The Well I Liked It awards 2022

 2022 was sorta the year we came back - in my world, I saw (and reviewed) more theatre than I have in any year I've been blogging, and there were a lot of intriguing trends out there to be keeping an eye on in hopes they continue.

First of all, the musicals seemed to have discovered that Small Is Beautiful - my three favourite local musicals of the year were "Ruthless", "Keating" and "Urinetown" that all utilised skilled small casts to tell passionate stories up close and personal, whether it be dealing with egos and motherhood, the clash of politics or the dark truths of modern existence. Musically and dramatically skilled and filled with talented performers used to the best of their abilities, these were memorable highlights of the year 

My performer of the year was Josh Wiseman - a great adaptable performer who popped up in four great performances - as the more inquisitive 50% of the title pair in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, as the egocentric teenager Timothy in Hand to God, as a surprisingly evenly matched sparring partner in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and as perhaps the most infuriating of the squabbling foursome in God of Carnage. There's nothing standard or rote about his performances - they're all perfectly pitched for the material he's working on, with strong theatrical intelligence and physical verve. I'll be keeping my eye out to see where he shows up next year. 

Interstate it was great to finally have the state theatre companies start to explore the canon of New African-American and African-English writing - whether it be Sydney Theatre Company's great "Raisin in the Sun" (which I saw at a preview and hence didn't review, but I loved the hell out of) or Darlinghurst's "Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner"- both used performers of African heritage in strong ways to illuminate texts that haven't normally shown up on our (fairly anglo) stages before. It's a rich canon and I look forward to seeing more of it.

It was a bumper year for new writing too, whether it be interstate with "Triple X" giving the Rom-Com a huge reboot with its exploration of gender and power or "At What Cost" deeply delving into the dirty laundry of indigenous politics; on tour with "King of Pigs" giving a sharp look at domestic violence and "The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes" looking at what disability really might mean in the 21st century; or locally generated with the Q and Canberra Youth theatre both giving opportunities for new writers to explore engagement with their audience, with shows like "Smokescreen", "21 Forster street" and "How to Vote" exploring big issues through local eyes.

Two examples of great overseas writing that got exposure locally were "This Changes Everything", a large-youth-cast exploration of the big issues of dealing with a society that seems overwhelming, and "Six" which took well-established history and gave it a modern lens that was intellectually rigoruous, energising and a complete goddamn bop. 

My personal "show I wish got wider exposure" for the year was "Dubbo Championship Wrestling" at the Hayes - it was a goddamn great Australian Musical that engaged the soul and senses in a rough-as-guts production that played straight to the heart and the funnybone. 

I also hope that Everyman finds a way to expose more audiences to their "Importance of Being Earnest", which was a great way of presenting a classic play without the mustiness or layers of tradition that often accumulates. This is the kinda production that could very easily find a place touring Pride festivals for the next decade or so should the performers be inclined, delighting audiences with its irreverence, sass, and charm. 

Thanks to the WILI class of 2022 - may you return to kick theatre in the dick even more in 2023.

The Importance of Being Earnest, ACT Hub. 8-17 December 2022

 I'm not sure what it is about late 19th century English theatre that its most frivolous works, the plays of Oscar Wilde and the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, are what's most frequently revisited - but certainly, they're constantly being rediscovered and re-explored. Between last year's run at Smiths alternative and the Sydney Theatre Company doing a season next year, Earnest is an evergreen, brisk comedy of egos, love, money, and deception, always welcome (and, for the enterprising theatre company, possessing both name recognition and the benefits of being out-of-copyright). 

The Hub's end-of-year production plays delightfully with Wilde's text, relocating the action to a somewhat-then-somewhat-now cabaret where modern songs get Post-Modern-Jokebox-style remixes into cabaret standards, sung largely by two not--in-Wilde performers, The Downlows (Louiza Blomfield and Dave Collins), though with assistance from some of the more musically-inclined other performers in the show.  Utilising the cabaret setting to the fullest with the audience scattered around at tables (and occasionally moved on from act-to-act to allow the performers to occupy a new area) it's great to feel immersed in the nonsense as the young attempt to get attached and stay together in the face of a terrifying Aunt, confused identities and the lack of a particularly-vibrations-yielding-Christian-name. 

