These ‘must-see’ performances are at 7.30 nightly, in the PICA Performance Space at 51 James Street, Northbridge. The season runs until Saturday 19^th November. There is a matinée on Wednesday 16^th November at 11.00 am, and another on Sunday 19^th at 1.00 pm.

The time oscillates between 1981 and the present day. The scene is a Queensland courtroom, a hospital and a skating rink. The design consultant, Lawrie Cullen-Tait and her coordinator, Tessa Darcey wisely decided on minimal distracting scenery, choosing instead to have several, well-chosen props. A circle painted in the centre of the floor represents the roller skating rink. Stage managed by Isabella Strada.

Onto the back wall was projected Nancy Jones’ AV design (Blue Moon Film and Video), subtly depicting young Xan as she overlooked the local boys discussing their sexual desires and exploits, on the dark night that changed her life forever. There were many women describing how their hymen changed.

The music is by respected WA composer, Ash Gibson Greig. The tempo was symbolic of a fast beating heart. His dramatic soundscape was often loud and discordant confirming the instability of the situation.

In a production like this, it is important that the lighting should be punchy and dramatic; Chris Donnelly captured the mood perfectly. Karen Cook smoothly controlled both the sound and lighting.

      As we enter the theatre, a 12-year old girl, Xan (Daisy Coyle) is sitting at the side of a skating rink, putting on her roller skates. She meets a girl from school that she knows slightly, who asks Xan to accompany her at a boys’ party. At the revelry, the boys ply her with alcohol.

       Next, we see a couple of youths discussing the girls, and using dozens of expressions that now make me cringe in horror. 

     We flash forward to Xan Fraser (herself) as an adult, explaining how as an innocent and gullible child she was sucked into a horrendous situation.

      In a disturbing Court scene – taken from actual transcripts and police records – the audience gasp as the male chauvinism of the lawyers and even the judge is exposed. The barrister points out how this naïve child, not even a teenager, was blatantly leading the boys on. However, unlike today’s young teenagers with Internet porn access, Xan had little knowledge of male anatomy, or even a basic awareness of her own sexuality. In the courtroom, the two lawyers (Siobhan Dow-Hall, Marko Jovanovic) presented their cases on the gang rape, but for the warped judge (Nick Maclaine), the case against slut Xan was clear. The verdict he gave was to stun the already riveted, silent audience.

 

With such a delicate and tragic subject, there could be no room for half-hearted acting, and so Hellie has chosen a magnificent team, many of whom have been nominated for awards – including Equities. The power of their performances was heart stopping. With the brief, hard-hitting cameos swinging smoothly over the 35 years, the pace increased most effectively.

In a similar genre to the internationally famous ‘Laramie Project’, the playwright of ‘Project Xan’ has given us a perfect blend of courtroom action, vox-pop, malevolent rumours, facts, bigotry, local rejection and pure brutality.

Playwright Hellie Turner wrote to Xan asking if she could write a play about her trauma and her fight back to normality. Naturally, Xan was worried would she be further humiliated or exploited, and so she did not reply straightway. Gradually, she learnt of Hellie’s genuine empathy, discovering that she is one of the few writers in Australia capable of writing on such a tragic and delicate topic. There is a fine line between presenting the full drama with empathy, and going over the top with sensationalism and sycophantic sympathy. Or even worse, trying to make the script gratuitously scandalous and seedy. Hellie has sensitively presented the source of Xan’s shame, self-blame and the truth behind why the event happened.

Next, could Hellie get Xan to act ‘herself’ in such a demanding play, with the distinct possibility of causing the victim to regress and become distressed? Xan’s family are keen Community Theatre fans, and so she generously agreed. A personal thank you Xan, you made all of the difference to the play. Filled with self-blame, and never having received any counselling or moral support, Xan – who has proved herself a thousand times over with her now successful life – wanted to take part in this a cathartic experience.

Often, men who wear ‘fun’ T-shirts do not really appreciate the upset that some printed mottos can cause. When loss of the rapist’s control due excessive drinking, or the brevity of the rape are quoted in Court as a defence lines, then one has to wonder at the depths of ignorance.

30 years after the events shown, unbelievably Middle East women are still be stoned to death for ‘allowing’ men to rape them. Even the judge, in this ‘civilised’ country, blamed 12 year old Xan for being too inviting – injustice rather than civil justice. When a President seems to be decades behind in his attitude to women, and is still cheered by the masses for recommending ‘grab a pussy’, the world is still worryingly unchanged.

