Cabaret Chat Noir, Nov 30, 1997

Cabaret Chat Noir

Up Top Cocktail Bar 123 Russell St. 8pm Sunday Nov 30, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert on No 30, 1997

Melbourne has a tradition of reviving Berlin and Parisian cabaret and the latest update is Cabaret Chat Noir, (Black Cat) named after the first paris venue which opened in 1881.

The Flying Trapeze and Last Laugh, in the late 70's-early 80's were host to many artists working in the Berliner tradition including Cabaret Conspiracy from Sydney, Henry Maas, Ruth Shonheimer and Howard Stanley.

Chat Noir is hosted by the laconic, Marlene-like Sarah Vincent. The varied and very entertaining program comprises original or adapted political songs, readings of brooding stories or comic political observations and a peppering of puppetry and a few other quirky pieces.

The venue and crowd are as important as the content in this type of work. The Up Top Cocktail Bar is decorated with kitch 50's prints of Sophia Loren look-alikes in exotic locations. It croons 50's lounge music and accommodates a cool 20 something clientele. Very funky!

Although, with twenty acts and two intervals, the show is too long, it is a strong program. Vincent's dry, witty and ultra relaxed banter links the pieces happily and her 'scissor stories', which are cut-up versions of Mills and Boons a' la Ern Malley, are hilariously bizarre.

The sexy Soubrettes duo (Tania Kyriakou & Alice Carter), accompanied by a three-piece band, sing tuneful songs with lyrics providing a barbed social commentary.

Their songs include an attack on Kennett as 'Leader of the Pack' and a satire of anti-feminism, 'I want to be a real woman'. One highlight was the clever and poignant adaptation of 'Whenever I feel afraid.. I whistle a happy tune,' which challenges the sweetness of the song by continuing 'and no-one will suspect I've been raped.'

Jamie Silver postulates that, given the dire state of our world, aliens landing in Bourke Street would ask, 'What the... do you people think you're doing down here?' Margaret Bearman's rich-chocolate prose, about a middle-aged woman's sexual encounter with a teenager, is dark and disturbing.

There is a silent bouffon waiter (Christian Bagin) who flits on and off stage, a dissatistifed cafe-hopping torch song singer (Genevieve Messenger) and a very stylish and novel adult shadow puppet piece about a woman looking for love.

Director, Kyriakou, a graduating student of the VCA, has created a colourful and entertaining evening. Some acts are less successful than others and the structure needs some balancing of short and long pieces but it really is a great night Up Top.

KATE HERBERT

Patsy Cline by Bernadette Robinson, Nov 29, 1997

Patsy Cline: Her Songs, Her Story, by Bernadette Robinson

At Universal Theatre in Nov 1997, no closing date

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around 28 Nov, 1997

Patsy Cline didn't have much luck outside of her Country and Western career. She married young, divorced, married again to a philanderer and spendthrift.

Her first agent managed to keep her poor. A car accident almost killed her. Finally she died in a plane crash. Light planes and bad weather are ill portents for singing stars.

Bernadette Robinson embodies Patsy Cline to a tee. She has the twitchy movements, the chintzy dresses and the smarmy, seductive C & W smile - and she has the voice. Her performance is relaxed and engaging as she strolls about the stage changing costumes as often as she changes songs.

The show, written by Bernadette and Ann Robinson and Paul Noonan, is cleverly constructed to provide sufficient biographical detail without becoming informational. It all begins at that fateful moment and Patsy remembers, 'All I ever wanted was to be a star.'

Robinson moves from Patsy's Tennessee childhood dreams of fame to her working in a Winchester drug store, her winning of talent contests, first radio appearance and first record contract with Decca.

The first half is peppered with snatches of songs and some complete tunes as well as lots of laconic humour about life’s little trials. After interval and after her car accident, Patsy/Bernadette gives a humdinger of a concert just before she gets on that plane to see her children and her Maker.

Some of Cline’s top hits are included: Crazy, I Fall to Pieces, Your Cheatin' Heart and Walkin' After Midnight. Considering she died 35 years ago at the age of 30, she made her mark and has become a country music icon after death. The gay community loves her.

Robinson is supported by musical director, Mark Jones, on piano with a versatile band (Quentin Frayne, Ed Bates, Steve Purcell) providing authentic backing music and vocals in the style of the Jordanaires. The design by Louise McCarthy and lighting by Adrian Cherubin successfully support the piece.

Director Kaarin Fairfax has kept the pace moving on stage with some slick and cunning direction that enables one woman to fill the stage for two hours. But the accolades must go to the silver-voiced Robinson and her infamous impersonation skills.  As we saw in her hit show 'You Might as Well Live' which recreated 20 tragic songstresses, she can transform into anybody.

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Kate Herbert

[1]˘

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˜Patsy Cline: Her Songs, Her Storyˇ

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˜ Bernadette Robinson Universal Theatre ˇ

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˜no closing date)

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  Patsy Cline didn't have much luck outside of her Country and Western career. She married young, divorced, married again to a philanderer and spendthrift. Her first agent managed to keep her poor. A car accident almost killed her. Finally she died in a plane crash. Light planes and bad weather are ill-portents for singing stars.

