Arsenic and Old Lace, Canberra Repertory, Theatre 3, 9th June-2 July 2022

 Joseph Kesserling's 80-plus-year-old plot boiler has a core to it that's instantly engrossing - two gentle sweet little old ladies who's principle hobby is mass-murder with their own special concoction of wine with a couple of doses of Arsenicc, strycnine and cyanide. Otherwise dedicated to the utmost proper behaviour (to the extent that they gasp at the possiblity of ever fibbing about their hobby), they're part of a charmingly eccentric milleau - the brother who thinks he's a former political figure, regualar visits from the reverend and his eager-to-marry daughter, the nephew who's an uptight drama critic and the other nephew who's eccentricities lean distinctly sadistic. Their story has been delighting audiences on-and-off ever since, a rare case of American comedy embracing light toned lunacy rather than sledgehammer go-for-the-gut bellylaughs. 

For this production, Ian Hart has modified the script in some interesting ways to attempt to bring the play into the modern era (though it does end up feeling a little stranded between now-and-then, with characters having attitudes and making references that live more comfortably anywhere between 1942 and 2022), and a local context rather than the original's Brooklyn (though the geography of the adaptation's imaginary Queanbeyan is somewhat eccentric and involves some fairly speedy travel back and forth to various Canberra institutions). To nitpick in a couple of places - both Teddy Brewster (now Bobby Brewster for this adaptation) and Jonathan Brewster require impersonations of particular American types - Teddy obsessed with Theodore Roosevelt, Jonathan bearing a resemblance to Boris Karloff - the chages to Robert Menzies and Freddie Kruger, despite the best efforts of the actors involved, Robbie Matthews and Rob de Fries, don't quite land with full context - Bobby is still doing Teddy's enthusiastic "Charge!" and bugle calls that don't really sit as well with Menzies (besides which Menzies is not a particularly easy PM to hook an impersonation on - why not Hawke?); and De Fries' Kruger impersonation is down to a couple of light scars (rather than the all-encompasisng burn marks), a stripy shirt and a lurching manner (to be fair, Kruger is pretty much the only horror icon of the last several decades that doesn't wear a mask - though the reference to having the little-old-ladies recently having gone to see a movie with him accompanying a bloodthirsty young boy wears out as soon as you realise that the last "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie came out a dozen years ago).  

There are other slight indulgences with the script - it's a longish show played in three fairly full acts, which get slightly longer when Andrew Kay's delightful set proves adaptable to give us both an exterior AND an interior rather than the all-in-one-location original - the insistence on inserting bonus scenes outside the house drag out the evening a little too much for material which rarely has anything to add after the opening exposition dump. 

Fortunately the core of the show is well cast. Alice Ferguson has the slightly larger of the two central roles as Abby, the one who gets the big exposition scene where she explains and justifies why she's been so generous with the poisoning, and sells the character's self-justifying morality wonderfully - she sells the show's big leap-of-faith that she and her sister can be so convinced they're just doing the right thing. Nikki-Lynn Hunter forms a good double-act with Ferguson as the goofy chef of the pair, with an infectious grin and enthusiasm (and matches accents to Ferguson's native Scottish). Jack Shanahan has the hyperactive role as Mortimer, the figure who has to have everything explaind to him and who gets to run around trying to fix everything, and gives it a spin of massive-young-man-ego and utter disregard for anybody else that's going on around him - while he's theoretically the straight-man of the show, his normality is exposed as just as nuts as anybody elses. Robbie Matthews makes the slightly script-muddled character of Bobby somewhat endearing as he's eagerly led as long as people play into his fantasy. Rob de Fries has an enthusiastically sadistic creepy manner as he lurches across the stage threatening doom to everybody. Natalie Waldron gets the role that is most clearly 1940s - a girl who's biggest feature is to whine in the middle of the stage about how she wants to get married while the man in her life either ignores or berates her, and while she doesn't exactly modernise the cliche, at least she commits to it. Kayla Ciceran is suitablly weirdly drugged-out-of-her-mind as the sinister Dr Swan. David Bennett in a triple role gives good effect to each part that makes you not wonder very much why Queanbeyan has so many Oklahomans in it. Mae Schrembi gives enthusiasm to the Police Officer Who Has Written A Play and is very enthusiastic to explain all of it to people. 

All in all this is a production that hits most of the key delights of the play, even while inserting some slightly unnecessary tampering with the material. 

