In this radio spot on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 5 April, I chat with Nick Tolhurst (producer) about The Rmovalists by David Williamson at MTC and Jesus Christ Superstar at Princess Theatre.
I also tell Nick about working with circus students on their acts at NICA some years ago. Hosted by Paul Kruspe.
.
THEATRE
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Tim Rice
At Princess Theatre until 22 June 2025
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: *** (3)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 5 April 2025. KH
%20Jeff%20Busby.jpg) |
| Michael Paynter and Ensemble in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (c) Jeff Busby |
Jesus Christ Superstar is one of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice’s most successful and enduring collaborations. This new production by Timothy Sheader, originally created for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London, hit the stage at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne to a rousing response from the excitable opening night crowd.
Superstar is beloved not only because it is based on the iconic biblical story of Jesus Christ. It is a musical filled with thrilling and memorable melodies, rich harmonies, complex music and orchestrations and passionate characters. The show is sung-through, meaning there is no dialogue so the story and the characters must come to life through the voices, the lyrics, the songs and their performances.
This new version of the musical, directed by Timothy Sheader, is vocally strong, with powerful rock singers in leading roles and a skilful ensemble that carries the harmonies. However, this show demands potent interpretation and performance of the songs to successfully express the layers of the narrative and illuminate the characters and their emotional lives.
It also needs the vocals to be heard clearly over the music; there were times that the lyrics were totally lost and we had to rely on knowing the song or knowing the story. (Spoiler: he dies in the end!)
Michael Paynter, playing Jesus, is a talented rock singer and he propelled the opening night audience to its feet after he belted out Gethsemane. However, he lacks the requisite stage charisma for the role, and his singing is so embellished with bold, vocal acrobatics that the meaning of the lyrics – Jesus pleading with God about not wanting to die – is lost.
Previous productions make Judas the focus as it is he who challenges Jesus about losing sight of their original aims and succumbing to his followers’ adulation. Is Jesus believing his own publicity? As the lyrics say, “Do you think you’re what they say you are ?”
Jovan King is a passionate Judas, and his voice is rich and versatile, but the character only takes centre stage during his songs. He is overwhelmed by the crowd on stage and almost disappears amongst the crowds of dancers.
We need a compelling relationship and argument between Jesus and Judas, or the intention of the narrative fails. I can’t help recalling Tim Minchin as Judas stealing the stage with the subtlety and complexity of his performance.
Mahalia Barnes is also a talented rock singer, but her Mary Magdalen lacks the stage presence and the emotional range and depth needed for a song such as I Don’t Know How to Love Him.
Reuben Kaye is a show-stealer as Herod, prancing about in his regal, drag outfit complete with gold cape and codpiece and long, black boots. It was worth the wait to see him! Another highlight was Peter Murphy’s solo of Pilate’s Dream and the High Priests.
The ensemble of skilled dancers portrays Jesus’ fans and zealots, then his apostles and, finally, the rabid mob baying for his crucifixion. The chorus’s rendition of What’s the Buzz is exhilarating and their harmonies stirring in Hosanna.
However, the choreography (Drew McOnie) was busy and bewildering. It not only filled the stage with a crowd of writhing or jerking bodies, but it obscured our view of the lead characters, masked any nuances in relationships and distracted from the performance of songs. At the very start and intermittently throughout, a single female dancer took the focus for what seems to be some symbolic reason that remains unclear to me.
Much of the horror of Jesus’s abuse at the hands of the persecutors and the High Priests is lost when the mob lashes him with glitter – yes, handfuls of glitter! This is only one example of the way this production undercuts the depth of emotion and the impact of the narrative with its theatrical choices.
Perhaps the crowded feeling of the staging suggests that the Princess Theatre stage is smaller than previous iterations of this version and the focus on voices and dancers rather than performance has its origins the first, open air theatre production. Just musing!
It is a pity to say that, ultimately, this Superstar falls flat, despite having a cast of super singers.
By: Kate Herbert.
%20Jeff%20Busby.jpg) |
| Michael Paynter and Ensemble in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (c) Jeff Busby |
Michael Paynter - Jesus
Javon King - Judas
Reuben Kaye – King Herod
Elliott Baker - Caiaphas
John O'Hara - Annas
Mahalia Barnes - Mary Magdalen
Peter Murphy - Pilate
Ensemble and swings: Joshua Dormor, Darcey Eagle, Josh Gates, Samuel Harmon, Melanie Hawkins, Marie Ikonomou, Graeme Isaako, Ethan Jones, Tana Laga'aia, Bella Massey, Danielle Matthews, Calista Nelmes, Gus Noakes, Stellar Perry, Nathan Pinnell, Clay Roberts, Henry Rollo, Josh Spiniello, Bree Tipoki, Jordan Tomljenovic and Nic Van Lits.
Creative Team
Timothy Sheader – Director
Drew McOnie – Choreographer
Tom Scutt – Set & Costume Designer
Lee Curran - Lighting Designer
Tom Deering – Musical Supervision.
mmm
%20Jeff%20Busby.jpg) |
| Peter Murphy as Pilate in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (c) Jeff Busby |
THEATRE
The Removalists by David Williamson, Melbourne Theatre Company
At Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, until 17 April 2025
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 5 April 2025. KH
 |
| MTC The Removalists - Michael Whalley and Steve Mouzakis - Photo by Pia Johnson |
David Williamson's The Removalists has lost none of its impact since its first production in 1971 at the tiny La Mama Theatre; it is still a vigorous, brutal and unflinchingly honest depiction of societal issues, male violence, marital abuse and police corruption.
In this 2025 production for MTC, Anne Louise Sarks’ tight and compelling direction creates a visceral, uncomfortable experience that sees simmering tension between characters erupt into shocking violence.
Williamson's script exposes the ugliness lurking beneath the veneer of suburban normality and lays bare the insidious nature of police corruption, the pervasiveness of domestic violence, and the suffocating grip of what was then called macho male behaviour and is now referred to as toxic masculinity. The play cunningly incorporates comic dialogue, particularly in earlier scenes, that distracts the audience so that the ensuing drama is a rude shock.
Sarks' direction amplifies these themes, never shying away from the play's raw, emotional power, while the banality of the staging captures the ordinariness of the suburban world within which these personal dramas unfold.
The characters are trapped in the closed, almost claustrophobic environments of a two-man police station and a modest home within which the unease builds steadily until the inevitable, devastating climax.
The performances are compelling, consistent and nuanced, but accolades must go to Steven Mouzakis who plays, with chilling calm, the deceptively easy-going but menacing Sergeant Simmonds whose overbearing presence pervades both the police station and the home. Mouzakis balances the comic elements of Simmonds dialogue with the grim reality of his behaviour.
William McKenna embodies pathetic, youthful bluster of Constable Ross who finally loses his rag; Eloise Mignon portrays the desperate vulnerability of Fiona while Michael Whalley is muscular and aggressive as her bogan husband, Kenny, and Jessica Clarke captures her sister Kate’s confidence, defiance and confrontational attitude to bombastic men.The female characters, however, are not fully rounded, perhaps because the play's focus is on the male characters.
 |
| MTC The Removalists - Steve Mouzakis and William McKenna - Photo by Pia Johnson |
While all this passion and aggression unfolds, Martin Blum’s removalist is a still point on stage; the objective observer, the disinterested, task-driven removalist who has a job to do and nothing, not even brutality and abuse, will stop him moving that sofa.
The violence, when it erupts, is more shocking because of its stark realism and the contrast with the earlier humour. It's not gratuitous, but rather a horrifying depiction of the consequences of misogyny and abuse of authority.
The Removalists is a powerful, thought-provoking play that holds a mirror up to society, reflecting a deeply flawed system. It confronts uncomfortable truths and the structures that enable such brutality. Sarks' direction highlights the play's enduring relevance, reminding us that these issues, unfortunately, continue to plague our world.
By Kate Herbert
Cast
Steven Mouzakis - Sergeant Simmonds
William McKenna - Constable Ross
Eloise Mignon – Fiona
Jessica Clarke – Kate
Michael Whalley - Kenny
Martin Blum – Removalist
Creative Team
David Williamson – Writer
Anne-Louise Sarks – Director
Dale Ferguson – Set Designer
Matilda Woodruffe – Costume Designer
Niklas Pajanti- Lighting Designer
Marco-Cher Gibard – Composer & Sound Designer
Nigel Poulton – Fight Designer
Amy Cater – Intimacy Coordinator.
THEATRE
Written by Eva Rees, by Darebin Speakeasy
At Darebin Arts, until 23 March 2025
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ** (2)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 15 March 2025. KH
DJUNA is Eva Rees’ 90-minute play that tracks a series of clandestine meetings between Marcus, a middle-aged, wealthy, apparently heterosexual man (Dion Mills), and a submissive young, trans woman (Jay Gold) who is initially names herself Chloe or Casey but, by the end of the play, is identified as Djuna.
In their intimate and secret encounters over about two years, the pair engages in a dominant- submissive relationship that explores fantasies that verge on the dangerous and culminate in graphic violence. As the relationship progresses, Djuna is medically transitioning and becoming more confident, while Marcus is increasingly delusional.
The play explores power, identity, generational differences, mental illness and some broader social issues. Rees and director Kitan Petkovski employ a fusion of styles that includes bloody horror, psychological thriller, naturalistic drama and socio-political commentary.
The two performers are capable; Gold captures the coy, under-confidence and submissiveness of Djuna, while Mills finds an underlying, sometimes overt danger in the character of Marcus (He’s always a compelling presence in Red Stitch shows).
There are some problems arising from the script and direction. The blending of styles sometimes slides into confusion, while Kitan Petkovski’s production is patchy with uneven pacing and some uncomfortably slow-moving dialogue.
Rees script is uneven and the many and disparate narrative threads are not effectively integrated, including the repeated references to: politically motivated protests – or are they riots? – outside the hotel room; Marcus’s wife and daughter; to Djuna’s family; and her struggles with gender identity, self-harm and mental illness.
The characters’ episodic meetings are peppered with meandering dialogue that ranges from inconsequential chit chat to overwrought and oddly philosophical, socio-political exchanges or diatribes. The characters and their problems are strangely unmoving, while the production’s attempts to scare, horrify or trigger the audience are strangely ineffective.
The soundscape is distressingly – and intentionally – jarring, intrusive and loud, while the scene changes are bizarre, to say the least; Two ASMs, clad in white, crime scene overalls and hazard masks, silently change the set under the pretext of cleaning up the hotel room. Their actions, dress and the bloody traces visible under ultra-violet light, telegraph the impending violence, and their silent overacting undercuts any tension and dilutes the intensity of the scenes.
Ultimately, the production feels both cluttered with themes and, simultaneously, lacking in depth. Perhaps, with more rigorous dramaturgy, a stronger, more concise and moving play might emerge.
by Kate Herbert
Cast Jay Gold and Dion Mills
Creative Team
Written by Eva Rees
Directed by Kitan Petkovski
Stage and costume design by Bethany J Fellows AV and sound design by James Paul
Produced by Bullet Heart Club |
| Dion Mills (with cigarette) & Jay Gold in DJUNA by Eva Rees_image Darren Gill |
