Sondheim UnScripted, Sept 27, 2008 ***

Sondheim UnScripted

By Impro Melbourne, directed by Dan O'Connor

 Lithuanian Club, Sept 27 to Oct 3, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

If you’ve never seen a totally improvised musical there are two in the Fringe Festival. Sondheim UnScripted (directed by Dan O’Connor who is visiting from Los Angeles) takes from the audience, “the title of a musical that has never been written”. 

What follows is an hour of songs and narrative loosely based on the stylings of Stephen Sondheim who wrote Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods and the lyrics in Westside Story.

Hold The Press was the catalyst title of the show I saw. Being improvised, the show is filled with surprises, successes and failures, but it is always entertaining. Watching an improviser’s mind in a whirl is fascinating. 

The cast of nine singer-improvisers opened with It’s a Good Edition, an ensemble number about a newspaper office. Sondheim’s dense lyrical style, chamber size cast, unusual melodies, quirky characters and narrative were echoed here, and the opening song was reprised in the finale.

If you crave more comic or musical improvisation see Spontaneous Broadway Oct 2-11 or Theatresports Sundays Sept 28-Nov 30.

By Kate Herbert

Rocky Horror Show, Sep 18, 2008 ****

Rocky Horror Show

Music and lyrics by Richard O’Brien

When & Where: Comedy Theatre,  Sept 18, 2008 (no closing date)

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Sept 18, 2008

Stars:****

It’s a tribute to Richard O’Brien’s imagination that Rocky Horror Show does not seem to date. In 1973, he came up with a foolproof recipe for a rock musical. It has sing-along, dance-along tunes, raunchy characters, wild orgies, hot and sexy costumes, a sweet transvestite, aliens, virgins being violated, an Adam and Eve allegory and just a smattering of S and M.

In Dale Ferguson’s stage cunning design, the shattered balconies of Frank N Furter’s decadent, on-stage castle blend into the real, gilded balconies of the Comedy Theatre. The auditorium is festooned with winking Christmas lights, the audience sucks blood-red daiquiris in neon glasses and the opening night crowd erupts as the curtain rises on Tamsin Carroll singing Science Fiction.

There are also on-stage eruptions. Frank N Furter, played by big-voiced, lanky rock singer, iOTA (OK), appears astride a winged chariot pulled by a giant phallus that ejaculates a flurry of oversized pink confetti. The crowd squealed with delight. Evidently such naughtiness is titiliating to even the most jaded.

 iOTA’s libidinous Frank N Furter is pretty and sensual so he lacks the grotesque ugliness of those previous transvestites. iOTA flounces, seduces and nibbles his way through a bevy of gorgeous young things on stage. He belts out Sweet Transvestite with alacrity but is equally compelling singing the moving ballad, I’m Going Home.

Paul Capsis’s Riff Raff wears a terminal sneer on his black lips and sings Time Warp with a voice that could cut glass. Tamsin Carroll is sultry and magnetic as his sister, Magenta and Sharon Millerchip is delicious playing Columbia as a blonde-bobbed Betty Boop with cupid lips.

Kelly Rode is a treat as a bleating, squeaking Janet and her Touch-A-Touch Me is thrilling. As her beau, Brad, Andrew Bevis has a rich warm voice and effortlessly makes the shift from geek to hottie.

John O’Connell’s choreography incorporates the sleazy moves of lap dancers and Julie Lynch’s costumes are a riot of vivid, lace and lame’ bustieres, vinyl boots, studded leather chokers and torn fishnet stockings.

The show would be nothing without a masterly rock band to play the hot favourite tunes in this decadent sexploitation musical.

Rocky Horror is still an intoxicating, indulgent rock musical and Gale Edwards’ production should keep them dancing in the aisles for months.

K Herbert

Jacky Jacky in the Box, Sept 18, 2008

Jacky Jacky in the Box 

By Ilbijerri Theatre

Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne, 6.30 to 8.30pm, Sep 18,  25, Oct 2, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Sept 18, 2008

Stars:****

This theatrical installation is simultaneously disturbing and fascinating. In the public space of Fed Square, three glass, museum display cases house three human specimens: one man and two women. They are young, funky cosmopolitan looking individuals – and they are aboriginal.

