King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, July 28, 2007

King Lear by William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Company
State Theatre, Victorian Art Centre, July 28 to Aug 4, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 28, 2007

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, natural laws are inverted; children betray parents, sibling murders sibling, the good are exiled, the wicked elevated, the wise ignored, the innocent executed and a King descends into madness.

King Lear (Ian McKellan), a proud, powerful father, banishes his loving, plain-speaking child, Cordelia (Romola Garai), and foolishly divides his kingdom between his grasping daughters, Goneril (Frances Barber) and Regan (Monica Dolan). His folly strips him of power and respect.

McKellan’s Lear begins as tyrannical and proud, oblivious to his own vulnerability. He is commanding but playful and his division of kingdom is a game to taunt his daughters. His fatal flaw is his inability to differentiate the treacherous flattery of Goneril and Regan from the genuine love of Cordelia (Romola Garai) and Kent (Jonathan Hyde).

Lear is like an infant dragged screaming from the womb into the light. To escape his daughters’ treachery he descends into madness, travelling from pride to disbelief, frustration to rage and despair. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child,” he laments. Lear’s defencelessness is heartbreaking in the achingly painful storm scene. He is mankind stripped of all regalia: “a bare, forked animal”.

When Lear recovers his wits, McKellan appears monkish, hopeful of a peaceful life with Cordelia then inconsolable at her death. He journeys from greatness with ignorance toward impotence with wisdom. As Lear’s mind and power diminish, Christopher Oram’s architectural design cunningly disintegrates.

The poignant scene between tragic shells of former great men, the distracted Lear and the maimed Gloucester (William Gaunt), is compelling. Gaunt’s performance is sympathetic and restrained, revealing kindness, humour and pathos in Gloucester.

Barber’s Goneril is conniving, passionate and wicked. Dolan’s Regan is grotesque, swilling wine and cheering as Gloucester’s eyes are gruesomely gouged. Unfortunately, Garai’s Cordelia lacks the dignity and weight to balance her sisters’ treachery. Cordelia’s gaucheness in the opening does not elicit sympathy and her later scenes crave a young Queen’s nobility and grace.

Guy Williams is vicious and self-serving as Cornwall and Julian Harries brings dignity to “milk-livered” Albany. Hyde is rich-voiced and distinguished as the saucily blunt Kent and Sylvester McCoy’s Fool is a Music Hall clown. Phillip Winchester plays Edmund with a rather too camp villainy and Ben Meyjes captures Edgar’s feigned madness but is too cool facing his father’s suffering.

Trevor Nunn’s direction of the large ensemble is taut, ensuring that Shakespeare’s text is lucid and that characters and relationships are emotionally complex. His location of the production in pre-revolutionary Russia provides a parallel to Lear’s totalitarian regime but does not further illuminate the play. This riveting if conventional production is a showcase for McKellan’s consummate talent and enlivens Lear for a contemporary audience.

By Kate Herbert

A Man For All Seasons, Complete Works Theatre Company, July 19, 2007

What: A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt by Complete Works Theatre Company

Where and When: July 18-20, 21, 25 at 7.30pm, July 18-20, 23-26 at 10.30 am then touring Victoria

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 19, 2007

A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt, provides a glimpse into the life and death of Saint Thomas More (Paul English), Chancellor to Henry VIII (Philip Cameron-Smith). More, a lawyer and pious Catholic, sealed his fate by refusing to condone the divorce of Henry from Catherine of Aragon or to sign the bill that confirmed Anne Boleyn’s children as rightful successors to the throne.

English plays More with gentleness, warmth and quiet dignity. More’s forbearance and good humour in the face of betrayal and personal attacks are capably depicted in Bolt’s script.

Although Bolt’s language is heightened and often poetic capturing the tone of the Tudor period, it is accessible to a modern and even a school-age audience. The story is narrated by The Common Man played by Syd Brisbane who skilfully transforms into various working-men: More’s servant, his gaoler, a boatman and other servants.

An accomplished cast supports English. Stewart Morritt imbues the ambitious Thomas Cromwell with an imposing and sinister quality. Cromwell’s actions are self-serving and often malicious as he sends his spies to seek information to damage More’s reputation.

Carole Patullo portrays More’s wife Alice as loyal and sympathetic, a woman struggling to understand her husband’s decisions. The gaol cell scene between English and Patullo is a moving celebration of love and loss.

Philip Cameron-Smith is an impressively rowdy and unpredictable Henry, Dino Marnika is charmingly amusing as the Spanish Ambassador and Brian Vriends is a sturdy Norfolk. Phillip McInnes plays the oily, treacherous Rich, Eryn Jean Norvill is poised as More’s daughter and Angus Grant plays her self-righteous husband, Roper.

