Petroleum, Feb 26, 1997

 by Raimondo Cortese

 La Mama until March 9, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 26, 1997

God bless the short play. Or should I say, God bless the well-written short play. Petroleum by Raimondo Cortese is such an animal.

It is extraordinary how intimately we can get to know complete strangers on an aeroplane. We commune with the most unlikely bods. Perhaps the confined space reduces personal boundaries or is it theır sense of liberation travelling provides? Our identities are flexible, we have no history, no context from which to judge each other so we can be whatever we want, reveal whatever we choose and walk away totally uncommitted after the baggage collection.

Two women strike up a conversation en route from Asia. The older, more conservative (Heather Bolton) is bemused by the inquisitiveness and youthful, hippy exuberance of the younger (Kelly Tracey). Cortese captures the unpredictability of a new relationship. The women edge and shift toward each other, checking each other's reality, testing the water, making assumptions and often errors and shifting away.

Cortese's skill is evident in his well-observed dialogue. The two speak in parentheses, re-incorporating thoughts, rambling and misunderstanding. Each has a distinctive rhythm and it takes time for the two tempos to come into sync. Finally it feels like a fine two-step.

Bolton is wonderfully intense and eerily dislocated as the older woman who purports to be a psychotherapist. She slips from introspection to curiosity, suspicion to a gin-soaked melancholy. All is played with Bolton's eccentric and effective brand of wry humour. As her travel companion, Tracey is at once naive and watchful which all makes sense in the end. We do not know what to believe of either by landing time.

The excellent light-handed direction by Adriano Cortese (Yes, brothers) has sensitively concentrated on this emotional journey and the idiosyncrasies and humanity of the pair. The two remain seated on a row of plane seats centre stage but the piece is by no means static or restricted. The tiny details of their behaviour, their deceptions, truths and mutual vulnerability are riveting. Ordinary lives really are fascinating.

Cortese's script is written with irony, wit and a healthy cynicism. The dialogue provides the actors with subtleties and nuances to explore. Both characters have a past and a future. The ending is not finite but flies on ahead to the next episode. It is always a good sign when one leaves the theatre wanting more.

KATE HERBERT  

Dust: A Clown Adventue, Feb 21,1997

Dust: A Clown Adventure by Brenda Waite & Sue Arnold

 Theatreworks until March 2, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 21, 1997

Forget Marcel Marceau. All too rarely do we get a genuine clown show. The last we saw here, it seems, was a year ago and was the prequel to Dust and, please, do not think of klutzy clown make-up or romantic mime routines about love lost and wilting flowers.

Like last year's Happy as Laundry, Dust is unremittingly cute in the best possible way and never sentimental. Brenda Waite joins her new partner Sue Arnold in this duo and their two dusty innocents seem to be linked by an invisible thread.

They are child-like friends, playmates. At times they are two old-timers, at others a doting pup (Waite) and her opera-warbling mistress (Arnold). Director John Bolton, himself a clown king, has skilfully and sensitively woven together a charming, hilarious domestic clown adventure. The piece is tautly structured and the clown detail is fascinating to watch. There is only one flat spot quite late in the piece.

There is no linear narrative, simply a series of games, and familiar actions. The characters seem to dust off their favourite fun things to do together and run them over and over until they deteriorate into dusty clown chaos.

They allow each other space to obsess, one about her doggie bones and silly dancing, the other about her romantic dream of being Nellie Melba and her sweet ukulele song. All this is done with little or no dialogue, two chairs, a chest of drawers and a tricky cupboard.

There are some delightful repeated vignettes. They regularly sit down to a flask of tea -or is it brandy- spilling, splashing, tricking each other into swapping cups and they still end up friends. The charm of real clowns lies in their innocence and complete lack of vindictiveness in response to being duped. They smile and move on. A lesson?

play dusty harmonicas, salute dead friends with The Last Post, do their own sound effects, purposely out of time. There is definitely a harking back to silent movies and the hilarious chases of Keystone Kops and the sad-sack gaze of Buster Keaton with a little of Monty Python-esque Silly Fish Dancing tossed in.

This show is truly a joy. It is simple fun performed with honesty by seriously talented performers who are just adorable. Go see!

KATE HERBERT   

Self, Feb 21, 1997

 by Drew Tingwell

 at La Mama until March 9, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 21, 1997

Writer's Block is an extremely serious business -for a writer that is. So it is for the desperate title character of Drew Tingwell's play, Self, directed by John Higginson.  Self is a mentally ill isolate who sits faced with his ancient Remington, fists clenched trying to tap out some of the genuinely magical phrases unable to escape onto the page from his image-filled mind. Writer's Hell.

Tingwell has written a well-structured narrative containing some affecting and lyrical prose.  Self's ramblings about falling through water and his fable about the man who loses his skin like a snake are lovely imagistic pieces of writing performed with great sensitivity by Don Bridges.

Bridges portrays a tortured but naive soul, a man who has lost his self only to be confronted by the man who, nine years earlier, stole it. This famous novelist, Randall (Ross Thompson) has made a fortune from Self's stolen novel having literally left Self for dead.

The cast of this production is excellent. Thompson's almost brutal demeanour and bluff edginess are the perfect counterpoint to Bridges' fragile and sympathetic persona. They are well supported by Bruce Kerr as a bristly beggar and Judith Roberts as a blousy meals-on-wheels woman. There is also a surprise cameo appearance by newsreader David Johnstone.

