Theatre

Puppet Up! @ The State Theatre

It was slightly eerie to walk along Market Street to The State during Earth Hour. Sure the CBD away from George Street is always quite dead on weekend nights but on this particular night the city streets were, well... dead-er, would you believe. Even the glittering entrance of the State seemed less radiant. Maybe it was just because I've got this cold that's been lingering on for over a week now, everything already seemed slightly muted without CBD businesses flicking off their lights.

It's not really feasible to turn off all the lights at the State. The show must go on, and all of that and, besides, the puppets freak out in the darkness so one of them made a statement of apology and switched off the lights for five seconds, which as it turns out was as much as the puppet could take before they ended up in hysterics.

When you combine puppets with adult themes, you're pretty much set up for laughs. And I barely stopped laughing for the entire show. After a snappy lead-in song with the puppets and a quick introduction by host Patrick explaining what would happen (think theatre sports but with puppets), the scenes came through thick and fast. Uncovered, the puppeteers performed in front of a camera with the footage projected onto screens on both sides of the stage and to see them create the scene is an experience in itself. You just have to be impressed by their ability to take just about any suggestion from the audience and make up something funny on the spot, over and over again, night after night, I'd rather have it choreographed thank you very much.

Too many highlights to mention all of them and, besides, they probably won't ever happen again, such is the joy of improvisational theatre. The puppet singing an apology for saying another puppuet's face looked like a vagina, the Zimbabwean yodellers and knife-throwers, the milking of the cow, Tom Cruise snogging L Ron Hubbard... we could have had the Opera about Tourette's Syndrome but they had that one the night before and the cast don't do repeats...

Umm... actually, they do:

Had a pretty eventful week. My back that I sprained last week hasn't given me too many problems but that's because I've had quite alot of treatment on it (and getting a back rub about every second day isn't something that I'm going to complain about much...) What's been frustrating is that rehearsal director is erring on the side of caution and not pushing me in rehearsals much, which is bad because I really do need the practise! And if my back fails now, it'd probably be better to know sooner than later. On the plus side, wow have I got a great team to support me and my ageing body, I think I'm getting great treatment from the two guys that I'm seeing, my osteo and my masseur. They've been indispensible. Got one more massage before the opening of clan which at this moment, according to the Countdown block on this page, is only two days, twenty hours, 52 minutes and two seconds away!

I had a massage on the Tuesday and the guy that I see is in Woolloomooloo. Great. The place is jam-packed with people saying hello to Mary, I've never seen so many people down there. Afterwards I had to go back to the Opera House to see a show at 7:30 which, of course, happened to be the time when the OTHER Queen was docking. Cabbed it but Macquarie Street was jam-packed with cars and people. Made it to the show just in time, though I guess it didn't help that I was busy taking photos.

Snuck into The Studio late for David Hoyle's SOS, while he was busy bitching about the two Queens and encouraging us to take matters into our own hands and blow them up. Ooops! I had my camera hanging off my neck and hoped that he wouldn't ask me to show him the pictures that I'd taken. Brilliant show by the way, he urged us to "kill, if necessary" people like John Howard and the gay clones, to blow up those big floating bits of metal the Queens, to level the Pyramids of Egypt (he much preferred the modern Sydney Opera House, which he was thankful to be performing in). We the people of Australia that, apparently, waited for the pedestrian crossing lights to turn green, had to be wary of being complacent because life here is so easy, that the most we have to worry about is kids on skateboards knocking us down on the street. Singing is his forte but there was, er, contemporary dance and abstract painting in there for good measure.

[On the Friday, David and two other guys got gay-bashed in North Hyde park by a group of ten guys. Bloody appalling. But, with only one more show to do for this season (and it might be a bit morbid to say this but) it would have been intriguing to see his last show, to hear what he had to say about it. Apparently he didn't dwell too much on it though.]

On the same idea of Australians being too complacent, we went and saw The Gates of Egypt. Could barely keep my eyes open for the first twenty minutes though less because of the show and more because I was pretty tired. But the show itself was pretty ordinary anyway. Yes, we the people that wait for the lights to turn green and only need to worry about wayward skateboarders must not become apathetic citizens of the world but... I just don't know. I'm supposed to care more about what's going on in the world, yes, but I certainly couldn't care all that much for the play.

Though this week we did have a chance to show how much we do care about what's going on in the world, with the arrival of Dick Cheney. "Kill, if necessary" is what we were told by David Hoyle and, I'm telling you, if I had a rocket launcher I would have shot down a couple of helicopters. They were giving me the shits. On the Friday morning the noise from the helicopters over the harbour was disrupting the meditative mood of our morning yoga class. Sounded like we were in a war zone (sorry for the hyperbole). 350 Anti-war protesters clashed with the police as they marched down George Street, disrupting traffic but apparently it's okay for ONE person (the US Vice-President, yes, but still just the ONE person) to cause road closures through the city. Put him in an unmarked car and make him wait in traffic like the rest of us, I reckon.

Last night we had a cocktail party, which was modestly attended but there was good food and, with less people arriving than expected, there was more alcohol to go around. Wasn't feeling too well the day after.

And finally, my parents called me up about the website I'm doing for their shop (Johnny's Electronics). The layout is pretty much finished and all I need is content. Dad asked if I had a couple of spare weeks to fly up and take photos for the site. AS IF! Have you seen our Bangarra schedule? Besides, there's nothing stopping him from taking the pictures himself and emailing them to me...

And now it's next week. Gotta go to bed now.

Sydney Festival 2007
Wow it's been a terrific start to the year in Sydney. As far as festivals go, it's right up there with the time when Stephen Page was running the show in Adelaide and Bangarra was the headline show... thankfully we didn't have to perform here in Sydney so I got to see heaps of things. And what a program it was! Here is my top five festival events:

5. Lou Reed - Berlin
Not my cup of tea, to be sure, but the musicianship was unquestionably good. Guest vocalist Antony, who was here for last year's festival, blew us away again, with his soaring voice. It was standing room only at The State but it was worth it.

4. Australian Dance Theatre - Devolution
The dancers of ADT are superhuman and are appropriately matched with the un-human robots. It was like we were on board the Nostromo, battling Aliens. It's undeniably spectacular, ambitious and mind-blowing but, like the soundtrack, it all runs at volume eleven. Halfway through you become thankful for the beautiful calm projections, as if someone had turned the volume down to about three, so that you can take a moment to breathe again. Strangely enough, and in contrast to alot of other reactions to this work, I wanted to see more robots, or at least more interaction with them. The two large robots entering the dance space to inspect the dancers, and the large tentacle-like robotic appendages protruding from the dancers' torsos were highlights, teasing the audience to believe that we would actually see a devolution where the dancers would become totally integrated with the robotic mechanisms. It never happens, though, instead we get to see an explosive finale full of daring acrobatics at warp speed. Am I expecting too much from them already?

The next three I couldn't decide between them so they're all equal first!

=1. Back To Back Theatre - Small Metal Objects
This production turns the theatrical experience on its head and manages to effortlessly deal with improbable contradictions in less than an hour. It is sad and funny at the same time. The audience becomes the stage for random passers-by to watch as we laugh at them and their silly human ways. Actors intermingle through a sea of *real people* in transit, some intrigued by the spectacle of a full audience stand while others simply ignore it as they get on with their lives. As one of the performers stares blankly into the audience (he's a bit wrong in the head, apparently) he becomes a people magnet, attracting the passers-by to stop and watch us, oblivious to the fact that there's a personal drama being acted out in this most public of places, The Circular Quay train station. You can't help but laugh when tourists stop to take photos of us, and there was a hilarious moment when a couple of toddlers took the opportunity to run up to the audience and do their own little performance. Seemingly incongruous to the fact that we are watching a rather large drug deal but, then again, where better to supply gear than a train station? (not like I'd know) Intriguing theatre.

=1. Lucy Guerin Company - Structure and Sadness
Guerin amasses a talent pool of dancers to match ADT but the production is on a much smaller scale, the cold robotic metal replaced with the ordinary slabs of wood. But boy is she meticulous about the wood! I could watch the dancers build that house-of-cards structure all night, knowing that the domino-like collapse of the building was inevitable. And unlike ADT, Guerin delivers on the title of her work: there is a structure and, after it collapses, there is sadness. Simple, really. There's also rebuilding, a coming-to-terms with the disaster, that's quite touching.

=1. La Clique
The Tennis-Racquet guy was especially hilarious. This was a perfectly entertaining piece of theatre, perfectly staged, and was amazing the whole way through. I felt like I had gone back in time, to the era of burlesque theatre (whatever era that was...)

Not to forget:
Akhe Russian Engineering Theatre - White Cabin: No discernible story. More like an excuse to get onstage and get drunk whilst spilling lots of wine and burning things and getting a bit wet. I have no idea what I saw but was more than happy to experience it. Those crazy Russians!

Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney - zero degrees
This could have been a good work but I went on opening night at The Carriageworks and, along with about 95% of the audience, couldn't see what was going on. Thankfully it all got sorted by the time I went to see ADT. Love the venue besides...

Tags: Sydney Festival, Dance, Theatre, Music, Australian Dance Theatre, Lou Reed, Antony, Back To Back Theatre, Lucy Guerin, La Clique.

Chita Rivera! Down Under

Some people like to drop their surnames: Kylie, Madonna, Jhuny... Rarely do people deserve an exclamation mark!

But Chita Rivera! owns it!

Chita Rivera! isn't fabulous despite her age, she's hot because of it. She had worked with just about everyone, done just about every musical role worth punctuating about. She knows how to fill out a Roxy song, even though she was Velma. She has all the aura of a diva but, even while she's dishing it out to lesser mortals following her footsteps (like Catherine Zeta-Jones), she seems terribly down-to-earth. Whatever happened to class? Well she still has bags of it.

There was talk about Chita Rivera! dropping by the studios to check out our rehearsal but by morning she had cancelled. And no wonder; she gave it her all to us the night before.

Thanks, Chita Rivera! You're a dead-set legend.