This is an absolutely top-level cast fully game for anything - whether it be Joel Horwood as the slightly-more-self-important-dandy John Worthing, a particularly impish Steph Roberts as Algernon, a gloriously hairy-legged Shae Kelly as an eccentrically sharp-witted Gwendolyn, a bubbly-and-goofy Holly Ross as more-cunning-than-she-appears Cecily, an ever-distractible Victoria Dixon as Miss Prism, a soft-spoken-but-loud-feeling Janie Lawson as Canon Chasuble, a force-of-nature-and-her-own-self-satisfaction Lainie Hart as the utter pinnacle of Lady Bracknells and an impishly scene-stealing Blue Hyslop as Merrilane (a merger of two separate-but-kinda-similar Butler characters in Wilde's original). 

With such a minimal set, a lot of the effect is produced by sharp lighting by Nathan Sciberras and, in particular, some gorgeously fashionable outfits from Fiona Leach (Lady Bracknell's coat, in particular, gives me coat-envy of the kind I haven't felt since the Good-Coat version of Pride and Prejudice in the 2000s), which manage to combine modernity, a nod to victorian values, and some indication of the non-binary nature of this production. 

Hilarious, ridiculous, and performed at full pitch and skill, this is a delight for any audience, whether familiar with Wilde or not. Recommended for anybody with even the slightest sense of humour or style. And for everyone else too.

The Tempest, Sydney Theatre Company, Ros Packer theatre,15 Nov-21 Dec

 Shakespeare's late play is a mixture of elements - it's a comedy that sets itself up as a revenge tragedy, as a wronged man gathers his enemies around him, at the height of his powers, only to eventually forgive them. There's also a love story between true innocents, a farce as a drunken butler and a clown attempt to ferment rebellion themselves, and some planned murders that manage to be averted in the nick of time.It's about finding your way to forgiveness in the roughest and direst of circumstances, and it's a story of beauty and power.

In this version, it's also a chance for Kip Williams to show off his directing skills without the screens he's used for the last few shows he's done (Dorian Gray, Julius Caesar and Jeckyl and Hyde) - having the action take place on and around one giant rock in the centre  of the stage - which is a grand location for Richard Roxburgh to make his entrance and most of his declarations, as he and the rest of the cast climb up and down it and moving around as the rock rotates - occaionally embelished by fire, smoke or drops of glitter from the sky. It's a place both desolate and beautiful, and, in this version of the text, it's a contentious ground where Prospero can work out his personal demons through treating everyone around him as, essentially, puppets to his will - while he undoubtedly has some affection for his daughter, the rest of the cast are there to be either ordreed around or tortured.

Roxburgh uses his abiltiies as a somewhat jaded ringmaster to other people's crazy as seen in things like "Rake" and his performance in "The Present" to be a strong centre, whether invoking the weather, ordering around the sprite Ariel (played surprisingly lightly and powerfully by Peter Carroll, looking very ripped in a set of leather pants emitting smoke and long white hair), or raging against his enemies. The production suffers slightly from attepts to resolve Shakespeare's 16th century sense of colonialism in dealing with the character of Caliban - it's aware that Caliban is clearly wronged and while his attempts to right the wrongs sees him fall into companionship with a pair of ne'er do-wells who will betray him as soon as possible, the conclusion with Prospero handing over his powers never quite lands as strong as it might - while Guy Simon gives him justified rage and hurt, the attempt to update his arc and to land on a resolution acceptable to 2022 remains a worthy attempt rather than an unabashed success. 

