Drama Tuesday - Actors, theatre and superstition

From https://www.shakespearecompany.com/about-us/blog/the-macbeth-curse-a-history/

Hooking drama students

Drama teachers often pepper their lessons with little gems plucked from theatre history. They can be fun and can sometimes be what are the take aways from the lesson for drama students. As an art form that conjures a kind of magic through make belief, it is not surprising that theatre has many intriguing superstitions and stories. Perhaps this accounts for some of the suspicion awarded to actors and theatre.

There are many other nuggets of information for drama teachers.

For example, St. Genesius, is known as the patron saint of actors. In the third century, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, he is said to have worked as an actor in a number of plays. In order to get the Emperor’s approval, he played a role in which he satirised a Christian who was going to be baptised. In the middle of his presentation, Genesius was struck by the reality of what he was saying and was converted to Christianity on the spot, right there on the spot.

When he refused, he was put to death almost quickly after. 

It’s always worth checking  your community and attitudes to these small gobbets of  theatre history.

https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/actor-anecdotes 

Or as the saying goes: break a leg!

Drama Tuesday - Samovila

  Samovila in Bulgarian and Serbian legend are mythic creatures in the woodlands, mesmerising male passersby with their songs and dances. Some believe they are daughters of the Thracian goddess Bendis. They are are immortal keepers of nature with an affinity for fire. They have the power to bring about drought, burn a farmer's crops, or make cattle die of high fever. It is said that, when angered, a Samovila (sometimes called Samodiva) can change her appearance and turn into a monstrous bird, capable of throwing fire at her enemies.

From these traditional folk stories, Second Year actors at WAAPA with their director Bagryana Popov, weave a mystical retelling in the Roundhouse Theatre @ WAAPA ECU. 

I love this kind of theatrical storytelling. Evocative and imaginative use of lengths of fabric, voices, movement shaping a succession of characters and stories. Theatrical and satisfying. Strongly physical theatre incorporating folk dances – wonderful training for these young actors. An Eastern European sensibility realised through the diverse talents of this group of actors in their first public performances near the end of their second year of study. Simple use of props but mostly skilful use of bodies and voices. Strong sense of ensemble and committed, focused performances. Simple set, great use of the levels and entrances of the theatre with lighting to match the mood. Wonderful evocative singing. 

I would go to see it again for the richness and colour. 

Drama Tuesday - Barracking for the Umpire

Black Swan State Theatre Company, Subiaco Theatre Centre 

It’s great to see Black Swan supporting new local writing. It’s wonderful to be back in the neglected Subiaco Theatre Centre. It’s important that the often unspoken issue of lingering impact of football injuries is aired with local resonance and heart. Recognisable characters in familiar settings. And, it’s funny. Genuinely funny. Audience erupting into laughter funny.   

The exposed brick, arches and vertical blinds set is on song. Like much of this production there is attention to detail. We begin with the twilight world of Doug (Steve Le Marquand), former footbal great for Donnybrook as his lifetime achievement is about to be celebrated , bringing about a family reunion. Footballer son, Ben (Ian Wilkes), journalist daughter, Mena (Ebony McGuire), and the daughter who stayed home, Charlene (Jo Morris). Holding it all together is Delveen (Pippa Grandison) holding to herself the secret of Doug’s condition (CTE Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). There is a strong trajectory for characters glued together by the toxic masculinity exhortations of the Coach (Joel Jackson) who magically appears from behind the exposed brick bar. Rounding out the cast is Charlene’s former husband, football tragic, (Michael Abercrombie). 

Images from program: https://blackswantheatre.com.au/assets/documents/BarrackingForTheUmpire-Program.pdf 

At one level, these “typical” Ocker names signal the comic chops of the play (a nod to Kath and Kim). But the play deftly navigates the journey from sit com to seriousness. The underlying violence of a culture is sharply focused. There is a thread of the Coach’s jaw clenched punching through the pain in Australian society that is deeper than football. It stains politics, work culture, relationships, broken dreams and families. Look beyond the fast and glib jokes. 

