Moth by Declan Greene
At Theatre Works until. 1 June 2023
This is not a review of the current 2023 production but of a past production of Moth.
I'm re-posting my review of Moth by Declan Greene that was produced in June 2011 by Malthouse with Arena Theatre.
See link to blog review here:
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From the Gallery:
"A bitter-sweet revision of the Madame Butterfly story written by Daniel Keene, directed by Geoff Hooke and designed by Ken Evanswith a score composed by Dalmazio Babare and Boris Conley.
"Cho Cho San played a four-week season in an intimate performance space at the Universal Theatre, Fitzroy. The set occupied the long side of the rectangular room and performers and musicians shared the stage."
In this radio spot, I review two shows: Killing Time by Jack Hibberd at La Mama Courthouse, and Worstward Ho, adapted from Samuel Beckett's novella performed by Robert Meldrum, directed by Richard Murphet & produced by Victorian Theatre Company. I
then talk about the recent cluster of older theatre artists, in these two shows and also Cavalcade by Wits' End. 10 mins. k
MUSICAL THEATRE
The Rocky Horror Show, Book, Music & Lyrics by Richard O’Brien
At Athenaeum Theatre, Collins St Melbourne until 30 June 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:
***1/2 (3.5)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly 3MBS on Sat 27 May 2023. KH
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| Jason Donovan, Henry Rollo The Rocky Horror Show Australia 2023 --Pic Daniel Boud |
Richard O’Brien’s phenomenally successful rock musical, The Rocky Horror Show, has endured for 50 years since its first explosive, fringe production in London in 1973 and later in Melbourne in 1974 in the derelict and dilapidated Fitzroy Tele-theatre. O’Brien’s show is exhilarating, mischievous, salacious and has occasionally been controversial.
When he created the show, O’Brien, the sole writer of the music, lyrics and book, tossed a trashy drag show into a particle collider with classic 1950s, B Grade sci-fi and horror movies to produce this idiosyncratic and transgressive rock musical.
The Australian 50th Anniversary production is directed by Christopher Luscombe and stars Jason Donovan as Frank-N-Furter, the sexy, alien transvestite from the planet Transylvania who lives in a gothic mansion with his weirdo alien minions. Frank epitomises all that is sexually transgressive in this musical’s world of the squeaky-clean America of the 1950s as depicted in its late night, double feature movies.
Donovan, garbed in corset, fishnets and stilettos, reprises the role he played for many years in London, creating a Frank-N-Furter that switches between audacious, sexy, manipulative, sultry seducer and crouching, prowling, cackling mad scientist. His first entrance is a hit with the crowd when he appears upstage, clad in a vampire-style, black velvet cloak and belting out the hit tune, Sweet Transvestite.
Deirdre Khoo starts as a sweetly coy, pert and innocent Janet, then launches her helter-skelter into debauchery, while Ethan Jones as Janet’s clean-cut, naive fiancé, Brad, tumbles headlong under the corrupting influence of Frank-N-Furter.
Darcey Eagle is perky as Columbia, Frank’s shrill and vivid groupie, Stellar Perry is Magenta, Frank’s hedonistic housekeeper, Loredo Malcolm is suitably buff and dim-witted as Frank’s perfect creation, Rocky, while Ellis Dolan plays double roles of Eddie and Dr Scott.
Henry Rollo, as the loyal, totally depraved, alien servant, Riff Raff, leads the cast in Time Warp, the timeless, pelvic-thrusting, chart-topping dance tune that gets the crowd up dancing in the aisles in the finale.
Perhaps the many Narrators I have seen in previous productions have shaped my taste, but Myf Warhurst lacks the stage presence, gravitas and vocal power to grab the audience’s attention in the role.
The first half is a sex-fuelled, rock music-driven juggernaut, but the second half has pacing problems, with some spongy dialogue and flat spots that might be resolved with more detailed and skilful, comic business between characters. However, Donovan draws us back with the sentimental ballad, Going Home, and Time Warp brings the show home with a bang at the end.
It’s difficult not to compare this with previous versions, but I’ve seen more versatile casts playing The Rocky Horror Show and raunchier, more exuberant and vivacious productions, one being the notorious production starring Craig McLachlan. However, O’Brien’s narrative, characters and singable rock tunes have made this musical timeless and almost foolproof for 50 years – and probably for 50 more.
