A Trio of Plays for Two Actors; By Hilary Bell; Director Francesca Savige; Ensemble Theatre Kirribilli. 8 Sep – 14 Oct

Reviewed 12 September, 2023*

“Things pass through our hands.
On to someone else, or gone forever.”

… Or sometimes we keep them in high, elaborate shelves like those designed by Jeremy Allen in the elegant set that frames Hilary Bell’s trio of captivating stories about three people in their late fifties and an inanimate object that affected their lives.

Each of Allen’s graceful timber panels is divided into many different sized nooks and alcoves, each housing a plethora of different objects. A vase, a statue, an artifact, a rubber fish, a little radio, three sun flowers, a small painting … each obviously special for some reason, each housed in its own space. The whole suggesting a lifetime of memories …

It’s an incredibly detailed and ornate set – a perfect background for the first of the plays: Summer of Harold where Janet, played by Hannah Waterman, recalls the summer spent with a friend in England 39 years ago working as housekeepers for British playwright Harold Pinter and his wife Lady Antonia Fraser.

Based on a true story, Bell vividly imagines the girls’ adventures and misadventures as they cook and clean for “the most significant British playwright of the twentieth century”.

They are skilfully enacted by Waterman, who, under the perceptive direction of Francesca Savige, captures the “constant state of semi-hysteria” of Janet’s 20-year-old self as she relives the awe and busy-ness of their lives in the four-storey house in Holland Park. Emptying ashtrays, dusting awards, cooking Coronation Chicken, driving “to Sainsbury’s in a Merc with monogrammed doors,” ensuring Pinter gets his coffee in his special mug three times a day.

There’s energy in the way she talks, moves, laughs, pauses, an energy that follows the cleverly changing rhythms of Bell’s astute writing. That rhythm is particularly important when she relives preparing and serving the annual “luncheon” for the Gaieties, Pinter’s cricket team “made up of famous actors and playwright’s and even a few ‘sirs’”.

Here Bell uses short sentences, phrases, rhetorical questions, exclamations to set an accelerating pace, and Waterman picks up the tempo and the tension, especially the moment when Tom Stoppard suggests have a hit in the garden underneath a beautiful stained glass window …

Janet holds those memories dear, so much so that her own lounge room is a replica of that in Holland Park … “same bookshelves, fresh flowers even when I’m broke.”

In Enfant Terrible, the second of Bell’s vignettes, Berynn Schwerdt pumps the energy even higher as he plays Gareth, a ceramicist obsessed with the success of a perceived less talented man whom he had befriended and supported through art school. And who was now acclaimed, riding high, with a residency in Paris no less – all of which they both attribute to “a precious talisman” he had picked up and held close for thirty-nine years.

Bell turns to a different style here, still realist but with absurdist touches, like the appearance of his sleep-disturbed wife (Waterman) who is summarily hunted back to bed. And Gareth’s language and pauses and changes of direction.

Savige makes the most of that – and the ire and resentment in Gareth’s lines, accentuating his restlessness and agitation, moving Schwerdt swiftly through a range of emotions – overwhelming joy, condescension, envy, greed, anger, particularly anger – as he recounts his saga. He is a tall man, lithe, with an expressive face all of which he uses to augment Gareth’s indignation and jealous rage – and his shocking act of revenge which will … “Oh God … be in the Herald tomorrow, all over the internet.”.

As the lights fade to almost black on yet another shock, a metal railing, hidden high above the shelving slowly lowers to form a barrier around the apron of the stage.  Behind the barrier Waterman and Schwerdt come together in Lookout, the final of the three plays, set in the Blue Mountains.

It is late afternoon. Smokey mist swirls up from the valley far. Jonathan, carrying a backpack wanders disconsolately up to the lookout. He is quiet, hesitant – so jumps when Rae appears behind him. They haven’t seen each other for a while. But this is a place they used to come to together. They chat. Their sentences are short. Their reminiscences are spiked by Rae’s questions. Her curiosity about his backpack; a phone call; and his new lady friend. Jonathan’s responses are guarded, restrained.

This story Bell tells much more delicately. Unlike the previous stories, this rests on a relationship and Bell develops the characters slowly, quietly but with a discomfort that she takes time to explain. The long-standing source of the discomfort hides in the backpack, and the reason Jonathan has brought it to this place is profound …

Waterman and Schwerdt use a different energy in this gentle, carefully scripted scene that is intimate and delicate. Guided by Savige’s sensitivity, they allow the characters to emerge slowly, almost wistfully, almost unsure of what will happen if they do …

Lookout cements the theme that hovers behind Bell’s stories, the theme that she explains succinctly in her program notes:

“They speak to the ways in which a life can be shaped by an object, for good or for ill, and that recognising it for what it is can release us of its power.”

