Sweet Road - Melville Theatre Company (17 May 2024)

The road movie has been a staple of cinema for decades. From Easy Rider to Thelma and Louise and Little Miss Sunshine with notable Australian contributions such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the Mad Max franchise, and WA’s own Last Cab To Darwin by playwright/screenwriter Reg Cribb. It’s a genre that emphasises themes of self-discovery, freedom, and transformation that comes more from the journey than the destination. But given its reliance on wide open spaces and continuous movement from place to place how does one translate that effectively onto the stage?

Director Vanessa Jensen’s answer is to quite ingeniously use dual revolving sets, minimal props, and evocative lighting and sound design to represent the various vehicles and stops along the way. Debra Oswald’s play feels very filmic in its origins so the fading out from a scene on one of the revolving sets to the adjacent one is the equivalent of a movie transition as we cut from location to location.  This works well though the timing of the lights down on one revolve and lights up on the other might have been executed more crisply to maintain that illusion. The downstage area is utilised when more movement is required in a scene or where characters’ stories, particularly in the second half, intersect. 

Lighting Designer Lars Jensen provides the colour palette that creates the bright sunlight of regional Australia, twilight at a caravan park, or the harshness of a payphone at a roadhouse. Sound Designer Alan Gill fleshes out the world with everything from native birdlife, the cacophony of the road, snippets of radio broadcasts, and a feature of most road stories - music. The elements also play a key role in the second half of the story with rain effects teasing our imagination with swollen rivers and flooded roads. The combination of lighting and sound reaches a zenith at a critical moment towards the end of the first half where a life-changing moment is shockingly depicted. 

The story itself takes its characters on a journey, physically but, far more importantly, one of growth and renewed perspective. Jo (Madelaine Page) is running away from her husband's betrayal; Carla (Jackie Oates) and Andy (Brian O'Donovan) head north seeking new opportunities; Michael (Christopher Hill) hides from a personal tragedy he cannot process; Frank (Gino Cataldo) is stuck in a kind of stasis after his wife's death; and Yasmin (Jessica Palokangas) hitchhikes towards the thrill of young love. Some characters will meet and affect the trajectory of each other's journey in varying ways as will the harsh Australian landscape. 

Page plays the city dwelling wife who is devastated on seeing her husband kissing another woman with a brittleness that is understandable and relatable. Her Jo flees the city totally unprepared for the travails of the road where she picks up the hitchhiking Yasmin and, later, meets the profoundly damaged Michael. These interactions will sponsor a change in Jo's own self-worth as Page subtly moves her from impulsive angst (the trip to dry lake) to a far more kindly presence to herself and others. 

Oates gives her frazzled mother and wife Carla a real Ocker tone with undercurrents of despair and cynicism. She will do anything to protect her (never seen) children and creates that relationship with gusto. Unable to deal with husband Andy's own worst impulses, Carla discovers genuine empathy and purpose in the generosity of the older widower Frank. Oates exuding optimism as Carla sits behind the wheel at the end is a delight.

O'Donovan's Andy is certainly a handful with an endless optimism and lack of impulse control when it comes to gambling. He plays the character with no off switch and while we sense the love for Carla and the kids, we also understand how grating Andy must be. O'Donovan has fun interacting with Browndog, the best invisible dog performance I've (not) seen! 

Christopher Hill has perhaps the most notable arc with Michael who is almost comatose with grief in the first half. A strapping lad, the withdrawn presence is an extreme counterpoint to the larger performances in other strands. His monologue about the source of his grief is devastating and Hill imbues the character with concern and a hint of life after meeting Jo.    

Likewise Cataldo's Frank is revitalised after meeting Carla and finally undertakes the canoe trip he always wanted to do. Interestingly, Palokangas' dreamy portrayal of young love turns into something more muted as realism sets in. 

Charlie Young plays another kind of passenger in Curtis who is an opportunist and catalyst for Carla's break with Andy. Young has some lovely understated moments stuck between the bickering couple before exploding into fidgety action. 

The cast is rounded out by Laura Mercer as a not smug (maybe sometimes) Policewoman; Clare Talbot's salt of the earth Mechanic; and Michele Sharp's bemused Receptionist. 

