Top Ten Theatre Productions in 2017 - Plays

Here we are again. Another year gone. Another year full of theatrical treats. Yes, I know I said I wouldn’t be reviewing in 2017. But as some predicted, late in the year, the bug bit and I was back to writing full reviews instead of snippets. Three of those became among the most viewed ever on the blog which is gratifying. However, I didn’t see anywhere near the record number of productions from last year. Though over 50 wasn’t a bad effort all things considered. The main ‘thing’ being eight drafts of a feature film screenplay which is coming along nicely.

Back to theatre and it was a solid year for plays. My reduced attendance level meant I mainly stuck to the major hubs – WAAPA, Black Swan, The Blue Room, and Fringe. But there was much to like amongst those offerings. I was pleased to have been asked to retrospectively adjudicate the 2015 & 2016 Best New Work and Independent Production for the PAWA Awards. Enticements to be an adjudicator next year for both PAWA and the ITA were tempting but hopefully 2018 is the year my screenplay goes into production so I declined.

Enough with the preamble, here now my Top Ten plays and performers of the year…

1. Bali – The Last Great Hunt

The continued adventures of Jimmy and Corgan who we first saw in FAG/STAG was immensely entertaining, moving, and thought provoking. Jeffrey Jay Fowler and Chris Isaacs are consummate storytellers and this sees them at the top of their very considerable game.

“On the surface this is a witty comedy but like its predecessor the control of tone is exceptional with exquisite observation, raw emotion that is earned, and sequences… that are gut punch effective. Fowler and Isaacs have an immensely likable rapport and as writer/performers have total command of the material. The audience can be belly laughing one moment to pin drop silent the next.”

2. Momentum – WAAPA

I had no expectations going into this self-devised piece using the Moment Work technique introduced by visiting director Andy Paris. What I experienced was emotionally raw and honest with a great sense of theatricality in the blank canvas that is the Enright Studio.

“In its shape and construction Momentum is reminiscent of Love and Information, currently being performed by the 3rd years. However, there is an emotional authenticity and rawness here that is compelling in its honesty. The whole troupe have shared insights into pivotal moments in their lives and it's this vulnerability and generosity that makes Momentum a remarkable work.”

3. An Almost Perfect Thing - The Blue Room Theatre & Gabrielle Metcalf

A terrific example of what happens when you match an excellent script with a first-rate cast in this engrossing psychological thriller.

“An exceptional script performed with precision and emotional depth by a stellar cast of Daisy Coyle, Nick Maclaine, and Andrew Hale.”

4. Present Laughter – WAAPA

WAAPA brings more than a touch of class from all its departments to this suitably witty Noel Coward penned tale. From set and costume design to performance this was an elegant treat.

“I had a great time with this Noel Coward comedy - witty and elegant this featured a handsome set, was stylishly costumed, briskly paced, with many wonderful performances by the third years.”

5. Coma Land – Black Swan State Theatre Company & Performing Lines WA

Fast becoming my favourite local playwright, Will O’Mahony’s gift for dialogue is often exhilarating. That it is usually deployed in the service of stories that have bitter-sweet emotional cores and intriguing premises makes his love for language even more potent.

“The cast embrace the material - an exploration of loss, letting go, chasing perfection, and the expectations of parents and their children - within the framework of characters inhabiting this fantastical space while in a coma.”

6. The One by Jeffrey Jay Fowler - Whiskey & Boots

A cracking two-hander from Jeffrey Jay Fowler that featured superb performances from Georgia King and Mark Storen.

“First rate performances by Georgia King and Mark Storen; the former in a layered portrayal that incorporated a level of warmth I hadn't seen from her before; the latter with an almost wide-eyed naivety that slowly turns into a hard-earned epiphany. There is an ease and believability to the characters' relationship that is compelling.”

7. When He Gets That Way by Ann Marie Healy

Another two-hander from Fringe that was witty and sly, again featuring two standout performances. Everything you could want amongst the often brash madness of the festival.

“Let's not beat around the bush - this is my gem of Fringe to date. Beautifully written script - witty, clever, literate, sly - given great service by two terrific performances courtesy of Lisa Louttit and Taryn Ryan.”

8. The Twits – Spare Parts Puppet Theatre

The season doesn’t start until early January and Spare Parts asked for reviews to be held until the New Year. That being said, I wish my 6-year-old niece was over here from Canberra because I would take her to this in a heartbeat. Full review to be posted on 2 January.

“This is an enjoyable production that children and adults alike will love. Full of colour and movement; humour and a positive message, it will be a summer hit for Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.”

9. The Lighthouse Girl – Black Swan State Theatre Company

A companion piece to playwright Hellie Turner’s own The Dreaming Hill, this is a beautifully crafted, old fashioned style tale that generates enormous empathy from the star making performance of Daisy Coyle.