*Opening Night

By Carl Orff. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Orchestra. Conductor Brett Weymark. The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. 9 September, 2023

Reviewed : 9 September, 2023

It’s a sunny spring Saturday afternoon in Sydney! The harbour is sparkling, the city bustling. Crowds chat and stroll or snap photographs on the forecourt of the Opera House.

Inside The House, in the Concert Hall, over 400 singers fill the balconies behind and above 74 musicians on the stage. And an audience of over 2,000 wait expectantly for conductor Brett Weymark to enter and introduce yet another exceptional performance by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Parramatta’s River City Voices.

When he does, Weymark brings with him composer James Henry and pianist librettist Tamara-Anna Cislowska. Because this performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana will be preceded by premiere performances of two brand new compositions that celebrate the ancient and emerging cultures of Australia.

James Henry introduces his new composition Murrgumurrgu – in which he describes how the ibis was peaceful and happy in its home in Narran until it had to search further afield for food and water when its habitat was cleared.

Tamara-Anna Cislowska describes the origin of her collaboration with Elena Kats-Chernin to write Human Waves, inspired by tales they discovered through research and interviews with migrants and their families, people who, in Weymark’s words, “have shaped our nation”.

So the audience was in for a triple musical experience, which as is usual, began with the performance of Tarimi Nulay (Long Time Living here) the acknowledgement of country composed by Deborah Cheetham and Matthew Doyle.

A moment of silence was broken by James Henry who, to the sound of clapping sticks, led the orchestra and choirs in the performance, in Yuwaalaraay language, of his gentle, peaceful tribute to the long legged, curved beak, white and black bird that has been hunted from its natural habitat to our city parks and schoolyards.

Tamara-Anna Cislowska then took her place at the piano for Human Waves, but not before Brett Weymark “face timed” Elena Kats-Chernin in Europe so she could hear and watch the premiere performance of their composition. A lovely gesture – and so typical of Weymark!

Human Waves tells in appropriate cultural music, nine stories, beginning and ending with Citizen, based on the Australian pledge of citizenship that is dear to the hearts of so many ‘new’ Australian citizens.

To and Fro and To tells of a Vietnamese family’s journey to Australia through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy:

“… no one can make a sound on this holiday.
If someone hears they’ll chase us down.”

Tong Yun Gai is the story of Yen Pein, who was born in Melbourne at end of the 19^th century and grew up in Little Bourke Street’s Chinatown.

Ode to the salty Paste honours the “mysterious charm” of Vegemite:

“Dark brown goodness with B1, 2, 3 …
Guilt free, healthy,
It’s vegan, kosher and halal.”

Continent of Light beautifully describes in words and music the “vastness and diversity” of the landscape that is so different, especially to immigrants coming from Europe:

“Spaces above.
Look up in awe.
Endless blue.”

A short interval, and the choirs and the orchestra returned, along with youngsters from the NSW Public Schools Junior Singers, and baritone Hadleigh Adams and soprano Lorina Gore for Carl Orff’s beautiful, thrilling Carmina Burana. Well-known to so many – often simply because of its use in the soundtracks of movies – this sometimes rousing, sometimes erotic, sometimes satirical, always exciting composition gives singers and musicians the opportunity to be part of an ensemble that pays homage to fortune, spring, nature, travel, indulgence, beauty and love.

From the reverberating introduction of “O Fortuna” to the final notes of “hail, rose of the world; Blanziflor and Helena, noble Venus” the Concert Hall is filled with the music inspired when Orff found an 1847 edition of the Carmina Burana, a mediaeval anthology of 24 poems in old Latin, middle High German and French lyrics.

“On opening it,” he wrote, “I immediately found, on the front page, the long famous picture of ‘Fortune and her wheel’ and under it the lines O fortuna/ velut luna/statu variabilis … Picture and words seized hold of me … a new work … a stage work with singing and dancing choruses … at once came into my mind.”