Kate Herbert
NB: For the final 3 weeks in Melbourne, Frank-N-Furter will be played by Olivier Award winning David Bedella and Nicholas Hammond will play the role of The Narrator in Perth and Canberra.
by Kate Herbert
Cast
Jason Donovan –Frank N Furter
Henry Rollo – Riff Raff
Myf Warhurst – Narrator
Stella Perry – Magenta
Ellis Dolan – Eddie/Dr Scott
Darcey Eagle – Columbia
Ethan Jones – Brad
Deirdre Khoo –Janet
Loredo Malcolm –Rocky
Creative Team
Christopher Luscombe- Director
Choreographer – Nathan M. Wright
Set Design – Hugh Durrant
Costume Design –Sue Blane
Lighting Design – Nick Richings
Sound Design -Gareth Owen
Musical Arrangements – Richard Hartley
Musical Director – Jack Earle
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| THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW AUSTRALIA 2023 - Timewarp- PIC CREDIT DANIEL BOUD |
Adapted from Samuel Beckett's novella, produced by Victorian Theatre Company & Theatre Works
At TW Explosives Factory, Rear Laneway, 67 Inkerman St., St. Kilda until 3 June 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** (4)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 27 May 2023.KH
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| Robert Meldrum Worstward Ho pic by Chelsea Neate |
Worstward Ho is a challenging performance for both actor and audience, but actor, Robert Meldrum, is compelling, inspiring and mesmerising in this solo, 60-minute work which almost defies description – but let’s try.
Adapted from Samuel Beckett’s final piece of writing, a novella of the same name, Worstward Ho resonates with Beckettian style and his themes of the human existential dilemma.
The piece is non-narrative, abstract, non-linear and demands our full attention. Meldrum is an unnamed, non-specific man, who wrestles with words and their meaning, wrangling language into new patterns, syntax and poetic forms. He begins with single words only as he struggles to understand his environment and anything or anyone that enters his orbit.
We are meaning makers, so we render the remainder of the picture from those few, fragmented words and mangled, paradoxical phrases he speaks. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he advances to almost complete sentences. I say almost, because the connective tissue of language is often absent: he uses no personal pronouns, constructs new words or strings them together in absurd but strangely meaningful ways, such as “better worse” or “best worst”.
He is grappling with existence itself – or, rather, the end of existence – facing “the shades”, “the dim”, “the void”, “the gulf”. In this “dim” he perceives “the bowed back” of what may be an old woman, “the twain”, an old man walking, holding the hand of a small child, and he perceives “the head” that is later reduced to “the skull”, or even simply “the stare”.
Meldrum’s rich, dark-honey voice lulls and compels us to listen to his every word, then startles with sudden outbursts of frustration or rage. His physicality elucidates the character's inner thoughts and feelings, with his movements shifting unpredictably from slinking to jolting and his expressive face softening and hardening with every mood change.
Richard Murphet’s direction is complex, nuanced and conjures an otherworldly atmosphere within which Meldrum exists. Murphet's lighting is bold and evocative, creating another character – even characters – on stage, with stark shadows that haunt Meldrum as he prowls around the dim space, slumps at a table where he is lit by only a desk lamp, leans against the rear wall lit by harsh side lighting, or steps into darkness until he emerges in a new patch of dim light.
Worstward Ho is a must if you love Beckett and are up for the challenge.
by Kate Herbert
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| Robert Meldrum Worstward Ho pic supplied by Theatre Works |
As I'm unable to see and review this show, I am posting a preview from the Media Release as it sounds interesting. Some of you may know Chelsea Plumley's work in musical theatre.
It runs at Chapel off Chapel from 17-28 May 2023. KH
From Media Release:
"Beautiful Highness is a new Australian Black Comedy written by five-time Green Room
nominated, award-winning musical theatre actress and musician, Chelsea Plumley."
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| Photo supplied. |
"Inspired by Plumley’s family, the play celebrates the incredible grit and determination it takes to live with a mental health diagnosis and crystallises just how important a sense of belonging is for those people who often only experience stigma and discrimination. Beautiful Highness is an inter-generational, heartwarming story that is unsentimental and at times, laugh-out-loud funny.
"Synopsis:
Shelley - a spunky, wise-cracking battler - lives with a soundscape of non-stop Voices plaguing her every waking minute. The only relief comes from weekly visits to see her kids - who live with their Nana - daily phone calls to her siblings, and really, really loud music."
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| Photo supplied. |
THEATRE
At La Mama Courthouse until Sun 21 May 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** (4)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 27 May 2023. KH
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| Jim Daly, Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
Jack Hibberd’s new play, Killing Time, shows that time cannot stem the flow of his wit and style. Jack is back! Or, rather, Jack’s still here!
This two-hander, directed with comic flair, wit and intelligence by Denis Moore with the inimitable Jim Daly and Don Bridges, features an existential crisis for two men as they deal with the achingly slow, frustrating passing of time and their relentless march towards death.
