Hand to God, Red Line Productions, Old Fitz, 24 Feb-26 Mar 2022

 

In a small town Sunday school, Margery is attempting to teach her three students to make puppets as part of the ministry. She's recently widowed and is struggling to raise her quiet son Jason, while handling the attentions both of student Timothy and the overly-handsy Pastor Greg. But when Jason begins a weird relationship with his puppet, Tyrone, everything starts to tumble into chaos. 

Robert Askins' american comedy looks at the limitations of faith and good honest American family values with a brutal honesty - in the intimite confines of the Old Fitz theatre, it's a compelling story full of twists and turns, darkly hilarious and very twisted. 

As anyone who saw "Appleton Ladies Potato Race" knows, Merridy Eastman has a great skill at appearing joyously demented on stage, and she channels this skill well into the stressed out Sunday school teacher who crosses several ethical boundries on the way to relieving her tensions. Phillip Lynch has the double role of Jason and Tyrone, skillfully splitting the two of them so you really believe his right arm is an entirely different person taking over, and letting Tyrone take the focus as he becomes more and more powerful as an agent of chaos. There's a skill and lack of ego in letting the puppet be the focus rather than the actor drawing attention to themselves. Elsewhere, Ryan Morgan is gleefully driven as the troubled Timothy, Gerard Carroll projects smug complacency as Pastor Greg and Michelle Ny as Jason's protector Jessica is charming, fierce and surprisingly seductive in turns. 

Director Alexander Berlarge has previously delivered two great reinventions of modern musicals in Cry Baby and American Psycho - here he gives us a seemingly cosy playroom that turns into a nightmare, mostly providing truth and pace to the piece (although the epilogue feels a little awkwardly placed, and maybe needs to be picked up with more pace after the climax to avoid feeling extraneous). There's great set and costume design from Emma White and lighting and sound design from  Phoebe Pilcher

and Daniel Herten. It's a fine production that does credit to a script that could feel snarky or shallow in lesser hands - here all the characters, even the demonic puppet, feel real and three-dimensional. Definitely worth catching.

Opening Night, Belvoir St Theatre, 26 Feb-27 Mar 2022

 

It's four days to opening night and Myrtle is struggling. She can't relate to the character she's playing, and the writer, the director and the leading man are no help, generally insulting her when she tries to seek help about who she's meant to be playing and to deliver more than a 2 dimensional caricature. And that night at the stage girl there's a disturbing encounter with a fan. The next few days are a nightmare of rehearsal, obsession, self-examination and paranoia before the big night...

I have to admit I've never seen any John Cassavetes films, let alone the somewhat obscure 1977 film this play is based on - but it's a piece of meta-theatre looking at the process of making theatre and how it often can bare down on the women at the centre of it, relying on them to make material which isn't fleshed out into something greater than it is. There's a modern feel to this as the questions of female agency on stage still haven't fully been thought through and work continues to arrive with limited roles for actresses all too often. Fortunately this is a play that raises the questions and provokes thought about them, even if the resolution is perhaps a little too tidy to entirely resolve everything - and the adaptation to contemporary and local doesn't entirely flow through the material, which feels a little more distanced by a couple of small aesthetic details than maybe it should (the casual smoking and drinking, the way that Australian stage doors work compared to Broadway), but all in all this is an effective thought provoking night out.

Carissa Liacciardello does double duty as adapter and director, to my mind doing better at the second than the first - the dialogue and structure is more functional rather than transcendent, but she does have a great eye for an effective stage image and is able to move in and around the various levels of reality this story tells, from performance-to-rehearsal-to-real-life-to-nightmare and back again with splitsecond timing. She has slightly sabotaged herself by choosing a set by David Fleischer that doesn't really quite suit the Belvoir stage - admittedly this is a set that has to do a lot more than just be its initial state, but the initial impression is that there's a lot of space between the actors and the audience, leading to this being a show that works better as the show slips into the surreal  - it's not a show that quite fits into the space where it's being performed.

Leanna Walsmann is a big part of that as Myrtle, the actress with reasonable complains who's never quite listened to like she should be and is therefore driven inwards to find her own solutions. The production is largely built around her - the play is a deep dive seen through her eyes and mentality, and she's barely offstage for the whole 100 minutes of action - and she makes it all fascinating. Elsewhere, Luke Mullins is suitably creepy as the director, reflecting the ego of a man who wants the benefits of the title but is not willing to roll his sleeves up and do the difficult emotional work of exploring the material, Toni Scanlan is interesting as the writer of the play-within-the-play, constantly suggesting possibilities but never really providing concrete assistance, and Matt Zaremes and Jing-xuan Chan don't really have a lot to work with in their small roles as co-star and dresser respectively, and Caitlin Burley is largely a creepy presence rather than a full character as the fangirl Nancy. 