The initiation, Canberra youth theatre, Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, 16-19 June

 

On the hills of Black Mountain, six teenagers gather - only two of them are currently friends, with another a former friend til they started going to seperate schools. One of them seems to know more than she's telling, and soon they're all drawn into a sinister ritual that will draw more out of them than they're expecting in the course of one long night.

Cathy Petcoz's script slips between three genres, having elements of teen slasher,  straight teen drama and mythology. It doesn't always juggle all three successfully - most teen slashers tend to include moments of deliberate humor to defray the tendency for the horror to get giggles if not carefully managed, and this doesn't quite get around the audience giggle-factor. Petcoz is clearly aware of how classic teen slashers have fairly retrograde attitudes of sexuality and gender presentation, but here she's mostly just pointing out where the behaviour is problematic rather than feeling like the problems are being engaged with and combatted meaningfully. There's elements of the straight teen drama that more effectively raises the creeps inherent in simply being a teenager than the genre elements do - these are fears that don't go away as simply once the story is over and the monster is banished. A year after "Little Girls alone in the woods", this is another play that plays in some of the same mythological space, albiet less comfortably. 

There's strong meat here for the six performers to engage with - in particular, Lantsamy Carruthers impresses, giving a spine to the narrative as the instigating character - Tara Sexena is as close as this story gets to a "final girl" and takes her to places that most of her breatheren don't get to. Juniper Potter gives her character a rounded independent strength. Sylvie Burke and Zoe Harris take two roles which could be close to cliche as the private-school meanies and give them a few more dimensions. Harry Ziano is effectively befuddled and vulernable as the sole boy of the team.

Petcoz is doing double duty as writer and director - I do think a seond set of eyeballs may have wrestled more effectively with some of the challenges of doing this kind of genre mashup, but it's effective direction, buidling tension as the show progresses.

There's meat in this show but I don't know that this has come out of the developement process entirely clean - it does feel like some elements of the script are there more to engage with dramaturgical notes than to actually clarify and focus the narrative, and it's led to a script that is maybe trying to do a little too much - it's unfortunate that this has to be the show that follows a script as tried and tested as "Dags" for CYT and it's possible that any show after that one is going to look a little more raw, I hope that this does get a life beyond the courtyard as I think the young performers are well showcased here, but I do wish that the mix worked a little better for me.

Dubbo Championship Wrestling, Hayes Theatre Company, Hayes Theatre, 13 May-12 Jun 2022 (and Riverside Theater Parramatta 16-25 June)

 In Dubbo, a regional wrestling promotion is still rolling into its twentieth year, struggling by with declining viewership and aging competitors playing out the same old ritulaistic rivalries. The return of the promoter's daughter Rose after some mishaps in Sydney, plus her mum, the conniving Cheryl and her new man, disgraced American wrestler "Perfect Ten Ken", could bring on change, particuarly as DubboMania XX approaches. And inevitably everything's going to be worked out in the ring in a series of contrived matches for ridiculously high stakes on the way to the only possible ending, an unlikely but inevitable victory of good over evil. 

Rock musicals have huge passions, verging on the ludicrous, predictable plots and intense physical dancing. So does wrestling. So this is a rich field for a joyous theatrical spectacular, and the writers, brothers Daniel and James Cullen, know how to combine their sports movies cliches with loud rocking riffs and some goofy comedy to bring pure delight to an audience. Combined with Sheridan Harbridge's direction, Ellen Simpson's choreography and Tim Dashwood';s fight choreography, using the musical skills of Joe Accaria and Glenn Moorehouse, this is a fun night out of spectacle, song and emotional catharsis. 

The performers get great chances to show off their skills, whether it's Zoe Ioannou's moody protagonist Rose, Bishanyia' Vincent's villainous Cheryl, Justin Smith's goodhearted old galoot Ozzy, Terry Serio's rough dad Des, Aaron Tsindos's egocentric idiot Ken, Genevieve Lemon and Noni McMallum's double act as the Tradie Ladies, or William Tukia-Edwards, covering as the gently heroic Ron. 

This is certainly loud entertainment that indulges in stereotypes of old-style australianism and is sentimental and cliched, but it's also great fun, a true panto-in-tights, and a surprisingly well developed new Australian Musical that, if there's any justice, should be a great touring unit for years to come (with a cast of 8, a band of five and a simple but effective set, why wouldn't you tour this)? A delightful night out. 