Interesting to see Black Swan performing at Subi. A warm and enfolding theatre space with a sense of human scale. I also noticed that unlike so many, maybe all, other plays in Perth over the last few years, the actors were not miked. Black Swan’s move out of the Heath Ledger and embrace of other venues such as the Octagon and The Mag, is worth watching as a trend.

The writing is confident and sure, though perhaps a couple of awkward moments that a film version would handle better. The jump cut generation may find the short “blue outs” and prop setting interruptions to the flow. In a couple of places – the long monologues and Delveen’s speech to the Toastmasters for Bunbury – it felt more like standup in flow and pace. A couple of curious lighting state choices, too, where the action downstage – the airport pick up and Del’s speech – seemed to have the main set in full light. I get the transition from the sitcom lighting (pioneered in the 1950’s by the I Love Lucy series) to the more subtle domestic lighting as the impact of Doug’s condition becomes apparent. Perhaps the lighting has yet to settle. 

A new writer to encourage. Well grounded characters. Firmly directed. Familiar and warmly explored territory. Relevance. Funny. 

What more can you ask for a good night at the theatre!

Drama Tuesday - Impact

Julius Caesar - WAAPA Third Year Students at the Subiaco Theatre Centre

 The Pandemic has meant that I have seen this cohort of graduating WAAPA students less than previous ones. I was eager to see how this group of students were progressing

From the opening the production had a strongly stated sense of aggression – an animal spirit that manifested itself in the mob. The panther like movements towards the corpse of Caesar during Mark Antony’s speech worked with a kind of savage ferocity that worked well.  

As always with being an audience for young actors I ask myself key questions. How effectively was the meaning of the text interpreted and communicated? How well was the physicality of the character shown? 

This production revealed some excellent text interpretation that captured the nuance of meaning and was well-paced. Having noted that, particularly in the scenes between Brutus and Casca,  there were some sections that were less successful. Part of the issue for us, is that we know so many of the often-quoted speeches so well, that we spot missed opportunities more easily. It’s not easy to carry off lines like Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war… or chart the nuances of shifting irony of the repetition of Brutus is an honourable man… But the play depends on them. 

There is a curious conundrum about this play. As is so often the case and also evident in this production, the title is abbreviated from the original: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. How can this be a tragedy – in a classical sense – if the main character is dead by the beginning of Act 3 Scene 1? And what is Caesar's fatal flaw? Who are the real protagonists in this play? Brutus? Mark Antony? Casca and the Conspirators? One of the questions for this group of actors to answer: who do the audience most value as they leave the theatre? In this production I came away with a stronger sense of Brutus. I wonder if that was the director’s and actors’ intention.  

The animal imagery and savagery was evoked powerfully. Full blooded battle scenes were staged well. The costuming gave a vaguely stated sense of time and place. We have become used to cross-gender casting. Accepting the convention brings with it a blurring of expectations. But I was worried by some of the physicality choices in one cross gender role that relied heavily on contemporary gestures and body language from teen TikToc portrayals. The licking knives touches from schlock horror flicks also occasionally verged on the laughable. 

The simple setting of three broken columns and a simply raised dais evoked a sufficiently classical mood. Subtly through the action of the play, the broken columns changed lighting states, glowed from an inward lighting and, at the crucial moments of Caesar’s assassination, flowed with blood. Simple, but effective. 

The Subiaco Theatre Centre MainStage with its corner stage is a warm and forgiving performance space. It is kind on voices. The production made excellent use of the various entrances through the audience (though a couple of times, errant swords in hilts, might have been perilously close to those sitting in the aisle seats!).

As always, I am interested to see our forthcoming generation as they stand on the cusp of the profession. Overall, I was not disappointed by the promise shown. 

Drama Tuesday - A Trip to the Theatre Remembered

The Maj, Hay Street Perth

When I was sitting in The Maj for the WAAPA production of Crazy for You, I was reminded of the first time that I went to that theatre. I was maybe 12 or 13 visiting Perth for the summer holidays with my family. As a thanks for putting us up in Perth, my Mum bought tickets to the hot show of the year My Fair Lady on the tail end of its Australian tour for JCW. I somehow  managed to wheedle my way into going with them. 

