How To Kill The Queen Of Pop - Theatre Review

What: How To Kill The Queen Of Pop
When: 15 - 30 September 2017
Where: Studio 1, Arts House
Written by: Tom Halls, Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo
Performed by: Simone French, Tom Halls, Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo
Costumes by: Penny D'Aloia
Sound by: Jo Buchan
Makeup by: Samantha Pearce

Samuel French, Tom Halls, and Adam Ibrahim

How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is a hilarious queer reimagining of some behind the scenes happenings during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Playing until the end of the month at Arts House this clowning romp and roasting of our very own girl-next-door pop diva, Vanessa Amorosi, won't give you a minute to breathe as you laugh the night away.

I suspect French and Halls have a secret obsession with the 2000 Olympics because last year I saw them at The Butterfly Club doing another farcical satire around the Olympic mascots in What's Yours Is Mine. This time around, Halls has pinned his eagle eyed gaze on Australia's least glam pop star ever and the team spend the hour long show having wonderful drag fun with how down home and unassuming Amorosi was in the beginning.

The show begins with video footage of a street interview Amorosi did where a reporter caught her coming out of the stadium after an opening games rehearsal. She was wearing the least glamorous tracksuit in the history of the world and bangs (a fringe) long before they became chic. Her first mega hit 'Absolutely Everybody' was rocking everyone's world and was to be a part of the opening ceremony.

Enter Tami (Russo), Tiffanee (Halls), and Tulfah (Ibrahim). These three fashion icons, also known as the T-Boners, are school chums of Amorosi and let her join the group. They fancy themselves as a super diva singing group but everything changes when Amorosi dumps them for a solo chance in the spotlight. How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is glitter infused revenge porn which travels at a cracking paste which can only lead to a train wreck of stadium proportions.

These four performers have established a constant career of working together in various combinations since training at VCA and the precision with which they perform shows just how in sync they are. How To Kill The Queen Of Pop is clowning of the highest calibre and sets a new standard for the art form.

My only reservations about the show is the portrayal of the female. When the show started I thought I was in for a fun and fantastic trans romp and was all set to go. I realised a little while in though, that the men were not playing trans or drag - they were playing actual women/girls - and that's when I started having reservations.

Yes, I get the clowning and don't deny they did it well but I found myself wondering about the privilege on display with regard to portraying women in this manner. Why? What is being revealed? Does what is being portrayed move us forward as a society or backwards? Does the freedom of the queer voice on stage come at the detriment of the female on stage?

Having said that, I confess to having laughed the night away and was surrounded by a room full of zealous audience members. It has been a long time since I have been in a theatre space where the audience were actually willing to express their response to the show in a way everyone could see and hear. It was almost more exciting than an ANZAC Day football match!

The topic might be aging but the fun is as lively as ever and queer theatre is hot right now. I dare you to try and not sing along to Amorosi's earworm anthems as the show progresses...and I am seriously getting one of those little crop sweaters Tami and Tulfah are wearing!

4.5 Stars

Sonder - Event Review

What: Sonder
When: 19 - 24 September 2017
Where: No Vacancy Gallery Project Space, Federation Square
Created and guided by: Catherine Holder

Catherine Holder

The Melbourne Fringe Festival motto is 'everything is art'. We could debate that forever (and have been) but when events such as Sonder come along it is enough to make even the most sceptical consider changing their position. Taking place in the No Vacancy Gallery Project Space in The Atrium at Federation Square, this 15 minute escape is a massage for the soul anybody can slip into their day.

Holder has created an environment which immediately shifts us into a relaxing spa experience. Completely interactive and highly sensorial the waft of incense will be immediately recognisable to anyone who has indulged in a Swedish massage or facial experience. Combine that with  a soft white environment draped with netting, voile and chiffons and a box office receptionist in day spa attire and I could feel myself slipping into a relaxed mode expecting to be coddled and tended and beautified. My expectations were met, but not how I thought they would be.

Being truly interactive means we have to participate, but the point of Sonder is to explore 'notions of comfort, connection, vulnerability and the everyday'. The genius of the space Holder has given us is we get to create our own safe space any way we want before we are asked to connect.

