Book by John Hartmere & Damon Intrabartolo, music by Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by John Hartmere. Lane Cove Theatre Company. The Performance Space @ St Aidan’s, 1 Christina Street, Longueville. May 10 – 25, 2019

Reviewed : May 11, 2019

Bare is not your usual musical. Sure, it’s about love and trust, but its also looks at them in a very different setting and through a much broader, more inclusive eye. Bare is the love story of two schoolboys in a catholic boarding school in America or anywhere. There are whimsical moments, very touching moments and some amusing moments – all told in thirty-six musical numbers that vary in pace and style. Singing a story isn’t ever easy. Singing it when it involves such poignantly contemporary themes is even more challenging. But this production does it with amazing compassion and tenderness.

Lane Cove Theatre Company has a reputation for punching above the expected. Bare is no exception. Director Kathryn Thomas, who directed Next to Normal last year, has brought another ‘different’ musical to the very small space that the company calls home. Thomas says: “I love the show because it captures vulnerability and struggle with all facets of adolescence, from sexuality to body image”. Co-director Isaac Downey adds that it “resonates acceptance, blind faith and love”.

Thomas always directs with a carefully considered vision and empathy, for the themes and the performers. With Downey in this production, she uses space economically and levels to emphasise connections and contrasts. They manage the large cast judiciously, blocking tender scenes perceptively and choreographing the dance numbers to reflect the youthful energy and zest of the characters the cast portray.

Musical director Steve Dula has a feel for the space, adjusting the volume to endow the voices – which, thankfully, are un-amplified, making the touching scenes more natural and evocative. Lighting plays its part, enhancing the more delicate moments, augmenting the pace and humour of the dance numbers.

The relatively young, but talented, performers who play the students, have responded to the themes and direction with enthusiasm and passion. All work as a tight ensemble whether at prayer in the opening scene (“Epiphany”) or at the birthday party that turns into a rave (“Wonderland”), or as observers in more poignant scenes where they support the protagonists played by Matt Shepherd, Mackinnley Bowden and Edan McGovern

These three performers carry some of those delicate scenes. Shepherd and Bowden, as roommates and secret lovers, Jason and Peter, find the vulnerability of their characters with a control that suggests much greater stage experience. They tell their story in songs where phrasing, timing and range are sometimes difficult, yet they manage this whilst at the same time conveying the depth of confusion and emotion that the teenagers they portray might feel. They have many beautiful duets, among them “Best Kept Secrets”and the title song, “Bare”.

McGovern plays the difficult role of Ivy, who is also in love with Jason. McGovern uses a mature restraint that lends depth and conviction to the character. She uses her eyes expressively to heighten the emotive highs and lows of the journey the character makes. Whether singing and dancing, or slowly accepting rejection and shame, McGovern is persuasively in the moment. Her rendition of “Touch My Soul” lingers in the memory.

Lucy Koschel takes on the difficult role of Nadia, Jason’s overweight, perceptive sister – and Ivy’s roommate. Her performance of “Plain Jane Fat Ass” finds the agony of the sentiments it expresses, as well as the humour that is incorporated in the words.

Another difficult role is that of Matt, who is love with Ivy. Christopher O’Shea finds the debilitation of rejection in his portrayal of this dispirited young man.

The ‘adult’ roles in this coming-of-age musical are representative but beautifully incorporated into the story. Kristin Kok as Peter’s mother, Claire, has been aware his sexuality for years, but is shamefully in denial.  Anthony Mason is the rigidly doctrinarian priest who can’t allow his compassion to override his religious beliefs.

Carmel Rodrigues plays a much less constraining part as Sister Chantelle, the nun who is directing the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Rodrigues is a ball of energy who brings the vital contrast that balances the emotion of the play. She sings and dances, admonishes the audience – and make a hilarious appearance in a dream sequence.

There are some haunting lines in this musical: “Do you watch me when I cry”… “I’m left with my courage alone” … “pain adores me, God ignores me” …  “everything’s an act when you’re pleasing everyone” …

This is another brave production of which the company, the directors and the dedicated cast and creatives should be justly proud. It deserves to be seen and heard by a bigger audience.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

By Richard Bean.  Richmond Players.  School of Arts.  Saturday May 11, 2019 – 8pm, Friday May 17 – 8pm, Saturday May 18 – 2pm & 8pm.

