Enmore Theatre. 21st August, 2022

Reviewed : 21 August, 2022

The best yet? If not, it’s certainly in the running! With host Andrew Denton in sparkling red sequinned tails, co-host Josie O’Reilly in glittering gold and black and Music Man Benny Davis in shining silver, this annual theatrical treat was everything a charity impro event should be. The hosts were hyped, the teams were primed – and as usual the audience, warmed up by the inimitable Ewan Campbell, was ready for anything.

But the hype wasn’t just about improvisation.

This annual Sunday afternoon event is part of Theatresports and the Enmore Theatre’s ongoing commitment to Canteen, the wonderful organisation that supports young people “when cancer turns their lives upside down”. Ticket sales, a raffle, an online auction and donations from this event give a major boost to the wonderful organisation that means so much to so many kids and their families.

All those who take part in Celebrity Theatresports do so for love, and there was a great deal of love in the Enmore last Sunday afternoon. It shone from the faces of all the Enmore staff and Canteen volunteers selling raffle tickets. It shone from the heart of young Canteen Ambassador Josh Bell, who spoke so impressively of how important Canteen has been to him and so many other young people. It shone in the tears of the audience when Lily Knowles explained, heart-breakingly, about Canteen’s support in the recent loss of her mother. And when her father, Theatresports veteran John Knowles, left his team on stage to comfort his brave daughter.

Love also shone in the faces of the six Celebrity teams as they hit the competitive stage with their impressive impro talents. Judged by the Grande Dame of Impro, Lyn Pierse, with Play School’s Benita Collings and oncologist Dr Liz Hovey, and using some traditional Theatresports games, they showed the audience just what can be achieved when you … offer, listen, accept, extend … and add a bit of conflict, tension, tempo, pace and fun. Especially when it’s done by the experts!

One team was challenged to perform without the actors’ feet touching the floor. As the team members were carried around the stage by other teams things became more and more hilarious – and precarious! Andrew Denton, too, saw a precarious moment in the final game when Adam Spencer carried him a little too close to the edge of the stage in an underwater extravaganza! Virginia Gay and Rove McManus proved their impro prowess in several games, Gay impressively in an Opera challenge – and McManus becoming increasingly expressive as a garbage collector in an Emotional Replay.

Audio Celebrity Challenges were ‘piped’ in from David Collins (of the Umbilical Brothers), Jay Laga’aia (from back stage at The Eternity Theatre’s production of Once) and  Sam Simmons from UK TV’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Live Celebrity Challenges – Benita Collings and journalists Jane Hutcheon and Jennifer Byrne.

Competition was stiff, but there had to be a winning team, and that was “Fun Lovers” – Gep Blake, Veronica Milson, Jane Simmons, Rove McManus and David Callan – who lost only one point! What a triumph!

Congratulation to them, to all the other teams and to the host of people who make the event happen. It’s a highlight of the year for all those who perform in and love impro. And it’s always great to see so many of Impro Australia’s ‘impresarios’ back on the stage supporting a charity that means so much to so many.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

By Nick Payne. Lane Cove Theatre Company. Director Isaac Downey. The Performance Space @ St Aidan’s. 19-28 August, 2022

Reviewed : 19 August, 2022*

Nick Payne’s award-winning play Constellations is based on the possibility that there are multiple universes that can “pull people’s lives in different directions”. Or, that, as his character Marianne, a physicist, suggests: “several outcomes can coexist simultaneously” where “the decisions we do and don’t make will determine which of these futures we actually end up experiencing.”

People often wonder what would have happened if … they made another decision … chosen a different path … bitten their tongue before a harsh retort …

In Constellation,s Payne’s characters, Marianne (Caitlyn Cabrié) and Roland (Tommy James Green), get to experience some “what ifs” as they re-enact scenes where the use of different reactions and different inferences can lead to very different outcomes.

If the whole premise sounds confusing, Payne’s clever writing, and the warm understanding implied in his words, ensure that, once the first scene has been played and re-enacted – and re-enacted again – his hypothesis is clear, and with it the possibility of multiple solutions.