Elsewhere, Mandy McElhinney provides nobility as Alonso, Megan Wilding rambles charmingly as Gonzalo, Jason Chong and Chantelle Jamieson are suitably dodgy as the plotters Alonso and Sebastian, Shiv Palekar and Claude Scott-Mitchell have a gentle adoring chemistry as the lovers Ferdinand and Miranda, and Aaron Tsindos and Susie Youssef are suitably chaotic as the two clowns of the piece. 

This nver quite lives up to my memories of the 90s Belvoir production with Barry Otto as a distinctly cracked-in-the-head Prospero and a fresh-faced Cate Blanchett as a gobsmacked Miranda, but it provides strong spectacle and an intriguingly different reading of the play, making it well worth the watch. 

Nice Work if You Can Get it, Michelle Guthrie in association with Hayes theatre, 18 Nov-20 Dec

 The Gershwins combine a song stack of truly great songs often stuck attached to shows with scripts that simply aren't revivable without major surgery - leading to a number of newly compiled shows over the last 40 or so years from "My One and Only" to "Crazy For You" to the recent "An American in Paris" which combine highlights of the Gershwin song stack with plots vaguely reminiscent of previous shows. In this case, the work credited "Oh, Kay!", the work of Guy Bolton and PG Wodehouse, who worked together on a vast number of 1920s and 30s shows (up to and including the original unused script for Anything Goes), themselves adapting a french play by the prolific Pierre Veber, farceur of the late 19th-early 20th century, and grandfather of Francis Veber, author of the original french farces "La Cage Aux Folles", "The Dinner Game" and "The closet". Which is to say, this comes from experienced stock. Jo DiPeitro's updated script keeps the material firmly in the original 1920s period with bootleggers, a wealthy privileged idiot, madcap flappers, modern dancers, and censorious relatives all combining to set up a nonsensical farce that only makes sense while you're watching it.    

The Hayes has treated this material with appropriate respect, which is to say it keeps everything light as a souffle. The mood's set early as the bar serves some very delightful Hard Tea with a hint of Long Island in it, and improves as you settle down in front of Simon Greer's stylishly adaptable Art Deco set, only for the cast to burst out into energetic song and dance. The plot unfolds smoothly and ridiculously, getting more complicated as it goes, and director/choreographer Cameron Mitchell finds maximum opportunity to fill the stage with dance and energy. The evening whizzes by as a spectacle of delight, knowing that it has no deeper purpose beyond showing off romance, glamour, and nonsense in speedy spectacle, played to perfection. 

As the leads, Ashleigh Rubenach gives her heroine tough spunk and charm, while Rob Mallet is just the right kind of empty-headed nitwit to be likable as he throws himself into a variety of preposterous situations. Grace Driscoll as wanna-be dancer and prudish fiance Eileen takes a character who could easily be a one-note-dismissable-nitwit and gives her her own independent drive. Andrew Waldin as a co-plotter is great at playing the straight man to a lot of the nonsense, and Octavia Barron Martni and Sal Sharrah team up as the two largest nemeses to our heroes. Anthony Garcia dances up a storm as the third conspirator, and his impromptu hookup with Catty Hamilton's madcap flapper delights. Adorah Oloapu as the police chief looms with just the right mix of threat and her own sideways goofyness. 

Damon Waede leads a great 5 piece band that sounds great throughout. There's a true sense that this is just the right energy for this show - a tight goofy comedy played full-out for everything it's worth, with exhilarating songs and dances. It's the kinda plot that you could nitpick later if you were feeling so inclined, but it works just well enough to remove all inclinations to do anything other than grin from ear to ear.   