Jim Daly’s Father Time is a pompous, snobbish Englishman who prides himself on his taste, his schooling at Charter House and his knowledge of classical music and literature. He bellows for his factotum, Tod (Don Bridges), until he remembers that Tod is dead and buried.
But, just to prove that nothing is known or immutable, a scruffy, grumbling Tod – who, until this moment, also thought he was dead –shambles in, wearing a tattered, dusty old waiter’s outfit. His master greets him by taunting him and beating him on the head. The abuse continues. Wearing a smoking jacket and seated at a coffin/table, Father Time orders Tod to bring cognac, then food and to massage his aching leg, then sprays him with a soda fountain and subjects him to other indignities. He even compels Tod to be a stand-in for his lover during Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, Father Time’s particularly quirky aphrodisiac.
Intermittently, their status relationship switches when Tod smugly and delightedly asserts himself and takes the power – albeit briefly.
As is common in other Hibberd works, this play centres on an existential crisis. This Father Time is not immortal. He and Tod are marking time, treading water, killing time while it is slowly but surely killing them. The two are trapped in Greg Carroll’s evocative set that accentuates their predicament: a claustrophobic, grim, black, brick-walled dungeon from which there is no escape.
Hibberd is one of Australia’s pre-eminent and lauded playwrights and Killing Time superbly encapsulates his idiosyncratic take on Australian slang blended with poetic and metaphorical dialogue, philosophy, cultural and topical references, literary quotes, snatches of classical music and flights of fancy. His dialogue often reminds us that we are watching a play: “Isn’t the theatre a wonder?” muses Father Time.
Daly and Bridges are a wonderful, comic double act, feasting on Hibberd’s cunning verbal comedy and relishing Moore’s inspired physical direction. It is a joy to see this entire team at work here!
By Kate Herbert
Jim Daly’s Father Time
Don Bridges - Tod
Writer – Jack Hibberd
Director – Denis Moore
Designer – Greg Carroll
Lighting Designer – Jason Bouvard
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| Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
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| Jim Daly pic Darren Gill |
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| Jim Daly, Don Bridges pic Darren Gill |
THEATRE
Cavalcade by William Henderson, by Wits’ End
At 170 Leicester St Fitzroy until 21 May 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:***1/2
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 13 May, 2023. KH
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| Cavalcade-Peter Houghton-pic Ponch Hawkes |
Leave your bourgeois expectation of a narrative at the door because you ain’t gettin’ a linear story line in Cavalcade, by William Henderson and Wits' End. Dada has travelled a hundred years from Europe to Fitzroy to divert and befuddle you.
There are a few threads that those desperate for sense and meaning can grab. There are bicycles galore: tricycle, tandem, velocipede, unicycle; there are two characters, Evelyn (Peter Houghton) and Vivien (Tom Consadine), cleaners who must ad-lib a performance because the acting company has been waylaid on a rogue bus that is reportedly languishing somewhere in Lara, Bayswater or Frankston.
Evelyn and Vivien stumble valiantly but chaotically from one vignette to another, arriving perched primly on an absurdly long, multi-rider tandem – which they immediately crash noisily backstage – donning bowler hats, performing dialogues, testing props, making costumes from loo brushes and egg cartons, running a competitive sack race, dancing a waltz with a Dadaist unicycle, flipping eggs, cleaning up – and on goes the idiocy.
Major, early 20th century artists are represented: Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (a urinal) Magritte’s bowler-hatted men, allusions to, and parodies of Wilde, Beckett, Brecht and Shakespeare, and pianist, Peter Dunsday, plays Erik Satie’s music, including the rarely heard Sports et Divertissements, on piano.
There are collisions of texts, rambling stream of consciousness voice overs (John Jacobs), simultaneous rantings about sovereignty and politics, a sour-faced schoolmaster who berates his recalcitrant student called (hilariously) Truncheon. Screened sporadically on the rear wall are scene titles, bicycle references, lists of known and unknown concentration camps, poetic snatches and an array of bizarre instructions to the pianist from an unseen Erik Satie, the last of which elicited applause from the audience.
Cavalcade is like one long, concrete poem with words, images and action – and clowns. This eccentric performance defies description and it deserves an audience.
by Kate Herbert
Cast: Peter Houghton, Tom Consadine, John Jacobs
Pianist: Peter Dunsday
Writer: William Henderson
Adapted by Christos Tsiolkas & Dan Giovannoni from the book by Tsiolkas
By Malthouse Theatre
At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse until 28 May 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** ½ (4&½)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 13 May, 2023. KH
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| Loaded_ Danny Ball as Ari_ pic Tamarah Scott |
Tsiolkas’ 1990s debut novel, Loaded, is the basis for this solo show, but Tsiolkas and writer Dan Giovannoni have dragged Ari cursing and writhing into 2023 with an intense, dense and graphic script that challenges both actor and audience.