Bernadette Robinson embodies Patsy Cline to a tee. She has the twitchy movements, the chintzy dresses and the smarmy, seductive C & W smile - and she has the voice. Her performance is relaxed and engaging as she strolls about the stage changing costumes as often as she changes songs.

Her performance is relaxed and engaging as she strolls about the stage changing costumes as often as she changes songs.

Some of her top hits are included: Crazy, I Fall to Pieces, Your Cheatin' Heart and Walkin' After Midnight. Considering she died 35 years ago at the age of 30,  she made her mark and has become a country music icon after death. The gay community loves her.

Robinson is supported by musical director, Mark Jones, on piano with a versatile band (Quentin Frayne, Ed Bates, Steve Purcell) providing authentic backing music and vocals in the style of the Jordanaires. The design by Louise McCarthy and lighting by Adrian Cherubin successfully support the piece.

Director Kaarin Fairfax has kept the pace moving on stage with some slick and cunning direction that enables one woman to fill the stage for two hours. But the accolades must go to the silver-voiced Robinson and her infamous impersonation skills.  As we saw in her hit show 'You Might as Well Live' which recreated 20 tragic songstresses, she can transform into anybody.

Kate Herbert

Maelstrom by Chris Dickins , 27 Nov 1997

Maelstrom by Chris Dickins

At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse

By Ballarat University until Nov 29, 1997

Review by Kate Herbert around 26 Nov 1997

"Don't stand in my shadow, Don't stare in my face" is the imperative of the aggressive and disenfranchised youth of Chris Dickins play, Maelstrom.

I'd be inclined to heed them. They're scary people.

The graduating year of Ballarat University Performing Arts with director Peter Tulloch, play fourteen characters in a socio-political narrative which resonates with the darker outcomes of the 'sell, sell sell', behaviour of the Victorian government.

A condemned property with a fabulous view of the Casino complex is occupied by a tribe of angry squatters under the near-fascist leadership of a very disturbed but charismatic young man, J. J. Rider. Dickins reveals all their fraught stories but the central narrative deals with the siege on the house that has a bloody end.

Dickins plot confronts betrayal, abandonment, abuse and suicide. The young people try, in the face of their shattered lives and impending disaster, to survive but even they know they are fighting a lost battle.

The project is the third piece commissioned by Ballarat from Dickins and is a change in tone from his usual work that is lyrical and poetic. Maelstrom is a brittle and agitating piece that retains his signature poetic text but is generally riding the boundaries of negativity. It opens with a feisty rap chorus number that really kicks.

The young actors are committed and make a good ensemble but many cannot balance the verse form with the rough-as-guts dialogue. Although it is obviously written as a vehicle to showcase all fourteen performers, the series of monologues and the relentless rage become tiring and the story loses its focus by trying to cover too incorporate too many threads. Some ruthless editing and a concentration on J.J., his father and his dear friend Harlan, might have made a more successful script.

There is some evocative lighting designed by Bernadette Haldane, and an effective grunge set design. However, too many clumsy scene changes were a distraction. Most of the actors had trouble finding the emotional truth in the text and ended up yelling and over-stating. There was one exceptional performance from Melissa Casey who not only found the colour and texture in her distressed character but she

surprised us with a great jazz voice.

KATE HERBERT

The Park by Steve Wheat, Nov 26, 1997

The Park by Steve Wheat

VCA Drama Studio until Dec 6, 1997

It is such a joy to see a play that confronts grief without indulging in melodramatics. 

Steve Wheat's play, The Park, has a warmth and wry humour which, combined with his sensitive portrayal of four different stories of loss, leaves us with the impression that life insists on running on - even if the tap is at a dribble.

Jason and Julia, (Tom Healy, Jane Longhurst) who run the groovy Le Park cafe, are to be married. Working in their cafe are their chef, Jason's dear old lesbian pal Tina (Liz Welch), Lucy, a young mum (Jo Keen) and Michael (Grant Moulday), their gay friend who arrives from England to unntentionally upset the wedding apple cart.

Wheat has skilfully woven several other stories into the fabric that glows with the muted colours of grief and lightness. Two older couples (John Flaus, Helen Tripp, Joan Murray, Terry Kenwrick) attempt to grieve for the death of their sons. Gabrielle (Emma Strand), girlfriend of one of the dead men, searches for his echo in a man who may have been recipient of his heart (Ernie Gray).

He uses the park, which is beautifully realised in Marc McTyre's set, as the focal location for meetings, revelations, tragedies, romance and farewells. The whole picture is an intricate emotional landscape depicting the inner lives of this collection of characters. We want to know their stories and soak up each new scrap of information.

Aubrey Mellor's subtle and cunningly simple direction does not tamper with the text but allows it to speak and the actors to explore the dynamics of silence as well as dialogue. The stillness is as evocative as the voice.

Mellor has assembled an exceptional cast who have all donated their time to the project. Welch as Tina balances humour with poignancy, Keen vibrates with pain and Flaus's despair was palpable.

Wheat, whose play Cloudburst has had several successful seasons, has written this larger piece for his graduating production. It has his characteristic laconic observations about life and his lyrical writing interspersed with pithy, witty dialogue. It is never glib. His musings on pain and loss are always truthful, poignant and provocative.