“Coyle is joined by a crack cast of newcomers and stage veterans. The play itself feels very much a throwback to old-fashioned storytelling with its own guileless charms. We know what awaits the troops steaming off to war and portents of doom are therefore flickering beats instead of heavy-handed assaults.”

10. Windmill Baby - WAAPA

Featuring a superb set and lighting design as well as a warm and generous central performance this was a late year delight.

“At a smidge over an hour in length this was charming storytelling even in its moments of sorrow, anchored by Richards’ warm delivery and that fabulous set. A most pleasurable evening of theatre presented by the Aboriginal Performance students.”

Female Performer of the Year – Daisy Coyle

The Curtin University graduate announced herself as one to watch with last year’s Project Xan. A promise she more than lived up to in 2017 as the eponymous lead of The Lighthouse Girl and with a layered performance in An Almost Perfect Thing. Coyle has the ability to project youthful innocence and vulnerability that served her well in the Black Swan production but also a darker persona that made her character so intriguing at the Blue Room. There is an emotional honesty to Coyle’s acting that is compelling.

Male Performer of the Year – Jeffrey Jay Fowler

Performer is a misnomer here though Fowler was excellent reprising his character from FAG/STAG in Bali. He is one of the premier playwrights in WA as The One and Bali (with Chris Isaacs) demonstrated in 2017. Also, as a member of independent powerhouse The Last Great Hunt, an associate director for Black Swan State Theatre Company and Director of New Writing for their Emerging Writers Group, Fowler dominated the local theatre scene this year.

Special Mentions:

Martin Quinn

I must confess I wasn’t quite sure about Quinn in his second year at WAAPA. The plummy voiced actor tended to stand out from his fellow students with a more theatrical style that didn’t quite gel for me. He turned me right around in 2017 with a couple of roles that suited him perfectly – the lead in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter that he excelled at and as Mister Peachum in The Threepenny Opera which, spoiler alert, may make an appearance in another list today.

Georgia King

My 2014 Female Performer of the Year, King returns to my end of year lists with a stellar performance in The One that was as full tilt and ego-less as I’ve come to expect but also showcased a softer side that added yet another layer.

Lisa Louttit

A wonderfully calibrated comic performance in the gem of a show from Fringe, When He Gets That Way. Louttit embraced the sharp writing with aplomb.

Ben Sutton

Brilliant comic timing accentuated what, on the surface, could have been a ridiculous role, that of a talking panda in Will O’Mahony’s Coma Land. Yet added gravitas as well in a memorable performance.

Sam Corlett

In the true ensemble piece Momentum from WAAPA’s second year actors, Corlett made an immediate impression with a fierce, no holds barred performance.

Up next, the Top Ten Musicals & Cabaret of 2017... 

An Almost Perfect Thing - The Blue Room Theatre & Gabrielle Metcalf (16 August 2017)

An exceptional script performed with precision and emotional depth by a stellar cast of Daisy Coyle, Nick Maclaine, and Andrew Hale.

The tale of a young woman newly escaped from being held captive for 7 years, her captor, and the journalist who brings her story to light told in two separate timeframes that overlap and mirror each other in execution, theme, and consequence.

Three damaged souls seeking control, recognition, and love in ways that are not so dissimiliar in a psychologically astute script that is engrossing.

An unusual running time at 100 minutes for a play at the Blue Room (with a brief intermission) but worth the experience as the acting is first rate and the material complex and dramatically rewarding.

*originally published at facebook.com/perththeatrereviews

The Lighthouse Girl - Black Swan State Theatre Company (4 May 2017)

Playwright Hellie Turner revisits familiar territory after 2015's WAYTCo commissioned production of The Dreaming Hill for the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Daisy Coyle played a nurse in that production and has since appeared as the lead in another of Turner's plays, last year's explosive Project Xan and now as Fay Howe in The Lighthouse Girl.

She is terrific here in a dual coming of age story - that of the eponymous character and of Australia itself as innocence gives way to the 'baptism of fire' on the shores of Gallipoli and the harsh realities of war writ both large and personal.

Just as in Project Xan, Coyle projects a radiant innocence and decency that is compelling. Clearly, writer and actor have gelled creatively and it will be interesting to see what may come in future endeavours.

Coyle is joined by a crack cast of newcomers and stage veterans. The play itself feels very much a throwback to old-fashioned storytelling with its own guileless charms. We know what awaits the troops steaming off to war and portents of doom are therefore flickering beats instead of heavy-handed assaults.

The characters represent aspects of the Australia of its day. Coyle and Murray Dowsett (as the gammy legged Joe Taylor) are innocence personified, the latter with a good willed Ocker sense of humour but with a touch of wisdom as befits the older pre-war generation.