La Mama is a tight space at the best of times but filling it with a set can jam the actors into corners. In this production there is simply too much stuff on stage. Even St. Kilda pier makes an appearance. All this leaves the actors confined to a space the size of a sixpence but they do a sterling job in spite of this.

The play has a strong narrative with a touch of mystery. Essentially, the trips inside Self's mind are the most interesting. Some slightly laboured direction pushes the angst too far and drags out moments. Neither of these serve the text or its central plot well. A lighter touch and a little strategic editing might make the piece flow more easily.

However it is a good night at the theatre.

KATE HERBERT

Is That You Nancy? Feb 15, 1997

 Is That You Nancy? by Sandra Shotlander

 Courthouse until March 29, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 15, 1997

An inordinate amount of Melbourne theatre at present is written by, about and for the Gay and Lesbian community and part of the trend is the play, Is That You Nancy? by Sandra Shotlander. The play was commissioned in Sydney for the 1991 Mardi Gras and performed at Belvoir Street Theatre.

This is less a play than a series of comic character sketches and vignettes loosely linked by the theme of lesbian relationships and women's phone calls. Scenes, perky 30's love songs and disconnected pairs of characters are pegged together on a theatrical washing line by repeated stream-of-consciousness raves by the inimitable Miss Gertrude Stein.

From the vantage point of her 1920's Paris salon and her successful relationship with Alice B. Toklas, Stein serves as long-distance commentator and, finally, adviser to the lonely hearts of the 90's. She chats to women "out of power": Nancy Reagan and Benazir Butto to name some.

The piece, directed by Wayne Pearn, may not be slick but it is entertaining and often funny. Performers Kath Gordon and Paula McDonald create matched sets of characters. The New York, New Age psycho-babblers Shelley and Barbie, have an exclusively answer-phone relationship because they are too busy doing relationship workshops.

Lovesick Patsy waits for her ex to call, the promiscuous Sally is dumped by her up-market lover and sad-sack, down-market Susie Cambio, smokes hard, drinks even harder and continues to try on different identities, including celibacy.

Shotlander's dialogue is often quick and peppered with gags and clever social observations. A distracted Patsy quips, "I could become a socialist feminist and give up emotion altogether". However, some over-written one-sided phone dialogue and Stein's word associative babble become annoying.

In the end it is unclear what is the intention of this piece but it is a hoot.

KATE HERBERT    

New Short Works, Feb 12, 1997

St Kilda Writers' Festival

Theatreworks 12-16 Feb, 1997

When the Day is Done by Daniel Lillford; Valediction by Graham Henderson;

Diplomacy on Coconut Island by Adam May; Poison Heart by Johann McIntyre

Reviewed by Kate Herbert on Feb 12, 1997

How short is a short work? Twenty, thirty minutes tops? A couple of the "New Short Works" in the St. Kilda Writers' Festival program were forty and sixty minutes long. This did not make them bad, it simply made the program of four plays too long.

The two pieces in the first half were more successful than the second pair. Graham Henderson's poignant poem of despair, Valediction, is performed with great sensitivity by Ian Scott and subtly directed by Wayne Macauley.

Scott is alone on stage for nearly an hour with a very dense, often untheatrical text that challenges the attention span of both actor and audience. The suicidal character's farewell words are recorded on cassette as he speaks in the style of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tapes.

Daniel Lillford's 15-minute piece sparkles with witty dialogue, vivid characters, a satisfying denouement and ending and is crisply directed by Lillford. In When the Day is Done, Christopher Davis and Greg Saunders play two Belfast childhood pals, one of whom is still a foot soldier for the IRA Cause.

Their isolated moment together takes a nasty turn and reveals the horror of the personal crashing into the political. Think of Michael Collins. Saunders' performance is the highlight of the evening.

Both pieces in the second half had serious flaws. Diplomacy on Coconut Island by Adam May confuses Absurdism with silliness and incomprehensibility. It simply made no sense and its final statement said it all, "I don't expect people like you to understand."

Equally problematic but more entertaining for the audience, was Johann McIntyre's gothic grotesquery, Poison Heart. It is riddled with high campery. A foppish Lord (Brandon Ah Chong) who resembles Prince minces about plotting to poison his wife who, in turn plots to poison him. It uses a florid blend of modernisms and pseudo-Elizabethan language that only occasionally works. It is over-written, lacks content and the outcome is crass and celebrates Sado-Masochism in a discomfiting way. 

It is a pity that fifty per-cent of a Writers' Festival program fell so short of the mark.

The Art of Being Still, Feb 10, 1997

The Art of Being Still by Steve Dawson

Guild Theatre Melbourne University until Feb 22, 1997

Reviewed b y Kate Herbrt around Feb 9, 1997

According to the program notes, writer-director Steve Dawson's mum suggested the collective title for his two plays: The Poofta Plays.ˇ Good title mum!

The first of the pair, The Art of Being Still, is a study in male group behaviour. Never having been a fly on the wall in a wholly male group, I am always astonished by their representation on stage or film. This group of "friends" is the gay counterpart to a bunch of yobs at a barbie drinking beer, ribbing each other and talking about sex. Their humour is cruelly insensitive, crude and almost adolescent. To quote Alan, (Christopher White) the central and most sympathetic character, "With friends like these...?"

If the entire piece had continued relentlessly in this vein it would have been irredeemably offensive and pointless. However Dawson, at the eleventh hour, challenges the pack mentality of the is group and develops an emotional layer to the play which had been lacking.

