user-registration domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/gordonth/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6170This fine play can be seen at the heritage-listed Old Mill theatre, on the corner of Mends Street and Mill Point Road in South Perth, opposite the Windsor Hotel and Australia Post. Curtain up at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 22nd October there are matinées at 2.00 pm on 9th and 16th October.
Greg Aylmore and Les Hart’s set is quite simple but very effective, too much clutter would have detracted from the dialogue. All of the walls are black. To one side is George’s dining area; with a raised, white front panelled, food preparation space. There is a table and chairs, also in black and white.
On the other side of the stage is Claudia’s flat, with a couple of comfortable, dark suede chairs.
John Woolrych’s fine lighting design is operated by techies, Sarah Christiner and Rex Gray. Be careful not to clip the music between scenes, fade it as carefully as the lighting. Not enough hands? Use your feet.
There were 18 mini Acts, smoothly handled by Stage Manager Maureen Harvie. The incidental music was well selected by Grant Windsor.
With her laptop on the dining table, thirty-year-old journalist, Claudia (Ruhama Geiger), is taking notes for the cover and promotion of middle-aged author, George’s (Alan Kennedy) latest book.
George, who still has his youthful charisma and good looks, has done very well out of his writing. However, Claudia’s interviewing technique is a little more invasive and probing than one would normally expect. In fact, could this strikingly attractive, very independent woman be seducing this father figure?
Soon George is giving his wife, Honor (Maree Grayden) some bad news. After of 32 years of loyal, loving service to her husband, Honor is now redundant. Their 24-year-old daughter, Sophie (Jessica Warriner) is stunned, never having had someone so close announce such traumatic news, she is numb.
Will Honor remain her husband’s doormat? Will George get his comeuppance?
Joanna Murray-Smith is renowned for not writing stage directions, descriptions of her characters or the story’s timeframe. This can make direction very difficult, however, multi-award winning director and Old Mill Theatre board member, Dale James, has produced another triumph. She has dexterously taken the actors through each vignette, where two of the four characters confront each other. Dale has helped the actors subtly, allow the audience to see their true personae.
The cast have clearly shown their admirable acting talents, as they each in turn, change from a position of power to that of weakness, and vice versa.
This tender, beautifully observed play is a little slow to start, but soon some of the self-righteous comments and acerbic lines, have the audience gasping or bursting out with laughter. I am sure that everyone in the audience will have thought ‘That is just like …. from down the street!’
A punchy little show that all married couples should see – with their partners.
]]>Living in Chile as a cultural adviser to President Salvador Allende, he left the night before the Pinochet coup. He has been a university professor of literature in North Carolina, since 1985 and became an American citizen in 2004.
The Melville Theatre Company is performing this chilling drama – which Roman Polanski made into a film in 1994 – at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway, in Melville.
This two-hour play can be seen at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings until the 21st May. There is also a Sunday matinee on 15th May at 2.00 pm.
‘Death and the Maiden’, is a nick name for the classic chamber music (used in the play) about the terror and comfort of death, namely the ‘String Quartet No. 14 in D minor’, written by Franz Schubert 1824, when he was 27 years old – only three years before he died of tertiary syphilis.
The Maiden: ‘Oh! leave me! Prithee, leave me! thou grisly man of bone! For life is sweet, is pleasant. Go! Leave me now alone! Go! Leave me now alone!’
Death: ‘Give me thy hand, oh! maiden fair to see. For I’m a friend, hath ne’er distress’d thee. Take courage now, and very soon, within mine arms shalt softly rest thee!’
The scene is beach house, about 1980, in an unspecified post-dictatorship country (generally assumed to be Chile).
The stage has a third as the outside balcony festooned with Chinese lanterns, and facing the sea. The remainder is a bright white dining / sitting room, entered through patio doors. A bamboo curtain at the rear leads to the main bedroom, another curtain leads to the kitchen and spare room. The décor is international ethnic.
The scenery was designed and constructed by Jacob, Lars and Vanessa Jensen, and painted by Kit Leake and Barbara Lovell. The costumes were by Nicola Gredziuk. High quality, realistic soundscape by Lars and operator Sean Bullock.