Giuseppe Rotondella and Will McNeill are the larrikin spirit of the young country; two outback tearaways off to see the world and chase adventure as they sign up for war. Their chemistry is excellent, forged over the last three years together at WAAPA.

Then there's Benj D'Addario as the widowed father of Fay and Alex Malone, the older sister of McNeill's Jim Finch. They serve important functions as the voices of concern and reason (in the former's case from hard won experience) which grounds the other two strands.

The ending is well executed as 'growing pains' turn to inevitable tragedy but mostly this is a gentle and good-natured tale driven by an immensely likable central performance.

Crave - WA Youth Theatre Company (3 June 2016)

The West Australian Youth Theatre Company (WAYTCo) plays a pivotal role in fostering the State’s young talent not only in performance but in commissioning new work such as On The Face of Things recently seen at Fringe World. Checking the programme for Crave, its members also fill the key crew positions under director Renato Fabretti. It’s a great opportunity for the next generation of actors and theatre makers to tackle challenging works and present them in quality venues such as the State Theatre Centre. Interestingly, there is an influx of students from Curtin University, another great hub of burgeoning theatrical endeavour.

Previous WAYTCo productions of note in the last few years include Mine, the self-devised Wind, Another Twin, the explosive Punk Rock, and Hellie Turner’s ANZAC themed The Dreaming Hill. All have introduced exciting new talent while presenting productions incorporating themes that resonant with their key demographic.

Crave is perhaps the most complex iteration of this intent. Playwright Sarah Kane’s storytelling, while rhythmic and lyrical, is oblique and confronting. Its content touches on our darker impulses while exploring isolation, loss, obsessive love and how traits handed down from generation to generation cripple and empower us. Four characters, assigned only a letter, present their stories and occasionally interact with each other verbally. There is almost no movement other than a turned head, the odd hand gesture. Each actor faces the audience on a slightly raised platform rooted to the spot. They are exposed, vulnerable, having only their voice, their eyes, and complete trust in their fellow actors as rhythm and cadence here is everything. A dropped line, an unintentional pause would act like a domino effect to ruin the symphony of cascading thoughts. There is one lengthy monologue delivered by A that would otherwise mark him as the main character. But this play is the sum of all its fractured parts.

I was fortunate enough to briefly witness a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. What impressed was the focus on those rhythms in the writing. On imparting emphasis and meaning in the generally short, sharp exchanges that bounce off each other. There is a lot of point and counterpoint; opposing declarations and thought bubbles; unexpected confessions. It is precise and exacting.

For the run Fabretti has chosen to have alternating casts. Ally Harris doubled up as C due to the other actress being unavailable for reasons that highlight the quality of young performers amongst their ranks. On opening night Harris was joined by Luke Binetti as A, George Ashforth as B and Megan Hollier as M. The other cast features Declan Brown (A), Odne Stenseth (B) and Daisy Coyle (M).

How then to review a show that is unique in writing, style and presentation? Where the actors do not move, where their characters have no names, and their stories are fragmented and tenuously intertwined. A matter further complicated by a lighting design that for a large portion of the opening night production saw the actors’ eyes cast in shadow. This surely was unintentional and will be corrected during the rest of the run as it robbed the audience of a key weapon in the actors’ arsenal.

Given its construction this is a hive organism and the four actors worked well as a unit. The rhythm and pace was quickly established and never faltered. The diction and enunciation was clear. Luke Binetti is a fine young actor who burst onto the scene with Punk Rock and consolidated his presence in The Dreaming Hill. George Ashforth has emerged as a key player at the Hayman Upstairs at Curtin with his recently penned Everyone Is Gone Except Me adding another string to his artistic bow. Crave served as an introduction to Ally Harris and Megan Hollier and on the strength of this I look forward to seeing what they do next.

Of the alternate cast, Declan Brown excelled in Punk Rock and 2015 Fringe World production Metalhead and is another actor with a bright future. Daisy Coyle continues to do good work at Curtin and I was encouraged to see her involved with WAYTCo. I am not familiar with Odne Stenseth but given the pedigree of his fellow performers and Fabretti’s track record I have no doubt he will hit the mark here.

This is the second time I have seen Crave as Curtin actually did it a couple of years ago. I can’t say it’s a play I particularly warm to but as a showcase for the discipline and precision required by the actors it is a worthy addition to WAYTCo’s canon.

Written by Sarah Kane, directed by Renato Fabretti and starring Declan Brown, Odne Stenseth, Ally Harris, Daisy Coyle, Luke Binetti, George Ashforth, and Megan Hollier, Crave is on at State Theatre Centre until 11 June.