So his own Carmina Burana was born. Since it was first performed in Frankfurt in 1937, it has been transporting audiences all over the world – just as Brett Weymark, concertmaster Fiona Zeigler, the orchestra, and the singers of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs transported their delighted audience 86 years later … on a sunny spring Saturday in Sydney in 2023.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

Book by Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody. Music and Lyrics by Laura Murphy. Conceived and directed by Jay James-Moody. Produced by Squabbalogic and Watershed. Seymour Centre, Sydney. September 5 – October 21, 2023

Reviewed : 8 September, 2023

What’s the best style to use for a play about an historical event? A relatively recent historical event. A political event. An event that was controversial, divisive, involving two proud, political leaders, a Governor General, pushy politicians, even an unscrupulous entrepreneur.

Opera perhaps? Melodrama?

Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody decided on musical comedy, “very serious musical comedy” to capture the big moments and big characters that led to the event in November 1975 that Australian history has called “The Dismissal”. They’ve been fair in their re-telling, making it colourful and bright – and finding humour in their satirical interpretation of the characters and their controversial “wheeling and dealing”.

Choosing to use the character of Norman Gunston, created originally by Gary McDonald, to narrate the saga was a veritable stroke of genius. It sets the tenor for the production – and Matthew Whittet does a brilliant job of recreating Gunston, the awkward, uncouth ‘journalist’ who disconcerted politicians and celebrities alike with his embarrassing questions and gauche style. Whittet is a constant in the production, cleverly incorporating Gunston’s seeming awkwardness into smooth, fast dialogue that moves the production through conservative post war Australia into the progressive1970s.

James-Moody is a clever director whose work is always carefully considered and creatively effective. With a cast of only fifteen, he manages to cover thirteen major characters and an ensemble of politicians and citizens. They make swift character and costume changes, keeping the pace and continuity fast. In portraying the characters, he wisely concentrates on implication rather than imitation ensuring that the colourful political figures are recognisable but not replications.

Characters like Gough Whitlam and John Kerr for instance, were ‘big’ characters, who are still often sited or quoted, so portrayal of them could lead to imitative caricature. But Justin Smith and Octavia Barron Martin make the characters their own, without losing the impact of their power and presence … and their frailties.

Smith plays Whitlam as confident and elegant, head high, stance firm, gestures studied, voice controlled and authoritative. He also shows an arrogance that does not allow his Gough to admit the possibility of failure. Whitlam and his wife Margaret always presented as a team, and Brittanie Shipway’s Margaret isa constant in the production, by Gough’s side, listening, advising, supporting.

Barron-Martin hides Kerr under a white coiffured wig, using shifty eyes and nervous movement to suggest his thwarted ambition and gullibility. He succumbs to the flattery and bullying of his new wife, Anne, played with inveigling smarm by Stacey Thomsett … and to the devious manoeuvring of Sir Garfield Barwick.

Historically regarded as the “influencer” who manipulated John Kerr, Barwick is played by the very skilled and experienced Peter Carroll. In a judge’s wig and gown, but with the long, clawed fingers of the Grim Reaper, Carroll creeps behind Kerr, weaving around him, forever in his ear, whispering, suggesting, prodding. The character is a cleverly written interpretation of the manipulation that occurs when egos and ambition are involved – and Carroll plays it perfectly.

Andrew Cutcliffe plays the conservative leader Malcolm Fraser. Cutcliffe stands tall, sweeping across the stage, impervious and unyielding, cunningly cajoling his party of “private schoolboys” to support his Machiavellian plan.

Joe Kosky is Treasurer Jim Cairns – sorry! Dr Jim Cairns – who convinces the Minister for Minerals and Energy Rex Connor (Georgie Bolton), to borrow money from the Middle East via Pakistani banker Tirath Khemlani played by Monique Sallé. This is a pivotal part of the story and is skilfully retold.

Kosky’s Cairns, tall and broad-shouldered, hovers over Bolton’s shorter, anxious Connor – while Sallé flits deviously between them. Cairns’ assistant – and lover – Junie Morosi, is played by Shannen Alyce Quan. In flares and a fringed vest she typifies the ‘hippie’ influence of the 70s.

Monique Sallé also plays a dejected, rejected Billy Snedden – and an unamused Queen Elizabeth II, remote in England but kept aware of what is happening “down under”.

When not involved in the action as these characters, they join ensemble actors Lincoln Elliott, Kaori Maeda-Judge, Quinton Rofail Rich and Anusha Thomas as citizens or voters or politicians in the jazzy dance routines choreographed in her inimitable style by Amy Campbell. Laura Murphy’s 70s style music is played by the orchestra led by Mark Chamberlain.