It is late evening, and Paulina Escobar (Kayti Murphy) is relaxing on the veranda listening to the waves crashing in the bay. As a car drives up the road to the isolated house, Paulina rushes into the sitting room and takes a gun from a drawer. To her relief, it is only her lawyer husband, Gerardo (Nick Kadmos).
On his way home from a Cabinet Meeting, where he has been offered a major post, his car has had a puncture. He then found the spare tyre was also flat. Luckily a medic, Dr. Miranda (Alan Kennedy) was passing and helped Gerado get home.
As Paulina’s husband talked to the doctor over a drink. With horror, Paulina couldn’t help thinking that she recognised the doctor from her days as an anatomy student in the university.
Director Lars Jensen has been most fortunate in getting three such superb actors. Alan Kennedy seems to be nominated for an award for almost every show in which he performs. It is only months since one of Kayti’s dramas won best production. Nick has only recently returned to Perth, but he too has a well proven track record.
The script is demanding, it needs a director that can handle the storyline with conviction and yet sensitivity, which Lars has achieved impeccably. The power, suspense and pure electricity that this team built up was amazing. There were passages of pure chill, along with someone torn between love and justice, and the GP simply helping a man in distress only to face danger.
The story leaves one in no doubt what happened in the dictatorship, but the story is more of a mystery than a history lesson. A powerful topic given first class treatment by Community Theatre’s best. Highly recommended.
]]>‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ is the 1997, bestselling memoire, based on the true story of an American professor by his psychology student, and New Jersey sports journalist, Mitch Albom. As a journalist, Mitch won more awards that anyone else. Here, Albom teams up with Jeffrey Hatcher, a TV scriptwriter who has written numerous genres from ‘Casanova’, to episodes of TV cop ‘Colombo’.
The simple, easy-to-read book was rejected by numerous publishing houses before Doubleday had the courage to try it. With an initial release of 20,000 copies, it had a mention on the Oprah Winfrey Show that ensured the sales rose to 14 million, with an amazing 4 years in the bestselling list. It was also translated into 14 languages.
Many of the Royalties for this play go to neurological charities.
This very moving, hour and a half play is being presented by the Stirling Theatre Company, Stirling Theatre, Morris Place in Innaloo. The performances are each Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8.00 pm until Saturday 5th March. Sunday matinees on February 21st and 28th at 2.00 pm.
The set is simple with two 1980 Scandinavian-styled armchairs and a side table. A couple of bentwood chairs it at the side of the stage (props Hillary Readings). The lighting design (Ian Wilson, Jon Lambert, Carole Wilson) was quite complex for the simple set, but worked perfectly, with a warm glow for the intimate scenes and the blue white spotlight for the sad, dramatic scenes.
The soundscape was also intricate and well designed (Kate McIntosh, Jon Lambert, Ian Wilson). The sound effects being produced in stereo at times.
The backstage crew (Kate McIntosh, Allen Blachford, Lisa Watts), dressed in black, were on stage but ‘invisible’, handing the actors new garments and items being mentioned in the storyline.
Lisa Watts’ understated makeup was most convincing, with Morrie looking genuinely old and sick.
We join psychology ‘coach’, Morrie (Alan Kennedy) mid lecture. He spots a bored student, Mitch (Jeff Hansen) creeping out of the door. He calls him back and convinces him that the subject is worth learning, and that he should stay in the class. In fact, Morrie gives him special tuition on Tuesday afternoons.
Mitch graduates, but is more interested in jazz piano and sports reporting, than psychology. Sixteen years later, Mitch sees Morrie on a television programme, only to discover he has Lou Gehrig’s Disease (almost a blend of MS and Motor Neurone Disease). Remembering that years earlier he had promised to keep in touch, Mitch decides to visit Morrie.
These occasional visits become a Tuesday routine.
This is the first time I have seen this vibrant play. Like many theatregoers, I looked at the topic, and thought ‘This looks like a bundle of fun’ and almost put it to the bottom of my reviewing list. How wrong can one be? The story did have the odd teary moment, but it was filled with humour and a most positive outlook on life. There were plenty of smiles and even a few belly laughs in this unforgettable play.
