Tag Archives: Theatre

Theatre, Theatresports

So what is Theatresports anyway?

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Jen asks me to get back to basics following my Life Lessons from Theatresports post so here goes…

Theatresports was created by a guy called Keith Johnstone.

First of all Theatresports is a vehicle for improvised theatre.

A mechanic.

Ah but what is improvised theatre?

Acting without a script would be the first thing that comes to mind.

Theatresports then gives you a framework for a show… and games to set up the improvisation.

For example – you could do a game called “n-words” – this is one of my favourites.

In this game each person is given a certain number and they can only say that number of words at one time.

It can be hilarious.

If you can remember that you only have a certain number of words to say!

Another fave is when two cast members speak in gibberish and the other two “translate” what they are saying.

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I guess I love it because I can’t sing but this gives me licence to.

Having said that, I never got to play it in the three nights I was on.

Sigh.

Another favourite is Half Life.

In this game you improvise a scene, then replay it in half the time, half the time again, and so on until you replay it in about 3 seconds.

It is a lot of fun.

You play in teams, but the competition is really for the audience.

Does that make any sense at all?

Suffice to say that it is a bit like stepping off a cliff – you have no idea what the night will throw at you – you just have to step off and go for it.

It is very liberating.

And isn’t that what we do in life anyway?

** I don’t think I’ve done that great a job – help anyone?

Etiquette, PIAF

Nostalgic for manners

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nostalgiaI went to see Nostalgia. A Japanese production which opened last night along with the Perth International Arts Festival.

It was in a space created within the Perth Convention Centre and it is an excellent production.

It is not the easiest of theatre experiences.  It is all in Japanese – apart from the titles to the various sections which are in English.

And it is quite long.

Nostalgia tells the little-known story of the migration of thousands of Japanese workers to Brazil in the early 20th century. Follow the 40-year wanderings of a Japanese family as they search for a better future through the turmoil of revolution in South America.

The company, Inshinha, rarely performs outside of Japan.  More…

There’s a large cast of singers/dancers/actors and the music is beautiful especially supplemented as it is with the rythmic chanting of the cast and their sharp movements.

The sets are extraordinary, and the visual feast is enhanced with a large screen which adds yet another dimension.

Even though I knew only the bare bones of the storyline (tip:  read the program notes), I was drawn along with the story and intrigued to find out more.

Some of the sections could have been a shorter and still made sense – it was a lot of theatre without a break – nearly two and a half hours – but Feline and I loved it.

There was even a giant puppet, which we argued over as to it’s symbolism, so I’d be interested in what you think.

So why am I “nostalgic for manners”?

Well here’s the thing.  About an hour into the production the ushers were still letting people into their seats.

An hour!
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I can understand being 5 minutes late, reprehensible though it is, I live in a glass house on this one, but an hour?!

And it wasn’t as if you could sneak in the back.  You had to clamber up a pitch black metal staircase from the front.

Stomp stomp stomp.

Perth Festival – you need to get tough.

And then there were the early leavers.

It was a long time to go without a pee and maybe they found it too hard, but I was disappointed to see people leaving part way through.

It was really distracting for the rest of us.

I think if you’re going to make a commitment to see a festival production you need to stick with it.  Reading the notes in the guide you would be able to tell it wasn’t going to be a Broadway musical.

So there’s my rant.

After the show we went to the Festival club at Becks Music Box which was lovely – such a great venue.

So far we’ve had three city Festival clubs after the Undercroft at UWA… there was the set up outside the Art Gallery, the Verandah at the Perth Concert Hall and now the Music Box in the front of the city.

Which do you prefer?  And where could it go next??

PIAF, Theatre

The Turning

The TurningI’m always keen to see at least one original commission for the Perth International Arts Festival, and this year’s re-imagining of Tim Winton’s collection of short stories – The Turning – did not disappoint.

I’m not a huge Tim Winton fan it must be said. Cloudstreet was okay, The Riders woeful IMHO – I just hated the ending, and you might have read what I thought of Dirt Music – the one I’ve liked most so far. Short stories don’t generally hold my attention so I haven’t read The Turning and can’t comment how faithful Bill McCluskey’s rendition of it is but I think it must be pretty close because all the way through I’m thinking “oooh this is very Tim Winton.”

Last year I went to see The Drovers’ Wives and I don’t know whether you caught this production – it was a dance piece reflecting Henry Lawson’s work and it used film to project the setting of the outback.

Likewise The Turning uses video and film to carry some of the story and set the scenes – very effectively. In a few of the scenes a woman films herself as she’s talking and that image is flashed up on one of the screens. Cleverly done. In fact the use of the film really does take the production to another level and I was intrigued by how well it captured the mood of the scene – important I suppose when you have a short scene and need to tell so much.

All they need to add is some of the smells – the bushland, the forest, the sea – to really take us there. That will be next I suppose.

The scenes though mostly dark and menacing are leavened by some almost Kath&Kim portrayals of West Australian characters. Ern, Cleo and Nan provided some much needed levity – with some classic lines:

It’s not a fucking truck, it’s a Landrover.

It is a truck and all we do is fuck in it!

Note:  If you are offended by “strong language” – don’t go.

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Cut me off at the knees and call me tripod.

Some parts were so Western Australian, I cringed, and wondered how the production might travel – even to other parts of the country.

The music – like The Drovers Wives was by Iain Grandage – and it was lovely. Setting the scene without intruding. And the acting was fantastic. Especially Nick Simpson-Deeks who plays Vic and Alison Van Reeken who plays Gail/Jackie. Jai Courtney was also impressive as Boner. In fact the whole cast was good.

A couple of things annoyed me though. I don’t know why he bothered to rename Albany, Angeles. I really don’t. Every other town is named and really – how many other towns have had a whaling station on the South Coast? Irritating.

Also (and this was just me – Groover worked it out) I got confused because one actress played two of the main parts and I thought she was playing the younger her grown up. For those who have seen it – the Gail/Jackie actress is the one I’m talking about.

And finally it’s just too long. 3 hours and 10 mins plus a 20 minute interval. Way too long. Was it Rogers and Hammerstein who insisted on cutting their shows to end no later than 11.00 so that people could catch the train home. Well we drove but the sentiment is a fine one. Cut it back by at least half an hour (though not sure what you would cut) and it would be perfect.
In summary, it’s ambitious, completely Australian and entertaining. And if you get a chance to see it I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Will I read the book? Maybe.

Other reviews: Australian Stage Online, Guera

Connecticut

The Curse of the Willy Willy – The Play

I performed in the second Christmas play last night. The Curse of the Willy Willy. “Written” by my niece and daughter this play revolved around an evil Willy Willy (Aboriginal word for whirlwind) played by Junior Poshi, who steals the three stones of Happiness, Easy Going and Lovability. Our hero – The Pink and Grey Galah (played by my niece – Bear) and her companion Mrs Pumpkinhead (yes I was Mrs Pumpkinhead) travel to the castle in the sky where the Wise Wanjina (played by my mum) lives.

The Wanjina tells us where to find the stones. The stone of Happiness was in the Cliffs of the Grey Fields and we found it by finding out where we felt happiest, the stone of Easy Going was in Deep River and we found it by “Going with the flow”, the stone of Lovability was in the Dragon’s cave (the Dragon and Narrator played by the Orchid Hunter) and is recovered by us telling the dragon we love him.

I say wrote because once the concept was down we kind of made it up as we went along.

The highlight for the audience was the face paint. Observe:

The Curse of the Willy Willy
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The Curse of the Willy Willy

The Curse of the Willy Willy

Well, our audience thought it was funny… 🙂

The Curse of the Willy Willy

Theatre

Keating!

Hey Keating! The Musical is coming back to Perth in January. Go and see it. Hilarious!

We’re taking in the matinee on Australia Day. My Orchid Hunter can’t wait – he knows all the songs off by heart.
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Tickets via Ticketek – it’s at the Regal.

Blogging, Theatre

Grumpy Old Woman

That’s me. I’ve had the database fixed and this site is still stuffed, although I can still see all the posts in the back end. So I’m grumpy.

Last night I went to see Grumpy Old Women at the Burswood. I’m thinking I’m still too young. For one thing I was confused by their demographic. They talk about being 48 (which Jenny Eclair actually is… the others are 50 and 55), they act about 70, in fact even my closer to 80 mother-in-law acts younger than they did onstage.

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The best line? Strokes are the new Botox. 🙂

Theatre

If I were a rich man….

I probably wouldn’t still be singing for my supper at the age of 70… so perhaps the years haven’t been so financially kind to him as they might… still if that’s the case it is our gain for I think Topol has probably grown into the role he has made famous.

Topol in Fiddler on the Roof

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I took my MIL to see Fiddler on the Roof tonight at the Burswood. I love musicals. I love the hammy acting, the contrived plots, the singing and the dancing. And I loved Fiddler. It’s a pretty depressing story mind, but there is a certain joy contained within the sorry state of the protagonists.

I can’t imagine it without Topol though.

The only niggling thing for me was the Australian accents, shown up by Topol’s lovely Jewish sounding lilt. In particular the Rabbi – he had so few words – couldn’t he have done the accent?

Apart from that I was willing to take myself to pre-revolutionary Russia and Teyve’s world.

Theatre

Walking with Dinosaurs

Last night we went to see Walking with Dinosaurs – The live experience. I was quite impressed. They were very cleverly made and manipulated – not once did we see a collision – and the set was well done as well. The plants were air filled so that they “grew” around the stage – it was lovely to watch.

The narrator/paleontologist was great and led us through the different ages. At this point I became very impressed with the depth of knowledge of number one son who helped me out with extra bits of knowledge along the way.

For me the most impressive were the ornithosaurus – a huge flying dinosaur which was “flown” in front of a moving landscape which made you think it was indeed flying (best view of that was front on)… and the T Rex – which made me jump!

To give the impression of great weight the foley effects were expertly used. Every time a giant foot came down the auditorium reverberated with sound.
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In fact if I have a criticism it’s that the sound was too loud to be comfortable.

The only other criticism I have is for the audience. Even though they expressly forbade flash photography there were so many people taking photos that it really spoiled it for everyone else. Flashes are SO bright in a darkened room. I had got to the point where I wished they had stopped the show and told people to stop it – it was that annoying. Shame on all of them! Oiks!

Today I noticed that our old DVDs of Walking with Dinosaurs were on the telly and the kids had also found their old dinosaur encyclopedias… bless!

PIAF, Theatre

The Tiger Lillies

We went to see the Tiger Lillies on Monday night at The Verandah.

It was truly “out there”.

Groover was expecting three scantily clad women (I had wondered why he was so keen to go…) I didn’t really know what to expect.

We met up with Mr Smartrider and his lovely wife Miss Lithuania and sat down in the somewhat chilly conditions of this outdoor venue.
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It was dark, it was ribald, it was offensive, it was funny, it was tragic, it was bizarre. Did I love it? I’m not sure. I didn’t hate it.

I was waiting for people to leave – especially when they did a song about banging the nails into Jesus – I thought that might have crossed the line for some but I guess if you can handle “Sex with Flies”, blasphemy is small bikkies.

They were very clever in their music and the main singer had the most fantastic Edna-esque falsetto and some of their songs had me laughing – somewhat hysterically – but laughing. I was glad I went.