Eddie Perfect and Paul Capsis

Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, in association with the Victorian Opera, are currently performing Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera until June 17.

Freely adapted from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, it was two centuries before the libretto was translated from its original English into German by Brecht’s mistress Elisabeth Hauptmann, in 1927.

Collaborating with opera composer Kurt Weill, Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera debuted in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, soon to become the home of his famous theatre company, The Berliner Ensemble. After a troubled rehearsal period filled with conflict, fleeing actresses and rushed re-writes, the work arguably introduced a new theatre form.

Malthouse Theatre’s The Threepenny Opera became a sellout season before opening night, largely based on the drawing power of its two stars, Eddie Perfect and Paul Capsis. Part play, part cabaret, part opera, part play with music, The Threepenny Opera is a mishmash of splendour and inconsistency.

Episodic in form, Threepenny consists of dozens of small, self-contained scenes that generally keep the pace rolling and audience entertained. But while the plot construction is far from perfect, make no doubt about it, Eddie Perfect definitely is. As the protagonist and uber-criminal, Macheath, Perfect’s strong and versatile voice is well-suited to Brecht’s style of song. Perfect dazzles the audience with his declamatory, larger than life  manner, reminiscent for Australian audiences of the recent television series Underbelly, which glamourises the criminal in society. Capsis is also fabulous as Jenny the prostitute.

Set in a boxing ring, several portable stages rotate to form many locations, ranging from a wedding in a horse stable to a prison and even a strippers’ den. The sordid lowlife of the underworld is all too apparent and the costumes and character make-up are suitably garish and over the top, matching the caricatured personas of those beneath them.

Malthouse Theatre’s production plays homage to Brecht’s Epic Theatre style with placards introducing songs, direct character address to the audience, stage hands in open view, narration, and songs conveying the work’s themes and messages.

But there are also problems. Raimondo Cortese’s adaptation includes many references to Melbourne suburbs and place names. Those in the audience who live in these suburbs briefly giggle at the reference and in this sense, the work has some immediacy and relevance. But in truth, it only cheapens the text and reduces it to farce. If you’re going to talk about a whorehouse in North Bulleen, you better make sure you take out the dozen references in the plot to the upcoming coronation parade the next morning, because there ain’t no King and Queen living in 21st century Melbourne.

The cast also consists of a mixture of classically trained operatic voices, cabaret voices and lesser trained voices. While there were impressive moments where the whole company sung together, the bulk of the singing in this show is solos and duets. Threepenny Opera or not, the operatic voices in this production clashed with voices like those of Perfect and merely added to the work’s inconsistencies. Another issue saw some scenes that were fast and furious, while others were a little slow and tedious. Effective contrast or unevenness?

The Threepenny Opera is no Mother Courage, that’s for sure. Brecht had only begun embracing Marxism in 1926, so Threepenny does not contain his usual potent dose of didacticism. Hurried to the stage or not, it became Brecht’s biggest commercial success. It will likely become Malthouse Theatre’s commercial success of 2010, as well.

Let’s face it, Brecht is idolised by many and loathed by others. His works are so ‘in your face’ and often intellectual, it’s hard to sit back, relax and enjoy. While Brecht’s works are not everyone’s cup of tea, Malthouse Theatre has nevertheless produced an entertaining production of The Threepenny Opera. If you come to the theatre for Eddie Perfect’s performance alone, you will not regret it.

This production marks the final work of Malthouse Theatre’s artistic director Michael Kantor.

The 2010 Top Acts concert occurred last Friday May 28th and once again showcased inspiring and amazing talent in the performing arts. Quoting VCAA Chair, Adam Shoemaker, in his opening address, Top Acts truly represents the “very best of the best” in the previous year’s final examinations in Drama, Theatre Studies, Dance and Music solo and group performances.

