Friday Five: More Theatre

Lexi Sekuless as the prosecutor in Terror

1. Terror - Lexi Sekuless Productions, Mill Theatre on Dairy Road - This is a really interesting and interactive piece with audience voting on a jury decision. A pilot (played by Mark Lee, who can stand looking inscrutable for a long time) has shot down a plane full of hijacked passengers, on his own initiative and contrary to an official order. The lawyers arguing for the prosecution and defence (Lexi Sekuless and Tim Sekuless respectively) deliver convincing arguments and appeal to the audience directly. As the judge, Tracy Noble is inimitable in her summing up and control of the situation. Director Kim Beamish has a tight rein on the cast and the raw, industrial set, with expertly choregraphed moments representing the dramatic events and the claustrophobic atmosphere both of a targeted plane and a tense courtroom. 
2. Streetcar Named Desire - Free-Rain, ACT Hub - This is known as a vehicle for female actors to shine, and there is, indeed, great acting from the female leads, although the men have a little more issue being authentically oafish, and the ensemble is uneven, with some of the muttering being distracting rather than supportive of the main cast. Amy Kowalczuk as Blanche DuBois is one of the best Blanches I've ever seen. It's a vile role but she approaches it with depth and nuance. Fluttery hand gestures and quick movements highlight her stressed (bordering on neurotic) attitude. Her playful sister moment with Stella (Meaghan Stewart) is beautiful as a glimpse of what could have been. The switch to flirtation and girlishness powerfully shifts to predatory, and the moment when she realises she has lost everything and has no autonomy is frightening and heartbreaking. Alex Hoskison as Stanley Kowalski is powerful and wounded with an inner strength and plenty of charisma, but not brutish or disgusting enough. He doesn't play ignorant and always looks as though he has a plan, making him defensive rather than cruel. Meaghan Stewart as Stella is charming and convincingly caught between her man and her sister, wanting to do right by both and failing to please either. Her compassion and need shine through on stage with only occasional slips into the actor instead of the character, with accent and mannerisms. Lachlan Ruffy gives the character of Harold Mitchell more nuance than it often receives, wanting to be the gentleman and look after the vulnerable, but fiercely wounded when he thinks he has been duped. He is the real toxic male of this production. Sarah Hull's Eunice is a perfect antidote to the heightened situation of the downstairs flat - she is earthy and sensual, putting up with the situation and trying to find positives where she can, providing sympathy, understanding and compassion as a real good Southern neighbour should. The tight, cramped set implies the situation and environment well, although there are some issues with sightlines. The bathroom is such a large presence in the play that it could have been incorporated, and there is no obvious indication where Blanche is actually sleeping. Tennessee Williams has a very specific attitude to light expressing truth in his plays, which can be intrusive but works well here. Blanche says, 'I don't want realism. I want magic' and this is reflected in the chase light scene and the abrupt changes. As she is afraid of bright lights and prefers the softening glow, more shade and contrast could have been provided. Sound is very clear and obvious - perhaps too much so, as it comes in single chunks rather than spread throughout - but the nightmare tune ending in a gunshot is well played. 





3. American Idiot - Queanbeyan Players, The Q - It's a juke box musical with privileged young people trying desparately hard to be desparate and hard. Three wannabe incel lads (Johnny, Tunny and Will, played by John Whinfield, Darcy Kinsella and Zac Izzard) want to get out of town and have adventures, seeing women as handbrakes to their careering egos. As it is sung through, there are some strong songs (Holiday, Know Your Enemy, She's a Rebel, We Are the Waiting, and the titular track) but not a lot in between. The choreography seems very out of place and era (there is a lot of jumping, hand flicking and weird lurching, which is more reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Thriller than post-punk angst), whereas the inclusion of some older, steadying hands in the ensemble (I'm looking at you, David Cannell), may bring experience to the stage but their presence is questionable. A standout is Declan Pigram in the role of St Jimmy, a creepy, sunglasses-wearing dealer who is revealed to be a drug-addled manifestation of Johnny's subconscious (occasionally portrayed by Green Day's lead singer and guitarist, Billie Joe Armstrong). It doesn't really matter what the audience feel as this is paean to the fans and the friends; the cast all have a fantastic time (and I'm sure they all think they look cute in their costumes - they do), as is exemplified by them draping their arms around each other in the high-school-esque final number/ curtain call, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). This is a passion project for director, Bradley McDowell, and I like the laughably faux-punk Green Day just fine, but this doesn't add anything to my appreciation of the band or their music.
4. Crime and Punishment - The Street, Street Two - In this claustrophobic production, Christopher Samuel Carroll plays the anti-hero of Dostoyevsky's novel with a range of emotion that compels the audience to side with him at times despite his heinous deed. His vocal and physical presentations cover a gamut of feelings and experiences that are quite exquisite. PJ Williams is remarkably phlegmatic as the inspector who goads his friend/ confidant/ suspect into a confession (come on - no one can accuse this of spoilers since the seminal work of psychological fiction was first published in 1866). Josephine Gazzard is perhaps the weak link as she plays all the female characters, some with a lack of focus and a listlessness that threatens to derail the play. The adaptation by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe and Curt Columbus condenses the towering novel into a mere 90 minutes, which could have been even more taut if Sonia, the street-walker character, had more impetus and energy. Designer Kathleen Kershaw has given us levels and surfaces to consider, with the idea of self-reflection never far from the surafce.
5. The Woman in Black - PW Productions, Woodward Productions & Neil Gooding Productions, Canberra Theatre Centre - The play relies upon actors who elicit empathy and technical elements that create suspense. Fortunately, this production has all that in spades. John Waters plays Arthur Kipps, the narrator of the story, complete with framing device, and proceeds to assume all the other parts with aplomb. Daniel Macpherson acts out the story that Waters narrates, as the young Arthur Kipps, and the unreliable narrator trope weaves in and out of the production with fascinating and thoroughly engaging stagecraft. The set is sparse (designer - Michael Holt), allowing the audience to picture the scenes as described in their imagination, the lighting is effective (Kevin Sleep) and the sound dramatic (Sebastian Frost). The rocking chair that rocks by itself; the door that opens with no-one there; the galloping horse and the sudden jump scares are all genuinely scary. Director, Robin Herford has given us a wonderfully atmospheric piece of theatre, which is worth going out in the cold to experience.

Guy Fawkes' Night

I interrupt the Italy reminisces because it’s time for another festival – this time it’s Guy Fawkes’ Night or Bonfire Night if you prefer.

I remember these as kids with the fireworks, toffee apples, bonfires and treacle toffee that went with it. I remember being bundled up in coats and hats, scarves and mittens, holding jacket potatoes and waving sparklers. We ooh-ed and ah-ed at the fireworks as only those bright explosion things in the sky can make you.

There used to be public announcements warning people to check their bonfires for hedgehogs as they were wont to climb in among the wood and leaves and make a cosy burrow, which got a bit too cosy when the flames started, and we ensured that all our pets were safely locked indoors.

For weeks before the event, there were collections for firewood and a penny for the guy – dad’s ‘old’ clothes were ransacked, usually with mum’s tacit consent. Him Outdoors tells me there used to be skirmishes round his way when raiding parties went out at night to nick each others wood. But then, he did live ‘up north’ where it’s grim, apparently.

Bonfire Night is celebrated in New Zealand too, although there are a myriad of heath and safety legislations about what to do with your Golden Rain (is it just me, or does that sound rude?) and where you can stick your Roman candles. It kind of surprises me that the festival is held here at all because it seems particularly British.

It was instigated to celebrate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. It was compulsory, by Royal Decree, to celebrate the deliverance of the King in the UK until 1859. I have heard people lament the failure of the plot and in fact, celebrate Guy Fawkes as something of an anti-hero.

The conspirators behind the Gunpowder Plot intended to indiscriminately kill everyone in the vicinity of Parliament which, being in the centre of London, would have been quite a lot of people. Since many of the neighbouring buildings were made of wood, they would have caught fire and much of the city would have been destroyed (as it actually was 60 years later, but by accident). This makes him a terrorist in my book, but then I’ve always been interested to see how one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

And then there’s the weather. Guy Fawkes’ Night is just that – it takes place at night when the skies are dark so you can see the fireworks and the flames. You have to wrap up warm and roasting chestnuts is not just a pleasant pastime; it’s a necessity. Here you have to wait until it’s dark, by which time the kids have been kept up for several hours past their bedtime, so are even more whiny and petulant than usual. Plus they’re generally high on sugar.

And we haven’t even mentioned the wind. The fireworks displays in Wellington all have disclaimers that they will be ‘weather permitting’, which means the winds can’t be too strong. Ha! Expect to see that fireworks display sometime next February when the gale force winds subside for an hour or two. But don’t hold your breath.