Theatregoing Year in Review - 2024 (Part Two - Practitioners)

Part of my evolution as a reviewer is continuing to learn more about all the technical roles that go into making a show work at an optimal level. My background is as a screenwriter so I have a pretty good handle on story and acting, however, at times, it leaves me a little weaker in other aspects. No, I'm not a theatre kid! Which, I believe, actually works in my favour in terms of being an outsider with no direct ties to the theatre world other than going to lots of shows and trying to write honestly about the experience.  

Thank you then to sound designer Michael Fletcher who met with me earlier in the year to give me a better insight into all the factors he needs to consider in making a production sound great. I also appreciate him taking the time to talk me through specific challenges like when he saw me at a tech rehearsal for Carrie.

Speaking of Carrie, thank you to now graduated stage management student Elysia Harris who I sat with to write a story for the Friends of the Academy before watching her call that tech rehearsal (and subsequent performance run) as deputy stage manager. Another insight into the makings of a great show.

I'm now probably going to disappoint you both by naming a lot of actors... but I'm trying to better understand the offstage aspects, I promise!

I also have an apology to make. I sometimes get tied up in faux rules about how to do these end of year write-ups which means I left off someone I shouldn't have last year which has subsequently nagged at me. Belated apologies to Patrick Volpe who had a sensational 2023 playing the title role in Sweeney Todd, Chuck Cranston in Footloose, and my favourite feline miscreant, Macavity, in Cats.  

To this year's theatre practitioners who caught the eye!

Kieran Ridgway (Director) - Evil Dead The Musical (Wanneroo Repertory)

What an auspicious directorial debut with Ridgway presenting an ingeniously over-the-top experience that clearly showed a deep affection for the material. 

Tara Oorjitham (Musical Director) - Young Frankenstein (Darlington Theatre Players)

Silhouetted at the rear of the stage, many patrons still believed it was a music track playing which is how good the orchestra was under Oorjitham's baton.

Solonje Burns (Performer) - Top Girls (GRADS)

A superb performance in a demanding role where Burns was nothing less than full tilt as she kept "running up hills" of the character's imagination and own circumstances. 

Anna Head (Performer) - The Deep Blue Sea (Melville Theatre Company)

"What a performance. Full of layers, complexity, and contradictions. Head plays her at times as bursting with emotion verging on the melodramatic and, at others, as repressing her true feelings whilst putting on a brace face."

Amy Fortnum (Performer/Producer) - She Loves Me (Western Sky Projects) 

Displaying very good comedic chops and a superb singing voice, Fortnum leads the standout show of the year with grace and class whilst impressing at the aftershow Q&A with her producer hat on.

Matthew Jones (Performer) - Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (Koorliny)

If you ever doubted how powerful a tool an actor's voice is then Jones' performance as Mina and Van Helsing would set you straight right quick. His vocal command and variation was exceptional and drove a lot of the comedy here. 

Yvette Drager Wetherilt (Wig Design) - Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (Koorliny), Young Frankenstein (Darlington) & The Addams Family (Roleystone)

Wetherilt went on a tear with horror themed shows where her wigs were an integral part of the look and tone of those productions including a sequence in Dracula that was inspired lunacy. 

Amberly Cull (Performer) - Same Time Next Week (Presented by Nick Pages-Oliver & Scott McArdle) 

"...special mention goes to Amberly Cull who is extraordinary as Drew, Freya, and the startling puppet incarnation of Lady Morinth. While the others give a good account of themselves in the singing department, Cull is superb vocally."

Alexandria Henderson (Performer) - Nora: A Doll's House (WAAPA)

"Alexandria Henderson excels as a modern woman trapped by circumstances she can't control. Henderson's emotional responses are exquisite especially when Angelo Torres' Daniel imparts shattering news." 

Paige Fallu (Performer) - Hairspray (HAMA Productions) 

The pandemic meant I never saw Fallu whilst she was a student at WAAPA but she sure made an impression as Tracy Turnblad here, singing beautifully and radiating such an enthusiastic stage presence.

Kate Naunton Morgan (Performer) - Emma (ARENA Theatre Productions) & Antigone (GRADS)

Freshly graduated from Curtin University and straight into lead roles as diverse as the two titular characters here. A delight in Emma, it's in Antigone, however, where Morgan soars as the tragedy unfurls and she rises to the heightened emotional state needed. 

Mahali (Performer) - Come From Away (Koorliny) 

Showcasing a powerhouse voice and empathy to burn, Mahali is absolutely riveting to watch. The long foreshadowed reveal, when it comes, is still devastating because you feel the intensity of her emotion.

Tadhg Lawrence (Performer) - Come From Away (Koorliny) 

I'll confess, it took me a good twenty minutes to figure out where I knew Lawrence from - Iago in Othello! I did not know he had such a wonderful singing voice and in a superlative ensemble he makes his presence felt with an assured performance.  

Ben Clarke (Performer) - The Drowsy Chaperone (Stirling Players)

You couldn't ask for a better stage debut. He has the audience in the palm of his hand as Man in Chair and immediately sets the tone for the antics to come. 

Ben Goldsbrough (Performer) - Legally Blonde (WAAPA) & Pinocchio (Zealous Productions)

"Goldsbrough brings real empathy and a genuineness to Emmett that I found charming and quietly compelling." (Legally Blonde)

"Goldsbrough is terrific as the comic foil quickly winning audience empathy with his deliberately bad puns and dubious pizza making skills. It's such an assured performance for his first professional gig." (Pinocchio)

Ellen Ebbs (Performer) - The World Goes Round & Legally Blonde (WAAPA), Pinocchio (Zealous Productions)

From the moment Ebbs strode onto the stage and blew the roof off the Roundhouse Theatre in the Kander & Ebb revue show; to her stellar turn as Paulette in Legally Blonde; and then as Pinocchio in the big Christmas panto, it's been clear that she has an enormously bright future. A major new talent to watch. 

Georgia Unsworth (Performer) - Sydney II: Lost and Found (Theatre 180) 

A good music theatre performer, Unsworth caught me totally by surprise with a fantastic dramatic performance opposite two seasoned actors. Her vocal command, accent work, and portrayal of different ages - including a young boy - was excellent and had me buzzing afterwards. 

Ones to Watch For Next Year:

Iris Warren (Writer/Deviser/Performer) - Femoid (WAAPA)

I was super impressed with the quality of Warren's writing in Femoid and keen to see how the extended version turns out. 

Kimberly Rose (Performer) - Carrie The Musical (WAAPA) 

Rose gives the lynchpin performance as Carrie's mother that makes the whole show work tonally. Scary good in such an intense role. 

Pippin Carroll (Performer) - The Laramie Project (WAAPA)

It's difficult to define that elusive quality some actors have but when Carroll started his first scene I exchanged a look with the person I was with and it was clear we could both feel it. Need to see more next year but it was a tantalising glimpse. 

That's me done for the year. Back to my screenwriter's lair to work on my own projects for a while. 

Have a great festive season all and see you at the theatre in 2025!

Richard Hyde 

   

Impromptunes: The Completely Improvised Musical - Fringe World 2016 (28 January 2016)

Spoiler Alerts ahead!

Wait, what?!

One of the beauties of Impromptunes is that no two shows will ever be alike. It’s the genius of the premise that sees a completely self contained one hour musical performed every night. Not even the cast know what’s going to happen or even what the topic is going to be. That’s left to the audience who call out suggestions for the title of a “never before seen musical’. On the night I attended a gentleman shouted with great assurance... Death of a Vegan!

And so it was that Vegans were killed in the service of art to hilarious and unpredictable effect. 

The show kicked off with our host, the vivacious Louisa Fitzhardinge, explaining the ‘rules’ such as they were. In the cacophony of suggestions that greeted her request for titles the word ‘vegan’ floated above the din like a fountain of kale caught in a gentle breeze. Yes, vegans were in for a rough time which was made even more amusing when Fitzhardinge informed us that one of the cast was indeed, gasp, a vegan! I found out which one after the show but I have chosen to keep that identity a secret to protect their safety in a world of redneck, meat eating savages. Yes, redneck, meat eating savages were lampooned mercilessly as well.

Death of a Vegan was the tale of Bryce (Morgan Phillips) who runs away to join the convent where he is renamed Brother Lychee after reciting the three rules of this Nutrition Revolution to Elder Beetroot (Emmet Nichols). Bryce’s parents Amberly Cull (the mother) and Fitzhardinge (father) are concerned for their missing boy. This concern is magnified into homicidal rage when the Scot, Father Cherry (Greg Lavell), comes a knocking after Brother Lychee disappears in the forest after chopping down the Spirit of the Woods (Hollie James) or some such thing. Lychee and Beetroot find true love while on the run though it’s not sure if that was with each other or bacon, perhaps both. Everyone is reunited in the end with a rousing finale of We All Need A Little Balance.

Sure, the plot is bat shit crazy as you’d expect from something completely improvised. The joy is in the antics of how they get there and it’s nothing less than impressive. Before I continue, there is a significant seventh member of the troupe and that is accompanist Robert Woods on keyboards. He supplies mood, pace and musical cues for the cast to bounce off and vice versa.

Everything is improvised from the plot to lyrics, music, and the characters chosen. The reason this works is twofold: all seven clearly were well versed in the musical theatre form. They intuitively know when to bring in a duet (I’d Go Anywhere With You), or to reprise a song; when to harmonise or change things up with an upbeat number such as Lickety Splits on the night; to close with a crowd pleasing ‘message song’ or to overlap two songs to accentuate opposing themes.

Secondly, there is a real camaraderie and sense of trust here. Phillips was gleefully put through the wringer by especially Nichols which was mined for maximum laughs. Watching them all operate there were plenty of quick nods to identify pairings; focussed eye contact to work out where a beat or scene was going; and ultimately a sense of play. The result feels purely organic, pun intended.

I’m sure each member has a show where they are the focal point but for me Nichols and Cull were the standouts on the night but everyone was fabulous in a very funny production that was a delight to watch. The line of the night - Fitzhardinge's explanation that they called their son Bryce because beef is good with rice. Obviously! 

Highly recommended but be quick as the show, on at the Noodle Palace, finishes on 30 January!