The play is 'delicate', just as one character observes. It has a sweet melancholic quality that resonates in the final fireworks display. It's such a little time we have together and life goes on - not with a bang but a squib.

KATE HERBERT

Pope Joan by Women's Circus, Nov 23, 1997

Pope Joan

By Women's Circus

At Russell St. Police Garage until Dec 6, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Nov 22, 1997

If you were a convent gal you will understand how uproariously funny it is seeing 20 nuns teetering on another nun's bottom or upside down, skirt around her ears.

Such is the display of antics in the Women's Circus new production, Pope Joan. The remarkable new Artistic Director, Sarah Cathcart, has developed, through research, a physically based show which explores women and the Catholic religion: women as nuns, convent schoolgirls, witches and - yes - as Pope.

Joan, a member of the Irish Brigidine order of nuns, was incarcerated for questioning the Bishop's edict that women must not celebrate the Eucharist or dance in the church because they are not made in the image of Christ: i.e. 'a bearded Jewish fisherman'.

Joan escaped to Athens then Rome with her lover, a monk. She became a scholar and, in her male guise, the favoured successor to Pope Leo in 853 AD. Unfortunately, the quirky tale goes, she gave birth outside the Colosseum and was stoned to death by angry mob of female-pope-haters.

Cathcart has adapted her own extraordinary performance style to create a deliciously witty and cunningly simple structure which highlights the range of skills of this enormous cast of amateur acrobats of all shapes, sizes and ages. There is a cohesion in this production which has been absent from previous Women's Circus shows. Joan's story is cleverly interwoven with anecdotes from a novitiate nun from the 1950's and from schoolgirls in a Wagga Wagga convent.

The delightful visuals and physical skills create a parallel narrative to the spoken personal stories. Groups of women provide symbolic action and imagery. One of the most powerful scenes depicted the burning of witches as tortured action on trapeze finishing with women dangling by their feet from ropes.

In addition to fifty actors, there is a live band and chorus which provide latin chants and evocative music under the direction of Kim Baston. The simple yet dramatic lighting, designed by Efterpi Soropos, takes advantage of the cavernous space of the Russell Street Garage.

Amanda Owen, Anni Davey (Circus Oz, Club Swing) amongst others women have trained the women. Some have been with the circus for its six years and others are novices but all are integrated into this wonderful community project which is based at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.

KATE HERBERT

Features of Blown Youth by Raimondo Cortese, Oct 18, 1997

Features of Blown Youth by Raimondo Cortese

By Ranters Theatre

 Economiser until Nov 1, 1997

Reviewed by KH around Oct 17, 1997

Being cool is a painful dead-end. Raimondo Cortese's play, Features of Blown Youth, highlights the tragedy of a group of young people leading pointless lives.

We sit voyeuristically peering at the shattered existences of these characters most of whom live in a huge, inner-city grubby dive. They are all aimless, they all abuse themselves and each other in turn and each is helplessly infatuated with another.

Dove (Tess Masters) is an insecure junkie stripper with romantic ideals and a new bimbo, Rot (Torquil Neilson). Isabel, a jaded student, is hooked on Dove. Guido (Arthur Angel) is like Vivian from The Young Ones. He is violent, offensive and wildly jealous of about his peppy dope-head girlfriend, Syv (Beth Buchanan). Harriet, the pseudo-artist, is smitten with Oron (Patrick Moffatt) who is by far the most interesting character.

Moffatt is consistently exceptional as the directionless intellectual who hovers, patronises and sharpens his wits on others' ignorance.  Oron's inability to harness the power of his mind is his downfall. He remains in low gear.

Cortese has a great facility for swift dialogue and well-observed characters. He satirises the silliness of half-baked philosophy and floods with harsh light the self- indulgence of those who think being decadent and screwed up is interesting. One wonders though, late in the second half, whether an audience can be shocked any more.

Director, Adriano Cortese keeps the pace up and scenes move smoothly between rooms that have a grungy, hyper-real design by Dan Potra. The whole is accompanied by unobtrusively effective music by Kim Salmon.

The plot pivots in an excellent scene at the end of the first half when Strawberry, the new spivvy landlord and pimp arrives and tips the delicate balance of their lives. The outcomes of this intrusion are myriad and to some degree unexpected.

The young people may have thought their lives were interestingly decadent but Strawberry is the real thing: dangerous, dissolute and exploitative. These confused, deceived people are fair game for one so unscrupulous.

The question is whether every piece of theatre about youth must be centred on the dank, bleak existential dilemmas of an inner-urban crisis ridden youth. Grunge theatre is all we are getting - even if this is a good version of it.

KATE HERBERT

Raised by Wolves by Handspan Theatre, Oct 18, 1997

Raised by Wolves by Handspan Theatre

Victoria Dock Shed 14 until Oct 21, 1997

Reviewed by KH around 17 Oct, 1997

There is a moment when we realise we have turned into our parents. Mine was during Raised by Wolves when my uppermost thought was, "TURN DOWN THE MUSIC! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!"