Director Hellie Turner, with Dramaturg by Dr David Williams, have presented this gripping, disturbing and beautifully conceived play; showing today’s girls, who may find themselves in a similar set of circumstances, that there is a sympathetic outlet for their feelings, to have pride in themselves, not to suffer self-blame but to become empowered and to warn others.

As the play powerfully states, the only thing worse than change is the status quo. Sadly, one wonders how far things have improved over the decades – possibly little.

An amazing piece of writing immaculately presented. Many congratulations to all.

Sarah Kane dedicated this, possibly her best piece, to the author Mark Ravenhill, another wonderful writer of a similar age and daring style. Ravenhill has described her writing as ‘achieving canonical status’.

This powerful and dark, 1-hour play is based around the pain found in love; it is recommended for audiences over 16 yrs. It is being presented by the highly driven, WA Youth Theatre Company in the Theatre Underground Studio, within the State Theatre Centre, Northbridge each evening at 7.30 pm until Saturday 11th June.

The lyrics, ‘An Echo, A Stain’ on Björk’s 2001 album ‘Vespertine’ are based on this play.

The director played occasional soft chords on a bass guitar as a backing.

Crave takes place in an abstract world. The four actors stand static and facing the audience, on a low dais. The lighting design was by Dylan Dorotich-O’Keefe.

The author did not provide context, stage directions or descriptions of the four characters. Simply known as A, B, C and M. ‘A’ having the main, larger passages.

The two cast alternated performances. I saw cast two.

A: was Declan Brown alternating with Luke Binetti,

B: was Odne Stenseth and George Ashforth

C: was Ally Harris and Katherine Langford

M: was Daisy Coyle and Megan Hollier

Directed by the company’s artistic director, Renato Fabretti is honoured and eager to present ‘Crave’, a conversation on mental health amongst four WA’s young adults. Renato was assisted in his directing by Eloise Carter.

This ground breaking work does not dodge the complexities and realities of mental health, but embraces them. Sarah Kane, who tragically suicided, asked that the players should not simply ‘act’ their parts, but in an advanced Mike Leigh style of acting, where they should live, experience and be totally absorbed by them, for weeks before performing.

The cast had a nightmare script that comprised mainly of short snappy sentences, being delivered almost at random from each of the four characters. This meant that the normal continuity and feeding each other a line disappeared. The topics and events – some real, some imagined – that each actor described included rape, incest, paedophilia, anorexia, drug addiction, mental instability, murder and suicide, all in an unsystematic manner and so the script had to be thoroughly learned to ensure flow.

The delivery was precise, the diction clear, the pace perhaps a little too fast but a great deal of admiration must go to the cast for never dropping a line or missing a beat. I did however find that the vocal range was limited in all four actors, and that another register or lower octave would have enhanced their feelings.

There was some emotion in the complex performances, but the real depth, inner suffering and anger at the misery perpetrated upon them did not really come through. Good performances, but not quite enough experience behind these young actors.

This week, another friend of the director, Kate Dickie (of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame) has just become a Scottish ambassador for Alzheimer’s.

Like all of Sarah Kane’s plays, this is a drama that demanded so much more of this bold cast of young performers – their honesty, sensitivity, courage and their SOULS.

This is a Hayman Theatre Company’s production at the Hayman Theatre, upstairs in Building 102. There is free parking in carpark B13 – multistorey – then follow the light trail from carpark.

Last Saturday was the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, in addition to being his 456^th birthday.

In this hour and a half edited version of the play, many of the main players have changed sex.

 The black set (designed by Amy Tamati) has layered rostra, with numerous white, gauze curtains draped from the ceiling. There were quite a few comical props provided by Sam Elliott and Jessica Nyanda Moyle for the ’ass scene’. Stage managed by Britany Manifis.

       The play opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens (Chris McIntosh), making love to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (Alex Gerrans). For their wedding celebrations, Theseus has arranged four days of revelry.

     The Athenian nobleman, Egeus (Sally Davies), arrives with his daughter, Hermia (Jessica Nyanda Moyle – very good) who is in love with Lysander (Terence Smith), but Egeus insists that she marries Demetrius (Indiana Powell) who is besotted by her. When Egeus asks Theseus for his Royal support, Theseus warns Hermia that if she disobeys her father, she could be sent to a convent.

When Hermia’s friend, Helena (Anna Lindstedt), who was previously engaged to Demetrius, tells Demetrius of the eloping couple – she hopes he will love her again, but instead he rushes off to find them in the forest.