Reviewed : May 6, 2019

Think Britain in the 1920s! Flappers and tappers! Gangsters and pranksters! Think colourful, busy beachside Brighton! That’s exactly where director Carol Dicker has taken this production of One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean’s madcap adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s eighteenth centurycommedia dell’arte play, Servant of Two Masters.

The plot is ageless: a twin sister disguised as her dead brother; three complicated love stories; a ruffian; a shark; three sassy women; and a rogue working for two bosses. The comedy is ageless: puns, slapstick, plays on words, falls and pratfalls. It worked for Shakespeare; it worked for Goldoni. It worked for Bean! Dicker and her busy cast have been very busy making it work for Richmond Players.

The play is funny. It lends itself to song and dance. As well, the period lends itself to colour and jazz. And Dicker has incorporated all of this into a production that is sure to tick lots of audience-appeal boxes.

John Courtney plays the incorrigible rascal, Francis Henshall, an out-of-work skiffle player who is hungry for a job – and food. It is he who is the ‘one man’ trying to work for ‘two guvnors’. Courtney rises to the many challenges of this role – the quick talking prattle, the sleight of hand, a fight, a couple of difficult falls, and some song and dance. The audience is Henshall’s confidante and Courtney breaks through the fourth wall with engaging charm.

Heloise Tollar and Robert Hall play his ‘two guvnors’. Tollar is Rachel Crabbe, disguised as het twin brother, Roscoe. In an ill-fitting suit, a wig and a cocky little hat, she ‘manfully’ strides the stage, placating her brother’s fiancée, getting promised money from her erstwhile father-in-law-to-be and giving orders to Henshall.

Hall is very funny as the other ‘guvnor’, the upper-class but chumpish Stanley Stubbers – Rachel’s lover and the man who killed her brother. Hall has a strong stage presence and his comic timing, use of pause and confident pace set the tenor in his scenes.

Courtney, Hall and Tollar have some tricky moments involving not just ‘two guvnors’, but two swinging doors, two letters, two meals and two fast-spoken explanations. Comedy like this can be two dimensional, but Dicker has managed to make sure that the characters are as important as the clowning.

Michael Niccol plays Charlie the Duck, a local crook whose pretty, but ditzy, daughter Pauline (Madz O’Hare)was engaged to Roscoe but is really in love with over-the-top wannabe actor, Alan (Thomas Gardiner). All three of these performers find the comic fun in their roles, Niccol by cunningly playing down the character, O’Hare and Gardiner by doing just the opposite.

Charlie’s feminist bookkeeper, Dolly, is played with cool flair by Samantha O’Hare. This is a gem of a role, and O’Hare relishes every feisty line and suggestive moue.

The supporting cast add much to the humour of the production, especially Nellie Grimshaw – billed as “Greek Chorus” – who makes some fast and admirable scene and character changes. Watch especially for the nun, the baton-twirling policeman and an auspicious journey through the fourth wall! Catherine Gregory is innkeeper Llola, Craig Wynn-Jones is Charlie’s lawyer. Simon Dane is a doddery, zanny-style waiter. Anne McMaster is his patient boss.

Dicker has chosen a multi-skilled cast, enabling her to bring some of them in front of the curtain as stylish entertainers between scenes. Singing and dancing in their elegant, glitzy 20s costumes gives the production extra sparkle and pizzazz.

As does bringing the whole cast on stage in an energetic tapdancing finale! Choreographed by Samantha O’Hare, this is a colourful climax to a bright production that will take the bite out of cool May nights – and debatable electioneering!

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine

Enmore Theatre. May 6, 2019

Reviewed : May 5, 2019

Competition across the ages was buzz-word for this impro extravaganza. Theatresports veterans from the heady days of the 1980s teamed up with, or were pitted against, some of the bright young things that are making their mark on the twenty-first century impro circuit … and other stages. Together they battled for the ‘Championship’ title in a series of impro games that stretched the imagination – and the discerning eyes of the judges, led by another veteran David Poltorak. Poltorak was Cranston Cup Grand Finalist back at Belvoir Street in 1986 and teammate of Andrew Denton, Steve Johnston and David Witt in the legendary, and very witty team, called Writers Bloc,

The full house, like the event itself, drew together enthusiastic followers of all ages: old Theatresports tragics; young kids involved in the Theatresports in Schools program; inter-generational Comedy Festival committed. An audience like this defies age gaps, gender gaps and prissy conservatism. They are there to support the players, wonder at their ingenuity, and have fun. And that’s what they got!