The Maj in those days was not the plush ruby velvet smoothness of the refurbished theatre today.

The Maj, Hay Street Perth

It was late January. Summer heat beating on the asphalt drum of Hay Street. No air conditioning.  And worn saddle haired seats in the stalls, with a squint around the infamous pillars. The theatre was sweaty full, heaving. The audience laughed and loved the show. Stuart Wagstaff played Henry Higgins but I can’t tell you anyone else in the cast.

I was fascinated by the experience. In particular, I remember taking note of the senses where a scrim curtain was drawn across to a scenery piece on a trick from the wings while a scene change was happening behind. I think it was for On the Street where you live and maybe Get me to the Church on time. Even at that age I was interested in how the stage magic all happened. Even now, I continue to be looking through the performances to  how they happen.

The performances were raw, natural and energetic. This is by contrast to the WAAPA production where all the actors on stage were miked; where the lights automated, plotted to follow the dancers. Theatre is vastly different nowadays. And the training of actors sits in the lap of universities; by contrast those actors I saw in the JCW production would have come through the apprenticeship of hard knocks and handed-down advice: always turn on your downstage foot. 

There is a coda to this story. On the journey home from Perth on the Transcontinental there  was a group of young actor types gathered around the piano in the club car exuding cheery bonhomie. It was a different time when actors didn’t fly but took the leisurely cross continent journey home.  

As a brash teenager I nervously accosted one of them in the waves corridors and asked  if they were in My Fair Lady? I saw he production! A little taken aback he said he was and I had my moment of fandom. But the after effects of seeing that production lingered long after that fleeting moment. I   look at  productions to see how the performance is made. Behind the magic of being in the moment is the ticking of process.

Music Monday - Enthralled in the moment

 Our grandson, William (aged 4 and three quarters, as he insists on telling us) was in the audience of the John Curtin College of the Arts production of Mary Poppins. Cousin Janet sneakily managed an iPhoto portrait as William watched, his face lit up by the reflected light from the stage.

He knew the words to songs like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. and sang along. 

He was amazed at the animals in the toy box coming to life. 

In the interval, he wriggled and danced (and spilt his bottle of water).

In the second half his attention waned a little (and he missed the spectacular Step in Time because he had to go to the toilet with his mum). He got back to his seat just in time for the reprise.

After the show, I took him backstage (I was one of the vocal directors on the show)  He shook hands with Bert whom he could name from the show.  

When he was taken out on the stage itself, behind the closed curtain, his hand gripping mine was tighter and tighter. The following day I asked him why he seemed nervous on the stage itself and he revealed that he was afraid that the curtain would open again and that he “didn’t know the words.” Cute - but in his childlike way, an understanding of the process.

We cannot overlook how important it is for kids to see theatre live, to experience the transformation in themselves when their eyes, ears and imaginations takes them somewhere different.

Nor, how important it is that before, during and after the experience, we share ways of making meaning of it. Before going to the production I sat down with him on a wet Sunday afternoon and we watched clips on YouTube of the songs. We then sat at the piano and sang through those songs from the score. And the day after the event, he was telling us to Step in Time. Step in time. as he beat the rhythm with his feet and mimicked the tap routine.

Black Swan State Theatre Company - The Cherry Orchard

 It’s wonderful to see Black Swan return to site specific productions in iconic Western Australian landmarks. The production of The Cherry Orchard at Sunset joins the fondly remembered production of The Mysteries in and around the University of Western Australia. And, the production of Tourmaline at PICA with a young Marcus Graham on a hot sweaty Festival of Perth night. 

This Cherry Orchard production starts in the main hall (remember a Troupe touring show in there). In Act 2 we move to the breezy outlook overlooking the Swan River at sunset (artfully evoked in the lighting)  After interval with Russian food from a van and iced vodka cocktails, we are at a party in the courtyard. The final act moves into the hall where the seats are now draped with dust sheets and there are a few packing boxes (with a final melancholic reveal of Firs to top the show). 