Isaac Downey’s astute direction adds to that clarity. His simple set ensures the concentration is on the actors and their different interpretations of the dialogue. Brief light and sound ‘clicks’ define the many scene changes or replays. The actors slip forward and back in time just as quickly.

None of that can be achieved without a carefully planned vision – and long hours of rehearsal. Green and Cabrié have only seconds to change the whole tenor of a scene and the nature of the character, or to take those characters into the possible ‘futures’ of their relationship.

Downey has guided them through those possibilities with a sure hand so that the different interpretations of their characters are clear and “can coexist simultaneously”. Precision timing is essential. Every replay of a scene means a change of pace and emotion. Every move from past to present to future means a change of place as well as time. It is not an easy play to direct or perform – but Downey and his cast are ‘doing it proud’.

Cabrié’s Marianne moves from speculative scientist to happy lover to cheating or cheated partner in a kaleidoscope of emotional expressions and reactions. In one scene she describes the intricacies of her work in cosmology as if teetering on a balance beam. In another she teeters just as precariously as she approaches, through speech affected by a brain tumour, the possibility of assisted suicide. It’s not an easy role, but Cabrié is finding the multiple dimensions of the many Mariannes effectively.

Tommy James Green brings the experience of stage, screen and improvised performance to his portrayal of Roland. His use of pause and facial expression extend and give depth to the different “Rolands” he depicts. Whether it be the nonchalant barbecue guest, the anxious ballroom dancer, the surprised cheated lover or the querulous husband, Green finds the right stance and expression and pace to portray them clearly.

Isaac Downey couldn’t have guessed when he decided to pitch Constellations for the 2022 season that the James Webb satellite would have scientists all over the world surmising anew about the origins of celestial bodies and even perhaps life itself! It makes Payne’s ‘surmise’ about “multiple universes” seem not quite so unreasonable.

By Liliana Padilla. Outhouse Theatre and Red Line Productions. Director Claudia Barrie. Old Fitz Theatre. 13 August – 3 September, 2022.

Reviewed : 13 August, 2022*

It’s an opportune time for Sydney to see Liliana Padilla’s Yale Drama Prize-winning play about issues of desire, consent, power, toxic masculinity, sexual assault and rape – and whether training in self-defence can ensure anyone’s safety. It centres on the aftermath of gang rape and assault of a young college student by two male students. It deals with the fear of her fellow students, their guilt, their damaged self-esteem – and their faith in self- defence training.

Padilla sets her play on a college campus in America. But it could be any campus. In fact it could be any school, any party, any back alley, even a government office … as Grace Tame, Chantelle Contos, Saxon Mullins, Brittany Higgins have revealed. The play calls out the need for change and the failure of society to attack the root causes of such violence.

With the new NSW affirmative consent laws in operation since 1st June this year, it’s an opportune time for Outhouse, Red Line and Claudia Barrie to premiere this gutsy play.

Padilla’s writing is stark and direct – and Barrie ensures her production is as punchy and provocative as Padilla’s pen. Neither writer nor director allows the implications of this play to be anything but clear and confrontational.

Barrie is a strong director, and she demands similar strength and conviction from her cast. Strength to sustain the work outs, routines and pace that their ‘self-defence’ classes demand. Conviction because the characters they play are raw, angry, afraid … yet eager and enthusiastic, taking their first independent steps in a world away from the safety of home. Barrie’s cast realise all of this in a production that is fast, punchy and visceral.

They perform on an austere, antiseptic set designed by Soham Apte to emphasise the sterility of the gymnasium. Grey brick walls and floor, a bench, some shelves, an exercise barre. A perfect space where lighting designer Saint Claire can throw vivid blues, mauves and reds to accentuate the rollercoaster of emotions the characters face – and the changing pace with which they face them.

All seven actors sustain that pace. All seven make their characters unambiguously real. Their different reactions to the rape are reflected in their faces, the way they relate, react, and retreat.