Handspan and director David Bell have collaborated with popular band Regurgitator in this project that is essentially a rave party plus some visual theatre. There are a few extraordinary elements. The first is the location in a disused shed at Victoria Dock under a full moon.

Inside, hordes of mainly very young people milled about anticipating where the action might begin. Banks of video screens, coke machines and scaffolding broke up the space. Shipping containers acted as platforms for puppeteers, actors and the live band. Huge cherry-pickers decked with fluorescent lights, prowled the space.

 The walls are chequered with more multi-coloured fluoro tubes which form the words "LIVE' then later "DIE". At one end of the shed a huge demon head with spinning eyes screamed at us. At the other, a flaming Picasso portrait burned.

Ben Cobham's lighting design and the giant cockroach puppets were the highlights. As spectacle, however, this performance misses the mark. It draws on a style popular in Europe with La Fura del Baus (Spain) and Titanick (Germany) but, whereas these companies draw together disparate images, text and sound to create a cohesive whole, Raised by Wolves is dissonant and chaotic.

Any dialogue that remains audible over the ear-smashing noise level is unintelligible or puerile. Actors Lee Russell, Megan Cameron and Justin Ratcliffe, wander about aimlessly, wrapped in plastic, attacked by cockroaches or as post-holocaust derelicts.

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The curtains and metal screens could have created some interesting snatches of physical imagery but without context, content or thematic links, the whole deteriorates into hysterical ravings, meaningless wanderings and NOISE.

The very young in the crowd seemed to enjoy the dancing and the unpredictability of the piece so perhaps it is a matter of taste or of age. It is a pity because Handspan has done some spectacular work over the years.ˆ

KATE HERBERT

Unidentified Human Remains, Oct 15, 1997

Unidentified Human Remains (and the True Nature of Love) by Brad Fraser

 Vortical Theatre Athenaeum 2 until Nov 23, 1997

Reviewed by KH around Oct 15, 1997

A well-written script can rise like a phoenix from even a mediocre production. Such is the case with Canadian playwright Brad Fraser's play, ˇ

Fraser has experimented with style, form and content in this witty and disturbing play. The narrative has several threads that finally weave together a range of young characters: some eccentric, others ordinary, one simply psychotic but all narcissistic and dissatisfied with their lives.

His language is raw and earthy and his dialogue hilarious. As a gay writer his intention is obviously to dispel some of the myths about homosexuality and he does so through his narrative and through his often camp humour. "Hi! I'm homo!" quips David. "'Some people are freaked out by gays.' 'Well some people like polyesterˆ'", says Candy.

David, the actor-waiter, is gay and promiscuous. His roommate, Candy, is anorexic, driven and lonely. His oldest friend, Bernie, is married and a philanderer. David's co-worker, Kane is sexually confused and adoring. Jerri, the lesbian, loves Candy. Candy loves out-of-towner, Robert. Benita is a psychic hooker. Everybody loves either Candy or David.

The adolescent social and sexual antics of these Generation X'ers seems trivial in the face of the spate of gruesome rape-murders which are terrifying the country town of Edmonton. It becomes evident that the psychotic could be any one of a number of these fun-lovers.

Fraser uses swift, snappy ad-break scenes, snapshots of characters and clipped, overlaid, abstracted dialogue to provide a series of images that echo the fractured lives of the characters and create an intense and nervous atmosphere.

Vortical Productions, directed by Darren Markey, made a courageous choice but have staged a clumsy version of Fraser's clever play. Much of the danger is lost and the performances are generally colourless. The emotional layering and complexity of structure are lost in the inexperienced and flat delivery, pedestrian direction and clunky design.

They do, however, hit some of the humour of Fraser's writing. This is a very funny play. It's exploration of the vagaries of relationships and the parallels between gay and straight lives are impeccably observed. Benita's obsession with childhood horror urban myths is highlighted by the real horrors in the community.

KATE HERBERT

Perfect Madness, Oct 14, 1997

Perfect Madness, by Michael Cummins

 Courthouse Theatre until Nov 2, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Oct 14, 1997

Sideshows always manage to be decrepit, dusty and tragic. They are not even at the heart of the circus but tucked away on the fringe nursing their jaded old laughing clowns and faded carousel horses.

Perfect Madness, written by Michael Cummins and directed by Kim Baston, attempts to penetrate the dejected lives of three people who have lived on Sideshow Alley all their lives. Each character yearns for a rosier past, a youthful dream. Then, along comes young Bill to revive their shattered hopes.

If this sounds like the intro to a soap opera, it is close. The style of the piece often echoes the melodramatics of a low-budget soapie. There is potential drama in the directionless lives of Lette, Gordon and Eileen O'Connor. Lette (Laine Lamont) was a whisker away from making on the Tivoli stage. Gordon, (Gene Bradley Fisk) her brother, was a rising country and western singer; "Lucky Starr stole every song I ever wrote."

Their niece, Eileen, (Natalie Carr) is driven to resuscitate their dying O'Connor sideshow stalls. Either that or to marry Winston Lockett III (Damian Woodards), who runs the profitable rides much like the Wittingslows.