Highlights in Friday’s program for me were:

• Rob Clifford (St Michael’s Grammar School) and his fabulous rendition of George Harrison’s ‘When My Guitar Gently Weeps’ on the ukulele
• Caitlyn Petrie (Avila College) and her highly sophisticated and focused drama solo performance of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov
• Che Steer (Blackburn High School) and his sumptuous music solo interpretation of Rogers and Hart’s ‘My Funny Valentine’
• Mark Yeates (Donvale Christian College) and his wickedly hilarious drama solo performance of ‘Dennis’ and his funeral home for pets
• James Dong (Camberwell Grammar School) and his disciplined and skilled violin sonata by Eugene Ysaye
• Bonnie Leigh-Dodds (St Michael’s Grammar School) and her beautifully timed drama performance of school girl Mary O’Donnell from the play ‘Bombshells’
• Josephine Grech, Georgia Wilkinson and Zoe Drummond (Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School) and their classical voice music group performance of Handel’s ‘Consolati i O Bella’
• James Hazelwood-Dale (Wesley College) and his electric bass arrangement of ‘Amazing Grace’
• Brodie King (Ballarat Grammar) and his Phythonesque rendition of Sergeant Major from the play ‘Oh What A Lovely War’

Not being any sort of dance expert, I don’t feel qualified to comment on the dance pieces in the Top Acts concert, so excuse me for omitting them from my highlights. Having said that, it feels mean to select any highlights at all, because the quality across the various disciplines and 28 performers at this year’s Top Acts was consistently strong and of a very high standard.

On a personal note, I was immensely proud to have one of my own students in the 2010 Top Acts concert. Caitlyn Petrie (Avila College), who performed the drama solo performance Anastasia, was the only female out of 1,500 students who undertook Year 12 Drama in 2009 invited to perform at Top Acts. She did a fantastic job and ‘nailed’ her solo on the big night!

Each year I attend the annual Top Acts concert with about 70 or 80 Drama and Music students from Years 10, 11 and 12 at my school, plus about a dozen staff, for a fabulous night of talent. Top Acts represents some of the best professional development a performing arts teacher can receive. Highly recommended.

I’ve been trying to write this review for ten days now. When your blog is a hobby and Godot’s opening night comes to town in the middle of a school show, I remembered this blog’s title … and so The Drama Teacher put Godot aside until the storm at work settled down.

Something irks me when the purest of non-commercial theatre, Samuel Beckett’s 1953 masterpiece Waiting For Godot, creates box office records in London and goes on an international tour with Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings at its heart. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” cried Hamlet’s Marcellus. This performance has it all … the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good The cast is strong. Many ‘in the know” are disappointed the Australian and New Zealand tour of the Theatre Royal Haymarket production of Godot does not include original London cast members Simon Callow and Patrick Stewart. Nevertheless, this ensemble retains its draw card in Sir Ian McKellan as Estragon, then adds Roger Rees as Vladimir, Matthew Kelly as Pozzo and Brendan O’Hea as Lucky. The actors are uniformly consistent and very skilled. If you’re going along just to see McKellan shine, then be warned there is no star in Beckett’s Godot, nor should there be. Vladimir and Estragon equally share the stage as the play’s twin protagonists and if you want me to nit-pick, I preferred the talent of Roger Rees over Ian McKellan, anyway. For me, McKellan mumbled way too often, was difficult to both hear and understand at times, while Rees’ interpretation of Vladimir was easier to engage. Kelly’s camp, over the top portrayal of Pozzo was a comic delight.

The Bad We’ll start with the post-apocalyptic-type set, complete with crumbled wall at the rear and ruined mansion pillars downstage left and right. As with Shakespeare’s plays, Waiting For Godot demands a bare stage (in this case with the sole addition of a single tree) and any interpretation that attempts to tart it up, usually fails. It was quite acceptable on one level, but the question remains as to whether it was suitable? Adding to the “bad” was the soundscape by Paul Grothuis. Satisfactory? Yes. Necessary? No. We’ll finish with the overstated direction by Sean Mathias that resulted in several audience gags and a comic theatricality with Vladimir and Estragon that made me shudder (appropriate only for Pozzo). There is indeed a comic side to Godot clear in the text for any good director to interpret, but this was Godot for the masses. If you’re a purest, try The Gate Theatre of Dublin’s interpretation, performed at the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in October 1997. Often hailed by critics as “the definitive Godot” (if there is such as thing), you can now see this performance on DVD in the Beckett box set.

The Ugly Anything that commercialises Beckett’s Waiting For Godot falls into the “ugly” category. The $130 ticket price tag. The $40 signed lithographs of the actors. The $20 programme. Where was my Godot coffee mug, I cry? Damn, I’ve got a whole cabinet of Broadway musical mugs at home! Whoops! My slip. That’s right. This was not Broadway … or was it? We all get sucked in and yes, I bought my programme and signed lithograph of Ian McKellan. True, McKellan was known as one of Britain’s leading stage actors for decades before The Lord of the Rings trilogy opened him up to a whole new generation of audiences. It’s not his fault that much of the opening night audience were really Waiting for Gandalf, not Godot at all. But as skilled as McKellan truly is at treading the boards, one has to worry about what this production of Waiting For Godot was really about … the money or the art?

Melbourne season concludes 23 May 2010.

(This year’s exam is here, if you’re interested in understanding the task).

Once again, Top Class Drama 2010 demonstrated a high level of skill from all student performers. Imaginative choices in decision-making were scattered throughout. Character transformations are getting slicker every year at the Top Class concerts. Remembering what is onstage was an examination piece six months earlier, according to exam rules, each students must transform into other characters. It was great to see many performers avoid clunky transitions, instead transforming smoothly and seamlessly into other, secondary characters in their performance.

Even though every performer who makes it into Top Class Drama received a perfect-score A+ on their exam and then made it through an invitation-only audition process where many students missed out, there is always going to be slight variations in quality across all three concerts. Usually, 33 students perform in three concerts of 11, but in 2010 it was one less performer per concert, totaling 30. It will probably always be the case where some performers appear to have better skills than others, though one could still argue once performed at a concert, the audience views are subjective opinions, not criteria-based examination scores where the performances began months ago in an exam room.

This year I was fortunate to have two students perform in Top Class Drama and I was very proud to see both of my students perform on stage at the Melbourne Recital Centre a few weeks ago. Behind the scenes, 6 of my 14 students from 2009 were invited to audition for this year’s program … and that really threw me into a spin!

Only a select few from all the Drama, Theatre Studies, Dance and Music Season of Excellence concerts are asked to perform at a combined concert at Hamer Hall. This year’s concert will be on Friday 28 May. With a seating capacity of 2,600, performing at Hamer Hall is always a buzz for a student performer. Only three or four Drama students are asked to perform their solo performance at the final-stage Top Acts concert. One of my students performed at Top Acts a few years ago and I was thrilled, knowing that this will probably not happen again to me in my career, because the odds are stacked against you. But yesterday changed all that, with a pleasant phone message to discover one of my students from this year’s Top Class concerts has been asked to perform at Top Acts in late May. Hers is a mostly dramatic and serious performance and ranks as one of the most sophisticated student-written performances I have had the pleasure of being a part of. I’m looking forward to seeing it all again

So, if you teach VCE Drama in Melbourne or regional Victoria and have never been to a Top Class or Top Acts concerts, I can highly recommend it as great professional development. Students get so much out of seeing others of a high standard perform and knowledge gained always transfers directly into their own upcoming solo performance or monologue exams.

The Story of Slapstick covers various masters of the genre, but from a refreshing British perspective. Naturally, short video clips are in abundant supply in this documentary, something that will no doubt please those Drama students of yours hungry for the visual entertainment their generation knows all too well.

Artists/characters/comedy teams featured include Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean, Monty Python, The Goodies, Michael Crawford in Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, The Young Ones, Morcambe and Wise, Vic and Bob, and French and Saunders.

This documentary interviews several well-known British comedians, young and old, and covers many of slapstick’s vital ingredients such as violence and the innocence of the characters. The Story of Slapstick also dismisses slapstick’s stigma as being an unsophisticated form and interestingly highlights its additional success on the radio (The Goon Show) and its transition today out of formal scripted sketches into our own living rooms, with everyday slapstick caught on camera then posted on popular websites like YouTube etc.

Worth a watch.

Torrent (.avi, 60 mins, 553mb)

Having had previous successes with Art and Life X 3 among others, Reza’s latest work, God of Carnage, has just hit the Australian stage as part of the Melbourne Theatre Company’s mainstream season.

And, oh what a boom of a season it must be! The MTC has already had success a couple of months ago with the 2008 Tony winner for Best Play in August Osage County. As previously blogged here on The Drama Teacher, that play had one of the best performances of the year in Robyn Nevin’s startling portrayal of the pill-popping Violet Weston.

Now, just to add salt to the opposition’s wounds, the MTC also has the recently crowned 2009 Tony winner for Best Play, God of Carnage, in the same season.

Back to Yasmina Reza. Her cleverly written God of Carnage will particularly delight anyone who is a parent, as the plot concerns two sets of parents attempting to meet amicably to discuss Alain (Hugo Weaving) and Annette’s (Natasha Herbert) son’s “indiscretion”. Their 11-year-old boy has poked a stick at a playmate, Michel (Geoff Morrell) and Veronique’s (Pamela Rabe) son, in the process knocking out two of his teeth. That’s what young boys do, right? Not so, according to Michel and Veronique.

In true contemporary form, God of Carnage is a one act 90-minute play. The first 45-minutes sets the scene, while the last 45-minutes will reveal why you came to the theatre to see a comedy.

As the plot slowly unravels with much alcohol consumed, the play descends into a farce of delightful proportions. It’s an absolute hoot, with one laugh after another, showcasing Reza’s astute observations of the intricacies of social relationships, albeit the story of two children fighting being trivial and not exactly earth-shattering.

God of Carnage is parental warfare. Who will take sides against whom? Will we be surprised by partners taking potshots against each other? Once? Twice? Three times? This is one funny play where we discover the real children are not those in the playground, after all.

On Broadway this year, God of Carnage created history in being the only play to have the entire cast nominated for a Tony. Granted, there’s only four actors, but each of them were nominated for either Best Actor or Best Actress in a Play. While Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) missed out, Marcia Gay Harden won the Tony, as did the direction and the play itself.

The MTC cast forms a tight ensemble, something necessary in a play such as Carnage. Hugo Weaving does not disappoint as Alain, demonstrating the expressive nuances theatre and film audiences over the years have grown to appreciate him for. Pamela Rabe is outstanding as Veronique, passionately fierce one moment, hilarious the next. Natasha Herbert’s character builds slowly until the once meek Annette explodes into a tour de force, while Geoff Morrell plays Michel with skill and conviction.

God of Carnage is playing at the Playhouse, Arts Centre, until 3 October.

First things first. Avenue Q may well involve puppets, but this is no kids show. It’s more like Sesame Street for mums, dads and elder brothers and sisters.

Originally opening Off Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in March 2003, Avenue Q’s season was extended four times, eventually moving to Broadway’s John Golden Theatre, where it is still playing six years on.

Conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who began writing the show’s catchy score way back in 1999 for a possible TV series, Avenue Q won three Tony Awards after arriving on Broadway, of which the following should give you an idea of the cailbre of this great little musical:

AVENUE Q BEAT WICKED TO RECEIVE THE 2004 TONY AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL.

Now while some readers may argue that’s not such a tremendous feat, as Wicked is not the best show on Earth, since that time Wicked has definitely proven to at least be the world’s most popular musical, arguably since The Phantom more than 20 years ago. Perhaps it was Avenue Q’s unique blend of humans and puppets that gave it the edge over the almighty Wicked.

Avenue Q has a cast of 11 performers, but on stage we only see 7 of them on stage. The Australian production has Michala Banas operating two of the main puppets (roles) in Kate Monster and Lucy T. Slut. Local audiences will easily recognise Banas from her many television appearances. She is perfectly suited to this show with a strong singing voice and wonderful facial expressions.

All of the puppets (here we go again … roles) in Avenue Q are comic ones. We follow the trials of Princeton, who after receiving his BA in English, finds himself unemployed and without a purpose in life. The set is NY tenement housing and the other puppets all live in the neighbourhood.

Avenue Q’s most popular songs are the Trekkie Monster’s (parody on the Cookie Monster) “The Internet Is For Porn”, Princeton’s song “It Sucks To Be Me” and “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist”. The adult themes should be relatively clear by now, but just in case they’re not, we also get to see puppet sex on stage and ‘full puppet nudity’ (one of the show’s many taglines).

Don’t be fooled into thinking this show is just a little bit of fluff. Rather, it’s more than a little bit clever (but thankfully not overly so) with catchy tunes, many funny lines and a simple but interesting plot. How can 1.6 million people possibly be wrong (and that’s just on Broadway)? To date the show has grossed over $116 million.

Most of Avenue Q’s puppets are operated by performers who although dressed in muted clothing, are nevertheless in full audience view. With no attempt to hide the puppeteer, one has to decide who to watch at various points in the show? While it takes a while for some to realise the puppet is an extension of the performer’s body, it is at least clear the performer is portraying the same feelings as the puppet. But as puppets can’t show facial expressions, it is here the puppeteer rules.

There are moments of one performer with two puppets, or puppets speaking but the performer’s voice is not the puppeteer (the voice is from another performer elsewhere on stage), two puppeteers per puppet and even one performer who never uses a puppet at all! It definitely keeps the audience on their toes, but is in no way hard to follow.

Avenue Q has genuine moments of sadness followed by deafening comedy. This is a gem of a musical with a neat little twist in the use of puppets. The homage to Sesame Street will be clear but you don’t have to be a fan of the show (or puppets for that matter) to enjoy this musical. While Avenue Q is definitely not recommended for Drama teachers to take their students to on a school excursion, it is however, highly recommended for a great night out with your colleagues! You won’t be disappointed.

Be quick, Avenue Q is in Melbourne for a limited season. Sydney previews begin 9 August. Visit Avenue Q Australia or Ticketek for more information.

Universally hailed as the best new American play in a generation, August began its life at Letts’ artistic home, the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, in June 2007. After a highly successful run, it succeeded in the rare achievement of moving to Broadway’s Imperial Theatre with virtually the entire original Chicago cast in tow (11 of the 13 actors).

Jilted by the theatre stagehand strike in late 2007, August eventually opened to critical acclaim. Such was its commercial success (positive press reviews and strong word of mouth resulting in back to back sold out performances) that the company packed up its three-storey set and moved to the Music Box Theatre (next door) in order to enjoy an open-ended run, where it still plays today.

Known across the globe as the only newspaper capable of closing a theatre show prematurely (ask those connected to the musical Glory Days, whose show closed on Broadway on May 6, 2008 after only one performance), the New York Times raved about August Osage County. It is uncommon to see a New York Times theatre reviewer use superlatives, but on this occasion there were plenty, as Charles Isherwood noted August was:

flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years.

I saw August Osage County on Broadway in March 2008 on a performing arts tour and walked out of the theatre telling my Drama students that was one of the best lessons in theatre they’ll ever receive. The following month, a few weeks after our return home to Melbourne, the play won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. By June, Deanna Dunagan, who portrayed the play’s protagonist Violet Weston, won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, with the production winning the Tony for Best Play on Broadway that year. And so it was no doubt with pleasure that Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director, Simon Phillips, secured the performing rights to this fabulous play for Australian audiences.

Seven genres in one, this is a domestic drama, displaying the trials of an ordinary American family in Oklahoma. We identify with the characters, their lives, their predicaments, and their sorrows. There are elements of tragicomedy in the play, as it swings wildly, but plausibly, from happiness to disaster in the blink of an eye. But there are also pieces of a soap opera weaved neatly into the mix, as the characters are just that bit larger than ordinary citizens, so the audience becomes hooked on the fantasy of their lives. Many would would argue there’s more than a touch of melodrama in August, due to its many subplots and unseen twists. Or is it a modern-day sitcom? To top it all off, this play is very much a black comedy, as we laugh at the many memorable lines at the most inappropriate of times. Add to this, Letts openly admits his play also has a political edge; an allegory for life under the Bush administration.

August Osage County is a paradox. It is a play of yesteryear. Letts has taken so many risks to allow it to sit alongside its contemporaries on the modern stage, because its form belongs to another generation. Yet its content is so strikingly relevant to our own. August follows the tried and tested formula of the well-made play, in this case three acts and nine scenes. Structurally, it is perfect (and ironically conservative) and at three hours long, you won’t look at your watch once. But this is a formula that does not sit comfortably in contemporary theatre. Many of today’s play consist of two acts, a number of smaller scenes and an eclectic mix of performance styles all in the one play. August Osage County, this is not.

This play is also not for the faint-hearted. With sexual misbehaviour, drug addiction and misuse, (unknowing) incest, a fourteen-year-old character smoking pot on stage and a whole lotta swearing (even the “C” word gets a guernsey), August Osage County packs a powerful punch. But it is Letts’ crafty playwriting that allows August to be many things to many people. A play about a dysfunctional American family has been seen many times before. Somehow, though, Lett’s pulls it off. Much of the play is as scary as it is hilarious; the first few times many in the audience don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

This play is about as naturalistic as you can get in mainstream contemporary theatre. And while so many commercial plays today are banal naturalistic dramas with four characters and a minimalistic set, this is an example of good naturalistic theatre with a towering three-storey set by Tony-nominated designer Dale Ferguson and thirteen fully-rounded characters; two to three times the cast of most contemporary mainstream plays.

This design, slightly different to the Broadway set, is impressive indeed, but perhaps a little too ambitious, resulting in a few sight line issues for those against the dress circle walls. The set is as much of a monster as Violet Weston herself, a cut-out house with two staircases, multiple rooms, a front porch and an attention to detail Ibsen and Chekhov would have been proud of.

August Osage County is set in the present day (2007) and follows the life of an Oklahoma family, the Weston’s, who get together for a reunion of sorts, to determine why their father suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason. The acting style is purely naturalistic, complete with backs to the audience on occasions. Nothing is “staged” and everything is real, sometimes too real.

If ever there were a role for Robyn Nevin, Violet Weston, the play’s matriarch and protagonist, has to be it. Violet is addicted to prescription pills and automatically we have comparisons with Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a mother addicted to morphine throughout the play. Violet also has a razor-sharp tongue like you’ve never heard before, publicly devouring those around her that matter most, one by one, until all before her have been defeated. Here we see Letts’ homage to similar characters in the canon of great American plays, such as Martha in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Nevin’s portrayal of Violet, so often stumbling and incoherent on her pills, is a powerful performance. The role, one of the very best in contemporary playwriting, is so meaty and ballsy, you wouldn’t let anyone but the most accomplished of actors go near it. Violet Weston is the female version of a modern-day King Lear, a role so difficult and challenging, one can only sit back and applaud as Nevin nails it on the head in outstanding fashion.

Jane Menelaus convincingly plays Barbara, the eldest of Violet’s three daughters. This is definitely the strongest of the three daughter parts, and Menelaus’ performance as Barbara is impressive. You follow her every movement on stage, eagerly awaiting her next line. But highlighting individual performances in August Osage County is problematic, because this is very much an ensemble play and the Melbourne Theatre Company cast does not let us down. Thirteen fabulous roles are performed with consistent calibre, throughout.

Simon Phillips’ direction of this production is near-flawless. As the black comedy spews out the mouth of many of the characters in nearly all of the play’s nine scenes, it is perfect comic timing and fabulous character reactions on stage that make it all work so well. Letts has accurately observed how the modern family operates and anyone in the audience belonging to a large clan themselves, will have a riot of a time, coupled with more than a few squirmish moments of familiarity.

At the end of the day, August Osage County will almost certainly go down as one of the great American plays of the 21st century. It’s hard to see it as its coming, but this is an unforgettable play in so, so many ways. As in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, when the final act closes with George singing the title song to Martha, who replies “I am”, August Osage County’s exorcism leaves Violet destitute with only her live-in housekeeper, Johnna, as comfort. Violet, a fiercely independent woman, so strong throughout the entire play, now finds herself afraid of the big bad wolf, while Johnna lullabies to her “This is the way the world ends” in the play’s dying moments.

Just whom will we remember from this fabulous play? The role of Violet Weston, a loving mother with the poison of a viper at every turn, is the role you’ll never forget. Actresses will be lining up to play this role for decades to come. August Osage County is one mother of a play. Must see theatre.

(Note for younger audience members: adult themes and frequent coarse swearing)

August Osage County is playing at the Playhouse, Arts Centre until 27 June.

Edit: season extended until 4 July. Grab a ticket if you can!

Realism is not just a play, but a lesson in theatre for everyone … literally! Set in a small Moscow Theatre in 1939, Realism follows a group of actors rehearsing a play under the frightful rule of Joseph Stalin.

It is Galloway’s method of communicating a story partly about the life of oft-forgotten Russian theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Here was a man almost as famous as Constantin Stanislasvki himself, who disagreed with many of his artistic principles and has ever since fallen into the great Master’s shadow.

Meyerhold is best remembered today for his own system of actor training, a movement-based method known as Biomechanics. He is also known as a major contributor to Constructivism, a style of theatre set design displaying large machinery-like treadmills and ramps.

This was an era when Soviet censorship in the arts was common. The official artistic line was Socialist Realism, Stalin’s version of Soviet propaganda about a communist USSR involving plays about life in the factory etc.

Realism the play is actually a black comedy. In amongst the tragedies of life under Stalin, where plays were heavily censored by the authorities and people feared for their own lives and those of others every day, Galloway places largely stereotypical comical characters into the plot.

As for Meyerhold, his life did not end in a comedy as this talented Russian theatre director strayed too far from the Socialist Realism line, resulting in his own execution reportedly ordered by Stalin himself.

Realism is a fantastic lesson in early 20th century theatre, as well as being an entertaining production with some fabulous acting. The actors were trained in Biomechanics for this play and by the end of the night one will have witnessed seldom-seen examples of both Biomechanics on stage and a reproduction of a famous Meyerhold constructivist set.

If you live in Melbourne and are studying theatre or the performing arts at university, Realism is particularly relevant. For the general theatre-goer, an entertaining lesson in theatre (at the theatre itself) is not such a bad thing after all.

Realism is playing at the MTC’s Sumner Theatre until May 17.

Poor Boy is a play written by the fabulous Australian playwright Matt Cameron. I say fabulous because at least two of his previous works, Ruby Moon and Mr Melancholy, are fantastic pieces of literature. Ruby Moon was a wonderful night at the theatre back in mid-2003 at the then Playbox (now Malthouse Theatre), while Mr Melancholy serves as the only absurdist work I have ever successfully been able to completely engage high school drama students in … repeatedly. No small feat!

Back to Poor Boy….

This play was not a musical. It was a play. So why the title of this post, then? Because Poor Boy had weaved throughout it 12 songs by New Zealand maestro Tim Finn. Everything from known hits like I Hope I Never (Split Enz, 1980) to Tim Finn solo numbers and the song of the play’s name, Poor Boy (also Split Enz, 1980).

Though much is written in the program notes about the what these songs meant to Finn when conceived and why Cameron chose them for inclusion in the play, little is revealed about any collaboration between the two artists (?).

While I certainly believe the majority of the songs “worked” in the play and consolidated its themes (a few jarred, but that’s OK), the play still wasn’t a musical. Offiicially it was “A Play With Songs By Matt Cameron and Tim Finn”, undoubtedly part of its attraction to the theatre going, ticket buying, public. It certainly was a major part of the attraction for me, anyway.

I assumed with much anticipation Poor Boy was going to include original songs by Finn written exclusively for the show; the sort of artistic collaboration only dreams are made of. But it was not to be so.

In moments where the songs didn’t quite work as well as one might have hoped, I couldn’t help feeling this concept was a little bit like the Mamma Mia / Jersey Boys Jukebox Musical genre. Throw a bunch of songs together by a well-known artist and weave them into the (existing) “book” as best as possible and pray that it works in the theatre.

Like all musicals, the songs in Poor Boy worked best when they were interlaced with the dialogue with ease. And yes, when they failed, there was an artificial “jump” made to include the song/s and worse, the audience knew it.

On the whole, I loved Poor Boy and thought it was a wonderful two and a half hours in the theatre. Hats off to the MTC for taking a risk with the genre, too.

What genre? Is a “play with songs” a theatrical genre? Was it not a musical in the traditional sense because the songs were added to the work after it was written? Or because this “play with songs” had no dancing, as in most musicals? Or was it because the play was the focus and not the songs?

Being a long time Split Enz / Tim Finn fan, I bopped along inside my head to all the songs I recognised.

It was all very musical to me.

But Poor Boy was not a musical.

It was a “play with songs”.

Semantics?