No-Nonsense Reviews

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2012 Reviews

Intense, powerful human drama a must-see

Rabbit Hole directed by Gay Bell for Torquay Theatre Troupe, Torquay Theatre, May 17, 2012

This was an evening of excellent, absorbing theatre. Such was the quality of the play’s powerful script - delivered with care on a sensible set by thoughtful, sensitive actors - that Rabbit Hole’s first-night audience was swept along by their emotions. The result  was an evening unexpectedly filled with those rare theatrical moments of pure-silence tension released by almost audible audience gasps. Or laughs. Or bursts of applause.
And this with a substitute player on stage, too, with whooping cough victim Kate Hunter replaced by the play’s producer, Maryanne Doolan, playing the part with script in hand.

Much credit is due to director Gay Bell for her choice of play, casting, and set design to allow such sympathetic treatment of human feelings to flow so easily.
Rabbit Hole is in essence a social drama. From an overall perspective, and from today’s action-orientated theatre expectations, not a whole lot happens.  A couple put their house on the market and it fails to sell. They discover that the wife’s sister is pregnant, and they retrieve their dog from a stay at her mother’s. Alongside this, the wife establishes a cordial relationship with a young driver whose car had killed her toddler son in a car accident months previously.
And that’s the key to Rabbit Hole’s insight and its tensions. As the play unfolds it emerges that every character was deeply affected by this event, and each is very much in the process of rebuilding; working through their hurt and grief. 
Lisa Berry and Michael Baker play the couple with rare theatrical skill - sometimes delicately tiptoeing around the other’s emotions, sometimes blazing head-on, but always completely believable. It’s their intensity that gives this Rabbit Hole its theatrical power. They carried the majority of the dialogue but when necessary, were ably and completely supported by Terry Roseburgh, as Lisa’s mother, with her own grief re-ignited; substitute Maryanne’s  sister - juggling her own life while aware of the raw sensitivities of her sibling relationship - and newcomer Lachlan Errey as the young driver who is, himself, subject to guilt and grief issues.
In these very so-capable hands, Rabbit Hole is much more than a human drama. It’s an intense, moving, emotional piece of theatre with flashes of unexpected humour and a wealth of human insights. I urge you to go see it. You’ll benefit from the experience.  

1. -Colin Mockett
   

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Dapper Death Displays Divides 

Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile directed by Ben Mitchell for Theatre of The Winged Unicorn Ceres Hall May 10, 2012.

First-time director Ben Mitchell’s stylish production highlights two cultural divides. The first was embedded in Agatha Christie’s writing and it reflects the dominant social mores of her times. This could be paraphrased as ‘Britons rule by right.. and they never trust foreigners’.
The second cultural divide is in time. It’s the difference in audience perceptions between then and now.
When Agatha Christie wrote Murder On The Nile in the late 1930s and staged it as a play in the early 40s, the whodunit was a popular and highly regarded genre. It was then the done thing for readers, and then audiences, to sit and puzzle out all the author’s different leads; discard those considered ‘red herrings’ and try to solve the mystery before the end.
But today’s audiences, sated by decades of TV detectives for Columbo and Kojak to Barnaby and Frost have very different expectations. They sit back and wait to be entertained; and want the crime solved and ends neatly tied in the last moments.
That explained why this production’s opening night audience chuckled through some key scenes; instead of mulling over clues, they were amused by the outdated  high-handed self-righteous Britishness depicted on stage. To some, it may have appeared as a send-up, but in truth, the players were accurately depicting  the way the play was written.
Agatha Christie really did write women as arrogant and puffed-up as Ferri Bond’s double eff character; as docile and awed as Miriam Wood’s; as conceited as Kimberlee Bone’s (who was justifiably bumped off after the interval) as mysterious and devious as Georgia Thorne’s and as dutiful as Hannah Verspaandonk’s servant (attentive, but not to be trusted because she was French).
The male players were just as forceful - and odd - from today’s perspective.  There was Simon Thorne’s pompous idealist; Jamie McGuane’s imperious money-grabbing churchman; Declan Robinson’s self-important husband; David Mackay’s enigmatic doctor (another mysterious foreigner not to be trusted);  Peter Wills’ smarmy Arab steward and Ray Ferguson’s  bumptious captain.
All of these played out their scenes, beautifully and accurately costumed  on Alard Pett’s (VO nominated)  elegant, stylish and correct 1930s steamer saloon stage set.
You’ll notice that this review gives no clue to the murderer. That’s because there just might be some diehard whodunit fans in the sold-out audiences yet to come. The rest will, I’m sure, enjoy the sheer style of this Death On The Nile.

- Colin Mockett

   

Fresh new Hairspray has bounce and gloss 

Hairspray directed by Tony Wasley for Geelong Lyric Theatre Society Playhouse Theatre May 5,  2012

Tony Wasley’s stamp is all over this production. As well as sitting in the director’s chair  - for the first time - the programme credits him with helping design and construct the set; painting it; taking the publicity photos and creating the programme itself.  Perfectionist Tony’s all-over approach has made this Hairspray a brilliant product. It’s among the most vibrant, colourful, polished  and cheerful musicals to have been staged at the Playhouse. Ever. It wasn’t without its faults, of course, there were the usual GPAC sound-level gremlins - happily fixed for the second half - and an odd scene-change delay, but this was overwhelmed by the sheer vibrancy and fun of a show that looked, sounded and felt so good.
Lyric had secured the rights for one of the first non-professional stagings of the show and under Tony, they presented it with such a professional gloss. And this couldn’t have been easy, because one of Hairspray’s central themes, behind its kitchy 1960s  musical lustre, explored the racial prejudice of the time. So Tony  needed a group of stereotypical black American singer/actor/dancers and they’re not exactly in abundance in Geelong - or Melbourne, come to that. But Tony spread his casting net wide and turned up some wonderful prospects from the unlikely source of North Geelong High School.
He then harvested the cream of GSODA Junior graduates - now some of the region’s finest young talent; brought back polished veteran Simon Falconer and then recruited some of the best of Geelong’s current crop of  performers. He also recruited an exceptionally young, talented production team. So choreographer Dom Roussety produced a series of visually stunning production numbers beautifully costumed by Emma Jones and Brianna Walshe, with musical director Amy Young  and vocal coach Stacey Louise Camilleri giving them masterly musical frameworks.
Then Tony’s talented on-stage acting team adeptly linked them using a clever set mostly smoothly dropped into place on wires to keep the show’s pace brisk. 
Leads actors Charlotte Kavenagh and David Ward were superb in their song/dance and acting abilities; but, really,  they were not exceptional;  this entire Hairspray cast was just about faultless. They all sang, danced, acted with flair, gusto and a joyful abandon.
Lachy Joyce, as Charlotte’s padded mother, pitched the part perfectly,  without an ounce of pantomime gender-bending - and this inside a musical that essentially satirised everything from body-image obsession to TV commercialism to racial prejudice.
Mel Thorne and Bronte Wright gave us archetype  Cruellas;  Petice Malviste a delightfully dizzy best friend. Mick Watson was a cynically plastic TV teen-star,  Simon Falconer brought a cheerfully supportive father figure while Emmanuel Sumo and Asha Sebastian led the team of Geelong-produced Afro-Americans, he with fluid dancing, she with gospel vocals.  Add in Tess Muirhead’s outraged mother, Alard Pett’s arch designer, a couple of eyecatching cameos from Marejka Cook,  a stunning tap solo from Chaise Rossiello, Dan Eastwood’s dumb-ugly mogul and the cutest of debuts from Marstina Garley all backed by solid, talented support from  Andy Ward,  Julie Corneby, Cath Blackie, Felicia Frangapane, Tessa Reed,  Alain Bakulikira, Kirsten Blake,  Daniel Caciolo, Shani Clarke,  Lee Hutchinson, Jemma Lowther, Linda Marange,  Abbey Martella, Zoe Masynyneure, Kai Mann-Robertson, Patrick McDonald, Charlie McIntyre, Dom Muirhead, Rumbi Nyakabau, Sarah Occhino, Jacob Petkovic,  Trudy Thompson, Michelle Rimmer, Tara Vagg and Hannah Van Etten.

This group, in bringing Hairspray to vibrant life has reaped a record 11 Virtual Oscar nominations for a single production. That’s a measure of its class.  And it’s further proof - if ever that was needed - that Geelong’s musical theatre is now in exceptionally capable, youthful hands.

Don’t miss it.

- Colin Mockett

   

Sun potential from two-star  Elephant Man

The Elephant Man directed by Libby Tanner for Geelong Production Company. Shenton Centre April 19, 2012

The popular fallacy that Geelong is a footy-mad community devoid of culture is exploded when it’s explained that we have 16 active and successful theatre groups.
Make that17; with this opening of Bernard Pomerance’s 1977  bio-drama The Elephant Man, staging the story of Joseph Merrick, whose physical deformities made him a fairground freak in Victorian London. This was from the  brand-new Geelong Production Company,  which has arrived on the scene with a glow of reflected glamour from its two-star TV background. Director Libby Tanner and lead actor Stephen Macklin each enjoys credibility built from starring in TV dramas and soaps. But that experience, in practice, didn’t translate particularly well to staging a small production in front of a live audience in Geelong.
In short, this production fell well below expectations to the extent that this reviewer  was disposed - for the first time ever - to draw a footy parallel and compare our new company to the introduction of the Gold Coast Suns to the AFL last season.
Like the Suns, GPC had a star player - Stephen Macklin giving an excellent  portrayal of Merrick, eliciting sympathy poignancy and pathos in a performance of light delicacy. The play also had good players imported from other companies - Rep’s  Ubaldino Mantelli  displaying his customary competence as Merrick’s upright and uptight doctor/savior,  while James Edwards delivered his hospital director with bluster and panache and Sue Rawkins chipped in with a couple of haughty support characters. Like the Suns, The Elephant Man also unveiled some showy newcomers in the poised Marja Le Hunt  and urbane Steve Howell. There were a couple of all-action runners in showmen Kevin Woods and Paul Moore with  Laura Bentley a quiet utility nurse/scene shifter completing a team that looked good on paper, but in practice, didn't deliver  - mainly because of a lack of vision and experience.

The Shenton Centre - a converted church - should have made a perfect backdrop for a Victorian-era drama with its background of polished brown wood, but this  Elephant Man was presented on a rickety three-level wooden set in matching grey flicked-colour paint with features sketched in. The costumes were a mish-mash mix of My Fair Lady meets  circus with James in a 1970s lounge suit and Bishop Steve in a comedy vicar’s collar and Paul Moore’s policeman wearing a plastic copper’s helmet. The play’s famous nude scene was as demure as a school production and for some reason, when playing his Belgian showman, Paul decided to portray his character with a licking fetish - tonguing other players and even the spear he was unaccountably carrying.

And for a play set in London, the players employed a number of accents none of which were anywhere close to the capital.  Kevin Woods rapid-fire Scouse, delivered at a near-shout level during his dramatic scenes, was particularly impenetrable.

You’ll gather from all this that I wasn’t exactly impressed with this Elephant Man,  but this is written more in disappointment than condemnation. And there were enough signs - from the work of Stephen Macklin to the innovative surtitles to some excellent lighting stages and the addition of live music - that this is a company with clear potential.
Add to this the new generation of audiences that the principal’s TV background will surely entice and GPC is in truth a very welcome newcomer to the Geelong scene. And I’m confident that, like the Suns, given some good results and a couple more seasons GPC will become a strength in our expanded theatre  league.

1. -Colin Mockett
   

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A Rich Tapestry Woven By Five Sisters

Dancing at Lughnasa directed by Jacqui Connor for Geelong Rep. Woodbin Theatre April 14, 2012

There’s an irony that Dancing opened on the same weekend as the Atheists convention, for one of the play’s central themes -  and, indeed, it’s title - relate to the conflict between Christian, pagan and non-beliefs.
But that’s just one thread in a complex tapestry of a play that’s beautifully written, capably staged and presented by a quality acting team.

Dancing at Lughnasa  is set in Balybeg, Northern Ireland in the summer of 1936.
It’s based on a small  boy’s recollections of his mother and her siblings - four sisters and a brother - at a time of huge change for the family - though none realised it at the time.  The boy - skilfully and adeptly played in both retrospective narration and real time by a laid-back Travis Eccles - recalls the different personalities and idiosyncrasies of each of his aunts along with the events that made that summer so significant.
The catalyst was the return of uncle Jack - a Catholic missionary who had been released from his position in Africa, thought at first to be due to ill-health, but it’s soon apparent that instead of converting the natives to Christianity, the reverse had happened and he had absorbed and adopted  their pagan lifestyle.
Jack was deftly portrayed in an excellent performance from Brendan O’Halloran.
Then there were the comings and goings of Jack’s randy Welsh travelling salesman father - joyfully played as a loveable neer-do-well by Steven Georgiadis - who ultimately  decided to go and fight for freedom in Spain - but for all the wrong reasons. 
But in really clever stagecrafting, most of the Dancing at Lughnasa action is discovered from conversations between  those idiosyncratic aunts. There was happy-go-lucky but thoughtful Maggie - splendid portrayed by the accomplished Christine Davey; backward, lovesick and crafty  Rose - an accomplished portrayal of a difficult part from newcomer Emma Watson, while her minder, the  gullible, hardworking Agnes was deftly sketched by Melissa Musselwhite, and the unsympathetically stern, Christian, school mistress head-of-the-family,  Kate, was ably portrayed as a straight-laced matriarch by Meryl Friend.
And in the key role of Michael’s mother Christina - the central sister - Amanda Rector turned in a highly-tuned and accomplished performance that moved through many emotions - defiant resolution as a scandalous unmarried mother in the 30s; motherly protection; a clear-thinker rejecting untrustworthy Steven’s proposal then burning jealousy when he turns his charms to her sister.

Each player was word-and-action perfect - though a few accents transgressed through some pretty odd dialects - and the single, clever set and neat lighting served the production well. 

All up,  Dancing at Lughnasa is a delight. It’s a neatly crafted piece of modern theatre that’s well staged and very cleverly written.  It’s one of those plays that’s enjoyable to watch - but thought-provoking enough to prompt conversations in the foyer and well afterwards. As such, it’s highly recommended.

1. -Colin Mockett
   

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Full houses for Rep’s Fast, Funny Farce

The 39 Steps, directed by Kelly Clifford for Geelong Repertory Theatre Co. Woodbin Theatre February 3, 2012.  

Rep has kicked off its 80th year in the most satisfying way - with a top-class production of a wonderfully happy comedy-thriller.
It’s unusual for Rep to experience a standing ovation at its cosy Woodbin Theatre. They’re even rarer on opening nights. But this show received one from a full-house audience that had laughed heartily and often throughout what was essentially a fast-paced and faultless classic satire/farce. Perhaps the show borrowed a little from Monte Python for its outlandish characters, and maybe from the Goons for its pace and style, but this production nevertheless stood on its own as a classic piece of 21st Century comedy theatre.
It was  promoted by numbers. ‘39 Steps, 4 actors, 139 roles, 100 minutes of thrilling comedy’ is on it’s programme cover. 
But that should be broken down further, as lead actor Ed Dolista played only one role.
He was on stage throughout as suave adventure-seeking 1930s British man-about-town Richard Hannay, possessor of ‘smouldering brown eyes and an attractive pencil moustache’ - according to the police wanted reports. 
Then, Rep newcomer Cassia Webster played 3 roles; she was Annabella, a chance-encountered mysterious foreign spy vamp;  Pamela, a kissable blonde English reluctant heroine Hannay met on a train; and Margaret, a coquettish, neglected  Scottish wife he discovered in the Highlands. 
And that left the other 135 roles to be played by just two actors, Lachy Joyce and Jules Hart, who took to the task with a mass of quick-change outfits, a breakneck-speed routine and a joyous relish for each tiny role.  Every character they portrayed was filled out and delivered brim-full with energy - and delight. Sure, there was the occasional wayward accent, but these were totally and respectfully forgiven  by an audience happily carried along with the momentum. The duo never missed a beat as they cavorted, pirouetted, skipped and gambolled around the stage as police, spies, travellers, innkeepers, paper-sellers - every bit part in Hitchcock’s original film except  for the signature cameo from the director himself.  And even he made an appearance in a short puppet sequence.   A word of praise should go here to the show’s backstage support crew - Pep Upton, Sally Smith, Heather Dillon, Haley Duffield and Lucy Ingles who must have been ready and waiting for Lachy and Jules with every prop and change, for there was not a missed beat -  and to the set designer, who turned out to be lead actor Ed Dolista, for creating movable doors and windows, a drop-down bed and wheeled furniture that kept the whole thing moving at its hectic pace.
This 39 Steps is not a piece of theatre to just watch. It’s a delightful experience to indulge  and wallow in.  Credit the skills and concentration of every member of the on-stage  talent; the clear, straightforward message from director Kelly Clifford and a lot of hard work from the support team. Word is that tickets are at a premium, despite Rep scheduling two extra performances. I’d recommend that you wrangle one in any way you can - and fast. Take Steps now.

1. -Colin  Mockett
   

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Footlight’s Fine Feline Fettle

Cats, directed by Elaine Mitchell for Footlight Productions.
Playhouse Theatre, January 28, 2012.  

The most abiding memory from this production was the energy, the colour, movement and sheer theatrical skill of a young, vital and highly talented ensemble as it prowled, padded preened and pounced around a simple, elegant set.

And that was the second enduring memory - that ‘derelict mansion’ set allowed this Cats to be staged in a much more traditional theatre style rather than the  original.  That one had the whole theatre turned into an oversized rubbish dump with the cast emerging from  hidden holes and tracks throughout the auditorium.
The next memory would be the show’s  high musical quality - John Shawcross’ three-keyboard-driven orchestra was immaculate  throughout, delivering Andrew Lloyd Webber’s recurring score with élan and a high professional gloss. 
Then again, the show’s technical aspects were faultless - there were no sound glitches, no mix of levels even though every performer was wearing a cleverly-hidden head-mic, and the lighting effects were quite literally spot-on.

And then there were the cameo pseudo-leads - each introduced as if  to be significant, but in truth turning out to be as misleading and insincere as real felines.

There was Max Corstorphan’s showstopping Skimbleshanks training routine; Tom Russell’s lustfully hip-grinding Rum Tum Tugger; David Ward’s dominant Munkustrap; Stacey Carmichael’s endearing Jennyanydots; Brad Beales’ dignified Old Dueteronomy; Lachlan Turner’s pathetic Gus The Theatre Cat; Lyndon Watts and Tayla Johnston’s mischievous Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer; Lyndon Watts’ enigmatic Macavity; Dom Roussety’s lithe Mr Mistoffelees; David Mackay’s arrogant, belligerant  Bustopher  Jones - offering one of the few flashes of humour in the show - and Jocelyn Mackay’s fading, forlorn Grizabella, twice immaculately delivering the show’s big number Memory.

When boiled down, Cats is effectively a show without a storyline. It’s essentially a series of introductions leading up to a touching contrived finale moment. And it couldn’t be anything else, based, as it was, on T S Eliot’s book of nonsense cat poems. So this Footlight production’s vital, energetic, dance-and-movement-led approach perfectly suited the show’s format. Jordan Punsalang’s dynamic choreography and Tania Spence’s  precise vocal direction  were evident throughout, as was Elaine Mitchell’s careful and faultless flowing direction.

But that’s where I feel we missed out a little. Elaine is an artist of rare distinction as well as a loving, thoughtful and knowledgeable  theatrical.
I was truly looking forward to seeing her costuming, make-up and staging of this show - but found, in the event, that my most abiding memories were of the colour, energy, vibrancy and sheer theatrical skill of a young, vibrant and highly talented cast, along with the clever theatrical set and faultless music…

1. -Colin  Mockett
   

Geelong Summer Music Camp Showcase Concert

Costa Hall January 19, 2012.  

Geelong’s first concert for the year delivered its now-traditional blend of fine music, youthful enthusiasm and sheer talent. This was the 32nd camp concert and the 12th in the Costa. But this year was different in that it had an overlay of humour - courtesy of quirky compere Steve Horman - and an altogether more laid-back attitude that included insights into the Camp’s teaching methods and informal chats with tutors and committee members during the show’s stage-changes.
The result was a glorious, memorable celebration of music and youth.
The evening started in customary style with three ensembles providing foyer entertainment before John Shawcross’ 18-member stage band opening the concert with two tight and technically proficient big-band numbers.

Then Sue Arney’s junior concert band took a little deviation amid its four numbers  when Sue demonstrated the age and experience of her players “stand up those who are 16, 15, 14..” down to 9-yr-old Olivia Castle,  then “stand up if you’ve been playing for 5 years, 4,” etc  down to a big bunch responding to “stand if you’ve been playing for less than a year…” Each of her 50+ players quickly bobbed up in disciplined, almost syncopated timing before demonstrating  Sue’s method of achieving correct posture by the use of imaginary helium balloons.
From that moment the concert’s mood was changed, its audience tuned and totally sympathetic to everything that happened on stage. The band’s joyful treatment of well-known numbers - the Can Can and 1812 Overture - were neatly capped with the premiere of a rollicking mint-new piece based around pirates and written by Edward Fairlie following a discussion at the 2009 GSMC concert.

The junior band was followed by Cathy Blake’s highly talented young string  ensemble; another 50-strong group that cheerfully, skilfully presented three lush and diverse pieces before Edward Fairlie - composer of the junior band’s star piece - took the stage to conduct the camp’s senior concert band in three polished and highly challenging numbers, Bernstein’s Overture to ‘Candide’, Percy Grainger’s variations on a Lincolnshire folk tune and Hosts’s suite in Eb.
The  concert’s choir, conducted by ebullient afro-drumming Paul Jarman brought four diverse - and delightful - vocal numbers ranging from traditional Gypsy to modern pop before ending with a sympathetic tribute to the camp’s NZ students with that nation’s traditional tune Pokarekare.
Then, the concert’s intensity and expertise lifted even more with the two senior orchestras conducted by Naomi Wileman.
Diminutive Naomi clearly had a rapport with her players, eliciting performances that would be considered creditable for a professional adult orchestra. And this from students that she’d  had charge of at the camp for just five days. Her string orchestra’s handling of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 violins - soloists Jamie Parker and Amelia Ekkel - was simply beautiful. Her symphony orchestra’s treatment of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles was polished and near-perfect.

But then, the concert’s finale took the entertainment value to an even higher point. All 280 participants - students and tutors - crowded on to the Costa’s stage to be led by Paul Jarman in a traditional Zulu chant/song Shosholoza - containing complex harmonies, rhythms, humour and movement that eloquently summed up all that had gone before in what had clearly been a productive, happy camp and a truly memorable concert. 
  - Colin  Mockett