They perch on stools inside their boxes, oblivious to our gaze. One woman reads a street magazine, another talks on her mobile while the man sits surrounded by dictionaries and a newspaper article by Andrew Bolt.

A metal plate attached to the cabinet reads “Ab-Origine” and beside each cabinet is an information panel like you would find in a museum. It describes their genus (Homo Sapien), region, tribe, common name (all called Jacky Jacky) and a long genealogy. Such detached, scientific scrutiny and cool abuse of a person is both shocking and moving. This is a work that challenges our very core, our culture and history.

By Kate Herbert

The Park, Sept 17, 2008 **1/2

The Park 

By Steve Wheat, by Grainfed Theatre

Where and When: Cromwell Rd Theatre, Tues to Sun until Sep 26

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **1/2

Steve Wheat’s play, The Park, directed by Beng Oh, intertwines several stories of grief, loss and love with 13 actors – unusually large cast for a small company.

Two middle aged couples grieve for their sons, one of whom was driving the car that caused the death of the other young man. A young widow mourns her husband’s death and hooks up with a heart transplant patient who might be the recipient of her husband’s heart.

A couple whose relationship is on the skids when a past affair is unmasked, run the groovy café in the park where all the characters eventually come for a coffee - or a sherry shandy.  Meanwhile, one waitress loses her sight, another waits for news of her missing child.

The production is successful in part because of Wheat’s often amusing and sympathetic dialogue. However, the acting is uneven and needs faster paced direction.  The most affecting scenes come later in the play when we witness a moving meeting between the parents of two young men who died in the same a car accident.

By Kate Herbert

The Real Thring, Sep 17, 2008 ***

The Real Thring

By Barry Dickins, by Hoy Polloy

When & Where: 3RRR, Brunswick, until Sept 26, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

The audience at Barry Dickins’ play, The Real Thring, were all of an age to remember the voluble and voluminous Frank Thring in all his pompous glory. The play cunningly captures the essence of Thring without attempting to be a biographically accurate docu-drama.

Michael F. Cahill’s Thring is not an impersonation but an echo of the man. He wears Thring’s signature black clothing, a huge medallion and a cluster of glittering rings. Cahill’s voice recalls his fruity boom and the sultry gaze, the pouting lips and theatrical poses are all visible. According to this Thring, Mary Hardy did the only good impersonation of him – probably true.

Dickins writes The Real Thring in witty verse. The language blends poetic and colloquial Australian lingo and the dialogue is peppered with allusions to Aussie iconography, literature, myth and movies – as well as including infamous Thringisms.

The rhymes are often surprising and always witty. Dickins establishes a musical rhythm. The play has a wave motion as it ebbs and flows from raunchy comic moments and satire to Frank’s poignant memories and his final tragic moments.

Thring’s memories of his privileged childhood in Rylance, his family’s Toorak mansion, depict a peculiar child that became the eccentric, old actor.  Every memory has a theatrical reference. “I came in under budget,” he quips about his birth. He reminisces about his successful years in theatre and agonises over the lost glory of his Hollywood years. He was Pontius Pilate in Ben Hur. “Loved him, hated Hur,” he snaps.

Cahill’s is a sympathetic characterisation. He engages with the audience, portraying Thring’s final years living in an alcoholic haze in a small house in Fitzroy, wandering the streets, bars and saunas, pining for his lost fame. “In the end one dies of Melbourne,” he sighs.

Wayne Pearn directs Cahill with a deft hand. Pearn uses dramatic lighting and keeps the staging simple with just a swivel chair, a pile of books and a seemingly bottomless bottle of wine to accompany Thring on his journey. The play is a reminder of our own mortality and of the slippery slope that is The Yartz.

Kate Herbert

Vamp by Meow Meow, Sep 7, 2008 ***

Vamp by Meow Meow
By Malthouse Theatre

Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse, Tues to Sat until Sep 7 to 20, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

Meow Meow’s Vamp is a decadent, dissolute and manic diva with ruby-red, pouting mouth and pert bosom tucked into a parade of fabulous, figure-hugging black costumes. 