The emotional script is ingenious in its construction, which made the whole topic palatable and even uplifting. At 90 minutes – without an interval – and being a two-hander with little action, you would expect a slow, tedious play. Once again, wrong. The actors had perfect pace, and fed off each other. Even when Morrie was very ill, he had this quirky sense of humour and a razor sharp mind. Not once did I check my watch. The whole audience sat in total silence, completely enthralled.
The direction by Ryan Taaffe and his assistant Hillary Readings was outstanding. They developed a tremendous depth to the two men, and then the chemistry between the characters took over. Wonderful performances. The result was a most rewarding night at the theatre.
Could Alan’s performance be the best to be seen this year?
The two-week season ran at The Melville Theatre on Stock Road until Saturday 5th December.
The scene is a storage and audition area of the Melville Theatre. To the right, on the stage apron, is the office. Central, in front of the stage at auditorium level, is Justin Freind on keyboard.
Jeff Hansen and Ben Cooke’s lighting setup is operated by Susan Lynch.
The theatre’s most amazing thespian ever – in his eyes – Charlie (Alan Kennedy) is ignoring the committee’s desire, to have a musical representing their three decades of performances. Charlie wants the high drama of Shakespeare and Greek tragedy. Wisely, the committee have hired party co-ordinator, Fredrick (Sean Bullock alternating with Garry Davies) to make their celebrations swing. This led to wonderful light-hearted banter.
The show started with first of the nine musicals that have appeared in the hallowed hall over the past three decades. So, with a rousing chorus from the cast of ‘A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum’ the show had a great start. Then Stan Schirmer and Trinity Ellis tunefully reminded us of ‘Scrooge’.
The two next shows were presented by the soft voice of Ellie Hart in ‘A Chorus Line’, followed by the powerful, operatic voice of Katherine Freind in ‘The Dancing Years’. Her husband, Justin Freind, then joined Katherine as they jitterbugged and Charlestoned to the ‘The Boyfriend’.
The laugh of the night went to Neroli Burton as she represented the ‘Old Time Music Hall’, gradually replacing the musical ‘bars’ with alcoholic ones.
Amy Gunnell, Trinity Ellis, Amelie Broadbent, Amy McCann, Erin Whitehead gave an inspiring chorus of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ followed, it was outstanding with a rendition from Michael Trestrail, Julia Hern, Alyssa Billington, Blake and Cooper Jenkins.
A sensitive and poignant version of ‘Marilyn Munroe’ from the musical ‘Blood Brothers’ was sung by Julia Hern and Darren Peterson; and as the tissues were put away, Ellie Hart joined in for the next song.
‘The Sound of Music’ was the winner of the Finley Award in 1984 – here it gave a rousing ending to this fun show. Katherine Freind and Children’s Chorus gave it their all. It rounded up with little Cadence Smyth giving a beautiful finale. Matilda Jenkins soft-shoed along with the lively final chorus.
The standard of singing and choreography was very high. Even the youngsters could belt out their pieces without losing tune or stumbling. Pleased I caught this show and look forward to the next celebration in 2045.
]]>Shaffer was born in Liverpool in the mid-1920s; despite being Jewish, he went to school at St Paul’s School in London. To replace the miners who had gone to war, Shaffer was conscripted into the coalmines by the Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevan – a Bevan Boy. After the war, he went to live in New York where he started writing. He returned to the UK and became a professor at Oxford, and was then knighted in 2001.
The Melville Theatre Company is presenting this bold and emotive play at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Highway and Canning Highway in Melville. The two and a quarter hour play has ‘curtain up’ at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 23rd May, with a 2.00 pm matinee Sunday 17th May.
The scene is 1970 Winchester, in the south of England. The open stage shows a magnificent stable with wooden plank walls, and a central horse stall. The roof of the stable is made of 10 cms wood strips with equal spaces between, giving the effect of a complete ceiling but allowing dappled light to flow through. The Jensen family, Jay Shaw, Sean and John Bullock, Jeff Hansen, Peter Bloor, Ross Bertinshaw, Alan Kennedy, and Darren Goodison, constructed this realistic set.