Brittany Santariga is Brandi, the self-defence instructor, seemingly confident but covering the guilt of failing to protect her friend. Santariga shows this in a taut control that is betrayed in her eyes and her recognition of the fear and vulnerability of others – especially her friend Kara, played by Jessica Spies.

Kara is a disturbed young woman who covers her weakness with over-confidence and brashness. Spies epitomises all of that, especially in one graphic description that rings so clearly to the audience of the hurt and suffering she really feels.

Georgia Anderson and Madeline Marie Dona play Diana and Mojdeh, friends who have joined the class together.

Diana is a Mexican who has had to fight her way against classism and racism. Dona makes her strong, lithe, watchful, quick to take offence – but ready to help, console. Not once does she lose her accent, nor the feistiness that she injects into this character.

Mojdeh is almost her opposite. She is softer, naïve, anxious to find love – and lose her virginity – but also a little scared. Anderson makes all of this clear, in her trust and acceptance of others, especially in her budding relationship with Andy, one of the two young men who join the class.

Michael Cameron, who plays Andy – and Saro Lepejian, who plays his friend, Eggo – are ‘good guys’, sympathetic, anxious to be supportive, but a little unsure of how to show it. Andy does so by gentle flirtation, Eggo by his awkward gawkiness – except when he dances.

Of all the characters Padilla creates, Nikki is the one with whom many audience members will identify. She is shy, she lacks self-esteem, she is tentative, she sees herself as a victim.

It’s not an easy role, but one any female actor would love to play – and one Jessica Paterson obviously relishes. Her Nikki is tentative, unsure. There is the hurt of past mistreatment in her alert, wary eyes. Yet she is determined to participate. Nothing is more telling than her surprised, gentle smile when she succeeds in a difficult move; nothing is more poignant than her anguish later in the play.

If this sounds a distressing play, of course it is! But there is humour, tons of action and hope. Claudia Barrie finds all the theatricality of the script. The fast repartee, the funny failures as they practice defence tactics, the boxing routines, the music and movement – all of these off set the strained relationships, the sad messages, the fear, and the continual realisation that institutions – and governments – have constantly failed to take action

It is a fine, brave production – one that should be picked up exactly as it is and taken to wider audience.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening night

Form Dance Projects. Riverside Theatres, Lennox Theatre. 11-13 August, 2022

Reviewed : 11 August, 2022*

Form Dance continues to bring new and unusual works to Sydney audiences. The presentations in this program tick both boxes. One is more traditional, the other radically twenty-first century. Both link performance and technology. Both will have different audience appeal – and response.

Fall, Falter, Dance!

Alone on the stage Ryuichi Fujimura stands, microphone in hand, and begins his stories – stories with which so many performers can identify. Stories of inspiration and rejection, motivation and failure – and the determination to keep trying, keep moving on … dancing!

Though it is an oft’ told tale, Fujimura presents it in a different way. Fujimura the actor knows how to introduce humour – and pathos. Fujimura the dancer knows when to intersperse his words with carefully devised dance routines. Fujimura the performer knows exactly when to use stillness and silence. In words and movement, he expressively leads the audience through a range of emotional responses.

Fujimura uses a bare stage, a microphone, a dance bag and a backdrop screen on which the vacant eyes of his past loom above him. Directors, choreographers … audiences.  Screens and clever graphics have become synonymous with arts performances. Fujimura uses his screen to emphasise the harrowing distance between talent, hard work, and recognition in the arts.

This story is not new – but Fujimura, the way he tells it is different, at times raw, at times funny, at times sad. It is the story of dancer, but its appeal reaches into all areas of the arts. From dancers facing yet another call back, to actors waiting in the wings for yet another audition., to painters carrying their works from gallery to gallery in hope of a chance to exhibit. to all the talented people who just want a chance to have their talent recognised.

