Titanic by Theater Titanick, Jan 27, 1998

Titanic by Theater Titanick

Forecourt Sydney Opera House Jan 20-24

Perth Esplanade Feb 12-19, 1998

Reviewed by Kate Herbert 27 Feb, 1998, Sydney

Apocalyptic events take turns fascinating humanity. The 'now' catastrophe is Titanic which has us in its inevitably watery grasp.

In contrast to the movie, the international prize-winning Theater Titanick from Germany, present Titanic outdoors in its full, elemental glory - with fire and water 'in your face'.

As the company of seven actors plus myriad skilled technicians, construct, launch, celebrate and sink the ship, an audience of 20,000 on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House risk their designer outfits in the face of 30,00 litres of spewing water and pyrotechnics.

Like other European companies such as La Fura dels Baus, this is techno-theatre. However, Titanick uses machines rather than video technology, live musicians instead of recorded sound.

It is raw, immediate, chaotic and phenomenal entertainment that leaves one well and truly gob-smacked by the finale.

The Bouffon clown characters include a chook-like cook, socialite passenger, smug owner, decadent captain, goofy waiter, gauche sailor-boy and a crippled engineer.

They scuttle about like trapped creatures, being hoisted in bathtubs, harnessed to pulleys or enslaved to a giant wheel.

Titanic, in best black clown tradition, is both hilarious and poignant. Without language, it highlights the vanity of the upper class, the relentlessness of nature and the fragility of life.

As the ship sinks, the crippled crewman hopelessly stuffs his crutch into the breached hull.

Meanwhile, above, the passenger, owner and captain feast on roasted pig, tossing morsels of (real) chicken into the ravening crowd. The class system is highlighted. As they bathe in hot tubs on deck, the desperate crew bails water below.

The audience witnesses the mechanics of theatre; the effort of construction and the experience of drowning are palpable.

The peace of the early journey that followed the clamour of construction and the blazing glory of the launch, is shattered by a cataclysmic, fiery flood which leaves the huge space littered with drenched bodies, smashed plates and a flaming tower. The silence after such chaos is deafening.

The location at Point Bennelong, is a natural amphi-theatre set between the sails of the Opera House, which echo the ship, and tall cliffs. It resonates with compelling music: didgeridoo, bass, drums, accordion and french horn, ad is flooded with evocative, dramatic light.

Titanick is based in Munster and Leipzig and has toured Titanic throughout Europe since 1993. One of its founding members. Clair Howells, is Melbourne-born. Perhaps someone with vision will book Titanic or its new production about war, Troja, for the Melbourne Festival.

It's our turn to gape and cheer.

Titanic by Theater Titanick 

By Kate Herbert 27 Feb, 1998

Into The Woods , MTC, Jan 25, 1998

Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine

Melbourne Theatre Company, Playhouse until February 21, 1998

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Jan 24, 1998

Fabulous. Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods is simply fabulous in both senses of the word.

Firstly, it is an exceptional piece of music theatre and secondly, it takes a Bamix to several familiar fables and blends them into an extraordinary whole.

Roger Hodgman, in another successful collaboration with Musical Director Jean McQuarrie, has produced the third in a series of Sondheims for the Melbourne Theatre Company. It incorporates a14 piece orchestra, spooky forest picture-book design (Tony Tripp) and evocative lighting (Jamieson Lewis).

Sondheim is the star of this show, which is not to belittle any individual contributions. His lyrics, with James Lapine's book, weave together Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, creating a complex fabric of character and narrative that illuminates the existential dilemmas of our puny lives. His witty lyrics include such references to Jack's beanstalk as, "If the end is right, it justifies the beans."

Fairy Tales, said child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, "teach us that a struggle against severe difficulties in life. is an intrinsic part of human existence."  Children must learn that "Sometimes people lead you half-way through the woods." Sondheim owes much to Carl Jung's psychological landscape. He has manufactured not one, but myriad heroes' journeys.

Like Parsifal, Red Riding Hood and Jack must escape their mothers in order to mature. Cinderella and Rapunzel must confront and abandon their fantasies about Princes Charming rescuing them. The Baker must reconcile his becoming a parent. "Careful the wish you make", says the lyric. You might just get it.

Sondheim's second half spirals downward into darkness with the disintegration and reformation of this "kingdom far away'. This production captures the peppiness of the first half but labours a little after interval.

The ensemble of fifteen grabs this huge task and run with it. All are deliciously individual and eccentric, even though some may be miscast. Anthony Weight has a fine voice and wonderful comic presence as Jack, and the hilarious Gina Riley, as .the Baker's Wife, has the funniest curtsey ever. Lisa McCune is charming as Cinderella.

A Narrator can be intrusive but Peter Carroll is magnetic. Tamsin Carroll plays Red with cynicism and wit and Rhonda Burchmore's Witch is wild, if a little outside the style of the piece.

 This is a must-see show.  See it - or face the dark side.

KATE HERBERT

The Leenane Trilogy by Martin McDonagh, Jan 25, 1998

The Leenane Trilogy by Martin McDonagh

Druid Theatre/Royal Court Theatre

At Footbridge Theatre Sydney until January 31, 1998

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Jan 24, 1998

Nine and a half hours at the theatre, including food and nap breaks, is more than a day's work.

Such are the demands of Martin McDonagh's Leenane Trilogy, although theatre wimps may choose to see it on three separate nights.  They are far less taxing than eleven hours of Peter Brook's majestic Mahabarata or Phillip Glass's minimalist Einstein on the Beach.

Plays by 'angry young men' are all the rage now and The Leenane Trilogy is no exception. The Druid Theatre co-production with The Royal Court (which produced the original 'angry young man' play, John Osborne's Look Back in Anger), has gripped Ireland, England and New York and now has Sydney by the scruff of the neck.

Characters in Leenane, an isolated village in Western Ireland, rage and brutalise, booze and pontificate, murder and suicide in three loosely connected but discrete narratives. They are light and excruciatingly hilarious pieces that skitter across the top of the more serious issues, only occasionally breaking the surface to penetrate their deeper implications. This makes them easy to digest but a less than satisfying meal.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, McDonagh's first professional play, was staged in 1996 after its development through Druid's new writers' program. It is, like the others, comic realism with a huge dollop of Irish absurdity and grotesquery and a rough structure.

At forty and relentlessly single, Maureen Folan (Marie Mullen)  is trapped caring for her grotesque, whining mother (Anna Manahan). Maureen's virginal desperation is relieved by the romantic reappearance of lonely Pato Dooley (Brian F. O'Byrne). But Mag burns invitations and letters delivered by Pato's younger brother, Ray (Aidan McArdle) in a ferocious act of sabotage that ends in murder and madness.

Sound deadly serious? Strangely, no. Maureen's rise and decline provide the most tragic moments.but, essentially, Mc Donagh writes like a stand-up comic. In all three, he is seeringly funny about his Irish cousins, their boozing, cursing, superstition, rampant emigration, incompetence and parochialism

He pulls the rug out from under darker scenes before we are drawn into a trilogy more emotionally and intellectually challenging, but probably too harrowing to contend with in a single sitting without valium.

A Skull in Connemara, the least evolved text, ambles about its narrative, cracking jokes and skulls in its path. Mick Dowd (Maeliosa Stafford) is suspected of having murdered his wife. As gravedigger, he must exhume her bones to make room for new corpses. It escalates into a hilarious drunken romp as Mick and dizzy young Mairtin (David Wilmot) smash old bones with mallets, listening to ' music to hammer dead fellas by' which is 'more fun than hamster-cooking.'

This play is brutal black comedy but is weakened by a rambling structure, some obvious jokes and adolescent attempts to shock we who are virtually unshockable by references to vomit or urine.

The final play, The Lonesome West, has the most electrifyingly comic dialogue. McDonagh's machine-gun gags, cruel family rivalries and village frustrations, are rife.

Brothers Valene, the pasty-faced wimp (O'Byrne) and Coleman, the barbarian (Stafford) have buried their father who was shot 'accidentally' after criticising Coleman's hairdo. The two exist in a living hell, tormenting each other to distraction. Valene blackmails Coleman into signing away his inheritance. Coleman destroys Valene's collection of holy figurines and waters his formidable brew, pocheen.

The drunken and maudlin Father Welsh (David Ganly), whose name no-one can ever remember, makes it his last wish that they cease fire.

McDonagh cooks up a comic feast of their feeble attempts to form a truce..

Welsh,a tragic figure makes 'a terrible priest' because 'you are a terror for the drink and you have doubts about Catholicism.' says his seductive teenage admirer, Girleen (Dawn Bradfield). One of the sweetest, most intimate and satisfying moments in the plays is the farewell scene between Girleen and her priest.

Gary Hines swift direction is unequivocally exceptional as are all performances Mullen captures the fragility and despair of the beauty queen, and Manahan the mother's grossness. O'Byrne's range in all three is commendable, particularly as the childish Valene.

This is an exhaustive rather than exhausting stretch in the theatre. The plays are relentlessly, achingly funny but they are by no means masterpieces.

KATE HERBERT

MIKA Haka on Heels, Jan 20, 1998

MIKA Haka on Heels

Universal Theatre 1 until Feb 1, 1998

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Jan 19, 1998

You can get away with murder if you're charming and Mika could charm the pants off a Presbyterian choir.

His pastiche of songs, dance and silly banter is hilariously trashy and defying definition.

It falls somewhere between Les Girls and Madonna - with a Maori bouncer tossed in for good measure. This is good-humoured cabaret thtat does not take itself too seriously - which is lucky because it is very rough round its gold-trimmed edges.

Mika himself is an ex-aerobic champion with a wicked grin and equally wicked falsetto and a body to kill for. He romps and smirks and teases while two 'girls' provide tacky choreographic background to his "Maori Spice.".

It is his ease, warmth and naturalness that have made Mika a star in New Zealand and a hit at the Edinburgh Festival. This is the first leg of an international tour: Perth, Sydney for Mardi Gras then Asia and Europe. Dong the Haka (You know: war dance, tongues, much stamping) in Heels is part of his strategy of satirising male behaviour by exaggerating blokiness on stage.

Recorded music (Gareth Farr) accompanies the songs which include a few classics of the 60's and 70's: Light My Fire, Say a Little Prayer, Walk on By, It's Not Unusual. There is also a smattering of TV themes such as Wonderwoman and Marina the Mermaid accompanied by mermaid tummy dancing on stools.

Some of Mika's original songs are terrific such as the seduction of the Macdonald's order boy, "Do you want fries with that?' 'The Dresser' is a clever funky song about a transvestite caught out by his wife. Others are less successful.

This is bizarre and hilarious trash that cries out for a glitzy stage design to complement the glam costumes, instead of the Universal theatre and its grubby floor. Hello Crown Casino! This show would walk all over Red Hot and Rhonda.

The dancing duo, The Uhuras, are Mika's support and they make a weird but graceful pair, one being fine-boned and athletic and the other lusciously plump and sensual.

The Maori references are plentiful. Kiri Tre Kanawa 'a Maori from London' features in the curtain call and Mika manages a very funny facial likeness to the expatriate diva. Pauline Hanson gets a slapping. .'I'm here to make indigenous babies with her."

This show has broad appeal. Take the aunties. They'll probably love it.

KATE HERBERT

Thieving Boy & Like Stars in My Hands, Jan 20.1998

Thieving Boy & Like Stars in My Hands by Tim Conigrave

Adapted by Tony Ayres.

Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, until January 31, 1998

Reviewed by kate Herbert around 19 Jan 1998

To be at the opening during Midsumma Festival of Tim Conigrave's two plays was to see the works twice removed.

They are removed from their first production in '97 and from their writer, not only by adaptation from their early drafts but by his death in 94 before their completion and production.

David Bell's direction has created a funky ad-break theatre with rapid scenes and hacksaw dialogue. The buzz in the foyer was that Thieving Boy had improved with remounting and some recasting while Stars was less magnetic. This reviewer seems to be the only critic who was seeing them for the first time.

In Like Stars in My Hands, it is the intensity of the experience of a man facing mortality which, in spite of the poorly structured text, makes moving theatre. Simon, played with dignity, tenderness and empathy by Adam Broinowski, is in the final stages of AIDS but still clutches at life. His partner, Marcello (Stephen Pease) suffers the anguish of the caregiver who will remain behind to gather the pieces of his life alone.

The emotional and visual components of Stars, in addition to Broinowski's performance, make it theatrically satisfying. In conjuction with Leon Salom's design, lighting and slides by Matt Scott and Gerard O'Connor create the other-worldliness of Simon's near-death visions and nightmares. The challenge of attending to a philosophical discussion of death intensifies the experience tenfold.

Thieving Boy is a more complete, coherent script with clearly drawn characters. It also deals with death but this time of a father. Conigrave observes family dynamics under a microscope. Angry young man, Moxy, (Torquil Neilson) is out of gaol for a day to see his father and his ex-lover Tom (Stephen Pease).

Conigrave captures the complexity and confusion of relationships in his swift, witty dialogue and irrational arguments littered with blame, frustration, lost opportunities and unspoken love. Reportedly, his novel, Holding the Man, which was completed for publication by Nick Enright, is a must-read.

Neilson is compelling as the tattered Moxy. As his fraught mother Penelope Stewart beautifully depicts the unpredictability of a grief. Petra Yared is a delightfully gauche pubescent foil to the addled adults.

Despite their flaws as texts, these are plays for our time. They reach out of the wheelchair and grip our emotional selves. Isn't that why we are in the theatre? To be touched?

KATE HERBERT   

Musicals In Melbourne, Jan 15, 1998

Musicals In Melbourne: Article

Article published in Herald Sun, Melbourne.

by Kate Herbert 14 Jan, 1998

Musicals are big business which means big bucks Australian producers have fewer bucks and are inclined to take fewer risks than those in the US and UK.

We have smaller audiences, shorter seasons, fewer major composers and songwriters. We do wonderful productions of US and UK shows but we produce painfully few original, commercially successful Australian musicals. Why?

Our tradition of musicals is really just beginning, suggests Darryl Emerson, writer of The Pathfinder. The American musical tradition, he says, began with Jerome Kern's Showboat in 1927 or with Victor Herbert (no relation) in 1890. Any wonder we are a bit behind.

People like familiarity in their music. The concert version and sound recording generally precede the stage production and overseas shows are well established and highly publicised by the time they arrive in our theatres. Any new Australian musical has much less lead-time, fewer famous songs and air play. The Boy From Oz, about Peter Allen, is an exception, comprising Allen's well-known songs.

It is not that we have a dearth of musicals on stage or a lack of interest in them. One opens per month during '98. But our audiences make conservative choices and spend selectively. There is also some cultural cringe about shows with local content by relatively unknown local composers. Audiences stayed away in droves from the ill-fated The History of Australia: The Musical in 1988.

So we keep producing revivals of old or recently successful UK or US productions. Phantom re-opened in December after Crazy for You. Into the Woods opens today and Showboat in April.

Any new musical needs seeding money..The Foundation for the Australian Musical attempted to provide much needed development funds but folded from insufficient support. A show may be developed within a company infra-structure, with state and/or federal government subsidy or be mounted at very low cost by the writer/producer. Essentially it requires a producer.

A musical has a three to five year gestation period and a much larger creative team than theatre. Prior to production will come a CD, a concert, a development workshop and test performances

Several Australian works are in varying stages of production. In May we will see Craig Christie's Crusade-The Concert, produced by Sandy Merlino and Chris Paterson with a fine creative team led by director and MD of Miss Saigon and Les Mis, Gary Young and Guy Simpson.