Andrew Blackman’s direction is simple and uncluttered, focussing on More and his relationships to others. The flexible design (Mark Wager) provides a muted grey environment with three opaque screens and a wooden table setting.

Thomas More sacrificed his life rather than his religious and moral code. He chose to remain silent rather than support a parliamentary bill that broke with the Pope and gave Henry rule over the Church. This is a play about commitment to one’s conscience and beliefs. More chose to be righteous and honourable rather than pander to a powerful King’s desire to change wives.

By Kate Herbert

The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz, July 19, 2007

 The Eisteddfod written by Lally Katz, by Stuck Pig Squealing

 Tower Theatre, CUB Malthouse, July 19 to 29, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 19, 2007

The performers (Luke Mullins, Katherine Tonkin) and direction (Chris Kohn) are the features of The Eisteddfod. The script is credited to Lally Katz but her program note suggests significant contribution by cast and director that could explain the episodic, often jumbled nature of scenes.

The Eisteddfod borrows from absurdist theatre writers such as Ionesco and Beckett. The narrative occurs in a non-realistic place where the world of the imagination is the only reality.

Since the death of their parents eleven years earlier in a freak pruning accident, Abolone (Luke Mullins) and Gerture (Katherine Tonkin) live a totally isolated life inside one room. Their days revolve around each playing roles in the other’s bizarre fantasies. They are children in adult bodies.

Tonkin is sympathetic as Gerture, the under-confident sister living in the shadow of her vibrant, successful brother who was mother’s favourite. She languishes in unrequited love for her imaginary lover, Ian, whose relentlessly cruel treatment of her is the creation of her brother who portrays Ian in their role-play. To avoid Ian/Abolone’s heartlessness, Gerture escapes into a catatonic state where she enacts her banal fantasy of being a teacher in an imaginary school.

In turn, Abolone enlists Gerture to play Lady Macbeth to his Macbeth in an imaginary upcoming Eisteddfod competition. The first prize is a one-way ticket to Moscow. Between childish games and sexual play, re-enactments of mum and dad’s fraught marriage and their own arguments, Abolone and Gerture rehearse Macbeth with hilariously awful Scottish accents.

However they try to escape each other through their separate fantasies, their lives and imaginations are permanently entangled.

Kohn and the actors create an almost musical rhythm for the characters, orchestrating a dynamic ebb and flow of energy between scenes. Mullins is compelling as he shifts effortlessly from arrogance to despair or playfulness to cruelty. Tonkin captures both the innocence and guilty pleasure of Gerture in her imaginative play.

Adam Gardnir’s (OK) design, lit evocatively by Richard Vabre, is a small and claustrophobic platform with cunningly hidden shelves, recesses and curtains. Jethro Woodward’s soundscape completes the surreal environment.

The play is entertaining but, unlike the great absurdists, it lacks any penetration of the psychological depths of these characters or investigation of the philosophical concepts of imagination, despair, isolation or dependence.

By Kate Herbert

Sweet Charity, The Production Company, July 18, 2007

 Sweet Charity

Book by Neil Simon, Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by Dorothy Fields by The Production Company

Where and When:  State Theatre, Wed to Fri 7.30pm, Sat 2pm & 7.30pm, Sun 3pm, until July 18 to 22, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 18, 2007

Sweet Charity, when it was first staged on Broadway in 1966, introduced a new form of musical. 

Bob Fosse’s stylised idiosyncratic choreography was startling. Fosse’s original, darker concept, based on Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, was about a good-hearted prostitute.  When Fosse involved Neil Simon, Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, the story became more palatable and Sweet Charity was born.

The consummate playing of Orchestra Victoria, conducted by John Foreman does justice to Coleman’s memorable tunes including The Rhythm of Life, If My Friends Could See Me Now and the sultry Big Spender.

Ross Coleman’s inventive choreography does not replicate Fosse’s but it captures the essence of Fosse’s sexy jazz moves and variations in pace and rhythm. The Rich Man’s Frug is funky, exciting and each chorus scene is polished and exciting despite the chorus having to dance on a tiny strip of floor.

This production, directed by Nancye Hayes, lacks some of the pizzazz usually associated with Charity. Not having a full production is normal in a concert production and the short rehearsal season could account for some awkward moments and sloppy timing. However, there is some obvious miscasting that reduces the impact.

Sharon Millerchip is a cute and perky poppet playing Charity Valentine, the dance hall hostess who looks for love in all the wrong places. Millerchip is an accomplished dancer. She plays Charity with a cheeky, downmarket edge but lacks the requisite over-the-top sassy, brassy quality. Her singing is competent but she hit a few flat notes before interval.

 Matt Hetherington is delightfully kooky as Oscar Lindquist, the anxious and painfully shy tax accountant who falls in love with Charity before finding out that her day job is not in a bank. His scene trapped in the elevator with Charity is hilarious and his thrilling voice and commitment to the role raise the level of the show in the second half.