Pringles opened and drinks in hand, they were ready for anything and this year’s host, Fat Pizza and The Habibs star Tahir Bilgic revved them up even further. Using his stand-up impro skills – and a few Bankstown High-based memories to remind the ‘sprogs’ that we were all young and cheeky once – Bilgic introduced the players, the judges, the format and producer and timekeeper, John Knowles, impro aficionado, storyteller of note and one of the hilarious God’s Cowboys.

With a call to arms from these Comic Commanders-in-Chief, the battle began. Veteran impro ‘knights’ like Lisa Ricketts, David Callan, Michael Gregory, Dan Cordeaux and Rob Johnston swung creative swordswith Jane Watt, Cale Bain, Jeromaia Detto and Rob Boddington. Witty warriors Jestika Chand, Elliot Ulm and Rachael Colquhoun-Fairweather from the 2018 Grand Final superstar team Mission Improbable 3 joined the fray, quick-thinking rapiers drawn.

Feinting and parrying, they dodged and evaded blocking, changed direction at a moment’s notice, and kept the clash of ideas alive until the final battle bell tolled.

But it was teenage rookies Louisa Cusumano and Finn Hoegh-Guldberg, fired up with their millennium-age missiles, who won the day. Side-stepping distraction and riding on the experienced backs of their legendary opponents, these neophytes of competitive improvisation stole the initiative – and the title!

Improvisation develops skills essential in all walks of life – teamwork, creative thinking, confidence, listening – and is the basis of good acting and script interpretation. Theatresports brings it front-of-stage in spontaneous action that’s fun for everyone. Australia’slongest-running comedy show, Theatresports has been entertaining audiences – and shining the light on brilliant new performers – for 33 years.

This year’s The Battle of the Champions celebrated and paid homage to those years by ‘reuniting the legends and introducing the brilliant new guard’. Check out further Theatresports/ Impro Australia classes and events at: http://improaustralia.com.au/shows/

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Blackout Theatre Company. The Pioneer Theatre, Castle Hill. 3rd-12th May, 2019

Reviewed : May 3, 2019

Tim Rice’s wry, contemporary lyrics take Joseph out of the dry verses of Genesis into a hip Canaan and rock’n’roll Egypt, where the biblical story of brotherly envy and Freudian-style dream analysis is a lot more ‘boppy’.

Co-directors by John Hanna and Katie Griffiths have taken the ‘bop’ to heart with a brisk, bright production that concentrates on the singing and dancing and accentuates the humour.

The cast is big and includes a chorus of sixteen very well-behaved children, who, led in by co-narrators Angela Therese and Annastasia Denton, sit along the front of the stage for the duration of the show. In their special moment, as the backing singers for Any Dream Will Do they gaze beatifically while Joseph, played by James Carter, sings– and their parents sit proudly in the audience.

Choreographer Tamara Scamporlino has picked up on the directorial vision, combining ‘Egyptian-style’ movements with modern hip hop and jazz in routines that are very effective. Though the choreography seems relatively simple, the progressions and pace must have required hours of rehearsal time, and Scamporlino and the cast should be really happy with the way their work lifts the production.

Musical Director David Catteral – with Daniel Woolnough and the orchestra – set the pace with Lloyd Webber’s catchy tunes, as Jacob and his Sons introduce the story … and the thirty-two-strong cast, colourfully and authentically dressed by costume designers Angela and Ann Hanna. This is one way the directors have achieved their goal of making the production less ‘pantomime-like’.

The other contributing effect is the set, which successfully makes the performance more visually realistic, taking the actors from Canaan to Egypt with symbolic set pieces, that have been carefully made to be safe and easily manipulated.

Cast members – principals and chorus – work as a cheerful, talented, committed ensemble who are obviously enjoying this first of Blackout Theatre’s 2019 musical season.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine.

By George Orwell, adapted by Geordie Brookman.  State Theatre Company South Australia. Riverside Theatres Parramatta.  May 1 – 3, 2019

Reviewed : May 1, 2019

British author George Orwell’s concern for the world began in the 1930s with the poor and unemployed in the Depression. Reporting on the Spanish Civil War led to his concern about communism, fascism and his fear of another war.

