In this radio spot, I talk about the writing and rehearsal of my new play, LUNG, a radio play performed live on stage at La Mama from 7 to 19 May 2024.
Directed by Nancy Black, performed by Nikki Coghill, Geoff Wallis, Tony Rive, Carmelina Di Guglielmo and Alison Richards, with sound design by Elissa Goodrich.
THEATRE
Written by Kendall Feavers, Melbourne Theatre Company
At Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, until 18 May 2024
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 20 April 2024. KH
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| Max Mckenna, Nadine Garner and Karl Richmond - image Pia Johnson |
For some people, the warts-and-all exposure of mental illness in The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver, may hit too close to the bone.
The play, directly deftly by Hannah Goodwin, explores the struggle between a mother, Renee (Nadine Garner), and her 18-year-old daughter, Anna (Max McKenna) as Anna wrestles with her mental condition that swings between mania and depression. (It appears to be B polar Disorder.)
Anna has been on powerful anti-psychotics and other mediation since she was 11 years when Renee took her to a child psychiatrist (Louisa Mignone) because of her increasingly disturbed, albeit creative and advanced writing, her erratic behaviour and apparent suicidal thoughts. 18-year-old Anna finds her 8-eyear-old self’s unsettling stories and decides to rediscover her searing creativity.
The stage become dangerous for Anna and Renee, as well as Anna’s mild-mannered, unwitting boyfriend, Oliver (Karl Richmond), when Anna decides to assert her newly acquired adulthood and independence by secretly and unsupervised, stopping her medication cold turkey. The result is a catastrophic deterioration in her mental condition.
McKenna is compelling as the volatile and mercurial Anna, as she trawls the depths of this character’s disturbing actions and her disturbed mind, finding her strength, imagination and vulnerability. Garner is sympathetic and fragile as the beleaguered, desperate Renee who fiercely protects her daughter while feeling guilty for subjecting her to such potent drugs and therapy at such as early age.
Jacob Battista’s set design is a constantly moving jigsaw of panels and cupboards that swivel and swing around the characters when Anna’s psyche is most unhinged.
The Almighty Sometimes is a challenging but dramatically satisfying production that deliver a complex mother-daughter relationship as well as a voyeuristic look into the tragic life of a young woman with a serious mental illness.
by Kate Herbert
CAST & CREATIVES
The
Almighty Sometimes
By Kendall Feaver
Cast Nadine Garner, Max McKenna, Louisa Mignone, Karl Richmond Director
Hannah Goodwin
Set & Costume Designer Jacob Battista
Lighting Designer Amelia Lever-Davidson
Composer & Sound Designer Kelly Ryall
Voice & Text Coach Matt Furlani
Fight Choreographer & Movement Consultant Lyndall Grant Intimacy
Coordinator Bayley Turner
Assistant Director Jennifer Sarah Dean
TICKETING INFORMATION
In this radio spot, I review Chicago, Her Majesty’s Theatre Melbourne and the truly hilarious London Assurance adapted by Richard Bean(2010) by National Theatre at Home.
I then mention some shows in the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2024.
MUSICAL THEATRE
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb, Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fossey
At Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne until Sun 2 June 2024
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 6 April 2024. KH
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| CHICAGO-Antony Warlow & cast -2023-photo-Jeff-Busby |
Of course, it does glamorise murder, making it funny, entertaining and strangely understandable when couched in the manipulated narrative spun by characters such as Roxy Hart and Velma Kelly.
These bold leading characters are played here by Zoe Ventoura as Velma and Lucy Maunder as Roxy, who are both capable singer/dancer /actors and vamp it up as these two ambitious killers seeking to be catapulted into show biz careers based on their infamy.
This may not be the best Chicago that I’ve seen. It’s a tall order to compete with Carolyn O’Connor, Chelsea Gibb and Sharon Millerchip, all of whom did Chicago over the past 20 + years.
However, the choreography, the music and the sassy songs carry this show, making it almost bullet-proof.
Cell Block Tango is a highlight with its sexy, captivating representation of six female prisoners singing their justifications for murdering partners.
The opening chorus of All That Jazz is thrilling and intensely physical. The choreography throughout the show is replete with Fossey’s bump-and-grind, hip swivelling and sexualised movement that captures the 30s cabaret and jazzy era. This musical is less about narrative and more about its dance, songs and characters.
