Intimate Apparel

If you want to see a hilarious satire on how we engage (or better, disengage) with the arts in Australia, then pop along and see Intimate Apparel.

Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Intimate Apparel comes from comic genius Michael Dalley and co-stars Comedy Inc celebrity Paul McCarthy.

Anyone who saw Dalley's last cabaret, Vaudeville X (that became so popular, it is still enjoying revivals several years on) will not be disappointed with this new work.

I was so impressed with Vaudeville X, I saw it three or four times in a couple of different incarnations. Fortunately, Intimate Apparel is more of the same - biting satirical musical numbers so witty, it feels like you're watching an Oscar Wilde musical.

This time Dalley explores how we get intimate with the arts (or not so) and no one is left untouched. From gay culture to feminism. From high art to crude attempts at Asian theatre. From Grotowski to Butoh. From Beckett to Brecht. This show will have you laughing so hard your tummy will hurt afterwards!

Especially relevant for Drama/Theatre teachers and actors due to the many references in the show (oh, and arts administrators get a special mention), Intimate Apparel is an hour of craftily written numbers and clever humour delivered via strong vocal and performance skills by Dalley and McCarthy.

Cabaret at its finest. Highly recommended.

Tickets only $20.
Dante's, Gertrude St., Fitzroy.
Remaining performances Thu 4 - Sat 7 Oct, Thu 11 - Sat 14 Oct.
Bookings though Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Background article from The Age.
Review from The Age.

Inside The Actors Studio

12 Emmy Awards in as many years is not a bad track record. Many of you are no doubt aware of Inside The Actors Studio, a series of hour-long interviews with some of the stage and screen's finest actors.

Host James Lipton's formulaic, well-researched interviews are always highly informative. Set before an audience of university Drama/Theatre students, these interviews both touch the surface of the human behind the superstar and delve into the very soul of the actor at the same time.

What I have always found most interesting about Inside The Actors Studio is that there really is nothing else like it on television. To be able to peek behind the scenes and hear how accomplished actors operate, how they prepare for and shape their roles, how they manipulate their craft, is fascinating.

In an age where our senior students prefer video before text, a biography from Wikipedia on Al Pacino just ain't gonna cut it anymore. Enter Inside The Actors Studio on DVD! The acclaimed Bravo TV show is now slowly being rollled out on video and is perfect for showing in a senior Drama/Theatre class for students who have a thirst to know more about acting (prepare a question sheet on a handout and it also serves as a perfect lesson for when you may be absent from the classroom, too).

The quicker our students appreciate how much they can learn from the masters of acting, the better. Now, Inside The Actors Studio offers Drama/Theatre teachers the opportunity to bring it all into the classroom. A small selection of episodes are now available on DVD and come highly recommended.

Probably the best release so far for a young audience is Leading Men: Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe (see below).

Amazon US
Inside The Actors Studio: Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe (released today)
Inside The Actors Studio: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood
Inside The Actors Studio: Dave Chappelle
Inside The Actors Studio: Barbra Streisand

Amazon UK
Inside The Actors Studio: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood
Inside The Actors Studio: Dave Chappelle
Inside The Actors Studio: Johnny Depp (upcoming release)

Australia: Distributor Eagle Entertainment
Inside The Actors Studio: Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe (to be released 30th October 2007)
Inside The Actors Studio: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood
Inside The Actors Studio: Dave Chappelle

If you live in Melbourne, the last two DVD's above are available at Readings Bookstore, Lygon St, Carlton.

Key Concepts in Drama and Performance

Key Concepts in Drama and Performance
Pickering, Kenneth
©2005 New York
Palgrave Macmillan

Key Concepts in Drama and Performance is essentially a reference guide to major theatre terms, practitioners, ideas, styles and movements. It leans heavily on modern theatre and is conveniently and logically divided into the following sections:

• textual concepts
• performance concepts
• production concepts
• staging concepts
  
• critical concepts

What is particularly impressive about this book, is Pickering's ability to define and explain an important theatre concept in an academic, yet completely understandable style. This alone makes this text a useful guide for senior Drama/Theatre teachers and their students. It is a practical handbook, but from a theoretical perspective, just as applicable to a student of theatre as it is to a practising theatre artist.