 After six months of grieving at home after the death of Michael (Evan Higgins) his adored lover, the conservative and likeable Alan, is back for the Monday night rage. Dougie, or Dorothy as he is known in high-camp style, has a new date, Colin, who resembles the dead Michael. Colin is a recently 'out' country boy who, commendably, dumps this nasty clutch of roosters.

Alan, after being offended by revelations about his dead lover, finally challenges them. They ask themselves, "Why do we behave like piranha stuck in a big barrel, trying to tear each other to pieces?" "Because we're good at it?" Perhaps there is hope for some to develop more sensitive relationships.

The script avoids earlier opportunities to explore some real drama to balance the raw comedy: Danny arriving beaten up, Gerald 's pain about being called stupid, Dougie's non-sexual relationship with Colin and Colin's resemblance to Michael. Much of the acting lacks credibility and characters two-dimensional with the exception of Alan and, finally, his closest and most sarcastic friend, Phillip (Iain Murton).

The audience seemed to enjoy the piece but I reached saturation point with the campery and bitching. However, it finally grabs some genuinely dramatic elements. The second play, The Gathering of Vampires, may continue the trend.

KATE HERBERT

Tango, Feb 10, 1997

Written by Slawomir Mrozeck

 La Mama at Napier St. Theatre until Feb 23, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 10, 1997

A Polish play from the naughty 60's on a 40 degree evening in a theatre with a single fan: well might one call it "absurdist". Slawomir Mrozek is a living Polish playwright who writes in the style of the absurdist school of Beckett and Ionesco and Tango is his best-known work.

 The Tango family comprises a father (Jim Daly) who is an experimental theatre artist, a mother (Elizabeth Thompson) who sleeps openly with the help (Charlie Powles) and a son (Humphrey Bower) who is studying medicine and craves "world order". Ain't it always the way? The sons of the hippies grow up to be accountants.  Whatever the norm, rebellion is rebellion.

This production is at its best when it is at its silliest. Slipping into banal action is ineffective with the absurd. Jim Daly, as mad old dad, provides a dynamic range and his usual unpredictable and quirky style of comedy. Charlie Powles as Eddie, the cheery thug, is both funny and threatening.

The play seems a little dated. It begins as a metaphysical-philosophical debate and finishes as a political comment. See it on a cool evening to enjoy it better.

The fact that it was written in 1964, prior to Mrozek's departure for Paris, is evident in the content. The artists, the unconventionality and sexual freedom are accompanied by some brutal but veiled social and political commentary. The pompous son wants ideas not physicality. In order to alter the values and behaviour of his embarrassingly modern family, he aligns first with the secretly conservative uncle, then with the brutish servant and finally is overthrown by said servant.

See this in the context of Eastern Europe where political comment was for so long verboten. A weak but obsessive fascist leader controls group with help of weasel. Fascist uses threat of martial thuggery to control society. Thug eliminates fascist and oppresses people through violence.

It is a simple parallel but effective. Much of Tom Stoppard's translation of the play retains the bizarre quality in the dialogue. There is some unevenness in the acting with some of the performances missing the comedy and unfortunately giving rather uncomfortable, mannered or stilted performances that were not merely due to the heat of the night.

Kate Herbert

Kissing Frogs , Feb 7, 1997

Kissing Frogs by Glynn Nicholas

Comedy Theatre throughout  February, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 7, 1997

No worries! She'll be right! Glynn Nicholas is really bloody charming - and he gets away with murder on stage because of it. He does sentimental old love songs, Hollywood-schlock romantic narrative and he sneaks in some of the tackiest bottom gags in the known universe. But he looks like a naughty toddler afterwards so we let him.

Kissing Frogs returns after a four-year spell in comedy mothballs and it is Nicholas's best live show. Goofy Geoff's romance with cabaret singer, Gloria (Kim Deacon) gives a sound narrative on which to base silly stand-up routines about the great Aussie Dream, the Great Aussie, a great dream about rain. He laces the social commentary with schmaltz and naughtiness. In fact, the whole show is stuffed full of pathos and jokes, cliches and songs.

Still a masterly grotesque parody is Nicholas's old familiar, Sergeant Smith, who mixes his cliches and swears like a trouper. The central Frog who turns into the proverbial Prince is Geoff, a country yokel who has fashioned his own encyclopaedia and his own particular grammatical chaos. Geoff secretly writes romantic poetry for Gloria who scoffs cynically - until she falls in love with him. They share an interest in frogs, you see.

Nicholas's humour is old-fashioned warm and comfortable. The audience are putty in his hands. He is well supported on stage by musician and ‘atmos-man’, Ross Nobel and by Kim Deacon and her sassy jazz vocals.

But we must not forget Clive, the aforementioned Frog or Boofy, Geoff's bitzer hunting dog. These two, in addition to a stage full of invisible objects and walk-on characters such as the club bouncer and the Kenworth driver, are created through the "magic of mime". It is all so effortless it is easy to forget how difficult it is to make something out of nothing.

The show, at nearly two and a half hours, is too long, but in spite of the cornball jokes, the Las Vegas lurex curtains and sometimes gushing sentimentality, this is a really entertaining show.

KATE HERBERT

The Last Blue Ange, Feb 2, 1997

l by Alex Prior

At  Courthouse Theatre until Feb 8 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 2, 1997

It is 1939 in Australia. Heine Leibowitz is German. No wonder he was interned. Ah, but he was Jewish. He was still interned. He was also homosexual. No hope for Heine. Nobody loves a triple minority.

The Last Blue Angel by Alex Prior, has taken a scrap of historical fact about such a man and developed a political piece of theatre.  It is a snappy burlesque that, ironically, blends Berlin Cabaret of the 1920's with Britain's Second World War Concert Parties.

Subject number 162 , as he was recorded for history, was grabbed in King's Cross. The rest of Heine's story is extrapolated by Prior from an informed understanding of the social and political attitudes of the period. The Dunera Boys suffered similar treatment during internment. Poor Heine was to be victimised by everybody: the Nazis, the Orthodox and the Aussies were all hostile. And to cap it all off, after the war his Europe would be unrecognisable.

Prior, with director Kim Baston (also on piano and accordion) have not allowed such difficult and painful material interfere with some really entertaining content. Songs, both original and from Kurt Weill and other German cabaret artists, are woven into Heine's narration Charles Barry plays him with relish as a Joel Grey-style show host.

The barber's quartet (there are three of 'em) of singin', dancin' soldiers are a hearty and vigorous ensemble and Luke Gallagher gives a moving rendition of Weill's Surabaja Johnny.

The piece does not become sentimental. It is firmly in the tradition of didactic, Agit-Prop (agitational-propaganda) theatre and Brecht. A cheery Bavarian slap-dance becomes an allegory for oppression. Comic slaps turn into punches, dance steps into kicks.

In the end, looking at history, has anything really changed? Homosexuals in the nineties are still feared and castigated by many. But even more insidiously, they are often patronised by those who merely imitate their culture or describe them as "artistic and interesting". To quote the play, "We do for the past what we cannot agree to do for the future," i.e. we change it to suit ourselves.

KATE HERBERT   

No Man's Island by Ross Mueller. La Mama, until Feb 16, 1997

 No Man's Island by Ross Mueller. 
At La Mama until Feb 16, 1997

 NB This review was published in The Melbourne Times in Feb 1997

In crisis or in pain sometimes only a companion, a partner, a comrade can shift us out of depression or away from madness. It doesn't even seem to matter who the companion is. It is simply the sharing of the problem, the caring of another human, the warmth of another body or the sound of a voice which breaks the terrible spell of loneliness, loss and anguish.

In No Man's Island by Ross Mueller, two men are incarcerated and indeed isolated in a cell. Rob (Aidan Fennessy) is an uncomplicated, uneducated, child-like soul who prays secretly for his dead father and reads letters from a non-existent big brother. Tim (John F. Howard) teeters on the brink of sanity, screaming in his nightmare-filled sleep, pining for a lost child.

Initially, the two have clear roles: Tim is father, Rob is child. But as their drama evolves the boundaries become muddied. Their shared confusion and vulnerability, their social and psychological incompetence, their incomprehension of their human plight are the very elements which may save them. They are helpless victims in an irrational world but maybe, just maybe, their companionship may take them through.

Fennessy gives a compelling performance as the naive man-child, Rob. His is a moving emotional journey from playful, unthinking boy to shattered young man. Howard is edgy and unpredictable as Tim, always appearing to be on the brink of some wild and unexpected response. The two work superbly together. Their rampantly blokey indoor footy match is a highlight.

The piece is deftly directed by Peter Houghton with great sensitivity to the nuances of Mueller's script. Paul Jackson's simple scaffold design effectively contracts the space visually but allows plenty of room to move in the tiny La Mama space. The ladder up to the golden glow of the ceiling trap door is a constant reminder of the impossible dream of escape and the Heaven for which Rob wishes.

This piece is not all dark tragedy. It is a celebration of companionship with some very funny and truthful moments between men that reveals their weakness and their combined strength.

KATE HERBERT

Esso Concert in the Bowl, Feb 1, 1997

Myer Music Bowl Saturday Feb 1, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert on Feb 1, 1997

Only in Australian would you see a bloke in shorts armed with a hamper laden with stubbies and ham sangers at a classical concert. So it was under the cloud-covered stars at the free Esso Concert in the Bowl.  And an outdoor family event would not be the same without the threat of rain. Brollies and champers at the ready, team!

Joyfully, the clouds held their burden and the audience in the "outer" remained dry listening to our exceptional State Orchestra of Victoria and a program ranging from Tchaikovski (Romeo & Juliet) and Khachaturian (Love Theme from Spartacus) to Rogers and Hammerstein (Some Enchanted Evening, If I loved You). Something for everyone: at least, everyone who doesn't live on a diet of Nirvana.

The pas de deux from "Manon" (Lisa Bolte & Stephen Heathcote) and from "Coppelia" (Vicki Attard & David McAllister) were favourites among ballet lovers and there is no doubt that they were technically excellent. It is, however, extraordinary how classical ballet can strip any sensuousness or sexuality from love scenes. Of course ballet is renowned for creating females who are either mechanical dolls, birds or child brides. But I am showing my bias.

The program was a sublime showcase for the versatility and finesse of our fine Orchestra. It is a joy to be able to see the orchestra rather than merely the tips of their bows or the conductor's fluffy mop bobbing over the pit's edge.

The star of this evening must be visiting Scottish conductor, Christopher Bell. Not only is he a gifted and sensitive conductor, but he is a compelling presence. He bounces onstage grinning and proceeds to display a rare level of infectious delight in his work, the music, the orchestra and the audience. His wit and generosity were enchanting. More of Kermit the Conductor please.

Soprano Leanne Kenneally sang two sweet arias from "Romeo & Juliet" and  "Louise". Baritone John Antoniou performed "Song to the Evening Star" (Tannhauser) but the announcement of his second solo, "Some Enchanted Evening", drew an audible "Aaaah" from this romantic crowd. The couple's duets were technically excellent but lacked passion. The fact that, during two love duets, they never made eye contact tells all.

This was a charming and entertaining evening under the summer sky and the enormous crowd tottered home happy after a rousing encore from the Orchestra and our fave, Mr. Bell. Think I'll start a fan club.

KATE HERBERT

Hearts: A Poster of the Cosmos, Jan 31, 1997

Written by Lanford Wilson

 By Torino Spettacolo with IRAA at Theatreworks until Feb 9, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert round Jan  31, 1997

Valter Malosti's performance in Hearts:  A Poster of the Cosmos is, at times, so frenetic it is painful to watch. His character's grief and his need to tell the story of his great love for his partner are palpable.

Malosti was acclaimed here in 1993 for his exceptional performance in the monodrama Ella. Although this piece is in some ways less effective and there are some language problems, Malosti's performance is vigorous, skilful and intensely physical. As Tom, the American baker, he is volatile and emotionally fragile as he skips like a child about the cavernous, empty black space of Theatreworks.

The outer layer of this text by U.S. playwright, Lanford Wilson, is Tom's interrogation by the police after the death of his lover. The other inner layers are more metaphysical and psychological. As he cavorts about, we are drawn on an elastic thread into his desperate and confused internal world.

Malosti is accompanied onstage by the thrilling voice and evocative music of cellist, Ezio Bosso, who is both a dark commentator on the action and an echo of the dying AIDS victim, Johnny. He tilts into light, gaze averted, cello (or double bass?) dragging behind, only to swing into sound and action on cue. It is a stunning collaboration of actor and musician.

Malosti and co-director Tommasso Massimo Rotella do not rely on theatrical paraphernalia. The set is a collection of rough chairs, a cloth and words chalked on a black floor. This is an Actor's Theatre piece: uncluttered, focussed on the character's tortured world as he confronts madness and grief.

Corridors of light entrap and enclose Tom as he reveals his story. He quotes snippets from Bukowski, Vonnegut and Shakespeare. Finally, he stands at the centre of a cross reciting Emily Dickinson's, "Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me."

In spite of some language ˆı problems, this is an exciting addition to the St. Kilda Writer's Festival and a credit to the Italian Cultural Institute and IRAA who have brought the show here.

KATE HERBERT

350wds

No Man's Island, Jan 31, 1997

 by Ross Mueller

La Mama until Feb 16, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert round Jan 31, 1997

In crisis or in pain sometimes only a companion, a partner, a comrade can shift us out of depression or away from madness. 

 It doesn't even seem to matter who the companion is. It is simply the sharing of the problem, the caring of another human, the warmth of another body or the sound of a voice that breaks the terrible spell of loneliness, loss and anguish.

In No Man's Island by Ross Mueller, two men are incarcerated and indeed isolated in a cell. Rob (Aidan Fennessy) is an uncomplicated, uneducated, child-like soul who prays secretly for his dead father and reads letters from a non-existent big brother. Tim (John F. Howard) teeters on the brink of sanity, screaming in his nightmare-filled sleep, pining for his lost child.

Initially, the two have clear roles: Tim is father; Rob is child. But as their drama evolves the boundaries become muddied. Their shared confusion and vulnerability, their social and psychological incompetence, their incomprehension of their human plight are the very elements that may be their salvation. They are helpless victims in an irrational world but maybe, just maybe, their companionship may get them through.

Fennessy gives a compelling performance as the naive man-child, Rob. His is a moving emotional journey from playful, unthinking boy to shattered young man. Howard is edgy and unpredictable as Tim, always appearing to be on the brink of some wild and unexpected response. The two work superbly together. Their rampantly blokey indoor footy match is a highlight.

Peter Houghton deftly directs the piece with great sensitivity to the nuances of Mueller's script. Paul Jackson's simple scaffold design effectively contracts the space visually but allows plenty of room to move in the tiny La Mama space. The ladder up to the golden glow of the ceiling trap door is a constant reminder of the impossible dream of escape and the Heaven for which Rob wishes.

This piece is not all dark tragedy. It is a celebration of companionship with some very funny and truthful moments between men which revealπ their weakness and their combined strength.

KATE HERBERT

1996 Reviews by Kate Herbert, Herald Sun

1996 Reviews by Kate Herbert, Herald Sun

The following are all reviews published in Herald Sun during 1996. They are still available through www.newstext.com.au

They will all be uploaded in full soon.  KH

 LOVE ON THE RUN   Herald Sun, 07-12-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 081, 421 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Passionate feelings can be a hit and myth affair, writes KATE HERBERT IN the end, Tristan and Yseult die the death they should have died in the beginning: suicide for the lost love. Truth and passion don't rule the world; power, history and comfort d...

   THE PAIN GAME   Herald Sun, 06-12-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 085, 342 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Double or Nothing Presented by: $5 Theatre Where and when: Napier St Theatre until December 15 IT'S funny how official and government bodies are now calling gambling "gaming". By simply dropping a couple of letters we lose the disease, the social ill...

   A TALE OF TWO CITIES, REAL AND IMAGINED   Herald Sun, 04-12-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 055, 444 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Little City Melbourne Worker's Theatre Where and when: Brunswick Town Hall until December 15. WE SEEM to be entering a period of consciousness-raising theatre, and Little City, by the Melbourne Workers Theatre, is in the vanguard. Of course, the need...

    HUMOR SHEDS LIGHT ON LIFE   Herald Sun, 03-12-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 043, 325 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Mr Melancholy A HERMITAGE a trois is one way of describing the characters in this absurd comedy. It features three hermits with varying degrees of sociability who live together in a lighthouse without light. Ollie (Wayne Hope), the lig...

    JOINING FORCES IN SEXUALITY   Herald Sun, 03-12-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 289 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Mind's Eye Where and when: Lonsdale St Power Station until Saturday THEATRICAL collaborations can produce new and wonderfully unpredictable ideas or they may breed only conflict. Back to Back, a company for intellectually disabled acto...

    GROWING OLD WITH SHAME   Herald Sun, 29-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 085, 204 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Old People The Great Divide Writer: Tony Reck Where: VCA Drama School THE aged are often believed to live in their pasts in a non-sexual haze of heart drugs, tea and toast. The two oldies in Alex Green's short work, Old People, are no ...

   TAKING THE RUFUS WITH THE SMOOTH   Herald Sun, 27-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 050, 308 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Mysteries of Rufus Bummings Where and when: Polyglot until November 30 DROP some letters from Ruffhouse Burmingsley Rufus Manufacturings, stamped on the wooden soldier's back, and you are left with Rufus Bummings. Rufus, the title character of Ch...

    REIGN UP IN CLOUDS   Herald Sun, 25-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 055, 328 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Kelly's Reign WHEN writing The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov purposely placed the railway station eight kilometres away so that his naturalistic director Stanislavski, could not use train sound effects. It is a pity Chekhov was not dramaturg for Kell...

    ACTS OF TEENAGE DRAMA   Herald Sun, 23-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 079, 288 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Monash Schools Drama Competition Monash Performing Arts Theatre The festival, sponsored by Monash University Arts Precinct, attracted students from 16 schools, both private and government. They were judged on their creativity, use of the theatre spac...

    TOM'S CHANTS   Herald Sun, 20-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 059, 365 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Thumbul by Tom E. Lewis & Mac Gudgeon When and where: Gasworks until December 30 T HERE'S no denying it, Tom E. Lewis is charming. His autobiographical show, Thumbul, is a perfect vehicle for his entertaining and often poignant solo journey through h...

   ACTORS BREATHE LIFE INTO SNORKEL   Herald Sun, 16-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 070, 183 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Snorkel Where & when: La Mama until Dec 1 INCEST, patricide, fratricide: not a cheery piece is Richard Bladel's Snorkel. But it is briskly directed by Ariette Taylor and stylishly performed by Belinda McClory and David Pidd. The small space at La Mam...

    A CHURCH'S FATE   Herald Sun, 08-11-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 079, 358 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Sanctus Where and when: Merlyn Theatre performed by Ballarat University until tomorrow C HRIS Dickins is a gem of a playwright whose plays continue to appear in country Victoria productions. The latest, Sanctus, is the graduate production for perform...

   SHALLOW DIG AT A GRAVE ISSUE   Herald Sun, 30-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 057, 373 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Mourning After Where and when: Playbox, until November 23 IF you have never experienced the death of someone close, it is impossible to explain the odd actions and reactions grief may cause. For example, why would a woman whose husband has died t...

   POLLIE'S POSER   Herald Sun, 26-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 077, 382 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Alive at Williamstown Pier Where and when: La Mama; until November 11 THE combination of politician and mental illness is evidently a sure-fire entertainment drawcard. La Mama was stuffed to the rafters even on the second, notoriously quiet night of ...

   YANG'S YEARNING   Herald Sun, 24-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 057, 371 words , HIT
The North Where and when: George Ballroom, St Kilda; until November 2 T HERE is something harmonic in William Yang's The North - and it's not only because of the eccentric musical accompaniment. Yang's voice is not resonant but its unaffected quality...

    CHI'S BRAN NUE WAY   Herald Sun, 19-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 077, 304 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Corrugation Road Where and when: Fairfax Studio until October 26 S HEER anarchy was let loose on an unsuspecting audience on opening night of Corrugation Road. Jimmy Chi, who also wrote Bran Nue Dae, flies in the face of musical theatre convention. H...

    A REAL FAIRYTALE OF THE HEART   Herald Sun, 18-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 092, 250 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Corazon Where & when: Theatreworks until tomorrow KATE Herbert describes Corazon as a Gothic fairytale, and it is a nightmarish fantasy. It's a cross between the Addams Family and Mervyn Peake, with grisly goings-on that make a Verdi opera plotline l...

   TAKE A GIANT JUMP FOR JOY   Herald Sun, 09-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 374 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Jump! By: Crying in Public Places When and where: Beckett Theatre until Saturday WHEN my mouth falls open I know I've seen a good show - and I gaped all the way through Jump! again. Crying in Public Places grabs you by the heart, lungs and soul from ...

   KING OF THE YARN-SPINNERS   Herald Sun, 08-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 315 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Blimey! It's Matt King Where: Star and Garter Hotel, South Melbourne When: Wednesday-Saturday, until October 19 IT'S been a while since I was at a pub comedy gig. Aah! My misspent youth!...

   PRIMITIVE TALE LACKS A BIT OF SPARK   Herald Sun, 07-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 047, 355 words , ENTERTAINMENT
FRINGE THEATRE Kaspar Where and when: The Vault Theatre, Banana Alley Flinders St; until October 19 "CIVILISED" cultures have always had a fascination with the barbaric. Unfortunately, this romance with the "savage" has often manifested itself in gro...  

