The Flatpack Life - University Dramatic Society (3 May 2016)

Have you ever wandered through a large Scandinavian furniture store with a gnawing sense that something sinister was happening behind the plastic insert tab a into slot b facades? What the general public and Dan Brown have failed to realise is that conspiracies run far deeper than Opus Dei. Yes, the greatest force for evil throughout history has been the ever present tentacles of Mobler, a company so named to avoid inevitable lawsuits from the folks at Ikea who are really touchy about their all pervasive criminal past. To keep prices low and dominate the market worldwide Mobler has secretly been smuggling the most exotic and dangerous substance known to man into Australia. Yes, that’s right, fruit.  

Wait, what... fruit? You heard me. Not being an economist I’m not sure how that works but stay with me here...

Into this viper’s den of deceit, the innocent Bjorn, fresh off the plane from Sweden, arrives with dreams of meeting the public’s low cost, pre-packaged furnishing demands while indulging in really good meatballs. I mean the kind of meatballs that make you forget your name (foreshadowing a key plot point so, um, spoiler alert!). He immediately falls for an AFL loving, ballsy customs agent due to the demands of the plot – did I mention the bio security threat of fruit smuggling? Together they... well, he uncovers an illicit shipment of foodstuffs which, in true corporate fashion, leads to a promotion to keep him silent. Except that his conscience then gets the better of him and he tries to leave. Meanwhile our battery toting, nipple frying heroine and love of his life, Rhonda investigates the disappearance of her comic sidekick Beatrice who has stumbled across the truth. Eventually our heroes are saved, evil empires toppled, and meatballs consumed with gusto.

Okay, so the original Book by Matt Dixon and Ralph Thompson doesn’t make a lick of sense and it all descends into James Bond spoof-style silliness with over-the-top villains, smarmy henchmen, more ocker sheilas than an episode of Kath & Kim, and a bland hero wearing sandals and knee high socks. Despite this there are some genuinely funny moments due to a couple of pivotal performances and the sheer absurdity of it all.

The songs, lyrics also by Dixon and Thompson, aren’t particularly memorable and the singing talent on display is relatively weak. A key issue on opening night was the poor sound balance that made the often-times trying to be too clever lyrics difficult to be heard. The Music by Jackson Griggs is a mix of muzak style musings befitting the setting and an almost cabaret lounge feel at times. It is well played by a five piece band including Griggs on keyboard and conductor Ben Hogan on organ. The most effective number was a rap-like interrogation of a hapless smuggler.

There is a twenty strong ensemble that begin the show with the title song, customer greeting smiles firmly fixed in place. The song is reprised two more times including the ending which is quite amusing as we learn the fate of all the characters. Otherwise they felt woefully under-utilised except for one moment when Bjorn tries to leave Mobler and is encircled by the ensemble blocking his path and ultimately engulfing him. I would have liked to have seen more of this direct involvement in the action to add movement, colour, and scale. If you’re going for the absurd do it big and with a flourish!

The show is stolen by Harry Goodlet as the elderly Magnus and especially Erin Craddock as Beatrice. The former creates an unintended highlight after a prop malfunction during a song and dance number. Thinking fast on his feet Goodlet uses the mishap to hilarious effect. There was also a sense of unpredictability about his performance that added to the laughs. I was never quite sure what he was going to do.

Craddock is flat out funny from the get go. Her wise-cracking custom officer sidekick with mean girl attitude and a fondness for “inter-textual references” that range from Grease to Reservoir Dogs steals every scene she is in.  

Nina Heymanson gets to vamp it up as the corporate villain while her henchman Sven played by Nicholas Morlet is amusingly creepy. Emily Gale brings a perkiness to faithful employee Boghild and Lewis Buchanan is effective as a corporate middle-management buffoon (we all know the type).

In the lead roles, Lucy Rossen portrays Rhonda with a straight ahead, no frills earnestness that works well in combination with Craddock’s showier Beatrice; while Caleb Donaldson inhabits the naive Bjorn with a pretty boy blandness that suited a character with pretty much no agency in driving the narrative forward.

This is sporadically very funny but the deeper we went into the production the more it felt like a sketch revue show than a cohesive musical. Directed by Rupert Williamson with Musical Direction by Ben Hogan, The Flatpack Life is on at the Dolphin Theatre on the UWA campus until 7 May. 