Set and costume designers Charles Davis and Emma White use a moving tiered rostrum and desks and chairs on wheels to allow offices, living rooms – and thrones – to be imagined. Changing dates and events appear on ticker-tape style sur-titles. It was a vibrant time for fashion and Davis and White have had fun with costumes. So many memories swirl. Flashes of orange, yellow and green; tartans and jackets with piped edges; short skirts and flared trousers.

Whether this musical will endure beyond the 65+ audiences that lived through The Dismissal remains to be seen, but for those who still “maintain the rage” and those who gave Malcom Fraser his time in The Lodge, Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody have revived the event with heart rather than hurt, satire rather than cynicism.

By Josipa Draisma, Šime Kneževic & Mara Kneževic. PYT Fairfield and In Wild Company. Director Anthea Williams. Lennox Theatre Parramatta Riverside. 8 – 9 September 2023

Reviewed : 7 September, 2023*

Sisters Josipa Draisma and Mara Kneževic crash on to the stage in this wild, funny musical that celebrates the thousands of migrants, many highly educated, skilled and experienced, who toiled in menial jobs to make a living in their new country. That the play is set in the 70s does not detract from the subtle message that the same thing happens today …

Written with their brother Šime Kneževic, with music composed by Zeljko Papic, the play was inspired by reflecting on the experiences of their late grandmother, Bernarda Papic, a Croatian migrant who worked in a chicken factory for over 30 years.

Based on those reflections, and a multitude of stories from female migrant factory workers from Western Sydney, they created Pavica and Mila, best friends striving to support themselves, and in Pavica’s case, a family, in Australia in the 1970s. They are friends, but they are very different!

Pavica loves her job and works hard, so much so that she is singled out by “bossman” to be promoted to “forelady”, a job which Pavica takes very seriously – even though the “bossman” shows her little respect and never pronounces her name properly.  Mila, on the other hand, hates the stinking factory and the suggestive advances made to her by the “bossman”.

They tell the story in fast, foot thumping songs and graphic descriptions: a day’s work at the factory, the regulations they must follow, their busy lives, their back stories, the other women at the factory. The problem of explaining instructions given in English to women from many different language backgrounds. The unfairness of the being paid less than men working at the same job.

They make the descriptions loud and funny. For example, as Pavica describes almost beatifically, the awful routine of slaughtering, plucking, gutting, cleaning and packaging the chicken carcasses, Mila rants in repetitive expletives about the shrieking chickens, the stench, the screeching machinery and the tenosynovitis that plagues the women.

While Pavica goes home to feed Kentucky Fried Chicken to her children and an out-of-work husband, Mila is at home alone writing to the husband she hasn’t seen for three years.

When Pavica is demoted because she hesitates to fire her Italian friend Rossetta because she wasn’t wearing the regulation hat, Mila uses the situation to instigate a strike.

Underlying the fun and pace are clear and explicit messages about hardship and injustice. That they can find the humour and share it so joyously and uproariously says much about the strength and resilience of our migrant Australians.

Draisma and Kneževic talk and dance and move with an energy that seems inexhaustible!  Backed by musicians Sarah Homeh, Hayley Chan, Sil Jin and Gwyneth Jansen, they create a sense of unity and togetherness that pervades every song, every story. There is power in their togetherness – and their love of performance – that is invigorating, inclusive and optimistic. Try to see it as it goes on tour throughout September to the Camden Civic Centre, Orange Civic Centre, The Art House Wyong and the Concourse Pavilion Chatswood.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening performance

Writer/presenter : Wil Anderson; The Comedy Store, Sydney, 2 September & 16 September, 2023.

Reviewed : 2 September, 2023

Talking for an hour with a script is easy.  Being funny for an hour with a script can be problematic depending on the speaker – and the audience. Being funny for an hour without a script is even more problematic. Not if you’re Wil Anderson!

Anderson’s scripted touring shows are always tight! He writes well. He’s smart, intelligent. He knows his audiences and plays them skilfully.

Without a script, he’s just as skilful. His improvised shows run for an hour and he keeps them moving … completely based on people from the audience. He comes on stage with nothing more than a bottle of water, his smile … and the people who have come to see him!

Don’t get me wrong. He doesn’t do anything more than ask questions, but he’s perceptive, observant, sharp. In the first few minutes he’s on stage he surreptitiously scans the audience looking for – perhaps a smile, perhaps someone who’s particularly tall, or good looking, or wearing something unusual.

