The Gather, BATS Improv, 11 April 2020 ***1/2

By BATS Improv online (Via Zoom)
Sat 11 April 2020 (1pm Sun 12 April, Melbourne, Aust time)
Reviewer: Kate Herbert 
Stars: ***1/2
Link to recording of The Gather: The Gather -BATS

Watch BATS shows: Melbourne Aust time 1pm Fri/Sat/Sun (8pm SF, Thur/Fri/Sat) 
Log on to see what's upcoming: https://www.improv.org/online-shows

BATS Improv online - (actual cast of The Gather)

So, BATS Improv performed another improvised show via Zoom today and this one features the meeting of storytellers and improvisers in a format called The Gather.

Three storytellers share their true stories from their couches at home, in the way that The Moth shares real stories.

The improvisers then snatch elements, characters, insinuations, truths and falsehoods from those stories and weave them into new and often even more peculiar scenes and narratives.

If this were Playback Theatre, the stories would be treated with careful regard for the mood, intention, details and atmosphere. But who wants that?

These improvisers mess with the stories and delight their audience, and probably their storytellers too, with the weird and wonderful corners they turn and strange things they uncover when they lift the rug on the story.

As improviser, Corey Rosen, says, ‘Storytelling has the power to transport us.’

Tracey Rose’s story takes us to an iconic gay bar in The Castro in San Francisco where she tries to pick up a gal; Scott Sanders’ takes place in his family basement when he was a randy 12 year-old; and Brandon Spars’ tale is on an overloaded ferry (with an overloaded toilet) in Indonesia decades ago.

The cast use all this as a springboard for scenes about a dog park, French crocodiles, a ‘poo volcano’, Hitler’s erotic writings, a sexy housekeeper in a hairnet, karaoke as a pick-up method, and more.

The cast (Corey Rosen, Lisa Rowland, Rebecca Stockley, Zoe Galvez, William Hall) and storytellers can’t hear the audience reactions, but they can read them in Chat window (See image below) as the online audience types them at the speed of light. The comments are often as hilarious as the show itself.

Zoom is making impro shows possible, despite the theatres being closed. Log on and sit back and enjoy the hoot that is Zoom-Pro.  Or should this show be called Zoom-poo??!!! (You had to be there!)

By Kate Herbert

Cast

Corey Rosen

Lisa Rowland

Rebecca Stockley

Zoe Galvez

William Hall

Storytellers

Scott Sanders

Tracey Rose

Brandon Spars

The Gather Zoom screen with Chat Box (Thanks WIlliam Hall)

Jane Eyre, NT Live ****1/2

The National Theatre Live 2020

Jane Eyre NT Live 2020
Reviewer: Kate Herbert. Melbourne Australia (April 4, 2020)
Stars: ****1/2
I wrote this review in Isolation to keep up my reviewing muscle while all our theatres are shut. Thank you NT Live for giving me a reason to write. Kate H (Melbourne, Australia)

Madeleine Worrall - Jane Eyre

Sally Cookson’s production of Jane Eyre has a desperate urgency made palpable by the hectic pace and rhythm of the episodic structure and the intense physicality of the performances.

Madelene Worrall perfectly cast as the Jane, who described herself as ‘poor, obscure, plain and little’, and her twisted grimace expresses Jane’s rebellious but tortured soul in every twitch.

This is an ensemble piece, with the versatile actors playing multiple roles, including Jane’s cold-hearted Aunt Reed and her cruel son, the religious and tyrannical headmaster of Lowood School, and Jane’s inner voices as she wrestles with her whirling thoughts.

Felix Hayes is an imposing presence as the impassioned, volatile Rochester and Craig Edwards, amongst his other roles, brings a smile as Rochester’s faithful, canine companion, Pilot.

Cookson’s direction is imaginative and compelling, using wooden structures, platform, ladders, ramps and stairs to represent all location in Jane’s journey from unloved orphan and abused schoolchild, to Thornfield Hall and the love of Edward Rochester.

Felix Hayes & Madeleine Worrall

There is energy on stage as the actors beat their paths around the space, so that Jane seems to be chased by demons as she rushes about, gripping her tiny hands and clutching at moments of happiness.

Music from the onstage band underscores the action, layering scenes with emotion and providing a persistent percussive rhythm. Songs by the ensemble and poignant solos by Melanie Marshall echo the tone of Jane’s story and intensify atmosphere.