Memento Mori - University Dramatic Society (23 September 2015)

I had a brief conversation at the interval that continued after the show about science fiction in the theatre. This was after I had remarked online how rare it was to see this genre on stage in reference to Between Solar Systems at The Blue Room. The person enthused, “Well, that’s two in a week.” In some ways he is right about Memento Mori – it does have that classic “scientist goes mad in pursuit of revolutionary discovery/invention that he cannot control” story arc that powers everything from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to movies like The Fly. In this case not the elixir of immortality but manipulating human DNA (I think) to double humankind’s lifespan. However, writer and lead actor Rupert Williamson appeared to have a much more mythic spin in mind.   

The title itself is taken from an ancient Roman tradition and the multitude of references to the first great literary epic, Gilgamesh, and indeed the name of one of the characters (Ninsun - Gilgamesh’s mother) laid out the framework for the story.

Williamson’s scientist Leo is driven to crack the secret to enhancing the human lifespan. In this he is assisted by fellow scientist Damian (Ritwik Ballal) and research assistant Zoe (Kate Hotchkin) with another scientist Thomas (Giacomo Groppoli) seemingly more interested in partying than actual scientific breakthroughs. But progress has been slow and their benefactor has recently passed away meaning the program comes under the razor gang gaze of Jade (Sally Clune) who demands results or she will shut them down.

Meanwhile Leo’s partner, a doctor, Claire (Nina Heymanson) helps her father Harold (Tim Lorian) move into a retirement home while struggling with Leo’s growing obsession with work. A colleague of Leo’s, an esteemed academic (Xavier Sweeney), deteriorates before our eyes as his brain becomes enfeebled by an unnamed condition.

Then there’s the robed Ninsun (Allegra Di Francesco) - beautiful, ethereal and disquieting - who periodically comes to Leo and talks to him of time and death. Leo becomes more frantic as his arc moves from driven to obsessive to, ultimately, madness and desperation.

There was much to like about this play – the scope of the ambition in the script; solid acting; and it was well-staged and presented within the large space. Sweeney and Lorian excel playing significantly older characters as both exhibit the signs of ‘decay’ that comes from old age or disease. Heymanson provides a grounded foil - a voice of reason - as Leo’s behaviour spirals out of control while Hotchkin added a little sparkle as the research assistant.  

The play didn’t quite work for me, however, and this centres predominantly around two characters – Leo and Ninsun.

Williamson’s Leo is problematic because I never understood the drive that blossomed into fully blown obsession and worse. Leo quotes the fact that man is the only animal that knows it will die and this becomes his motivation to create a serum to increase the human lifespan. It’s a little abstract and more of an intellectual position than a compelling reason for a protagonist to act so brazenly. This meant I struggled to find an emotional connection to the character and Williamson plays him in the first act as closely guarded and aloof. Yes, he conveys the physical and mental deterioration with increasing force during the second act but in many ways this is an impenetrable character positioned as the modern embodiment of Gilgamesh, a myth. Indeed it’s Claire who brings a richer emotional landscape especially in the scenes she has with her father. I needed a better catalyst for Leo’s quest. I needed something tangible.

Which brings us to Ninsun - I thought I had found that catalyst towards the end of the first act when she comes to Leo like a spectre of impending death. Ah, he is in some way afflicted and this is the cause of his urgency I assumed. Yet we soon discover that the silent spirit is something else (though I was never sure exactly what) as she is given voice in the second act and is either – his presumably deceased mother (who removed all the clocks when he was young); Gilgamesh’s actual mother as she hints at an inhuman lifespan; or simply a voice in his head that reinforces his fear of death. This lack of clarity about whom and what Ninsun was robbed the character of potency. There was even a false beat in hindsight when she appeared briefly in a scene without Leo present (the academic’s faltering lecture) that contradicts subsequent interpretations of her nature.

Those issues aside this was an ambitious production and first time script by Williamson as playwright. Director Ben Thomas makes full use of the deep Dolphin Theatre stage though it did feel a little one paced. Perhaps the second act needed to accelerate and get a little crazier as Leo’s descent into physical and mental torment deepened. This UWA arts student dropout found some of the technical jargon a little highfalutin’ but the gist of what was being attempted was easy to follow. The play had a clear thematic intent and was thoughtful in how it tackled the issues of mortality and the elusive nature of time as our lives progress.