The decaying ambiance of Sunset evokes the sense of decadent decline of the family. The flaking paint and rusted roofing iron are successful in foregrounding that melancholic Chekhov ennui. In particular, the final act with the bare vast open space of the hall finally managed to give me a sense of loss that I didn’t find in the first act. 

There’s a whole thesis to be written about translating the location and time period of classic plays. At one level, all contemporary productions are transformational, reinterpreting texts for present day audiences. And we can’t forget that we are always working with Chekhov in translation – language and culture. In the first act, the overlay of Chekhov to Manimup in the 1980s seemed forced. The deliberately Kitsch fluffy bedspreads and electric fluoro outfits, the overt hints about sex, drugs and rock and roll and the music, seemed a little calculated and obviously signalled. The first act seemed cluttered. By contrast the sparseness of the final act, resonated  more. Less is more. 

Adaptations and translations are always an irresistible lure for directors. (Having inflicted on audiences a 1960’s Cyrano I can admit the fascination!). It will be interesting to see how audiences react to this adaptation. On opening night I overheard younger audience members enthusiastic about it as they left. 

One of the memorable lessons of visiting Disneyland and seeing how they stage arena outdoor productions is the skill in directing our attention in the moment to moment focus. No matter where the next action or scene was to take place, the audience was directed by action, music, sound and lighting. You knew instinctively where to look, anticipated for you by the direction. More could have been made of that skill in this production. 

The hard working cast handled the spaces well and carried off the fashion crimes of the times. They often had huge spaces to cover with entrances and exits. The hybrid language – sometimes awkwardly caught between Aussie vernacular and Chekhov – was managed though sometimes it grated. Also the improvised scenes (playing with the Casiotone while the audience joined the BBQ outdoors, for example) sit awkwardly alongside the “text”. There needs to be a fine balance between the tone of the original text and modern interpolations. 

In the end, none of the characters were truly likeable – and that bothered me. The familiar bumbling comic work of Sam Longley was sustained throughout. The “victory” speech in Act 3 by the nouveau rich Lopakhin, strongly delivered by Ben Mortley, worked hard to convey a judgement on the hopeless decadence and myopia of the landowner family. The final act farewells finally managed to draw out of me some sense of their loss.  

The use of music to establish mood, time and place was a nostalgia trip for some of the audience. There’s skill in the choices made by directors and how those choices progress characterisation and plot development. Couple of times, particularly in the party scene, the music felt like it padded the action (I know in Chekhov, we are frequently waiting for action through inaction, but sometimes, it felt like truly nothing was happening). Music does more than summon up nostalgia.   

Curiously, in Act 1, the actors were miked but not in Acts 3 and 4. I can understand why it is important to amplify the voices in the outdoor BBQ scene, but in Act 1, the reverb and distortion were off-putting.

As an aside: It was amusing  during the outdoor BBQ scene  at sunset, to see in the distance behind the action a group of kids playing – and then realising that there was something happening in their space. They scuttled off after pointing up the hill to the actors and audience. 

This production sees Black Swan back on song with staging and a strong presence in the Perth Festival. We need more reminders of this thread in the woven DNA of Black Swan.

Encore - March 20, 2021

It’s rare to have the opportunity to see both opening performance and closing night. 

Being at Sunset for Black Swan’s The Cherry Orchard on closing night gives an insight into how performances grow and mature over a season’s run.  Or maybe it could be that my ear had attuned to the vibe of the script. 

The performances are fuller and have more nuanced substance. We see and hear more - or is it just me feeling more comfortable with the construct. 

The kitchiness of 1980s memorabilia still looks tokenistic. But there is a strong recognition factor for. See some in the audience who pause to comment on the placemats. 

Sound amplification in Act 1 better. But I still wonder if it was necessary. 

This time the BBQ scene looking over the river was enlivened by the 7:00pm fireworks over Melville Water.  

There’s still the jarring moments when the wittering small talk about Casiotone whatever kicks into Chekhov. But there is still a question about the interpolated ‘Good on ta Bondy!” And the interjected ’clusterfuck’! I know that we always view Chekhov through the filter of translation, but something is lost not gained. 