At times, the percussive undercurrent intrudes on the action and the constant pounding running around the wooden platforms sometimes becomes repetitive and a little tiresome. Less running by actors on stage might knock 20 or 30 minutes off the three hours running time, which would be welcome.

This production of Jane Eyre, even on screen, is captivating and re-imagines Charlotte Bronte’s dark and passionate novel for the modern audience.

By Kate Herbert

Cast

·       Madeleine Worrall as Jane Eyre.

·       Craig Edwards as Mr Brocklehurst/Pilot/Mason.

·       Felix Hayes as Rochester.

·       Laura Elphinstone as Poole/Abbot.

·       Maggie Tagney as Mrs Reed/Mrs Fairfax.

·       Simone Saunders as Bessie/Blanche Ingram/Diana Rivers.

·       Melanie Marshall as Bertha Mason.

The Night Whistler, Film Noir, BATS Improv, Fri 10 April, 2020 ****

Film Noir improvised show
BATS Improv San Francisco (Via Zoom)

Reviewer: Kate Herbert, 10 April 2020 (Melbourne, Australia)
Stars: **** 

Link to recorded show: Film Noir–The Night Whistler

Watch BATS shows: Melbourne Aust time 1pm Fri/Sat/Sun (8pm SF, Thur/Fri/Sat) 
Log on to see what's upcoming: https://www.improv.org/online-shows

BATS on Zoom - Film Noir - cast of The Night Whistler

I just watched a totally improvised performance by BATS Improv in the style of Film Noir – and it was all performed via Zoom. You can watch these remarkable shows from your couch.

The title, The Night Whistler, was provided by an audience member. If you’re wondering how there’s an audience for a Zoom performance, the Chat box on the right side of screen is filled with audience responses. They can say all the things that they would normally be whispering in the dark if they were in the theatre.

The five performers appear in their Zoom screen boxes when they enter the story. Each scene has a black and white, Film Noir, San Francisco backdrop: a dark alley, the foggy marina, Chinatown, a luxury apartment, a down-at-heel P.I.’s office, a street corner.

Eliza McNamara (Lisa Rowland), the daughter of a newspaper magnate, employs hard-bitten, heavy-smoking, whiskey-drinking Private Investigator, Tom Barnes, to protect her from a man following her. Meanwhile, the Night Whistler is killing people all over San Francisco. Everybody has a secret, and everybody wants somebody dead.

As the narrating P.I. Tom Barnes, Tim Orr improvises some lines that could have come straight from the Raymond Chandler manual: ‘The day I need help from cops is gonna be a wet day in the Sahara.’

The cast may be in empty rooms in different houses looking at each other in little boxes on a Zoom screen, but they pass each other newspapers and glasses of whiskey and put their hands on another character's shoulder. There's even a screen kiss! Just lean in and pucker up!

There is background music of the period, sound effects, gunshots, plenty of seedy characters, and lots of dead bodies in the last scene.

Tom Barnes the P.I. says, ‘Life’s not scripted, baby!’  and this show certainly wasn’t. It was gripping, hilarious and totally improvised.

Kate Herbert

Cast:

Tim Orr

Regina Saisi

Lisa Rowland

Dave Dennison

Ken Robertson

Ben Johnson

Remi Frazier– backdrops and sound effects

Foxy's Hangout #8-10 min play recorded solo, one take by Kate Herbert- April 9, 2020

Foxy's Hangout is play # 8 in my Cycle of 8 X 10 minute plays. (audio file)

This is the 8th of my cycle of 8 short plays, each approximately 10-minute plays. It's another solo reading.  I record all the plays single-handed, one take, play all characters, no rehearsal, no edits.

This is how I'm entertaining myself and keeping up my Arts practice during the Virus period.

Daz rides his quad bike in the bush track and encounters a farmer, Mitch, who accuses him of trespassing on his land. Things get darker and more dangerous as Mitch toys with Daz.