Sweet Road is a play that grew on me as the various story strands contrasted and then complemented each other. All the characters change - most for the better, some in less happy ways. The coming of rain in the second half brings with it a certain cleansing and different kind of flow to the road. The use of the revolves mean that scene transitions move quickly and smoothly. The recreation of time and place is well done with mention to the costumes by Michelle Sharp and use of road maps in pre-smartphone days. All the characters are clearly delineated but their arcs are cleverly intertwined and realised. I loved the authenticity of stories about childhood holidays to caravan parks and the early morning excitement of such trips. A lovely addition to the road trip canon. 

Sweet Road is on at the well appointed new home of the Melville Theatre Company - The Main Hall, Melville Civic Centre - until Saturday 25 May. 

Emma - ARENA Theatre Productions (11 May 2024)

How exhausting polite society must be. All that scheming for social advantage. All that matchmaking. What mischief one might get into if one so chose. And choose Emma Woodhouse (Kate Naunton Morgan) does at the behest of Jane Austen herself (Ashlee McKenna) who propels her heroine from imagination onto the page and into the theatre itself. 

Emma makes Harriet Smith (Millie Hillman) a project for whom to find an agreeable suitor, certainly one far more agreeable than one Robert Martin (Callum Vinsen) who is a mere, gasp, farmer whilst avoiding romantic entanglements herself. Along the way, many other families from the fictional village of Highbury will become inevitably embroiled in Emma's machinations before Emma herself succumbs to an unforeseen fate. It is a very particular comedy of manners set in a world where such things are paramount. 

That world is stylishly realised with effective costume and set design with well considered use of lighting (Design Jayden French, Operator Mark Belstead) and sound design (Sound Operator Liam Tickner, Audio Advisor Jon Hoey) to represent the various households and surrounds. The indoor set is well dressed with elegant furniture and props that are easily moved for larger moments such as the ballroom scenes. The costumes are also elegant and suggestive of the period while I particularly liked the attention given to the hairstyles of all the women characters. There is clever use of lighting to denote evening scenes stage left where there is a bench under a tree on the grounds, and McKenna's Austen is often spotlighted in one of her primary positions stage right. Sound incorporates everything from birds in the gardens to a piano forte to add nearly a sense of whimsy to proceedings with music credits adding class with selections from Vivaldi to Mozart. 

As Director Simon James says in the (also stylishly presented) online programme, this is a minimalist production as befits a community theatre undertaking and to focus on the performances. The credits reveal it has indeed been a shared endeavour with several members of the cast involved in costumes, props, stage management, choreography and even IT support! James himself is credited for not only Director but Script Adaptation, Set Design, Props, Sound Recordist, Set Construction, and Publicity Design!

To those performances and there are three in particular that are the bedrock on which the play is built. I first came across Kate Naunton Morgan in two shows last year at Curtin University's Hayman Theatre - Dead Man's Cell Phone and The Pillowman - where she showcased a gift for comedy that serves her very well as the titular character here. With excellent projection and elocution Morgan handles the mannered dialogue with a devilish twinkle in the eye. Her facial expressions and affectations more than once reminded me of Annie Murphy of Schitt's Creek fame. Morgan is one to watch as her knack for physical comedy and deft timing are invaluable tools.

Millie Hillman proves an ideal foil to Morgan as her guileless and sweet portrayal of Harriet Smith is a delight. Hillman also demonstrates a light touch as she responds to the hapless girl's lack of success in whatever ploy Emma has contrived with resolute goodness. 

Then there's Ashlee McKenna as Jane Austen. James has chosen to thrust Austen front and centre in this adaptation which causes a certain imbalance. That's because McKenna is devastatingly charming in the role, looks amazing in perhaps the most prominent costume, and delivers her narration with panache. She pulls focus from the primary action of any scene by her mere presence; whether that be observing, directing the action, controlling the tempo, giving line reads for 'her' characters, or simply writing as they speak. Often she would walk into a spotlighted area to accentuate her presence, or interact with characters, and other times she would fade into darkness and watch from the wings. At all times I was conscious of where McKenna was which tended to distract from the focus of a scene. It's the case of a compelling performance overshadowing an interesting idea on the page.  

This also happened to a lesser extent with Callum Vinsen's Servant who was doing different forms of light shtick on the periphery of scenes. Perhaps more successful was the broad comedy provided by Robert McDonough's Mr Woodhouse whose concerns about the health effect of, amongst other things, draft was a running gag; or Maria Passalacqua whose double act with Taneal Thompson as Mrs and Miss Bates provided another running gag about the decrepitude of old age. 

