Love and Information - WAAPA (26 August 2017)

The first time I saw a production of this play - a series of rapid fire vignettes over 90 minutes - I described it as a Showcase on Speed. That was last year with a new collection of performers at Curtin University. This time it is with the graduating class at WAAPA. My opinion has not changed.

The difference, however, is that I have seen this troupe of actors for the better part of two years over a half dozen or so productions.

The play itself keeps me at arm's length - I have no empathy or connection with any of the dozen upon dozens of characters as there is no narrative, no arcs, no backstory, no connective tissue, only a fleeting glimpse at a series of circumstances, the context of which is illuminated on the set. From that standpoint it is purely an intellectual exercise with the (tenuous) link between all these moments being thematic in nature.

What is interesting though is that my empathy and emotional connection is with the actors themselves. They are given a myriad of different roles and scenarios to play, some seconds long, some a decent length scene. It demands a range of emotions and is a nice acting challenge. To see these students now on the cusp of professional careers rise to that challenge is the true pleasure of this play. In effect it IS a precursor to the end of year Showcases that will catapult them into the next stage of their acting journeys.

The other hook is in the execution. Associate Professor Andrew Lewis directs this with the same multi-layered approach as he attacked 2015's Macbeth. There are two musicians perched in each upper corner of The Roundhouse adding live music, recorded tracks, and aural effects; there are projections of scene titles and images on the set; and that set itself is a clever two level construction with compartments and scrim covered openings that allow for all types of creative configurations buttressed by the lighting design. Lewis is also very good at using the whole thrust stage space at the venue.

It all comes to what feels like an arbitrary stop as the play is unconnected to normal structures and story-telling rhythms. However, it was satisfying to see this group together all smiles at the conclusion. The two standouts in the Saturday matinee for mine were Audrey Blyde and Sasha Simon. Many a fine singing voice was also on display which bodes well for The Threepenny Opera in October.

*originally published at facebook.com/perththeatrereviews

Heathers The Musical - WAAPA (20 March 2017)

WAAPA is at its most adventurous in recent years with the choice of production in the first slot of the graduating MT class. Heathers proves to be no exception. Based on the bitingly satirical 1988 cult movie that starred Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty, this captures the over-the-top tone perfectly while retaining the wry observations about teenage suicide, bullying, and depression with what was, at the time, almost a prescient foreshadowing of school massacres.

It's dark subject matter but the surface level presentation is infectious rock music with subversive lyrics; a riot of colour in staging, lighting, costuming, and rear screen projections; and exuberant choreography befitting the age of its characters. It's a fun show with energy and black humour to burn.

Monique Warren gives a star turn in the role made famous by Ryder. She sings superbly, looks fantastic, and I was impressed by her acting throughout. It is an eye-catching performance. Nick Errol is the square-jawed nemesis who nicely plays the arc from cool outsider to something far more deadly. His Our Love is God is a highlight.

Jenna Curran makes her mark as the Queen Biatch and ruling Heather until misfortune strikes. It's a delightfully venomous portrayal. The other two Heathers are played with swagger and style by Daisy Valerio who has a standout moment with the aching Lifeboat while Meg McKibbin assumes the red scrunchie of supreme bitchiness as the body count mounts.

Other highlights:

David Cuny's and Tom Gustard's hilarious Blue; Laura Jackson's beautiful solo Kindergarten Boyfriend; Cameron Steens' and Benjamin Colley's boisterous My Dead Gay Son; and Mackenzie Dunn cutting loose as Ms Fleming in Shine A Light.

As always, David King marshalls a fine orchestra in what is a cracking rock score and no less than Andrew Lewis himself directs this with great pace and playfulness.

A wildly entertaining start to this cohort's final year.

*originally published at facebook.com/perththeatrereviews

Macbeth - WAAPA (9 October 2015)

WAAPA prides itself on housing many disciplines under the one roof at the ECU, Mount Lawley campus. Not only performance - acting, musical theatre, dance, contemporary & classical music - but all the other disciplines that are required to stage a production, from lighting and sound design, to costuming, set design, and arts management. This totality of approach makes the Academy unique and was certainly on display with this modern interpretation of Macbeth.

As I walked up the long corridor to the Roundhouse Theatre I could hear the portentous rumbling of modern music which was the first sign of the multi-media accompaniment we were about to experience. As the line of patrons waited to file in, the director Andrew Lewis pointed out signs asking that the name Macbeth not be uttered inside. This is a long held tradition given the play’s reputation of being ‘cursed’.