The production just never quite makes it. The plot is thin and the dialogue and relationship are repetitive. The text could do with a savage edit to focus it on a narrative line. The character of Bill (Paul Volpato) is too sketchy and is absorbed into their lives too easily without question. He remains a theatrical device rather than a character that is intended to revitalise all their fantasies.

The entertaining moments are the musical, showy pieces. The finale is a 'tent show' ("All we need now is the tent!") with Tivoli grand dame, Lette doing a Hollywood musical number with a chorus line of dancers. Gordon's C and W songs are toe tappin', hand-clappin' numbers and there are two neat magical illusions and one clanger.

Baston's direction of the musical finale is better than that of the dramatic scenes. They are static and unimaginative with clumsy scene changes. The performers are mostly very inexperienced as actors and this explains why they look so uncomfortable and the relationships are not credible.

More specific tightly plotted lighting and a more flexible set design might have helped to some degree but essentially this piece needs major reworking.

KATE HERBERT

I'm Not a Nut - Elect Me by Anthony Morgan, Oct 10, 1997

I'm Not a Nut - Elect Me by Anthony Morgan

Trades Hall Council Chambers until Oct 19, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Hebret around Oct 9, 1997

The Council Chambers of the Trades Hall are unintentionally decorated with nouveau "distressed paintwork". Morgan paces the floor, tilting away from his official-looking lectern and debate cards and tossing off policies peppered with satirical jabs at every side of the political arena. He is gaspingly funny and outrageous.

"Right-wing Anthony", candidate for the "One Australia is good enough for all of us Party", proposes hanging for any old offence. A bit of rope can do plenty of hangings and can't be privatised.

Parliament needs 'a decent sort of Fascist'; one with time on his hands who isn't abandoning the fish and chip shop. An out-of-work stand-up comic fits the bill.

To solve the tariffs issue, he will stop imports. He will privatise everything, eliminate social security and, to improve morale, call the 'Jobless' the infinitely more positive, 'Dole-Full'.

 He supports 'Shooting Galleries' for junkies: the kind with rifles. Agent Orange-ing, feral greenies would end the environmental argument. 'Right Anthony' would apply the Kemp theory of funding: "You're not learning - so I'm gonna take all the money out of education."

Anthony Morgan is a Comedy Butterfly Effect. There is order in his Chaos Theory. No matter how circuitous his path or how bizarre his theory, he always returns to the gag.

ˇI'm No Nut - Elect Me is Morgan at  his best.  He campaigns for two political parties and two parliamentary seats: one Far Right and the other Far Left. He figures if he wins both he can straddle two seats in the Canberra.

The second half is devoted to Comrade "Left Anthony" of  'The Australian Bloody People's Action Group' (ABPAG) who invited a clutch of Pollies to debate the topic, 'Privatising the government'. 

He supports old values. Nationalising bread would end the interminable search for the perfect sourdough loaf. Diplomatic lunches would be bangers in bread with sauce. Revive the Woodchop and make the O'Toole family national heroes. He regrets the gentrification of the Post Office. "Where can the slow and the stupid work?' On drugs: "I want phonetic spelling for marijuana".

His Q and A session addressed Human Rights. 'The right to be human is not much to aspire to; it may be better to aspire to be dogs. Direct, friendly and kind to old dogs. Vote One Anthony Morgan - Right or Left!

KATE HERBERT

THEATRE ROUND UP column, Melbourne Sept-Oct 1997

THEATRE ROUND UP column

 Herald Sun

Reviewer: Kate Herbert, Oct 3, 1997

Meat by Nick Meenahan Universal 2 until Oct 5, 1997

This solo show by ex-butcher Nick Meenahan, a lovable clown with a wicked gleam in his eye, explores The Joy of Meat. Meenahan blends pathos with comedy in this hilarious, touching hour. Stan the butcher has a charming vulgarity. He seduces female customers, carves a lamb on stage and peoples his world with off-stage characters.

Circus Oz Melbourne Town Hall until October 5, 1997

There's one thing about Oz. We give good circus. The new Circus Oz show is like being on the bus in the movie, Speedˇ but with better music and wilder stunts. The skills of this company of multi-talented performers increase exponentially, yearly. David Carlin's direction is slick and the show is stylish. Terrific family entertainment.

Moonlodge at La Mama from Oct 7 to 12, 1997

Canadian Native American actor Margo Kane brings her warm and moving solo show Moonlodge to La Mama for one week after a hit season at the Festival of the Dreaming. Kane people's the stage with quirky characters met by the young Native American, Agnes, who was stolen from her family as a child. She satirises stereotypes of 'Injuns' and penetrates the pain and joy of her oppressed people.

The John Wayne Principle by Tony McNamara.

Sydney Theatre Company for Playbox at Merlin Theatre until Oct 4, 1997

The egocentric and cut-throat world of corporate business is cleverly satirised in Tony McNamara's acerbically witty play. McNamara, prior to his writing career, worked in the money market and he provides a vicious indictment of the mercenary, narcissistic and inhumane corporate world.  His witty, rapid-fire dialogue is often hilarious and the plot moves swiftly and relentlessly to its totally immoral conclusion. Included in the cast is Frontline's Alison Whyte.