He wrote Animal Farmin 1944 as “a political fable” based on the Russian Revolution and Joseph Stalin’s eventual betrayal of the people. He followed this in 1949 with 1984, which warned of the potential dangers of totalitarianism.

Several adaptations of 1984 in the past few years have used Orwell’s work to make comparisons with contemporary political dishonesty and domination, so it is probably opportune that director Geordie Brookman decided to revive the dictatorial, power-hungry pigs of Animal Farm.

Brookman’s decision to use the genre of storytelling preserves the graphic simplicity of Orwell’s writing. “Never use a long word where a short one will do,” he advised – and his descriptions of each of the farm animals, the neglected conditions from which they rebelled, and the eventual greed and cunning of the tyrannous pigs are vivid and explicit.

In the hands of performer Dale March, those words and the social criticism behind them become scarily powerful.

Looking remarkably like photographs Orwell himself, March, dressed in back, and lit eerily from the side, introduces the condition of the farm and its poorly treated livestock. His carefully controlled voice defines the dark space that the property has become – and describes each of the animals in the words that Orwell chose so prudently.

As the animal rebellion proceeds, the set is revealed as a dark triangular shaped ramp and rise. At times, lines of light flash cross it. At times sound effects shock. Constantly March controls the audience, his eyes fixed, his voice changing as he becomes each of the animals.

Hands fisted, voice slowed, he becomes the hard-working Boxer. Voice higher, face contorted, he becomes the pigs’ nasty henchman, Squealer.

As the pigs realise their ability to exploit the less intelligent animals, March draws the audience in to the horror of their subversive take-over of the farm and the cruelty that follows.

Orwell’s message is clearly told in this production that Brookman has brought from Adelaide for a brief season in Sydney.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine.

By George Bernard Shaw. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. April 23 – May 25, 2019

Reviewed : April 25, 2019

Deborah Mullhall’s decision to use a Steampunk theme for this production works surprisingly well. The1980s fashion genre that mixed Edwardian costumes with the cogs and goggles that symbolised the industrial revolution, pushes Bernard Shaw’s characters into a more contemporary age – and highlights the fact that the themes he wrote about in 1912 haven’t changed greatly. The world is still classist and judgemental. There is still inequality. Chauvinism still abounds.

Tom Bannerman’s stark set establishes the ‘industrial’ aspect of the theme. A white ‘railway line’ bookshelf curves around the stage. A metal stairway angles to a higher level. The only furniture is a silver two-seater chaise and chair upholstered in cog-printed fabrics. This minimalism serves to accentuate the elaborate detail and slinky chains of the Steampunk costumes, designed by Mulhall herself and costume assistant Fiona McClintock.

All of which, though meticulous, are surpassed by the acting and direction! The action is tightly focused. The characters are finely developed. The dialogue is sharp and clear – itis “the language of Shakespeare and Milton” – but never laboured. This pushes the pace of the production in line with the more contemporary theme – and is sustained even in the long exchanges in the final scenes.

Steve Corner and Emma Wright as Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle parry delightfully, he haughtily espousing his triumphs, she deflecting his opiniated arrogance with righteous indignation. Both wear their characters and their costumes confidently and decisively, breathing freshness and vitality into roles created 106 years ago!

Mulhall recreates Colonel Pickering and Mrs Pearce as younger and more ‘with it’ characters – thus making the tone of the play lighter, in keeping with the more ‘edgy’ theme. This puts a different slant on Pickering’s ability to identify with both Higgins and Eliza, and Shan-ReeTan carries it off well. His Pickering is more dashing, just a trifle supercilious, and very engaging.

It also gives Natasha McDonald the opportunity to give a bit of accented spice and colour to the role of Mrs Pearce. McDonald does so with carefully gesticulated aplomb, niftily putting Higgins in his place and deftly taking Eliza under her more modern protective wing.

All four of these actors work together with a syncopated poise that synchronises with the theme. Mulhall must be delighted with the effect her direction has achieved.

