Rope, Canberra Rep, theatre 3

 

Patrick Hamilton's 1929 thriller has had very long legs for a thriller which is also very much of its time - in the post-war and post-Oscar-Wilde Trial era, when the bright young things partied seemingly unaware of the consequences, where fashion and behaviour broke from Victorian staidness and, after the Russian Revolution, new intellectual paradigms were being trialed all over the world. Hamilton's tense thriller reflects both the thoughts of its era and of its writer, a alcoholic with a distinct strain of melancholy, as he morphed a recent popular murder case into a story of power, ethics and thrills.

The basic setup, where we know going in that Brandon and Granillo have just committed murder and the challenge is to see how they will be caught, became the basis of every Columbo ever, and gives us the suspense of knowing more than those who are onstage at any one time (we even get a chance to see the vital clues being spotted by our amateur sleuth for the evening, war-veteran intellectual gadabout, Rupert Cadell, well in advance of them being presented to the villains). While the climax has Hamilton a little too fond of overly-long monologues (including a romantic tribute to the hour of 10:35 which is simultaneously gorgeous but feels self-indulgent), it pays off emotionally as it becomes apparent how the murder has effected those involved. 

Ed Wightman's production captures the classic thriller setpieces - tensions at near-discoveries, confrontations and near-escape - but also the emotional content that lies beneath - the disintegration of the two villains as they attempt to hide their crimes, the seemingly casual connections between the strangers they invite to a party over the chest containing a corpse, and the melancholy of a war survivor trying to live with what he's done in wartime. In a lush Quentin Mitchell set there's a strong sense of period and emotional temperature, as the cast regularly trek back and forth to the drinks cabinet in an attempt to maintain decorum that simultaneously slips away with each drink.

The two villains have the majority of stage time - Pippin Carrol's precise, fussy Brandon, obsessed with controlling what's going on, and Josh Wiseman's desperate Granillo, a bundle of nerves from the offset as he's all too aware what he's done and is falling apart trying to survive with that knowledge. Ryan Street's Rupert Cadell captures both the ennui and the inquisitiveness of the character - he's an imposing figure who constantly draws attention. As the more frivolous pair, Callum Wilson and Alex McPherson provide delightful light relief - Wilson is sweetly dunderheaded, while McPherson has the manner of a gadfly, her mind flipping around constantly in a world of small talk and gossip. Saban Lloyd Berrell as the father of the corpse, brought in as part of Brandon's plan to skirt with danger, provides suitable melancholy in his final moments but is also a strong solid presence, while Anne Freestone as the socially awkward aunt is hilarious in every brief statement and awkward flop into a chair. 

It's a rich evening of black comedy, intellectual drama, murderous thrills and twists and turns, giving an old-fashioned thriller new life on the stage. Absolutely worth catching.

Little Girls Alone in the Woods, Canberra Youth Theatre, Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre

 

This plays with myth and folklore in a way that is invigorating, using it's large, mostly female, ensemble to tell a story about the rejection of "civilised" society and what happens to those who break away. It's not so much  a straight telling of Euripides "The Bacchae" as it is a thematic reflection that uses the core ideas in a modern setting, as a small country town finds its young girls disappearing into the Bush, with those remaining behind finding more and more restrictions in place.  There's clever choices in Morgan Roses script and in how it builds tension- seeing both from the perspective of the schoolkids seeing their friends slowly disappear, with girls increasingly restricted in the name of safety, and the perspective of the girls in the Bush, giving way to their wilder impulses while never quite certain what their rebellion might mean or what to do next. 

Director Luke Rogers creates a flowing intelligent production with precision and care - creating a rich ensemble of performers who blend into a true equal ensemble.  The set design by Aislinn King gives a new perspective on the courtyard as a space, giving it a different dimension. Helen Wotjas' costume design creates the two different worlds of the play, showing those left behind in sharp school uniforms while the girls in the woods have pyjamas and casual wear celebrating their freedom. 

This is a great launch to Canberra youth theatre's 2021 season, and I'm greatly anticipating what they"ll do in the rest of the year. They've got an ambitious and intriguing season lined up and if they execute the rest as well as they executed this, we'll have a rewarding set of experiences lined up

A German Life, John Frost for The Gordon Frost Organisation, Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

 

Christopher Hampton's adaptation of a 2016 Austrian Documentary about Brunhilde Pomsel, a one woman narration of a witness to the rise, fall and aftermath of the third Reich, is a gift to the right actress, but a peculiarly difficult one - it requires a performer who can draw you in through sheer, unrelenting ordinariness  - someone apparently just like anybody else, telling a matter of fact story that becomes astonishing in how close a person can be to pure naked horror without apparently recognising it until it is way too late to do anything about it. 

Robyn Nevin has that gift of appearing average while being anything but. On a simple set design resembling a 2000s nursing home room, Brunhilde  takes us into one of the 20th centuries essential horrors, while proclaiming how little she really saw and could have done. Her regrets register as apparently real and heartfelt, but it's impossible not to question her and to be dragged down the rabbit hole of what more she could have, should have done 

Neil Armfield's staging tells this simply, handing the stage to Nevin, accompanied at the side by Catherine Finnis's cellist, with occasional video overlays of Third Reich images to show what's lying behind Brunhilde's simple statements, reminding us what this all came to. It's a virtuoso 80 minutes or so and confronting in where it leaves us, wondering how close we are to falling into the same traps, how willing we are to lie to ourselves that we have no idea what's going on, when we can see very clearly the evils that lie all around us.

PS. I will note that I booked for this one somewhat late, due to both already having other shows booked in to see this week, and due to a somewhat eye-watering initial ticket price. I ended up booking in after a discount became available on Thursday, but I'm still a little wary of that initial ticket price becoming a recurring thing.

Fun Home, Sydney Theatre Company, Ros Packer Theatre

 

This musical version of Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel premeired off broadway at the Public Theatre in 2013,and I was luck enough to see it during that first run on October 31st (the review, if you're interested, is at https://cantheatrewatcher.blogspot.com/2013/11/fun-home-public-theatre-off-broadway.html)

It's a show I've loved from that point and have been impatiently awaiting the Australian Premiere (originally planned to be shared between the Melbourne Theatre company and Sydney Theatre company last year, but in a post-COVID world moved to just being an STC production thus far, though allegedly a Melbourne run is planned for next year). It's examination of two different generations of homosexuals, living in one family - about Alison and her emergent understanding of her own desires, both as a young girl experiencing the way the world expects her to  be and finding it uncomfortable, and as a college student finally having her first big romance and giving way to lust; and also about her father Bruce, deeply closeted and always on the verge of losing everything that matters to him by his actions when he gives ways to his desires - and frequently imposing his sense of the order he's incapable of maintaining for himself on the rest of the family.  

The STC production brings this to its biggest venue and comes up with a few interesting reconceptions - a basic design of the Bechdel house, spread across the floor and with an upper study, revolving to reveal a garden area and two spaces on the side to represent areas like Alison's college dorm room and dad's cadaver slab for when he's working in the family funeral home (abbreviated to"Fun home" by the kids, hence the title). The structure of the show sees the adult Alison constantly observing and illustrating moments of her past, seeing both the 9 year old version of herself and the 18 as they find themselves at odds with their family and the rest of the world as they come to realise their true natures, and contrasting her discovering her freedom with the increasing restrictions her father puts on himself, the way that he tries to impose the image of perfection on his family in ways that constantly backfire. 

This is a wonderfully cast show, top to bottom - starting with the three Alisons - Lucy Maunder as the inquisitive, engaging adult Alison, Margie McKenna as the gauchely teenage middle Alison (her giggle in the middle of the line "Who needs dignity" during "Changing My Major to Joan" instantly endears her to me), and Karalina Clarke as the 9 year old realising that she doesn't really want to wear the pretty party dresses her dad tries to squeeze her into. Similar strength comes from Adam Murphy, playing Bruce on the razors edge of being truly monstorous in how he treats the rest of his family, but ultimately a victim of his own internalised prejudices and self-hatred. Marina Prior is one of those actresses who's often been written off as a gorgeous singing voice, but this time paired to a role that gives that voice something to sorrow for, something to regret, something to long for. Emily Halvea is a perfect Joan, the college first-love simultaneously amused by and adoring of Alison.  

Musical Director Carmel Dean gets a gorgeous sound out of both the cast and the 7 piece orchestra, moving from the 70's pastiche of "Come to the Fun Home" (Jackson 5) or "Raincoat of Love" (Partridge Family) to the yearning balladry of "Ring of Keys", the sorrow of "Days and Days" or.... oh, look, this is a show that is all high points so just go see the damn thing and experience the wonder, pain, love and immense humanity on display. It's a musical that plays things real and true, that is all about matters of the heart, about chasing truth over escapism and about discovering yourself . It's superlative work, superlatively done, and is absolutely recommended to anybody

Don Juan, Slightly Isolated Dog, The Q

 

"Slightly Isolated Dog" are a New Zealand team who tour inventive versions of classic stories that are fortunately out of copyright enough to let them fool around with a little. In this mini-season, two of their shows are playing in fairly quick repertory, both lo-fi productions with extensive audience interaction (although non-threatening, Kiwi kind of audience interaction). For Don Juan, for whatever reason (probably because it's delightful, or possibly because the version of the story they're doing is closest to Moliere's "Dom Juan ou le Feste die pierre"), they perform using over the top french accents, in simple stylish modern costumes, in a traverse style up close to the audience, and romp the Don through several seductions, duels, songs, murders and his eventual highly catholic comeuppance over a fast and fun 60-or-so minutes - the role of the Don split across the cast and signified by a baseball cap, sunglasses and a portable speaker having his dialogue spoken by another cast member. 

The quintet of performers all have wonderful moments, from Jonathan Price's frequent bloody deaths, to Comfrey Sander's confrontation with a caddish audience member, to Andrew Patterson's bold dashing about the stage in quite substantial high heels, to Susie Berry's irritated nun, to Jack Buchanan's gasping reactions to the events going on around him, and the audince members are roped into providing additional entertainment, whether reacting to performers, engaging in conversation, taking on roles or providing scenery assistance (including a quite astonishing river escape sequence), and all in all this is a friendly version of a classic story with several delights, songs, diversions and hilarities.