Cloudburst by Steve Wheat La Mama until Oct 12, 1997

Steve Wheat's writing is intelligent, witty and often poetic. His characters use words as weapons or caresses and his analogy of the impending cloudburst highlights the potentially explosive love affair. Craig Goddard plays Dave with the right amount of jittery neediness while Sarah  Chapman is intense and brittle as the often dislikeable Beth. The game of truth or dare in the bathtub is terrific.

Kennedy's Children by Robert Patrick Athenaeum Upstairs bar until Oct 19, 1997

JFK and Marilyn Monroe were not the only casualties of the swingin' 60's.U.S. Robert Patrick crawls inside the sad lives of some lesser known tragedies who lived on into the nostalgic 70's. This adaptation concentrates on two women. Carla (Deborah Robertson) is a Marilyn wannabe and failed club singer. Rona (Suzie Cardiff) is a latter-day hippy who pines for the days of real causes and idealistic kids. You get to drink in the bar with them.

Hysteria by Damien Richardson at La Mama until Oct 5, 1997

No matter what name we give them: neurosis, sadness, depression, melancholia, mania - nervous disorders are not to be sneezed at, so why not make theatre about them? Writer-performer, Richardson, has used factual information based on French analyst, Charcot, and hilariously exaggerated autobiographical details to create a quirky, engaging piece. He takes risks on stage, improvising with audience and dealing with psychosis and taboos: sexual, religious and theatrical.

The Operated Jew by Gilgul Theatre at Athenaeum 2 until Oct 9, 1997

The latest production directed by Barrie Kosky.

Ablaze, Lower Melbourne Town Hall Sat Oct 5 5pm Thurs Oct 9, 1997

Six exceptional improvisers go beyond Theatresports with narrative and musical improvisation that burns.

CAT by Stephen Sewell Courthouse until Oct 12, 1997

Syd Brisbane performs this in-your-face one-man show which is the story of a deeply disturbed individual with a dark past and living in a country town . It is quite a challenge for an audience.

KATE HERBERT

Hysteria by Damien Richardson, Oct 1, 1997

Hysteria by Damien Richardson

at La Mama until Oct 5, 1997
Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Sept 26, 1997

No matter what name we give them: neurosis, sadness, depression, melancholia, mania - nervous disorders are not to be sneezed at, so why not make theatre about them?

Writer-performer, Damien Richardson has done just this with his solo play, Hysteria, which takes a peculiar angle on the neurotic. Richardson has used factual information and hilariously exaggerated autobiographical details about his own family to create a quirky and engaging piece.

A childhood friend, Fuzz, has grown up with a drug dependence and psychotic symptoms, is a focal character. There are some funny and disturbing moments as we witness Fuzz's disorientation and panic, his fear and naivete.

Dad is a born-again Charismatic Christian wearing Jesus sandals and spouting embarrassing Christian dogma on the perimeter of the cricket field where his son plays. The need for a 'normal' parent is overwhelming.

The fact that hysteria was always associated with women is a fascination to Richardson. He is bemused by the ancient Greeks' notion that the uterus travelled through the body randomly creating hysterical responses in women. He physically transforms himself into a women onstage – which is quite disturbing.

One central character, Genevieve, is drawn from the case studies of the late 19th century French analyst, Charcot, who researched and treated women with hysterical or neurotic tendencies. Freud went to Paris early in his career to study under Charcot at the hospital of Sal Petiere in Paris, the same hospital in which Diana died; an odd congruence.

Genevieve was a depressive who, in her fits, took up "passionate attitudes" which Richardson freezes into dramatic, almost histrionic tableaux. It is ironic and tragic that real disorder can appear almost melodramatic.

Richardson is a performer who takes risks on stage. His material deals with psychosis and taboos: sexual, religious and theatrical. He works directly to the audience, sits down amongst us for a rest and a little comfort during the show and comments on the audience reaction.

He improvises in an almost unnerving way, dropping in and out of character and delving into the psyches of the nervously challenged. He revitalises childhood anecdotes and family behavioural quirks, playing them as comic stories but, in fact, highlighting them with a parallel analysis of neurosis.

This is a funny and cleverly written show with some challenging moments about our delicate psyches.

KATE HERBERT                 

Cloudburst by Steve Wheat, Oct 1, 1997

Cloudburst by Steve Wheat

at La Mama until Oct 12, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around 30 Sep 1997

Some relationships are simply to be weathered. Such is the case with the couple in Steve Wheat's play, Cloudburst, Beth (Sarah Chapman) and David (Craig Goddard) meet, fall passionately in love, live together then proceed to drive each other to distraction. Ring any bells?

Wheat's writing is intelligent, witty and often poetic. He seems fascinated with the structure of language, its infinite permutations. His characters use words as weapons or caresses depending on the state of their communications. They dodge and feint, avoiding real contact, skittering over the surface of their problems until the wounds start seeping.

Beth is 'ebullient' says David. David is 'amiable', says Beth, damning him in one gentle word. It becomes clear that Beth is damaged, bitter, closed off from her emotions and masking some terrible wound. David needs intimacy not space. He wants to crawl inside her. A recipe for disaster?