The Jungle and the Sea, Belvoir with Lingaylayam Dance company, 12 Nov-18 Dec

 

A reunion of the team who produced "Counting and Cracking" back in 2019, this is another story epic in length and scope dealing with recent Sri Lankan history and the traumatic recent history of that part of the subcontinent. Again dealing with a family split between Australia and Sri Lanka, about love in the middle of bigger poltical circumstances and about deeply human stories, writers and directors S. Shakthidaran and Eamon Flack push the narrative through an ever-moving revolve through cross-country and international journies, with confrontations with their own moralities and

Much like "Coutning and Cracking", the scenes set in Australia feel almost tacked on - the heart of the play is clearly in Sri Lanka. There's a building sense of tension from early on as Sri Lanka falls into civil war and simple decisions to help save others backfire and cause harm in ways unintended - when the family is split asunder and the quest to reunite begins. There's additional tragedies to come, and there's a true power in them as communicated by a cast of eight plus two ever-present musicians providing live backing. If it falters slightly in the third act with a recreation of Sophacles' "Antigone" (a fairly static debate play coming after two acts of movement and action) it gives new context to the classic by having those arguing the points be characters known to us so that we know exactly where they are coming from and why the intransigence between them cannot be easily resolved. 

It's a simply staged epic, letting the feelings lead the action as much as possible, and it's a cumulativly shattering experience with moments of beauty and power throughout. It's not often we get to see big new dramas make their premiere on Australian stages, but this is definately one to catch. 

Hamilton, Michael Cassel et al, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne til 15 Jan 2023, Brisbane from 27 Jan 2023, Aukland in May 2023.

 

... so sometimes I see shows late in their run. Sometimes VERY late in their run. And of course this is not my first meeting with this show - I've been listening to highlights of the cast album since it came out, I've seen the Disney+ presentation and I've even got a copy of the Hamilton mixtape covers-and-extras album. This is undoubtedly an important show that's brought a younger audience into the theatre, telling a tale of the American Revolution and what came after in a bold contemporary style. And like most incredibly contempoary shows (Hair, Rent), some of that contempoary sheen starts to tarnish a little after a few years. This is, however, a show with great central bones - the simple structure (borrowed from "Jesus Christ superstar" and "Evita") of making the antagonist both narrator and co-lead gives the narrative that covers some 30 years of history focus and a central drive. There are undobutedly flaws - it's undoubtedly history told from a very New York perspective, and despite some attempts at striking some gender balance, it's still largely the men's show. And it undoubtedly ellides some of the history it's telling in the interest of keeping the show under 3 hours. But that history it does tell is illuminated boldly and strongly. 

The local production rises above being a mere reproduction of an overseas model largely on the back of Jason Arrow, the striking lead. After a year and a half in the role you'd expect some ebbing of energy but he's electric in the role - conveying both the youth of the upstart attempting to ingratiate himself at the beginning of the show, and the slow maturing as politics and personal mistakes in the second act chip away at him. He's a compelling lead and watchable in every moment. Elsewhere Lyndon Watts delivers a slow-burn performance-  starting out smug and cynical at the sidelines, the urge to be at the centre of things excercies a stronger and stronger pull on him until the invitable final confrontation; Martha Berhane is a warm presence as Eliza, seeing us through even the worst of moments in her relationship with Alexander; Akina Edmonds is electrifying when allowed to cut loose as Angelica (one of the flaws of the show is that Angelica seems so very central in her first two showcase numbers, then largely slips into the background for the rest of it); Iosefa Laga'aia gives centralising calm as Washington, Victory Ndukwe lights up the stage in double roles as Lafayette and Jefferson, and Rowan Witt is suitably impish as King George.

Thomas Kail directs a visceral, fast moving production which manages the shifts of location and time clearly and appealingly. There's great support from Andy Blankenbueller's choreography giving the ensemble clear involvement in much of the action, and Howell Binklely's gorgeous lighting design pinpointing areas of the stage with precision and care. Also David Kopin's set, half colonial builidng, half run-down rap club, proves ever adaptable to wherever it needs the cast to be at any one second (including a highly active double-revolve). 

In short, yes, this really does still live up to 7 years of hype. If you happen to be anywhere near where this production is playing, you should definately be there.