It won’t be someone who’s avoiding his eye or looking away – because he’s not going to talk to anyone he perceives might feel threatened. He’s not there to make fun of anyone or make anyone feel uncomfortable. He explains that clearly … after he’s ‘chosen’ a few people who catch his eye.

Once he begins talking to those people, he uses the tiny bits of information he elicits from them to ‘make’ the show. It can be how they spell their name, or their occupation, or connections between them, or stories of his own that link to theirs. Sometimes their stories or occupations link – as they did on 2^nd September – and when that happens things can become hilarious!

Wil Anderson is a clever man! His popularity here and overseas is testament to his intelligence, his quick wit, his ability to relate across age barriers – his trustworthiness. And his honesty.

Obviously I’m a fan – even though I am an ABC watcher and well and truly over 60! But I wasn’t the only age-challenged person in the audience! In fact, the broad range of ‘followers’ in his audiences is wide and varied. Whether it’s his Wil… touring shows, Comedy Festival “impros”, Gruen, Question Everything, his podcasts such as Wilosophy or raising money for Canteen in Celebrity TheatreSports team… Wil Anderson has that ‘something’ that appeals across generations.

By Arthur Miller. Director Rebecca Fletcher. Henry Lawson Theatre, Werrington NSW. 1-17 September, 2023

Reviewed : 1 September, 2023*

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory of events in America in 1950s, where the fear of communism became so endemic that many people with left-wing or seemingly ‘subversive’ ideas were accused of “Un-American Activities”. He based the story on the Salem witch trials that occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1690s. The play premiered in January 1953 – and in 1956 Miller himself was questioned and convicted by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities.

It’s a weighty play in more ways than one! Apart from its controversial theme, it is long. It has a big cast. But it’s a “well made” play that is carefully structured. There are some great parts. And, with the turmoil in the world today, what better time to mount a play about the effect of lies and lust and mass hysteria.

Rebecca Fletcher has directed the play with intelligent imagination. Firstly, with designers Nicole Smith and Joshua Paterson, she sets the play on a stark, spare, grey stage that conjures aptly the small, ultra-conservative, God-fearful community of Puritan Salem. With atmospheric lighting designed by Mark Prophet, and a few props, modest costumes, and some screen images, it becomes a bleak wood, an attic bedroom, a humble kitchen, a censoriously charged courtroom.

Fletcher concentrates on the characters, allowing Miller’s words to guide the actors as they delve into their relationships and the rising tension that begins after a group of young girls are observed dancing with a servant from Barbados around a fire in the woods at night. When one of the girls goes into a trance, her father, a minister who preaches fire and brimstone, suggests the possibility of witchcraft. The idea festers, until the whole town is besieged by accusations, arrests and executions.

Much of this is exacerbated by Abigail Williams, an orphan servant girl who seeks to avenge her dismissal by Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of the man with whom she has had an adulterous relationship. Manipulative and ruthless, Abigail controls the other girls, whipping them into hysterics until eventually they confess that they had “conjured spirits” and accuse others in the community of worshipping the devil.

Abigail is sometimes over-played, but under Fletcher’s direction Tayah Gulyas makes her aloof, ruthless and self-controlled. That control that is shown in her cold eyes and the way they harden perceptively at the moment she begins her exploitation of the girls. Gulyas sustains that under lying iciness throughout the production. Even when she offers herself to Proctor, there is malice in her seductive words and spite in her reaction to his final rejection.

Joshua Paterson is striking as the stalwart – but flawed – John Proctor. Paterson makes this oft’ played character his own. He is a persuasive presence on the stage, his voice strong and convincing, his stance and movement characterising Proctor’s inner strength and growing decisiveness – despite an accident shortly before opening night that resulted in a broken leg, and the need to re-block his scenes so he could use a crutch.

In six days, Paterson made that crutch, and the somewhat stilted movement it dictates, part of his character, leaning weight to Proctor’s stiff belief in right and integrity. Paterson and Fletcher are to be congratulated on their creative re-imagining of the blocking and how it empowered Paterson’s impressive interpretation of this well-known role.

Elizabeth Proctor is played with heart-felt compassion by Holly-Leigh Prophet. Prophet uses her expressive face to show the range of emotions that this steadfast character faces over the course of the play. She uses body language – hands clasped tightly at her waist, back straight, almost rigid at times – to show her reserve and her staunch loyalty to her husband, despite his confession of adultery. Her tears in the final moments of the production whisper her anguish even after the lights fade.

