Theatregoing Year in Review - 2023

After a barren few years mainly due to the pandemic, 2023 saw me bounce back to more of a normal theatregoing clip. In all I managed to see 39 shows which is a fair effort considering I was tied up with screenwriting duties until April. I was approached to formally review 14 of those shows for this blog which is also somewhat of a comeback. 

In the past I used to publish end of year Top Ten lists for Musicals & Cabarets and for Plays along with performers, crew, and creatives who caught the eye. That was when I was seeing almost double the amount of shows in a year. This time I thought I'd set a task for myself and nominate ten productions of any format - in chronological order - and ten individuals who excelled. This proved to be extremely difficult as I saw a lot of excellent theatre this year with outstanding performances and contributions. So while these shows and individuals may be highlighted there were many more talented actors, musicians, directors, writers, crew members, and others who made the theatregoing experience the joy that it is.     

PRODUCTIONS

Le Nor [The Rain] - The Last Great Hunt (April)

I had missed this Helpmann nominated show on its initial run and could not have been more delighted to attend an encore season at the Studio Underground. About thirty minutes in my theatregoing and screenwriting brains momentarily lurched into gridlock because I couldn't process the sheer skill on display as an 'independent foreign film' was being made onstage before my eyes. Simply outstanding.

"I can't even begin to conceive of how much time, effort and thought went into piecing this all together. The choreography of performer and camera(s) is a dance in itself. The understanding of cinematic transitions and composition done completely live is exemplary. The wonderful use of light and shadow and silhouette. The acting is superb. The attention to detail exacting."

Footloose - WAAPA (June)

I'm used to WAAPA's mid-year musical being one of the highlights of the theatrical calendar but this year felt like a concerted effort to razzle dazzle. The number of guest artists and staff involved was notable as was the work of the Production & Design students across all departments in support of an outstanding graduating cohort of performers.  

"All these elements combine perfectly into the highlight of the show for mine, Somebody's Eyes, one of the best sequences I've seen on stage for quite some time. The show rockets into gear from that point onwards. My only complaint is that there was no pause for applause before the next scene as I would have clapped my hands off." 

Catch Me If You Can - Koorliny Arts Centre (June)

I was intrigued with how a musical adaptation of the Steven Spielberg movie would translate onstage only to be thoroughly entertained with a breezy show that took a meta approach that was colourful and slickly executed. 

"This is a show with a magnetic lead performance, an excellent supporting cast, and an ensemble who all look the part and play up to the inherent fun and sexiness of their multi-faceted roles. The numbers are breezy and well sung (Musical Director Kate McIntosh) with Director Katherine Freind delivering a high energy, brisk production that looks and sounds fantastic."

Zoo Story - Irish Theatre Players (July)

The last thing I expected on a Sunday afternoon was to be made to think so hard at the first of three one act plays at the Irish Club. And I loved them for it in this intriguing two-hander that was beautifully written (Edward Albee), acted and directed (Michael McCall).

"I loved the symbolism and thought behind the staging. The acting was excellent. [Patrick] Downes has the showier part, especially with the monologue that sees the character become increasingly unhinged but [Grant] Malcolm's silent reactions are equally impressive until his character explodes in the third stanza. Thought provoking and thematically rich."

A Chorus Line - Drew Anthony Creative (August)

Musical as character study and what a line-up of local talent there was to bring these characters to life. The show had me from the start and was a rollicking ride where the lack of an intermission was barely noticed. I'm aware there was some controversy over a role that had been excised for the first few shows but understand that was rectified for the rest of the run.

"I say all this because opening night of A Chorus Line made me feel so damn comfortable. Not because the seats at the Theatre Royale are so comfy (they are) or that the venue is ideal for an intimate viewing experience (it is) but because I immediately knew that I was in good hands. Trying to put it into words in the lobby after the show I equated it to sitting at home watching a prestige television series where you simply know that everything is going to be first rate and reward your attention. It was and it did."

Wise Children - WAAPA (September)

On entering the Roundhouse Theatre one of the third year acting cohort (who was not performing due to being cast in The Twelve) motioned at the stage and exclaimed, "look at it!" She was not wrong. The set was an outstanding playground for the actors to thrive in during this most theatrical of productions. 

"...director Adam Mitchell has pushed the students to perform 'large' and there's ribaldry and plenty of shtick to go around. This is aided by the work of choreographer and movement coach G Madison IV who puts the cast through their paces with mock fighting, dancing, and pratfalls. But there are also beautifully crafted moments of tragedy; one where blood is spilled and another that changes the fate of a character forever." 

Cats - WAAPA (September)

As an avowed Cats sceptic and somewhat of an ALW agnostic, I confess, I was not feeling the Jellicle of it all before the show. But damned if the third year musical theatre students didn't win me over, especially with a cracking second half that rocketed along with so much kinetic energy it was undeniable. 

"Two aspects are immediately apparent - this is a dance heavy production with Jayne Smeulders' stunning choreography testing the performers' stamina and athletic limits; and the music students in the 16 piece orchestra (including 5 staff members) under the baton of musical director Craig Dalton are featured as equally as the performers on stage."