 BARD'S KNIFE-EDGE SLICE OF LIFE   Herald Sun, 05-10-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 035, 372 words , ENTERTAINMENT
The Rape of Lucrece Where and When: La Mama, until October 20 POURING a play into the confines of La Mama Theatre in Carlton is no mean feat at the best of times, but when it is Shakespeare it is nigh on miraculous. Of course, performing a mythic poe..

.    THE FUN'S ON FOR YOUNG AND OLD   Herald Sun, 27-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 083, 397 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Schnorky the Wave Puncher THERE'S no denying it - kids' theatre can be great entertainment for adults too and Schnorky the Wave Puncher at the Arena Theatre is a good example. The laughs rippled up from the shoreline of children seated on mats and ro...

    MARG'S STORY A DEAD-SET HOOT   Herald Sun, 27-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 085, 360 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Not Dead Yet - The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole Where and When: La Mama at The Courthouse until October 12 L OTTIE Lyell may not have had a movie house named after her, as film-making lover Raymond Longford has, but Sarah Vincent and Vanessa ...

   BLOODY TAPESTRY OF WAR'S TRUE PAIN   Herald Sun, 24-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 041, 339 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Because You Are Mine Where and when: Melbourne University Student Theatre at Guild Theatre; until October 5 INVARIABLY, before a war, there is a period during which there is the hope that possibly there will be no conflict. Before the horror and desp...

    CIRCUS EXPOSES BODY AND SOUL   Herald Sun, 14-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 035, 372 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Aqua Profonda Presented by: Circus Oz Where and when: Melbourne Town Hall; until October 6 E VER seen a nearly naked man play 80 squeezy horns with body parts? Well, go and see Circus Oz. When circus meets the bizarre, the witty and the political the...

   A GAG-FEST FROM THE BARD   Herald Sun, 10-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 347 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Love's Labour's Lost Where and when: Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, until Saturday LOVE'S Labour's Lost is simple comic-romance fluff with little substance, which is probably why it is rarely done. The Victorian College of the Arts production, directed ...

    NEW FACES, OLD STORY   Herald Sun, 09-09-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 348 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Chay Vong Vong Where and when: Napier St Theatre: until September 15 WE should despair that each cultural group which arrives in Australia as migrants suffers frighteningly similar troubles. The Vietnamese characters in Tony Le Nguyen's play, Chay Vo...

    STAND TALL TO DELIVER   Herald Sun, 27-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 268 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Home Brew Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant PETER Rowsthorn has been doing stand-up comedy around town for about 10 years and he's still funny, even when he is doing old material. It's his physical humor that makes him stand out. Rowsthorn conjures Austr...

    STREETS AHEAD   Herald Sun, 17-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 041, 411 words , ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW comedy Wrung Out! Glynn Nicholas Where and when: Comedy Theatre; from August 15 GLYNN Nicholas certainly knows how to work a crowd. All those years doing classical mime on the streets of Adelaide and Paris paid off. Once a busker, always a cha...

    STALKING THE NIGHT FOR KICKS   Herald Sun, 12-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 070, 314 words , ENTERTAINMENT
theatre Strangers in the Night Where and when: Playbox Theatre until August 31 LOWER West Manhattan feels like Blade Runner dubbed into several foreign languages: incomprehensible, bleak, dangerous, poorly but stylishly lit. Everybody in the subways ...

   INTRODUCING PIOTR THE GRATE   Herald Sun, 06-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 063, 382 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Maestro Where and when: Courthouse until August 17 THERE is a clause in small print at the bottom of every artist's contract with the devil which declares, "Create great art and be a tortured soul ". Piotr Tchaikovsky was no exception. Geoffrey Willi...

   ROCKY ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING   Herald Sun, 03-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 027, 325 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Road Movie Presented by: Back to Back and Melbourne Workers' Theatre Where and when: Lonsdale St Power Station until August 10 THE road movie genre is a modern version of the mythic Hero's Journey, in which the hero leaves a secure environment, takes...

    BLURRED REALITY HITS HOME   Herald Sun, 02-08-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 099, 327 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Sextet Where and when: Napier St Theatre until August 18 LEONARD Radic's Sextet, which he vows is not autobiographical, draws on his years as The Age critic and observations of the theatre industry and its creatures. It is directed by Malcolm Roberts...

   DEVOTION TO CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL   Herald Sun, 31-07-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 065, 356 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Kafka's Dick Where and when: Athenaeum Theatre until August 18 ALAN Bennett's play Kafka's Dick is no euphemism but a reference to Czech novelist Franz Kafka's penis. An odd topic? Evidently Kafka's was tiny and, for a man with a psychotically distor...

   CAR-ING APPROACH   Herald Sun, 20-07-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 033, 238 words , ENTERTAINMENT
The Brand New Ford The four members of this eccentric stage family prattle at each other in rich, complex and allusive phrases. The play's starting gate is cars - grotesque V8s and other revving, noisy, petrol-guzzling motors. Dad (Jim Daly) talks li...

   GRIM TALE OF LOSS BY FIRE   Herald Sun, 17-07-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 057, 373 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Hearts of Fire Where and when: Carlton Courthouse Theatre, 349 Drummond St; until July 27 BUSHFIRES are in many ways an intrinsic part of Australian identity. They are the horrific flipside to footy and Vegemite, a quintessentially Australian phenome...

   FIRED BY BURNING DESIRE   Herald Sun, 04-07-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 062, 444 words , HIT
THE effects of the Ash Wednesday bushfires continued long after the final flames were extinguished in 1983. Psychological scars still smoulder in the minds of fire-fighters and victims who lost their homes. In Kate Herbert's latest play, Hearts of Fi...  