Jack Riches amusingly gives his put upon Mr Elton a broad comic touch with plenty of pratfalls and a certain Blackadder-esque sneer at times. His antics only increase in the second half when the cyclone that is his newly betrothed, Mrs Elton, vibrantly played by Kellie White, wreaks havoc with a forthright demeanour even Emma, especially Emma, finds insufferable.

To the other gentlemen of interest, Garrison Cox is a little stiff as Mr Knightley which kind of works as the older family friend who professes to be Emma's sole critic. James Ford is a stout and pleasant presence as Frank Churchill, albeit one who conceals a secret that sabotages Emma's plans. 

Another Curtin alumna, Poppy Lindsell, is demure and bright as Jane Fairfax while Nathan R Bonham gives a good-natured portrayal as Mr Weston. The cast did work well together, no better typified than in the dance scenes which seemed like barely controlled chaos but were charming nonetheless because the performers were all smiles as they corrected various missteps. Some did seem to tire though in the latter stages as the demands of the dialogue and style of delivery took hold.

Not normally the sort of play I would gravitate to, this was stylishly presented with a trio of key performances that demonstrate the depth of young talent in the community theatre space.  

Saturday Night Fever - Drew Anthony Creative (10 May 2024)

If you were going to devise a jukebox musical one could do far worse than basing it on the second biggest soundtrack album of all time. Indeed, before a certain moonwalking superstar started singing about Billie Jean, Saturday Night Fever was the highest selling album of all time, period. But the John Travolta starring movie (1977) and subsequent musical (1998) have far more things on their mind than simply celebrating that quintessentially seventies phenomenon of disco and the songwriting genius of the Gibb brothers. 

There is an exploration of what would now be called toxic masculinity, disaffected youth, the impact of religion on shaping social norms at the time, unsettling attitudes towards sex and women, and breaking free of stifling domestic and economic situations. It's pretty heady content for a 'greatest hits' package of songs. There's a level of tonal friction between all those elements that accentuates music and dancing as an escape from the realities of life in New York. 

The "pre-show entertainment" sets this up brilliantly. Projected on a large screen at the rear of the stage with amazing clarity, an old-fashioned television shows a mix of news clips juxtaposed with ads circa 1978. The news is all about the decay of America from a Son of Sam (serial killer David Berkowitz) segment to infrastructure literally falling apart. The ads are late-70s kitsch featuring supermodels such as Farrah Fawcett hawking all kinds of fare from fast food to beauty products. To modern eyes it's a bemusing time capsule of Americana but it sets up the time period, a sense of place, and the fissures within society to great effect.

Into which struts one Tony Manero (Ethan Churchill), a 19 year old who escapes the drudgery of his job at a paint store and the demands of the family home by tearing up the dancefloor at the local clubs. Tony becomes infatuated with Stephanie Mangano (Tory Kendrick) to the despair of lovelorn Annette (Izzi Green) and sets out to win a dance competition with her. Meanwhile, family and friends provide all manner of complications that he must navigate to escape the dead end life his father's alcoholism or, even worse, his friend Bobby's suicide, portend. 

Churchill is rarely off the stage in a committed and passionate performance that presents a warts and all depiction of Tony. We sense Tony's frustration, his yearning for more, his ego, his darker impulses, and yet, ultimately, his discontent with who he is and the ability to change if given a chance. All this with a broad Nu Yawk accent and, yes, strut throughout. Churchill, star of a previous Drew Anthony production, Strictly Ballroom, also handles the dancing requirements of the role with style and embraces the iconic look that Travolta burned into popular culture's psyche. It's in perhaps the quieter moments that he is most potent - the solo Immortality where Churchill is bathed in light and sings beautifully; the monologue where he stands up to his father; and the delight of How Deep Is Your Love as he duets with Kendrick, all artifice stripped away.

Kendrick commands attention the moment she hits the stage in a dance number that draws all eyes; Tony's and the audience. Her Stephanie is sassy and confident on the surface but we sense her own longing for much better, represented in crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and moving to Manhattan. Kendrick soars in the best individual vocal performance of the show with What Kind of Fool and has genuine moments of connection with Churchill as they dance. 