Tick, Tick... Boom! - Arise Productions (October)

One of the surprises of the year was when a (film) director I work with declared that he loved the Andrew Garfield movie, listened to the soundtrack all the time, and on being told there was a live production coming up insisted we go. Who am I to argue when a show is this good?

"[Tate] Bennett's acting is superb as he tackles an array of emotions culminating in the song which builds until he's singing with such raw emotion and anger you feel Jon's pain radiate from the stage. It's a stunning sequence highlighting Bennett's acting and singing talent with accompaniment by Musical Director Taui Pinker on piano." 

Godspell - WAAPA (November)

The second year musical theatre students announced themselves to the wider theatregoing public like a thunderclap from on high in this outstanding introduction. The most impressive aspect was how cohesive a unit they already seem with a palpable sense of joy and camaraderie onstage. 

"What an introduction to the 2nd year musical theatre students at WAAPA with a terrific production of Godspell tonight. Brilliant singing, energy to burn, and a real sense of chemistry as a cohesive cohort already. This is going to be a fun group to follow next year." 

The Pillowman - Hayman Theatre Company (November)

The more I think about this extraordinary play the more I marvel at the high wire act playwright Martin McDonagh has pulled off. The writing is exceptional and all involved in the mounting of this production clearly reveled in bringing it to life. 

"Director Travis Koch has assembled an excellent company of Hayman alumni and existing students, both on and off the stage. From the look of the play, the sound of it, and the performances, this is exceptional independent theatre not for the fainthearted."

PRACTITIONERS

Bronte Frances (Performer) - Orlando (WAAPA)

Utterly magnetic as the titular character in a role that saw them effortlessly portray male and female versions in vastly different time periods no less. 

Barry Park (Director) - Private Lives (Old Mill Theatre), The York Realist (Garrick Theatre), The Normal Heart (GRADS)

From the scintillating wit of Noel Coward to the words unspoken in The York Realist and the roiling anger at the mishandling of the emerging AIDS crisis in The Normal Heart, Park had an excellent year, directing with intelligence and precision. 

Adriane Daff (Performer) - Le Nor [The Rain] (The Last Great Hunt)

If you told me Daff was the biggest movie star in Europe circa 1962 I would believe you based on her extraordinary performance in Le Nor. The camera simply adores her and she's equally adept at using the close-up and monologue to devastating effect. 

Bryan Woltjen (Set Designer) - Footloose (WAAPA), All Shook Up (Hama Productions)

Woltjen gave us the astounding multi-tiered set of Footloose at His Majesty's then a month later backed it up with another striking set for All Shook Up at Crown. Big spaces superbly presented to put us in very specific time periods and places with great clarity.

Joshua Firman (Performer) - Catch Me If You Can (Koorliny Arts Centre)

Perfectly cast in the lead role that Leonardo DiCaprio made famous in the movie, Firman has the charisma, stage presence, and joyous vocals to make us barrack for his wayward conman.

"Firman brings considerable charm, acting chops, and the best singing voice I have heard at Koorliny if not in all the community theatre shows I have attended over the years." 

Mia Simonette (Performer) - All Shook Up (Hama Productions)

The pivotal role on which all the Shakespearean plot complications rely on, Simonette gives a star making turn as the lovelorn Natalie and the blokey Ed.

"Simonette has an outstanding singing voice but the show doesn't work if she can't convincingly sell the... comedy and ensuing romantic chaos. This is where (she) excels, giving a wonderful performance." 

Sarah Halton (Set Designer & Costume Designer) - Wise Children (WAAPA)

Responsible for the visual feast that was Wise Children from the incredibly detailed and dressed set to the vast array of colourful costumes that added so much to the theatricality of the piece.

Tate Bennett (Performer) - Tick, Tick... Boom! (Arise Productions)

A blistering performance by Bennett in the lead role which builds in intensity until he's singing with such raw emotion and anger you feel the character's pain radiate from the stage. 

"Bennett immediately draws us in with a charming turn that is vulnerable, funny, confessional, anxious, sarcastic and, above all else, real. His singing is excellent with a vibrancy in both power and emotion. He grabbed the audience by the collective scruff of the neck and didn't let go."

Samuel Ireland (Performer) - The Pillowman (Hayman Theatre Company)

An outstanding performance that is emotionally and physically draining but never less than compelling in the intimate confines of the Hayman Theatre. 

"Ireland is rarely off-stage and conveys such a wide array of emotions, mostly in a heightened state, that he is physically drained by the end of the play... It's marvellous work."

Tadhg Lawrence (Performer) - Othello (GRADS)

Sly and confident, Lawrence draws the audience and unsuspecting characters into his orbit with ease making his character's intentions even more sinister.  

"The play is propelled by an excellent performance from Tadhg Lawrence... (who) plays Iago with great energy, cunning, and an affability that was disarming as he addressed the audience.

Finally, two names to watch for next year:

Ellen Ebbs who gave a compelling turn as 'JC' in Godspell; and Bridget Bourke who played the precocious Dolour Darcy in The Harp In The South: Part Two (WAAPA) with "wide-eyed enthusiasm and was always in the moment." 