All 8 x 10 min plays and  audio recordings of my improvised Radio Play, Evaline, are on my 2nd blog https://kateherbertplays.blogspot.com

Kate

Adelaid Writers Week podcasts 2020

Listen to thesepodcasts if you want some new input. k



Adelaide Writers Week podcasts 2020

Aust Shakespeare Co -online classes

Australian Shakespeare Company doing online classes for young people/kids:



Australian Shakespeare Company- online classes

National Theatre streaming Live shows

The National Theatre will stream NT Live shows for free on YouTube Every Thursday at 7.00pm UK time from Thursday 2 April.

Available on demand for seven days on the NT's YouTube channel.

• Thurs 2 April: Richard Bean's One Man Two Guvnors - James Corden. 
• Thurs 9 April: Sally Cookson's Jane Eyre 
• Thurs 16 April Bryony Lavery's Treasure Island
• Thurs 23 April: Twelfth Night with Tamsin Greig

National Theatre Live

My fully improvised, SOLO Radio Play - Evaline

I/m recording a fully improvised Radio Play solo! 

Bonkers! This what I do with time on my hands and a captive audience.

Multiple characters, no preparation, no written text, one take only, no rehearsal, no preparation.

I finished Episode 1and had to keep going.  I've now recorded 6 episodes.

 It is set in 1923 England and starts an English country mansion where Evaline suspects a murder has been committed. The story eventually takes her to Tivoli Theatre in London.

Characters in Episodes 1 to 6 so far:

Evaline 'Evvie' Pankhurst (young woman, 21)
Hillary 'Hills' Appleby (young man, 23)
Honourable Matilda Appleby (his ailing aunt, 84)
Banderson (Butler, 70s )
Ernest Pankhust (Evvie & Binky's Great Uncle)
Harry (Ernest Pankhurst's Chauffeur)
Mrs. Fossicker (Ernest Pankhurst's Housekeeper)
Chantel the Chanteuse  (showgirl at the Tiv, 21)
Inspector Sidebottom (Police Officer)
Police Constable
Binky (Evvie's brother, 23)
Jackie & Bouncer (Tivoli comedy duo) 

Thievin' Thugs: Play #7-10 min play-recorded solo, one take by Kate Herbert -March 26, 2020

Kate Herbert · Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert 26 Mar 2020<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/783538303%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-cix9fwMLifs&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558" title="Kate Herbert" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Kate Herbert</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558/thievin-thugs-solo-kate-herbert-26-mar-2020/s-cix9fwMLifs" title="Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert 26 Mar 2020" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert 26 Mar 2020</a></div><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/783538303%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-cix9fwMLifs&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558" title="Kate Herbert" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Kate Herbert</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558/thievin-thugs-solo-kate-herbert-26-mar-2020/s-cix9fwMLifs" title="Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert 26 Mar 2020" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert 26 Mar 2020</a></div>

  Thievin' Thugs # 7 (2 young males)

This is the 7th of my cycle of 8 short plays, each approximately 10-minute plays. It's another solo reading.
 I record all the plays single-handed, one take, play all characters, no rehearsal, no edits.

This is how I'm entertaining myself and keeping up my Arts practice during the Virus period.

This play is about two teenage lads, Zac and Gabba, who roll people for their phones, 
IPads and laptops at the railway station or outside the school. Their last robbery is more 
violent than usual.

The 8 plays are connected not by a narrative thread, but by themes and characters.

A character that is only mentioned in a play then appears in the following play, until we get to  
Play # 8, when a character is mentioned who appeared in Play # 1.

As I wrote the plays, I realised that each dealt with a different social issue: bulling, perceptions 
of disability, street violence etc.

I then noticed that each play had characters using mobile phones and that phone technology had 
become a character!

I am recording them all single-handedly at my computer, at home in this Covid isolation. 

Hope you enjoy them and maybe choose to do the same.

KH

ddddd<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/783538303%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-cix9fwMLifs&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558" title="Kate Herbert" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Kate Herbert</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/kate-herbert-75153558/thievin-thugs-solo-kate-herbert-26-mar-2020/s-cix9fwMLifs" title="Thievin' Thugs Solo Kate Herbert

Baggage #1 -10 min play- recorded solo in one take by Kate Herbert-March 26, 2020

Kate Herbert · Baggage KateHerbert Solo V2 26Mar2020


Baggage: Play #1 of 8 X 10. ( 1 male, 1 female)

  

This is the 1st of my cycle of 8 short plays, each approximately 10-minute plays. It's a solo reading.

I record all the plays single-handed, one take, play all characters, no rehearsal, no edits.