Ari is still Greek-Australian, still doesn’t want to be gay, still doesn't want to be Greek, is still having sex with strangers in public and private places, still afraid of his mother’s wrath and still filled with self-loathing.
But now, he is slamming a panoply of new drugs, visiting new clubs and haunts, and talking about hipsters, Vegans, Uni wankers (that’s probably the same), wokeness and other 21stc century contemporary issues.
Loaded takes place over one, long, dangerous and terrifyingly drug- and sex-fuelled night in Melbourne, during which Ari gallops and stumbles from his parents’ home in Brunswick, to drug pick-ups, parties and clubs in Collingwood, Preston, some eastern suburb, then St Kilda. On his anti-hero’s journey, he collects stoned siblings and friends, a drag queen, drug dealers, anonymous sex partners and other unsavoury characters. If you’re a denizen of Melbourne, there are plenty of laughs about suburbs and culture.
Ball is charismatic, compelling and has impeccable vocal, physical and acting technique. He is muscular and sensual and plays Ari with manic energy and remarkable, nuanced delivery, creating a totally credible, grotesque, sympathetic, funny and distressing character. He populates the stage with a parade of characters, some of whom he embodies briefly, and others that remain off-stage. He tosses us from laughter to gasping, from playfulness to despair. It is gruelling for the audience – particularly the sexually explicit scenes – but far more punishing for Ball.
Stephen Nicolazzo’s taut direction is so rapidly paced that it is hard to catch a breath as we witness Ari in his horrific spiral into drug and sex chaos.
I can’t say that it is an enjoyable experience, but Ball in Loaded delivers a dexterous and masterly piece of theatre. The crowd leapt to its feet as one at the finish.
by Kate Herbert
Cast - Danny Ball
Director - Stephen Nicolazzo
Adapted by Christos Tsiolkas & Dan Giovannoni from novel
MUSICAL THEATRE
Music & lyrics by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová, book by Enda Walsh
Produced by Darlinghurst Theatre
At Comedy Theatre, Melbourne until 4 June 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 13 May 2023. kh
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| Once cast- image Robert Catto |
I’ve seen Once thrice! I saw this Once once, and the 2014 Once twice!
Once is a jewel of a musical and its beguiling story, music and characters are uplifting, enchanting and funny, but it is simultaneously an achingly melancholic, theatrical experience.
On the day that a disillusioned, Irish musician, known simply as Guy (Toby Francis), decides to abandon his lacklustre music career in Dublin and surrender to despair about his lost love, he meets a vibrant, relentlessly buoyant young, Czech woman, known as Girl (Stefanie Caccamo), who makes it her mission to revive his love of his music and heal his troubled, lovelorn soul.
In this production, directed deftly and imaginatively by Richard Carroll, a vivacious, multi-talented ensemble of actor/singer/musicians plays Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová’s eclectic, evocative music live on stage, with each performer being a gem of a different kind.
Enda Walsh injects his witty, beautifully structured script with his wicked, Irish humour, whimsical dialogue, poignant romance and surprising Irish and Czech characters, all of which makes Once a play with music and about music, rather than a traditional musical.
The beating heart of this nearly-a-love-story is Hansard and Irglová’s music and lyrics – much of which featured in John Carney’s original movie – including the lyrical, silky Oscar-winning duet, Falling Slowly, and moving tunes about love and loss such as Gold, The Moon and When Your Mind’s Made Up. But the showstopper in this production was Caccamo singing The Hill, the Girl’s heartbreaking melody.
With its blend of Indy-Rock/Celtic-Rock/Pop-Rock and plenty of minor keys, Hansard and Irglová’s music lulls then surges with piano, violins, cello, guitars, mandolin, banjo, accordion, percussion and more.
Once is ever-so-nearly a love story, but it is poignant because, despite the pair’s meeting of hearts, minds and spirit through music, they are destined not to be together because each has an “unfinished love” to resolve.
Once is heartfelt, positive, and uplifting and it is a musical for people who don’t go to musicals.