Tags: Chita Rivera

Capricornia

A couple of minutes into the show and one of the characters has already bagged out the Germans, as I sat next to JPB who has some German heritage (just don't call him that...). Later on the Filipinos cop a bit of abuse too (that you can be a loser in Australia but still make it in the Philippines... hmm...). Its the thirties and the half castes are having a hard time but even they bag out the Chinks, who in turn bag the Japs. The whitefellas cop a pretty stern lecture from the main character while he himself stands accused in court. So much hatred, so many deaths, so much drama, so very good theatre.

I absolutely loves Lilian, she made me laugh, she made me sad (I didn't cry, though, but I'm a tough bitch) and I loved how one of her characters, Fat Anna, turned the whole half-caste-chinks-japs loop of hatred inside-out by admitting she herself has a bit of Japanese in her. I loved Ursula as Tocky as well, when she was being cute and when she was losing her mind.

Three hours and the revelations just kept on coming, it was hard to get bored.

Tags: Capricornia, Company B, theatre.

Diamanda Galas - Guilty Guilty Guilty
The State Theatre, 21 October 2005

I had tried to explain to YB what I was going to see. Considering she is also a vocalist slash pianist (slash dancer...) skewed a couple of degrees anti-clockwise from the rest of us, I figured she might be a bit interested. Couldn't quite do it. Explain Diamanda. And after seeing her show I still can't.

I had expected the screeching and the wailing, the dark and morbid themes. Somehow having her at the State Theatre, a venue of such excessive, dramatic and opulent features, seemed quite appropriate even though I didn't really know what to expect. JPB wasn't sure if I would like her but a couple of seconds into her performance I knew I was watching something special.

I wasn't expecting her to be so bluesy, though. And unexpectedly humourous, too, launching into a jaunty little ditty about how her baby was a bit insane, and her version of I Put A Spell On You is wickedly and disturbingly funny. With her much-spoken-of four-octave range she begins from the pit of her stomach to soar to operatic heights only to crow like some possessed rooster, sometimes all in one very long breath. And the songs are so dark one can only wonder what kind of relationships she has had in her life to sing like this. She uses some audio effects; an everpresent echo throughout the show, the occasional incomprehensible chattering voices trailing her lyrics, and in one song her piano sounding like its from some 50's B-grade sci-fi - nothing too overwhelming though it makes me wonder what the show would be like, completely stripped back to just vocals and piano. Considering what she does with her voice, is there really a need for F/X?

Offstage, Galas is reportedly quite unlike her onstage tortured persona. Pleasant and quite likable (shouldn't really be that much of a surprise though, I find it is quite often the case that the performer doesn't usually correspond to the performance). She was gracious in her curtain call, extremely modest in her onstage badinage, and she took two encores. The next day I tried to explain to YB what I had seen but could only describe it as "Gothic Blues" which doesn't quite sum it all up. I guess you just had to be there.

Tags: Diamanda Galas, Guilty Guilty Guilty, State Theatre.

STC Blueprints and The Malthouse Theatre co-presents an Australian adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

All I knew about the work was that it was about a guy who wakes up to find that he's turned into a bug. Who knew that he meant that the character ACTUALLY turns into a bug, it's not a metaphor for the way he feels or the way his life is going. He actually becomes a creepy crawly thing that leaves goo all over the walls. And here's me only just dealing with the idea of a metaphor, after this weekend's weekly horoscope in The Weekend Australian that said that I have just found the perfect pair of jeans, that fit perfectly, that has the perfect butt and the perfect crotch... (JPB tried to explain to me that the jeans are a metaphor but I just wanted to go shopping...)

So anyway, it's an absurd idea, turning into a bug overnight. I spent a good few minutes trying to decide which bits of the work were similarly odd but everything seemed quite familiar (if a couple of degrees off reality). What, the family are not intrigued about how a man can turn into a bug, they are just concerned with how gross he is. We could have been watching some bizarre parody of Neighbours, there was quite alot of commentary about suburban Australia in this adaptation. Except that there's this bug.

The bug was pretty impressive, though. Sorry, don't know his name. He didn't REALLY look like a bug but he had a certain bug-like quality when he moved around the room. There was a little bit of physical theatre thrown in to complete the effect as well, nothing too energetic, just a couple of precarious balances and wall-climbing. Poor thing, really, what happened to that character. The breadwinner one day, ugly and repulsive the next. We'd expect people to have a breakdown when being the sole provider for such a dysfunctional family, but not to turn into a bug.

Anyway, it was funny and manic. And clever. Not being too familiar with the original story I'm not sure what exactly is adapted bits, though it would be safe to presume that the original family didn't talk about taking the bridge to Auckland. Neither did the daughter hope to make it to the Australian Idol final twelve. But was the original mother so obsessed with cleaning because of her asthma? (the theory goes that there's a link between hyper-cleanliness and the asthma *epidemic*, and the image of the mother keeping her suburban house clean with Enjo and all sorts of cleaning products is so familiar) Certainly the original family themselves were just as repugnant as these modern-day suburbanites that are able to completely reject a member of their family just because he has become grotesque and unintelligible, so obsessed they are with the superficial.

Two thumbs up.

Tags: Theatre, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, Sydney Theatre.