Connection is a scary word - especially when it is with a stranger. Holder cleverly breaks down the barriers one by one over fifteen minutes until our guards come down and we allow ourselves to truly relax for one short moment in the day. As a result we get to truly see and be seen which is one of the most surprisingly refreshing experiences I have ever had.

Sonder runs as one-on-one sessions which last 15 minutes throughout the day for the lunch crowd and after work sojourn. Cheaper than a massage and far more effective, this experience will impact you for hours and give you back the energy you need to finish off the work day or head out to a long night of Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Seriously, pop in. You will not regret Sonder and because it is an exclusive experience it is one others will be jealous of when you tell them about it. Sonder means the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. In Holder's Sonder she acknowledges this, sees it, and shares your vivid and complex life for one brief and intimate moment in a busy world. My only regret is I didn't want it to end...and yet it was just enough!

5 Stars

Twenty Minutes To Nine - Theatre Review

What: Twenty Minutes To Nine
When: 13 - 21 September 2017
Where: The Dock, Courthouse Hotel
Written and performed by: Amanda Santuccione

Amanda Santuccione

Every so often I come across a show which is so simple and so honest it is positively magnificent. Twenty Minutes To Nine is that moment, that show. Playing (so very appropriatey) in the smallest room in the world you can only catch this show - if there is room - for two more nights in The Dock at the Courthouse Hotel.

The Dock is a bedroom in the hotel, and whilst there is no bed in there at the moment, the ambience is perfectly suited to the intimate and honest story telling Santuccione is about to share. Santucionne is here to tell us the story of loss, the story of love.

It may be fair to say she has experienced more than the average Joe and especially more suicide than you might think possible. Rather than raging and blaming though, Santuccione talks about experiencing death in such an honest and adult fashion.

It is her experiences. She does not project onto any else. She does not talk about things she does not know or has not experienced. More importantly, she opens up her inner self and shows us what is real for her - the things that resonate and why, the things she remembers and why, the things she has forgotten although she doesn't know why.

Twenty Minutes To Nine is not just a reminiscence. Having been touched by the unspeakable death, suicide, Santuccione says in her press release "I am wanting to make it ok, I am starting the conversation because it is important to talk about it." She achieves her goal with beauty, pain, and pathos.

Santuccione is not just a great story teller. She is also a beat poet and intersperses the monologue with spoken word art. Her pieces on feeling feminine and what ifs resonate deep in the soul and left me breathless. I was also especially astounded with how seamlessly they merged in and out of the monologue. All of sudden we find ourselves in a rhythmic arrow pointing directly at the point she is making, the pain she is feeling, and the wisdom of sages as she processes her world.

People talk all the time about how great theatre does not need bells and whistles. Rarely do pared back shows actually exemplify this truth, but Santuccione does it. It is the raw honest, openness and garnered wisdom which makes this show phenomenal. There is not much time left, but don't miss it.

4 Stars

Erotic Intelligence For Dummies - Comedy Review

What: Erotic Intelligence For Dummies
When: 15 - 22 September 2017
Where: Arts House Underground
Written and performed by: Helen Cassidy

Helen Cassidy

With the yes vote underway in Australia the timing couldn't be better for Cassidy's hilarious and generous show Erotic Intelligence For Dummies which is in this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival. We often talk of intimate venues and cosy audiences but there is nothing more intimate or cosy than  getting under the covers with everyone in the room.

Arts House Underground has been set up as a wonderful true cabaret venue complete with bar. For a small venue it has a generous stage. Arts House really has managed to create a venue which is relaxing and set up for a kind of interactive fun which Cassidy provides in spades.

The Mother Of Bears, Cassidy begins with the tale of her favourite toy as a child, Koala. We get to meet Koala but not before we are introduced to the Koala impersonator. Both are devilish creatures who have dedicated their lives to bringing Cassidy pleasure.

The gist of the show is a meander through the animal kingdom to look at mating rituals and examine the fluidity of nature. Bonobo monkeys demonstrate an unexpected same sex tendency, and it would be inappropriate in the daylight hours for me to speak in detail about the copulative talents of the snake world.

Cassidy is completely immersive in her performance and she gives everyone chances to give or receive pleasure in her presence. For the most part the intention is group love, but to ease us into the idea The Bachelor meets Perfect Match in a game show contest after which you will never consider folding socks to be a mundane chore again!

It is a rare skill to keep an audience laughing and woot-wooing for an hour but Cassidy's fantastic skill as a clown and generosity of intention engage from beginning to end. Erotic Intelligence For Dummies has it all with puppets, endless costume changes, competition, songs, dancing, and even a live birth.

Are you L? G? B? T? Q? I? Are you asexual? Are you a swinger? Are you a unicorn? Hey, perhaps you are just plain old hetero? It doesn't matter. This show is for everyone and about everyone. If you ever wanted to belong to a group, this is the one to join.

4.5 Stars

(Ed's note: VOTE YES!)

Diary Of A Power Pussy - Cabaret Review

What: Diary Of A Power Pussy
When: 14 - 17 September 2017
Where: The Butterfly Club
Performed by: Laydee Bombay, Michael Chalk, Sophie deLightful, Xena Electric and Scarlett Rose

Sophie deLightlul and Michael Chalk - photo by Ange Leggas

If you haven't yet come across the power and beauty of cabaret artist Sophie deLightful don't miss this chance to laugh and play with a songstress of world class vocal talent and a sense of humour which will warm you to your cockles. Perfectly situated at The Butterfly Club, I can't recommend Diary Of A Power Pussy highly enough as a way to end your Fringe filled evenings this September.

In a way I feel the title of the show is an unfortunate barrier but don't be put off. Yes, deLightful is a feminist but what does that really mean? For deLightful being a 'power pussy' is not gender defined. She uses the term to talk about a softer perspective in a world filled with too much penis. The only wood in this show is the piano as Chalk accompanies the lustrous and powerful crooning deLightful brings to us.

If Diary Of A Power Pussy was just a solo concert for deLightful that would be reward enough but her background is burlesque and circus and so at times the stage is taken over by exciting performance artists to thrill and delight. Light manipulators Zia Electric and Scarlet Rose light up the stage in unusual and exciting ways.

Electric brings and other worldly quality to a pair of wildly careening neon pink dildos and Rose demonstrates a new twist to using the quarterstaff. With lights on either end, the staff twirls through the air and across her body in ways you won't think possible. Both performers leave you mesmerized and amazed.

The body of the show, though, belongs to delightful. Playing with the idea she is letting us into her secret diary she cheekily uses poetry to segue into music classics. From 'I've Put A Spell On You' (she recommends checking with your doctor...), to lounge versions of Britney Spears' 'Circus', deLightful croons with a torch song voice worthy of the great lounge bars of Yore.

I first came across deLightful at and event called Frisky Whiskey and even now I can't believe I haven't heard about her before. Her voice has a timber and power reminiscent of Janis Joplin, but with a smoothness and beauty worthy of Adele. With Diary Of A Power Pussy I struggled between wanting to close my eyes and just lose myself in the glory of her singing, and wanting to keep them open because deLightful is a fun and engaging stage performer you can't take your eyes off.

The show did have to come to an end though and Laydee Bombay took to the stage to bring us her best impression of a Stepford Wife. Her rapier physical humour reminded us why power pussies are necessary. Everything about where women have been and where we still have to go was encapsulated in this fun and frightening five minute segment before we stepped back out into the cold night.

There really is no better way to end a long night of Melbourne Fringe Festival frolics. Head down to The Butterfly Club, grab a cocktail or two or three or four...then sit back and laugh and relax at the end of a long day with Diary Of A Power Pussy.

4 Stars

4.48 Psychosis - Theatre Review

What: 4.48 Psychosis
When: 12-16 September 2017
Where: Gasworks Arts Park
Written by: Sarah Kane
Directed by: Michelle McNamara
Composed by: MBRYO
Performed by: Andy Aisbett, Matt Brown, Pearce Hessling, Catherine Holder, Stephanie Pick and Laila Thaker.
Lighting by: Jason Bovaird
Stage Manaaged by: Lauren Thuys

Laila Thaker, Stephanie Pick, Catherine Holder, Andy Aisbett and Pearce Hessling

Melbourne has totally fallen in love with Sarah Kane. This Melbourne Fringe Festival we see another production of 4.48 Psychosis (my third over the last 5 years) and next year Blasted is being stage at the Malthouse. If you are new to the powerful writing by this English post-dramatic playwright you need to hurry on down to Gasworks this week because Illumi-Nation brings us a production worthy of Kane's writing this Fringe.