The Plumber's Opera by composer/song writer, Ross Nobel, featuring Glynn Nicholas, cleverly 'opened in the provinces.' i.e. Perth on January14, before trying its mettle in the big smoke: Sydney and Melbourne.

It is a charming romp which satirises operetta and opera prima donnas. Nobel, who has extensive experience as a composer/song-writer but none as a playwright, wrote book, lyrics and music - no mean feat.. A cast of four versatile singer/actors makes it commercially viable and cheap. By 'cheap' I mean no helicopter or tumbling chandeliers.

Nobel jokingly boasts about his '100% strike rate'. His first and only show has come to fruition after taken three years and with two production companies: Glynn Nicholas' GBS Productions seeded the project with a weekend workshop, and in October 97, performances to an invited audience at the Comedy Theatre.

Darryl Emerson's Pathfinder was a national success in 86 His new musical, Martin and Gina, about a 50's romance in the Snowy Mountains, had a development concert with the defunct Victorian State Opera and a reading at Playbox in 97.directed by Bruce Myles.

But getting to the next stage of production – i.e. finding the production funds – is proving more problematic. Emerson is forming a company and has recorded a CD for its own sake and to make money for the production planned for three years hence. The producing process is long and arduous allowing no time or energy for further creative work on any new product.

If we keep re-hashing old stuff by composers and songwriters from other countries, we will never have our own musical industry. We need culture to reflect our lives and to enhance our self-esteem and our international reputation. Perhaps we have now come of age and our musicals can begin to flourish.

KATE HERBERT

The Taming of the Shrew, ASC, Dec 29, 1997

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

Australian Shakespeare Company.

In Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, until March 1998

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Dec 29 1997

There are many ways to interpret Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew'. Playing it outdoors limits the more subtle choices.

Glenn Elston's production in the Botanical Gardens follows that of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Twelfth Night', all of which have approached Will's text with broad and comic brush strokes.

The locations are dreamy. The modern prologue is set on an emerald hill sloping toward the lake. The ensuing romance plays before a backdrop of leggy, backlit palms and a rowdy cast of fruit bats. It is gorgeous - particularly when accompanied by a champagne supper.

This entertaining production zips along at a cracking pace for two and a half hours It is a broad burlesque with plenty of physical comedy, wordplay and verbal innuendo, much, but not all of which, is inherent in Shakespeare's text. The audience seemed uproariously happy with the Benny Hill 'nudge nudge' style.

Baptista (Ernie Gray) has two daughters: the wild-flower shrew, 'Kate the cursed' (Nadine Garner) and Bianca, the sweet model of tedious virginity. The untameable, bonny yet undesirable Kate must be married before Bianca can accept her many suitors. Enter Petruchio (Nick Eadie) to save the day by whisking Kate - and her fortune -away to a life of domestic subservience.

The inevitable problem arises. How does a late 20th century production deal with the profoundly sexist premise that Kate must be rendered impotent and her spirit broken by the ruthless Petruchio? Most often, as is the case here, she eventually chooses to see her repression as a game to be played and enjoyed at the expense of others.

Unfortunately, Garner provides no sexual tension or subtlety in her one-note performance of Kate. She shouts relentlessly in a shrill screech that only ceases when Kate acquiesces to her fascist husband. Her final speech is completely lost.

Eadie's Petruchio is attractive, blokey and his physical antics are funny. His wooing of Kate was directed inappropriately as a 'grab ya, gotcha' sort of violation that eliminates all the truly sexy and seductive elements in their banter.

Nick Lyon's music gives a delightfully evocative Renaissance flavour and the ensemble all provide some hilarious slapstick with great comic turns from Meridy Eastman, Kevin Hopkins and James Wardlaw. . Ernie Gray's is a fine Baptista. His inimitable comic skill allows an essentially straight character a further ironic dimension.

This is enjoyable and accessible Shakespeare -but it needs a stronger Kate.

KATE HERBERT

Julie Andrews: A life on stage and screen, Dec 29, 1997

Julie Andrews: A life on stage and screen, by Robert Windeler

Published by Aurum London 1997.

Book reviewed by Kate Herbert around Dec 29, 1997

Julie Andrews was dubbed "Miss P and P" - Miss Prim and Proper - by the venomous New York gossip columnist, Joyce Haber. Her shattering of the public perception of her as a singing nanny-nun was to be the cause of her losing her glittering public profile according to biographer, Robert Windeler.

Windeler is not a colourful or poetic writer but he is certainly informative. We follow Julie's dislocated and unnervingly show-businessy childhood, her chequered marriage history and adoption of two Vietnamese orphans. Julie's fan club will be delighted with Windeler's sometimes annoying minutiae of Andrews' life. He even describes how she brewed her tea.

 Julie was born on October 1 1935, If you're interested in astrology, she was a classic Libran: needed to be liked, hated conflict, cultivated ambivalence, resisted anger, cracked jokes, whistled and sang on set. Is it any wonder she was seen as a cross between Mary Poppins and pixie-boots Maria Von Trapp?

 Her piano-playing mother left her stable, woodworking father for a brassy tenor she met on a concert tour. Julie toured England with the family act. By seventeen she had top billing. She supported the family playing in pantos until she landed the lead in 'The Boyfriend' in London then on Broadway two years later. She leapt to fame on stage as Eliza Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

Eventually, through sheer ease and proximity, she married Tony Walton her loyal, old English boyfriend who had come to the US as a designer. Julie remained Mrs. Prim - until Blake Edwards, director of the Pink Panther movies, stole her heart.

Julie went from strength to strength in musicals, although she lost the screen role of Eliza to Audrey Hepburn She was compensated by accolades for 'Camelot' and her huge hits,  'Mary Poppins' and 'The Sound of Music'. One fan of the latter was so obsessed that she saw it daily for a year. Julie was now a real Star.

It was the flop of "Star!" which marked her fall. Public and press hated it and she was now seen to be flagrantly flaunting her adultery by living with Edwards. Miss Squeaky Clean was now Miss Profligate.  After 'Darling Lili' flopped, Darling Julie became box office poison.

So she took to psychotherapy like a duck to water, attending five times a week from 1963-68. Her fraught childhood, recent marriage problems and guilt about fracturing her daughter's family life, provided plenty of material for analysis. One can speculate whether she addressed the whispers of homosexuality that, says Windeler, arose from a jokey kiss with her friend Carol Burnett years earlier.

During her early 70's lull in popularity Julie refused plenty of concert and TV offers. She wanted movies. She immersed herself in her children, her controlling husband and charities. The couple finally married and lived between two extravagant homes in Malibu and Switzerland with their five children.

Julie would now do only work which involved or was approved by Edwards. In '77 she returned to concerts. Edwards was on a roll with '10' and 'The Return of the Pink Panther'. In 1983 'Victor/Victoria', written by Edwards for his wife, won her a Golden Globe award.

It was thirty years since she had arrived for 'The Boyfriend'. Although she has never taken American citizenship, Julie was now less English. She used tea bags instead of a tea pot and was described variously as 'terribly nice but terribly nervous' (Christopher Plummer) or  'a nun with a switchblade'.

By the early 90's Julie's family was in tatters with the two adoptive daughters in drug rehab but her career was revitalised by concert tours, TV specials and two movies. She had a rose named after her, received the BAFTA lifetime award and was inducted into the US Theatre Hall of Fame .

This year, at 62 and after much illness during the struggling stage production of 'Victor/Victoria', she publicly refused a nomination for best actor because no other artists in the show were nominated. Julie Andrews is becoming assertive in her old age.

Has all that therapy finally worked?

KATE HERBERT

WIND IN THE WILLOWS , Dec 24, 1997

WIND IN THE WILLOWS based on the book by Kenneth Graham.

by Australian Shakespeare Company

Botanical Gardens Gate F, Birdwood Drive,

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Dec 23, 1997

Did you know you can do 'weasel workshops' over summer if you want to learn how to be a sneaky creep?