Directed by Ben Thomas, Written by Rupert Williamson, and starring Williamson, Nina Heymanson, Ritwik Ballal, Kate Hotchkin, Giacomo Groppoli, Xavier Sweeney, Sally Clune, Tim Lorian, Allegra Di Francesco, Clare McMath and Jess Baldock, Memento Mori is on at the Dolphin Theatre, UWA until 26 September. 

The Importance of Being Earnest - University Dramatic Society (29 April 2015)

Over the last 12 months or so I’ve seen a lot of student theatre, especially at Curtin and Murdoch Universities and they tell me ECU has pretty handy acting and musical theatre departments on their Mount Lawley campus. It had me wondering what my alma mater UWA was up to on the theatrical front especially given I’ve seen a couple of independent productions at the Dolphin Theatre recently. So off I went to see my first University Dramatic Society (UDS) production with a sense of curiosity and, to be honest, no real expectations.

I’ve written before about those shows that sneak up and surprise you. Last year it was WAAPA’s Children of Eden and Roleystone Theatre’s The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Well, you can add The Importance of Being Earnest to that list. I knew none of the cast or crew but this was a thoroughly entertaining evening that even with two intermissions whizzed by.

Any discussion of the play has to start with the writing. It is dazzling and full of the trademark wit and dry observation Oscar Wilde is renowned for. The dialogue crackles and fizzes with intelligence and razor sharp humour that makes listening to the exchanges an absolute delight. The tale of fictitious identities and resultant romantic entanglements is expertly crafted even if the major revelation at the end now suffers somewhat from what I call “Luke, I am your father” syndrome. Yes, modern audiences have endured variations of the familial twist for well over a hundred years which tends to temper our surprise. However, that is a minor consideration.

The major one by comparison is how well performed and presented the whole endeavour was. The standouts for me were Ben Thomas as Algernon who relished the language and was suitably sly and mischievous; and Rebecca Egan as Cecily Cardew whose recounting of her engagement to ‘Earnest’ was a highlight. Rupert Williamson was excellent as John Worthing and his verbal jousting with particularly Thomas was rapid fire and engaging. Grace Chapple made for a haughty Gwendolyn and her set piece exchange with Egan in what was a dazzling second act was another highlight.

I warmed to Rebecca Cole’s Lady Bracknell over time – her more deliberate delivery and impressive rolling R’s felt a little out of kilter at first but she was a forceful presence in the third act as befitted the character’s status. Sally Clune’s Miss Prism, she of the formidable pout and excellent aging makeup, stumbled a few times with the dialogue and tended to, along with Ben McAllister’s Reverend, to flirt with caricature. The latter was playing up exaggerated physical movement for laughs but the writing is so good that it felt superfluous. Matt Perrett and Lily Protter rounded out the cast as the ‘hired help’.

As mentioned, the second act where the all major characters collide in the countryside was quite an inspired piece of theatre brimming with comedy. It is also a very handsome production with excellent costuming and well-appointed sets such as the trestles laced with flowers in that countryside setting along with a tree and even swing to stage left. The interior sets were all lounge chairs and settees and an amazing amount of cucumbers and muffins were sacrificed in the making of the show. In this regard, Ben Thomas showed an almost Brad Pitt level of skill in eating whilst acting!   

I very much enjoyed the first UDS production of 2015 and walked away impressed by the acting and overall presentation. I was sitting next to a couple whose grand-daughter I believe it was had been involved with the costuming. They had seen the play starring Judi Dench in London but liked this one more. When I inquired as to why they remarked that Dame Judi was head and shoulders above the rest of the cast which unbalanced that production. It is fair to say that this is not the case here where the scintillating dialogue and banter is well delivered by the principals. It is a very funny and breezy show that was well appreciated by a good sized audience.

Written by Oscar Wilde, Directed by Antonina Heymanson and starring Rupert Williamson, Ben Thomas, Grace Chapple, Rebecca Egan, Rebecca Cole, Sally Clune, Ben McAllister, Matt Perrett, and Lily Protter there are three more shows left at the Dolphin Theatre on the UWA campus, Thursday through to Saturday 2 May.