Izzi Green does well with the unforgiving role of Annette whose fate is hard to watch as she descends into a self-pity that allows her to be abused in the most egregious of ways. Green's solo If I Can't Have You is another highlight with a stripped back arrangement that accentuates the underlying pain of that song.

The production is blessed to have Noel O'Neill and Lucy Williamson play Tony's parents in non-singing roles. O'Neill brings the New York having studied there under Lee Strasberg no less and Williamson gives an intense turn as the religious woman who fears for her son in this life and the next. Christopher Tierney plays the favoured son Frank Jr who couldn't be more different from Tony. His monologue about why he's leaving the priesthood is a lowkey highlight as an unexpected wrinkle in such a musical. Thirteen year old Aaleyah Chater rounds out the family unit. 

Tony's friends - Bobby (Kade Sweeney), Double J (Ethan Battle), and Joey (Zak Rolton) - all work well together with the four of them (along with the nightclub singers) providing an early highlight with Jive Talkin. Sweeney has the more interesting throughline and plays Bobby with an earnestness that counterpoints the more opportunistic and base nature of the other two. His fate is tragic but the musical doesn't really have time to let the implications truly sink in for either the audience or the other characters. Sweeney's solo of Tragedy is heartbreaking. 

The aforementioned nightclub singers - Abby Stevenson, Tahlia Loren, and Carrie Pereira - add vocal punch and panache to, especially, the more famous songs and I liked that they were almost omnipresent in the wings to give the nightclub scenes a realistic feel. Alex Graciano, Noah Skape and Sophie Psaila-Savona portray various characters with the latter, in particular, impressing with her expressive dancing, while the ensemble adds energy and colour to the bigger dance numbers.

The production looks spectacular with the Lighting Design by Drew Anthony and Richard Timms providing a colourful backdrop for the action using everything from lights in the patterned stage floor to lamps; strobe lights for a fight scene; a halo of spotlights for solo numbers; and the vibrant video projections were quite astonishing to establish scene settings even though it was a little glitchy for the first half.  

There was no band but the music playback and sound balance with the vocalists was superb (Audio Design Jordan Gibbs) with even the whoosh of the elevated train on the video projection audible in quieter moments. Production Design (Anthony) wisely allowed plenty of space for the dance action with lounges and tables set up on either side of the main space to represent the club. 

Costume Design by Dani Paxton recreates memorable outfits from the movie while also representing the colour and glamour of the disco scene with plenty of sequined dresses and silk shirts. Kendrick looked fabulous in her featured dress that was both glamorous and practical for dancing.

Finally, the show rests heavily on its dance numbers as the reaction of the row of ladies sitting next to me who were doing all the hand movements can attest. Choreographers Jamie & Suzi Rolton have to meet expectations with legendary dance moves while bringing their own creativity to the fore with highlights such as the first half closer You Should Be Dancing and the megamix of songs at closing bows. 

In all, director Drew Anthony has presented a tricky production that is part musical, part social drama by infusing it with colour and movement for the former and gritty realism in the latter. The tonal shifts don't always work - the humour which sometimes verges on slapstick feels out of place, for example. But as a well-performed piece of entertainment it certainly had them dancing in the aisles and I was happily humming along with a smile to solid gold classics from the era.

Saturday Night Fever is on at Theatre Royale in Northbridge until 26 May. 

Evil Dead The Musical - Wanneroo Repertory (2 May 2024)

It would be fair to say I didn't quite know what to expect as I travelled northwards to a secluded theatre in the woods hoping to be distracted from the evils of modern life. Little did I imagine what malevolent forces awaited me from aggressive foliage, foul mouthed demons, and deadly kitchen utensils to all manner of shenanigans with critters and a chainsaw. Sure, I had seen the movie the musical is based on when I was back in, ahem, high school but how could such a horror classic be converted into an all singing, all slaying stage production? 

Well, the answer turned out to be a gloriously ingenious and over-the-top homage/parody of the first two Evil Dead movies and this sort of horror fare in general. I happily cackled my way throughout the show adding to the raucous response of the audience who lapped up the excess, the fake gore, and a production that revelled in its many eccentricities. 

