Assassins - Roleystone Theatre (1 March 2025)

Let's not beat around the grassy knoll. Assassins is one of my favourite musicals. I love the audacity of telling a story - a musical no less! - about those misbegotten fiends who successfully assassinated or tried to assassinate a president of the good ol' US of A. All because "Everybody's got the right/To be happy."

Of course it's Sondheim. It could only be Sondheim. With a deliciously subversive Book by John Weidman which features one of my favourite sequences in pretty much anything which I won't spoil here but is still as astonishing a piece of writing as the first time I saw it back in 2015. 

The tone is darkly satirical and by dark I mean at the bottom of a mine shaft, complete absence of light, dark. Which some may find challenging or perhaps miss the point of, whereas I find utterly invigorating. This isn't a hum-hum-hummable musical with happy lyrics and a leggy chorus line - this is a savage commentary on the American dream, gun culture, and the lengths desperate people go to after being marginalised and cast aside. If you tell a whole nation they can be anything they want then create a system where that's abundantly untrue, well, sometimes a president or two might get shot. 

I deliberately called them misbegotten fiends and it's true, there's a high level of dysfunction and self-delusion here. But the musical also scratches beneath the surface of these footnotes in history to try and explain their actions without exonerating them. Some names are eternal - John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald at the forefront; others are largely forgotten or oddities now. It's an eclectic mix across time, across rationales, across personality types and circumstances. It's also bleakly funny in ways that cut deep. 

Director Christopher Alvaro has made several key decisions in this version. The first is to forgo the usual gaming arcade set; instead opting to depict the white frontal columns of the White House with the orchestra nestled behind them. Characters literally take aim at the workplace and residence of  the president; several incarnations of whom wander by in the form of Peter 'Pear' Carr who also designed the set with Alvaro.  

The second is to dial up the performances to 11. This is a full-throated assault as the cast magnify the grievances, real and imagined, of these figures, almost haranguing the audience in the process. It's bold and, when it works best, utterly electrifying. Apologies, Giuseppe Zangara (Marshall Brown). 

The satirical tone is immediately established as The Proprietor (Carr again) entices our wannabe assassins to purchase a gun in the opening number Everybody's Got The Right and solve all their problems by shooting a president. The intensity that follows is led by the wonderfully earnest performance of Mark Thompson as the pioneer of all American presidential assassins, John Wilkes Booth. He commands the stage as he does the other assassins, imbuing Booth with commitment and passion. We have no doubt Booth believes in the (misguided) cause he spilled blood for in notorious fashion. The vainglorious actor who changed the course of history.

In contrast, the transparently vain Charles Guiteau (Rp van der Westhuizen) hawks his book, claims he is extraordinary, and demands to be Ambassador to France; the refusal to name him as such leading to President James Garfield's demise. The showstopper, The Ballad of Guiteau, becomes an increasingly fraught display that verges into true horror as Guiteau stares mortality in the eye as the gallows are assembled before him. The manufactured charm and confidence van der Westhuizen portrays the character with earlier evaporates into manic fear. Not for the fainthearted! 

Ethan Battle doubles down on the earnestness as his Leon Czologosz features in several key moments - the harrowing story of how a bottle is made after John Hinckley (Lochlan Curtis) carelessly breaks one in a bar; the encounter with the anarchist Emma Goldman (Erin Craddock) who he has been following and declares his love for; leading off the aptly named The Gun Song; oh, and his assassination of William McKinley. 

Paul Treasure, bedraggled and decked out in a Santa outfit befitting a child's worst nightmare, excels as Samuel Byck. Gifted with two brilliantly written monologues - one directed at Leonard Bernstein ("Lenny"); the other to Richard Nixon ("Dick") who Byck intends to kill by flying a 747 into the White House. Treasure expertly modulates his delivery from conversational to outright bile as he pours Byck's disenchantment and rage into a tape recorder while happily munching away on a sandwich or burger. It's exhilarating to watch.   

Another standout is Sonja Reynolds as Sara Jane Moore, the absentminded, would be assassin of Gerald Ford who teams up with Charles Manson acolyte, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (Madeleine Shaw) in a compression of real events. Shaw brings the creepy, cult-like vibes while Reynolds imbues Moore with a ditzy air that adds genuine comic relief. You sense Ford was never in any real danger though fried chicken and pooches should be wary! 

Marshall Brown adds to the intensity in stomach churning fashion playing the man who tried to assassinate FDR while Lochlan Curtis is quietly obsessed as Hinckley. The closest you get to a ballad in this musical is Curtis and Shaw singing of their love for, ahem, Jodie Foster and "Charlie" respectively. Yep, it's dark alright!  

Erin Craddock is featured as Emma Goldman and leads the ensemble, most notably in the show closer Something Just Broke which follows the exceptional 15 or so minute sequence that is brilliant in its sheer audacity. And is where we talk about Matthew Walford's Balladeer, the clean cut presence who seemingly mocks this collection of misfits before... go see it, you'll be astounded. Walford adds a slice of genuine Yankee spirit that turns into bewilderment as events transform his character. 

The score, as you would expect, is superb and well played by the orchestra under Krispin Maesalu. Lighting design by Alvaro is very stylistic with each assassin having their own colourful backdrop as Booth thrusts them literally into the spotlight. Like the musical styles Sondheim uses, the costumes also have to cover a range of time periods and fashions which Cherie Alvaro manages well; that grimy Santa suit and Booth's handsome attire to the fore. First time choreographer, Tatum Stafford, adds more movement than I expected with, again, a playfully satirical style at work. 

My main issue, however, is that this IS Sondheim so the lyrics are incredibly important. With no pit and a sizeable orchestra directly behind the cast, it was a battle at times to clearly make out and savour those words. The volume on the mics was turned up high to compensate which often led to some distortion and, when there was shrieking to be done in non-musical moments, became somewhat painful.  

However, I walked away impressed by a total cast commitment to going for broke with their characterisations and how relevant this musical is today, perhaps more so than its debut off-Broadway in 1990 and its 2004 Broadway revival given current events in America. An outstanding entry into the Sondheim canon which is tackled with real verve here. 

Assassins is on at the Roleystone Theatre until 15 March.

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 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.