Nick Schiliper's split-second lighting deserves almost a co-starring credit as it moves from show-to-life-to-nightmare (alongside his associate Jazime Rizk) and Max Lyndevert's sound design creates good mood too (though competing a bit with an actual storm on the night I saw it). 

It's an interesting mood piece that provokes thought about the roles women accept and what happens when they begin to fight against it. - better at being surreal than in the initial scenes that try to establish a reality - I think it's a show I enjoyed thinking about the ideas in it more than the presentation of those ideas. So it probably falls into the category of "interesting" rather than "compelling", but they were good thoughts to be provoked.

Keating!, Queanbeyan Players, Belconnen Theatre, Feb 25-Mar 6 2022

 The chase for the "great Australian Musical" has been one of the great quests of Australian theatre, but Casey Bennetto's 2005 musical "Keating" probably has come the closet to getting genuine widespread public acclaim. From humble beginnings as a small Melbourne Comedy festival show to an expanded Belvoir production that toured virtually nonstop from 2006-2008, it's a sensational piece of legend-building spectacle, with a mix of pastiche, satire, and authentic emotional heart-string-pulling material, plus it recognises the power of rap battles as a representation of political debate well before a certain famous American musical of recent vintage (then again, both are pre-dated by the 1980's "Rap Master Ronnie" by Gary Trudeau).  Using the popular labour mythology of Keating as a stylish smoothie right out of the 60s Rat Pack (the official publicity image for the Belvoir production was Keating's Rolling Stone cover-shot), it tells a familiar story of struggle, rise to power and dealing with the challenges that happen once in office. There's great choices of matching material to the moment, whether it be Alexander Downer's funky "Freaky", the every-Australian-ad-of-the-80s-sounding "The Mateship", the Elvis comeback special vibe to "Sweet"... it's a major achievement and it's a pity Bennetto has never really been able to duplicate it since. 

This production inflates the cast size slightly but still recognises the essential nature of the piece as small and focussed very much on Keating's solo power, and knows when to go big, and as importantly when to keep things small (particularly in the penultimate number, "Light on the Hill"). Sarah Hull's recent work has shown she's got a real skill for 21st-century musicals, between "High Fidelity" and "Wedding Singer", she has a fine contemporary eye and a great sense of how to appropriately scale new work for a local audience. Together with collaborators David Santolin on choreography and Jenna Hinton as musical director she's staged a fine production that gives life to the material in delightful ways.

At the centre is Steven O'Mara as Keating, performing a marathon part with complete focus and charisma. He's got the style, moves, and charisma, as well as a powerful voice that carries him through the show in great style. There's great supporting cameos as well, whether it be Anthony Swadling's ingratiating Hawke, Zachary Izzard's raptastic John Hewson, Andrew Finegan's funky freak of an Alexander Downer, Zyl Hovenga-Wauchope's loomingly beige-suited Gareth Evans, Alissa Pearson's scarlet seductress Cheryl Kernot or Matt Greenwood's creepy gnome John Howard. 

Jeannie Norberry's costume design gives style on what presumably is a fairly tight budget, Nick Cossart's sound design makes sure every witty lyric is heard and enjoyed, and Sarah Hull's set design gives the cast plenty of options in creating memorable stage pictures. 

This is a classic Australian show given an excellent local production and is deservedly sold out. If you can catch the digital screenings planned for the coming weeks, please do so, this cast and production absolutely deserve your attention. It's an effort that should make Queanbeyan Players very proud. 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, Canberra Rep, Theatre 3, 11 Feb-5 Mar 2022

 Tom Stoppard's comedy is almost 60 years old but has lost none of its relevance - the story of two minor characters from Hamlet lost, confused, and finally doomed due to (see title) is a tale that's uniquely appealing to our complex world where the sense of never quite knowing where you are or what's going on around you is  ever-present. These two figures are styled as a classic comic pair - one inquisitive idiot, one complacent idiot, both lost in a world they have minimal control over. The fact that the "bigger picture" they're missing is one of the great works of world literature throws an additional twist in the tale. 