Alan Fletcher as Vittorio Vidal lacks the sensuality of an Italian movie star such as Marcello Mastroianni and often sounds strangely Transylvanian rather than Italian. Alan Brough’s voice and presence cannot carry the gutsy role of Big Daddy diminishing the impact of the crazy Rhythm of Life Church scene.

The chorus works hard but Big Spender lacks any dangerous sexuality. Nonetheless, if you love Sweet Charity, take a look at this concert show.

By Kate Herbert

The Quivering by SacredCOW, July 11, 2007

 What: The Quivering by SacredCOW, produced by La Mama

Where and When: Carlton Courthouse, July 11 to 22, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

In Homer’s Odyssey, the seductive song of the mythical Sirens was malevolent and deadly. 

The bird-women, with sweet voices, lured hapless seamen onto the rocks. Odysseus evaded this fate by strapping himself to the mast and stuffed his sailors’ ears with wax so they could not hear the temptresses’ song.

The Quivering, by SacredCOW, directed imaginatively by Nikki Heywood, provides another Ancient Greek interpretation. The Sirens’ were invoked in funereal rites and were depicted as with compassionately singing the souls of mortals from the earthly pain of life into death.

Sharelle (Dawn Albinger), Maureen (Julie Robson) and Singrid (Scotia Monkivitch), the three Sirens, appear chanting and seductive, dimly lit and near-naked in a watery landscape. They tease and taunt us, inviting us to a boat journey that awaits us and for which we are unprepared.

The play is an irreverent, titillating blend of ritual, comedy, physicality and lyricism. These accomplished women create an intoxicating chorus, echoing and repeating sounds, words and movements rhythmically and seductively.

Each actor has a quirky style. Sharelle is the wicked, curvaceous temptress; Maureen is a taunting chanteuse straight from the suburbs; Singrid is a cheeky, clown-faced joker.

Albinger and Robson sing haunting melodies while Monkivitch as the Poet simultaneously speaks the lyrics. They are our “Creamy, Dreamy Mermaids” who entice us with their melodies. The trio dress themselves as roadside diner waitresses in uniforms and aprons, perhaps to make weary and fearful travellers feel at ease. They even offer a menu of lamb and roast bird.

But it is not all cosy and comforting. They tease us, saying, “Are you with us? There’s something out there. You know you want it.” Their dialogue turns to the horrors of death, the rotting of flesh and cracking of bones. They perform in an eerie, whitewashed landscape (John Levey OK) with sheets covering rocky outcrops. A cold, steel mortuary table stands in the centre and morticians rituals and funeral rites are performed over their bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

The sound design (Brett Collery, Julie Robson, Catherine Mundy) is unnerving and evocative, incorporating voice, music and sound effects. The white space is washed with projected moving imagery (Suzon Fuks OK) of watery scenes and oceans of floating, phantom figures.

The Quivering is a fascinating, atmospheric and enthralling depiction of the Sirens by an inventive company.

By Kate Herbert

My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch, July 4, 2007

What: My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch by Graeme Base with Garry Ginivan

Where and When: July 4 Clocktower, July 7 Nunawading, July 10 Darebin, July 11 Werribee, 13 July Kyneton, National Theatre July 17-19 then touring Victoria2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 4, 2007

My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch, adapted from Graeme Base’s children’s book, is a lively and cheerful musical theatre show for three to eight year-olds. The simple narrative, beautifully harmonised singing and both human and puppet characters enthral the littlies.

Kate (Ashlea Pyke) is a stroppy city kid who travels, under duress, to Gooligulch to stay with the Grandma (Brenda Clarke) she barely remembers. Kate is rude because she resents missing all the city fun during the school holidays. She huffs and puffs because she cannot receive a signal on her mobile. Life without SMS is unbearably primitive.

Gooligulch is a fictional, magical country town with a population of 32, most of whom are native animals that can speak. The puppet creatures lead full lives. Goanna and Dingo play cards with Rat who is an inveterate cheat; clever Cocky teases the silly Galahs; the town gossips - Emus wearing pearl necklaces and carrying handbags - run the Gossip, Hearsay, Chit Chat and Chinwag Association.

Graeme Base’s book, adapted effectively for stage with director Garry Ginivan, depicts Kate’s journey from ignorance of the country to knowing and loving both its animal residents and her courageous and eccentric Gran.

There are simple lessons about tolerance to be learned through the entertainment. The final message is, “If you always look for a new horizon you will never be disappointed. You just have to adjust your eyes.”

The show is designed for three to eight year olds and the six actors engage the very young audience with singable songs, physical antics and charming characters. Dean Lotherington’s original arrangements are staged with panache by musical director Mark Jones. The opening song is a rousing chorus of Gooligulch Is The Place To Be. The city boys taunt Kate about her trip to the country with a song called What Do You Want To Do That For? And Kate’s surprise birthday is celebrated with Come Along to the Billabong.

The supporting cast (Luke Tonkin, Andrew Dunne, Cameron MacDonald, Daniel Schumann) create a fine chorus of voices and a parade of comical characters. Ginivan keeps the action lively and engaging being careful to ensure that even the big-eyed night creatures are not frightening.

This show is fun for all the family and is touring Victoria.

By Kate Herbert

The China Incident by Peter Houghton, July 4, 2007

 What: The China Incident by Peter Houghton

Where and When: La Mama, Wed to Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm until July 4 to 15, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on July 4, 2007

Take a huge breath before The China Incident because you will be holding your breath throughout this comic roller coaster. 

Peter Houghton’s solo political satire, performed by Anne Browning, depicts Bea Pontifec, a totally immoral international think tank consultant and political advisor to world leaders.

Bea’s office has seven phones. On the black she advises the bloodthirsty leader of an African nation on how to reframe a massacre to describe it as a counter insurgency. The red is a direct line to the US President who wants Bea to find some dirty secrets he can use to manipulate the five party talks with North Korea, although Mr. President is more interested in Bea’s underwear.

Meanwhile, on the blue phone, Bea seeks assistance from her secret lover, Colin, at the UN and juggles several family crises on her mobile. Bea is high maintenance and high cost but her ex-husband is a hippy, her daughter, Penny, plans a tacky marriage to a suburban boy with a boring family and her son is arrested for drug dealing.

Houghton’s dialogue is smart and hilarious and Browning does it justice. Her performance is accomplished as the over-achieving, egotistical Bea who becomes even more monstrous when she deals with her hapless family.  She is rude and supercilious to her daughter’s in-laws and fiancé. She is intolerant of Penny’s choices and insensitive about her wedding plans. She insults her ex-husband and abandons her son.

Browning begins in perfect control of Bea’s little world, engaging in effortless contortions to manage geopolitical horrors. Her dialogue is machine gun rapid, her movements like a caged and starved predator. Bea thrives on pressure and revels in the power she wields.

Bea’s one weakness is Colin, the unavailable lover, and Browning’s swift shifts from hard-nosed cow to seductive and simpering teenager as she speaks to him are very funny. She switches attitude from phone to phone, the arch-manipulator, the consummate PR consultant with no heart but an eye on the money.

As Bea’s phone problems become progressively more unmanageable, Browning plays her with a rising hysteria combined with a continuing belief that she can control the world. The outcome of her phone juggling could start a war and end her career. Or will it? Cockroaches survive any disaster and Bea is vermin of the first order.

By Kate Herbert

Educating Rita, HIT Productions, Vic. June 27, 2007

 Educating Rita by Willy Russell, HIT Productions

Where and When: Touring Victoria, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on June 26, 2007

You might recall the movie version of Willy Russell’s play, Educating Rita, with Julie Walters and Michael Caine, that was faithful to his stage play. 

Rita (Lisa Chappell) is a brassy, 26-year-old Liverpool hairdresser who aspires to an education. She seeks this in an Open University literature program taught by Frank (David Downer), a jaded, boozing university professor who abandoned his career as a poet and now seeks solace in a whisky bottle.

Rita is a product of her working class environment but chooses not to be a victim of her educational deprivation despite the overt hostility of her husband to her studies. Chappell, who some might recognise from McLeod’s Daughters, competently plays the demanding Liverpudlian with a blend of chattering anxiety, good cheer and brazenness.

The narrative of Russell’s witty play unfolds in a series of weekly tutorials in Frank’s messy office. Over a period of months Rita is transformed from a blathering but lovable twit with no taste and bad hair into an intellectual young woman with confident opinions on a range of literary subjects and an understanding of culture for which she hungers.

Downer is credible and commendable as Frank, playing him with a shambolic and dejected quality. Frank’s loss of direction and motivation in his teaching is revitalised as he coaches Rita in her quest for learning. What is surprising for us and for Rita is that, unlike Henry Higgins with Eliza Doolittle, he is not proud of his creation. Rather, he resents her changing and wants to recapture the gauche, clueless but engaging Rita he first met.

Director, Jennifer Hagan, allows the relationship between the characters to be the focus of the production and keeps the action swift and the dialogue playful.

Good teachers are hard to find and Frank very successfully provides Rita with the education, and hence the social power, that she craves. Rita’s rise from obscurity is paralleled inversely by Frank’s descent into the bottle and his banishment, on university sabbatical, to Australia.

