Once Upon A Time - Fireflies Entertainment (24 October 2014)

When you wish upon a star…

That’s exactly what audience members were asked to do before this charming cabaret show about chasing your dreams within the most unusual of circumstances.  All those dreams and wishes were pegged to a couple of fish lines across the black box performance space upstairs at the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.

Performer Emma Davis then proceeded to tell us about her dreams which were brought into sharp relief on watching Disney’s The Little Mermaid when she was a toddler. As for the unusual circumstances, well, Emma is the 11th child of 12 with three brothers and eight sisters! A recurring theme became the quest to gain the attention of mum and dad and all the obstacles growing up in such a large family. This was given greater resonance by the presence of Mum in the audience along with three of Emma’s sisters.

The show is a combination of audience participation (yes, I’m proud to announce my on stage singing debut, a rousing rendition of Puff the Magic Dragon with my fellow audience members), Disney songs with modified lyrics to suit, and engaging tales of family activities such as Christmas Day, picnics, and regular visits to the movies.

These stories were amusing logistical nightmares that come with invading a park or cinema in such numbers. But it’s the impact of the movies that shaped Emma’s ambition to become a performer, a Disney princess, and eventually to visit that ultimate dream factory. There are disappointments along the way leading to a lovely conclusion that again had more weight with Emma’s husband present doing the tech work. Indeed, Emma ‘directing’ Ben from the stage when sound cues were slightly wrong added to the charm and good-natured vibe throughout.

The other movies cited were Aladdin and Pocahontas. Now, I’m not a Disney aficionado – my formative movies growing up were Star Wars and Alien – but Emma’s passion and knowledge was clearly on display. I had no doubt she cried four steps into a Disney World every single time. And that’s the secret here – the authenticity of Emma’s story and the elements that influenced her as a person and performer. In many ways this reminded me of Allan Girod’s Absolutely… with songs. Both have a fundamental honesty, warts and all, that is engaging. I asked Emma’s mum afterwards how accurate it all was and she smiled and said they certainly knew how to clear a camping park!

To my shame I didn’t recognise the songs (did I mention Leia and Ellen Ripley were my movie princesses?) but Emma has a lovely singing voice that was featured to best effect in a homage to Disney then an ode to being a mermaid. Normally I am very reticent about being an active participant at the theatre but there was such an enthusiasm and delight here that it was hard not to get caught up in it all. Kudos to the gentleman plucked from the row behind me who, in a funny sequence, ‘played’ Emma’s youngest sister, Amy who I’m sure watched on bemused!

Emma returned to do an impromptu encore to warm applause and as we walked downstairs I was only left to wonder what all those other star shaped dreams left hanging on stage might have been…

Once Upon A Time stars Emma Davis and has one more performance upstairs at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle, 6pm, Saturday 1 November.  

Dramafest - Session 7 (28 September 2014)

The last session of Dramafest! What a ride. Well done Festival Director Emma Davis, ITA President Paul Treasure and his committee, host club Playlovers, all the volunteer front of house and bar staff, the technical staff, and the Adjudicator Adam T Perkins.

This session was a mixed bag of different styles which is to be applauded. It began with a farce called Hotel L’Amour by Playlovers. This was a curious beast that I didn’t really get. A businessman in the cattle trade is forced to share a hotel room with two female ‘fantasy tourists’ in a French themed establishment in the middle of a country town. From a writing pointing of view that’s a hell of a lot going on to explain for a one act play. I didn’t quite understand all those separate working parts so together it was as busy as the cluttered stage. I would suggest stripping this back to only one quirky element and build the farce from there, for example a French themed hotel in a country town. I didn’t get who or what the women were and references to one of them being a slave was confusing. They came across as sex-starved yet were chaste enough to ask him to leave the room when changing.