The vocal highlight is Anthony Warlow as Billy Flynn the expert showman, defence lawyer who Warlow plays as sleek, dignified and cunning, rather than slick, showy and overly conniving. Warlow has a composure and dignity as Billy that is unlike other actors’ more brash, brassy versions of the role. Billy manipulates facts and the jury to elevate his profile and his profit. He has no interest in the women; he is purely interested in his own success and reputation.
Peter Rowsthorn wins the hearts of the audience with his quirky, clown-like Amos Hart and Asabi Goodman as Matron ‘Mama’ Moreton, belts out the song, When You’re Good to Mama.
If you’ve not seen Chicago, get out and have a look at it because it’s effervescent and diverting and one of the great 20th century musicals.
by Kate Herbert
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| CHICAGO-Zoe Ventoura, Lucy Maunder 2023-photo-Jeff-Busby |
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| CHICAGO-Cell Block Tango 2023-photo-Jeff-Busby |
KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat23MARCH https://youtu.be/yfS3uruHFC8
In this radio spot, I talk about how to watch theatre at home online.
I discuss National Theatre At Home and its array of recorded NT productions, past and present available to rent or on subscription; MTC Digital which still has some recorded productions; and La Mama on Screen; and Sydney Opera House free recorded shows and talks.
I also mention Andrew Scott in Vanya for NT Live.
THEATRE
London Assurance by Dion Boucicault adapted by Richard Bean, National Theatre at Home
At National Theatre at Home online by subscription https://www.ntathome.com
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****1/2
National Theatre at Home: You can subscribe for $18.95 per month or subscribe for the year. You can rent many shows individually for $14.95 for 3 days.
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll
present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 23 March 2024. KH
Fiona Shaw, Paul Ready, Simon Russelll Beale, Michelle Terry, image supplied online
London Assurance is a rollicking, sure-fire comic hit that is running on National Theatre at Home. It’s the 2010 stage production of Richard Bean’s superbly updated and wacky version of Dion Boucicault’s rather ordinary 19th century play which Bean transforms into a comic masterpiece. Most of the best lines are Bean’s or the cast’s own ad libs and Nicholas Hytner’s deft and decorative direction heightens the absurdity.
It boasts a magnificent cast, with Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw being the alarming and remarkable highlights in this broad farce that is riddled with disguises, mistaken identities, absurd love affairs, much confusion and running in and out of doors.
Beale is hilariously high camp and foppish as Sir Harcourt Courtly as he paces, primps and poses around the stage in a decidedly flamboyant and omnisexual style. My favourite line of his is, “ My wife ran off with my best friend,” followed wistfully by, “and I miss him.”
The 57-year-old Sir Harcourt goes to the country home of his friend, Max Harkaway (Mark Addy), whose 20-year-old daughter has arranged to marry. Sir Harcourt’s deceptive and dissolute son, Charles (Paul Ready) arrives with his new dodgy friend, Dazzle (Matt Cross), at the same country house and of course falls madly in love with said daughter. His father recognises him as his son. So of course, Charles, claims mistaken identity and must return as the bookish, timid and chaste-minded version of himself that his deluded father knows and loves.
The next highlight is Fiona Shaw, as Lady Gay Spencer, who Shaw plays as a horsey, galloping, goofy country lady who, true to her name, thinks everything is hilariously gay, including pretending to seduce old Sir Harcourt at the behest of his son.
This production at two hours, gallops along and it’s just one unbelievable, idiotic episode after another in a farce for the ages.
by Kate Herbert
CAST
Cool: Nick Sampson
Martin: Richard Frame
Charles Courtly: Paul Ready
Richard Dazzle: Matt Cross
Sir Harcourt Courtly: Simon Russell Beale
Squire Max Harkaway: Mark Addy
Pert: Maggie Service
James: Simon Markey
Grace Harkaway: Michelle Terry
Mark Meddle: Tony Jayawardena
Lady Gay Spanker: Fiona Shaw
Mr Adolphus Spanker: Richard Briers
Mr Solomon Isaacs: Junix Inocian
Doctor: David Whitworth
Servant: Mark Extance
Servant: Prasanna Puwanarajah
Doctor's daughter: Fiona Drummond
Doctor's daughter: Laura Matthews
Music Director /Accordion: Ian Watson
Fiddle: Sophie Solomon
Double Bass / Tuba: David Berr
CREATIVES Director: Nicholas Hytner
Designer: Mark Thompson
Music: Rachel Portman
Sound Designer: John Leonard
Lighting Designer: Neil Austin
Textual Revisions: Richard Bean
Choreographer: Scarlett Mackmin
In this radio spot, I review The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke with Zahra Newman, MTC. I talk about Yentl at Malthouse and Nick Tolhurst tells me about the show I missed, Eat Your Heart Out by Shift Theatre at La Mama Courthouse.
