Theatre: The Secret River

by Andrew Bovell

from the novel by Kate Grenville

Composer Iain Grandage

The Sydney Theatre Company

Directed by Neil Armfield

Artistic Associate Stephen Page

Designer Stephen Curtis

With Nathaniel Dean, Bailey Doomadgee, Lachlan Elliott, Kamil Ellis, Roy Gordon, Iain Grandage, Ethel-Anne Gundy, Anita Hegh, Daniel Henshall, Trevor Jamieson, Rhimi Johnson Page, Judith McGrath, Callum McManis, Colin Moody, Rory Potter, Jeremy Sims, James Slee, Bruce Spence, Matthew Sunderland, Miranda Tapsell, Tom Usher, Ursula Yovich

 His Majesty’s Theatre

Until March 2

The journey of a well-loved story from page to stage is a treacherous one, with the expectations of both its audiences – readers and theatre-goers – to be met, and the vasty fields of the original to be somehow crammed within the theatre’s wooden O.

The Secret River, with its description of early colonial society and the fatal clash of people and cultures in our far-from-terra nullius has deeply affected those who have read it.

The tears I saw last night in the audience were, I’m sure, from readers whose emotional investment in the book had been realised on stage. I haven’t, and can only leave the truth of that to them.

Theatre: The House of Dreaming

Arena Theatre Company

for the Perth Festival

Written by Halcyon McCloud

Directed by Chris Kohn

Performed by Sam Routledge, Penelope Bartlau, Phillip McInnis, Sarah Kriegler

ABC Perth Studio

Until March 2

Elio and Eva went into The House of Dreaming with eyes wide open, and came out thirty minutes later with wide-open eyes. They were two of the children who stood on the ceiling, climbed through the clock and sailed through the storm in Chris Kohn’s indoor adventure made just for them.

Along their way, in the labyrinthine house built inside the ABC’s big studio in East Perth by Melbourne’s Arena Theatre Company, they got to laugh, wonder, change colour and even get a little frightened.

Immersive installations are becoming a regular feature at festivals; last year’s Oraculos and Proximity were festival season highlights and La Marea drew thousands to Rokeby Road a fortnight ago. It’s good to see the same experience being created for children, especially when it’s as stimulating as this strange, dreaming house.

Link here to the complete review in the The West Australian

Theatre: Mission Drift

The TEAM

for the Perth Festival

written by The TEAM

Music by Heather Christian

Directed by Rachel Chavkin

With Stephanie Wright Thompson, Bryce Gill, Heather Christian, Ian Lassiter and Amber Gray, accompanied by Matthew Bogdanow and Josh Myers

Heath Ledger Theatre

Until March 2

Bryce Gill, Ian Lassiter, Stephanie Wright Thompson and Heather Christian
(pic Lee Griffith)

There’s no objective measure of theatre or how it gives each individual the particular things they like, want and need from it.

So, when I say that I have never seen anything better than Mission Drift in the theatre, you will only know if you can at least understand me if you have the great good fortune to see it for yourself. It has everything I think theatre should have, and does everything I believe theatre should do.

 Mission Drift is a daring encompassing of America, its historic promise and its breaking.

It’s the incredible fecundity and westward impulse of America that inspire Mission Drift’s thrilling first half, which is, quite literally, a history of a nation.

If the second half of Mission Drift lacks some of the ebullience of the first, it simply mirrors the grinding stasis that has beset America, and its dream, since those last days of ’07.

I was often in tears during this brilliant production (and here I should disclose that I was living in America, and personally affected by the events of 2007 and ’08); two days later its effect on me has scarcely subsided. If there’s still a ticket to be had, go see it.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian

  

Perth Fringe Festival 2013

Done and Dusted 
Turnstiles is, finally, all Fringed Out.
So, of the 42 Fringe shows I saw, I'm very glad I saw 20 and rather wished I'd have missed only nine. That's a terrific strike rate for a come one, come all fringe, and a testament to both the quality of our local artists and the ability of Marcus Canning and the Fringe World team to attract quality from interstate and abroad. 
I've said before, and will keep on saying, that I don't see any reason for us to stop here. Let's make the Cultural Centre precinct a place to gather, be entertained and inspired twelve months a year, not just at festival season. We don't need more fancy buildings or expensive infrastructure; just content, great content, and I'm absolutely convinced the demand will be there, and the benefit, to our city and our state, immeasurable.

Read on for a run-down of my Fringe:

Theatre: Le Foulard, Bane 2 and Never Mind the Monsters

Never Mind the Monsters

Blue Room

Bane 2 and Le Foulard

PICA

Lucy Hopkins

Lucy Hopkins only made one mistake in her magnetic, witty Le Foulard – its fabulous first line: “You are about to receive something of a very high quality”.

There’s no denying that what followed was. What she didn’t know, however, is that the “about” was redundant; we’d already had “very high quality” twice that night in the Blue Room’s Summer Nights series with Never Mind the Monsters and Bane 2.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian  

Theatre: The Improved

The Skeletal System

for Fringe World

Written and directed by Will O’Mahony

Designed by Alicia Clements

With Glenn Hall, Andreas Lohmeyer and Will O’Mahony

The Blue Room

Feb 12 - 16, 2013

One of the pleasures of fringe is getting a first look at local work that has the potential for longer runs and other stages. A good example was Rachel Dease’s sombre and exciting City of Shadows, which went on from last year’s Fringe to critical acclaim in the tough New York Fringe and, happily for me, had a short encore run here last week.

So far this time around, Jeffrey Jay Fowler’s Minnie and Mona showed the theatrical smarts and sharp performances to go to the next step, and it’s now joined by Will O’Mahony’s tense, twisting The Improved.

It’s infuriating to hear about shows after they’ve gone. Hopefully, they, and you, will get another chance to get Improved somewhere, and soon.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian.

Theatre: Three Little Pigs

Devised by Tara Louise Notcutt and the cast

Directed by Tara Louise Notcutt

Performed by Albert Pretorius, James Cairns and Rob van Vuuren

Fringe World

Until February 24

The small but deadly strike force South Africa has sent to infiltrate our Fringe has hit again, this time with a taut, hilarious political allegory about – you guessed it – three pig brothers and a big, bad wolf.

The brothers are pigs of the “’ello, ’ello, ’ello”, as well as the ham and bacon, variety, and two of them have been blown up and blowtorched by a shadowy crime boss (their finger-lickingly delicious autopsy is a highlight). The younger, smaller brother (Rob van Vuuren) knows the bad guys are after him next, and goes squealing to the cops, in particular an Irish goat (Albert Pretorious) and a hard as nails chicken (James Cairns).

They take the case to the head of the Pig Squad the brothers had been members of, Vark Jansen (a gloriously funny name, sounding for all the world like an very impolite imprecation, when said with the appropriate accent), and the hunt for the murderer is on.

It’s great fun, but for all the fun and games, there’s serious intent behind the laughs. I’ve speculated before that the extraordinary history and ethnic, political and economic circumstances of SA have produced an alternative theatre with a particular energy and edginess.

I wonder if any other national theatre can produce work with this fever, and this determination. It’s both instructive and inspirational to have these fine examples of it at our Fringe.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian.