BELVOIR & ATYP’S ‘MEDEA’ dissected by me

This is a terrific play.

Belvoir, in association with Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) have crafted a top notch play, utilising the writing talents of Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks, who have reinterpreted Euripides’ classic to suit the intimate downstairs theatre and its young and small cast.

This is reimagining a play at its best. If you’re going to rewrite a play, can you give it more life, a different perspective, a new understanding of the issues and characters, a new world in which the events unfold and still maintain the integrity of the original story, its purpose, its characters? Mulvany and Sarks overwhelmingly tick every box with a resounding yes and Sarks, as director as well as co-writer, has beautifully captured the play and its real victims on stage in this Belvoir and ATYP co-production.

I am full of praise for ‘Medea’. The first, as evidenced above, is in the writing. It is the story of a marriage lost, an outcast to ambition and betrayal. Replaced by a younger, more powerful and connected version of herself, Medea is banished from the kingdom to return to her homeland, where all ties have been severed. Her husband Jason has demanded full custody of the children.  Thus we see Medea’s plight. Abandoned, the futility of her future commands her to make extreme emotional decisions and the most obvious tool in which to exact revenge is her children. Consumed by grief and anger, she does the unthinkable.

Euripides and subsequent translations spend most of the play focussed on Medea, her relationship with Jason, King Creon and the chorus, who report to us the off stage action and question the characters in their responses and intentions. What Mulvany and Sarks do instead is bravely focus their version on the children and most of the 80 minutes of text is delivered by the children. Sons Leon (Joseph Kelly) and Jasper (Rory Potter) play in their bedroom, whilst they are locked out of the parents’ fight, happening offstage as implied. The boys’ games centre on typical adventures of the imagination, innocence, grand death scenes, gladiatorial conquests and sibling rivalry as well as love. There is a roguish naïve charm in their antics and it resonates throughout the play as they contemplate their future, their present and as play turns into reality. They give us the backstory as needed and from their perspective. They love their parents. They are desperate to please and be loved and they are still children, excited by the possibilities but starting to understand the consequences of decisions made by the ‘grown-ups’. They are the pawns in an adult world. The world of the children is brilliantly bookended and their humanity and fragility is played out before us.

The young actors, Joseph Kelly and Rory Potter, were superb.  Not for one moment did we doubt their relationship, their care for each other or that they were children at play in a high-stakes world. And these boys had to carry this play (it also explains the early start time of the show and its limited run- it’s a big ask of such a young cast). Impeccable focus and belief- what a great casting choice. Blazey Best as Medea appeared only rarely to deliver news, raise the stakes and shift the focus to advance the story until the unhappy ending itself. But when she did enter the space, she delivered a performance of a woman whose world has been ripped apart, who has to gently hold those moments of utter despair as a woman who must also keep a happy face for her kids so as not to distress or terrify them. It was a quality performance.

Sarks as director must be credited for her work with her young charges. She has created a safe and real environment for her cast to act out the breakdown of the family unit under the spotlight of the boys’ bedroom. This was aided by a fabulous design from Mel Page, who gives the boys a realistic and vivid canvas to play, hide, challenge, rest and wait. All we need to know about the world of the play is in that room. I saw the play with two of my students and one of them even remarked that it was very much like her little brother’s room (complete with the nerf bullets that she often fell victim to). We believed every moment.

There are so many layers and echoes of every parent’s nightmare and imminent tragedy interwoven into this play. It is a sophisticated production and you really must see it. Snap up a ticket. Beg, borrow or steal but don’t miss this one.

Sydney Independent Theatre Company's 'When the Rain Stops Falling', dissected by me

It's a bold move to tackle an Andrew Bovell play, especially 'When the Rain Stops Falling'- it's a journey through generations, time and locations, all often overlapping with each other,  out of sequence, all in the confines of the stage. Sometimes the audience need to work hard to put the pieces together but for the most part, Bovell respects his audience to keep up and once you've worked out the conventions being employed early on, it really is clear.

Bovell would be one of my favourite Australian playwrights. There's a sophistication in his understanding of people, their failings and strengths, their relationships as well as a theatrical mastery in which to express these ideas. He knows how to extrapolate sympathy and disgust for characters at the same time, beautifully manipulates inner voices and asides into monologues and dialogue whilst dancing between dramatic forms, styles, symbols and capitalising on theatre's technical elements to enhance mood, space and motifs.

But his plays demand a lot from actor and director. These are not archetypes. They are three-dimensional characters, all with their own stories to tell. There needs to be a subtlety that expresses history, present and future, a depth in every minor choice and often a casualness to big actions. Boy, that's a big ask. So you can imagine for Sydney Independent Theatre Company (SITCO), the text was sometimes bigger than they could manage. But Bovell spent an extensive period developing this text with its original cast, a live musician and a design team. Not many companies get that luxury and so I can't be too hard on SITCO for falling short of the original.

Here are a few commendable things I can say about SITCO's production:

On a very small budget they have created an imaginative set to showcase the intricacies of space and function, especially in creating the effect of rain. Well done to designer David Jeffrey in defying the impossible in the company's small factory performance space in Alice St, Newtown.

Actress Christina Falsone (as the younger Elizabeth Law) was the stand-out performer in this play in accent, character and belief. I was very impressed with her ability to grapple with this complex material with integrity and focus.

The cast also gave the play lots of energy and guts in trying to realise its 'weight'. They really did try to deliver Bovell's play, the best way they could.

There are times the play shows a little too much 'acting', standing in their well-rehearsed or blocked cues, looking out to the rain and feeling forced. Sometimes the accents took over the dialogue and the words became secondary to the accent and therefore detracting from the text. And the piano refrain on loop was driving me slightly insane by the end.

I think the text was an ambitious choice for director Julie Baz and cast but there were times they really delivered some moving moments of tension and emotion amongst other times when it fell just a bit flat.

But I am appreciative and respectful of the drive and passion to create theatre for audiences and set up shop in your own space with an ensemble whose love for performing is obvious. It is a space to hone your craft, tackle big ticket items and grow in skill and repertoire. SITCO is a group that I hope will continue to develop in their expression of plays and maybe, when the ensemble is more confident, they might even dabble in devised work. Certainly I suggest they start showcasing the talents of their more proficient cast members by developing or finding material that allows them to shine.

Keep working at it guys and good luck.

WORKHORSE THEATRE'S 'SAVAGE IN LIMBO' dissected by me

Independent company, Workhorse Theatre, back up their earlier debut 'That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play' with their latest offering, John Patrick Shanley's 1985 play, 'Savage in Limbo' at the Tap Gallery, Darlinghurst.

Director Stuart Maunder and the creative team have put together a fairly engaging show in this intimate space. It's another reminder how much talent is on the independent scene. I'm not convinced that Shanley's play is the strongest material to showcase the skills of the cast- it's full of what feels like monologues- and yet the play works best when they finally get to dialogue with each other.

Maunder has kept this play set in its original time and place, mid 80's in the Bronx. It is resplendent with designer Jasmine Christie's costumes, not to mention the terrifying memories of 80's make-up. The play explores the lives of three women, all ex-students from the same school, April White (Christina O'Neill), Linda Rotunda (Zoe Trilsbach) and Denise Savage (Katherine Beck). The women, all now 32, sit on the precipice of big decisions- to change, to fight the fear of change or to settle completely into the choices that have led them to this point. These characters are then 'bookended' by the two men in the play- Murk (Daniel Cordeaux) and Tony Aronica (Troy Harrison), each of them representing either the desperate need to stay exactly as they are or to change everything.

The play certainly has plenty of conflict but struggles to capture or sustain any tension and I am attributing that to the writing and its plethora of monologues that seem to halt action for much of the play.

But Beck, Trilsback and O'Neill are a great trio of actresses and really pump out the energy and passion of their character's dilemmas. Cordeaux took a small role and turned it into something very impressive and fun and Harrison warmed into the role of Tony. It's a tight acting company and although the play's 'larger than life' characters means that sometimes the portrayals felt like you were watching the acting more than the action, there are great moments too, especially between couples or duos in the play, like Murk and Alice and Denise and Linda.

I hope their next play allows them more opportunities to dialogue and interact as an ensemble rather than in a play dominated by solo pieces but it's worth seeing these talented performers and hopefully they'll continue to grow and experiment.

DOUBLE DISSECTION: STC’s ‘Sex With Strangers’ & BELVOIR’s ‘Private Lives’

Both of these plays, currently showing in Sydney, have two things I want to address in combining them in this review. The first is the use of accents. The second is the romance that permeates both plays. Naturally the unspoken third is the time crunch I’m currently under. But let’s imagine I’m far more organised and calculating than I actually am and that this was always going to be a double review.

STC’s ‘Sex With Strangers’ is a made for theatre realist rom com. Now, as we know- I’m a chick. But I’m also a sucker for romance and I now have a big crush on Ryan Corr so let’s just say, I really enjoyed this play.

Yes- it’s an expensive night in the theatre watching what is essentially a performance that can go straight from stage to film. It’s a realist relational piece, a two-hander, two-act romantic comedy. For those who want a more eclectic staging and style, this play perhaps is not your best outing this year. But for me, I was engaged from the start and relished every moment of the interactions between the characters.

Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Jacqueline McKenzie and Ryan Corr, Laura Eason’s play gets a faithful rendering on stage and so it’s no surprise, given Moorhouse’s experience directing film and television that this play reads that way. Even the text on screen on the backdrop, juxtaposing designer Tracy Grant Lord’s great wilderness scapes and then the urban sophisticated bookshelves was a lovely filmic device that added to the feel of this play, especially aided by lighting designer Matthew Marshall and Steve Francis’ sound composition.

‘Sex With Strangers’ certainly has the skilled hand, experience and depth of all the talented women working on it. They knew how to develop this material and still respect the differences in gender, age and social politics. The play is more than a romantic weekender- it explores generational sensibilities, creative angst, the role of social media and the power of human connection.

This play is clearly set in the States and yet, for me, the choice to do Australian accents didn’t bother me in the slightest. Unlike a classic piece of American Realism, like a Miller or Williams play, where the themes are also caught up in the American dream, experience or character, Eason’s play is far more universal in its characters’ journeys and if not for the reference to the occasional American city, you would not have known any different. In fact, you could argue they may have been Australians living in the States if it bothered you. The Australian accent was not out of place and the play flowed freely in its voice.

Again, Lord’s design was clever in its use of levels, in how it allowed actors multiple ways to use the space, to create this entire world and give us insights into what was ‘out of shot’. I loved the use of the stairs, the open planned living areas, the world of the rustic retreat as opposed to the sterile whiteness of Olivia’s (McKenzie) home. This was a play where the design clearly enhanced the action. There was also chemistry between the actors and the contrast of the characters’ personalities, their writing, goals, choices, passion, was enchanting to watch.

If I had questions about the play it would be whether men who watch this play would be as engaged? Is this a play designed for younger to middle-aged women to thoroughly enjoy and fantasise over Ryan Corr and immerse themselves in the romance of the plot and its natural conflicts? Will the style of it feel passé to a younger generation who have been brought up on a diet of glass boxes? Will men feel like they’ve been conned into watching a chick-flick on stage? I’m not sure but I would be interested to hear what those responses were. I’m also interested in Ryan Corr’s number, if anyone has it…

Backing up Ryan Corr with a smattering of Toby Schmitz, let’s move on to Belvoir’s ‘Private Lives’. Directed by Ralph Myers and designed by Ralph Myers, Noel Coward’s script is thankfully left intact and is just as funny in text as we would hope. In some ways, ‘Private Lives’ is an anti-romance. In the classic style of farce, there are couples abandoned on their honeymoon, couples who reunite to discover why they left each other in the first place and then the chaos of all couples on stage at the end.

I think we all know about Belvoir and what staging any classic play means. The Belvoir set is anti-historical, meaning that there is a deliberate move away from staging anything in its original setting, original design and original voices. It must be made to be ‘contemporary’. Honestly, I’m not convinced when they do it. It feels forced and at times, contrived. If the statistics that the adolescent male brain doesn’t stop developing until the age of 35 are true, it certainly explains almost every choice the artistic team make at Belvoir. There is a lack of maturity in many of the choices made by Ralphie and team.

Look, I did enjoy this play. This is Coward’s best and as long as you hire the right cast and leave the text to do its work, it’s going to be a funny play. It’s what the director does with it that will either make it funnier by working with it or impose a vision out of step with the writer’s intention and make the natural comedy of the play harder to stage for its actors. Enter Ralphie, his cardigan blowing in the wind, his torn corduroys flapping about with the intensity of the inner west grunge and his insistence that the themes of the play are as valid to us now as they were back then and that we should use our Australian accents and our contemporary dress. Then he spends his entire director’s notes trying to convince us of that. When he says that “class is incidental” in this play, I thought, ‘Poor Ralphie. If he thinks class is irrelevant in ‘Private Lives’, he just doesn’t get it’.

The characters of ‘Private Lives’ are British upper class. They live decadent, idle lives. They have too much money and not enough meaning, they are distracted by the trivial and make light of the significant events that occur or that they enact. They are whimsical and hedonistic. I’m not surprised the Belvoir set found this contemporary. It describes half of them.

Coward makes a pointedly funny issue on class and when you read his play, you hear that voice. And saying it in that voice, that accent, makes the play even funnier. This is a social satire on class, done tongue-in-cheek. To do this play in Australian accents actually makes it less funny. Sure, we can say that everyone, regardless of class and culture, can live idle lives but you see, the common man living without meaning seems a bit sad. However, the rich man in a society built on class and of “no fixed occupation” living this way, that’s comedic, especially when the statement being made on class and lifestyle is so beautifully explored in the original.

Add to that the bland costumes of Alice Babidge, as instructed by Ralphie’s vision. How many people were a little disappointed to see Amanda wearing leggings and a sweat top for most of the play? Is not some of the humour found in the idea that the ‘glamorous’ set wear their elegance only superficially and underneath is a naked hollowness? Dumbing down those costume choices is a dumbing down of the characters. You’ve just lowered the stakes and dismissed one of the most important ideas that Coward magnifies under his class microscope. Yes- ladies- I saw you shiver in excitement when you got to see Schmitz in his white undies. I’m not taking that away from you. But would you perform Wilde’s ‘Importance of Being Earnest’ in Aussie accents and track pants? No you would not. Could you? Sure.

The play feels dull in colour. The tasty flavour of Coward’s work has been stripped down to its core ingredients- the words only. The dialogue still contains all the humour you’d hope but it feels bland in performance because of Ralphie’s directorial choices. His decision to make sure that the director is king, as is Sydney’s penchant, is all over it but it does him no great favours. I will say his set works and allows for all the entrances and exits in quick succession you could hope for. He’s a good designer. The play works. He understands the themes and the form. It's just the play could have been better had he trusted the writer and the cast. It is Belvoir’s greatest indulgence throughout this and last season, to tinker with the work, especially when it is unnecessary. The adolescent male brain is still under construction.

Toby Schmitz as Elyot was as predictably good as always and I will admit, I loved the mime-show guitar hero inclusion of Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’. I thought Eloise Mignon was perfectly cast as whiny Sibyl. Toby Truslove coped exceedingly well with his fractured foot as stoic Victor (poor Truslove is destined to play the man who weds all of Schmitz’ cast offs). And Mish Grigor’s Louise captures the absurdity and comedy of the maid, whose attitude towards ‘class’ is left in no doubt.

If there was a performance that didn’t always work it was Zahra Newman as Amanda. I felt there were lapses in comic timing, vocal clarity and pace. I welcome the colour-blind casting- I hope to see more of it- in fact I’m laying down the challenge for a black Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’ next year right now. But Newman wasn’t always in control of the role. When it worked best was in the conspiratorial silences or in the ‘time-outs’ on stage, in her actions and interplay. It forced her to engage in what was happening on stage. Other times, it felt like when she was speaking, she was banging out that dialogue as if the show had to come down 20 minutes early. It may be a farce but the flow of pace and rhythm should feel natural and not forced. Newman still had plenty of good moments in her actions and movement but I don’t think she hit the beats like the rest of the cast. There were definitely vocal issues.