  SILENCE SPEAKS VOLUMES   Herald Sun, 11-06-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 053, 392 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Easy to Say Where and when: La Mama until June 25 AN ORDINARY life can be so strange if examined too closely. Kevin Nemeth's latest play draws us into the orbit of several people related by family or friendship. Both the naturalistic style and the in...

    SCARE WAY TO HEAVEN   Herald Sun, 10-06-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 067, 320 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Autopsy In fact, for this writer, who has nightmares after The X Files, the lurid computer graphics of a dissected body were most unsettling. The show is like an 80-minute video clip with substantial content and welcome irony. It opens with pounding ...

   BARBS FOR BARD   Herald Sun, 07-06-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 096, 363 words , ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre William Shakespeare: Hung, Drawn and Quartered Not Yet It's Difficult Where and When: IRAA, 14 Lowther St, Alphington; until tonight IT IS peculiar that Anglophiles have elevated a very dead white male, notwithstanding his exceptional ...  

 IN SEVENTH HEAVEN OF DEATH   Herald Sun, 31-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 090, 311 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Seven Stages of Grieving Working under the umbrella of Brisbane-based Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts (supported by ATSIC, Arts Queensland and the Australia Council), director Wesley Enoch, with co-writer and solo performer Debra Mailman, d...    

HSUN0596.SRC.011   Herald Sun, 28-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 521 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Rocky Jason Show JASON Donovan is planning his Australian stage debut. He will play Frank 'N' Furter in the Rocky Horror Show when it opens in Perth next month. "People don't realise he has not been on stage in Australia," promoter Paul Dainty says. ...

   COLLEGE RAISES HOUSE COLORS   Herald Sun, 28-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 352 words , ENTERTAINMENT
A Doll's House Where and when: St Martin's Theatre, Victorian College of the Arts, until June 1 FINAL-year drama college productions are often good - but rarely this good. The Victorian College of the Arts production of Heinrich Ibsen's A Doll's Hous...

   DABBLE IN A DREAM   Herald Sun, 25-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 032, 333 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Away by Michael Gow MTC Schools Season The narrative spies on the summer holidays of three families tenuously connected through a school production of Midsummer Night's Dream. Teenagers Tom and Meg (Simon Russell and Jennifer Priest) have a mutual cr...

   WAILS OF LOVE   Herald Sun, 18-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 035, 332 words , ENTERTAINMENT
Banshee Where and when: La Mama/Courthouse Theatre; until June 1 WHEN a banshee screams it warns of a death in the household. In Jodi Gallagher's Banshee, two die: father Collum and daughter Imogen, played by Kirk Alexander and Caroline Bock. It is n...

   BIG TEST OF CHARACTER   Herald Sun, 04-05-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 037, 254 words , ENTERTAINMENT
A MONODRAMA is one of the most testing forms for an actor. Damien, performed by Daniel Kyle, is a solo piece of theatre based on the extraordinary life of a Belgian priest. Father Damien, who was beatified last year, single-handedly ran a leper colon...

   RUSSIAN ROULETTE   Herald Sun, 27-04-1996, Ed: 2, Pg: 028, 391 words , ENTERTAINMENT
The 8.16 Vodka Syndrome Actor Jim Daly was astonished and the audience confused but the incident did little to dampen a vigorous, entertaining show that is epic in style and, at a duration of 21/2 hours, length. The 30-odd characters are played by Da...  

Kelly's Reign, Dec 1, 1996

By Hume Theatre Company

At Theatreworks until Dec 15, 1996

Reviewed by KH around Dec 1, 1996

When writing The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov purposely placed the railway station five miles away so that his naturalistic director Stanislavski, could not use train sound effects. It is a pity Chekhov was not dramaturg for Kelly's Reign.

They "seek to modernise the theatre space" but use a naturalistic set of knocked together wooden huts, woodchips and logs. They abandoned a 1943 "antiquated text" by Douglas Stewart, wanting to update but have created an over-written melodrama. The concern that "women were completely left out" of the original is not addressed. They remain incidental in a play with more testosterone on stage than a gymnasium weights room.

In this production about super-highwayman, Ned, sound effects rule. Constant, taped, out of sync gunfire with period pistols and costumes give an unhappy impression of playground Cowboys and Indians. This, unfortunately is not the only flaw.

The company of fourteen actors and five live musicians have great commitment and energy but the end result is some passable acting in  a very dated style of production. There is an enormous amount of work in this show but they kept breaking cardinal rules.

One stated intention is to "meld the world of film and popular culture" but they confuse film with theatre. Opening with interminable video credits (all in the program anyway) unnecessarily delays the start. Every scene is preceded by video "newsflash" rolling text and voice-over which under-estimates the audience's capacity for gleaning subtleties. Video images were often running invisibly in full light.

The music is enjoyable bush balladry but holds up the action in the 135 minutes. Three co-writers (Michael Hurse, Nicholas Reid, Richard Sutherland) have tried valiantly to touch us but have missed any genuine emotional level.

Both text and performance lack depth. Any dramatic tension is dissipated by noisy overkill of guns, deaths and running about. The director attempts to shock with burnt flesh on video, stunt deaths, boys kissing, but it ends up producing a melodrama with dancin', drinkin', cussin', shootin', yellin' and killin'- all in Irish accents.

I want to be encouraging. Perhaps a shift towards the abstract, which happens for a fleeting moment at the end, could salvage this piece. It is a valiant effort but it has not worked.  

KATE HERBERT