Collen Cook is a gracefully dignified as Mrs Higgins, a contrast to her less decorous son. Tricia Youlden is elegantly tentative as Mrs Eynsford Hill. Tiffany Hoy is her society-conscious daughter, Clara, Robert Snars her more chivalrous son, Freddy. These four actors, too, despite less stage time, impress with their contribution to the effective ‘whole’ of the production.

Mark Norton plays Eliza’s “undeserving poor” dustman father, Alfred, and Lisa Kelly is Mrs Higgins’ maid. Emilia Kriketos, Sean Taylor and Vitas Varnas are very observant bystanders in Covent Garden.

Deborah Mulhall has given this production of a Shaw ‘classic’ a nudge into a more futuristic time slot – yet sustained the elegance of the language and the characters … and the messages they convey.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall. Easter Saturday 20th April, 2019

Reviewed : April 24, 2019

So much rehearsal by so many singers and musicians for a once only performance! But what a performance! And what a huge and appreciative audience! The Concert Hall was full; the atmosphere of anticipation was infectious. And no one was disappointed.

The Chamber Singers and the Symphony Chorus were joined by Capella St. Crucis, Hannover and the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra to present:

Antony Pitts’ XLX Mente cordis Sui,

J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in D major and

W.A. Mozart’s Mass in C minor.

Imagine the sound of two hundred voices thrilling the ears and senses of with the inspirational scores of these composers. Add the acclaimed soloists Sara Macliver, Anna Dowsley, Nicholas Tolputt, Nicholas Jones and David Greco, and you have a program that added extra celebrative joy to the message of Easter. Hosanna in excelsis indeed!

Australian composer Antony Pitts was in the audience to hear the 50 vocal parts of his XLX Mente cordis Sui sung by a hundred singers positioned in four groups – one the stage, one on each side of the Concert Hall boxes, and one at the very back of the hall. This was real ‘surround sound’. There was nothing ‘virtual’ about it. Conducted by Brett Weymark, the voices encircled the audience with Pitts’ imaginative homage to Bach’s Magnificat.

“In my piece these dozen or so chords are recomposed in a kind of anachronistic bullet time… and scattered to the four winds and back to Bach …”(Antony Pitts)

And so they were! Using the ingenious idea of positioning the choirs at the east, west, south and north perimeters of the Concert Hall, the voices literally (en)compassed the audience delightfully.

The choirs were then joined by the orchestra for both the Magnificat, conducted by Weymark, and Mozart’s Mass, conducted by Florian Lohmann. In the hands of Concertmaster Fiona Ziegler, the choirs and each soloist, were a force vocale that paid high tribute to both composers.

The program notes in performances such as these are eagerly perused by those who love music but may not be especially learned about it. When they are explained as clearly – and with a little humour – as Yvonne Frindle did for this performance, they are even more gratefully appreciated, and add extra, informed enjoyment to the concert.

Also published in Stage Whispers magazine.

The Flying Fruit Fly Circus.  Riverside Theatres, P arramatta.  April 18 & 19, 2019

Reviewed April 17, 2019

“To invent, all you need is a pile of junk and a good imagination.”  Thomas A. Edison

“The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of themselves.” Roald Dahl

The “Fruities” have cartwheeled their way into Parramatta celebrating 40 years of the youth circus that has been marvelled at by audiences across Australia and around the world. Who would have thought that what began as a local circus project for school kids in 1979 would evolve into a cohort of 8 to 19-year-olds attending school full time at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus School in Albury Wodonga? Or that they can go on to senior studies in partnership with Swinburne University? It’s an achievement that’s pretty awe inspiring.

JUNK is a worthy celebration of their skills – and the other subjects that are integral to the Fruit Fly education program. The show is based on their research into the life and games of their local elders, told through the acrobatic daring of these kids of the present. Their performance is fun and exciting, full of somersaulting momentum, just as everyone expects it to be. But it’s also a wistfully energetic response to the suggestion that kids of today are ‘over supervised” and aren’t given the opportunity to take risks or use their imaginations.

The show opens with a boy standing outside a fence. As he pulls on contemporary protective clothing – a high-vis safety vest, elbow pads, a helmet – the fence unfolds to reveal the backyard of an old farmhouse. The tyres and other ‘junk’ that lie about provide the suggestion of times past – as do the costumes of the kids that begin to crowd around him. Their disdain of his protective gear and his ‘fear’ of joining in their games, is the ‘through line’ that is used to demonstrate the skills of the amazing young cast.