Wheat cleverly uses the continuing analogy of the storm, the impending cloudburst, to highlight the potentially explosive end to this love affair. Finally the skies open, the clouds burst. It is a great relief, like a cooling summer storm.

Goddard plays Dave with the right amount of jittery neediness while Chapman is intense and brittle as the often-dislikeable Beth. Having performed this show together for three seasons, their onstage relationship is strong even given the direct address to audience set amongst the dialogue.

Wheat's language allows the couple to set up patterns of behaviour. They repeat word games, trivia competitions, and whole conversations. Initially, they love the rapport these bring but finally the revisited conversations become arguments and taunts.

There is tragedy in Beth particularly but there are some lovely, warm, poetic scenes. The two, naked in their huge bathtub on stage, play and tease each other and us with a game of truth or dare which dredges up their pasts uncomfortably.

Up until the explosion towards the end of the play, the dynamic range of the performance was a little too narrow, and the acting was a tad too restrained or mannered. This is, of course, written into the characters to a great extent but the piece was crying out for out for a climax - which echoes the many references to orgasm in the text.

The play is smart, funny and titillating, which is a good combination.

KATE HERBERT

Kennedy's Children, Oct 1, 1997

Kennedy's Children by Robert Patrick

Athenaeum Upstairs bar until Oct 19, 1997

 Reviewed by Kate Herbrt around 30 Sept 1997

JFK and Marilyn Monroe were not the only casualties of the swingin' 60's. Kennedy's Children, by U.S. playwright Robert Patrick, crawls inside the sad lives of some lesser-known tragedies that lived on into the nostalgic 70's only to regret their pasts.

This adaptation has excised several characters from the original play and concentrates on two women. Carla (Deborah Robertson) is a Marilyn wannabe and failed club singer. Rona (Suzie Cardiff) is a latter-day hippy who pines for the days of real causes and idealistic kids.

Rona and her kind wore sandals 'because we were poor' not as a fashion statement. They took drugs to expand their minds not to kill themselves or others. They listened to music because it supported their protests, they marched because they cared and loved because they meant it.

Carla remembers when every girl - and boy - wanted to be Marilyn, when beauty was prized and men didn't hate women. As the decade wore on, she discovered that she was disposable. Both are tragic romantics who believed life could be better and discovered that it only got worse.

Cardiff is a charming and ingenuous love child reincarnated. Her naive reminiscences, her almost childlike view of the politics and social dramas of the era, have a sweet melancholy. She has never recovered from her dreams of a better world, even though her boyfriend is a junkie and Dylan is a multi-millionaire.

The characters who have been edited from this production included a Vietnam veteran and a gay man. The balance is tossed askew with only two voices in the series of monologues but the musical accompaniment by Dan Kelly is an excellent compensation for some of the losses. The actors prowl among the audience in the Upstairs bar of the Athenaeum but the staging becomes predictable and static although the characters and writing carry the piece.

Robertson gives a masterly performance as Carla. Her jaded Marilyn look-alike is a desperate creature haunting this bar, singing her old songs, drinking her cocktails to wash down too many sleepers. Her voice is scented with Marilyn and gin. Her memories are of an artist who bartered herself for favours.

Patrick's writing is exceptional and informed. He wittily juxtaposes images, concepts and characters from the period and seems, himself, to be pining for the days when people were kind to each other. When were they?

KATE HERBERT

Moonlodge by Margo Kane, Sept 24, 1997

Moonlodge by Margo Kane

Festival of the Dreaming.

At La Mama Oct 7-12, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Sept 24, 1997

Brecht said about Mother Courage that a slow silent scream was a more powerful expression of her grief than any vocal sound could ever be. So it is in Margo Kane's solo show, Moonlodge.

It seems that Stolen Children were not restricted to Australian aboriginal communities. Kane's moving, energetic show reveals one Native American-Canadian who was a victim of 'the scoops in the mid-50's. "Scooping" was the practice of the Children's Aid Department that sent black cars driven by priests, police or welfare to steal children.

What more effective way to decimate a culture than to sever its children's contact with it? As we know, it was criminal, particularly when perpetrated on a community that was kept unaware of its rights or processes of redress.

Kane performs with an inner fire generated by her commitment to telling the stories of her native culture. She peoples the stage with characters. We see Agnes, the stolen child, happy with her mother, then foster mother and as a rebellious hippy hitching to Nirvana - California - in the 60's. Finally, she reclaims her heritage in the women's Moonlodge ceremony.

The continual self-narration interspersed with character dialogue combine effectively with Kane's movement skills to colour the story and engage the audience. She employs seamless physical character shifts to introduce us to characters.

We meet Aunt Sophie the gossip with a good heart, Marlon the inarticulate and dangerous biker and the attractive Lance who takes her to her first Pow-Wow. Most affecting was Millie, the old Native American who gently invites Agnes into her family and the Moonlodge.

There are some hilarious depictions of white stereotypes of Native Americans. Kane dryly satirises cigar store Indians, the 60's song "Running Bear loves Little White Dove", Hollywood's Red Injuns and ditties she learned on Brownies camp. Ironically, she accompanies the rape scene and the Pow-Wow with Broadway Musical romantic ballads.