Beatstorm

Beatstorm is a different thing altogether. Described as a collision between a video game and a movement performance, its appeal is to the generations who have grown up with screens and buttons and fast-moving eyes and fingers. The best way to describe it is to use the words of the program – because they do it far more graphically:

“Motion capture devices trach and project two players into a virtual world in real time as they travel along a fast-moving path set to high-energy electronic dance music evocative of video gaming. In each level players must doge a barrage of obstacles and collect items by moving their bodies; there is a one-to-one correspondence of movement between the real and the virtual”.

See what I mean! It is far beyond the ability of someone who is not au fait with that world to try to explain or follow – but well and truly pertinent for those who identify strongly with the concentration, skill, speed and energy of Chris Chua and Nasim Patel, who demonstrated Chua’s incredible creation.

Chris Chua has a creative imagination, obviously inspired by his work in computer programming and his dance experience. Bringing them together in such a creative way is an inspiration – and one that will appeal enormously across generations. Imagine the possibilities when  Chua’s idea is picked up by a wily entrepreneur. Beatstorm arcades or academies? Beatstorm fitness gyms?  Beatstorm competitive events? The Olympics perhaps?

Beatstorm’s appeal is to the young and fit. It is not a ‘performance’ that appeals to the usual dance audience. It does, however, have appeal to those want to merge fitness, movement and the virtual world. That’s a commercial possibility that Chua should be peddling widely.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening performance

Director David Crisante. Downstairs Chippendale Hotel. Monday nights until 28 August, 2022

Reviewed : 8 August, 2022*

Downstairs at The Chippo it’s a bit dark, but there’s a great vibe! And there are lots of people … mainly young  … except for one. That’s me! Why is this aged reviewer sitting among a crowd of energetic young actors on a cold winter night?  Because she loves improvisation!  Because she’s thrilled to learn about another impro venue in Sydney! Because she’s keen to see just what these young actors can do! And she isn’t disappointed.

The vibe mentioned before is infectious, fired by the enthusiasm and vitality of the teams waiting to perform and the expectation of their supporters. David Crisante’s novel improvisation competition has inspired a new wave of impro performers and followers – and  if each Monday night has been/is as fast-moving at this, he’s certainly come up with a winning idea.

Mixing sketch comedy and improvisation games, Crisante’s program gives 36 Improv teams  the opportunity to “strut their stuff” in six Monday competitions. The winners of each week will compete in the Grand Final on Monday 29^th August – for a prize of $2000! Fancythat! Impro actors getting paid!

Each Monday six teams are each given 12 minutes to entertain … and impress the audience with their Impro skills: quick thinking, spontaneity, confidence, changing characters, confidence and trust in each other. With names ranging from Scary Strangers to Three Swissketeers to Slay to Eyebrow Maitenance, the teams use a range of places, situations and emotions suggested by the audience to develop a cast of rare and random characters in equally rare and far-fetched scenarios.

Everyone has fun – performers and audience alike. It’s what impro is all about. Everyone supports everyone else, inside each team, between teams, between teams and the audience. No one fails. If, in his case, there’s a prize at the end, it’s an extra bonus.

Crisante is also providing classes in comedy before the show each Monday – and classes in communication on Thursday evenings. It’s all about skill building, developing creative thinking and confidence. David Crisante is passionate about this project. He is organiser, teacher, director, stage crew, lighting operator and encourager extraordinaire. His success is evident in the number of impro aficionados he attracts, the interest he inspires in his classes – and the audiences that fill the little space under the Chippo. See for yourself!

For more information – or to book tickets for Monday night performances try @improvcomedycagefight | www.improvcomedycagefight.com.au

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

* Heat 3.

Based on the novel by Harper Lee. Richmond Players. Director Matthew Barry. Richmond School of Arts;  5 – 20 August, 2022

Reviewed : 5 August, 2022*

This adaptation of a much read and studied novel revives Harper Lee’s characters and the town of Maycomb Alabama at a time when many of the issues it raised about the world in the early 1930s continue to plague society today. Racial prejudice, class, gender inequality, domestic violence, rape … and children losing their innocence at the hands of vicious perpetrators, continue to bloody our history.