Designed Joey Ruigrok, the ‘backyard’ set also incorporates space for the multitude of equipment that supports the acrobatic feats the kids, their trainers and director Jodie Farrugia have built into the production. As they entice the boy from the present to join their ‘games’, they showcase the “energy, expertise and commitment” of their 20 hours a week training.

They tumble over each other, through elastics, between hopscotch lines. They jump from a fence on to a teeterboard to propel a performer on the other end through a high double somersault. Some spin high in the air from narrow bands wrapped around their hands. Others leap from a wall on to a trampoline, using the force to propel themselves back up the wall in different, incredible ways. One spins multiple hula hoops around her hips, on her arms, around her ankles – all at the same time! Another rides a unicycle and an ‘ultimate uni’ (just a wheel with two pedals).  Others shimmy up a metal pole covered in rubber and, using incredible strength and concentration, balance in incredible shapes.

They work as a tight, supportive ensemble. There is no posing, no pretension – just an energetic enthusiasm for the work they love … and an implicit trust in each other that is not usual in those so young.

This is a great family production – as the bookings already show!

First published in Stage Whispers magazine.

By Lucy Kirkwood.  Sydney Theatre Company.  Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House.  April 8 – 18, 2019.

Reviewed : 12 April 2019

Lucy Kirkwood uses Mosquitoes to bridge the gap between science and the general public by creating a piece of theatre that compares the patterns of colliding particles with the chaos of family relationships. Both are hard to predict; both are hard to understand; both are hard to explain.

The result is a long dialogue and fact heavy play that melds the two on a stage (designed by Elizabeth Gadsby) that creates the illusion of the massive void and gravitational pull of a black hole – and accentuates the insignificant smallness of humanity. The actors are dwarfed in a light-framed void that is intensified by sparse props and tightly centred direction.

Director Jessica Arthur describes Kirkwood as “smashing the conventions of playwriting” by being able to write about “people and relationships in real and relatable detail all whilst interweaving the biggest ideas of the universe”. In her production, the characters are sometimes so real that the scenes they enact are confronting, piercingly emphasised by stridently magnified vocals that reverberate hollowly in the vacuum behind them.

Jacqueline McKenzie and Mandy McElhinney play sisters Alice and Jenny. Alice is a physicist working in Geneva on the Large Hadron Collider. She is intelligent, committed, logical. Jenny operates on a more instinctive, emotional level, often making decisions based on ‘googled’ misinformation.

Their mother, Karen, was also a scientist, but was never acknowledged as she should have been. She has always lauded Alice’s intelligence – and ridiculed what she saw as Jenny’s stupidity. Not a good mix for a family reunion where Alice is concerned about the forthcoming Hadron experiment, Jenny is mourning the loss of her baby daughter, Karen is fearing the creeping effects of dementia, and Alice’s teenage son disappears with something that could shatter everything.

This play isn’t easy to watch. The scientific references are challenging, despite the fact that Kirkwood’s message entails the need to demystify scientific ideas. The relationships are also challenging, especially Karen and Alice’s continual denigration and abuse of Jenny.

Nevertheless, scenes are neatly directed, drawing characters together, before tearing them apart – the humour that is injected serving to break the tension a little.

McKenzie and McElhinney are consummate performers who make their contrasting characters believably strong and convincingly unlikeable. Annie Byron is similarly strong as the unkind but vulnerable Karen. The trio portray a story of familial unpleasantness that is demanding and challenging – for the actors and the audience.

Charles Wu wrestles adolescent anger and frustration as Alice’s son Luke, dragged away to Geneva and then ignored by his mother. Nikita Waldron plays his friend Natalie. Their online conversation shows Kirkwood’s ability to move dialogue across generations – and the timing of their delivery aptly mimics the phrasing of electronic chatting.

Louis Seguier as Henri tries to pour oil on sullied family waters, and Angela Nica Sullen doubles as Gavriella and a very bored but imposing policewoman. Jason Chong, as Boson, has the unenviable task of delivering a scientific lecture that progresses to a fast, disjointed diatribe that symbolises the need for scientists to communicate more ideas more clearly

When asked her thoughts on the statement “The information age is the age of anxiety”, Kirkwood says: “The entire play is an expression of this statement … we have access to such a vast wealth of information without having the analytic skills to understand it …” .