The play, written in the early 1980s, encourages a dialogue about education, culture, social status and about what personal traits are valued in our community. Russell’s script is riddled with literary references and jokes although it is not necessary to know the allusions to understand the play. The production is warm and funny, providing an entertaining night out.

By Kate Herbert

June 24, 2007

Ying Tong by Roy Smiles, by Melbourne Theatre Company

Where and When:  Playhouse, Mon & Tues 6.30pm, Wed to Fri 8pm, Sat 8.30pm, June 24 to July 23, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on June 24, 2007

Fall over yourself to see Ying Tong whether you are a Goons aficionado or not. 

Roy Smiles play, directed by Richard Cottrell, is a clever, funny and often poignant portrayal of Spike Milligan’s fraught relationship to The Goons and his fragile grasp on sanity as he grappled with manic-depression in an era that did not understand it.

Milligan (Geoff Kelso) was the writer of most of The Goon Show, a radio show performed on the BBC from 1951 to 1960. His scripts combined ludicrous and surreal plots with a cast of peculiar comic characters, dialogue riddled with puns and silly sound effects.

Smiles deftly recreates the rambling nonsense of The Goons. “There’ll never be gibberish like it,” said Milligan. Smiles is true to the non-linear narrative of the radio show but tells Milligan’s story through flashbacks, delusions and dream sequences.

The play is “a journey to the centre of Milligan’s brain” and is seen through Milligan’s delusional memories and ravings during his periods of hospitalisation in a psychiatric ward (Designed by Michael Scott-Mitchell). Kelso as Milligan perches, like a frightened bird, under a blanket on a hospital bed, conjuring memories. “Not another flashback,” he quips.

Ying Tong derives from “Ying-tong-iddle-i-po”, a Goons’ nonsense song. The play reproduces snatches of live radio recordings and snapshots of Milligan with Harry Secombe (David James), Peter Sellers (Jonathan Biggins) and Wallace Greenslade (Tony Harvey). We meet Eccles, Bluebottle, Seagoon, Major Bloodnok, Minnie Bannister and Henry Crun, Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty.

Kelso is perfectly cast as Milligan; his own past stand-up comedy channelled The Goons’ diversions and crazed content. He allows us into the impenetrable chaos of Milligan’s dysfunctional mind, erratic moods and humour.

Biggins depicts impeccably the parade of characters played by Sellers and his thoroughly egotistical personality. His Dr. Strangelove, who appears as Milligan’s imaginary psychiatrist, is a cunning blend of visual, verbal and character gags.

James as Secombe captures the soaring notes and vocal vibrato of the Welsh tenor. Secombe was genial, talented and balanced; a still point amidst Milligan and Sellers’ chaos. Harvey plays Greenslade with a wry, almost military British dignity and the trio of grinning leprechauns (Harvey, James, Biggins) brought the house down.

Ying Tong is achingly funny, desperately sad and a joyful reminder of the comic talents that changed the course of comedy and blazed a trail for Monty Python and others.

By Kate Herbert

Grotesque Beauty & Whose Memory? St Martins Next Generation 2007 , June 21, 2007

Grotesque Beauty & Whose Memory? 
St Martins Next Generation 2007

 Irene Mitchell Studio St Martins, June 21 until July 1, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on June 21, 2007

St Martins Youth Theatre trains and encourages young performing artists and Next Generation 2007, the program for emerging artists, features two very different projects created by two young women.

Whose Memory?, written and performed by Jennifer Monk, is a short series of vignettes featuring characters inspired by Monk’s own photographs.

She begins with a cute little girl who proudly shows off her fluffy, yellow dress and her red, sparkly Dorothy shoes that her Granny gave her. She twirls and shyly hides behind a child-sized lace parasol. Then we meet an infirm, elderly grandmother who longs to see her grandchildren who visit her only to snatch $20 on their birthdays.

 Next is a teen runaway whose conversation is riddled with expletives and who loves to play the guitar – very badly. About the same age is a conceited high schooler who dreams of seducing her Media Studies teacher in the darkroom. In contrast is an intellectually disabled girl who struggles to put on her cardigan.

The five characters are not connected and there is no narrative. Monk enjoys the challenge of transforming from one persona to another but there is a need for more than simple demonstration of the characters. Some dramaturgical advice on forming the pieces into a dramatic structure might have served her well.

Grotesque Beauty, choreographed by Emma Anglesey, is a longer, movement-based performance inspired by the film adaptation of Virginia Wolf’s Orlando. Anglesey explores mutations of Elizabethan women’s costume, dance and manners, warping traditional images to create a contemporary style.

The dancers hold hands to form a daisy chain and trail through the semi-darkened space or mould their bodies into a horse and carriage with a lady riding atop. The dancers strike poses reminiscent of the Elizabethan court but the movement is grotesque and contorted. They distort their faces, mime gossiping conversations and whisper criticisms.