It is opportune then, to mount an adaptation of the novel that, in the words of Lee herself “spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct…”

Director Matthew Barry sets the play outside Atticus Finch’s simple clapboard house. Light filters through translucent hanging fabric that suggests the epiphytic Spanish Moss that hangs from the branches of trees in the mid-Atlantic and south eastern states of America. It certainly sets the scene for a place where children might be frightened by a strange man who hides away in an old house, a father who punishes his daughter publicly and an accused man who is judged because of his colour rather than the truth.

Barry uses the floor and multiple entrances to the auditorium to extend the verisimilitude of town and courtroom scenes and involve his audience more closely with the Finch family, their neighbours, and the gossip and prejudices of their little town. Thus, Atticus (Matthew Barry) sits on a bench below the stage to read his newspaper – and hear the sheriff’s (John Courtney) whispered request that he represent Tom Robinson. Jean Louse “Scout” Finch (Leisel Hussey), her brother Jem (Luke Shiell) and their young friend Dill (Cooper Falzon) sit on steps in front of the stage to speculate about the reclusive “Boo” Radley. Locals gather at the side and front of the stage to watch the courtroom scene.

Looking back at that time in her youth is an older, wiser Jean Louise Finch (Alicia Brace), who introduces characters and connects events. At times she stands on the stage, at times she watches and comments from the floor of the auditorium. Brace is an older, wiser “Scout” who has lost the innocence and naïve curiosity of her young self and narrates the story with mature hindsight.

Taking on the role of director and actor is not an easy task, but Barry appears comfortable enough to ensure the action runs smoothly and the characters have the chance to develop clearly, especially the three young characters whose respect for and faith in Atticus come across so strongly. They are young, open, inquisitive and Hussey, Shiell and Falzon find all that youthful goodness and trust in very believable performances.

What a contrast is the character of Bob Ewell! Martin Crew is offensively malevolent as the cruel, violent man whose damaged daughter Mayella, played by Orana Keen, cowers before him as he berates and beats her publicly.

Norah Masige plays the Finch’s housekeeper, Calpurnia, who watches over his children and young Dill with a wary and caring eye. Masige brin

gs energy and the dignity of having been treated with respect to this role. She is especially strong later in the play as she comforts Rosa Robinson, played by Diana Renner, when she hears her poor Tom has been killed.

Benjamin Kanu takes on the role of Tom Robinson with a gravity that shows his fear, his despair about the Ewells’ lies and his respect for Atticus. Even in silence, Kanu has a strong stage presence.

Heloise Tolar, Emma Taite and Tamara Niccol are the women of the town. All three add depth to their small roles by watching and listening in character, as do Aurel Vasilescu and Ken Fletcher, especially as they watch and react to the trial scene. Sean Duff is distantly taciturn as Nathan Radley.

Peter Gollop doubles as Peter Framer and the lawyer, Horace Gilmer who leads the case against Tom Robinson in front of Judge Taylor played by Simon Peppercorn.

Atticus Finch draws his children and the townspeople together with wisdom and gentle advice. Barry finds this in measured reactions, kindly tones and the dignified reasoning of a man who observes, thinks deeply and is innately fair.

Richmond Players’ production reminds us that, unfortunately, the messages in Harper Lee’s novel are still relevant 90 years after the time in which it was set. Congratulations to Matthew Barry, his cast and his crew for having the courage to remind us of that.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening night.

Sydney Coliseum Theatre. West HQ. 16-17 July, 2022

Reviewed : July 17, 2022*

Ballet dancers from around the world flew in to join highly credited local ballet stars and an enthusiastic troupe of young dancers, to bring this international ballet extravaganza to the wide stage of the Sydney Coliseum. After the devastating effects of the last two years on live performance, it’s wonderful to see this extraordinary theatre, opened in December 2019 only months before the pandemic struck, realising its promise of bringing international performances and, hopefully, large cast musicals to “the greater west”.