By Kate Herbert
CAST
Guy Toby Francis
Girl Stefanie Caccamo
Bank Manager Anthony Craig
Ex-Girlfriend/Female Cover Ruby Clark
Eamon Clay Crighton
Reza Victoria Falconer
Svec Pavan Kumar Hari
Da Jay Laga’aia
Andrej /Guy Understudy Abe Mitchell
Billy Rupert Reid
Emcee/Swing Patrick Schnur
Baruska Jennifer Trijo
Understudy Billie Palin
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Richard Carroll
Musical Director Victoria Falconer
Movement Director & Associate Producer Amy Campbell
Set and Costume Designer Hugh O’Connor
Lighting Designer Peter Rubie
Sound Designer Dylan Robinson
Winner
· 8 Tony Awards
· 4 Drama Desk Awards
· 1 Academy Award
· 1 Grammy Award
· 1 Olivier Award
THEATRE
Written by Samuel Beckett, by Melbourne Theatre Company
At Southbank Theatre MTC, The Sumner, until 10 June 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:***
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio interview on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, on Sat 13 May 2023. KH
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| Judith Lucy-MTCHappyDays_photoPiaJohnson |
Samuel Beckett’s play, Happy Days, first performed in 1961, is a bleak, comic-tragic, almost solo work that taxes the female lead in myriad ways. In this MTC production directed by Petra Kalive, comedienne Judith Lucy plays the beleaguered but relentlessly cheerful Winnie as she contends with being buried up to her waist, then to her neck in a mound of earth that will soon fully engulf her.
I say “almost solo”, because also on stage is Winnie’s husband, Willie (Hayden Spencer), who is barely (in all senses of the word) visible. He is upstage, hardly seen most of the time by Winnie or the audience. Occasionally, he crawls out of his unseen hole, hauls his pale, whale of a body onto the rear of the mound where he sits or lies in the scalding sun, clad in just a straw boater and a pair of tighty whities.
Winnie prattles and chirps, for the first half at least, craving some spark of communication or of past love. Occasionally, Willie responds to her bleating pleas for him to communicate, replies monosyllabically, sings a snatch of song, reads a phrase from his crusty old newspaper, and once he even roars laughing at his own lame joke.
This existential isolation is set in a desolate, dry, dying and totally unpopulated terrain (Eugyeene Tey, Designer); even a passing ant brings a moment of distraction and fleeting hilarity.
In the first half, Winnie has upper body movement and the use of her arms, so she can engage in her daily routine that involves carefully extracting various items from her large, black bag. She uses her toothbrush, files her nails, checks her hair, puts on her hat, quotes random snatches of poetry, sings her song – if she can remember it – and lovingly handles the revolver that nestles in her bag – just in case?
Lucy captures the tiny glimmers of light as Winnie naively enjoys these small joys in the face of total confinement and despair.
It is a tall order for anyone to play the role of Winnie and, although Lucy is accustomed to being solo on stage doing a comedy routine, in a play such as this – for which Beckett has specified very clear stage directions in use of props – there can be no interacting with the audience, messing about with lines, improvising or idiosyncratic insertions.
Beckett’s play plumbs the depths of humanity’s existential crisis, and we witness Lucy’s Winnie wrestling with the everyday grind of filling the yawning time each day and fighting to endure, or even rise above, the cruelty of existence. Winnie is entrapped, both physically and existentially, in endless trauma, boredom, ailments and loneliness.
Winnie cannot remember, loses concentration, is constantly interrupting herself in her daily chores because she forgets, or the item she needs is inaccessible, or Willie will not reply to her increasingly desperate and wailing entreaties.
On opening night, Lucy started nervously, but found her rhythm , delivering some moments of comic splendour that were most successful when she engaged her own laconic, idiosyncratic vocal style that makes her comedy work so distinctive. Her Winnie has a faded glamour, the vestiges of past vanity and a relentless cheer in the first half. This contrasts with her bleak persona in the second half, when Winnie is totally immobilised from the neck down, and explores the pathos and grim blackness of Winnie’s despair.
However, Kalive’s production and Lucy’s performance miss the extreme dynamic change of tone, vocal delivery and pace, and the rude contrast between Winnie’s relative positive lightness in the first half and her punishing anguish in the second half.
It is difficult not to compare Lucy’s Winnie to other exceptional interpretations that have gone before, including Fiona Shaw and Billie Whitelaw in the UK, and in 2009, Julie Forsyth at the Malthouse in Melbourne.
But this is a compelling performance of Beckett that prods the wound that is the existential dilemma: how do we live through the crawling moments of each day when all our humanity and joy is draining away?
by Kate Herbert
CAST
Winnie
Judith
Lucy
Willie Hayden Spencer
CREATIVE TEAM
Director
Petra
Kalive
Set & Costume Designer Eugyeene Teh
Lighting Designer Paul Lim
Composer & Sound Designer J. David Franzke
Movement Consultant Xanthe Beesley
Voice & Text Coach Amy Hume
Assistant Director Keegan Bragg