The movements are slow but convulsive. The bodies are out of control, moving to the discordant strains of the electrified cello (Jeremy Shelly) and recorded sound scape. They tremble and twitch, glide and lurch in a dreamlike netherworld.

Although the piece would be more compelling at half the length, Grotesque Beauty is definitely an interesting exploration of movement with non-dancers.

By Kate Herbert

Miss (You) Melbourne, Female Comics, June 19, 2007

Miss (You) Melbourne

Where and When: Trades Hall, June 19 to 30, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on June 19, 2007

Miss (You) Melbourne is a season of female comics talking about Melbourne. One of the women laughed so hard that she went into labour and had to be replaced.

Tanya Losanno, a second generation Italo-Australian, got laughs from comparing her childhood in the cultural wasteland of Canberra with her adopted multicultural home in Coburg, land of the Muslim Bogan and “enviable crime statistics”.

Sandy Gandhi is an eccentric Indian character comic who hails from Byron Bay, home of all things hippy and feral. She looks like an Indian stereotype, dressed in traditional colour and speaking with a lilt. However, Sandy’s humour is dry, cynical and well observed. Much of her material is about dope smoking, coastal hippies or being dark-skinned in a white culture. But it is her totally outrageous jokes about Egypt and the shock of an occasional expletive interrupting her well-modulated accent that make her a treat. Her list of instructions from an Egyptian Viagra packet is hilarious.

Celia Pacquola, in jeans and T-shirt, is a perky young gal who finds plenty of comic material from her experiences in a girls high school and a pretentious drama school. Her impersonation of an incoherent drama tutor sounds uncannily like a former Dean of our major Drama School. Pacquolo’s set is lively and incorporates theatrical routines and characters rather than simply gags. She has clever routines about Melbourne’s bipolar weather and those cartoon seals that appear in adverts.

Ethel Chop (Andrea Powell) is a conceited, old woman with smudged lipstick, bad hair, the articulation of someone with loose, false teeth and a line in audience insults that would make Edna Everage pale. She talks about tripe and ox-tongue, stupid road signs and her seductive attributes. Ethel is not a comfortable character to watch and is often thoroughly unpleasant.

Last on the bill was Judith Lucy, a consummate comic who happily airs her dirty laundry. Her recollections of her salacious life in Melbourne 20 years ago are an object lesson in how not to lead your life if you want to live to 40. Melbourne corrupted the virginal young Lucy when she moved here and discovered drugs, alcohol, sex and comedy. Mouths dropped as she recounted tales of her decadent lifestyle, slatternly housekeeping, boozing, smoking, pashing and even being mistaken for a transvestite.

Five comediennes perform each night and the women are funny. 

By Kate Herbert

Spring Awakening, The Hayloft Project, June 10, 2007

Spring Awakening by Franz Wedekind 
by The Hayloft Project

At  fortyfivedownstairs, Mon to Sun 8pm until June 10 to 17, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on 2007

Spring Awakening, a play by Franz Wedekind, was written in 1890 but its performances were heavily censored until the 1960s. Wedekind’s themes of the sexual awakening of teenagers were ahead of his time, in fact, ahead of Freud. Surprisingly, they are still challenging.

The play is a violent indictment of the sexual repression of Wedekind’s society. The ignorance of the children and their parents’ lack of candour about sexual issues lead to at best shame, secrecy and perversion and at worst to unwanted pregnancy, dangerous abortion and suicide.

A group of children attend school, struggle to understand Virgil and Aristotle and vie for academic places in their next year. Melchior (Angus Grant), a brooding adolescent, writes a frank manual about sexual reproduction. His friend, Moritz (Dylan Young), an anxious student, is mortally afraid of failing his parents’ expectations. The innocent young girl, Wendla (Katie-Jean Harding), having never experienced a beating, craves a whipping at the hands of Melchior.

Simon Stone’s directorial debut production is swift moving and contemporary in style. His abstract setting creates a parallel to the confused and chaotic psyches of the children. In the first half old, wooden school desks are arranged uniformly in the stark space and the real windows of the warehouse space allow the children a forbidden view onto the adult world.

In the second half, when the downward spiral begins, the desks are tossed and piled haphazardly. Tufts of dried grass litter the floor and line the formerly pristine window ledges. The children must negotiate a complex landscape of obstacles in this new season of life.

Stone keeps the cast on stage throughout. As scenes are played, those who are technically off-stage remain visible, perching on window ledges, hiding behind desks or in corners, or peering out through windows.

The performances are all capable and committed and the contemporary gaze of a young cast and director gives the play a modern feel. Playing the remaining children are Shelly Lauman, Sara Gleeson, Russ Pirie and Beejan Olfat (OK) and there is a marvellously peculiar cameo by Rhys McConnochie of a man in a gas mask.