Once inside, the freshly painted stage was bare. There was a spiral staircase up to the second level where three screens were situated; one centrally, the other two on each side. Apart from occasions where a table might be wheeled on there was little set to speak of. This is where the light and sound design came to the fore and the use of those screens in various ways. They crackled into life depicting key elements - the roiling witches' cauldron or Seyton's initial appearance for example; or indicate the setting - Birnam Wood; but most noticeably were utilised to project live video of crucial soliloquies as they were being delivered on stage. 

Filmed from the upper level with at least two cameras given the juxtaposition of images, the harsh video look worked perfectly to heighten the emotion on the actor's face in close up - usually Benjamin Kindon as Macbeth but also Shalom Brune-Franklin as Lady Macbeth. The screens flickered and crackled in time to the modern, rhythmic music that was an ominous score. The lighting design was excellent with lots of diffused light through smoke and the highlighting of actors again in key moments but great use of shadow as well. 

Lewis had chosen to set this Macbeth "in a corporate world inhabited by knife-wielding, suited professionals". That suited look worked well with 'armour' being replaced by police style flak jackets. Brune-Franklin looked stunning in several gowns while the other female characters were sleek in their corporate attire; the men resplendent in suit and tie. Instead of swords and daggers we had knives and some vigorous confrontations, notably in the final fight between Macbeth and Macduff (Hoa Xuande).

All these elements gave the production great atmosphere and allowed for seamless scene transitions - this fairly hummed along. Having said that there were times, especially involving the witches, where there was a languid, at times hypnotic pace within a scene that was mesmerising.

This considered and skilled approach allowed the actors to shine in the space that had been so meticulously crafted. First and foremost, Kindon was excellent as Macbeth - a strong physical presence, he also conveyed the range of emotion from the almost boyish delight on hearing the witches' initial pronouncements to doubt and rage, the full force of hubris, and the slow descent into madness. His blind conviction of his invincibility was writ large as he mocked Macduff at the end only to be undone by such misplaced faith. His terror at Banquo's appearance was well portrayed and he handled the famous soliloquies well - the softly delivered Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow the best of them.

Brune-Franklin was at her best in the aftermath of Lady Macbeth's terrible cajoling of Macbeth to commit murder and seize the crown. The portrayal of guilt as she prowls the castle, sleepwalking at night ending in the famous Out, Damned Spot was strong. Those two characters' intersecting emotional through lines is always fascinating. From the stronger of the two at the start Lady Macbeth crumbles into irreversible guilt and finally suicide. 

Lincoln Vickery was a most affable Duncan and later the more earnest Scottish Doctor who witnesses Lady Macbeth's malady and overhears her seeming confession. Dacre Montgomery provided a strong counterpoint to Kindon in the early going as Banquo and his return as the blood spattered ghost that rebukes Macbeth is powerful.

Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Stephanie Panozzo and Brittany Morel comprised a set of tantalising witches adding a highly stylised approach to proceedings. They also doubled as various servants and messengers. They were joined by Elle Harris as Seyton. Harris has a chameleon like quality that can see her playing a young boy (Fleance here and Tom Joad last year in Grapes of Wrath) with as equal credibility as the vamped up Seyton. 

The other standout though was Jessica Paterson as Malcolm. WAAPA often likes to switch up their casting with gender reversals and here Paterson was more than equal to the task giving Malcolm an impressive strength and charismatic stage presence. Unfortunately, Xuande's Macduff wasn't up to the same calibre, the Shakespearean dialogue coming across as quite flat in his delivery. 

Then there was the famous Porter scene that immediately follows Duncan's death. A radical shift in tone to provide some comic relief to the relentless darkness and allow our co-conspirators time to change. Megan Wilding nails the moment and owns the stage with a full-throated approach that had the audience laughing and squirming in equal measure. 

Another highlight was the tension built up in the scene where Lady Macduff (Rebecca Gulia) cradling her baby and talking to her son (Gordon-Anderson), is assailed by Bevan Pfeiffer's and Rian Howlett's assassins. Pfeiffer's sudden appearance out of the shadows at the back of stage had the person sitting next to me pointing in warning. The resultant actions were brutal and devastating.

I walked back down that long corridor reminding myself "this is one hell of a play" and that is testament to all those elements that WAAPA brings to the table. 

Macbeth is on at the Roundhouse Theatre until 15 October. Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Andrew Lewis, Set Designer Ashliegh Hodges, Costume Designer Dolly-Mere Nettleton, Lighting Designer Chloe Ogilvie and Sound Designer Alice Carroll.

It stars the 3rd year graduating class of Benjamin Kindon, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Dacre Montgomery, Lincoln Vickery, Jessica Paterson, Bevan Pfeiffer, Hoa Xuande, Rebecca Gulia, Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Luke Fewster, Claudia Ware, Seamus Quinn, Elle Harris, Brittany Morel, Stephanie Panozzo, Megan Wilding and Rian Howlett. 

Marat Sade - WAAPA (13 March 2015)

One of the great joys of the initial season in a new year of WAAPA productions is witnessing the second year students being unleashed on the public for the first time. In this case the acting students but it was lovely to see so many of the second musical theatre students in the audience as well (whose turn comes with Hiawatha starting tonight). Both classes will become very familiar to those who regularly attend WAAPA shows over the next two years. For now it’s getting to know who these talented performers are and what an introduction this play, indeed quasi-musical, provides!

Set in 1808 where a play is being performed in an insane asylum directed by none other than the Marquis De Sade (Angus Mclaren), it explores the events leading up to the murder of revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (Will Mcneill) by Charlotte Corday (Kate Betcher) in 1793. The inmates play the roles while Sade watches on amused as their re-enactment morphs into an indictment of the French Revolution and the very institution in which the play is being staged. 

This is observed in growing horror by a representative of the Bonaparte regime, Coulmier (Lachlan Ruffy) who insists that it is now a different, enlightened time. The inmates’ disagreement leads to events that parallel the very revolutionary fervour they act out. All the while Sade, playing himself, has philosophical discussions with Marat about the nature of revolution and of human nature itself. In the end the poor are still poor and the revolution delivered a greater dictator in the form of Napoleon than the king they overthrew and beheaded. What then was the point? Does man’s essential nature render revolution redundant?

This play within a play is a dense dialectical discussion delivered in rhyme and song with several complex layers that make it challenging but also entertaining and unpredictable. The songs, as noted by Musical Director Timothy How in the program, are not in the accepted tradition of musical theatre but are deliberate interruptions to the narrative flow to provide commentary and reinforce political and social points of view. 

The work of Gabrielle Mickel, Rory O’Keeffe, Giuseppe Rotondella and Brittany Santariga as the four major singers was a real driving force in their colourful and energetic representation with full throated vocal performances. In the intimate configuration of the Enright Studio there were times they were up close and their eye contact was very good with the audience as they mocked and cavorted and implored.

George Pullar as the Herald who sets the play within a play in motion and announces the scenes (and reminds inmates of their lines from time to time) was a strong presence throughout. There was a slyness to his performance that I enjoyed. Mclaren is ever the provocateur as Sade with his showcase moment coming when he is voluntarily whipped by a female inmate as he rails against the revolution. Betcher has a sweet voice as Corday but was much stronger in the second half as the deed is finally done and her depiction as a narcoleptic inmate seemed more credible.

Alexander Daly injected earnest urgency as Jacques Roux who beseeches the inmates and revolutionaries alike to open the granaries and feed the poor all the while being straight-jacketed and ill-treated by the male nurses. Kieran Clancy-Lowe plays (an inmate who plays) Duperret as a fop who only has sexual designs on Corday but is thwarted at every turn. Given that it’s the notorious Sade directing the play within the play, carnal desire and sexuality is an ever present undercurrent that bursts into a tidal wave of frenetic energy during the ‘Copulation’ sequence that is bawdy and gleefully performed.

Then there is Marat himself who is afflicted with a skin disease that forces him to take soothing baths administered by his carer Simonne (Sarah Greenwood). Mcneill has the tricky task of playing a damaged inmate while also rising to the task of debating Sade as the revolutionary who still plots and schemes on the very day of his murder. It is a conceit of the play that a dysfunctional patient could hold his own in such discussions but Mcneill does well particularly in the more rousing moments as Marat. Greenwood gives Simonne a physical affliction and is all twisted and shuffling as Marat’s carer. More than once I felt her malevolent one eyed stare as she glowered at the audience.

Timothy How adds musical texture on the harpsichord while the costuming and makeup is excellent. Director Andrew Lewis makes full use of the black box space with actors clambering up poles along the wall and moving behind and through the audience who are seated on all four sides. 

Talking briefly to an audience member who saw the original production at the Playhouse Theatre in 1966 the one element that was perhaps missing was a sense of ‘danger’ – the audience is a surrogate for those watching at the insane asylum but at no point is there any real sense of ‘threat’ from the inmates. Having said that, I enjoyed this dense and layered play and it is a promising introduction to the second year acting class.

Written by Peter Weiss, Directed by Andrew Lewis, Musical Director Timothy How and featuring the 2nd year acting class of Miranda Aitken, Anneliesse Apps, Kate Betcher, Kieran Clancy-Lowe, Alexander Daly, Joel Davies, Sophia Forrest, Sarah Greenwood, Angus Mclaren, Will Mcneill, Gabrielle Mickel, Rory O’Keffe, Emma O’Sullivan, George Pullar, Lukas Radovich, Giuseppe Rotondella, Lachlan Ruffy, Brittany Santariga and Megan Smart, Marat Sade is at the Enright Studio until Thursday 19 March.