mother Zelma Bullock

Deni Gordon - Tina’s Grandmother Gran Georgeanna (GG)

Nadia Komazec - manager Rhonda Graam.  

Jayme-Lee Hanekom  -sister Alline Bullock & Ikettes

Augie Tchantcho -father Richard Bullock,

Rishab Kern -first love Raymond Hill,

Matthew Prime -Erwin Bach

Mat Verevis/- Roger Davies,

Matthew Hamilton Phil Spector and Lyricist Terry Britten

 Blake Erickson musician Martyn Ware and Carpenter.

Ensemble members include Mia Dabkowski-Chandler, Nicholas Eaton, Abu Kebe as Ronnie, Jenni Little as Toni,Loredo Malcolm, David Mairs-McKenzie as Craig, Emily Nkomo as an Ikette, Gus Noakes, Kristin Paulse, Ilana Richardson, Tendai Rinomhota, Noel Samuels, Rebecca Selley as an Ikette and Tigist Strode as an Ikette.

 

Creative Team

Written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins

director Phyllida Lloyd

 choreography Anthony van Laast

 set & costume Mark Thompson

 musical supervision, additional music & arrangements by Nicholas Skilbeck,

lighting Bruno Poet,

sound Nevin Steinberg

projection design Jeff Sugg

 orchestrations Ethan Popp

 wigs, hair & makeup design  Campbell Young Associates.

 

Songs  credits

Act I

•            "Nutbush City Limits" (Tina Turner) - Richard, Young Tina and Company

•            "Don't Turn Around" (Albert Hammond, Diane Warren) - Tina, Gran Georgeanna and Company

•            "Shake a Tail Feather" (Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, Andre Williams) - Alline, Tina, Ikettes and Company

•            "The Hunter" (Booker T. Jones, C. Wells, Al Jackson, Jr., Donald Dunn, Steve Cropper) - Ike and Ronnie

•            "Matchbox" (Ike Turner) - Ike, Tina and Company

•            "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (Rose Marie McCoy, Sylvia McKinney) - Zelma, Ike, Tina, Alline, Ikettes and Company

•            "A Fool in Love" (I. Turner) - Tina and Ikettes

•            "Let's Stay Together" (Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Jackson) - Raymond and Tina

•            "Better Be Good to Me" (Holly Knight, Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn) - Tina and Company

•            "I Want to Take You Higher" (Sly Stone)- Tina, Alline and Ikettes

•            "River Deep Mountain High" (Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich) - Tina and Company

•            "Be Tender with Me Baby" (Knight, Hammond,) - Ike, Tina, Alline, Ikettes, Ronnie and Richard

•            "Proud Mary" (John Fogerty) - Tina, Ike, Alline and Ikettes

•            "I Don't Wanna Fight" (Lulu, Billy Lawrie, Steve DuBerry) - Tina and Company

Act II

•            "Private Dancer" (Mark Knopfler) - Tina

•            "Disco Inferno" (Leroy Green, Ron Kersey)- Tina and Company

•            "Open Arms" (Martin Brammer, Colette van Sertima, Ben Barson) - Rhonda, Tina and Company

•            "I Can't Stand the Rain" (Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Bernard Miller) - Tina, Ike and Company

•            "Tonight" (David Bowie, Iggy Pop) - Young Tina, Gran Georgeanna, Tina and Roger

•            "What's Love Got to Do with It?" (Terry Britten, Graham Lyle) - Tina, Ikettes, Ronnie and Raymond

•            "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" (Britten, Lyle) - Tina and Company

•            "The Best" (Knight, Chapman) - Tina and Company

•            "Finale: "Nutbush City Limits (Reprise)" (T. Turner) / Proud Mary (Reprise)" (Fogerty) - Company

 

Songwriters in parentheses

In the Broadway production "Rocket 88" replaced "The Hunter" and "She Made My Blood Run Cold" was included after "Matchbox". Beginning in 2021, the same change was made to the West End production.