Cate Clelland's production brings the play to life in an open theatrical space making great use of Rep's wide stage to provide various areas for Ros and Guil to contemplate, explore and deal with those who confront them, whether they be the traveling players who seem to know a lot more than them about the way the world works, or the Danish Royal court playing out their preassigned roles in the drama. Rocks to sit, a wooden ramp for them to delve into the play-behind-the-play, and three sizable barrells with more in them than should reasonably be possible make up the scenery, and the play builds up from lacksidasical philosophical meanderings about the character's reality and history into a building sense of doom as inevitable fate looms ever larger.

Josh Wiseman and Lainie Hart are a perfect pair, Wiseman as the more inquisitive of the pair trying to work out what his place in the world, Hart as the one taking joy in the moment. There's an easy give and take between the two which draws us in, makes us side with them as they struggle to understand the world around them and ultimately surrender to the void. They're a wonderful pair and I hope to see them matched up together in many future productions by enterprising directors. Added to the mix as their most frequent interlocutor is Arran McKenna as the player king, a figure who by virtue of being a performer of tragedies is somehow already aware how things are going to play out and teases, baits and disconcerts the pair with his knowledge. McKenna is suitably larger-than-life, bombastic, impressive and menacing by turns. As for the rest, those doing the cut-down version of Hamlet mostly give a general impression of their roles (Orphelia is cut down to pretty much just the screaming, Claudius to the imperious arrogance, Gertrude to genial snobbery, Polonius to the befuddlement and Hamlet to sinister sarcasm), and the players provide a tight troupe of musicians, jugglers, acrobats and poor long-suffering Albert. 

Anna Senior and her team provide a mix of glorious Elizabethan outfits for the cast, and Neville Pye and Justin Mullin's soundscape of disconcerting weather and seascapes gives specificity to the lonely world our characters find themselves in. 

This is a modern classic played in strong style, and should absolutely be seen, consumed and talked about. 

Ruthless!, Echo Theatre, The Q, 24 Feb-12 Mar

 

A high camp musical, Ruthless is the tale of Judy Denmark, an apparently average, somewhat disney-ish mother, with a precociously talented daughter, Tina, who's managed to acquire an enthusiastic agent, Sylvia StCroix, and a desire to play the lead in the school play, "Pippi Longstocking in Tahiti". What comes next is a series of plot twists, double-crosses, revelations, songs on-and-off-key, theatrical in-jokes, and splashy costumes that will delight anyone with a love for old movies, female empowerment, disturbing wigs, multiple homicides or just plain old-fashioned fun.

Jordan Best directs with tongue-in-cheek glee, hitting every gag in the script and finding several new ones, showing a splashy lack of restraint and an overarching sense of joy and ridiculousness as the larger-than-life characters show off ego, desire and above all, the title characteristic of completely lacking Ruth.

As the apparently simple mother, Jenna Roberts scores another triumph, committing totally to every contortion of the plot she's put through and reacting with suitable charming obviousness to the madness around her. As predatory agent Sylvia, Dee Farnell is a constant joy, a lounge lizard of extraordinary proportions, larger than life and dropping bon-mots with suitable languidity. As psychopathically enthusiastic daughter Tina, Jessy Heath is triumphantly bratty and self-obsessed, gleefully seeking the spotlight wherever possible. As somewhat boozy third-grade teacher and ambitious writer/director of the Pippi musical, Tracey Noble is venomously wonderful, bitter, twisted and altogether fun. As Grandma and theatre critic extraordinaire Lita, Janie Lawson spills bitchery, boozery and the hit-song-with-many-encores "I hate musicals", rewarding each extra chorus with building power. Eryn Marshall does double duty both as the klutzy rival Louise and as the clearly-up-to-more-than-she-lets on Eve, both with go-for-broke enthusiasm and skill.

Nick Griffin provides musical accompaniment and has directed the women to choral perfection when they come together, with Jacquelyn Richards providing every cheesy dance move a larger-than-life musical needs. Anna Senior's outfits are suitably outlandish, while Ian Croker's set is a simple but stylish playground for the performers. 

All in all this is a fun, frolicsome, nonsensical musical featuring six of the best talents in town, and should not be missed by anybody sentient. 

