New on Theatre Notes (http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com )
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, directed by David Freeman, designed by
Dan Potra, lighting by Nigel Levings. Bell Shakespeare Company at the Arts
Centre Playhouse.
Twelfth Night is a confection supposedly written for Queen Elizabeth I and
performed on Twelfth Night, the last day of Yule, which was traditionally
celebrated with plays and mumming. Shakespeare whipped up a syllabub of
gender-bending, drunken foolery and loutish mockery, punctuated by some
exquisite speeches and haunting songs. It's a charming froth to sweeten the
end of the midwinter season, and while it doesn't make a lot of sense, it
does make a lot of theatre.
David Freeman, directing his first Australian production since he left these
shores for Europe more than 30 years ago, is not shy of its sheer
theatricality. Instead of forcing a leaden metaphor onto the hapless play,
"updating" it by making it "relevant", Freeman permits Twelfth Night to play
in a purely theatrical space which exists only in the imaginations of the
actors and the audience. Any pandering to the literal is off the menu, and
the comedy, released into the absurd, takes wings. And it's gloriously,
bracingly vulgar: my inner groundling was tickled into irresponsible
happiness. If there had been orange pips to spit my pleasure, I would have
spat them.
Saturday, August 07, 2004
Caresses
Caresses , by Sergi Belbel. Directed by Scott Gooding, with Simon Kearney,
Danica Balara, Merrin Canning, Dawn Klingberg, Barry Friedlander, Tim Kelly,
Kirk Westwood, Chloe Armstrong, Gareth Ellis and Penelope Bartlau. Vicious
Fish Theatre, at Theatreworks. Until August 22.
Caresses marks my first acquaintance with the work of the Catalan playwright
Sergi Belbel, for which I dips me lid to Vicious Fish. I am certainly
richer for the introduction. This is tough, muscular writing, at once
lyrical and obscene, humane and cruel, hilarious and tragic. Caresses
represents the first part of on-going commitment by Vicious Fish Theatre to
Belbel's works, and I am looking forward to the next three productions of
the Belbel Project with lively interest.
Sergi Belbel is part of a generation of playwrights which emerged in the
1990s. The international success of Catalan companies such as Els
Comediants and others created a field where new writing could flourish, and
this led to the development of a new generation of Spanish theatre writers,
including Sanches Sinisterra, Angel Guimera, Benet i Jornet and Rodolf
Sirera. Belbel is one of the most popular of these playwrights - Caresses
has been performed all around the world and it was also adapted into a film
by the Barcelona director Ventura Pons by 1998.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Toby
Toby by Abe Pogos, directed by Catherine Hill, designed by Peter Mumford,
lighting by Richard Vabre,with Tim Stitz, Adam Cass, Janine Watson,
Christopher Brown, Benjamin Fuller and Tess Butler. La Mama at the
Courthouse Theatre, Carlton, until July 31.
The stage is empty, apart from a huge wooden desk on which sits a giant
typewriter. Seated at the desk, the CRITIC is industriously at work,
staring vacantly into space and drumming his fingers.
CRITIC: Tum te dum. Tum te dum.
The CRITIC picks up a book from the desk and prowls restlessly, muttering.
Reads the back of the book and is illuminated. Leaps back to the desk and
types, copying from the book.
CRITIC: A fable. "A timely and darkly comic fable, Toby explores racism,
genocide and the politics of power." Oh yes. That's good, that's very
good. But then...what about... the set? The set! The set, the acting, the
directing....all these require attention...and they have written nothing
here about the set!
The CRITIC throws the book down on the desk. He is disconsolate.
Read more at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Alison Croggon
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
Blogs: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com http://alisoncroggon.blogspot.com
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