All I ask, as do most audiences everywhere, is for the best theatrical experience you can have of the play you’re watching. Sometimes that means keeping traditions, sometimes it means reinventing it. It’s the power to know what and how that seems to elude Club Belvoir.

Thank God Coward’s Estate doesn’t insist on accent and glamour. Who wants another Belvoir scandal…sorry…I mean ‘miscommunication’? But if you had to have one, wouldn’t it be funny to do it in clipped British accents? Yes. Yes it would.

Now someone get me Ryan Corr’s number. Stat.

GRIFFIN THEATRE’S ‘BETWEEN TWO WAVES’ dissected by me

Fact: Griffin is the only theatre in Sydney I can confidently say I get value for money whilst supporting new works and local talent. The casting net is thrown a little wider and the intimacy of the stage most often works in its favour. Writers, directors and designers can get creative on a small scale budget, actors can play with their audience and, if you can find a place to breathe in the foyer, it’s a nice place to hang out with friends. The works produced there aren’t always the best works you’ll see on the Sydney stage for the year but there is a genuine attempt to nurture and develop our national stories and voice. Let me make it clear- they’re not comping me to say this- no professional theatre in Sydney will comp me without legitimising my blog and facing the wrath of their ‘artistic’ team. But I have just subscribed again for 2013 and next year’s program contains a lot of promise.

‘Between Two Waves’ is a Griffin commissioned work, written and starring Ian Meadows. It is his vehicle and he is impressive in it. Meadows plays Daniel, an anxious climatologist who gets caught in a ‘storm’ (literal and metaphorical) and the play takes us on a journey of present day and flashbacks into Daniel’s failures and hopes as a scientist, government advisor, brother and boyfriend. I did see this play in its first preview and I am told that the major lighting effect didn’t work and there were a few kinks to work out so please understand that it has probably gone through the steamer and if you’re seeing it now, hopefully many of those kinks are now ironed out. It does mean that there isn't much point talking about the lighting design in this review, even though it may be a very significant thing when you see it.

Let me spend some time discussing the play as it is written to inform the choices in how it was performed. This play isn’t quite sure if it wants to be a film or a theatre piece. It’s engaging and has terrific ideas that pulse throughout it but some of those ideas are screaming out to be told through the camera lens- through strong controlled angles and images with a soundtrack emoting mood. What is not necessarily clear to us as a theatre audience could be made clearer through filmic devices. I certainly think it’s clear in Meadows’ mind but there are a number of loose threads that are left dangling at the end- his sister Claire, the relationship he has with his father, what made him anxious in regards to these events and relationships in the first place. These are the things as an audience member my friends and I went away discussing, what we presumed might have happened. And yes, it’s perfectly okay to come out and be asking questions but if they are the sort of things that make the difference between engaging in a good play or being affected by a powerful play, you probably don’t want your audience to be doubt.

The other thing Meadows still has to work on as the writer of this script is his supporting cast. Whilst the play hinges around his character Daniel and was written quite specifically for him to perform that character (I’ve never met Meadows but it feels to me that Daniel is a clear reflection of him). Meadows is great and he does capture the anxious but affable insecurity of a man who hasn’t found his place in the world or understand the worth he could bring to it. It does make you want to go and give him a big hug and make him a cup of hot cocoa and tell him it’ll be alright.  

Meadows hasn’t given the same opportunities for the support cast to be fully utilised. They don’t seem to get the chance to be layered, vulnerable characters, even for their big scenes with Daniel. Rachel Gordon’s character of Grenelle probably comes closest as she at least has to work between being a mother of a difficult teenager and as an assessor of damage for the insurance company. Meadows has ensured that she is plunged into situations she can’t control. She has levels of vulnerability and functionality and Gordon does a good job in playing with those layers.

The character of Fiona (Ash Ricardo) doesn’t get the same attention and as a character whose choices clearly and most profoundly affect Daniel, it is a pity he has written her with such continuous aggression. Maybe there was a bit of Sam Strong’s direction driving that but if Fiona and Daniel don’t have moments of calm waters before the storm hits then we can see that wave coming a mile off and it lacks the power of impact that it should have on its audience. Even scenes that have this potential are quickly dismissed by her suspicion or ridicule of Daniel. Ash Ricardo certainly punches out the energy and I wonder, if given the chance of more nuance and softness instead of a shrewish character for most of the play, we would have engaged more with her character. Sam Strong (who I should add is probably one of the better directors working on the Sydney stage at the moment and Adelaide is very lucky to get him) might have also explored other ways to express conflict on stage apart from yelling at each other. This distinctly felt like it was an over-utilised choice. If I have a criticism of Strong it would be that sometimes less is more and I’d like to see him scale back some of the choices he makes on how his actors have to express emotion and angst, especially in this play.

As for Jimmy (Chum Ehelepola), I’m not sure whether Ehelepola was having a wonky preview or that his character is so obviously and mistakenly played as a blokey, matey archetype that it never rang true and his moments of contemplation lacked real belief that as a character, Jimmy feels a bit mostly obsolete.

The play is undercooked. But Meadows has something really good to work with and another draft or two should have it as quite the gourmet selection in the smorgasbord of Sydney theatre. And now it’s had the chance to get comfortable in its own skin, go and see it. Even with its flaws, it’s one of the better offerings on our local scene for 2012. Good performances, good direction, strong design and a solid engaging play.

SYDNEY FRINGE FESTIVAL dissected by me

Hello Sydney. I’ve been getting my fill of the Fringe Festival in the last couple of weeks and thought I’d give you an overview of what’s out there to enjoy.

First cab off the rank was the duo, 52 Snifters, in a Rue de la Rocket production called ‘This Is My Box’, playing at the Hive Bar at Erskineville. The performers, Karena Thomas and Karli Evans use a box or vocal looper to create, enhance or provoke characters in their 52 minute show. Under the premise of 'lonely people', they do create some magic moments on stage. My pick would be the Crisco ladies, with its crisp spit-fire dialogue delivery with clever script work and interplay. A special mention also to the singles nights scenes that gave the girls a chance to mingle with the audience.

Under the watchful eye of director Erin Taylor, there’s some good material here and with some editing and tightening, especially as some characters are those we’ve seen played many times before and so it’s hard to bring a fresh take on it, this show has the potential to develop into a knockout. Great energy and ideas throughout.

Next up was Damian Callinan, probably the most seasoned performer I saw in my taste of the Fringe. Callinan’s show ‘The Merger’, from its run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, was playing at the Reginald, Seymour Centre.  Callinan had a clear and engaging throughline with a plethora of characters, all performed by him, centring around the disastrous season of a local country town (Bodgie Creek) football team and their efforts to avoid merging with a local rival team.

What Callinan does very well is create a series of characters with dimensions and vulnerabilities, humour and affability and then give each moments of endearing pathos. He tackles all archetypes and ages and lets you inside the gruff or gentle exterior to see layers of personality with belief and playful energy. He engages directly with the audience whilst occasionally allowing the meta-humour of his own predicament as performer in relying on the audience to respond to his questions or characters or even himself to shine through.

Director Matt Parkinson has given Callinan’s show a sharp focus. I love the radio interludes and each of the characters are well-drawn. The brief scenes with the puppets would be the only thing that give the show a bumpy ride in what is otherwise a smooth, polished performance. I hope Sydney gets behind some of the Melbourne performers who aren’t well-known here but have a lot of depth in skill and storytelling to share with an audience.

Also playing at the Reginald was Tommy Bradson in ‘Sweet 16 or the Birthday Party Massacre’. Overcoming microphone issues early, Bradson’s show, accompanied by a 3 piece band, celebrates the coming of age birthday of Lula, her mother June, stepdad Gary and Lula’s boyfriend Johnny. Bradson plays all of these characters, of course, and the stage is decked out for the big event.

This was a show that heavily relied upon its audience to get behind the concept by pulling ‘volunteers’ from the audience to attend the party as relatives and friends of Lula. I cannot express to you the pleasure of seeing reviewer Jason Blake being endowed as Gary’s brother Richard in the early moments of the show and to Blake’s credit, he got into the ‘spirit’ of the show and was generous in his support of the action on stage, as all audience members were.

To me this show had a lot to offer in audience rapport, musical cabaret stylings with the assistance of musical director John Thorn, and some witty dialogue. Bradson’s choices of characters and ability to play each of them with humour and conviction was also skilful. However, the dialogue was fired out like a stray bullet so more control of pace and rhythm was needed so Bradson didn’t lose the gold in the rushed delivery.  Gusto- yes: control- a work in progress. I will say this, he wasn’t afraid to show a tan line or two and he does have an impressive peachy, firm ass(et). Can I say that? Gorgeous. Jealous.

Next up was Steen Raskopoulos’ show ‘Bruce SpringSTEEN’ at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville. Raskopoulos is one to watch. His exuberant material and presence is not yet tamed or polished but he is infinitely watchable and with a few more years of solo scripted performing, he’s got the potential to go far. The audience love him and I will admit, this was one of the shows (in contrast to an STC experience) where I was probably in the 10% of oldest audience members there and I don’t know that the vignette comedy material was aimed for my demographic but there were great moments of laugh-out-loud scenes and some characters were terrific.

What Raskopoulos does best is find clever ways to re-incorporate characters into his material. I loved the moments we went back to a particular character to see how they had progressed in their journey, like young Jimmy, or when what seemed like a throwaway rant on contemporary dance found its expression at the end of the show. This is smart comedy and Raskopoulos is not afraid to subvert our expectations and the audience respond to that best of all.

It’s still a bit unbridled in material- if Raskopoulos can find more of the above in the rest of his material, he’s going to sell out every show, like he did during this festival. His use of the audience, like in the golf scene, break-ups, dates, gallery tour and even dog show made the audience love him even more. They go with the knowledge that the finger may be pointed at them to join him in the spotlight. Don’t know that I would have jumped through the hoop for him or what he’s paying in liability insurance but I do know that the audience would have done anything he asked of them…and they did. He is a skilled improviser and uses his material to bend with the responses of the crowd. Mark my words, he’s going to be a hit.

Finally, I headed off to the Forum in Leichhardt to see the new musical ‘Frank Christie, Frank Clarke’. Whilst still some way away from being ‘stage ready’ it did have some nice moments and a very committed cast in trying to give it the best it can be in its current stage of development. It centres around the story of the Australian bushranger Frank Christie (and all his various aliases).

The issues in this play were in the material itself, written by Alan McFadden (music) and Peter Fleming (book and lyrics). Christie is too nice and it makes him very thin as a Robin Hood style thief in our Australian context. He needs some guts, a propensity for some villainy and a bit more swagger. Some of the songs might need an overhaul. I don’t know that songs like ‘See ya’ or Christie’s ultimate goal of attaining ‘A Fireplace in My Life’ will make the final cut- or classic lyrics with phrases such as ‘a map of Tassie’, ‘lamb fricassee’ or ‘petting the cat’ might not have a long shelf life. And the character of granny needs either proper development or needs to go- flesh or destroy would be my advice. At the moment it’s more aimless meanderings. Finally, in my own critical meanderings, the last 20 minutes needs editing or a complete re-write so the play doesn’t end with a whimper.

But it does have things that are working for it- the potential for its 19^th Century Music Hall staging would really enhance this work. As I mentioned before, the cast gave it passion and energy and actor Brent Dolahenty as Christie/Clarke was impressive as were Trent Kidd and Timothy Monley in their soft-shoe shuffling and Irish-jigging duos. There are some catchy tunes, played with skill, and although too thin for theatre yet, it might have something there worth building on. There were some genuinely funny moments.

And thus ends my Fringe experiences for 2012. Thanks to all who offered tickets and sorry I couldn’t get to more shows but right now, I’m off to swim with the crocodiles up north. Thankfully, the theatre scene has prepared me for this very adventure.

STC’S ‘AUSTRALIA DAY’ directed by Richard Cottrell and dissected by me

‘Australia Day’ is Jonathan Biggins’ first play. Biggins is most well-known for his roles in the STC wharf revues, where humour and satire with a love of the absurd in deconstructing the big events of the year in Australian society, politics and media permeate his work. It’s no surprise that his first play pulls from this content and understanding and aims it directly for the STC mainstream with a dash of flair. Biggins’ humour resonates throughout this work and the blue rinse audience wriggle in enjoyment as they vocally ‘um’ and ‘ah’ in agreement with many of opinions expressed. It makes Biggins’ work all that more entertaining to watch by also observing its audience.

You see, there’s a game I like to play at an STC show, especially in the 6:30pm early show. It’s called ‘Am I the Youngest Person Here?’ It’s a treat to be firmly (and I use that word figuratively) middle-aged and to be in the 10% bracket of the youngest audience members at any of their shows. Last night was no exception, although I did notice about 8 teenagers en masse in the audience (quick, call the police), and that may have thrown the stats completely out. The beauty of our more ‘mature’ subscribers is their fierce loyalty to a theatre company. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been distinctly dissatisfied with the STC (Stale Theatre Company) offerings for the last few years- they’ve been subscribing sometimes for over 40 years and they’re not going to stop now. It’s more than a trip to the theatre- it’s a routine and an excuse to meet up with friends on a regular basis and support a cultural pursuit. Young people are far more fickle. They actually want to be entertained.

This is an extremely long prelude to say that Biggins’ play may be the most fun they’ve had in the theatre for some time. These are characters we know, espousing the different, real and often flawed opinions we hear in the everyday. It certainly brought back fond memories of my grandmother’s love affair with talk-back radio and all things conservative that fed on the fear of change or progress. Biggins has crafted his play to reflect exactly that with a little contemporary division thrown in the mix. And what better environment to create that crucible of tension than to set his play in a small country town celebrating Australia Day. Pour in a few local political aspirations, token social figures from the Country Women’s Association, the local primary school, a second generation Australian, a Greens candidate, a staunch conservative, all embroiled in a bit of blackmail, a few off snags, a blocked dunny and a blacked-up white school kids’ version of an Indigenous story and you see disaster coming from a mile off.

Biggins has created all the archetypes you would expect and yes, we like and loathe their opinions and actions throughout the play but most of all we recognise them and they are not that far removed from who we are. Scary. It’s a user-friendly Australian farce.

Enter director Richard Cottrell, slightly redeeming himself after last year’s ‘Loot’ in faithfully producing Biggins’ play for the Opera House stage. He has found the fun and farce in the play and captured the voices of the characters with some pretty good comic timing. This is certainly helped in Richard Robert’s set design- freakishly real in conveying school facilities and local outdoor events. Lots of good entrances and exits to play with and helping the play find its end with a splash.

Kudos also for the casting. Geoff Morrell as mayor, Brian, treads the middle ground in an effort to avoid conflict and secure pre-selection for the local seat and we know from his ‘Grass Roots’ years that he can play this with aplomb. He does not disappoint. David James’ Robert is probably the most likeable on stage. His inoffensive ‘averageness’ has a certain appeal and he captures this with lovely honesty. Valerie Bader as CWA’s Marie is lovable in the traditional homely quality she brings to the role, although I’m surprised they didn’t make more of an effort to cover that tattoo in her costume in the second half- certainly out of place for Marie. Maybe they hoped most of the audience’s cataracts or glaucoma would blind them to this small detail. Don’t kid yourself. Your audience is sharper than you realise- they’re just very forgiving.

Peter Kowitz’s Wally, the most offensive and traditional of the characters, was probably an audience favourite- he certainly seemed to get most of the applause. Alison White’s Helen and Kaeng Chan’s Chester held their own and provided the other characters with springboards in which to kick out the gags.

Also a big wrap goes to Niklas Pajanti’s and David Franzke’s light and sound show in the second half. The incoming storm funnelled the tension of disaster we know is about to hit.

This is a fun Aussie farce and captured nicely (noicely?) to keep its audience happy. I hope Biggins keeps writing. I wonder what else he has in the tank?