 

As part of this season of Wind in the Willows, weasel workshops are being run so that the newly trained children can be 'extra' baby weasels for the evening shows. It keeps them off the streets.

Willows has become an annual event in the Botanical Gardens and, each season, a new crop of actors launches its version of the well-loved and well-worn characters. Toad  (of Toad Hall) is generally the most popular and Damien Richardson's Toad is no exception.

Toad is delightfully narcissistic, cowardly and childish in his obsessions with new fads such as canoeing and motoring. When he is arrested for dangerous unlicensed driving the children holler, "Send him to gaol!"

It is this frequent audience participation that makes what is sometimes a thin production into a novel event. The children, wearing rabbit badges, become honorary bunnies and are lead about by a very cool Rabbit (Matt Hetherington) and a very musical and sleazy Weasel (Stephen Gates).

They hunt for Portly, the lost baby otter (Chris Hocking), sing along with tunes, waggle their bunny ears, give advice to Mole (Anne Maloney) and Badger (Nick Clark) and call out suggestions to save Toad Hall from a massive Weasel incursion.

The musical elements are very successful. Two guitarists, Ratty (Glenn Perry) and Weasel keep the songs coming thick and fast while Otter (Nick Crawford-Smith) beats out rhythms and others sing harmonies.

This is almost a failsafe production for summer holiday audiences but it has a few problems. Outdoor theatre wears out actors' voices and many of the voices are already weakened with bellowing. The direction could take the physical clowning and visual comedy further with more slapstick and detailed business to fill some yawning gaps.

The location is as much a star as any character. Ratty arrives by boat on the lake, Toad falls out of his canoe backwards, Weasel perches in a tree, bunnies search for Portly under trees laden with rudely awoken fruit bats. It is a gorgeous site for a family picnic, so take a rug and champagne.

KATE HERBERT 3

Aladdin (Cabaret), Capers, Dec 2, 1997

Aladdin (Cabaret)

at Caper's Dinner Theatre until Dec 24, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Dec 2, 1997

The Silly Season is upon us and theatre restaurants such as Caper's in Hawthorn are the venue for large groups of tipsy bank tellers to compete for attention with the performers on stage.

Collette Mann has leapt from the little screen to a box set not much larger to feature in a bizarre version of Aladdin with John Finlayson, Paul Baden and Steve Kidd. Mann plays the lusty Genie and doubles as Mini Lee, a Chinese Princess.

Things Chinese may seem out of context with Aladdin, but this show is full of incongruities. Aladdin (Kidd) is the son of Widow Twanky (Finlayson), owner of a Peking Chinese takeaway shop. The villainous Lebaneezer (Baden) arrives to wreak vengeance on Peking by using the genie of the lamp to turn all take-away into Lebanese felafel and hommus. Strange? Indeed it is.

Mann is at her best when she is left alone with the audience to prattle, tease and ad lib with the vocal drunks who seem to think they are funny. It would have been beneficial to the show is she had been given more freedom to detour from the script.

 There were a few missed opportunities to drop in 'Prisoner' references, the most obvious being when Mann was chained in a dungeon. We awaited with baited breath a chorus of "You used to bring me roses" but Bert Newton and 'Good Morning Melbourne/China' were the butt of all the asides.

This panto, written by Babs McMillan and Gary Down and bastardised by the cast, is very old hat but nonetheless manages to be entertainingly trashy. "This is a helluva way to earn money," quips Mann. Finlayson does his wacky bit in drag as the panto dame dropping in his favourite Flanagan and Allen songs and routines.

The show is riddled with old vaudeville routines and tunes, bawdy jokes, painful puns, ˆtrashy choreography, musical comedy songs and some mildly racist gags such as "I'm not as dim as I sim". Pauline Hanson would love it - if she could keep up with the pace.

Mann is at her best when she is left alone with the audience to prattle, tease and ad lib with the vocal drunks who seem to think they are funny. It would have been beneficial to the show is she had been given more freedom to detour from the script.

 There were a few missed opportunities to drop in 'Prisoner' references, the most obvious being when Mann was chained in a dungeon. We awaited with baited breath a chorus of "You used to bring me roses" but Bert Newton and 'Good Morning Melbourne/China' were the butt of all the asides.

There are a few witty political references such as 'putting poker machines into all the remaining Victorian primary schools' but the musical numbers are the most successful component of the show. Steve Kidd, a talented singer/ entertainer, does a terrific musical comedy medley with Mann. The other drawcard is the fabulous menu.

KATE HERBERT

Double or Nothing, Dec 2, 1997

by $5 Theatre

Napier St Theatre until Dec, 1997

Reviewed by Kate Herbert round Dec 2, 1997

Funny isn't it how official and government bodies now call "Gambling" "Gaming". By simply dropping a couple of letters we lose the disease, the social ill, the family problem.

It is no longer a matter of luck or loss, fortune or misfortune. It is a Game! It's Fun! Thank you, Jeff, for saving us from such painful definition. We feel much better losing our salaries now.

$5 Theatre Company's latest devised show focusses on gambling, probability, chance, superstition and Crown Casino. It reverts to the old "agit-prop" (Agitational Propaganda) style of theatre that was very popular in the 70's in Britain and harks back to Leftist theatre all over Europe. It is simple in form but leaves one thinking in the truly Brechtian way. It is light and entertaining employing a series of vignettes, tableaux, and direct engagements with the audience. It even runs a real horse race complete with TAB tickets and audience winners and losers.

But, in spite of its light touch, we cannot leave blithely. It has an uncannily discomfiting after-bite. It clearly triggered after-show discussion of a political nature. The old-boy private school network of John Elliot, Kerry Packer, Lloyd Williams and Ron Walker (all responsible for Crown), wields enormous public and clandestine power.

 The casino is robbing the public blind. Casinos never lose. Punters lose. The government may be taking taxes from gambling, sorry, gaming bodies such as TAB and Crown but the losses are still incurred by the people of Victoria.  This state is eating its own young.

The political satire, the comfortable chat of the actors and their accessibility allow us to be lulled into a false sense of having seen something inconsequential but the didactic is at work on our little psyches. Clever old $5.

The one piece of realism in the show is Seamus, the recovering compulsive gambler who confesses his dreadful but all too credible sins directly to us.

This is the stuff of great human drama but naturalism is not the core of this piece. $5 do not want us absorbed in a single emotional drama, a private torment of one man. They want to leave us thinking and screaming for change. Perhaps Kennett has done us one favour. We may have some theatre that challenges the status quo.

KATE HERBERT

Reviews 1997 Kate Herbert, Herald Sun

Reviews 1997

Kate Herbert, Herald Sun

The following are all reviews published in Herald Sun during 1997. They are still available through www.newstext.com.au

They will all be uploaded in full soon.  KH

 PROGRAM WORTH APPLAUDING   Herald Sun, 30-12-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 050, 385 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
IT WAS a year of birthdays: La Mama turned 30, Playbox hit 21 and the Victorian College of the Arts celebrated its 25th. It was also a fine year for both fringe and mainstream theatre. The Melbourne Theatre Company provided my favorite: Molly Sweeney...

   REVIEW THEATRE   Herald Sun, 29-12-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 082, 420 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Fresh Wind blows again Wind in the Willows Where and when: Royal Botanic Gardens, Gate F; Saturday DID you know you can do weasel workshops during summer if you want to learn how to be a sneaky creep? As part of this season of Wind in the Willows, we...

    ALADDIN COMES TO DINNER   Herald Sun, 03-12-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 427 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Aladdin Where and when: Caper's Dinner Theatre until December 24 Colette Mann has leapt from the little screen to a box set not much larger to feature in a bizarre version of Aladdin with John Finlayson, Paul Baden and Steve Kidd. Mann plays the lust...

    IT'S PATSY RIGHT TO THE LAST   Herald Sun, 01-12-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 100, 411 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Patsy Cline: Her Songs, Her Story When and where: Universal Theatre (no closing date) PATSY Cline didn't have much luck outside of her Country and Western career. She married young, divorced, then married again to a philanderer and spendthrift. Her f...

   DRAMA MINUS THE HISTRIONICS   Herald Sun, 29-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 110, 278 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Theatre The Park Where and when: VCA Drama Studio; until Dec 6 Reviewer: Kate Herbert IT IS such a joy to see a play that confronts grief without indulging in melodramatics. Steve Wheat's The Park has a warmth and wry humor that, combined with his se...

   RAGE ON STAGE TOO RELENTLESS   Herald Sun, 29-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 111, 405 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Maelstrom Where and when: at Beckett Theatre, Ballarat University, until November 29 "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 ...

    ENJOY A GOOD CHAT AT A TOP VENUE   Herald Sun, 28-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 086, 460 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cabaret Chat Noir Where and when: Up Top Cocktail Bar, 123 Russell St. Last performance: 8pm, Sunday, November 30 Reviewer: Kate Herbert MELBOURNE has a tradition of reviving Berlin and Parisian cabaret, and the latest update is Cabaret Chat Noir (Bl...

    REVIEW   Herald Sun, 24-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 083, 395 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE Pope Joan, Women's Circus Where and when: old Police Garage, until December 6 IF YOU were a convent gal, you will understand how uproariously funny it is seeing 20 nuns teetering on another nun's bottom. Such is the display of antics in the W...

   TEMPEST BLOWS UP A STORM   Herald Sun, 24-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 084, 401 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Tempest, by the Bell Shakespeare Company Where and when: Athenaeum 1 until December 6 IT IS a joy to see a production of The Tempest emphasising its musical foundation. Jim Sharman, a director of music theatre and opera (Superstar, Rocky Horror),...

   MURDER MOST CAMP, BUT COLORLESS   Herald Sun, 18-11-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 058, 411 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love By Brad Fraser Vortical Theatre When and where: Athenaeum 2, until November 23. A WELL-written script can rise like a phoenix from even a mediocre production. Such is the case with Canadian playw...

    BLOWN AWAY BY DARK JOURNEY   Herald Sun, 21-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 052, 408 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Melbourne Festival Features of Blown Youth By Raimondo Cortese Where and when: Ranters Theatre, Economiser Building, Spencer St, until November 1 BEING cool is a painful dead end. Raimondo Cortese's play Features of Blown Youth highlights the tragedy...

    A HOWLING WILDERNESS   Herald Sun, 20-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 081, 392 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Melbourne Festival Raised by Wolves Where and when: Handspan Theatre, Victoria Dock Shed 14 until October 14 THERE comes a moment when we realise we have turned into our parents. Mine was during Raised by Wolves, when my uppermost thought was: "Turn ...    

HSUN1097.SRC.008   Herald Sun, 18-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 098, 209 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Perfect Madness Where and when: Courthouse Theatre until Nov 2 Reviewer: Kate Herbert LETTE was a whisker away from making it at the Tivoli. Her brother Gordon was a rising country and western singer. Instead they live their lives on a decrepit Sides...

    REVIEW   Herald Sun, 13-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 084, 373 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
I'M Not a Nut - Elect Me Anthony Morgan Where and when: Trades Hall Council chambers until October 19 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 alw...

    FIGHTS ARE A STORM IN A BATHTUB   Herald Sun, 07-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 046, 421 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE Cloudburst Where and when: At La Mama until October 12 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...

    HSUN1097.SRC.002   Herald Sun, 06-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 075, 415 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Moonlodge Where and when: Festival of Dreaming at La Mama; October 7-12 Reviewer: Kate Herbert BRECHT said of Mother Courage that a slow silent scream was a more powerful expression of her grief than any vocal sound could be. So it is in Margo Kane's...

    CRITIC'S CHOICE   Herald Sun, 04-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 107, 311 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cat SYD Brisbane performs this in-your-face, one-man show about a deeply disturbed individual with a dark past who lives in a country town. It is quite a challenge for the audience. Kennedy's Children By: Robert Patrick Where: Athenaeum upstairs bar ...

    SAD LIVES OF '60S REFUGEES   Herald Sun, 03-10-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 078, 188 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Kennedy's Children By Robert Patrick Where and when: Athenaeum Upstairs Bar until October 19 JFK and Marilyn Monroe were not the only casualties of the swingin' '60s. Kennedy's Children, by US playwright Robert Patrick, crawls inside the sad lives of...

   A DOSE OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT   Herald Sun, 30-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 046, 370 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Hysteria By Damien Richardson Where and when: La Mama until October 5 Writer-performer Damien Richardson has done just this with his solo play Hysteria. He has used factual information and hilariously exaggerated autobiographical details of his own f...

   DREAMS CAN COME TRUE   Herald Sun, 27-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 112, 291 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THE Festival of the Dreaming, which is part of the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, is getting good press and audiences, despite a boycott by some Aboriginal artists. Objections to the festival and director Rhoda Robert's programming include a lack of...  

 CRITICS' CHOICE   Herald Sun, 27-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 115, 314 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The John Wayne Principle for Playbox Where: Merlin Theatre When: until October 4 THE egocentric and cut-throat world of corporate business is cleverly satirised in this acerbically witty play. McNamara used to work in the money market and he provides...

    OZ IS STILL ON THE HIGH WIRE   Herald Sun, 13-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 114, 375 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW circus Circus Oz Where and When: Melbourne Town Hall until October 5 T HERE'S one thing about Australia - we put on a good circus - and this year's Circus Oz season is no exception. The second half is like being on the bus in the movie Speed, ...

    MEAT A FUNNY, TOUCHING BUTCHER   Herald Sun, 09-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 051, 395 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Meat By Nick Meenahan Where and when: Universal Theatre 1 until October 5 Meat, a solo show by Sydney actor and clown, Nick Meenahan, explores the joy of meat. "Pleased to meet ya. Meat to please ya," he quips with a cheeky cock of the head and a kno...

    CEREBRAL VERSUS THE PHYSICAL   Herald Sun, 08-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 087, 371 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre The Butcher, The Baker By Ella Filar Where and when: La Mama at the Courthouse until September 20 COULD it be a universal consciousness that causes strange themes to emerge simultaneously on stage? This month Ella Filar's play The Butc..

.    A NIGHT OF POE POEMS... AND MORE   Herald Sun, 03-09-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 053, 366 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Visions of Poe By Michael David Treloar Where and when: Christ Church, St Kilda, until September 20 LONG before Stephen King, the master of horror was American poet and short-story writer Edgar Allen Poe. His style was Gothic, spine-chilling imagery ...

   THE WAY TO OLD WORLD LAUGHS   Herald Sun, 30-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 112, 419 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Way of the World Where and when: Grant St Theatre until September 6 Reviewer: Kate Herbert A FTER Charles II returned from France on the death of Cromwell, London was one big party. The latter part of the 17th century heralded a new era in entert...

    HARDLY FOR THE GRETA GOOD   Herald Sun, 29-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 081, 436 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE Camille by Vault Theatre Where and when: The Herbarium, Botanic Gardens, to September 20 TRANSPOSING a novel to film is difficult and requires editing. Transporting that screenplay to stage is a further artistic risk. Doing this 60 years afte...

    MESSAGE LOST IN THE MIX   Herald Sun, 26-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 050, 385 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Mass, by Arena Theatre Where and when: University Theatre 1 until August 30 IF Mass were on TV, it would be preceded by the warnings: "Some violence, sex scenes, language, adult themes." It is titillation for teenagers. Director Rosemary Myers, in th...

