Love Bites

Thursday, 24 June 2010

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

A fun date of a cabaret show, Love Bites takes you on a quirky romantic journey from the initial meet cute to the flipside towards mating, matrimony or malaisionship.

Original and (mostly) Australian but with nods to existing musical theatre standards (and one hilarious homage), the entertaining foursome of Amelia Cormack (a busty diva with opera vocals and sitcom timing); David Harris (telegenic and appealingly adaptable); Sophia Ragavelas (Venus as a pocket rocket with a Shirley Bassey belt); and James Millar (leading man postured with a comedian wink), were amorous and ardent.
Portraying love in its many coupled permutations, we glimpse vignettes into the lives of seven couples in Act 1, and in Act 2 find out what happened in the ever after.

With affecting and at times breathtakingly complex music and harmonies written and performed by Peter Rutherford on the baby grand unobtrusively tucked to the side of the stage, the musical gave it’s body, heart and hope to you and captured your brain as well with smart, funny, poignant and yes, sometimes political lyrics crafted by James Millar.

I loved A Plastic Bag, An Urban Legend and it’s equally hilarious sequel but all the chapters were gems in a myriad hue, and the performers gave them lustre with flexible, freewheeling and assured showcases of their skills in aspect.

With Nathan M Wright’s cheeky choreography and direction courtesy of Neil Gooding accommodating an adaptable set by James Browne and sensational lighting and AV backdrop design from Ross Graham and Mandylights respectively, you couldn’t help but buzz it up as you bop your way out of the theatre (don’t forget to buy a CD of the show at the box office!)

Go on; risk the hickey and head to the Playhouse Theatre for a little love bite.

The Sapphires

Saturday, 25 January 2010

Having been delayed from it’s October 2009 premiere to accommodate a more collaborative move and be part of the 2010 line-up of the Perth International Arts Festival, I was expecting big things from Company B Belvoir’s The Sapphires, an amalgam retelling of an indigenous forgotten girl group from the 1960s.

I will say right of the bat that I was disappointed with the preview I attended. While an avuncular introduction by director Wesley Enoch was at first charming, it was soon shaped as an apology as he detailed delays that the production had come up against and then stated that this performance was going to have to accommodate a few stops and starts (for safety purposes) and that for all intents and purposes it was going to be treated as a final dress rehearsal.

The director even went so far as to jokingly call the audience cheap for having chosen to attend a preview. Oh really?

Live theatre is fraught with the unexpected, and while the stage, setting and music were something to sing about, the transitions were at times clunky and laboured and there were more than a few delays while the leading ladies zipped through the multitudes of quick changes the script called for.

Though the fourth wall was broken by occasional asides from a miked Enoch, I will admit that at times the show could really hit it’s stride. Jimi Bani was infectious and charismatic as Cynthia’s (Casey Donovan) erstwhile lover-on-the-run and he did a mean impression of James Brown that had the audience ready to get on up! And there was no doubting the singing talent on offer with Christina Anu and Casey Donovan deliciously deadly and diva ready.

In the end, despite all the trails and tribulations The Sapphires impressed, and the show will probably go on to be the hot ticket at this year’s festival. It’s just a pity that it decided to be fashionably late about it.

Iolanthe

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Introducing a lush and sparkling score by Arthur Sullivan tripping hither into inspirations from Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Iolanthe is a fanciful fairy dust concoction which cleverly pokes fun at the House of Lords, the practice of law and the British Government of the day.

Containing some of WS Gilbert’s cleverest and most slyly satirical lyrics, this staging by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of WA was a pure delight to behold and fun from start to finish.

Strephon, a golden voiced and handsome Arcadian shepherd (cherubically cheeky Chris D. Lewis) is in love with a ward of the court, Phyllis (Katya Webb, purloining her brunette beauty from a recent turn in Bizet’s tragedy Pearlfishers into this comely comedy). It seems however, that the entire House of Lords is similarly smitten with the winsome shepherdess, and the Lord Chancellor (an astonishingly spry Conrad Crisafulli in a role perfectly matched to his talents) would rather his ward choose a husband with some blue blood aristocratic standing.

But Strephon is no ordinary shepherd, his mother is the immortal fairy Iolanthe, recently welcomed back to the fairy court at the pleading of her fellow fey. Banished 25 years earlier for having the temerity to marry a mortal, she looks to be a girl of 17 and her grown son is a fairy from the waist up and mortal from the waist down (ahh, the number of panto nudge-nudge-winks when this was recited…!)

Phyllis and the House of Lords catch sight of Strephon confiding in his youthful mother about the Lord Chancellor’s refusal to allow Phyllis to marry him, and jump to entirely the wrong conclusions. Phyllis angrily rejects his explanation, and hurt, announces she’ll marry one of the Lords instead (“…and I don’t care which!”) The fairies try to help but end up being patronized by the Lords who think they are a bunch of silly schoolgirls. Offended, the Fairy Queen casts a spell making Strephon a Member of Parliament with the influence to pass any bill he chooses.

Nevertheless, Strephon still pines for Phyllis; she’s frustrated as she doesn’t want to marry a Peer (Strephon seems to be a damn good kisser, I can’t fault her reasoning); the Peers are unhappy at being shown up as generally useless; and in the midst of all this the fairies realize that they have all fallen in love with the mortals and stand to suffer a death sentence at the wand of their very own queen!