     Deep in the woods, a band of sprites, including the Fairy King, Oberon (Chris McIntosh), and his ‘Killer’ Queen, Titania (Alex Gerrans), are arguing about who should bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Also in the forest are Quince (Annika Jane – good) and his artisans; they are rehearsing for their wedding entertainment – a madcap play. Quince’s inept group, including Snout (Caitlin McFeat), Flute (Kharla Fannon), Starveling (Lauren Beeton) and Snug (Eleanor Davidson) are struggling with even the most basic acting tasks.

       Oberon sends his dynamic servant, Puck (Daisy Coyle – outstanding performance), to obtain the juice of a magical flower, which, when dropped on the eyelids will make the sleeping person fall in love with the first thing seen upon waking. It is placed on the eyelids of Titania and Demetrius.

       Puck confuses the Athenians, instilling the liquid in the wrong eyes, resulting in the lovers becoming muddled. When Titania (Alex Gerrans – very good) awakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom (Maddie Mullins – great comedic delivery), whose head is transformed into that of an ass. Titania falls for this ass-headed weaver, feeding it unusual delicacies whilst giving him a ‘Bohemian’ treat.

   After the confusion, all the loves are reunited and the newlyweds watch Bottom and his fellows perform their bumbling ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ play. Puck and the Fairy (Dylan Dorotich) explain that the whole story has been ‘but a dream’.

The interesting and colourful costumes by Amy Tamati and Evangalyn Little (aided by Ellis Kinnear) covered a large range including soldiers, kings and an asses head – a novel, floral version.

Sound designer, Ben Collins, who has tackled major Heath Ledger productions, gave us powerful music, blended with well-known top hits from the 80s. The sound was operated by Brittany Manifis.

Lighting designer Karen Cook created some clever effects with the older style lamps. The lighting was operated by Chelsea Gibson.

Director Philip Miolin, with his assistant Olivia Dugandzic, have accepted a massive challenge by taking one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays and turning it on its head. For someone like myself who has seen this play numerous times, I found it refreshing, but no doubt the newcomers will have been confused, and the true, traditional classic lovers perhaps even upset.

The actors’ performances were very varied. There were a few stunning performances, but one or two actors who have proved themselves in the past, struggled with this new genre – or even the standard Shakespearean delivery. However, thanks to the director, the overall result was clever, fun and will certainly have made the students think laterally, on how to involve the audience and the auditorium.

The performances begin at 7.00 each evening at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley. The nearest carpark is B13, which is free after 4.00 pm. The show has a short season, running until Saturday, 8^th August.

The design for this show is unique and stunning. Everything is white – brilliant white – every wall, floor, blade of grass, every piece of scenery and all of the props. Pure white. However, the clever and most effective point is that every brick, chair, dustbin etc. has black tape along every edge. The effect is striking. (Designed by Sean Guastavino and built by Ian Stewart).

Karen Cook’s colourful lighting design, worked beautifully on the white, bringing it to life. Elliot Macri’s soundscape was well recorded and brought a few smiles in places.

Each area of the set was minimalistic; there was a train station, a train, a laundry, café and a shop all depicted symbolically.

       A nine-year-old girl (Rhiannon Petersen) stands on the station platform; she has lost her mother. She watches the people around her, fascinated by the gays kissing on a bench and the wild woman (Amy Tamati) shouting her disgust at their behaviour. On another seat, a married couple (Daisy Coyle, Jarryd Dobson) are having their morning ‘warm up’, a pointless argument.

       A courier (George Ashforth) delivers a valuable package to a ‘special’ shop, where the manager (Terence Smith) gives him valuable advice.

     When a jilted bride (Ashleigh Ryan), still in her bridal gown, runs past in a flood of inconsolable tears, a young yob (Jeremy Bunny) tries unsuccessfully to cheer her up – by offering to sell her the latest perfume. He then moves on to robbing a young, gullible girl (Madeleine Mullins).

     All of life certainly passes by in this fascinating city.

Very often students’ devised shows are a collection of short acts, joined poorly together becoming a bit of a Curate’s Egg. This show, however, was magnificent from start to finish; beautifully structured with plenty of very different, but instantly recognisable characters and true-to-life situations.

The cast worked smoothly, most actors having two parts to play. The movement, directed by Joe Lui with dramaturg help from Dylan Searle, was slick and flawless.

This hour show was great fun and well worth seeing.