She whines and seduces, writhes, grinds and howls as she prowls over the metallic set (Anna Tregloan), singing in a voice that can glitter diamond bright or growl with a smoky gruffness.

The vamp is a ghostly reminder of femme fatales past, including Eve, Lilith, Delilah, Judith, Eurydice and Salome. Meow Meow doesn’t play any one vamp throughout but dialogue from Oscar Wilde’s 1984 play, Salome, provides the connective tissue in this piece, linking the vignettes and songs.

As Salome, she is determined to seduce the pious John The Baptist who is incarcerated beneath a grille in the floor. The Baptist is a stubborn celibate and his voice booms his rejection of the slinky cat-like Salome. She clutches his severed head to her bosom.

The Baptist is not the only victim of the vamp. The limbs of Samson, Adam, Orpheus, Napoleon and others litter the stage by the end and even male members of the audience are enticed or dragged on stage to play dead lovers or to hoist Meow Meow bodily over their heads.

Her  “seven deadly songs for the end of time” echo Kurt Weill’s tunes, Bertolt Brecht’s theatre and the Weimar cabaret. Meow Meow writes most lyrics, with music by Iain Grandage and, with titles such as Fifteen Minutes of Femme and Amnesia, Mon Amour, they are clever and complex. 

La Vipere and Poison talk about woman as snake-like seducer, poisoner and fatal attractor while The German song, Ich Bin Ein Vamp (1932), is a cunning signature tune.

Paul Jackson dramatically lights Tregloan’s distressed, industrial set with glaring spotlights and eerie mauves and blues. Tregloan’s extraordinary costumes are a feature, especially the black tutu decorated with tiny human hands. 

Scraps of historical film and images of Meow Meow in exotic cities (Rhys Graham, Natasha Gadd) play on a huge, moon-shaped screen. Grandage and his five piece band provide earthy accompaniment that recalls gypsy and Yiddish music.

There is no doubt that Meow Meow is a compelling and talented performer with a powerful voice and riveting stage presence. However, this show becomes repetitive and could be more successful if it were shorter.

By Kate Herbert

Tell Me on A Sunday, Sept 4, 2008

Tell Me on A Sunday

By Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black

Her Majesty’s Theatre, until Sept 14, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:**

Tell Me on A Sunday, the story of a young woman looking for love in New York, is a vehicle for a musical theatre star. Sarah Brightman sang it, Bernadette Peters spent three years wowing audiences with the version called Song and Dance and Denise Van Outen did it recently. 

Jolene Anderson is popular on the small screen and was the best of the non-singers on It Takes Two but it does both her and the show a disservice to cast her in it.

Anderson’s voice could work in an ensemble show, but it is too light and lacks the light and shade needed for the range of songs and her performance is too small for a solo show on a huge stage in an enormous theatre. She drowns in the elaborate steel and glass set, and disappears amongst the numerous video screens depicting New York.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s songs are varied and need emotional range and a passionate characterisation. Without this, the show is a mediocre concert. The tile song has supremely poignant lyrics and music and the show has other memorable love tunes. both ballads such as Unexpected Song, Come Back With The Same Look In Your Eyes, and raunchier numbers such as Who Needs Men or Take That Look Off Your Face and the acerbic attack on LA women, Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad.

The updated references and the change from an English to an Aussie girl do not help the show and the direction lacks imagination and consistency.

Kate Herbert

Lonesome West, Sept 4, 2008 ***1/2

 Lonesome West

By Martin McDonagh, by Dynamite Theatre

Theatreworks,  until Sept  21, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***1/2

If you see Martin McDonagh’s film, In Bruges, you will understand his brutal but comical Irish characters. Lonesome West, like the first two plays in his Leenane trilogy, is a grim and twisted story about dysfunctional people living in the isolated west of Ireland. 

We peer through the windows of the Connor brothers, Valene (Luke Elliot) and Coleman (Ben Grant), into the home they share since Coleman shot their father in the head.