I found male lead David Cosgrove’s delivery very rushed so had trouble following an already problematic script. One of the female ‘tourists’ was quite softly spoken which didn’t help. Ze ‘eavily accented French innkeepair ‘ad a nice showee part and I liked a couple of her in-the-moment adjustments – kicking the roll of carpet back down after a corner had been tripped up, and working with the broken curtain without breaking character. There was surprisingly quite a lot of mugging to the audience but this whole production needed to be simplified and the writing really sharpened to earn that sort of stylistic choice. Written by Peter Bibby and directed by John Senczuk this starred David Cosgrove, Anne Speicher, Vickie Billingham, and Olivia Colja.

From farce to stand-up, the next act was a ten minute spotlight by Adrian Smith called The Cost of Living. An observational routine covering traffic snarls and childcare issues to politicians in general, the performer didn’t really attack it and his lack of confidence left the material flat. A learning experience in front of a good sized but friendly audience, Smith will need to sharpen both his material and delivery.

Then we had our first performance and movement piece, an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream focussing on the fairies in the woods called Sleepless. Predominantly movement with some dance to a contemporary selection of music, this featured a large ensemble of young performers and was very stylised, nicely costumed and looked great with simple lighting effects. There were occasional dialogue excerpts from the source material, notably the lovers who were all played by female performers. Some familiarity with Shakespeare’s comedy would have been handy but the use of flowers to symbolise the fairies magic as characters fell in and out of love was well done. This was a lovely change of pace for the festival and was a great inclusion. Directed by Josh Walker and presented by Stirling Players Youth and the Shadowlight Darkly Theatre Company, Sleepless featured Matt Randall, Angela Donlan, Steve Anderson, Kylie Webb, Ellie Prober, Keren Schlink, Tahlia McQuade, Michael Moshos, Mia Robertson, Brendan Ellis, Benjamin Costantin, Shannon Berry, Alana McKenzie, Sarah Cubbage, and Jessie Williams.

Lastly, and fittingly, the final production of Dramafest was Noel O’Neill’s superb Under Any Old Gum Tree. Beautifully written and brilliantly performed by Kieran Garvey (with Rex Gray in support), this was powerful, moving, insightful, occasionally funny and a blistering exploration of the devastation the Great War caused on those who survived No Man’s Land. Garvey plays real life Martin O’Meara VC who came to Collie from Ireland then went to the trenches of France where he survived that most brutal of wars only to end up in a mental institution. This is a powerhouse 50 minute monologue that was emotionally-affecting such was the craft on display in all facets. Simply staged, well-paced, with Garvey truly outstanding, this will no doubt rightfully feature in next year’s 100 year ANZAC commemoration. A highlight of the festival written and directed by Noel O’Neill for the Old Mill Theatre and in association with the Australian-Irish Heritage Association.

Now, I did not see all seven sessions and the official awards have already been handed out but these are my selections from the six sessions I did attend:

Best Production: Under Any Old Gum Tree

Special Mention: Picasso’s Women and Mag and Bag

Best Actor: Kieran Garvey (Under Any Old Gum Tree)

Best Actress: Sharnya Thompson (Picasso’s Women)

Best Writing: Noel O’Neill (Under Any Old Gum Tree)

Best Directing: Christine Ellis (Picasso’s Women)

Best Comedy: Love and Other Flushes

Best Ensemble: 4AM

Best 10 Minute Spotlight: Judgement Call

Best Youth Production: Sleepless

Most Disappointing Performance: The insipid Sydney Swans who didn’t use the front half of the stage at all, didn’t commit to an opinion at any point, and had no sense of play. Suggest they not be invited back next year.

That’s it for my first Dramafest. Hope you’ve enjoyed the reviews and see you next year!

Richard Hyde  

Dramafest - Session 5 (27 September 2014)

Apologies to Session 4 but you were up against some three decades of tradition when it comes to watching VFL/AFL Grand Finals, a battle you were never going to win. It was a cracking game… for all of ten minutes. Props to Festival Director and Sydney Swans fan Emma Davis for subtly sporting her team’s colours into the evening. At least it wasn’t purple.

To Session 5 and the Goldfields Repertory Club won the toss and elected to perform to the Subiaco end with a good crowd in attendance. They kicked away early with Meg Lefroy and Shaun Fessey starring in I Dream Before I Take The Stand. Lefroy is the victim of a crime; Fessey the defence lawyer who forensically and callously cross-examines her. This was unsettling and powerful but a little frustrating as well. The pattern of questioning immediately intrigued me but kept going along similar lines without any revelation or twists to ratchet up the tension. The repetition started to become a little tedious until finally we get to crux of the matter – a man that said hello to Lefroy’s character as she walked to work through a park had followed her, the rest left unsaid but the implication was clear.

The lawyer’s insistence of knowing every detail including exactly how she was dressed down to what type of underwear made me squirm. I wanted her to show moments of defiance or to fight back as the brutal badgering was unrelenting. Differences in his tact of questioning would have helped with the repetition of so-called facts. This was well performed by both actors and certainly confronting. Simply staged by director Aaron Pendlebury it was a good start to the evening and I loved that it fades out right at the point where she begins to describe the crime. We know what happens next and the unstated nightmare is left to fester in our imagination.

Up next was The Drive, a 10 minute spotlight directed and produced by Clare Talbot and starring Katrina Johnston and Cassee Lazic. Again, thoughts of mortality emerge as one of the recurring themes of this year’s Dramafest. A girl (Johnston) races to find help for ‘Tom’, her vehicle swerving and skidding through the countryside only for him to abandon her as he dies. Lazic narrates the action as (presumably) the girl’s conscience. I particularly liked her intoning the speed of the vehicle as it accelerates and decelerates on this mercy dash. I was a little confused when the two actors directly interacted with each other as I had assumed they were aspects of one and the same character. I liked that device but the overall impact was undercut by having no real idea who Tom was.

The Goldfields Repertory Club kicked further away as halftime approached with the profanity laden and wonderfully performed Mag and Bag. Alana Saint and Karen Gurry were fabulous as two elderly bag ladies who ‘barney’ amongst the clutter and detritus of their lives. The foul-mouthed exchanges were inventive and funny but what was most impressive is that there’s something totally endearing about these two characters that makes us care. There are political references along the way and it was hard to pinpoint an exact time period as we get nods to historical figures from Menzies to Howard, Wran and Fraser. Yes, when the most insulting curse of all is ‘Liberal’ (“I’d rather you call me a c***!”) and delivered by two of life’s unfortunates you know exactly the political sympathies at play. But this never overshadowed the chemistry between Saint and Gurry who relished the verbal and occasional physical stoushes and made excellent use of the space and a wide range of props. 

Oftentimes swearing is used merely to be ‘edgy’ or ‘shocking’ but here it was utterly in character and delivered with such style and energy that it was truly a highlight. The only downside was when parts of the dialogue were drowned out by over exuberant use of the Benny Hill theme tune, itself a curious choice for such an identifiably Australian piece. This was a real crowd favourite.

After halftime, producer-director Alison Seiler presented The Perfect Heart written by John de Beaux. This play deals with the weighty issues of religious persecution, illegal organ farming, heart transplants and another of Dramafest’s thematic pillars, the afterlife.  A young girl’s parents take her to China to get a heart transplant, the organ in question forcibly removed from a Falun Gong practitioner. She wakes to meet “John” (her ‘donor’) in that grey limbo between life and death to discover the cost of such an action. This turned out to be very much a message play and while I don’t doubt it seeks to shine a light on the persecution of Falun Gong in China and the heinous practice of systematic organ harvesting it was too heavy-handed in its approach. At times it felt more like a lecture than a piece of dramatic theatre and while clearly heartfelt this meant it was dry and unconvincing.

I needed to see and feel the issues being dealt with not be told about them in what was a recitation of researched facts. We see the girl only after her parents have whisked her away to China and had the operation, awakening in the limbo world. It would have been so much more effective if we had met her beforehand and she had to make a decision about whether to go to China to accept a transplant most likely from a tainted donation process or by refusing, die. Give her real stakes – it’s easy to be principled when nothing is being risked. Then you could have explored the reactions of family, friends and colleagues to whatever decision she made and how they influenced that decision. Make her agonise over it, not merely deal with the ramifications after the deed is taken out of her hands.

Also, a tip when writing dialogue – any time a character starts a line of dialogue with “As you know…” or “Do you remember when…?” they are immediately talking directly to the audience. This kind of writing was rife in the script. If both characters already know the information about to be imparted it is straight exposition and on the nose. Put a red line through every instance of this and work out how to show the audience the information rather than a stand and deliver telling of it.

As always, Adam T Perkins’ adjudicator feedback – or in keeping with today’s loose football metaphor, after match press conference - was informative and entertaining. I am really enjoying his insights into stagecraft and how to enliven scenes by exploring different choices and ‘playing’ with the material at hand.

The final two Dramafest sessions are on Sunday at 10am and 2pm at Hackett Hall in Floreat. 

Dramafest - Session 1 (22 September 2014)

The weeklong Dramafest opened at Playlovers in Floreat on Monday night with a welcoming introduction by an erudite man with a beard who was eventually revealed to be Paul Treasure, President of the Independent Theatre Association. The adjudicator for the one act drama festival is none other than reigning Performing Arts WA (PAWA) Best Actor, Adam T Perkins who is also a director and producer of theatre. Festival Director Emma Davis was in attendance to greet the small but enthusiastic audience.

There were three one act productions on the night with the performer for the 10 minute spotlight unfortunately unable to participate due to illness. At the end of the evening Perkins gave his feedback which was instructive as he was coming at it very much from an acting/directing perspective. For me, however, the first session highlighted how important good writing is, without which you’re behind the proverbial from the get go.

The night began with what proved to be quite an inspired choice – a wildcard entry from the barely concluded Youthfest. Simply titled The Audition from SPY (which I assume is Stirling Players Youth) this was a cleverly written script that was enthusiastically and well performed. There were numerous theatre in-jokes and there is a certain joy to watching a young teenage actor deadpan a Beckett or Sam Shepard reference. The names of the performers weren’t listed but they played: the impatient and harried stage manager conducting the auditions; the nervous female auditionee; the ebullient actress well under the imaginary show’s minimum age of 15; an enthusiastic mime; and the pompous actor who thought nothing of improving Medea by adding a little Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Finally, there was the underappreciated assistant who had a vent about her lot in theatre life. It was a clever script that was lapped up by both the young actors and the audience.

The next production was a locally written piece called Flight of Fancy by Garrick Theatre. The premise of which was that a husband and wife both end up booking competing holidays because he thinks she is unhappy and she thinks he’s having an affair (after overhearing him talking to the female travel consultant on the phone). A promising enough set-up but this needed to be fast-paced and witty. Unfortunately the writing just wasn’t there and it ended up being more awkward and stilted as the actors battled valiantly but didn’t have the ammunition that a cracking script could have given this. Flight of Fancy was written and directed by Luke Heath and starred Luke Miller, Shelly Miller, Claudia Lloyd and Charles Pratt.

By comparison, the final piece, At Home With The Herringbones by Stirling Theatre did have a strong script and an excellent cast that gave it real justice. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of wordplay so being playful with language is right in my wheelhouse – dangling modifiers, incorrect word usage, ending sentences with prepositions, all that sort of wonderful Grammar Nazi stuff that can make people’s head explode. What made this even more satisfying is that the pompous Lord Herringbone’s pedantic correction of language and grammar was an important character trait not merely the writer showing off. The story slowly revealed itself to be somewhat of a mystery with a cheeky bent and a few late twists along the way. There were some nice sight gags as well. Economically staged and slickly performed this was well received by the audience. Written and Directed by Bob Charteris, the play starred Fran Gordon, Paul Anderson, Peter Flanigan, Alexandra D’Ulisse, and Georgi Ivers.

Dramafest continues 7.30pm Wednesday 24 September at Hackett Hall in Floreat.