Ghosting the Party, Griffin Theatre Company, Stables Theatre, 20 May-18 June 2022

 

This play is perfectly built for popular consumption - three generations of women deal with aging, life, their relationships with one another and the inevitability of death. It's material that is all-too-relatable to people of any age, looking right down the barrell at our mortality and examining it with honesty, wit and compassion. Andrea James stages it with verve and style, using the tiny Griffin stage and her three actresses to take us from fasionable bar to suburban home to 5pm discount dinner special - with two of the three women also getting a chance to switch into alternate roles for substantial cameos. 

Belinda Giblin plays the oldest, Grace, blunt in her aggravation with the frustrations of age and with her daughter, but still with compassion for her daughter and granddaughter. Jillian O'Dowd as the one in the middle, both mother and daughter, finding herself caught in the role of caregiver in two directions, is compelling as she attempts to put a sunny face on as much as possible while clearly deeply uncomfortable with the directions some of the conversations are going. Amy Hack as granddaughter Suzie lends a junior perspective, being slightly peterbed by the ways her elders act (and in a role that feels slightly under-written - she's basically limited to responding to the other two rather than really having an arc of her own). 

Isabel Gordon's set isn't one of the best Griffin sets, largely because it feels like it wants to be in a prosecnium space facing the audience straight on, rather than the usual Stables corner - though the chintzy decoration gives it a nice surburban homely vibe. 

This is surprisingly light material for the normally more sober-sided Griffin, and gleefully so - it could be accused of perhaps being a little slight and outside Griffin's remit of providing new directions for Australian theatre (rather than familiar crowd-pleasers) but it's still a worthwhile exercise.

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, 2 June-10 July 2022

 

An academic and author becomes fascinated with one of his students, finding his life more and more entwined with hers until eventually they end up sexually involved. The after-effects on both of them have ramifications far beyond the immediate, hanging over both of them. He's narrating the story, telling it directly to the audience in the third person,but are we getting the whole story?

Hannah Moscovitch's 2020 two-hander is a fast moving play that dances at the edge of a precipice - this is the kind of story we've seen many times before, and often from the male perspective - but rarely this smartly and this intriguingly. Petra Kelive's production brings this Canadian play into Australian accents and with one or two Australian references, but otherwise keeps it pretty much intact - it's the kind of thing you could expect to see on any campus any time in the last decade or so. Dan Spielman plays the academic with a certain amount of self-justifying transperent charm - he's never quite getting away with as much as he thinks he is and there's an edge between who he thinks he is and what his actions are betraying. Izabella Yena has the role that seems thinner early on - most of the early scenes largely have her being observed by the academic and lightly interacting with him, before things get deeper and denser. It's a provocative evening, and the conversations after the play may be as enlightening as what goes on during - but it's also a story that knows its tropes and is able to effectively subvert them.

This is a clever, compelling 80 minute show that feels tight and laser focussed, and is gripping throughout. It walks a tightrope of comteporary concerns masterfully before hitting you with a final twist that brings the show into perspective. Very pleased this made the transfer.

Lano and Woodley: Moby Dick, Token Events, Canberra Theatre, 9-10 June 2022

 After thirty years as a double-act (less 10 years in the middle when they went on hiatus and both pursued solo careers, and two years of Covid), you'd thikk that the Lano and Woodley formula (Colin wants to pursue some serious project, Frank is distractable and distracting) would have worn out your welcome. You'd be wrong, and this time, applied to a telling of Herman Mellville's classic 19th century whale-hunt novel, it functions gloriously as an entertainingly knockabout shambles that sorta vageuly relates to a classic novel.

Beginning with a retelling of the plot of the novel in song, surrounded by deep fog, Colin tries to take over telling a one man version of the story with the assistance of some classy projections and a nifty vaguely nautical set. Frank has a few ideas for how he can help, most of which Colin rejects. Things get weird, an offstage crew member named Nathan helps out with props, Colin's frustration ebbs and flows, and everything ends in disaster and yet also with a resolution of some of the plot threads. Woodley is a delightfully mischeouvous agent of chaos, mostly somewhat well meaning, and Lane is a great slow-burn straight man. It never falls too hard into pathos or contrivance, it feels fresh and delightful, and all in all it's a fine night of structured chaos, with a goofy selection of exit music.