Stephen Ollis plays Reverend Parris as a hard, pitiless parson, intent on his own advancement and quick to find fault and accuse, despite the lack of respect shown him by others.

Mary Warren, who replaced Abigail as housemaid in the Proctor’s home, is played by Layissa Mugridge, who finds the fear that dominates Warren’s life – fear of Abigail, fear of Proctor, fear of her fate. In the courtroom, Mugridge holds herself stiffly, cowering, her head bowed, her face when she looks up, filled with dread.

Georgia Willett plays the much less fearful Tituba. Fletcher uses Tituba’s Caribbean background to lighten the production, contrasting her movement and words with the oppression that dogs the Puritan community … and Willett relishes the guilelessness and  naivety of the role.

Nicole Madden, as Mercy Lewis, leads young actors Leisel Hussey, Olivia Gray, Lily Hampson and Mya Crosetta as the girls who fall prey to Abigail’s manipulative power. Lewis, who runs the company’s Youth Theatre program, guides her young protégés as they are harangued by the stern Parris, questioned by the more compassionate Reverend Hale (Mitchell Rist), interrogated by the Judge Danforth (Ken Fletcher) and Judge Hawthorn (Mark Prophet) and led to screaming visions by Abigail.

The women of Salem are represented by the quiet, highly respected Rebecca Nurse played with grandmotherly gentleness by Michelle Hussey. And the more volatile Ann Putnam, a gossip obsessed with the loss of seven babies, played with jealous, accusatory harshness by Nicole Smith.

Caught up in the maelstrom of allegations, arrests and trials of their women folk, the men of Salem are played by Davo Hardy, Campbell Simpson, Aled Stephens, Elliott Prophet and Aurel Vasilescu.

Rebecca Fletcher has led her cast with a conscientious, creative hand, ensuring the characters are clearly defined and the action carefully paced. It is not easy managing such a large cast, of varying experience, but she does so judiciously, staying true to the infamous characters and the playwright’s critical intent.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening performance

Composer Wynton Marsalis. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. 31 Aug – 1 Sept, 2023

Reviewed : 31 August, 2023*

The stage of the Concert Hall is filled with sixteen members of New York’s  Lincoln Center Orchestra, their brass instruments shining, surrounded by the splendid Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Above them 170 members of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs almost fill the balcony under the towering pipe organ.

Conductor Benjamin Northey stands before them, baton in hand. There is an extended expectant hush … and then the men sing “Ah Zum” …

So begins All Rise, a jazz composition of a very special kind. Written in 1999, at the turn of the “century of communication’ and what composer Wynton Marsalis hoped to be the “century of integration”, All Rise is a call to “translate our differences into a collective creativity”. The way to do this, he believes, is through the call and response of ‘the blues’, which Marsalis describes as “an attitude towards life, celebrating transcendence through acceptance of what is”.

If, as Marsalis writes, that first “Ah Zum” signifies “the beginning to the end”, then from the A of “Ah” to the Z of “Zum”, the audience is treated to a swell of instruments and voices that takes them on a journey through life, from the joy of creation, play and love to the suffering of making mistakes and “messing up”, until we wake up to ourselves, seek redemption, are forgiven and find joy again.

It’s oft told story but telling it in jazz – in the blues – gives it a more optimistic, different rhythm, a rhythm based on music and instruments from different countries, a conflation of styles and traditions, coming together in a musical celebration of the integration Marsalis hoped for at the turn of the century.

That hope echoes throughout the performance and shines from the faces of all the musicians as they follow the pace that Marsalis and his orchestra set. From brass to percussion, from strings to woodwinds, from washboard to voices, the message is strong and fast, optimistic and inspiring.

“With the blues”, Marsalis writes, “you got to give some to get some” – and that’s certainly what occurs in this stunning, pulsing, invigorating performance.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine.

*Opening performance

Enmore Theatre. Sunday September 27, 2023

Reviewed : 27 Sept, 2023

It’s always a packed house! A noisy, boisterous packed house! A packed house of people of all ages, from under 8 to over 80! Some alone, some in pairs, some in family groups! All excited because most know what’s coming, and those who don’t are just caught up in the buzz and vibe. The vibe that is TheatreSports – and Celebrity TheatreSports in particular!