Trans Woman Kills Influencer by Dax Carnay
At La Mama Theatre On Screen: Online Season: Feb 13 - Feb 27, 2024
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 10 March 2024. It is a review of the live production On Screen. KH
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| Image by Darren Gill supplied. Cast names not provided. |
Trans Woman Kills Influencer, by Dax Carnay, tells its story from the perspectives of the four characters, until finally reaching its denouement after 70 minutes.
The title of the play is certainly an attention grabber, and the premise has dramatic potential, which is fulfilled to some degree in parts, and most effectively in its final scene.
Denise, known as Dee, is a trans woman who manages the advertising campaign for the evidently straight, male influencer, Alejandro, who, for some reason, is promoting a feminine hygiene product.
Dee’s colleague and frenemy, Jen, is frustrated and angry that Dee took the senior position in the agency that Jen believes she deserved. The fourth character is Dee’s shrill and high-camp personal assistant.
The narrative unfolds in sections, each presented from the perspective of a different character. Each character’s view generates stereotypes of the other characters in their story.
For example, Jen is represented as angry, aggressive and vile from the others’ perspectives. In her own version, she is milder, reasonable and more genuinely distressed when she tries to explain why she believes a man who has become a woman is just another man who is taking a high-level job from a woman.
Part of the story is told in video projections of TV interviews or stylish Vlog and influencer posts. All the characters are American, placing this story firmly on another continent that is notorious for its melodramatic and over-acted soap operas, which are echoed in this production.
Some of the potential drama and authenticity of the story is lost because of the hysterical behaviour of characters in particular scenes.
However, Trans Woman Kills Influencer is certainly a novel and catchy idea.
by Kate Herbert
Written By Dax Carnay
Directed by Emmanuelle Mattana
Performed by Dax Carnay, Khema De Silva, Vateresio Tuikaba and Ryan Henry
Stage Direction by Finn McLeish
Set and Costume Design by Filipe Filihia
Content
Warnings: Violence, Hate Speech, Haze, Strobe, Blood, Use of Replica Weapons
Written by Gary Abrahams, Elise Esther Hearst & Galit Klas, based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story
Malthouse Theatre and Kadimah Yiddish Theatre
At Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse until 17 March 2024
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
As I did not see the second half of the production, I cannot review this but I will make a comment.
It is published only on this blog. I’ll mention it on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 9 March 2024. KH
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| Amy Hack & Evelyn Krape_photo Jeff Busby |
Yentl is an adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s original Yiddish language short story. Parts of the dialogue are delivered in Yiddish with surtitles, which adds a layer of authenticity and eccentricity.
It tells the story of Yentl (Amy Hack) a young woman who wants to be a Jewish scholar, but is not permitted because of her gender. Religous study is the preserve of males.
Yentl studies in secret with her father but she must change plans when he dies. Dressed in man’s clothing, and with the encouragement of a mischievous, at times, wicked Dybbuk (Evelyn Krape), she goes on a journey to a distant town where she meets a young man who introduces her to a Yeshiva - a traditional Rabbinical school - where she becomes a scholar and a favourite.
The production is visually compelling and boasts a talented and versatile cast.
Krape balances the comic and the grim as the Dybbuk, scuttling about the stage like a demented creature. Amy Hack is passionate and credible as young Yentl as she wrangles her secret life.
Directed by Gary Abrahams, this production draws on the styles and forms of Yiddish Theatre, Polish theatre, cabaret and a range of other styles to weave its narrative. The design is almost monochromatic on stage, with actors in white face and black-and-white costumes with splashes of colour.
There is more to say about the production but, to quote the Dybbuk, there are three weddings, only one of which lasts, and Yentl’s life becomes more and more complicated and messy.
by Kate Herbert
THEATRE
Adapted by Maxine Beneba Clarke from her memoir, Malthouse Theatre
At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse until 17 March 2024
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: 4&1/2
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat March 2024. KH
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Zahra Newman is a force of nature in The Hate Race, commanding the stage and populating it with a parade of characters from the life of the woman at its centre, Maxine Clarke. The Hate Race is adapted from Clarke’s memoir about her childhood in Australia when she was exposed to racism and micro-aggressions because of her skin colour and heritage.