Wise Children - WAAPA (9 September 2023)

"What a joy it is to dance and sing!"

What a joy it is indeed as the graduating actors close out the year with a sumptuous theatrical treat. The first thing that dazzles your eyeballs on taking your seat in the Roundhouse Theatre is the amazing set. The amount of detail is quite astonishing to recreate a lodgings for wayward performers and the backstage of a theatre itself. Bedecked with lamps, costumes, and all manner of practical items and curios, set designer Sarah Halton and props supervisor David Packer have truly excelled. Spread over two levels, with the musicians nestled at the top, it is one of the best I have seen at this venue.

It is enhanced by outstanding lighting design by Michaela Gosby under the mentorship of professional lighting designer Lucy Birkinshaw who is well-known to Perth audiences for her work with Black Swan State Theatre Company and Barking Gecko amongst others. With such a rich canvas to highlight, the lighting adds colour and vibrancy in line with the more theatrical moments, with shadows and silhouette used when the action skews far darker. The Trinity Test in the movie Oppenheimer isn't the only impressive explosion you'll see this year. Then there's a "chandelier" that might rival Phantom's for visual impact early on in proceedings. It's bloomin' great! 

But wait, there's more! Sarah Halton again, this time as costume designer, has crafted a bevy of costumes to cover the various time periods of the story for a cavalcade of mainly over-the-top performers, echoing vaudeville, Shakespeare, with even a hint of Monty Python thrown in. Fair to say this production is a feast for the eyes. 

All this is in aid of a quite complicated story which, in its essence, is highly theatrical in nature, drawing on the aforementioned Bard. Embracing this, director Adam Mitchell has pushed the students to perform 'large' and there's ribaldry and plenty of shtick to go around. This is aided by the work of choreographer and movement coach G Madison IV who puts the cast through their paces with mock fighting, dancing, and pratfalls. But there are also beautifully crafted moments of tragedy; one where blood is spilled and another that changes the fate of a character forever.  

That story is the tale of the Chance sisters, twins Nora and Dora, who come to terms with an entangled parentage as they pursue a career as showgirls with their actual father who has disowned them. The telling of the tale with all its twists and reveals is framed around an upcoming birthday party that is the catalyst for a deluge of memories. We will see not one but three iterations of the sisters over the course of the show - as 75 year old women reminiscing on the past; as young girls oblivious to what fate has in store for them, and as teenagers who blossom both sexually and as performers in their own right. There is a swirl of characters around them, notably Grandma Chance, their real father Melchior Hazard, his brother and their legal father Peregrine Hazard, and Melchior's wife Lady Atalanta with whom he has two children, Saska and Imogen Hazard. That will suffice as a rough sketch as to expand it further would spoil all kinds of machinations.

To the performances and Edyll Ismail and Lauren McNaught are our narrators as the elder Nora and Dora Chance. There is a warmth tinged with sadness here that draws us in early with likeable turns that have the weight of a long life in the theatre and emotional trenches. Elyse Phelan and Lucinda Smith play the youngest iteration of the twins with convincing childlike mannerisms and impetuous behaviour. The showgirl versions are perhaps the most clearly delineated with Estelle Davis portraying Nora with bawdy confidence and impulsiveness while Tess Bowers' Dora is more reserved and yearning. 

Kelsey Jeanell grabs the spotlight early as Estella and later as the spiteful Saska. Ruby Henaway is an audience favourite as Gradma Chance; her blunt characterisation is a hoot and if you thought the surprise waiting in the tunnels of the horror movie Barbarian was shocking wait until you get a load of Grandma's antics! By contrast, Aida Bernhardt makes for a most elegant Lady Atalanta. 

Will Lonsdale (younger) and James McMahon (older) play the famous Shakespearean actor Melchior with amusing vanity and slippery obliviousness to the harm Melchior has caused. Tyler Redman (younger) and Joseph Baldwin (older) tackle a tricky role with skill as Peregrine is a character whose arc is not as clean-cut as we'd been led to believe. Tre Maclou ends up a slightly tragic figure as his comedian, Gorgeous George, is reduced to the fringes of society while Jesse Vasiliadis and Harrison Gilchrist get to vamp it up with some gender-swapping flair.  

To add to this entertaining brew we also have plenty of songs with musical direction by Joshua James Webb. I was particularly taken by the use of xylophone which contributed a dreamlike quality that was entirely appropriate. While the actors may not be up to the quality of the musical theatre students when it comes to vocals there were some very effective moments - Estelle Davis singing The Way You Look Tonight; the Girls Will Be Boys song by Davis and Tess Bowers that skewered Shakespearean plot antics; a sunglasses clad Lucinda Smith crooning away on the upper level; and the massed vocals on the closing number that was, well, fun. Plus there's an eighties classic I haven't heard in many a year for the performers to cavort to. 

In all this was an outstanding way for this cohort to end their public performance slate at WAAPA. It was big, entertaining, challenging and a triumph for all the disciplines involved. The work of the Production and Design students this year has been exemplary and what a space they provided for the actors to play in. One they seemed to acknowledge and relish.