It’s hard to describe, but it’s a vibe that’s specific to Impro theatre. It’s a phenomenon, a wonder, a marvel, call it what you will. It comes from expecting the unexpected, from seeing actors take a challenge, make things happen, create characters, make a story …

So Ewan Campbell didn’t really need to warm up the audience, but hey, he loves it, and the audience certainly does. So in his inimitable style Campbell played on the hype, raising the excitement to pave the way for the reverberating tones of David Callan as he announced the 6 teams, host Rove McManus, co-host and timekeeper Monique Dykstra, and the amazing Benny Davis improvising on the keyboard.

Sporting every possible variation of 60s styles – flowers, flares, leather and laces, bandanas and braces – they took the stage along with Scorekeeper Jordan Gregory Dunsmore, the ‘Human Scoreboard’ – Will Torney, Simon James and Roy Valentine – and hidden in the audience, the Celebrity Judges, Jenny Hope, Liz Hovey, Lyn Pierse and Joanna Weinberg.

McManus kept the frenzy fizzling as he and Dykstra explained the ‘competition’ process – and the raison d’etre of the annual event. – namely to raise money for “Canteen” the national organisation that supports young people living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people whose parents or primary carers are suffering with cancer.

Two young Ambassadors from Canteen – Abbey Stephens and Nat Stickland – spoke glowingly after the first half of the show of the support they had received from Canteen, Abbey as she dealt with her father’s suffering, Nate as he continues to deal with the cancer he has been fighting for many years. Canteen gives young people like Abbey and Nate support and courage – and the inspiration to help others.

It’s a mighty cause, and every year celebrities from TV, theatre, music and sport join theatresports aficionados – and representatives of the young people from Canteen – to raise much needed funds to pay for the services Canteen provides including camps, counselling, specialist support, individual support and a 24/7 online support service for young people and parents. This year those celebrities included Amada Keller, Jay Laga’aia, Wil Anderson, Adam Spencer and Heather Garriock.

Families from Canteen led the cheering as McManus urged people to ‘dig deep’ in the interval by buying raffle tickets in prizes donated by the celebrities in the teams.

Back to the stage – and the TheatreSports rounds!

Some incredible stories and creative manoeuvres materialised. It’s impossible to try to remember every challenge the teams were given, nor attempt to recreate in words the hilarious scenarios that resulted, such as Murray Fahey manipulating John Knowles, Natasha Exelby and Alex Lee as puppets at a peace rally.

Or Wil Anderson, Nikki Britton, Steve Lynch and Lisa Ricketts, with the help of McManus improvising a scene using lines from a text message from a mobile phone ‘donated’ by a member of the audience!

In another, Ewan Campbell, Amanda Keller and Jay Laga’aia were ‘saved’ by bullets from an imaginary walking frame wielded by Jane Simmons.

Topics and challenges were amazingly varied: Four Animals on a Road Trip to Nimbin; Hilda the Horse That Lives Inside; a Family Saga based on the saying “Revenge is a dish best served cold. In another the team had to keep changing their impro in a variety of styles based on last century TV shows including Telly Tubbies and Thunderbirds! Funny – and surprisingly accurate!

Funniest of all was an impro where the team had to include in their performance the unrealised ability to belly dance. That team, titled “We’ve Got a Matilda” included former Australian soccer player and coach Heather Garriock, Daniel Doody, David Callan and Adam Spencer. All three men – and Garriock – took the challenge so literally that their belly dance was chosen by the judges at the ‘moment of the match” as it were – and they were required to replay it in slow motion at the end of the final round! Photos of that moment – see below! – are certain to be making their way around the world!

It was “We’ve Got a Matilda” that narrowly won the challenge and were declared the 2023 Winners, though surely every team was a winner this year! They certainly worked hard enough and obviously enjoyed the ‘gig’ as much as their audience!

Celebrity TheatreSports is just one of the many events – and classes – organised by Impro Australia. Check them out on improaustralia.com.au.

And while you’re online, check out Canteen at canteen.org.au – and donate or buy a bandana on Bandana Day.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

Writer, Director, Performer: Samuel Gaskin. Riverside Theatre Parramatta. Thursday 24 August, 2023

Reviewed : August 24, 2024

Yoruba and Ngati Tuwharetoa musician Samuel Gaskin has a lot to say about racism and injustice. That he does it through music makes his message clear and strong – especially in this performance where graphic visuals reinforce and sustain his words. Reckoning is using theatre not just to entertain but to reflect society and to herald the need for change. It is activism in its less strident but equally powerful form.