This is how I'm entertaining myself and keeping up my Arts practice during the Virus period.

 Baggage is about  an encounter between a middle-aged WOMAN and a scruffy, homeless, 

harmless YOUNG MAN and their conversation that gradually becomes more intimate.

The 8 plays are connected not by a narrative thread, but by themes and characters.

A character that is only mentioned in a play then appears in the following play, until we get to  Play # 8, 

when a character is mentioned who appeared in Play # 1.

As I wrote the plays, I realised that each dealt with a different social issue: bulling, perceptions of disability,

 street violence etc.

I then noticed that each play had characters using mobile phones and that phone technology had become 
a character!

I am recording them all single-handedly at my computer, at home in this Covid isolation. 

Hope you enjoy them and maybe choose to do the same.

KH

 

The 8 plays are as follows:

Baggage – 1 Woman, 1 Man

Phone Calls on a Train – 3 Women, 2 Men

Social ME-dia – 1 Woman, 1 Teenage Girl

Lover Boy! – 1 Woman, 1 Teenage Boy

The House That Alex Built – 1 Man, 1 Woman

DB & Scruff – 1 Man , 1 Woman

Thievin’ Thugs – 2 Men (1 off-stage voice)

Foxy’s Hangout ­ – 2 Men

Epilogue – 1 Woman (same character as Play #1) as yet unwritten.

Kate

BATS IMPROV SHOWS ZOOM ONLINE FREE!

 2pm Australian EST (Melbourrne, Sydney, Brisbane east coast)
You can log onto the Link at 1.30pm to get one of the 500 places. Should be plenty of spots.

Sat 28 March at 2pm   Murder Mystery! 

or Sun 29  March at 2pm   Impro Games

You need ZOOM.
It is FREE!
Go to website and click on date/link beside the show.
 https://www.improv.org/online-shows/?fbclid=IwAR3uCv5VKR9UthNnoHWesqKO_qdtL6wLNB5ah_8LUC2xlstCIZsFd7jSC3w

3 charitable organisations supporting ARTSITS

Arts Centre Melbourne emailed this:

 If you would like to help arts industry workers during these unprecedented times, there are three charitable organisations that support the physical and/or mental wellbeing of the arts. We strongly encourage you to donate the value of your refunded tickets, or another amount you choose, to one of these three tax-deductible charities:

• The Arts Wellbeing Collective provides mental health and wellbeing resources and helps deliver the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline, a 24/7 phone line available to anyone in the performing arts. https://arts-centre-melbourne.giveeasy.org/arts-wellbeing-collective

• Victorian Actors’ Benevolent Fund –  The VABT provides emergency financial assistance to those in the entertainment industry who, in times of crisis or hardship, find themselves with nowhere else to turn. https://vabt.com.au/donate/
• 
  
• Support Act – Support Act deliver crisis relief services to artists, crew and music workers who are unable to work in the music industry, as well as partnering with Arts Centre Melbourne and the Arts Wellbeing Collective to deliver the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline. 
•  https://www.mycause.com.au/page/226584/covid19-emergency-appeal
• 
  

The Show Must Go ONLINE!!!

I just found this link to online readings of all of Shakespeare plays, performed weekly in the order in which they were written.

It's called The Show Must Go ONLINE!

To watch the YouTube live readings, visit - https://youtu.be/KOAHj4ANGKw

Ways to teach Improvisation remotely

Hi all,

All my Improvisation colleagues in Oz and Nth America are working out ways to teach Improvisation remotely.

For example, verbal games, verbal impro exercises, storytelling and status exercises can be played online. You could do this as an online meeting, FaceTime or Skype.

You don't need to have an entire class/group to do it. It probably works better if everyone works in pairs then reports in a Forum or Facebook group.

More when I have some more specifics.

For now, there are pletnty of online lists of Games and Impro exercises. If you have a Theatresports games list, that will work for you.

My Handbook of Impro Basics: Offer to Accept, Status to Story, certainly has lots of exercises that could be used remotely.
KH

All reviews cancelled until further notice.

Dear readers,

All reviews are cancelled until further notice.

If you are there isolated at home, I'm sorry that I won't be posting reviews for an indefinite period.

Perhaps I'll think of something else to post about theatre to entertain myself and readers. I've found some links to live streaming of performances.
KH

Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 is livestreaming on the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's (MSO) YouTube channel at 7.30pm on Thursday 19 March 2020. It is conducted by Benjamin Northey.

MSO Youtube Channel is:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWC3rUkPeaV2B2r_bwwgnNw

Monday night’s MSO performance of Scheherazade can be viewed on Youtube still:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCBYvd5LKa4&utm_source=Mail2&utm_campaign=MKT_-_Coronavirus_Update&cmp=1&utm_medium=Email&fbclid=IwAR0w3G-5FKNoLL3xXi5_RPXe14hnTNLNfMGLt8pdQ9Vurkn27FbJF_b927I

Social Distancing Festival -Companies live streaming productions!!!

I wondered when theatre companies would start streaming their productions during this time.

The Social Distancing Festival in Toronto! k

https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/?fbclid=IwAR1DN5N-OylN6Ep6S9x-77tT_g6wCvsbjb4-0fyguO9tUOt9a9zJyGrrl4o

Shows are cancelling!

Well, the show cancellations are now coming thick and fast.

I will not be reviewing WellBless at Theatre Works in St. Kilda this week (19 March) because the season is now cancelled as a safety precaution.

Even theatres under 200 seats need to protect their audiences from COVID19.

Comedy Festival 2020 is cancelled, although some small venues may still run their shows.

Staying away from crowds is good advice – so far.
Kate

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Feb 23 2019 ****1/2 (Re-posting)

THEATRE
Story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, script by Jack Thorne
At Princess Theatre, Melbourne, reviewed on Feb 23, 2019
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****1/2
NB: This review was from the opening, Feb 23, 2019, in Melbourne. I am re-posting it as the show continues. I believe there are some new children in the cast this 2020 season. This was NOT published in Herald Sun in 2019. KH

Sean Rees-Wemyss & William McKenna 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a sparkling, visual feast filled with tasty, Hogwarts  treats for the Potter aficionado.

 

The excitable and very vocal crowd cheers and gasps at the remarkable, jaw-dropping special effects of John Tiffany’s production that combines magical illusion, black theatre puppetry, startling appearances and disappearances, and whirling choreographic scenes - oh, and familiar characters as well as new ones.

 

Tiffany keeps the action swift and vivacious in Parts One and Two that are an endurance test of over five hours for the audience - but nobody seems to mind.

 

Based on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, this new play, written by Jack Thorne, which hurls us back into the world of Hogwarts when Harry (Gareth Reeves) and Ginny’s (Lucy Goleby) son Albus (Sean Rees-Wemyss) begins his less than stellar school years at Hogwarts Academy. 

 

A cunning twist is that Albus's best friend is the goofy and incompetent Scorpius Malfoy (William McKenna), son of Draco, Harry’s childhood nemesis.

 

The signs at the theatre say, ‘Keep the secrets’, so this we will do. You will not hear anything of the cursed child, the changing fate of young Albus, Scorpius, Harry and his cronies, Ron Weasley (Gyrton Grantley) and Hermione (Paula Arundell) or the current headmistress Professor McGonagall (Debra Lawrance). 

 

If you loved the Potter books and movies, this is a must-see for you. There are working magic wands, magical creatures, moving staircases, terrifying dementors, villains and heroes, battles for life and death, broken familial relationships and all your favourite characters.

 

The heroes of this production are the invisible people who manipulate human bodies, puppets, staircases, wands and other paraphernalia to create this fantastic world before our eyes.

 

As Scorpius, McKenna delights the crowd from start to finish, and Rees-Wemyss, as Albus, is a suitably disenchanted, rebellious teenager.

 

Appearances by  Severus Snape (David Ross Patterson), Professor Dumbledore (George Henare), Lily and James Potter, Dolores Umbridge (Hannah Waterman), and a delicious bathroom cameo from Moaning Myrtle (Gillian Cosgriff) send the crowd into paroxysms of delight.

 

Occasionally, some dialogue feels a bit cheesy and uncomfortable, a few characters are a bit shouty and lacking vocal control, and the story is extremely convoluted.

 

But, ultimately, there is plenty of spectacle to keep the audience cheering and clapping as we witness the continuation of the fight between good and evil that is at the heart of the Harry Potter series. Everyone goes home tired and happy.

 

by Kate Herbert