The scene is set with a marvellous representation of the Necronomicon - The Book of the Dead - which only goes to show that reading can be bad for you, especially when it summons demons! Our intrepid college students - Ash (Luke Miller), Cheryl (Escher Roe), Scott (Jordan Richards), Linda (Ellie Coburn), and Shelly (Naomi Capon) discover the book and a tape recording of a translation in a cabin deep in the woods. Mayhem ensues. The second act loosely incorporates elements of the sequel whereby Annie (Capon), her assistant Ed (Max Leunig), with the aid of Jake (Clayton Van Dijk) travel to the cabin only to join in said mayhem.  

First time director Kieran Ridgway has presented a technically inventive production with flair and energy that shows a deep love and understanding of the source material. Everything is dialled up to eleven but the zaniness never gets (too) out of hand and is in service of mining the inherent absurdities of the premise to maximum effect. 

The cabin set (design by Luke Miller and 'Cast & Crew') is not only visually on point but conceals so many secrets that are a delight to watch as they burst into action in all sorts of ways. The woods are represented by evocative flats and, in one of the most notorious scenes from the movie, brooding tree-clad actors. Notably, there is prominent use of a trap door at the front of the stage. 

The multitude of props (Sean Wcislo, Astro Stewart, Coralie Steward & Teah Steward) is impressive with Ash's chainsaw perhaps the most famous. There is also hilarious use of puppetry with one reveal surprising the hell out of me, much to my mirth. SFX Mask Designer Kylana McIntosh and Costume Designer Stella Sawyer present a range of looks for the demons which cleverly deconstructs their human clothing and appearance. There's even a running gag about the sort of gratuitous costume choices often made in horror movies for the heroine. 

The mood and look of the show is enhanced by excellent lighting design by Shelly Miller - I particularly liked the 'portal effect' as the demons are vanquished - and Sound Design by Chris McRae. The sounds of the forest and the whispers of the demons ("Join us!") are contrasted with a lot of shrieking by, particularly, Roe's demon but we rarely lose clarity in what must have been a tricky balance to get right.

Then there's the four piece band under Musical Director Jasper Cruden who's also on keys. The Limelight Theatre has the advantage of using a pit so the rock score didn't overly intrude on the vocals. Cruden is joined by Ian Tassicker on drums/percussion, Chris Ingram on bass, and Chris Johnston on guitar who supplied many tasty licks throughout. 

To the performances and the cast excelled in delineating their human characters from the demonic versions. Everyone had a chance to shine so here are some highlights:

The show takes off with the song Look Who's Evil Now where Roe's buttoned down Cheryl transforms into a demonic heckler that would make Statler & Waldorf blush as she pops up from the trap door throughout the show to harangue our heroes. It's a full-throated performance that Roe revels in. What The Fuck Was That? is the hilarious response by Miller and Richards; the former increasingly becoming the hero of proceedings with a bravura physical sequence where he fights himself to uproarious effect. Richards has his own deftly timed comic sequence involving all the entrails one can carry.

Van Dijk wows the audience with Good Old Reliable Jake in a go big or go home performance that would terrify the locals in Deliverance and has a hint of Vincent D'Onofrio from Men in Black. Max Leunig's Ed has an ongoing bit with Capon's Annie that is like the The Upside Down version of Amos from Chicago which is paid off with a delightfully perverse mutation of Mister Cellophane in Bit-Part Demon. He was about to get his Razzle Dazzle on but sorry Ed, no starring parts for you!

Capon gets to be a true triple threat - playing the vacuous Shelly in the first half; the demon version of said tag along girlfriend; then the seemingly brilliant daughter of the archaeologist who started this whole mess, Annie, who has an unfortunate and persistent wardrobe malfunction. Capon balances all these contradictions, costume and wig changes with style; her starring number being All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons. 

Coburn plays Linda with a sweetness that belies the craziness around her until she too gets her freak on with some demonic possession. Then there's Alyssa Burton who has such a bizarre cameo as Fake Shemp that I was howling with disbelief of the what did I just witness variety?

Shout-outs to choreographer Breanne Lucas, especially for the big dance number Do the Necronomicon, and fight choreographer Kyren Cleave for the finale where Ash kicks demon butt. 

I really enjoyed the large performances, the intricacies of the staging, the musical accompaniment, the running gags and sight gags, and the commitment to this crazy world of demonic possession. One thing I didn't expect was to laugh so much but this was truly funny and a most entertaining evening of theatre.

Evil Dead The Musical is on at the Limelight Theatre in Wanneroo until 11 May.