Gaskin uses harsh events of childhood to expound the effects of abuse and discrimination. He does so openly, not attempting to hide where such treatment leads or scars it leaves. But Gaking infuses his production with hope and love – especially in his special family/marriage equality  song “Love”.

Accompanied by The Meridas, Gaskin merges Maori and Aboriginal cultural music and sound and colour, stressing the strength that comes from ancestral and family connections. The costumes in primary colours are highlighted by bright light. A huge, illuminated figure watches over the production, as smokes billows below and cascades over the stage. The setting certainly infers that the ancestors are there in force.

Reckoning won four awards at the Melbourne Fringe. Its harsh message is clear – but it is told with optimism and the promise that change can come.

Also published in Stage Wjispers magazine

BelleKat Productions. The Evan Room, Panthers Penrith Leagues Club 19th August, 2023. The Wintle Theatre @ The Juniors, Kingsford 29th October.

Reviewed : 19 August, 2023

‘Tis not often one gets the chance to see genuine cabaret, Moulin Rouge style! Think high kicks, seductive showgirls, sultry singers and a smidgeon of suggestive innuendo! And you don’t have to go to Paris to see it! Last Saturday it played to a rapturous audience at lovely downtown Penrith. In October it moves to Kingsford.

Decadence is cabaret in the “grand style” – but it’s happening right here in Sydney, produced by a local company. Led by musical director Meera Belle and artistic director Katrina Prichard-Stutz, the cast of seventeen performers dance and sing their way through 50 years or so of music, including tributes to The King and Neil Diamond. There are miraculously quick costume changes – all sumptuous and sparkly, some really elaborate, some barely there at all!

There are fans and feathers, bling and balloons, high kicks and pert poses – even a jazzy jive number! But the best thing about it is that it’s giving older students from a two local studios the motivation to keep dancing, keep singing and keep honing their performance skills.

All over the country thousands of girls – and a smaller number of boys – learn to dance. Ballet, tap, hip hop, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, they are all there for the trying. Some kids do one or two, some try them all. And over the years they practise, learn routines, take part in exams and rehearse again and again for hundreds of eisteddfods and studio concerts.

But what happens when you’re too old for eisteddfods, too mature for the studio classes … but still want to dance and sing.

Some stay on at the studio as tutors – or open their own studios. Some audition for musical theatre productions. Some are lucky enough to get into a chorus, or, eventually, land a leading role. Some move on from there to the uncertain world of the professional stage, auditioning around the country for larger, paid roles that can last a few months, or, if the show is touring, for maybe a year.

Some chance a different stage and move overseas. Such was the case with Meera Belle and Katrina Pritchard-Stutz..

Meera Belle began her career as a contemporary singer but moved to the United Kingdom to retrain in opera at the Royal Norther College of Music. She made her debut at the Royal Albert Hall and spent many years performing at international music events such as he Glastonbury Festival and the luxurious ballroom of the QE2 ocean liner. Meera has written, directed and produced several cabaret and jazz ensembles including “Close to You: the Karen carpenter Story”, The Starr Sisters and Bossababy.

After studying ballet full-time at the Australian Academy of Ballet, Katrina Prichard-Stutz left home at seventeen to pursue her dreams. She started on the stages of Australian casinos, then moved overseas where she spent 25 years performing in Spain, the Canary Islands, South America and Asia. She then joined the famous Moulin Rouge touring in their show “Formidable”, then moved to the Folie Russe, the Cabaret show of Prince Rainier of Monaco before moving to America and designing costumes for the Caribbean Cruise lines and Artists in Circus.

What do two such talented and experienced performers do after such stunning careers? They return to Sydney and set up their own studios!

Meera’s Pitch Perfect Vocal Studio has been operating since 2017. Here she teaches students of all ages to sing – or hone their already experienced voices. They work across a range of styles from rock, pop, and jazz, to classical and Musical Theatre.

Katrina returned to Sydney and retrained in Classical Ballet method, became Licentiate Classical Ballet teacher and gained a Diploma of Musical Theatre. With that and a Diploma of Business, and Cert IVs in Training and Management and Training and Assessment, she then opened Kreative Kats & Greater Western Sydney Academy of Classical Ballet & Musical Theatre.

Strangely both chose the town of Richmond NSW– and it was there that they met and discussed their interest in

producing shows that would be a “performance outlet” for their older students.

Out of this came BelleKat Productions. Their goal was to produce “authentic Cabaret” – and that’s just what they are doing!

Just type BelleKat Productions into your server and checkout show reel and more information.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine