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Tuesday 30 June 2015

SQUABBALOGIC’S ‘TRIASSIC PARQ’ with a side helping of KEIRA DALEY’S ‘SLAPDASH SONG NIGHT’ dissected by me

After years of thinking I was not a lover of musicals, it appears old salty dogs can learn new tricks. Apparently I enjoy people breaking out into song as much as the general populous.

Squabbalogic always please with their quirky selection of musical fare. ‘Triassic Parq’ is probably one of their riskier choices- consider Jurassic Park told from the point of view of the dinosaurs as they deal with their transgender issues. Great concept, although Marshall Pailet’s music with his book, co-written by Bryce Norbitz and Steve Wargo feels undercooked. Still, director Jay James Moody’s fine eye for detail and Neil Shotter’s excellent set design of electric fences and lush greenery, all as movable as gender in this dinosaur world gives as good as this musical can get.

The cast are a funky conglomerate of talent. Blake Erickson’s Morgan Freeman and Velociraptor of Faith are as diverse as they are delicious and Erickson is outstanding in both roles. Rob Johnson, Adele Parkinson, Monique Salle, Keira Daley and Crystal Hegedis also shine. There is joy on stage in this cheeky show and it is contagious. As mentioned before- the story can be a little clunky and it feels like it is waiting for an ending but the cast deliver with passion.

Kudos to Squabbalogic for tackling every project with the tiniest budget and turning it into something spectacular.

And whilst I’m on small things that deliver great rewards, Keira Daley’s ‘Slapdash Song Night’ that plays at Gingers (upstairs at the Oxford Hotel) on the first Friday of every month is well worth the effort. It’s a live show and podcast that combines musical comedy, cabaret, musical theatre, guest artists and possibly my favourite segments- Slapdash Song Battle, where two artists write an original song on the same theme and battle it out and Cover Me Bro- a song chosen by the audience to be brought back to life again on the Slapdash stage.

On the night we were there, Jim Fishwick, ukulele in hand, and Courtney Powell with accompanying band battled it out for the tie and Keira Daley and Blake Erickson performed the heartwarming country duet, ‘You’re the reason our children and ugly’. Enough said. 

What I most liked about the night was that it offered variety, comedy, sometimes poignancy and the most comfortable interaction you could hope for should you be an audience member petrified of group participation.

So get out this July and see either or both of these shows to bring some much needed comedy warmth to your winter.


Thursday 4 June 2015

BELVOIR’S ‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ dissected by me

There was a woman in the front row of the performance I saw of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that spent the entire show with her jumper over her head and it felt completely in keeping with what’s been happening at Belvoir over the last few years. Can you imagine the poor punter who thought they were coming to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ who walks into a Belvoir production and instead sees an asylum-like set, semi-nude cast, water-bombing witches and a glass-boxed version of Dorothy being finger-raped by the Tin Man? I think the woman in the front row may have felt the same thing was happening to her. If you’ve been to Belvoir under the reign of Ralphie or have witnessed the works of director Adena Jacobs, of course you can.

It’s got more substance than her production of 'Hedda Gabler' because at least this wasn’t reliant on badly crafted dialogue or tried to follow a narrative and then butcher it by removing any messages from the play. It had less cock than her production of 'Oedipus'- just a wealth of exposed breasts.  Dare I say it, there’s something intriguing about her ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which meant I didn’t hate it at all. Didn’t love it, just to be clear, but it allowed me to mull over what the dramatic meaning of Jacobs’ production might be. I don’t think I have any answers but it was engaging to watch at times and I got flickerings of feminism, of the outcast, of the lost and lonely, of self-loathing, pent up anger and a comfortable jumper that you can escape in when the production becomes too much.

Like a one trick pony, Jacobs can be relied upon to start the play with elongated silence and continue with disjointed dialogue, nudity and simulated sex. But like 'Persona', there’s something there in this expressionistic concoction that will have you intrigued by parts, laughing (perhaps inappropriately) in parts or perhaps walking out early or grabbing for the nearest sweater to seek solace until the whole thing is done.

It’s actually not the show itself that annoys me. It’s Belvoir’s attitude that if you didn’t like it or other shows of this ilk that somehow you, as audience, are the ignorant ones; that your opinion is as worthless and boring as a playwright’s work, which is why reinventing classics has been a favourite at Belvoir for so long. Ditch the words, swing the message, insert an animal into the mix, play with transgender, throw in a game, a smattering of violence, body parts, a glass box or scrim and leave the doors ajar so the audience can sneak out mid-show.  

I’m not going to dwell anymore on this review. This play is meant to be divisive. You’re probably going to hate it or find it stimulating so it surprised me that I wasn’t more polarised and sat firmly on the yellow brick road of whatever. However, I’m bored by the predictability when it doesn’t have a consistency of ideas to back it up. When the experimental feels mainstream, I think I need to rest from theatre for a while and take up French lessons.


Ho hum. Ho hum. I’m sick of beating this drum…