The program features principal dancers from America, the UK, New Zealand and Australia – and young dancers who are making their name across Australian companies.

Hosted by Belinda Russell, the two-hour program includes performances from Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty and the Flame of Paris, a ballet set on the eve of the French Revolution – and being performed just two days after Juillet Quatorze (July 14^th) France’s National Day!

The program features principal dancers from The Royal Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the State Ballet of Georgia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company and over thirty-five young dancers.

As well as classical works, there are some exceptional contemporary works including the World Premieres of Forest of the Mind, choreographed by Australian-based Jake Burden. Commissioned by the Sydney International Gala, this extraordinarily beautiful work by Burden “pushes the boundaries of classical dance and brings an edge to the choreography”. Another World Premiere is We Are Still Friends, created and performed for the Sydney International Gala by Davide Di Giovanni.

Australian premieres included Ashes, choreographed by Jason Kittelberge (USA), L’Effleure, by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (France), Berceuse by Penny Saunders (USA) and Balleverdi, choreographed by Australian based Wim Broeckx.

Among the performing artists were Natalia Osipova from The Royal Ballet, Misa Kuranaga and Julian Mackay from the San Francisco Ballet, Laurynas Vejalis and Mayu Tanigaito from the Royal New Zealand Ballet,  Laura Fernandez from the State Ballet of Georgia, Davide Di Giovanni from the Sydney Dance Company, Bryce Latham and Grace Carroll from The Australian Ballet, Victor Zarello, formerly of the Scottish Ballet and Sydney Dance Company and Jack Tuckerman, presently collaborating with Sydney Experimental Arts Ensemble.

This is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the ballet world and an extraordinary chance for Sydney audiences to see world professional dancers in excerpts from works that are famous and very demanding. For the aspiring young dancers in the audience, it is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see pieces from so many ballets performed by such highly-trained and experienced dancers. From brilliantly executed classical pas de deux and a graceful, lone Dying Swan, to beautifully choreographed contemporary performances, this is a showcase of the world of ballet – one that it is hoped will become an annual event.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening performance

@niczeusmackay and @mackay.productions

Written and directed by Lucy Matthews. Acoustic Theatre Company. Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville (NSW). 14 – 23 July, 2022.

Reviewed : July 15, 2022*

Writing a musical play is ambitious. Getting it on to the stage can be difficult. Doing both yourself can be … challenging, testing, tiring  … especially during two years of pandemic-instigated illness and restrictions. But, if you are as determined and resolute as Lucy Matthews, it can also be exhilarating.

That exhilaration, that feeling of “we’ve done it despite everything, and we’ve loved it” shines in this production. Regardless of its title, there is a lot of ‘good’ love here. It glows in Matthews’ face as she greets patrons – and it shines from the actors and musicians who are bringing her production – and its complex messages about connections – to the stage.

Matthews’ characters tell their story in short, well written scenes that are elaborated in musical dialogues in a variety of genres. As director, she has chosen not to complicate the story with complex choreography, allowing the lyrics and the way they are sung give greater depth to the emotional dilemmas the characters are facing and the ‘ugly’ hurt of love – especially changing love.

Ugly Love is a musical play that looks at love and polyamory through contemporary eyes. It looks at the predictability and ennui of any long-term relationship, the difficulty of discussing problems truthfully, the excitement of new love … and the quandary of a different sort of love. Matthews does all of this gently, without recrimination or moralising. She cares for her characters and their dilemmas, as she explains:

“I spent four years trying to find an ending for the play. Initially, I wanted a happy ending, something that shines a light on the positive side of polyamory … Rather than trying to make it happy, I asked “what has changed?” Change isn’t happy or sad. It simply is.”

The theatre space at Flight Path is small, its intimacy lending itself to a production such as this. Though the space allocated to the musicians is small, the ‘cosiness’ is effective, especially in the cabaret scenes. It does have to be said, however, that in some numbers the volume of the music can overwhelm the vocals, a difficulty when the lyrics are a continuation of the story.

Matthews uses four actors to play the seven characters. This is an effective device, especially during a time when social distancing, mask-wearing and a nasty virus is affecting rehearsal schedules. It can, however, be challenging for an actor, especially if the roles explore similar aspects of a character type.

Lincoln Elliott faces this challenge playing three roles in Ugly Love. He plays Sam, married to Jess, Gus in a relationship with Jess’s friend Maddie – and James, a cabaret singer. At times he must move between the characters quickly, and he uses changes of costume and attitude to flag the changes physically. The predominant of these characters is Sam, and it is as Sam that Elliott is most engaging and multi-layered.

It is Sam’s marriage that begins to dissolve when his wife Jess is attracted to a woman and suggests that they should become polyamorous. Elliott takes Sam through a range of reactions and emotions – acceptance, loneliness, anger, despair, even a form of grief – all in a short time and often portrayed in song, challenging enough in itself, without having to morph to into a second and third character between scenes. Elliott is to be congratulated in sustaining the integrity of all roles.

LJ Wilson is Jess, torn between long love and new love, between vows and liberation, between security and change. Wilson finds all the ramifications intrinsic to these choices in a performance that is emotionally convincing and engagingly sincere. Whether in heartfelt scenes with Sam, or the diffident insecurity of the developing relationship with Lola, Wilson shows the turmoil that Jess faces – whether in tentative, poignant dialogue or song.

Cypriana Singh plays Lola, the sexy cabaret singer-cum-barista who wins Jess’s heart. Singh is an accomplished performer who uses the stage confidently. The Lola she creates is self-assured yet empathetic, finding the gentle humour and understanding that Matthews has written into the character, in both the new relationship with Jess – and with “her other partner” Michelle, played by Madelaine Osborn.

Osborn is both Michelle – the conscientious, ambitious IT expert with whom Lola has a long-standing relationship – and Maddi, Jess’s best friend and confidante. Osborn makes the change between these roles smoothly. Both are clearly delineated and charmingly likeable. As Michelle, she is busy yet affectionate, loving but self-contained. As Maddi she is open, out-going, candidly blunt at times – especially when trying to deal with Jess, Sam, and her own faltering relationship with Gus.

Matthews brings these characters together in a production that is simply set, one that relies inherently on the ability of the actors to portray the emotional transformations that occur. Doing so in words and song works effectively, especially when the music – played by Dom Parker, Charlie George, Jhoan Sebastian Bonilla and Mike Mills – is such an integral and integrated part of the production.

There are twenty musical scenes in Ugly Love, including the title song, all of which progress the story. Some are emotional, some are amusing. “The Dating Song” is the one that stays in my memory. It involves all performers, is perceptively satirical and the was choreographed to enhance the satire.

Matthews has every right to glow!

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening Night

By Michelle Law. Sydney Theatre Company. Director: Courtney Stewart. Wharf 1. 30 June – 6 August 2022.

Reviewed : June 30, 2022*

Contrast and comedy come together in this perspicacious production that uses the ‘body swap’ genre to take a shrewd look at social order and the multitude of contemporary issues that stem from ingrained attitudes, classism and media representation and how that affects the way we treat others – be that someone who puts the ‘top coat’ on our nails; or the way we climb ruthlessly over others on the way to reach the ‘glass ceiling’.

In Top Coat Michelle Law – playwright, journalist, speaker – uses the theatre to make astute comments about the impact of white privilege across our society, from the beauty industry to the media. She explains this perceptively in her reflections about writing the play:

“I was also able to reflect on the impact that representation has on the lives of people of colour, and how the systematic racism stitched into the fabric of this country since colonisation has led to a largely monocultural media landscape controlled by white leaders who, despite their good intentions, often cause deep harm”.

These are weighty words – yet in her play Law skilfully uses the veil of comedy to depict situations that are sardonically real, and characters that develop through dialogue that judiciously reveals layers of inherent racist attitudes, perceptions of social status and the tokenism to diversity practised in the arts.

Proselytising is avoided by the fast pace dictated by the writing and the comedy that osmoses through every scene. Realistic characters are juxtaposed with comedic caricatures. And a realistic situation is upended by a strange, paranormal electrical intervention that is the thesis of the plot – namely two characters switching bodies and  having to negotiate each other’s life.

Winnie (Kimie Tsukakoshi) is a manicurist saving to afford her own salon, whilst constantly facing unthinking condescension and racism. Kate (Amber McMahon) is an acerbic executive at MBC, a television company. Kate is confident, pushy and blissfully unaware of her flagrant, insensitive discrimination. Their lives are as different as their workplaces – as they find when their bodies are magically ‘swapped’ – thus providing a perfect scenario for a clever playwright like Law to comment adroitly on racism, social structure, and representation in the arts industry – and for an intuitive director like Courtney Stewart to realise the staging possibilities that the scenario suggests.

With designer James Lew, Stewart has commissioned a set that moves as constantly as the action. Carefully braced flats on smoothy moving trucks are slickly manipulated by the cast and crew to depict a variety of scenes. They twist and turn, meet, join, then swing away again. They are bright and colourful, their ‘role’ in the play accentuated by designers Kate Baldwin and Michael Toisuta and their cleverly co-ordinated lighting and sound effects.

The choreography in this production depends on split second timing. The actors and stage crew work in synch. Costumes changes occur as pieces of the set are moved. The set becomes a ‘built in’ extension of the theme of the play. Actors and set, cast and crew move constantly together. If ever a play depended on ensemble work, this is one!

Kimie Tsukakoshi and Amber McMahon work skilfully inside Winnie and Kate’s skins to establish the ‘power shift’ that Law wants the audience to consider.

Tsukakoshi mixes deference with pique to show Winnie’s reaction to unthinking racism and arrogance. She moves lightly on the stage, clarifying her character with elegant poise and restrained irritation.

McMahon uses similar poise to establish Kate’s confidence and self-assurance. She works with impressive command to make Kate stridently haughty, over-confident, oblivious to the hurt her condescension causes.

As their roles are reversed, Tsukakoshi steps Winnie confidently into Kate’s shoes but with less ego and more understanding. And Kate, in Winnie’s shoes, finds just how intimidating condescension can be.

Comedic timing is essential in Law’s lines and Stewart’s direction – and both Tsukakoshi and McMahon make the most of every comic line and interaction.

As do the three actors who play the characters who people Winnie and Kate’s lives. Arisa Yura has the interesting task of playing Winnie’s fellow beautician, Asami – and Yura, the Japanese-Australian screenwriter at the television company, whose work is overlooked. She makes her ‘role swap’ via clever writing rather than “lights and drum rolls” and makes both roles distinctly different and yet, in keeping with the irony, suggestively similar. Clever writing – and clever characterisation.

John Batchelor plays several roles, each skilfully played to augment the satire that is intrinsic to Law’s purpose. He plays Kate’s pompous boss Barry, her partner Jeremy and several of Winnie’s clients. Batchelor’s experience across stage and screen is extensive, all of which is evident in the intricate changes he uses to make each of these characters very different – yet equally funny.

Matty Mills plays Marcus, the indigenous Business Affairs Executive at the Television company, as well as other characters that support the action. Mills too has an instinct for comedy – and timing – as well finding the various dimensions that Law manages to build into all her characters.

Top Coat brings together a cast and crew representative of a multicultural Australia that is seldom represented on the stage. The play is written, directed and designed by Asian-Australians. Two of the cast are also Asian-Australians. One is indigenous. That makes a distinctive comment about representation. It boldly investigates a host of complex social inequities, but does so in a way that makes us laugh – albeit uncomfortably.

“Ultimately, this piece demands a higher standard for the ways people of colour are represented in the stories we see on stage and screen … Top Coat gives us all an opportunity to find our way back to each other”. (Courtney Stewart, Director).

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

*Opening Night