Yes, they are brutal and idiotic with control issues but McDonagh makes them hilarious and charming in a perverse way. Imagine the Beverly Hillbillies in Ireland. The direction (Gorkem Acaroglu OK) misses some of  the rhythms of the play but Elliot and Grant are compelling, credible and funny as the cloddish, bickering brothers. Their comic timing is clever and they capture the brutishness of these Irish louts.

McDonagh is not simply writing Pulp Fiction in Ireland. The play has a poignant edge. Irish Catholicism is tainted in this village where people use murder instead of therapy to solve family arguments or suicide to escape their angst and confusion. The priest (Mark Tregonning) is driven to drink – and there was not far to  drive in this town.

By Kate Herbert

The Time Is Not Yet Ripe, Sept 1, 2008 ***

The Time Is Not Yet Ripe

By Louis Esson, by Here Theatre

Carlton Courthouse, until Sept 13, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: 3

The Time Is Not Yet Ripe, Louis Esson’s classic written in 1912, deals with an Australian Federal election. Astonishingly, the politics and politicians of 1912 sound exactly like those of 2008. Williamson’s Don’s Party, about an election night party, owes something to this play.

Esson might not be our greatest playwright, but he was a clever satirist and established Pioneer Players in Melbourne to reflect real Australian life rather than regurgitating English theatre.

“The time is not yet ripe for change,” repeats the Prime Minister (Kurt Geyer). “The people do not want change….they want to be left alone,” say others. Socialists fight amongst themselves, workers strike, women complain they have no power and can’t get the big jobs.

Social Reform Liberal pollies talk nonsense to get into power and the Socialist candidate (Grant Cartwright) tells his idealistic adviser (David Adamson) to “forget the facts”. An American businessman (Tom Wren) wants to exploit Australia’s natural resources while the country suffers long droughts and economic depression.

Jane Woollard’s high energy, often hilarious production has ten actors performing multiple roles. The style is broad and satirical, a blend of French farce, music hall, melodrama and early talkies. Characters pose for effect, stand on chairs to pontificate and every gesture has the exaggerated flourish of an Errol Flynn movie.

The versatile ensemble has a riot of a time mugging and rollicking. Cartwright is an anti-romantic lead as the upstart, socialist candidate from a rich family. Geyer booms as the Prime Minister maintaining the status quo. Melanie Beddie is marvellously blousy as the hypochondriacal wife of the Attorney General who is played as a grinning weasel by Don Bridges.

Ming-Zhu Hii (OK) plays the pretty, popular and totally ignorant daughter of the PM, who stands for parliament. Georgina Capper is rigid and dour as Mrs. Perkins, the suffragette, and Adamson’s sourpuss, British chauvinist butler is truly hilarious.

Amanda Johnston’s design is a rough collection of period furniture but, dominating the stage, is an enormous portrait of a merino sheep. Not only does it suggest that the country rides on the merino’s back but that its citizens follow the leader like a flock of obedient, stupid sheep.

The riotous scenes are peppered with choruses of songs including Jerusalem, The Internationale and In Loveland With a Girl Like You. This show is delightful, cheeky and uncannily apt for our times.

By Kate Herbert

Skin, Aug 28, 2008 ***

 Skin

By Humphrey Bower, La Mama

 La Mama Wed to Sun until Sept 13, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

In Skin, Humphrey bower adapts two of his own short stories into an intimate, atmospheric and spare solo storytelling performance. 

Jess Ipkendanz accompanies him with the haunting strains of original acoustic music for piano and voice. Her paintings line the walls and are eerily lit by Gwendolyna Holmberg-Gilchrist providing an unusual design.

Both stories have an edge of menace although Tony the hairdresser’s visit to Saigon is lighter and more comical. Tony is a stranger to Vietnam when he stays in a friend’s apartment. In order not to look out of place by the pool, he visits a tacky tanning salon that leaves him with orange skin and an allergic reaction.

The more threatening tale is about a white man’s encounter with an aboriginal spirit. He stays in an outback Western Australian town where he buys an aboriginal painting of a serpent. Almost hidden in cool dim blue light, he is visited in his cabin by the spirit of the woman who painted the serpent. Bower’s description of walking on the crystalline salt lake is chilling.

Skin begins as casual narration but becomes progressively more sinister.

By Kate Herbert

Ninety, Aug 27, 2008 ***1/2

 Ninety

by Joanna Murray-Smith, Melbourne Theatre Company

 Fairfax Studio, Vic Arts Centre, until October 4, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** 1/2

There are tears and laughter in Joanna Murray-Smith’s play, Ninety. You might need to sneakily dab your eyes with a tissue in the final blackout. When William (Kim Gyngell) and Isabel (Melinda Butel), a divorced couple, meet for the last time before William flies off to Paris to marry a young German actress, their separated “Now” collides with their volatile “Then”.

William grants Isabel’s request for ninety minutes of his time. What she wants is not immediately evident. Perhaps it is to remind him of the exceptional love they had, to rekindle the passion, to stop him marrying the German bimbo - or is it to remind him of the unbearable, unspoken grief that tore them apart and forced him to leave?

Murray-Smith writes plenty of whip-smart dialogue for these two accomplished actors, employing her signature interrupted, clipped dialogue and myriad allusions to literature, politics and popular culture.

The characters are middle-class, privileged artists. She is an art conservator restoring a 16^th century Flemish painting that is, rather too obviously, of a married couple. He is a “shallow and vain actor” who recently won a Golden Globe. They are articulate and almost too clever with words as they snipe and taunt each other.

Simon Phillips casts not glamorous actors, but two idiosyncratic and insightful performers who penetrate both the ordinary and extraordinary in this broken relationship. Gyngell is compelling as William, making this self-centred, ambitious man sympathetic and funny. His rattling recollection of being a sleep-deprived dad wrangling a vomiting, crying baby is hilarious. Later, he touches our hearts with his grief-wracked sobs.

Butel as Isabel is a fiery siren in tracky-dacks. She challenges and confronts William, making no obvious effort to charm or seduce him but she reels him in with her wily and manipulative storytelling.

The present bleeds into the past as they reminisce about their past love. If we were wondering why this seemingly mismatched and combative couple were ever together, their memories explain it. He was her Drama lecturer and she his annoying, show-off student who seduced him shamelessly. Their connection was playful, wild and sensual but their love was shattered by grief.

Phillips sustains a cantering pace without losing the rhythm. With the slowly revolving set (Andrew Bellchambers) Phillips allows us to view the couple from all sides, both literally and metaphorically. Ninety taps into all our fears and pain about losing love.

By Kate Herbert

Check Out! Aug 26, 2008 ***

Check Out! 

By Polyglot Theatre, touring Victoria schools

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

The five to 9 year olds who watched Check Out! were entertained and engaged by this cute little show with two actors and more puppets. When Baby, a chubby hand and rod puppet, visits the supermarket with her Daddy, she kicks up a fuss because she wants the chocolate bunny. 

She gets separated from Dad when she goes in pursuit of the elusive bunny. She meets Speedy, a scruffy sugar crazed kid who lives amongst the snack shelves, encounters the lively shelf products and finally finds her frantic dad.

The set comprising black and white photographic panels, provide a simple background that evokes the supermarket. Woven mongst Baby’s story is that of two young shelf stackers who are paid a pittance and who must offload unsellable quantities of soap.

Their is slapstick tickles the children’s funny bone making them squeal with laughter as the actors fall over or and puppets fly through the air. Check Out is a portable and engaging play for primary schools.

By Kate Herbert

Bat Boy The Musical, Aug 20, 2008 **

Bat Boy The Musical

Music & lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe, story & book by Keythe (OK) Farley & Brian Flemming by Octave Theatre

Chapel off Chapel, Aug 20 to 24, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:**

When a tabloid rag broke the insane story and photo of a half-boy, half-bat found living in a cave, three writers leapt at the idea to turn it into a musical. In 1997, Bat Boy The Musical was born and subsequently won myriad awards.

Bat Boy became a cult hit. It combines the schlock horror notion of a cross- breed bat-boy with cartoon humour and witty lyrics in a rock musical. This production is by Octave Theatre, a non-professional musical theatre company of young performers.

Scott Mackenzie works hard as the Bat Boy who is found scuttling and grunting in a cave near an isolated American town that is populated by redneck cattle farmers. Laura Marcucci gives a strong performance as the woman who teaches Bat Boy and is, we discover hilariously, his birth mother.

 Although the quality of acting and singing is limited in this production directed by Rebecca Holcdorf (OK), this gang of young’ns has a great time belting out tunes with titles such as Hold Me Bat Boy, Ugly Boy and Another Dead Cow.

Kate Herbert

Zhang Da Li and the Village of Big Eaters, Aug 21, 2008 **

Zhang Da Li and the Village of Big Eaters

By Yu Jihui

When & Where: La Mama Wed to Sun until Aug 24, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:**

Yu Jihui immigrated from China in 2001, wrote a novel in English, part of which was adapted into this play by director, Frank Moore. 

It portrays one young man’s attempt to undermine Communist Party ideology and its blatant ignoring of starvation through his fantasy about a “village of big eaters”.

It is unusual to see an entirely Asian cast and, because most are inexperienced actors, the quality of acting is uneven. However their enthusiasm and authenticity and  Yu Jihui’s scathing, satirical observations about Communist officials carry the show.

Kate Herbert

Rod Quantock, First Man Standing, Aug 21, 2008 ****

Rod Quantock First Man Standing

Trades Hall, Carlton, until Sept 6, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:****

When I see Rod Quantock I laugh a lot and I think a lot – about our lot. This fortieth anniversary of his first comedy appearance is no disappointment.  He is a lone social-political commentator in the live comedy scene and neither side of the political game escapes his scathing opinions. 

He dumps on Howard and Garrett, Brumby and Kennett with equal vehemence and remembers Kennett cheerfully for the comic material he provided.

He started comedy in 1968 in the Melbourne Uni Architecture Revue and three audience members assist him in recreating that first goofy sight gag. In this show he uses technology, not just a whiteboard and marker. We are treated to data projection websites, flow charts and even our own houses appear on Google Earth.  His montage of the major events of 1968 is accompanied by a rapid fire and hilarious commentary on asassinations, wars, bombs and mini-skirts.

Rod’s reminiscences about his infamous Bus tours when he invaded weddings, homes and even a police graduation are funny enough to make an entire show and his endless permutations of the singing fish joke are a riot.

What is fascinating is how he can make us laugh at things that are deadly serious – climate change, oil depletion, weapons, war and lack of water. Yes, I am still a card-carrying Quantock fan.

By Kate Herbert

Hamlet, Bell Shakespeare, July 20, 2008 ***

Hamlet 

By William Shakespeare, Bell Shakespeare

Playhouse, Victorian Arts Centre, July 20 to Aug 2, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Aug 20, 2008

Stars: 3

Brendan Cowell’s Hamlet is certainly an unexpected, but not always successful, interpretation of Shakespeare’s young prince, whose mind is addled by grief and revenge. There is no choice but to compare former, famous Hamlets with this contemporary young man.

The grieving young Hamlet is shocked when, just two months after his father’s death, his mother, Gertrude (Heather Mitchell), marries Claudius (Colin Moody), the dead King Hamlet’s brother. Hamlet is driven to distraction when the Ghost of his father (Russell Kiefel) reveals that Claudius murdered him to gain the crown – and his wife.

Cowell’s Hamlet is scruffy, obnoxious, rowdy, sullen and impulsive, looking as if he has taken recreational drugs and been awake for a week. He is most effective and compelling when his Hamlet is in his extroverted moments, rollicking with his university pals, Rosencrantz (Tim Richards) and Guildenstern (Matthew Whittet),  ranting at his mother or Ophelia (Laura Brent) and fencing with Laertes (Chris Ryan).

This Hamlet is disrespectful, confused, privileged and lacking in impulse control. He has a wicked sense of humour and an attractive, bad-boy persona that is recognisable as a modern young man with scattered energy and too much time on his hands. This Hamlet will appeal to a younger audience that is new to the play.

The weaknesses are in Cowell’s interpretation of Hamlet’s introspective soliloquys. His mood shifts are not convincing, he seems disconnected from the text, his voice is uncontrolled and lacking resonance. Much of Hamlet’s philosophising is lost in the whirlwind performance.

Barry Otto, as old Polonius, steals the show without overplaying the role. He finds humour and truth in the loyal, doddering, over-talking Polonius who tries to please everyone.  Mitchell’s Gertrude is dignified and layered. Cowell’s scene with her is strong and passionate.

The crucial Players’ scene has no dramatic impact because it is sung rather than enacted, and Claudius’s reaction to it - “Give me some air” - is totally lost.

The sparse design (Fiona Crombie) of stony walls is broken only by a narrow moat on one side through which the gaping ghost splashes and, on the other, a spiral staircase upon which Hamlet muses.

Colin Moody is a smug and dangerous Claudius while Richards and Whittet play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as clowns. Jo Manning is composed and capable as Horatio.

Marion Potts’ production is an unusual and entertaining ride but it lacks the balance of passion, poetry and subtlety that can make a truly great Hamlet.

By Kate Herbert

Damn Yankees, Aug 20, 2008 ****

Damn Yankees

Words & music by Richard Adler & Jerry Ross, book by George Abbott & Douglass Wallop by The Production Company

 State Theatre Aug 20 to Aug 24, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Aug 20, 2008

Stars:****

Don’t be fooled. A musical about baseball might sound just a bit too All-American and irrelevant to an Australian audience, but Damn Yankees is a damned good show. And when I say “damned”, take that literally because the devil takes centre stage.

When baseball fanatic and couch potato, Joe Boyd (David Whitney), vows that he would sell his soul if his precious Washington Senators could win the series, he sets in motion an uncontrollable chain of events. Mr. Appleby (Matt Hetherington) appears in a puff of smoke to grant Joe his wish. Dumpy, middle-aged Joe is magically transformed into baseball star, Joe Hardy (David Harris). The only problem is that, having sold his soul to achieve his goal, he must leave behind his loving wife, Meg (Anne Wood).

Director, Terence O’Connell, with choreographer Alana Scanlan, musical director Vanessa Scammell and Orchestra Victoria, creates a polished and charming production with a talented cast.  As the show’s hit song says, Damn Yankees has heart.

Heart (You’ve gotta have heart”) sung by the chorus of cheerful, try-hard baseball players, is not the only memorable song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Pia Morley vamps it up with the sultry tune, Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets) and she finds a balance between devilish seductress and sympathetic admirer of Joe.

Harris is the perfect, muscular golden boy as baseball star, Joe Hardy. He blends naivete, honesty and ambition in the American idol and his voice has warmth and an emotional quality. Morley and Harris sing Lost Souls, a sexy, peppy duet, with passion.

Hetherington, as the devil in the guise of Mr. Applegate, almost steals the show.  He revels in the role, playing him as a sneering, manipulative misogynist rather than as a sleazy seducer. His wickedness is cheeky and comical and he uses magic to colour his wickedness with fire tricks and sleight of hand. With the impish chorus, he hams it up singing The Good Old Days.

Wood and Whitney are relaxed and amiable as Meg and old Joe. Near To You, their trio with Harris, has warmth, poignancy and fine harmonies. Melissa Langton, Wendy Stapleton and Sally Bourne create appealing comic characters.

Although the show has only two big hit songs and the story is gossamer-light, Damn Yankees is a fun night out.

By Kate Herbert

Altar Boyz, Aug 11, 2008 ****

Altar Boyz

Conceived by Ken Davenport & Marc Kessler

Music & lyrics by Garry Adler & Patrick Walker

Athenaeum Theatre, Tues to Sun Aug 11 to Sept 13, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Aug 11, 2008

Stars:****

Cross the Hill Song Church with Human Nature and you have Altar Boyz, a musical parody of a Christian boy band. The five Boyz are Matthew, Mark, Luke and Juan (the Mexican). Oh, and then there’s Abraham, the Jewish boy and master lyricist who happened along on the day the others decided to sing for God.

The Boyz perform the final show of its Raise the Praise tour and their task is to sing saccharine sweet songs to save tortured, sinful souls. Every night, the Sony Soul Sensor records on a digital screen the number of sinners in the audience. As the night progresses the number decreases and the Boyz celebrate their success.

Vivacious, versatile and charming singer-dancers, combined with peppy choreography and cleverly written, up-tempo tunes, make this an energetic, effervescent show.

Cameron MacDonald is Matthew, the clean-cut, charismatic leader of the Altar Boyz. His adoring sidekick, Mark, is played by Dion Bilios who prances hilariously as this closeted but oh-so-obviously gay boy. Tim Maddren (OK) is Luke, the thug who drives the truck and was saved after doing rehab for “exhaustion” – and alcohol.

Jeremy Brennan plays Juan, the Mexican Lothario whose latin song, la Vida Eternal, is a cunning parody of Ricky Martin. Andrew Koblar is Abraham, the Jewish boy who begins as the outsider but turns out to be the most loyal to this Christian band.

Garry Adler and Patrick Walker’s songs replicate the sugary style of boy band pop music and the lyrics are gently satirical. They turn the raunchy pop lyrics on their heads. “Something about you makes me want to wait,” sings Matthew to his girlfriend, parodying the popularity of sexual abstinence amongst young Christians.

The on-stage band under musical director, Robert Gavin, is accomplished and gives the gossamer-light lyrics some weight. Kate Gaul directs the show at a cracking pace and keeps the laughs coming.

The characters that are clearly written for American culture so some dialogue does not work in an Australian accent. The comic sketches are cheesy but they work because the intention of the show is to be ultra-daggy.

Altar Boyz is really entertaining and the music is toe-tappin’. It is unlikely that devout Christians will be offended – but you never know. Good satire takes no prisoners.

By Kate Herbert

Massacre at Paris, Aug 7, 2008 **

Massacre at Paris

By Christopher Marlowe, by Doorslam Productions

Where and When: Theatreworks,  Aug 7 to 17, 2008

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:**

Only a short version survives of Marlowe’s final play about the battle for the French throne and the gruesome massacre of Catholic Hugenots in 1972. 

This production is courageous and is successful in part. The acting is uneven from this new company. 

However, Jenny Lovell revels in the role of the sneering, conniving Catherine de Medici and Joel Davey is comically whiney as Henry III. The costume design is delectable.

By Kate Herbert

Chrysalis, Aug 6, 2008 ***

 Chrysalis

By Dina Ross by Soul Theatre & La Mama

Where and When: Courthouse Theatre, Wed to Sun until Aug 23

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:***

There is tragedy in the death of any infant but the trauma escalates with multiple deaths and the mother is under suspicion. Dina Ross's play, Chrysalis, investigates the manslaughter trial of a woman whose three babies died suddenly.

The story is based on real trials. In England, Professor Meadow, an expert on cot death, devised an infamous rule that damned innocent women: “One death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder.”

The accused is Annie (Sarah Borg), a surly, angry, under-educated young woman of 23 who had three babies by three different fathers. Assumptions of guilt are made about her based on prejudice and inaccurate evidence. Annie was an abused child. She is religious and believes that her babies’ deaths are a punishment from God.

Ross’s script is stark and almost documentary in style, constructed around court testimony, legal meetings and police interrogations.  The writing is most effective when characters express passionately personal experiences. More often the dialogue is didactic and expository. David Myles clinical direction matches the reserve of the script.

There are broader issues of parenting and loss. Annie’s lawyer, Steffie (Imat Akelo-Opio), was adopted at birth and cannot have children while the pathologist (Bruce Kerr) is traumatised by his son’s death.

Borg is credible as Annie, playing her with adolescent defiance. Kerr is dignified as Lawrence and Akelo-Opio warms to her role when expressing strong emotion.

Peter Mumford’s innovative design uses projections to create locations on an austere stage. The opening image of butterflies is startlingly beautiful. Dim, atmospheric lighting (Bronwyn Pringle) emphasises the grim mood.

Chrysalis is a compelling argument for the legal notion of “reasonable doubt”.

KATE HERBERT