There is a violent energy and a menacing atmosphere in Spring Awakening with a sense of impending doom for these innocents.

By Kate Herbert

Tape by Stephen Belber, June 7, 2007

Tape by Stephen Belber

Human Sacrifice Theatre

At  Chapel off Chapel, Thurs to Sat 8pm, Sun 6pm, until June 7 to 24 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on June 7, 2007

Tape, written by Stephen Belber and directed by Morgan Dowsett, deals with the unplanned reunion in a shabby motel room of three high school friends ten years after their graduation. 

Each recalls differently an incident between two of them on a night late in their final year and it is these fractured memories that permanently shatter their friendships.

Vincent (Mark Diaco) is “a swarthy Italian-American” who works as a volunteer fire fighter and a small-time drug dealer. He stays at Motel 6 in Lansing, Michigan, so that he can support his high school best buddy, John (Justin Hosking), whose low budget film is showing in the Lansing Film Festival. John, who stays at the Radison, arrives at the seedy motel to find Vince in his boxers, scoffing beers, smoking dope and snorting cocaine.

Vince is prone to “unresolved violence” and is obsessed by discovering the truth about what happened ten years ago when John seduced Amy, Vince’s ex-girlfriend. Not only does Vince attempt to force a confession of rape from John, but he also invites Amy (Alexis Porter), who is now the Assistant District Attorney in town, and triggers a confrontation between all three.

Belber’s play deals not only with the unreliability of human memory and perception but also with the fragility of friendship, the fruitlessness of petty revenge and the desire to be “right”.

The cast of three is strong. Diaco captures Vince’s volatile, egotistical and confused behaviour, making him strangely attractive and boyish and allowing us to also have some sympathy for his bruised ego. Hosking initially keeps John playful but watchful as, ironically, he lectures Vince on how to live a moral life that serves the greater good. He rapidly slides into desperation and panic as Vince challenges him.

As Amy, Porter presents as a cheerful, sleek, well-heeled, middle-American blonde. Her brittle veneer cracks when Vince compels her to reveal details of her night with John all those years ago.

Belber’s dialogue is often well observed and he captures the confusion of these relationships. The videotaped scene from John and Vince’s high school days gives some insight into their relationship in the opening scene. The play, however, seems to miss its ending by introducing further footage, after the motel confrontation in concluded, of Amy’s ramblings as a teenager and John’s recent musings about his future.

By Kate Herbert

Menopause The Musical by Jeanie Linders, June 6, 2007

Menopause The Musical by Jeanie Linders

Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, June 6 to 28, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Once again Menopause The Musical, written by Jeanie Linders and directed by Gary Young, is back at the Comedy Theatre with an audience of women over fifty shrieking in recognition at every joke about hot flushes, night sweats and bad moods. 

This is “identification theatre” in the extreme.

Four actor-singers of a certain age (Caroline Gillmer, Susan-ann (OK) Walker, Donna Lee, Susie French) play four diverse characters that find themselves in a department store, fighting over underwear on a sale table. What follows is a series of familiar songs with rewritten lyrics reflecting the horrors of menopause and the irrepressible of spirit of these women.

Gillmer is the corporate executive who is usually attached to a mobile phone or in a boardroom. Walker is a the hippy farmer who eats organic and never sleeps while Lee is a mousy housewife from Dubbo come to town for some shopping. French’s character is an insecure, ageing television soap star whose career longevity relies on her youthful looks.

The show begins with Gillmer singing a belting version of the soul classic, Chain Chain Chain, that is retitled Change of Life. It is followed by a rousing rendition of Grapevine with references to lying about one’s age and a song about sleeplessness, I Am Awake, that is sung to the tune of I Will Survive. Are you getting the references?

There is a series of tunes about hot flushes and sweats including I’m Having A Hot Flush (Heat Wave) and Fever. A favourite, to the tune of Bill, was Pills, a song about taking various anti-depressants; “ I love them so, I always will,” got a big laugh from those familiar with mood swings.

Gillmer is sassy and raunchy as the Power Woman singing a range of tunes. Walker is engaging as the goofy, forgetful Earth Mother who shifts from hippy cool to a complete witch because of her insomnia. French plays the Soap Star with an edge of desperation and unwillingness to let go of her youth. It is Lee who seems to win the hearts of the crowd of women with her broad comic antics and expressive face as the naïve Housewife from Dubbo.

There were shouts of delight when the foursome tried on designer underwear and shrieks of embarrassment when they tested a vibrator while singing Shakin’ All Over.

This is definitely a show for a specific gender and age group and the Menopause Karaoke at the finale is a fine opportunity for the audience to leap on stage and dance it up with the cast.