Newman is an exceptional and charismatic performer, impeccable in her telling of the story, and she skillfully embodies characters from Clarke’s life, including her British Afro-Caribbean parents, teachers, best friends, worst enemies, and assorted bullies, transforming herself and transporting us to the world of Maxine’s childhood.
Although this is a solo performance, Newman is not alone on stage, but is accompanied by the magnetic Kuda Mapeza, who cannot simply be described as a singer or musician; she uses her voice and instruments to create not only song and music, but the entire environment and atmosphere that surrounds Newman’s characters.
The direction, by Tariro Mavondo and Courtney Stewart, is inventive, imaginative, sleek and deft, while Clarke’s stage adaptation of her novel is spare and swift-moving, avoiding incorporation of tracts of prose and making the text theatrical and accessible to an audience. The use of self-narration by Newman as Maxine captures the intimacy and authenticity of the memoir.
As the child Maxine, Newman reveals episodes of her being bullied by boys on bikes and by students in playgrounds, making friends with white students, being called ‘Blackie’ and being told she is ‘brown’, which seems to be the only characteristic that other children could identify in her, despite her intelligence, competence, and fascinating life stories.
The most compelling and transformational moment was Newman’s jubilant description of Maxine’s victory at her final school debate. Her escalating energy, joy and delicious sense of triumph was thrilling. This scene brought tears to my eyes as she honoured her father, her heritage, her politics and her own conscience, exposing the entrenched subjugation of people because of their race or colour.
by Kate Herbert
Performed by Zahra Newman (actor) & Kuda Mazepa (musician)
Directed by Tariro Mavondo and Courtney Stewart
THEATRE
Written by William Shakespeare, music by Paul Norton
Australian Shakespeare Company (ASC)
At Botanical Gardens, Southern Lawn, until 4 Feb 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** (4)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll do a radio review on Arts Weekly on 4 Feb 2023. KH
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| Cast-of-Much-Ado-About-Nothing 2023_Credit-Ben-Fon |
Shakespeare’s plays were performed under an open sky for people who were not fancy-pants literati. Glenn Elston’s audacious, summer production of Much Ado About Nothing, set against a backdrop of lush trees in the Botanical Gardens, would have delighted the bard’s audience, so don’t expect a stodgy or even predictable version of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy.
The production opens with a comical intro by clown security guards /roadies, Dogberry (Madeleine Somers) and Verges (Antony Rive), followed by The Babes: four of the female characters sassily singing a hot rock number. Then the lead male characters, a band of returning soldiers, enter as rock band, The Loved Ones, all accompanied by on-stage guitarist, Tony Harvey.
Paul Norton’s songs are deliciously eclectic and, although they were written for a previous ASC production of Much Ado in 1998, they sound new and contemporary. Norton’s use of Shakespeare’s poetic text as lyrics or titles in these rock/pop songs is a cunning addition that adds another layer of enjoyment.
The entire cast is versatile, able to play both the comedy and drama and to perform the repertoire of songs. Nicholas Cameron is suitably seductive, arrogant, witty and charming as Benedick, playing the character as a loose limbed rock star in the style of Michael Hutchence. Anna Burgess, playing Benedick’s equally combative love match, Beatrice, captures the boldness, verbal sparring and seductiveness of the character.
Special mention must be made of Larissa Teale as the sweet, loving and tragically abandoned Hero. Teale’s warm and lovely vocal quality singing Hero’s solo ballad was a thrilling surprise.
Elston’s new production of Much Ado About Nothing is a rollicking, Shakespearean rock musical that provides another summer treat. Get a picnic and a bottle of wine and get down to the gardens before 4 Feb.
by Kate Herbert
CAST
BENEDICK Nicholas Cameron
BEATRICE Anna Burgess
CLAUDIO Alex Cooper
DON PEDRO Hugh Sexton
DON JOHN Kevin Hopkins
BORACHIO Elizabeth Brennan
LEONATO Claire Nichols
ANTONIO Syd Brisbane
HERO Larissa Teale
MARGARET Meg McKibbin
URSULA Olivia McLeod
DOGBERRY Madeleine Somers
VERGES Tony Rive
BALTHASAR/MUSICIAN Tony Harvey
CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTOR Glenn Elston
MUSICAL DIRECTOR Paul Norton
COSTUME DESIGN Karla Erenbots