The party scene in the Vodka courtyard still has padding – manic dancing to music had attack and verve from the actors but is essentially dead air space in terms of dramatic action. 

The final act in the ruined crumbling house is still powerful in draped dust sheets. 

This time I purposefully chose to see the play from differing perspectives – and it does make a difference in terms of where the action is focused (see my earlier comments about the Disney phenomenon of managing points of focus). 

Seeing a play a second time does allow for closer analysis.

The dual challenges of writing and acting are brought sharply into focus. Staying balanced on the continuum of role/character/caricature – the slippery slope between farce and tragedy – is difficult for writers and actors. How do you make the indolent toy boy more than supernumerary? How do you give even a touch of humanity to that role? And how do you make  the obviously farcical brother or neighbour less shallow and obvious? How do you take the former serf beyond simple resentment translated into revenge? This is a writing problem first. 

Did our opinion or response to Ranevskaya change? In complex characters (as Chekhov showed us) we look for the points in the action where the character’s journey changes, shifts, moves. The trajectory of Ranevskaya in this production seemed to move inevitably in one direction only. Did my emotional response to her predicament shift or change? I said after the first viewing of the production that I didn’t like any these characters and I think maybe I have worked out why.

The art of dramatic writing still goes back to the adage: show me, don;t tell me! In this version we are more often told about things – the loss of her first husband and child. Were we emotionally connected to them symbolically and emotionally? Or were we glossed past them as plot points? This is a writing issue.

It is still wonderful to see Black Swan performing at Sunset. The concept of staging a play around the site is exciting and invigorating (as much as I love going into the velvet hush of the theatre!). Let’s continue to bring excitement into our theatregoing. 

Drama Thursday - Undecided

Undecided

Fringe Show 27 January 2021

We are so used to the message to turn off your mobile phones being intoned as we enter the theatre, it is refreshing to enter the Rehearsal Room at the State Theatre Centre, to be told Turn on your phones and login to the address on the screen. 

Undecided polls the audience with questions throughout the 60 minutes of the show and the audience “decides” what happens next (well, within the imposed limits, they decide!). 

This is a cute premise on which to stage a Fringe show. 

The audience (after a preliminary warm up about voting for mint or gum) decide whether the deliberately ambiguously named Jamie and Sam are to be played by male or female actors. And so the action unfolds. 

The plot is thin though clothed in a smear of existential angst.

Of course, there are precedents for audience deciding the outcome of a play. The Mystery of Edwin Drood uses this device – though there there are really only three possibilities and endings in that show. And given the unfinished nature of Dickens’ last work, the sense of unfinished business and different possibilities works – kind of. This had more risk to it. 

Whether this theatrical device could be sustained in this play beyond the 60 minutes playing time is worth considering. Probably  and possibly not. 

The performances are lively and energetic. Imagine the task of carrying in your head the different alternative texts for the Sam and Jamie roles. The ensemble of four are well matched. The voices are clear and the sense of style is spot on appropriate. They work hard and are animated, giving the audience a good sense of fun. 

Note to Jamie (male) watch tendency to subconscious hair flicking. You need an eagle eye and terrifying director (I am reminded of Ruth Osborne from CDC and the Youth Theatre Company in her notes about this issue. Hair flicking that carries you out of role and character is just plain distracting for audiences)

The music moves along at a fair clip and has plenty of bounce and oomph. If you have the vague sense of recognising musical memes, don’t be surprised. There is a skill in writing musical parodies. 

One of my pet hates in theatre are poor sight lines. We all know how difficult it is to find venues during Fringe (even in COVID times). But, I really don’t like it when the action disappears amongst the shoulders of the people in the seats in front of me. The problem is easy to fix – if the audience can’t see, why don’t you fix it. 

The world of drama is changing faster than we might recognise.

For example, we are used to being told to silence our phones in theatres (and not to take calls during the show). Of course, this reverential atmosphere has not always been the case. According to reports from the past, the audiences in theatres were often boisterous and disrespectful – or even paying attention to the action on the stage.