The Pow-Wow finally shows Agnes the wonderful variety of non-stereotypical people in her lost culture. Everybody dances differently and sings with her own voice.

The most deeply moving moments were the child Agnes' silent scream as she beats her little fists against the window of the car driving her away from her mother. The reincorporation of this image as she tells her dream in the Moonlodge is mesmerising.

Moonlodge comes to La Mama, the perfect space for it, for a limited season.

KATE HERBERT

Circus Oz , Sep 17 1997

Circus Oz 
Melbourne Town Hall until October 5, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around 16 Sep, 1997

There's one thing about Oz. We give good circus and this year's Circus Oz season at the Melbourne Town Hall is no exception.

David Carlin's direction is slick giving the program a smooth structure. The show is stylish and segues efficiently between acts. Carlin has avoided any loose narrative and concentrated on highlighting individual skills developed into snappy routines.

The opening act is a crowd-grabber as six acrobats scamper up a pole like monkeys.  Just when you think there are no new ways to do balances and trapeze, they surprise us. The stage pictures are beautiful.

The marbled fountain statues spouting water are clever and funny. The sexy trapeze double act was like Ann-Margret and Marlon Brando in the air and the floor duo was a sensual and exotic follow-up. Genevieve Morris does the 'most difficult and dangerous of all circus feats: acting!" Juliet's balcony scene - backwards.

Michael Ling's tequila-soaked Matador with Tim Coldwell's Toro on a tight wire is a hit as is Per Westman's trick of dressing while juggling. We have a reprise of Coldwell's old fave of walking on the roof and of the hilariously dignified but nigh-naked drummer, Chris Lewis, playing horns in every nook and cranny of his body.

The second half is like being on the bus in the movie, Speed, but with better music and wilder stunts. Imagine, just as the bus is heading helter-skelter toward the unleapable gap in the freeway, some lunatic Australian acrobat hurling herself through the air, forming a human bridge.

The show is a juggernaut, building momentum until the audience begs for a break from jaw-wrenching astonishment. The skills of this company of multi-talented performers increase exponentially yearly. A two-year-old in the front row squatted, tongue poised millimetres from his choc-top, gaping at extraordinary feats of strength and dexterity in the ring.

And the Chinese hoop diving never ceases to astound me.

Phillip Lethlean and Gina Gascoigne's lighting design is exceptional with elaborate abstract shapes splashing over floor, ceiling and artists. Laurel Frank's costumes are a fiesta of visions in lycra.

The band, under musical director Carl Polke, provides pounding rock and dramatic background for every occasion. Does everybody in this company play instruments?

Take everybody you know. Go "Ooh! Aah!" Eat a choc-top. It's a great night at the circus.

KATE HERBERT

Festival of the Dreaming, Article, Sep 17, 1997

Festival of the Dreaming

Sydney Olympic Festival Sept 16 to October 6, 1997

Article by Kate Herbert Sept 17, 1997 (Herald Sun)

The Festival of the Dreaming, which is part of the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, is getting good press and audiences in spite of a boycott by some aboriginal artists and other members of the community.

Objections to the festival and director, Rhoda Roberts programming, include factors such as there being no commissioned works by aboriginal playwrights.

Despite this particular deficiency, the program features many theatre works written and performed by indigenous artists not only from Australia. The series of solo shows under the common title 'Wimmin's Business' at the Playhouse at the Opera House is a delightful collage of pieces by international and local guests.

Ningali from Perth has remounted her autobiographical show of the same name in which she self-narrates her journey from Fitzroy Crossing to High School in Alaska then Dance School in Sydney. '

Seven Stages of Dreaming' written by Wesley Enoch and performed by Deborah Mailman is a deeply affecting performance about grief and reconciliation and 'Box the Pony' features the multi-talented Leah Purcell in another autobiography.

Canadian, Margo Kane brings the warm and moving 'Moonlodge' to La Mama soon.

Bangarra Dance Theatre premieres Stephen Page's new work, 'Fish', an absorbing and theatrical series of pieces on environmental themes in styles ranging from the traditional to the funky.

There are several collaborations with non-aboriginal artists, one being 'Bidenjarreb Pinjarra' about the 1834 massacre of the Pinjarra people which uses comedy and sensitivity in a move toward reconciliation.

Aboriginal casts play in classics such as 'Waiting for Godot' and 'Midsummer Night's Dream'. The latter integrates Dreamtime with Dreamland in its computer generated virtual backdrop representing a broody, Dreamtime desert landscape.

Aboriginal languages feature on stage. Godot is translated into Bundjalung and 'Wirid-Jiribin-The Lyrebird' is the first public performance for 200 years in Tharawal.

Locations vary from the Opera House theatres to Centennial Park where Sydney based Stalker Theatre perform 'Mimi' which was created with the Kundarlangnja community from W.A. Indigenous artists work with Stalker's stilt- walkers in this exceptional visual outdoor spectacle about the giant Mimi spirits who teach the people to dance, hunt and gather.

The festival features indigenous artists from all over the globe including Greenland, Korea, Samoa, New Zealand and P.N.G. It celebrates artists from ancient cultures and highlights the slow but inexorable global process of reconciliation. Sydney is alive with extraordinary art.

KATE HERBERT