But the reveal that Strephon is half fairy (nudge-nudge-wink!) and also the son of the Lord Chancellor proceeds to the inevitable happy conclusion as fairy law is tweaked to accommodate a round of marriages (the Queen herself is rescued from the new decree by Royal Guard Private Willis who magically sprouts a pair of the cutest red wings to match his uniform). Soon they may, off and away, to all live harmoniously ever after.

The Playhouse accommodated a beautiful set resplendent with copper tones and soft greens, and suggestive but recognizable backgrounds to transport the audience from country glades to Westminster streets, elegantly supported by Ian Boase’s soft washed lighting and gorgeous costuming by Penny Walker.

The musical direction by Daniel Masmanian was joyous and appealing, and director John Milson retained the heart of Gilbert & Sullivan but still made the piece enjoyable and entertaining for a 21st century audience.

To wit, one of G&S's prettiest and most popular operettas.

Moonwebs & Scorched Thongs

Sunday, 7 April 2009

So you think you can dance? Yes, we are in the midst of a youthquake dance craze and boys are no longer afraid to show off their acrobatic and partner lifting skills courtesy of many hours at the ballet barre, and girls can rightly bring it! to the hiphop floor and krump till it hurts.

Steps Youth Dance Company, celebrating it's 20th year of creating dance for more than 2000 young people between the ages of 9 and 24 years, has contributed greatly to the development of movement and dance theatre in Western Australia. It started a Boys Can Dance initiative 12 years ago which has paid handsome dividends in the equal representation of males and females in this production's cast, and a relatively balanced view of gender politics for Generation Y & Z (the latter of whom I like to refer to as the iGeneration - as in iPod or internet).

A rather erotic quote was used in the miniprogram supplied at the Playhouse Theatre from Project Artistic Director, Alice Lee Holland:

"Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no purely masculine man, no purely feminine woman." - Margaret Fuller, The Dial Magazine, 1843

Confronting sexuality it would seem (the quote was supplied by one of the dancers for a communal ideas pin up board), but don't worry, this performance piece was more interested in investigating issues of gender than of coupling.

Flowing segments moving from period costume era ettiquette to present day schoolyard sectionals (the It girls, the Sports Jocks, the Squares, the Outsiders) transfered through from the opening onwards and there was always a constant pace across stage from left to right - signifying the passage of time, the journey from child to youth to adulthood - just that ever present movement that typifies growth.

I found the segments danced by the boys dynamic and interesting, at times dark and typically testosterone layered, but with enough creative technique and insight from the dancers to reveal that core of art and sensitivity that males on the surface sometimes choose to eschew.

The selection and choreography for the girls was pretty and at times melancholy, but I found a lot of the dancers seemed to be rather follow-the-leader in their movements - was this reflecting the stereotype that females are happy to go with the flow and are less inclined to rebel and display agressive movement then males? It would have been intriguing to see a few awkward, rebelling or emo edged girls expressing their individuality, but maybe I'm seeing conformity when I should really be intuiting camaraderie.

The schoolyard scenes were fun and relatable, with comic personalities giving us an insight into the dancers on stage. It's too easy sometimes to look at line and technique when appreciating dance and forgo the charisma of the performers.

I'm sure there were a lot of friends and family at the matinee I attended as the final scenes showing off in small groups or individually some amazing moves got the audience pumping and whooping it up - take that, Channel Ten! Look out for this year's class to graduate to an audition auditiorium for So You Think You Can Dance fame in the near future.

Looking forward to STEPS 21st birthday party in 2010!

Questions Without Notice

Wednesday, 4 February 2009

Contemporary dance performances can be interesting, ephemeral and make me want to learn how to navigate a whole new language simply so I have more adjectives at my disposal.

Attending a preview performance of Questions Without Notice, a new work by Performing Lines WA at the Playhouse; I was stunned to see how stripped back the theatre was. The audience could see the bricks all the way to the back and you realise what an open and immediate feel you can get from this most compact and immediate of stages.

The eight dancers arrived at the sidelines of the stage at differing intervals, there were no wings to mask them and they looked like they had just walked off the street. They took turns to follow and sit on the various benches littered across the stage and these items were the main props used throughout the performance.

While obviously utilizing dance, in variations and incarnations (there's a particularly hilarious moment when someone is asked what scares him and he replies 'The Spice Girls' and then their anthem is blasted through for the women on stage to zigazig aye!); there was extensive use made of the video cameras and projection facilities as the dancers spoke to us, commented on each other, strutted, raged, flirted, translated and then invited the audience to join them on stage!

I'll admit it - I was there! It was fun and hilarious and kind of surreal to look out and see the seat you had just abandoned, but who can resist a groovy MC (embodied with smarmy charm by Michael Whaites, a standout all rounder) urging you to 'find a partner!' 'go necking!' and grinning like a Cheshire cat over the dancers demonstrating the 'advanced roll in the hay!'

Spontaneous, eclectic, mischievous and surprising, Questions Without Notice made you live in the moment; wonder whether you could think on your feet or were more comfortable to fall back on the familiar; and realise how unplanned responses can sometime deliver reflective insights.

Carpe diem, huh?