The horses’ heads hang on the wall. Wooden benches are all around the stable, allowing it to become a hospital waiting room and cinema; the cast are seated on these benches throughout the whole production. At the side of the stage, on the apron, to the left is a hospital wardroom, to the right Dr Dysart’s well-furnished consulting room.
Nicola Gredzuik’s horses’ heads are stunning, and even seem to have a personality. Nicola has constructed them using her immense knowledge of millinery. She also chose the costumes of the era, wonderful flared trousers and pleated skirts.
Martin Dysart (Alan Kennedy) is a weary and lonely hospital psychiatrist, who has become bored dealing with hopeless cases that have no desire to be helped. He is counting the days until he retires and can go to Greece to research the Hellenic history. Dysart begins with a monologue outlining the case of 17-year-old Alan Strang (Oliver Kaiser), and how in doing horrendous deeds, the youth found release from the monotony of his work. We then flash back a year or two.
Hesther Saloman (Jay Shaw) is the local Magistrate, given the ominous job of dealing with an attack on six horses. She calls at the hospital to see her old psychiatrist friend, Dr Dysart, to have him interview the strange boy who carried out the act.
The nurse (Sean Bullock) leads the withdrawn and silent boy to Dysart’s consulting room. In the beginning, Alan’s only response to the psychiatrist’s questions was to sing TV jingles and give a cold stare. As a result of this disturbing consultation, that night Dysart had a gruesome dream.
Next day, when Alan’s parents arrive at the hospital, Dysart hopes to find clarity, only to discover that Strang’s Bible-thumping mother, Dora Strang (Lauren Henderson), is a trained teacher who reads the good book to Alan daily. His father, Frank (Cary Hudson), who is a local printer, is so irritated by the mother that he so preaches atheism to his son.
Dysart guesses that truthfulness is probably the best approach for this confused youth. He then learns from the young man, how the oppressive father has unknowingly created links between anger, violence and religion in his son’s mind.
Whilst working in an electrical shop, Alan serves Jill Mason (Elouise Eftos), a young woman that seems to have everything he has not – freedom, vivacity and happiness. When she asks to buy horse clippers, Alan tells her of his equine interest and so she suggests that he applies for a groom’s job at Harry Dalton’s stables where she works. Having no real friends, Alan begins to show a sexual attraction to the horses with their sweaty, muscular bodies. One horse in particular, Nugget (Michael Fagan) which Alan calls ‘Equus’, is his equine God that he rides in his fantasies to kill his enemies.
Later, when Dr Dysart meets the stable owner (Darren Goodison), he is told that Alan was a great worker who kept the stables immaculate.
During a consultation, Dysart discovers that Jill had asked Alan to take her to see a porno film at the local cinema, and this is when most of the troubles began.
Rhonda Beresford, Nicola Gredzuik, Kate Hitchins, Helen Jackson and Abbey McCaughan played the horses and ensemble. With their enactment, they brought genuine horror with the attack scene and a broad smile with the cinema snippet.
Lars Jensen is a brave man to tackle such a controversial play, but this he does with aplomb. I have seen the film and two other stage versions of this play, and in all cases, a great deal of emphasis has gone into the grandeur of the production, and promoting the nude scenes.
Lars has given this production the ‘common’ touch, both to the characters in the play and the stable set, most authentic – not the spectacular sets seen elsewhere. You can readily connect to each and every character. Even though Alan is weird, the direction is so sensitive and Oliver’s acting so outstanding, that the storyline is extremely easy to follow. The parents are peculiar, but you can certainly feel for the family’s plight. The doctor / patient relationship is powerful and tangible, congrats also go to Alan Kennedy.
In this production, gone are the two famous nude scenes. Alan rides Nugget fully clothed, but with Lars’ wonderful direction, coupled with his superb lighting and sound effects the audience are left in no doubt as to the erotic relationship between horse and rider. Then the shocking love scene; now the couple are wearing underwear, but once again the atmosphere is electric, with the overall effect being one of exhilaration.
Even without any nudity, this is definitely an adult play. Beautifully acted and presented. A powerful and admirable production, a treat for those who enjoy a quality, award-winning script. Highly recommended – drama at its very best.
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