By Kate Herbert

The Mysteries of the Convent by Peepshow Inc. May 31, 2007

The Mysteries of the Convent by Peepshow Inc.

Abbotsford Convent, May 31, 2007 to June 10, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on May 31, 2007

The Abbotsford Convent, formerly run by the contemplative Good Shepherd Order of nuns, is a sprawling site by the Yarra and is steeped in the history of its original residents.

In The Mysteries of the Convent, Peepshow Inc. incorporates puppetry, visual elements, music and comedy

in this site-specific performance. As we are led on a guided tour, characters, both real and animated, representing the nuns and young women of the convent, appear and disappear mysteriously through doors, stairways and even laundry baskets.

We begin our theatrical tour of the Convent Building in the Bishop’s Parlour, the only room where a man could visit, after an introduction by our hilariously unprepared ring-in guide (Anna Scheer), who, for the entire tour, checks her scribbled notes in an attempt to cobble together some genuine history and amateur art criticism.

An ancient, toothless puppet woman, seated in an armchair and manipulated by an unseen puppeteer (Juanita Pope), recalls her childhood at the convent. Orphans and girls with illegitimate babies were brought here for education or rehabilitation and to work in the industrial laundry. There are frightening echoes of the punishing treatment of girls by the harsh Madgalen Sisters in Ireland.

A silent, pink-haired girl, portrayed by both a puppet and an actor (Fiona Gillies), flits furtively from room to room, appearing surprisingly in different locations. She avoids the stern and frightening Mother Superior  (Angela Orrego) who supervises our walking tour and hides ghostly nuns’ faces inside her habit.

Many of the scenes are accompanied by a sonorous double bass (Delia Poon) with occasional snatches of an Irish ballad, a latin hymn and even four nuns dancing to Tom Lehrer’s Vatican Rag (Lauren Simmonds, Kris Chainey, Nick Barlow, Poon).

Two lyrical scenes involve washerwomen. In the eerie chill of the basement, four ghostly puppet heads hang sheet upon which images are projected. It is here, in the cellar, that we witness the escape of the pink-haired girl and hope she made it safely to the other side of the river.

There are some charming moments in this performance, directed by Melinda Hetzel. There is certainly some potential for further development of the story and the sense of history in this evocative location.

By Kate Herbert

Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, Crown Casino, May 30, 2007

 Respect: A Musical Journey of Women
by Dorothy Marcic adapted by Beatrix Christian

Where and When: The Palms at Crown, May 30 to July 15, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on May 30, 2007

Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, by Dorothy Marcic and directed by Roger Hodgman, is less a dramatic piece of music theatre than a good excuse for a bunch of 20^th century hit tunes.

The inimitable Rhonda Burchmore plays Dodi Calquhoun, a jaded Broadway star. Dodi is preparing three young hopefuls (Lucy Durack, Belinda Wollaston, Elenoa Rokobaro OK) to audition for a musical inspired by Marcic’s real bestseller, Dorothy’s Story that celebrates the lives of Marcic’s grandmothers and mother.

This backroom musical, set in a rehearsal studio, focuses on the relationships and on Dodi’s encouragement of the youngsters. On arrival, each demonstrates nervousness and is in awe of Dodi’s experience but all evolve as performers under her direction.

The program states that Respect is the story of a Norwegian girl in New York in 1900, and of her female descendants. Intermittent readings from a storybook are scattered amidst the story of the young auditonees. This historical story serves no dramatic purpose, has no narrative development, is too expository, is unengaging and comes to no resolution. It could be omitted so we can concentrate on the on-stage characters.

Burchmore is all long limbs, throaty voice, quivering vibrato and bolshie characterisation, drawing the eye with her eccentric showgirl looks and idiosyncratic delivery. Her experience shines and the trio of young women are a fine supporting cast.

Burchmore’s solos, backed by the trio, are highlights. She is brassy in Bill Bailey, sassy singing These Boots Are Made for Walking in a Barbarella mini-dress and the soul number, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and magnetic prancing across the stage belting out I Will Survive.

Rokobaro, as the painfully shy Grace, has a warm, heartfelt blues voice. Her God Bless the Child and the Black activist song, Ain’ Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around are thrilling.

Durack, playing dizzy Rikki, performs a song as well as she sings it. You Don’t Own Me gives meaning to the lyrics and Someone to Watch Over Me is charming.

Wollaston has a powerful voice but is best when she holds back, maintaining the warmth in her voice. Her opening song, Greatest Love of All, was hilariously overplayed but an occasional harshness or flat note might stem from playing the pushy Miriam.

Some of the best musical moments were when the three girls sang together doing an Andrews Sisters number, Stop In The Name of Love and a rivetting version of Hero, by Mariah Carey.

By Kate Herbert