Theatre practice is enriched by our knowledge and understanding of various key concepts integral to our craft. This text clearly explains movements and styles such as expressionism, poor theatre, agit/prop, epic theatre, Commedia dell'Arte, forum theatre, naturalism, physical theatre, documentary drama, constructivism, theatre of cruelty and more. The origins of these movements and examples of famous plays and performances typical of their characteristics, are explained for the reader.

Other essential play-making concepts are also discussed, such as the well made play, soliloquy, alienation, fourth wall, mimesis, subtext, play within a play, flashback, exposition, episode, dramatic irony etc.

For those interested in acquiring this text for senior students of Drama or Theatre, there will of course be reference to the odd term students will not be readily familiar with. Pickering's book engages the interest of the reader with his academic knowledge of theatre, but in a comfortable style. If you were to use any aspect of this text with senior students, they would probably need to be relatively high-flyers who already enjoy the theoretical aspects of theatre, thirsty for greater knowledge in this field. University students will have no trouble understanding this text.

This extract from the entry on Brecht's concept of 'alienation' will offer you an indication:

An acting style is determined by the purpose of the drama, and Brecht had a clear didactic purpose. In Marxist terms he aimed to recreate on stage a 'dialectic': a society comprising a number of forces that collide and struggle against one another, and his object was to make the audience adopt an attitude of enquiry and criticism (p.69)

There are many more concepts not listed in this review, as this text probably has over 100 entries in its 260 pages. Each entry is of reasonable length (making it much more than simply a dictionary of theatre terms) followed by a brief list of 'further reading' texts for the reader to follow up, if desired.

If you're theatre practitioner needing some additional theoretical understanding of aspects of your craft, a new Drama/Theatre teacher wishing to fast track your knowledge or an experienced one needing an injection of inspiration of rejuvenation, or perhaps a university Drama student keen to get ahead of the rest with your own personal bible reference of major theatre ideas, theories and models of practice, then Key Concepts in Theatre and Performance comes highly recommended.

Author Kenneth Pickering is currently Chief Examiner for Drama and Speech subjects at Trinity Guildhall, London. Key Concepts in Drama and Performance is not readily available in Australia, but can be ordered via Amazon US or Amazon UK.

History of Broadway

If you ever wanted to know about Broadway from its very beginnings, then this is for you! Talkin' Broadway's Broadway 101: The History of The Great White Way is a fantasitc series of articles by Robert Rusie that comprehensively covers all the famous actors, theatres and shows that walked, talked or played on Broadway. Neatly inserted among the text are interesting historical photographs and billboards of Broadway itself, musical posters and some of the stars of the stage. From its origins in the 1810s, through the 1900s, the Great Depression and beyond, Broadway has withstood it all and these articles are a fascinating read, divided by decade. It will take you a few cups of coffee to get through it all and at this point, we only reach the end of the 1940s. Can't wait for Rusie's next instalment '1950-1960 The Golden Age of Broadway'...

2007 Top Acts Review

Top Acts by the VCAA Hamer Hall, Arts Centre, Melbourne 8th June 2007

Each year the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority effectively produces a concert of the very best performance examinations from the previous year in Drama, Theatre Studies, Dance, Dance (VET) and Music (solo and group). The list of performers is chosen from those previously selected for the various Top Class showcases in the relevant studies during the few months prior. Last year's Top Acts concert was an absolute blinder and this year's concert did not disappoint either!

Not that I should get too analytical about the make up of the 2007 Top Acts concert, but here's the breakdown of the various representations, anyway:

Study
Total Acts: 23
Drama Solo: 4
Theatre Studies Monologue: 4
Dance Solo: 4
Dance (VET) Solo: 1
Music Solo: 7
Music Group: 3

School
Government: 11
Independent: 2
Catholic: 10

Location
Metropolitan:18
Regional: 5

Gender
Total Performers: 34
Male: 25
Female: 9

From the above breakdowns, we can safely assume Catholic schools (especially due to their small numbers) did particularly well and that boys in general, dominated the program. May I say it is fantastic to see so many young men excelling at the very highest level in performing arts education in Victoria!

Act one saw all four Drama Solo performances on the program. First up was Cassie Stafford from Mount Lilydale Mercy College with her interpretation of Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant landing in New York and accused of spreading typhoid fever in the city. Prescribed in the style of cabaret, this aspect was clearly Cassie's strength. It was a thoroughly entertaining performance, but somewhere along the way, the microphone didn't work in her favour. This is a technical, not artistic issue and perhaps it was not placed in the very best position on the performer? The sound was too soft and a bit muffled, making it a little hard to hear and not as crisp as we would have liked. Great use of song in this performance, particularly changing the words of well-known numbers, and an effective use of space.

Next up was George Lingard from Kew High School performing The Pirate, based on the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I really loved this performance at Top Class Drama a couple of months ago and George was a real crowd pleaser again at Top Acts. This was a very carefully constructed script and should serve as warning to students that a weak script will nearly always result in a similarly weak performance. But Geroge's script was beautifully written with nice gags and references in the right places and a deep understanding of other characters and events clearly evident. Good use of the pirate hat as object, transforming in context several times. Nice character transitions in this performance, also. Very good comic timing. A strong performance accessible to everyone in the audience.

The third Drama solo performance was indeed a dark one. James Cross from Haileybury College performed the dual personality of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Hard to make this one funny considering the subject matter, so it was dramatic, instead. My students and I saw this one at Top Class too, and lots of them were intrigued at how James used the mirror; very effectively in their opinion. There is little doubt it was cleverly used on different sides for reflection and then the underside for writing with chalk. James had excellent focus, facial expressions and use of gesture, not to mention movement. A dancer, perhaps? A strong performance.

The final Drama solo performance was Anton De Ionno from Whitefriars College. Well, this one tore the house down at Top Class a couple of months ago and at Top Acts, nearly blew the roof off the concert hall! Cleverly integrated with the audience by adding a little bit at the start and finish (and beginning IN the audience itself!), presumably by Artistic Director Naomi Edwards, Anton's performance of a fictional 'gossip' at the court of Catherine The Great of Russia was absolutely sensational! I've mentioned before, this performance was similar to last year's Security Guard by Liam O'Kane, which also had the entire audience in stiches and fits of laughter! Anton's sense of comic timing was nothing short of impeccable and he clearly had a strong sense of being a real performer, milking the audience during his gags, waiting for their applause etc. He simply had us all in the palm of his hands. A very entertaining performance that proved a prescribed exam structure on paper can be something entirely different on stage, if the perfomer is clever enough in its interpretation!

Act two witnessed all four of the Theatre Studies monologues on the program. First up was Michael Palti from Bialik College with a wonderful performance of Cyrano from Cyrano de Bergerac. I empathised with Michael when he lost his microphone pack to the ground, soon after the start of his performance. A similar thing happened to one of my ex-students a couple of years ago at Top Class Drama. What do you do? It's not a two hour play and a monologue is so tightly compacted, structured and choreographed, there is simply little if any opportunity to (even in character) go down and reconnect your microphone pack and continue on. So, performing mostly without his micrphone and having everyone in the audience on his side, Michael should be commended for keeping his focus (a lesson for all aspiring young actors) and moving through the rest of a very strong performance. Wonderful costume, awesome gestures and effective use of movement made this a very entertaining performance. Just loved the long nose, too!

Kathleen Lee from Mount Lilydale Mercy College was the next Theatre Studies performer with her interpretation of Mabel Chiltern from Wilde's An Ideal Husband. What was fascinating about this performance was Kathleen's use of voice and pause. There were several instances of her slowing the pace of her voice down almost to a crawl, deepening its tone and emphasising certain words for greater meaning. These resulted in a clear performance, communicated strongly to its audience. Even the most unfamiliar observer (not having read the play, that is) could have followed this monologue with little difficulty - and that's some skill by the performer!

Wow, I thought Tom Ballard (Brauer College) did a wonderful job performing Salieri from Amadeus! Another awesome costume, great use of space, timing, and really effective use of voice enabled Tom to produce a thoroughly convincing interpreation of this monologue. I also liked moments of silence and particularly his slow movements towards the latter stages of the piece. This was a tight performance that the audience really appreciated.

The final Theatre Studies monologue was from Glenn Ferguson of Notre Dame College, Shepparton, performing his interpretation of Michael from Dancing at Lughnasa. Glenn had fantastic focus and great diction, resulting in a very strong performance. It was so clearly communicated to the audience and so believable, you were there next to him on the stage of Hamer Hall. This was indeed a powerful performance and Glenn's intensity was a highlight, as one followed his character's every move, gesture and thought. Nice use of old time music added to an already atmospheric monologue.

Not being a specialist in dance or music education, I'll just comment briefly on what were the highlights for me from these sections of this year's Top Acts program. As is often the case, the Music group performances were a highlight. I just loved the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School's jazz ensemble performance of Skylark. I'd pay money to see these guys again, no problems! I thought Essendon Keilor College's hip hop performance of Santana's Maria was thoroughly entertaining and the boys from Xavier College with their rock Dave's Gone Skiing was awesome.

From Music solo, how could you possibly go past Nicholas Murphy from St. Kevin's College and his rendition of Hallelujah? Absolutely out of this world! So powerful and so controlled. Amazing! Other highlights here were Peter Boyd from the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and his classical guitar solo. Fantastic! Also Conrad Olsen from the same school with his pianoforte was great, too.

From the Dance component of this year's Top Acts, Genna Kulesza from Glen Waverley Secondary College and Hayley Leake from St. Joseph's College, Mildura, were my highlights. Hayley's dance to the same song Hallelujah, mentioned above and performed directly after it, made everything so much more powerful. Genna's solo dance was fantastic to watch, and while I'm no expert on dance technique, it looked amazing. Finally, Eamonn George from Ballarat and Clarendon College was mesmerising in his dance composition of the Japanese Noh actor, preaparing to take on the role of the demon.

Once again the VCAA's Top Acts concert was a real winner, showcasing excellence in the performing arts. It still represents a wonderful opportunity for teachers to take along their students, have a great night out and partake in a little bit of academic chatter about upcoming performance exams etc. I took along a party of 70, with more than 60 students from Years 10, 11 and 12 Drama and Years 11 and 12 Music who all thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this year's Top Acts concert.

Exit The King Review

Exit The King
by Eugene Ionesco
Malthouse Theatre / Company B
21st April 2007

This production of Ionesco's Exit The King will linger in my memory for decades to come. It was wonderful!

Of course, Geoffrey Rush's exceptional acting talents made this trip to the theatre an invaluable experience. However, I agree with some press reviews that noted director Neil Armfield was careful not to allow Rush to 'steal the show' and upstage the others, resulting in a true ensemble work.

However, all was not rosy in Berenger's kingdom. Gillian Jones' lack of tonal quality and vocal variety irked me from start to finish. There was probably only one or two instances in my performance where she briefly stumbled on a line, but more than a few examples of where her breathing was just completely in the wrong place altogether, leaving the latter part of a line being stretched on thin air.

Interestingly, one of my Year 12 students in a post-performance discussion, noted Jones' lack of vocal expression as completely suitable for her role; her monotonal line delivery being appropriate as King Berenger's rock of stability (counterposed with Rebecca Massey's interpretation of the other Queen, demonstrating instability with her shrill of a voice and exaggerated movements).

David Wood's diction in speaking the doctor's lines was exceptional. I love it when we can take our students to a show and isolate certain expressive skills as strengths or weaknesses of individual actors. Really helps our students understand the nature of theatre. Wonderful casting with Julie Forsyth. She was a crack up and my students learnt a lot about comedy from her performance.

Well, every group of students is different. Over the years when I have taught absurdism, it has been a bit like introducing students to Monty Python. One group loves it, another hates it, sometimes a mixture of both. As preparation in advance of this show, my current Year 12 group didn't really like Waiting for Godot (script or the Gate Theatre of Dublin on film), thought the concept of existentialism was intriguing, while the jury was still out for Theatre of the Absurd. Now, Exit The King has just sealed it for them. What a fantastic introduction to absurdism for students! They loved every miinute of it (and more importantly, will now be interested in absurdism in the future, because of this production).

Neil Armfield has done a wonderful job directing Geoffrey Rush and Co. in this superb production. A lesson in the finest theatre for everyone.

The Ghost Writer Review

The Ghost Writer
by Ross Meuller
Melbourne Theatre Company
7th April 2007

Some people have walked away thoroughly entertained by this new Australian work, but unfortunately for me it represented most of what I loathe about much of mainstream contemporary theatre.

I was not gripped by this whodunit for a single moment and the 'thrill' in this Australian thriller just wasn't there. The plot (esteemed by many) was pedestrian and predictable, where the viewer constantly guesses upcoming connections between characters and threads in the storyline.

One of the eternally annoying aspects about much of mainstream theatre today is that in a realistic play (of which the acting in The Ghost Writer is definitely intended to be), the dialogue isn't authentic, everyday speech, common to the social grounding of the characters represented on stage.

You’re a journalist?”
“Yes, I’m a journalist”
Aggh…a journalist”

Yes. We get the picture. Not only is the character of Claudia a journalist, but the exchange between characters here was one of many examples of similar dialogue that was unnatural and therefore, dare I say it, not believable. Real people simply do not speak in repetition like the example, above.

There were also numerous instances of dialogue exchanges occurring too quickly. Call me picky, but when characters exchange fire in a tense conversation, one first has to have time to consume the other character's line, in order to react with a verbal response to it. When characters exchange lines too quickly, it looks fake and represents two actors spurting out learnt lines, instead of two believable characters in a conversation.

While Brihanna’s exchanges were quite gritty and genuine for her character, those between West and Claudia were often not. Add to this a level of sophistication in Robert and Claudia’s dialogue that occasionally delved into using words beyond their character’s means in an everyday conversation. Granted, their characters were presumably well educated, but even highly educated people don’t always speak like they have a thesaurus hidden in the back of their mouth. Even though it may have just been the odd word here or there, it was nevertheless recognisably out of place. And these sorts of things are unfortunately all too common in many mainstream commercial plays today. Heightened language has its place in the theatre, but in moderation (both in terms of quality and quantity of use). The best theatre is so real it transports you from your seat in the audience onto the stage itself. You sit there with part of yourself invisibly belonging on stage alongside the characters as they perform their scenes. The Ghost Writer was no such play.

In terms of acting, you can only do so much with the lines you are given. Did anyone expect Nicole Kidman to get nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the film Bewitched last year? Nope. Didn’t think so. The writing in plays also affects the level of acting produced on stage. While Raj Sidhu appeared to underact his role of West, the reverse occurred with his counterpart, as Belinda McClory seemed to overact her role of Claudia. Sidhu spoke many lines with the wrong tone or intonation, leaving me briefly thinking I was watching a Year 9 school play. McClory on the other hand forced her lines so often, as my Drama students would say; at times she looked a bit ‘try-hard’ on stage. Al Pacino suggests actors never give their all, but rather realise their maximum acting intensity with a role, take stock, then bring it back a notch or two. As I say to my Drama students, if you turn your iPod up to full volume while playing Metallica, you'll blow your eardrums ... and so it is with acting on the stage.

Ironically, after all this criticism of the acting, The Ghost Writer was so text-heavy, it was almost 'anti-acting'. As I watched actors speak long monologues, accompanied by brief glimpses of accompanied gestures and facial expressions, I thought I had purchased a ticket to Ibsen's A Doll's House, or for an Australian equivalent, Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. The Ghost Writer may have been much better as a novel, not a play.

Julian Meyrick’s direction then allowed for several instances of rising tension between characters occurring unnaturally in the play. Going from slight disagreement to all out screaming match in five seconds flat isn't authentic on the stage. If the tension doesn’t genuinely build to its crisis, then the audience refuses to suspend their disbelief and the scene turns into a Brechtian drama, where we are reminded the actors are playing stage roles. This problem is not unique to The Ghost Writer. It is rampant in contemporary mainstream theatre, and has been for a while now.

For some years it has been uncommon to see stagehands on professional play sets. With clever use of actors manoeuvring props themselves on stage, the almost-elimination of the humble stagehand has assisted in audience believability and continuity in a constant stream of fully-lit stage action from start to finish. The Ghost Writer employed the use of one stage hand, used more than half a dozen times during the performance. Only on a couple of occasions was this stagehand dressed as a possible ‘character’ (the subtle addition of an apron when moving props to and from the ‘café’ scenes), but at all other times, the traditional blacks (with a bit of charcoal) were worn. Paul Jackson’s lighting design largely accepted the stagehand moving props in near-full intensity, clearly seen by the audience. I can accept John Wood craftily collecting a prop on his exit from the stage, but if the use of a stagehand was deemed a necessity, then at least go back to the traditional method of dimming the lights while she walks across the entire set, grabs half a dozen items and disappears. She was not invisible and the whole time she was there, I was reminded of my place in a theatre on a Saturday afternoon, watching a group of MTC actors get paid MEAA rates performing a play.

Similarly, Stephen Curtis’ scene design affected my engagement in The Ghost Writer. No doubt mostly for reasons concerning budgetary constraints, modern theatre audiences are used to seeing professional play sets ‘doubling up’ in different parts of the production. Curtis’ minimalist set of a bed and a bench served for Claudia’s apartment, West’s house, Brihanna’s hotel room, Robert’s publishing office, a café and ultimately a morgue in the final scene. Too many sets in one! Not all of them worked. The café, in particular, wasn’t happening. No matter how much the audience was asked to stretch their imagination, it never looked like a café.

Meyrick’s direction of allowing the The Child (ghost of Brihanna’s dead child) to walk among the characters unseen in the second act was fine, but the merging of two scenes using different parts of the set with ‘finished’ actors still on another part of the stage didn’t always work effectively. The physical space of the stage area was perhaps too small, but these issues should have been ironed out with a combination of slick direction and lighting design.

To quote Edward Albee (who sees almost all of Broadway’s new plays each year because he is a voting member for The Tony Awards):

‘Of the eighty or so plays that get produced on Broadway each year, only two or three of them are any good. The rest are just commercial junk.’

While The Ghost Writer was a new Australian work, the MTC in particular, picks up Broadway plays from New York’s previous season(s) each year and Broadway-bred or not, we are falling into the same trap of collecting “commercial junk” here in Australia.

In a wonderful documentary The Method Man, chronicling Lee Strasberg's efforts with New York’s Group Theatre and later, The Actor’s Studio, Strasberg constantly (and abruptly) stops his would-be stars of stage and screen mid-scene, gruffly pointing out to them exactly when and where their acting stopped being believable. I now do this with my senior Drama students in class. They both love it and hate it at the same time. But one thing is now guaranteed - their acting improves every time this technique is employed.

Sadly, even with John Wood in the cast, much of the acting in The Ghost Writer simply wasn’t convincing and as a result, the MTC just committed theatre's No.1 Cardinal Sin ...

Happy End to Brecht Play

A few days ago I saw a wonderful performance of a lesser known Bertolt Brecht work, Happy End, performed by graduating Victorian College of the Arts, School of Drama students at Space 28, VCA, Melbourne.

Happy End is not unlike the plot of another of Brecht's plays The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, with it's Chicago gangster setting. For a modern audience, there is also the obvious connection between Happy End and the musical Guys and Dolls.

Not considered one of the heavyweights in Brecht's repertoire, Happy End is perhaps better known for the songs of German composer Kurt Weill, scattered throughout the drama. Weill collaborated with Brecht on a number of works, the most famous being The Threepenny Opera, from which his best known song Mack The Knife derives. Wonderful numbers like The Bilbao Song and Surabay Johnnny are some of the highlights of Happy End.

This VCA production was directed by new Melbourne Theatre Company Associate Director Peter Evans, with musical direction from Mark Jones, who last contributed to Happy End in a 1997 School of Drama production. Both these areas were tackled with style. The musical arrangements were superb and the blocking of the actors in the space was handled with considerable flair.

Evans is one very talented director, let there be no doubt. The choerography of some of the actors in unison, the Brechtian use of projection (a technique first experimented on the stage by fellow German and Brecht collaborator Erwin Piscator), moments of dialogue with full back to the audience and the scene where two settings merged into one, were all directed with aplomb.

If it is any measure of success for this production, my Year 11 Drama class were continually reminding themselves this was, technically speaking, a university theatre production. Such was the quality of the show before them, as far as they were concerned, it was every bit as good as Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre shows they had recently seen.

Acting highlights in the ensemble included Russ Pirie who played a thoroughly convincing gangster boss Bill Cracker and Ashley Zukerman in his dual roles of gangster Jimmy Dexter and Salvation Army person Captain Hannibal, where his comic timing was flawless. Tom Wren displayed fine expressive skills in his characterisation of Sam Wurlitzer, resulting in a highly engaging performance. Gemma Cavoli was outstanding as Salvation Army girl Leiutenant Lillian Holiday, the dame who fell for tough guy Bill Cracker. Her acting and singing were a highlight of this production.

Special mention must also go to set designer Evan Granger for his wonderful cabaret-style set and costume designer Esther Hayes for her pinpoint accuracy in the beautiful costumes.

It was indeed a Happy End for myself and my senior Drama students. They throroughly enjoyed every moment of this Victorian College of the Arts, School of Drama production. It was their first time to see a VCA theatre show, but it definitely won't be their last. They had already studied Brecht in my Drama classes, so they were looking forward to seing a play by one of the most important theatre practitioners of the 20th century. While they had never heard of Kurt Weill until now, they enjoyed the VCA students' renditions of his songs so much, a number of my students were singing them all the way back to Flinders St Station after the show!

Headlock Review 30/05/06

Headlock
Malthouse Theatre & Kage Physical Theatre.
Malthouse, Melbourne, until 3rd June.

You know what they say, a good show is a short show, and at only 60 minutes running time, Headlock doesn't disappoint.

Physical Theatre. So what is it?

Wikipedia notes some confusion in the use of this term across the world today, in that

... it is often difficult to draw a distinct boundary between what is and what is not physical theatre.

vtheatre.net defines Physical Theatre as

the craft of building theatre through physical actions, characterization and stage composition. Physical Theatre uses as its primary means of expression movement, dynamic immobility, gesture and a variety of acting techniques. Text, music, costumes, and scenery are included in layers selectively. The context in which all of these elements are blended is determined by the message the performers wish to communicate.

Headlock is the story of the Ryan brothers, Matthew, Shane and Dean. Matthew is alive, but deaf. Shane is also alive, but speaks very little. Dean is in many scenes with his two brothers, but he is now dead.

This wonderful exploration of what it means to be male includes a confronting narrative of Shane's first 24 hours in prison and a number of flashback scenes of happy childhood days, when the three brothers appeared virtually inseparable. But the good times are now only a memory.

The story is told through movement, physical images and the playful art of wrestling your brother in a headlock. The theatre set is a boxing ring, complete with ropes and bowling green light above. The spoken text in this play is few and far between. The cast are trained dancers telling a story through movement. Who said dancers couldn't act? Their characters are arguably more believable through action than through word and it was impossible not to empathise with all three of them throughout the drama. The scene towards the end where Dean and Matthew take it in turns to embrace their imprisoned brother, slowly writhing across the floor, swaying him gently back and forth in their arms, is one of the play's most tender and poignant moments.

So you'd think a Physical Theatre show would be light on the stagecraft, yeah? On the contrary, the lighting and sound in particular, were nothing short of spectacular. The soundscape covered everything from noise effects, to hard rock and electronic ambience. It created a highly evocative atmosphere that blended with and supplemented the stage action perfectly. The lighting included beams of white light in an eerie darkness and blue flourescent tubes high above the ring. Both worked in harmony and also in stark contrast to each other throughout the show. Either way, one thing was clear - every lighting state and sound cue was deliberate, calculated and perfected for maximum effect.

The subject matter of Headlock is brutal. Is there anything remotely pleasant about the incarceration of another human being? Shane's imprisonment is made bearable only by the positive memories of his recently deceased brother. The flashbacks to happier times are performed seamlessly by the cast with little jolt in the performance, as the boxing ring becomes the scene for play time in their youth at a variety of locations. The strong acting, slick direction and clever use of stagecraft enabled smooth transitions in time and place. The audience had little problem using their imagination to believe what they saw, as the ring was transformed time and time again.

I'm a relative newcomer to Physical Theatre and have never really been a fan of this form. Until now....

Headlock is a winner. Rush to see it before it finishes if you can.

Related links:
Interview With Director Kate Denborough The Age 22/05/06

Review Melbourne Stage 20/05/06

Review The Age 22/05/06