In a similar way, her play exists on both an intellectual and emotional level that will appeal to some – and worry others.

First published in Stage Whispers magazine

By John Misto. Castle Hill Players. Pavilion Theatre, Doran Drive Castle Hill. April 5 – 27, 2019

Reviewed : 5 April 2019

As the premiere community theatre production of John Misto’s play, this is another coup for a theatre company that is prepared to give its directors and actors ‘some meat’ – and challenge its audience with something a little bit different.

Dark Voyager is set Hollywood in 1962, in the home of infamous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. It’s the opening night of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and, for reasons that are a lot more underhand than mere gossip, Hopper has invited its warring stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, for drinks. When a slightly substance-affected Marilyn Monroe arrives, ‘pigeon among the cats’ might best describe the possibilities that ensue.

Misto is more than just a playwright. His research is always incredibly sound and solid. And for this play he immersed himself in the fact and fiction that was the stuff of post-war movie stars – and the politicians who lusted after them. Contemporary American political rakes had worthy predecessors – Richard Nixon, the Kennedys, J Edgar Hoover – all of whom are palpably exposed by Misto in a plot that blends history and gossip with creative artistic licence.

Whilst the play, first produced by the Ensemble Theatre in 2014, is a black comedy, where one-liners and bitchy barbs come thick and fast, it sits very securely in 2019 amid the many revelations of #Me Too. Misto pays homage to the feisty women who fought hard to make their way to the top – and stay there – in the precarious world that was … and still is … celebrity stardom. As well as the intelligence, quick wittedness and pure guts they needed to survive, he reveals their vulnerability and their bravado. Some of the sacrifices they made along the way will surprise – among them the stories behind “Bette Davis’ eyes” and Joan Crawford’s broad shoulders.

Recreating these famous screen stars on stage demands research and hard work – a challenge that fastidious director Annette van Roden and her cast have met head on. Weeks of concentrated night time rehearsals, and research into the characters, their accents and their idiosyncrasies, have resulted in a production of which van Roden and the company can be proud. The set, designed ‘remotely’ from Hobart by Peter Rhodes, and atmospherically lit by Mehran Mortezaei, locates the play, with its cunningly chosen costumes, faithfully in the colours and contours of its time.

Annette Emerton takes on the role of the formidable Hedda Hopper, relishing the manipulative deviousness of the character and her calculating cunning. Emerton opens the play and neatly sets its tenor, referencing “Jedgar’ Hoover as she gives her young ‘butler’ Skip instructions for the night.

The first guest to arrive is Bette Davis, played with spirited conviction by Faith Jessel, who makes excellent use of the space and the lighting as she fires insult after insult with comedic flair. The constant malice and spite of this role – and the fact that it is used to move the plot – must be exhausting, but Jessel sustains the pace and energy, and the timing of her constant cracks.

Leigh Scanlon as Joan Crawford is tall and elegant, emulating the chic sophistication of Crawford and the confidence she draws from the adulation of her fans. She faces Davis’ insults with taut restraint and calculated scorn. As they argue over who should get top billing for Baby Jane, she skilfully goads Davis into agreeing to a wager that will eventually reveal her frailty – as well as introducing Marilyn Monroe into the play.

Monroe, played by Jacqui Wilson, arrives in a breathy haze – literally and metaphorically – clutching the arm of awe-struck Skip. Lured by the message from Crawford, but confused in a pill-induced fug, she is dishevelled, perplexed. Dressed in a long, cream satin robe, Wilson finds the artless grace Misto has given the character and the naivety that has led to her fall from fame, and the future that awaits her.

The character of Skip is not just a foil to the vanities of the women he serves. Misto has cleverly woven him into their back stories – as is revealed, bit by enticing bit, in the second act. Adam Garden shines in the ‘persona’ that Skip has created in his ploy to reveal his true self. He is cheekily subservient to Hopper, mischievously disrespectful to Davis, warily watchful of Crawford, shamelessly bewitched by Monroe – then hopelessly diminished as he makes a thwarted bid to be accepted.

This production is tightly directed and tightly performed, making the most of the play’s humour and its revelations. Misto has probably packed too much into the second act, but this energetic and committed cast meets that challenge with fortitude.

Also published in Stage Whispers Magazine