What else is changing?

Are our definitions of drama and theatre and performance changing?

Is that useful or helpful?

Fringe shows open doors to many different forms of drama and theatre and performance. 

It is healthy that there is an open-ended and inclusive approach. Yet, the old saying anything goes may not be helpful. 

Innovation drives practice. 

What are the innovations in drama practice that we should be paying attention to?

How is technology changing our understanding of drama and theatre?

It is not just the current pandemic that is causing re-thinking of our perceptions of drama and theatre. 

There are changed expectations about the type of performance, the role of cause and effect narratives, relationships between audience and actors.The title of the Fringe show was Undecided and this is perhaps indicative of a need to rethink our previously held assumptions. 

About this event

We've all been there: you're watching a musical and it's not going the way you want. Maybe a character is annoying you, or a plot line seems unnecessary. Well, now the power is in your hands! UNDECIDED is a choose-your-own-adventure musical where the audience vote on which direction the story takes next!

A live pianist and eager cast will be faced with the challenge of creating a totally different experience every night, starting with a big decision; will the first character - Jaime - be played by a woman or a man? Could this be the ultimate in audience satisfaction? The choice (and the blame) is yours!

UNDECIDED is a new musical adventure written and directed by John McPherson (Lawyers and Other Communicable Diseases, Greenwicks!) and co-written by James Palm (Threshold).

Drama Thursday - Restoring beauty and interest in things that have been neglected

 The buzz of anticipation in a theatre audience is palpable. 

I am sitting in the Octagon Theatre on the campus of the University of Western Australia. It’s the first time i have been in a theatre since March. We have been through the long Winter drought of theatre as our society has grappled with the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. I am here because Black Swan State Theatre Company is launching its 2021 season. 

Always hopeful to hear the new season, particularly after the year of no theatre that we have in this plague year. And the program from Black Swan looks interesting:

• a localised Cherry Orchard set in Manjimup and playing in and around the remnants of the Sunset Home on the banks of the Swan River; act 2 in the dying embers of sunset in summer.

• a new production about the relationships between Australian colonial settlement and indigenous people. York.

• a pick up from a Blue Room production.

• a year long quest to find the Shakespeare play that will conclude the season; Black Swan audiences asked to vote on which of the plays of Shakespeare will be performed. The director is named but everything else – actors, creatives – are up in the air.

• a celebration of 30 years of Black Swan as a company that was born out of the success of Bran New Day.

There’s much to look forward to. The Artistic Director, Clare Watson outlined the exciting season of productions for 2021 (not forgetting the Oklahoma production that will be what is left of the 2020 season that was pandemic struck). Revisiting the founding vision of the Company and an embedding of local stories and indigenous spirit.

But, in particular, I was struck by the words of Rick Heath, appointed as Executive Director just eight months ago and immediately before the pandemic shutdown. Describing himself as a pragmatic idealist and that “extraordinariness is for everyone if you choose to lean into it” Rick explored how “logic makes you think; emotion makes you act”.  

We are living in a time when our emotions are important. They are critical to our ell-being, our families and our neighbours, our lovers and relationships, our businesses and communities. Proust said that art is a mechanism that can restore beauty and interest in things that have been neglected – unfairly neglect. He also said that we can learn arts great lessons – to re-examine our relationship with the world

Rick went on to observe that theatre is a service industry – plumbers in better suits. He explored the idea that as curators of theatre we remember that that curators are “ones responsible for the care of souls”. and he moved towards his conclusion reminding us that the measure of success for a theatre company is twofold. Is what the company does great art? And how has the company shaped the circumstances put in place to make that art great?

Of course, the focus of any theatre company is not on any one person, let alone the executive director. But I found it refreshing that any executive director could and would share and shape thoughts in this way.

Looking forward to the year after a plague year. Looking forward to restoring beauty and interest in things that have been neglected. 

You can check out the whole launch as well as what Rick and Claire had say at the live stream of the event: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=413042723397048&ref=watch_permalink