As you like it, Lakespeare, Verity Lane Market (and various other locations until 6 Mar)

 

Lakespeare's been doing the free-shakespeare in the outdoors thing for a while now - seasons of "Much Ado About Nothing" in 2017, "Twelfth Night" in 2018 and "Midsummer's nights dream" in 2019 - and after COVID interruption, it's back for 2022 with a play just as entertaining, if not quite as familiar as the last three - with a team of local talent to tell a tale of banishment, romance, rivalries, comedy, melancholy and a big honking Act 5 deus ex machina to wrap everything up. Featuring one of Shakespeare's best known monologues, one of the most substantial female roles in the canon, plus wrestling, poetry and duels, it's got everything a good night out should have. This season a couple of the performances have moved indoors to the upstairs area at Verity Lane Market, which proves a fine venue for these sort of shenanigans (with many good eats downstairs to be brought upstairs to consume during the show).

In general, the production is done with absolute emphasis on simplicity and clarity - the set is nothing more than a round space in the middle of the audience, with a couple of chairs dragged in for assistance occasionally, and plenty of strategic exits for people to dash off when they need to. If the cast tend to project more than is strictly necessary for the indoor venue, that can be excused as a byproduct of a run dashing between indoors and outdoors on alternate nights. 

Natasha Vickery shines as the lovelorn Rosalind - if she's never entirely convincing in the girl-dressed-as-a-boy sections, that's more a feature than a bug as the rest of the cast mostly remain unconvinced too, despite her efforts. She's great at the love-at-first-sight moment between her and Jake Fryer-Hornsby's Orlando, and they sell their mutual affection and indulgence of one another's nonsense as the story develops. Shae Kelly is delightful as the hanger-on, Touchstone, very much along for the ride until he gets dragged into his own romantic love triangle between Anneke Van der Velde's goofy Audrey and Ryan Street's rough-as-guts William. Heidi Silberman plays the two different duchesses, good and evil, with authority and alternatively petty cruelty and generous embracement of those around her. Karen Vickery plays the moody Jaques as somewhat the worse for several rounds of booze, but also hyperverbal and argumentative to the last. Ylaria Rogers and Jake McMillan have one of the evening's other love plots, and while this is where Shakespeare's plotting gets massively arbitrary as to why these particular two should pair up, we do get the sense that they're together for more than just to provide a lot of matching pairs at the end. Similarly Lachlan Herring's lovelorn young Sivius feels very true to every young man who's ever felt a serious case of the unrequiteds, in this case with the fresh-faced Phoebe of Katerina Smalley. Max Gambale scores in three small roles as wrestler, familiarly-accented farmer and surprise love-rock-god-to-make-the-ending-happen, and Jay Cameron provides musical accompaniment that has the audience clapping along and stomping feet. 

In short, this is a fun, frivolous shakespearean night out, the perfect accompaniment to a pizza and wine, or a cider and a bao, or a pasta and a fizzydrink. 

Triple X, Sydney Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre, Wharf 1 Theatre, 8 Jan-26 Feb 2022

 

This much-delayed modern romcom finally gets its Sydney season, nearly two years after it was originally planned. And there's a reason this has stuck around when other shows in development  - it's not the most surprisingly original plot in the world (guy in the hours before his wedding thinks about his relationship with his ex, and, surrounded by friends and family, ends up making a decision), but the angle that this is a hetrosexual man and his ex is a trans-woman does begin to suggest some of the complications in store. Throw in a more-than-usually invested family, a few shocking offstage events, a dramatically significant bottle of avocado oil, some dodgy standup and a surprise appearance and you've got the making of a truly fascinating evening in the theatre.

As writer and lead actress, Glace Chase has the goods. Her dialogue is fast and witty, and as a performer she's confident, direct, vulnerable and ready for anything. It's a play that uses the familiar form to tell a story with a lot of bitter broken edges in it, and tells it well. 

For the rest of the cast, Josh McConville is a charmingly likeable leading man, even as it becomes clear how little he knows himself and how incapable he is of really standing by his passions. Elijah Williams as the sleazy best friend gives just enough to make it clear why they're still friends, Christen O'Leary as the complicated mother is a bundle of raw energy, aggravation and ultimately affection, and Cotessa Treffone as the oh-so-right-on sister is just the right side of frustrating. 

Paige Rattray's direction gives it sophistication, style and effectiveness as the play moves from farce-to-drama in a single scene, as we see a relationship from go to whoa in the course of a night, with highs and lows and in-betweens. Renee Mulder's set is a gorgeous delight, with a few surprises built into the furniture thanks to Design Realiser Jeremy Allen.

This is a startingly gorgeous comedy that leaves us thinking about love, life and the whole being-human thing in a very different light, and absolutely worth seeing.