I have often complained about directors not paying attention to the style and intention of playwrights' work but McNamara and her team have committed themselves to the Expressionist power of true post-dramatics in this production and it pays off. Visually confronting, dynamically performed, and with a sound track from MBRYO (Brown) which sends chills up the spine, this is an evening of theatre which really allows us to feel as though we have experienced something important.

Sarah Kane originally considered herself an Expressionist poet but came to feel the form was too restrictive. She totally astounded the theatre world with her debut play Blasted (1997) and went on to confound them with four more plays before this one, her final play before suicide, which debuted in 2000. 4.48 Psychosis eschews most theatrical conventions and takes us back to her poetic roots. There are no specified characters or location. Instead the play is written in 24 segments. The language careens from naturalistic to highly abstracted to poetic and every variation in between and outside those boxes. What Kane achieves is a psychological portrait of an experience of depression - in particular a journey of medical intervention.

McNamara began this project at the start of 2017 as part of her Masters degree. 4.48 Psychosis was a vehicle for her to explore directing using post-dramatic techniques. Whilst we might consider post-dramatics a bit old hat now, in this production we get a theatrical experience of true impact as form follows form and thus allows function to be achieved. It was so refreshing (and, of course, disturbing) to be able to truly delve into the world Kane had created with authenticity and power. If you read my reviews regularly you may remember by last experience of this play was not a happy one so I thank you Illumi-Nation for restoring my faith and trust.

The stage is stripped back with small pockets of potential in the great chasm of the Gasworks main stage. Bovaird's architectural lighting and games of perspective and geometry emphasis the abyss at times, and at other times irises the space down to claustrophobic yet isolated moments of potential connection. This undulation of space and relationship reinforces the struggles of the actors to conform and 'normalise'.

McNamara chose to use 5 actors on the face of it, but in reality there are six as - in a Brechtian nod - Brown operates his magnificent sound composition and design. His quiet presence, never fully lit, evokes so many extra layers which only enhance the questions and impact of the play. Is he Kane writing the play as it is occurring? Is he a doctor going over the files of the patient? Is he a puppet master performing experiments on disempowered subjects? Perhaps he is all of this and more. Perhaps he is less?

The actors portray only 2 characters. There is the doctor (Hessling) and the patient who is played by all the others. You might think this technique might lead us to the wrong diagnosis. It doesn't. There is never any real hint of multiple personality disorder. This production is clearly about experiences of depression. What McNamara has done by fragmenting the character is to mirror the fragmentation of the play and prevent us from totally identify with the character whilst still being able to empathise with his/her experiences. When they break apart and work alone they become a world of people in pain. When then work together in various combinations they become the confusion of trying to understand why they don't fit the world and the world doesn't fit them.

The real strength of this production of 4.48 Psychosis is by honouring Kane they avoid the trap of saying this is what depression is always and for everybody. They remove the myth of 'truth'. It is an experience, it is many experiences, but it is not every experience.

I feel so lucky to have been able to kick off my 2017 Melbourne Fringe with a show this good. It is only on this week so snap up your tickets and don't miss it.

4.5 Stars

Godot: The Wait is Over - Theatre Review

What: Godot: The Wait Is Over

When: 7 - 17 September 2017
Where La Mama Courthouse
Written by: Ian Robinson
Directed by Ezy D
Performed by: Ezekiel Day, Cherian Jacob, Rebecca Morton, and Suhasini Seelin

Cherian Jacob, Ezekiel Day, Rebecca Morton, and Suhasini Seelin

Ah Beckett. A playwright who continually befuddles, bewilders, beguiles, and bewitches theatre makers everywhere. Everybody want to direct him, act in him, and adapt him. The thing no one seems to want to do is produce him as written. Godot: The Wait Is Over is a child of Beckett's Waiting For Godot and is playing at La Mama Courthouse until 17th September.

To be fair Godot: The Wait Is Over is a fan fiction sequel, not an adaptation, so I shall restrain my usual tirade about people not trusting playwrights blah, blah, blah.  Instead I shall acknowledge Robeinson's play as the massive complement it is whilst also acknowledging he could not have set himself a harder task if he tried.

The sire Waiting For Godot is an existential angst play usually classified as Theatre of The Absurd although I would tend to call it surrealist. Estragon (Day) and Vladimir (Jacob) sit in wait of an unknown yet expected Godot (Morton). Enter Lucky (Morton), Pozzo (Seelin), and The Boy (Seelin). After some explorations of power Beckett has the pair continue on their treadmill of waiting always looking for the easy way out but never actually willing to do what it takes to change the status quo.

Robinson's play has all the elements of the play and, perhaps slavishly, follows the form and structure of it's forebear. As well as the players we also have the boot, the tree and even the rope makes a guest appearance in the set. Instead of questions about purpose and intent however, Robinson has the cast addressing very modern issues such as the environment, the eternal questions about whether there is a god and if there is, is God female? He also appears to play with issues of disability...?

Unfortunately what Robinson does not achieve with Godot: The Wait Is Over is a continuation of Beckett's conversation about knowing and not knowing. Beckett had just emerged from the second World War and a long association with James Joyce. The one great truth he had come to was the thought that he knew nothing and he continually questions whether there is anything to actually know in all of his subsequent work.

What makes Waiting For Godot great is it is a tangled ball of questions and the dangers of stagnation whilst lost in confusion. Godot: The Wait Is Over, on the other hand, seems to have filled itself with a whole bunch of answers. Whereas in the Beckett Estragon and Vladimir are lost in an limbo of uncertaintly, in the Robinson they come across instead as a pair who are wilfully obtuse. Perhaps that is Robinson's intention. Unfortunately the consequence is that whilst the Beckett results in unending consequent conversation and query, Robinson leaves us nothing more to talk about.

Having said all that, the commitment to form in the play is very impressive but I did feel the second act ended up strangling itself in the form. It really did begin to feel the playwright had 'segments' to fill which caused the play to lose any sense of purpose and intent. It also speaks to much to the question of God. Beckett is clear Godot is not God but Robinson seems to either not be aware of this or to have chosen to ignore it. (He also wrote this to include women as a reaction to Beckett's angst about this but in the end it is not an especially relevant inclusion except in the Godot scene - a pointless feminist statement at best).

The production itself has been directed beautifully by Ezy D (Day). Day has a wonderful eye for staging and physicality and he allows the cast to explore themselves and their bodies in the space well. What it does lack is pace and vocal dynamic. We again find ourselves in the trap of playing non-realist theatre in a realist form. When will Melbourne theatre learn?

The acting is very good and I did find myself very engaged by Seelin. Day also had a steady gravitas which suits Estragon well. Jacob was a good although he really needed to exhibit more restlessness as counterpoint and for some reason he kept playing directly to the audience. Morton and Seelin were a good pair but no one seemed to pay attention to the script. Robinson clearly says Pozzo can't see where he/she is going and Lucky can't move without being pushed. Neither statement proved to be true - which might have been exciting if the entire world created was full of such contradictions...

Godot: The Wait Is Over is certainly a better offshoot than the last one I saw (Waiting For Waiting For Godot) and it has a certain attraction for fans of the Beckett. In the end though, what is mesmerizing and confounding about the original cannot be found in its ancestor. Playwrights are not philosophers anymore and nothing exemplifies this quite like Godot: The Wait Is Over.

2 Stars

Asylum - Theatre Review

What: Asylum
When: 30 August - 16 September 2017
Where: The Owl and Cat Theatre
Written by: Nicholas Walker Herbert
Directed by: Catherine Holder
Performed by: James Di-Michele, Rachel Kamath, Sonia Marcon, Steven Oktaras, and Cesar Pichardo
Sound by: Mbryo

Steven Oktaras and Cesar Pichardo

Asylum is a new play by American playwright Herbert. Directed by emerging actress and director (and newest member of The Owl and Cat team) Catherine Holder, this play is a psychological thriller which asked the question who are the mad people - the inmates or the keepers?

This production has good bones and most of the problems are in the script rather than the performance. Asylum looks at institutional mental health care. Ben (Oktaras) and Katie (Kamath) are patients who are under the care of Dr Grey (Marcon) and her assistant Tom (Pichardo). Ben is catatonic and Katie is haunted by the ghost of Chris (Di-Michele).

These elements provide great raw material in Asylum but the play suffers from not knowing what it is trying to do. As I watched it I was reminded of the American schlock horror series Blood Drive where the inmates have taken over the asylum. Whereas Blood Drive admits its fantasy, Asylum sits too grounded in realism. This then gives me another dilemma in that the mental health tropes are rooted in the early 20th century. The ideas of medicating people into a semi-comatose state and the use of lobotomy as a management procedure are very out of date - not to mention the fact we resist institutionalising unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

Asylum makes no concession to modern mental health care which is why the realist style concerns me. Unless Herbert is a Scientologist - in which case the obtuse bias makes sense - it seems rather reckless to write something so obviously poorly researched. Having said that, Holder and Mbryo have worked hard to notch up the atmosphere of the classic thriller and this does help to eschew the false premises of the play.

The actors are all great. Kamath in particular is intriguing and really portrays the lability of grief and confusion well. Oktaras and Pichardo do good work with poorly developed characters. I liked what Di-Michele did with the ghost and Marcon was delightfully terrifying as she shifted from too sweet to too angry.  Herbert has Dr Grey constantly repeating the words she is being driven to a 'fatal exhaustion' but in the end he goes too far so the outcomes are not unexpected.

Holder has made some really fantastic directorial choices. Her set plays with ideas reminiscent of American Horror Story and her treatment of Katie's story is excellent. Perhaps the one thing the whole team needs to remember is that not every word in a script has equal weight and people are not always talking directly to another person. This kind of nuance will evolve as these young and very talented artists develop their skill and experience.

We don't do horror on stage that often. I really recommend going along to Asylum because there is something about getting close up and personal with the tension which is quite exhilarating. Just try not to get too grumpy about the misrepresentations in the play...

3 Stars

Amnesia - Theatre Review

What: Amnesia
When: 18 - 27 August 2017
Where: LongPlay
Written by: Clancy Fraser
Directed by: Hannah Smallman
Performed by: Jeni Bezuidenhout and Palmer Marchese

Jeni Bezuidenhout and Palmer Marchese

Amnesia is a new play written by Clancy Fraser and being performed at LongPlay. It is produced by Short Straw which is Fraser's creative partnership with director Hannah Smallman.

The play has been billed as a black comedy and it is definitely morosely funny in parts, but with a few tweaks Amnesia could be an exciting and clever psychological thriller. The story begins with Lucy (Bezuidenhout) finding herself in a kitchen with a dead body (Marchese). What unfolds is a finely crafted, table turning exploration of events which led to this moment and constantly asks the questions what will happen next?

The play is strong and clever and the performers, whilst still learning their craft, give strong and detailed performances. My one tip for them it to remember to look up and not down so the audience can see inside your mind and travel the journey with you.

What lets the show down in a big way is the direction. This play is tightly wrought with status and power always on a knife edge - literally. Lucy's weapon of choice is a carving knife. A knife is a close combat weapon and yet Smallman has allowed the actors to constantly be on opposite sides of the stage.

The whole premise underlying Amnesia is both characters have reasons to not leave despite feeling in mortal danger, but in Smallman's production either of them could walk out at any time. I did think the big, round table dominating the most powerful space on stage was some sort of mechanism which would allow the animalistic prowling and circling of predators but nothing this interesting was allowed to occur.

I often say that good writing will survive whatever directors do to it in performance and Fraser is a good writer. Despite Smallman's attempts to the contrary, it is easy to follow what Fraser has created and I would love to see this play in the hands of a director who knows stage craft.

Marchese and - especially - Bezuidenhout also do a great job of processing the shifts and changes their characters undergo and it is through them the audience get the final pay off. It is really exciting to see this kind of new writing coming to our stages and I look forward to seeing more of Fraser's work.

2.5 Stars

The Absence of Knowing - Theatre Review

What: The Absence of Knowing: Four Men & Dog Play
When: 17 August - 3 September 2017
Where: La Mama Theatre
Written by: Elvis Peeters
Directed by: Richard Murphet
Performed by: Tom Dent, Rob Meldrum, Emma Smith, Jackson Trickett, and Tim Wotherspoon.
Set by: Eloise Kent
Lighting by: Kris Chainey
Sound by: Roger Alsop
Stage Management by: Jackie Mates

Emma Smith and Jackson Trickett

Elvis Peeters is a Flemish playwright we have no familiarity with in Australia so it is only fitting that his work be brought to our attention by one of our leading theatre makers, Richard Murphet, in the season The Absence of Knowing at La Mama Theatre. Two of Peeters' plays - Four Men and Dog Play - are partnered in an explosive exploration of the emergence of post-truth theatre in this powerful and transformative night of story telling.

We are constantly asking the question what comes after post-modern? Over the last decade it has become increasingly clear it is a world of post-truth and this is being reflected in the writing of people such as Peeters, Kevin Armento, Moira Finucane, and Kerith Manderson-Galvin. The concept of post-truth is the point where the importance of truth is superceded by emotional persuasion. It is the point at which each person's truth is the most important thing which leaves little room or significance for a universal truth - and yet it is a space where universal truths are revealed as a result.

Peeters finds his way into this space through his post punk music and writings and in The Absence of Knowing Murphett brings all of the energy and power of Peeters' provenance into this staging, managing to balance the overtly self-conscious writing delicately so as to reveal rather than explode the characters in their breakneck pace to their worlds end.

The evening begins with the 1995 play Four Men. AD (Tim Wotherspoon), Cas (Rob Meldrum), Vic (Tom Dent), and Jeff (Jackson Trickett) leave on a trek into an uninhabited and hostile terrain. Ostensibly it is a blizzard-strewn mountain, but their escape into an uninhabited and hostile environment is as much a trek into their pain wracked psyche as it is a physical endeavour.

One of the great achievements of the post-punk movement was the integration of the energy and power of punk with recognised traditional elements to create an unexpected and intensely dynamic experience which stirs the mind and body in ways never before experienced. Think of Bjork's 'Oh So Quiet' where you are lulled into a sense of rest and safety before being blasted with shocking intensity. This is a technique Peeters works with and is one mirrored in Murphet's direction.

Supported by clever design by Eloise Kent, Kris Chainey and Roger Alsop, Four Men traverses stillness of empty expanses with the raging of the natural elements. The blizzard strewn Nordic mountain top and the hot, empty expanse of the American mid-west are one and the same. These European cowboys traverse the same lonely frontiers as they search for themselves. It is their leaving other humans which allows them to find their humanity, but what good is it to them as they sit on the ledge of death?

There is a lot of theatre which screams the pain of women in this world. Four Men screams the pain of men. It is the pain of men desperately in need of the women in their life but completely unable to connect in any other form but sex - and not necessarily consensual or personal sexual encounters, more just the act of copulation.

At first I admit to thinking I was not the audience for this play, but as I came to understand the story I realised I was exactly the right person for it to be told to. Watching the confusion, pain and inability to comprehend I came to a softer appreciation for how and why men are struggling to see women in the space of complete humanity as is being demanded now. How would any of us adjust to recognising a teacup as a sentient being?

Four Men has a timelessness which disappears in Dog Play. This second short work is clearly a contemporary portrayal of a young couple (Trickett and Emma Smith) snarling and growling at each other as they play their life away with drugs. As their minds 'expand' with psycho-tropic assistance their desperation increases. These two people are together in almost every conceivable way, but the question asked in the end is the same one asked in Four Men. What good does it do them when they cannot truly connect?

The Absence of Knowing is fast-paced and physical. It will blow your mind to see how big La Mama Theater seems under the expert guidance of Murphet. It will also shock you to see just how much physicality such text-laden material can allow. Murphet's masterful direction is important because the degree of self-consciousness in the writing and the almost 'try-hard' philosophical musings would drown the work as theatre in less skillful and experienced hands.

It is also  a credit to the skill and commitment of the actors to both the work and the process. This ensemble take risks - both physically and psychologically - which will leave you in awe. They meet Murphet's and Peeters' challenges head on maintaining a tension and balance which trips along the tight-rope over the great canyon of self-knowing.

4.5 Stars

The Exotic Lives Of Lola Montez! - Theatre Review

What: The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez!
When 27 - 30 July 2017
Where: Her Majesty's Theatre
Written by: Jackie Smith
Directed by: Moira Finucane
Performed by: Holly Durant and Caroline Lee

Caroline Lee

The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez! is the newest project by Finucane & Smith and is set to take the world by storm. Tracing the too amazing to be true life of notorious courtesan and performer Lola Montez (played by Caroline Lee), born Marie Gilbert, the audience travels from County Cork throughout the exotic realms of Europe, to the USA and all the way to our very own Ballarat - returning to the place Montez hit the news by hitting the Editor of The Ballarat Times for giving her a bad review! (Note taken...) The show is enjoying it's world premier at Her Majesty's Ballarat this weekend.

Written by multi-award winning playwright, Jackie Smith, The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez! is a monologue. A little too wordy in the first half of the show, the story of this remarkable woman is very important and continues the work of Finucane & Smith in exploring and demanding personal freedom and self-determination for everyone.

There are many, many important quotes to take away from this passionate tale. For me the ones which resonated included Montez demanding the right to tell her story her way, and asking the quintessential question why do we have to look at the world through mens' eyes? Of course, this is just two of many, many such moments.

During her sojourn in Australia (1855) Montez become notorious for her provocative 'spider' dance. A dance which revolved around the idea of spiders crawling up her legs, it was considered lewd and provocative - as was Montez herself with her life long history of scandalous love affairs. In a red and black corsetted gown evocative of the cannibalistic black widow spider, Lee is a constant reminder of the men Montez has been involved with across her life (and across Europe). The likes of Alexandre Dumas and Franz Liszt gave way to King Ludwig of Bavaria. Not bad for a simple Irish lass!

Lola Montez is played by Caroline Lee who is apparently a true descendent of the original and this brings a special gravitas to the story and Lee brings all of her skill and experience to this epic tale of a woman who dared to be herself and do what she had to do to survive in a time when this was one of the greatest crimes a woman could commit. Her journey is special though, because she did it without apology and she did it with style and influence. As is true of so many stories of great women though, her life ends in penury, disease and abandonment despite a life well lived indeed.

The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez is directed by Moira Finucane, herself our very own Australian doyenne and champion of personal freedom and her influence and vision for the production is unequivocal. Everything from performance style, visual aesthetics, and subtextual tangents is unmistakably Finucane. I even thought Lee was at one point channeling Finucane in performance much like Alexandre Dujarier was channeled for a final passionate encounter at a seance. (This was a genius way for Smith to bring in 'the love that dare not speak its name' as another great act of freedom for women).

Lee herself is not really a dancer and perhaps the one flaw in the show is the gravitas she brings as a first class actress plays against the lightness found in the body of a dancer. Finucane shows creative brilliance in casting the thrilling Holly Durant ostensibly as a Parisienne dance siren. Durant's true purpose is as the avatar for the true spirit of Lola Montez on stage with Lee. Flitting on and off Durant is born, is the sail of Lee's ship, is the Can Can she once performed, and so on.

In 2016 Finucane was appointed the first ever Creative Fellow of the National Gallery of Victoria and as you watch this show you understand why. Finucane is as much a master of the visual art of performance as Michelangelo was of the art of painting. Every moment, every detail in all her works and in particular this one, are a moving gallery of glorious imagery. Everything from the composition to the light fall, to the textures are considered. Everything Finucane does is luscious and indulgent and glorious and The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez never fails to make the most of everything for the sensual pleasure and spiritual release of the audience.

The show is a little long, but you won't regret a moment of it. Like everything Finucane & Smith produce The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez is riveting and empowering and awe inspiring in its beauty and pain. It is rare for artists of this quality to come together and you should not miss your chance to experience a transformative and spell-binding night of story telling.

4.5 Stars