Theatre Alive

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Jul 312011
 

Live in Melbourne? Like independent theatre? Then you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better one-stop web shop for Melbourne’s vibrant independent theatre scene than Theatre Alive.

Developed by Arts Victoria, the Victorian Government’s arts funding and policy body, Theatre Alive was established to fill a need in the market where lovers of independent theatre in and around Melbourne could find information on shows and upcoming attractions.

Most impressive on Theatre Alive’s website is a directory listing of nearly 200 independent theatre companies and artists. Each company is alphabetically sorted with an image and brief description about who they are, accompanied by relevant contact details. In case you thought that was impressive, how about another directory listing of 40 Melbourne venues for independent theatre, as well.

Most importantly, Theatre Alive’s main website section covers current and upcoming independent theatre shows in Melbourne, including necessary booking details. The average theatre goer can also publish their own review or check out links to independent theatre reviews in Melbourne’s daily press. There are also areas for news and employment, casting, training and professional development opportunities in the scene.

If you’re an independent theatre artist or company in Melbourne, your listing is free on the Theatre Alive website. As for drama and theatre teachers, whether you take the students or just visit independent theatre without them, Theatre Alive is a fantastic resource for you.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 9:00 am  Industry, Policy, Professional Learning, Reviews

Next To Normal: Review

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May 152011
 

★★★★★

Spring Awakening meets August Osage County meets Rent in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new rock musical Next To Normal. A heart-breaking piece about a family in turmoil coping with their mother’s mental illness, Next To Normal is at times a gripping drama that avoids over-sentimentality by packing a punch of raw, unadulterated energy from a talented MTC cast.

Next To Normal premiered Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theater in 2008, before going to Washington DC for some re-working, finally landing at Broadway’s Booth Theatre in April 2009. The Melbourne Theatre Company’s acquisition of the work is fast, with Next To Normal only closing on Broadway in January of this year.

A critical and commercial success, Next To Normal missed out on winning the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical to Billy Elliot. However, Tom Kitt’s score and Brian Yorkey’s book and lyrics for the show won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The Melbourne Theatre Company’s cast is mostly even in their respective roles. Matt Hetherington portrays a strong, yet sensitive husband and father in Dan Goodman, while Bert LaBonte is completely engaging as Dr Fine and later, Dr Madden. Strangely, the TV star and drawcard of the show, Kate Kendall, doesn’t seem quite at home as the musical’s protagonist Diana Goodman. While she successfully displayed the vulnerability needed for the role, Kendall’s voice was not suited to several of the songs, particularly the heavier rock numbers, where to be fair she looked a little bit silly.

The highlight of Next To Normal is unquestionably the show’s three Melbourne Theatre Company debutantes Benjamin Hoetjes (Henry), Christy Sullivan (Natalie Goodman) and Gareth Keegan (Gabe Goodman) who all gave flawless performances. All three actors are recent graduates of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), with Keegan (2007), Sullivan (2009) and Hoetjes (2010) proving yet again how vital WAAPA is to the success of Australia’s performing arts industry.

Most members of an audience can relate in some way to the themes, if not the plot of Next To Normal. While this is far from your average musical, its heavier subject matter of mental illness hits home to anyone who has been affected in some way by similar situations in their own immediate and extended families or friends. Yorkey’s book is strong and Kitt’s score is at times beautiful; at other times raw and in your face. Hence all the comparisons to the likes of Spring Awakening. This is no musical comedy folks, but rather an intelligent piece of theatre that displays the darker, less public side of life.

Richard Roberts’ set design of a two-storey house is effective, impressive and functional, while Dean Bryant’s direction was intelligent. Although there were moments of the band visibly on stage upstairs on the set that bothered me, because they broke the illusion of the fourth wall in a show I was very much “inside” of, on the whole Next To Normal appears to be directed with precision and great care.

I can’t help thinking though when you have a musical with this subject matter, the intimacy of the 500-seat Sumner Theatre may have been a better choice than the two-tiered 850-seat Playhouse at The Arts Centre. It appears Next To Normal may have been programmed in the Playhouse for economic, not artistic reasons. No doubt intended as one of the MTC’s cash cows for the 2011 season, not surprisingly Next To Normal’s season has been extended until 4 June.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 9:29 pm  Industry, Reviews

Random: Review

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May 122011
 

★★★★★

The Melbourne Theatre Company’s education program and the Sydney Opera House’s House:Ed are hosting a local production of Random by young British playwright debbie tucker green. A tightly directed and beautifully performed 45-minute monodrama, Random is a powerful play that explores how an average family living in the outskirts of London deal with the death of their brother and son.

debbie tucker green has written Random in Jamaican creole, or patois. For Australian audiences largely unfamiliar with this form of grammar, it can at first be somewhat disengaging to listen to in the theatre. But the wind soon turns, as this language swiftly becomes one of the features of the performance, resulting in a poetic verse (of sorts).

Zahra Newman, Jamaican-born herself, performs many characters in Random. Her primary character, Sister, is both storyteller and narrator, as all events in the plot are told through her lens. Non-naturalistic devices include direct address, as Sister comments upon stage action to the audience, and the seamless transformation between one character and the next throughout the drama. Newman’s fine acting allowed for many comical moments in part one, particularly her clever portrayal of the cool teenage charm of Brother and the muted maleness of Father. Conversely, she handled the play’s darker moments in the second half with sensitivity, never straying into the realm of sentimentality or melodrama.

Random is a low-budget touring production open to the general public, but primarily aimed at senior secondary students studying drama. Tanja Beer’s set therefore is simple, yet effective, incorporating a series of lighting truss in various configurations. These form many environments in the play from inside the family home, to Sister’s workplace, and then outside where Brother was randomly killed.

Leticia Caceres has carefully directed Random in an open space with minimal interaction between set and performer. Within the confines of the lighting truss, various locations are well defined. Newman’s character transitions are obvious, yet mostly subtle. She avoids over-the-top transformations, working the audience in the process. It was a case of concentrate or lose it, as the audience followed Newman’s every move while she changed characters without alteration to costume and no props to speak of. Careful use of gesture, voice and facial expressions enabled Newman to convincingly perform multiple characters.

debbie tucker green’s Random is a well-written play that will leave its audience thinking and feeling about a growing concern in contemporary society; the increasingly common random attacks of violence amongst today’s youth. The Melbourne Theatre Company’s production was a powerful piece of unembellished theatre where the actor’s skills reigned supreme. Grotowski, surely would have approved.

Random’s limited season at the Melbourne Theatre Company concludes Friday evening. Random will be performed at the Sydney Opera House from May 17-20.

Teacher and student resource web links on Random are located here on The Drama Teacher.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 10:00 pm  Industry, Reviews, Senior Drama
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