    CHEKHOV'S TRIPLE TREAT   Herald Sun, 25-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 032, 353 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre The Three Sisters Where and when: Hildegard at Theatreworks until September 7 Reviewer: KATE HERBERT OH HAPPY days for Chekhov lovers! This week Melbourne hosts (accidentally) twin productions of his classic, The Three Sisters. Hildega...

   ROBIN USHER   Herald Sun, 22-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 072, 488 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
On golden pond CHRISTIE'S auction house is hoping to set a record price for artist Brett Whiteley's work at sales in South Yarra next Tuesday. The current highwater price is $299,000 set last August for The Orange Fiji Fruit Dove. Christie's hopes to...

    WENDY DUSTS OFF A LEGEND   Herald Sun, 18-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 068, 440 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
I Only Want to Be With You - The Dusty Springfield Story Devised by: Terry O'Connell MY Neighboring table at The Dusty Springfield Story had travelled from Adelaide especially for the show and a Melbourne weekend. Now that's dedication. The eight of ...

   WOMEN AT WAR ARE OFF TARGET   Herald Sun, 15-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 079, 348 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Summit Conference Where and when: Athenaeum 2 until August 24 THE personal lives of dictators are of endless fascination to the ordinary person. As we peer voyeuristically back through time, taking in misinformation and propaganda films, we try to fo...

   LILLFORD WORK BIGGER THAN TEXAS   Herald Sun, 15-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 080, 344 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Are You Evil Tonight? Where and when: La Mama until August 31 Reviewer: Kate Herbert DANIEL Lillford's Are You Evil Tonight? is written, directed and acted with wit, truth and subtlety. Lillford continues his love affair with the dusty Texan desert i...

   PARODY BECOMES ITS OWN VICTIM   Herald Sun, 12-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 044, 374 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Popular Mechanicals Where and when: Dancehouse until August 16 Reviewer: Kate Herbert THE Popular Mechanicals is a witty send-up of the "mechanicals", or tradesmen, who rehearse and perform "the very tragical story of Pyramus and Thisbe" in Shake...

   UNEVEN TEMPEST BLOWS HOT AND COLD   Herald Sun, 11-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 059, 374 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Tempest Where and when: Merlyn Theatre until August 16 Reviewer: Kate Herbert MUCH new and interesting Australian theatre emphasises the physical and visual. When this is applied to a dense text, namely Shakespeare's The Tempest, the company need...

    SOME HAPPY RETURNS   Herald Sun, 05-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 048, 345 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre These Foolish Things, by One Toe, and Trapped, by Trudy Hellier THE second evening of La Mama's birthday theatre marathon on the weekend was a double bill. The more successful of the two was Trapped by Trudy Hellier (from Frontline). I...    AN UNTIDY STATE OF PLAY   Herald Sun, 04-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 060, 419 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE Sodomy & Cigarettes Where and when: Melbourne University Mudfest, until August 9 THERE is a fine tradition of political theatre which confronts contemporary social issues and challenges government. Agit-prop (agitational propaganda) was an in...

    MAMA'S FINEST   Herald Sun, 02-08-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 107, 436 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre La Mama Theatre Marathon Program 1: Three Old Friends and Long Time No See by Jack Hibberd; Robert Fumes by Barry Dickins and The Mind's a Wonderful Thing by Margaret Cameron L A MAMA celebrated its 30th birthday this week with a three...

    PAIN OF A FAMILY SQUABBLE   Herald Sun, 29-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 068, 346 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Legacy Where and when: La Mama at Carlton Courthouse until August 9 JACK Hibberd has an extraordinary facility for fusing the poetic and the colloquial in

 language. He used this style in his master work Stretch of the Imagination and it is again evid...    LOVE UNDER SIEGE   Herald Sun, 22-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 413 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Life During Wartime Written by: Keith Reddin Performed by: Jim Daly, Brett Tucker, Peter Roberts, Clarissa House and Sam Johnson Where and when: Soup Kitchen Theatre, Athenaeum Theatre 2, until August 3 Keith Reddin's play is a generally light commen...

 PREDICTABLE IN MOURNING   Herald Sun, 21-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 060, 358 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE The Mourning After VERITY Lambert's melodrama may well have been written as a vehicle for musical comedy star Nancye Hayes. Belle has been a chorus-line singer and former radio-serial star ("it lasted three years longer than Blue Hills"). Dur...

    FOOTBALL FEVER GRABS TOP MARK   Herald Sun, 15-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 053, 358 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Roo Where and when: La Mama until Sunday SYDNEY playwright Angus Strachan says bringing his footy show, Roo, to Melbourne is "like taking coals to Newcastle". Roo is a short piece with some peppy dialogue. Director Peter Hayes keeps it going at a cra...

   HORROR MOMENTS IN HUMAN FAILINGS   Herald Sun, 09-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 049, 370 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Footprints in Water Where and when: La Mama until July 20 MATT Cameron's award-winning play, Footprints in Water, highlights prejudices and breaks social taboos by creating characters who are vile representations of all the worst "isms" in our cultur...

    MEAT IN THE SANDWICH   Herald Sun, 07-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 060, 379 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Meatsafe Where and when: La Mama at Courthouse, until July 19 Reviewer: Kate Herbert FRANZ Docherty's play Meatsafe blatantly draws parallels between the bloody activities of the slaughterhouse and the sometimes equally violent, albeit...

   TAKE A HUNCH ON PLAY LUNCH   Herald Sun, 02-07-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 057, 278 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Shorts Soup Kitchen Theatre Where and when: Athenaeum II; at 12.10pm and 1.10pm until July 11 DOES your lunch hour usually consist of jogging elbows while ordering a $10 gourmet sandwich or rushing out to buy a birthday gift at David J...

   QUANTOCK SATIRE LASHES CRONIES   Herald Sun, 24-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 043, 366 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Sunrise Boulevarde It harmonises with its surroundings at Trades Hall and reminds us of the lost Paris End of Collins St. It has no view of the Casino, the Grand Prix track, the new museum or the Tulla Tollway Gate. Only hard-earned cash will be acce...

   GADGETS A GIANT GIGGLE   Herald Sun, 21-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 116, 296 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Marty Putz Of course, they are Dinky-toy quality, some being patched up with "heat resistant duct tape" and all being of a weird, kids-loose-in-dad's-shed knocked-together style. Many are hilarious. Just when we start getting a bit tired of all the p...

   ALL TOIL AND TOO MUCH TROUBLE   Herald Sun, 20-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 085, 380 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Macbeth Where and when: Universal Theatre II until June 28 Reviewer: Kate Herbert IT IS a brave company that tackles Macbeth. Arthouse Theatre, directed by Bruce Alexander, who also plays the lead, has taken the plunge but has whittled Shakespeare's ...

   UNLOCKING LIFE   Herald Sun, 20-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 089, 386 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Panayiota and Locked In Where and when: Brunswick Mechanics Institute until June 29 Reviewer: Kate Herbert THESE two plays, both at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute, are unrelated except by theme. Angela Costi's Panayiota is the more successful. Lis...

    NAKED TRUTH ABOUT EFFIE   Herald Sun, 14-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 113, 387 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Effie X-Posed EFFIE'S people spoke to my people saying they didn't want too many press people at her three (yep!) opening nights. It would upset the balance of laughter. Now that's paranoid - even for a Boofhead Superstar! Effie X-Posed is the next e...

    SUITED TO SWIMMING   Herald Sun, 07-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 114, 414 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
In at the Deep End Where and when: La Mama until tomorrow Reviewer: Kate Herbert A NTHEA Davis, in her solo show In at the Deep End, has great warmth and generosity as a performer. Her complicity and engagement with the audience at La Mama draws us i...

    SHATTERING ROCK HITS HOME   Herald Sun, 06-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 082, 387 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Black Rock Where and when: Melbourne University Student Theatre Guild Theatre; until June 14 PARENTS often feel powerless in contemporary society to protect their young from drugs, road accidents or senseless violence. Nick Enright's play, Black Rock...

   FUN WITH GOLDEN OLDIES   Herald Sun, 04-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 043, 377 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Underneath the Arches Where and when: Caper's Dinner Restaurant until June 28 Reviewer: Kate Herbert HOW many other people who did not live through the war know all the words to Underneath the Arches and have no idea how they learnt them? Was it old ...

   WOLF HAS PLENTY OF BITE   Herald Sun, 02-06-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 068, 417 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Wolf Lullaby Presented by: Performing Lines Where and when: The Malthouse until June 7 Reviewer: Kate Herbert THERE is something supremely disturbing about a disturbed child. This makes Hilary Bell's Wolf Lullaby an intensely disturbin...

    LIGHT AND FLUFFY, BUT LOTS OF FUN   Herald Sun, 30-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 071, 367 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Art of Success Presented by: Company 97: VCA Drama School Where and when: Grant Theatre until tomorrow THE most striking element of The Victorian College of the Arts production of Nick Dear's The Art of Success is its extraordinary design in the ...

   STIRRING PASSIONS   Herald Sun, 27-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 283 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Little City Presented by: Melbourne Workers Theatre Where and when: Brunswick Town Hall until June 8 LITTLE City is really an opera. It is a provocative concept which is manifested in the rich collaboration between the 50-voice choir Canto Coro, ecle...

   WAR TORN WORRIES OF BODY AND SOUL   Herald Sun, 26-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 063, 373 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Empty Shells Written by: Ramez Tabit Where and when: University Theatre 2 until June 7 RAMEZ Tabit's Empty Shells, a play about the war in Lebanon, touched me in unanticipated ways. It is not sentimental, but the universal experience of war and dislo...

    WORKING DOGS   Herald Sun, 24-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 107, 422 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Tap Dogs I F you've ever wondered like I have what's happening on those inner-city building sites behind those huge wooden fences, now we know. Tap Dogs have revealed all the secrets. Those TLF blokes (Tappers Laborers Federation) are tap dancing on ...

   DROUGHT GETS BOGGED DOWN   Herald Sun, 23-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 082, 403 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE The Drought Where and when: La Mama; until June 8 THE script of Tom Petsinis's play The Drought, although set in contemporary rural Greece, owes a great deal to ancient Greek drama. It uses a chorus which sings in verse, focuses on a blood fe...

    ELTON'S POWER STRIKES A CHORD   Herald Sun, 19-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 067, 370 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW comedy Ben Elton BEN Elton is like an over-wound mechanical toy. He careers, twirls and skips across the stage with an awkward grace, bouncing off the microphone. He is vivid and bubbling like some insane toy soldier. Unlike the battery-powere...  

 EXPLODING THE MYTHS OF SPORT   Herald Sun, 14-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 050, 371 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Austral/Asian Post Cartoon: Sports Edition "WE are NYID!" This sounds like the Hitler Youth but is in fact the chant of the impeccably well-drilled squad of nine actors which is Not Yet It's Difficult. It is not only the company name that is ting...

    SLIGHTLY OUT OF STEP   Herald Sun, 09-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 081, 370 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Last Gasp Where and when: Napier Street Theatre; until May 17 THE beams of light stream through holes in a galvo roof or dirty window panes. The warehouse is piled with packing pallets. The atmosphere is thick with fog and cigarette smoke. Ironically...

    MORE THAN A LEFTIST RANT   Herald Sun, 08-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 051, 218 words , HIT
The Essentials The play, written and directed by Stefo Nantsou, has two distinct storylines which link in the final five minutes, too long to wait for the pay-off. One thread deals with the privatisation process of the ambulance officers, the second ...

    LIVELY RETURN TO '70S   Herald Sun, 07-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 047, 299 words , NEWS
Mary Shelley and the Monsters Where and when: La Mama at the Courthouse until May 17 Reviewer: Kate Herbert TIM Robertson's play Mary Shelley and the Monsters is messy but funny. It was written in the heyday of the Pram Factory and has the chaotic sc...

   ACCENT ON THE MIGRANT   Herald Sun, 05-05-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 071, 385 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Dock 39 Where and when: Theatreworks until May 18 Reviewer: Kate Herbert D ECONSTRUCTION is a funny thing. In theatre it can enlighten and heighten issues with its prismatic effect or it can merely obscure them. In Dock 39, the latest ...

   A NIGHT UNITED BY SEVEN   Herald Sun, 29-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 396 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for Seven Audience in Seven Parts Where and when: La Mama until May 4 IT'S one minute to midnight by the clock on the wall which I didn't notice until the very last moment, the 11th hour, as an actor untied my wrists a...

   CHEERS LEAD TO HATRED   Herald Sun, 25-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 071, 368 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre Big Hair in America Where and when: Universal Theatre 1 until May 11 Reviewer: KATE HERBERT EVERYTHING'S bigger, badder and weirder in America - and that includes revenge. So don't y'all even think about crossing a Texas Momma with big...

   SENSE OF ODD HUMOR   Herald Sun, 17-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 049, 249 words , HIT
Rhona Cameron RHONA Cameron is as cute as a button. She bobs about on stage gently joking about being short, being drunk, being teased about being Scottish, being 30, being jet-lagged in Melbourne. Cameron is not a belly-laugh comic, which is a great...

   A WILD BIRD TAKES FLIGHT   Herald Sun, 14-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 060, 313 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
When a Man Comes to a Woman Where and when: La Mama until April 20 IF YOU were to toss melancholy and absurdity into a blender, you would have something resembling Russian comedy. When a Man Comes to a Woman, by Semen Zlotnik, is no exception. This p...

   WARM BAILEY HITS THE SPOT   Herald Sun, 14-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 273 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Bill Bailey Where and when: Supper Room, Melbourne Town Hall until Sunday FIVE words. Bill Bailey: Go see him. He's really funny. He's an esoteric intellectual, a silly bugger, a musical gag-meister, a lateral poet and a king of popular culture....

    DIZZY ON AN OVERDOSE OF FUNNINESS   Herald Sun, 11-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 071, 344 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Comedy Steven Wright Where and when: Melbourne Concert Hall until Saturday EDWARD de Bono may write books about lateral thinking, but Steven Wright lives them. In fact, he lives it on a planet far from ours. He inhabits the Planet Tangent, which is p...

   LAUGHIN' AT THE LADY IN RED   Herald Sun, 11-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 072, 296 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Comedy Dumped and Devastated When and where: Melbourne Town Hall until April 20 Reviewer: Kate Herbert GERALDINE McNulty's Dumped and Devastated is another must-see solo Comfest show, particularly if your taste leans toward a more theatrical comedy w...

   SO FUNNY, IT'S STILL HURTING   Herald Sun, 09-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 048, 354 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW comedy Abroad With Two Men Where and When: Capitol Theatre, until April 20. ABROAD With Two Men combines the best of comic songs with scathing satire. If you think arts festivals are over-priced, over-funded, and overly artsy, you will love th...

    NORRIS SERVES UP A WINNER   Herald Sun, 08-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 043, 330 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Allison's Rub Where and when: La Mama at Carlton's Courthouse; until next Sunday Reviewer: Kate Herbert ALLISON'S Rub, the first play written by actor and ex-MLA Terry Norris, is a tale of coming of age in a strange way. Beryl (Paulene Terry-Beitz) a...

    PAN ROCKS ON, SHADOWLESS   Herald Sun, 08-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 044, 363 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Peter Pan Presented by: Arena Theatre and Back to Back Where and when: Fairfax Studio; until April 16 Arena and Back to Back Theatres have joined forces to create Peter Pan on stage for eight to 13-year-olds. Pam Laversha's adaptation of J.M. Barrie ...

    WOMEN BEHAVING LIKE MEN   Herald Sun, 07-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 030, 290 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Sunday Roast Where and when: Comedy Festival Trades Hall; Tues-Sun 6pm until April 20 Reviewer: Kate Herbert GIRLS dressing up as blokes has a totally different effect from blokes in drag. Somehow it is easier to take them seriously, to listen. I...

    MASKED BUT LOTS OF FUN   Herald Sun, 07-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 031, 257 words , FINANCE
Candide MELBOURNE has only one exclusively mask-based theatre company. Ironically, it is called Melbourne Maskworks. Its newest work is based on Voltaire's novel Candide and is performed in the style of the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, ancestor of our...

    SECRETS OF UNDERWEAR   Herald Sun, 05-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 107, 292 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Jeff Green Comedy Festival Where and when: Melbourne Town Hall; until April 20 ENGLISH comic Jeff Green has interesting hips. He seems to use them to great advantage in his stand-up routine. He wiggles 'em a bit, pushes his bottom out, poses side-on ...

    BASIC INSTINCTS FAIL   Herald Sun, 05-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 108, 217 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Frank Skinner Where and when: Comedy Festival, Melbourne Town Hall; until April 20 FRANK Skinner's a funny and charming English comic, but it seems he does too many gigs which have forced him to cater for the lowest common denominator. He opened with...

    HANDS ON APPROACH WORKS WONDERS   Herald Sun, 04-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 071, 327 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Below the Belt Where and when: Comedy Festival Melbourne Town Hall, 11pm, until April 20 PICTURE this. It's approaching midnight. A steamy striptease turns violent. The bouncers are attacked by the exotic dancer....

 LAUGHING STOCK   Herald Sun, 04-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 073, 325 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Greg Proops Comedy Festival Where and when: Melbourne Town Hall until April 20 WHAT a novelty! An American who hasn't had his irony gland removed. Greg Proops' stand-up is intelligent, politically informed and extremely silly. He works to the highest...

    FIT FOR A KING   Herald Sun, 02-04-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 039, 316 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW comedy Russell Fletcher's King of Fools Where and when: Melbourne Town Hall until April 20 T HE award-winning King of Fools by Russell Fletcher has all the elements of a great film-noir movie - with great jokes. There is a company takeover, a ..

.    COMIC NOVELS LOSE IN TRANSLATION   Herald Sun, 22-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 083, 285 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Vegetable Magnetism Adapted from Kathy Lette's novels Where and when: Universal Theatre 1, until April 6 WHAT is it that drives people into insane relationships? More specifically, what drives an Australian woman (Carolyn Bock) into a relationship wi...

   TREATISE ON LOVE AND GRIEF   Herald Sun, 17-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 050, 369 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Knowledge & Melancholy Where and when: La Mama until March 23 Review: KATE HERBERT SOMETIMES if we could simply un-know something, un-experience it, we might not be so sad. Knowledge & Melancholy - one seems to lead to the other. They are blood siste...

    NEAT LAUGHS   Herald Sun, 15-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 081, 213 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Theatre Tartuffe, by La Poule Terrible CENSORSHIP was alive and well during the period of Moliere's Comedie Francaise (the 17th century). His play Tartuffe was banned as blasphemous on its first run. This production adheres to the comic genre, using ...

    FASCINATING TALE OF NIGHT'S TORMENT   Herald Sun, 13-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 044, 440 words , HIT
The Early Hours of a Reviled Man Where and when: La Mama at Studio One, Nicholson St, Fitzroy until March 30 FOR the unstable, a solitary journey through the night into the dawn can be pure torment. So it is for Sleen in Howard Barker's play The Earl...

   HIBBERD'S IMAGINATION IS ALIVE AND FRESH   Herald Sun, 11-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 369 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A Stretch of the Imagination Where and when: Comedy Club; until March 23 "GREAT idea opening a one-man show on International Women's Day," quipped a friendly fax to actor Peter Hosking on the eve of his opening of Jack Hibberd's classic, A Stretch of...

    AUDIENCE BECOMES PART OF THE GAME   Herald Sun, 10-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 061, 347 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Up the Road IN Up the Road, John Harding's play about a family funeral on an Aboriginal mission, director Neil Armfield has instilled a sense of joy into the theatre space. The show is one big game with actors and audience participating, giving the w...  

 ROSES ON THE NOSE   Herald Sun, 08-03-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 078, 344 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The White Rose and the Blue Where and when: Melbourne Town Hall; until March 16 Reviewer: KATE HERBERT T HE jury is out. We are now officially unshockable. In the face of on-stage nipple-piercing, rape fantasies, suggestions of incest and, most promi...

    FUEL FOR SERIOUS THOUGHT   Herald Sun, 28-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 074, 422 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THEATRE Petroleum Where and when: La Mama until March 9 Reviewer: KATE HERBERT GOD bless the short play. Or should I say, God bless the well-written short play. Petroleum is such an animal. It is extraordinary how intimately we can get to know strang...  

  JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF SELF   Herald Sun, 25-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 044, 372 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Self Where and when: La Mama until March 9 WRITER'S block is an extremely serious business. And so it is for the desperate title character of Drew Tingwell's play, Self, directed by John Higginson. Self is a mentally ill, isolated writer who sits, fa...

    CLOWNING AROUND   Herald Sun, 22-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 088, 385 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Where and when: Theatreworks in St Kilda until March 2 FORGET Marcel Marceau. All too rarely do we get a genuine clown show. The last we saw, a year ago, Happy as Laundry, was the prequel toDust. Please, don't think of klutzy clown makeup or romantic...

    ONE THING'S CLEAR, IT'S A HOOT   Herald Sun, 18-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 052, 331 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Is that You Nancy? By: Sandra Shotlander Where and when: Carlton Courthouse; until March 1 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 Is That You Nancy? by...  

 SHORT AND THE LONG OF IT   Herald Sun, 14-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 108, 381 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
New Short Works St Kilda Writers' Festival Where and when: Theatreworks until Sunday HOW short is a short work? Twenty, 30 minutes tops? A couple of the New Short Works in the St Kilda Writers' Festival program were 40 and 60 minutes long. This did n...  

 MEN WILL BE MEN   Herald Sun, 12-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 043, 356 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
REVIEW theatre The Art of Being Still Where and when: Guild Theatre, Melbourne University to February 22 ACCORDING to the program notes, writer-director Steve Dawson's mum suggested the collective title for his two plays: The Poofta Plays. Good title...  

  TANGO LACKS POLISH   Herald Sun, 11-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 045, 347 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Tango Slawomir Mrozek is a living Polish playwright who writes in the style of the absurdist school of Beckett and Ionesco. Tango is his best-known work. The Tango family comprises a father (Jim Daly) who is an experimental theatre artist, a mother (...

    PRINCE CHARMING   Herald Sun, 08-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 074, 366 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Where and when: Comedy Theatre throughout February N O 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 ...

    CABARET IN BLUE   Herald Sun, 06-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 049, 337 words , HIT
The Last Blue Angel 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 which, ironically, blends Berlin cabaret of the 1920s with Britain's Worl...

    PHANTOM CALL   Herald Sun, 05-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 066, 479 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
CONFIRMED dates for the return of The Phantom of the Opera to its original Australian home, the Princess Theatre, show how competitive the theatre scene is becoming in Melbourne. It means David Marriner is likely to have two blockbusters under way wh...

    MALE BONDING AT A PRICE   Herald Sun, 04-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 028, 387 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
No Man's Island Where and when: La Mama until February 16 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 th...

 WHERE WAS THE MEXICAN WAVE?   Herald Sun, 03-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 048, 437 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Esso Concert in the Bowl And an outdoor 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...

   PAIN OF BROKEN HEARTS   Herald Sun, 01-02-1997, Ed: 2, Pg: 079, 221 words , ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Where and when: Theatreworks until February 9 VALTER Malosti's performance in Hearts: A Poster of the Cosmos is, at times, so frenetic it is painful. His character's grief and his need to tell the story of his great love for his partner are palpable....