Collyer specialises in controversial and adult plays, and this very funny production from Black Martini is no exception. Due to the lurid dialogue, this is an adult’s only production.

This two-hander can be seen at Studio 411, near car park 4, in Murdoch University, South Street in Murdoch. The season of this 55-minute play, runs nightly at 7.00 until Saturday 12^th November.

The year is about 2030, and the scene is an upmarket apartment, with marble walls. The room has a settee on one side of the stage, and a kitchen area on the other (set design, Thomas Dimmick with an original, special effect by Andrew David)

The production manager and lighting designer was Jess Serio, and stage manager – Ashleigh Barrow. Sound Design by Tay Broadley.

      Anjali (Shannon Rogers) is making a chocolate cake in the kitchen, when Ven (Hock Edwards) dressed in a bright orange protective work suit (costume design, Anna Weir) enters the room. He tells Anjali that he has finished the adjustments and that everything should work well from now onwards.

     Then a whimpering sound can be heard from one of the bedrooms. Ven explains that he does not know how the robot’s chip has picked up this fault, but everything else should be OK.

      Anjali, a brothel Madame, continues to chat to the computer repairman. She explains how business is tough for her and her lifelike robot prostitute and so she must find new ways to make a bit of extra money. Then, a phone call from a client changes her life.

 

The play’s director, Tay Broadley, and his assistant Sean Wcislo, have grasped the dry, black humour of this piece beautifully. The two actors have wisely underacted their parts, giving a hilarious ‘matter of fact’ attitude to the whole situation. Good solid performances.

The cleverly written, but weird script gradually feeds you scraps of the story, whilst keeping you in a state of limbo. You watch, wondering where the bizarre story is going, whilst filled with suspense desperate for the next morsel.

It is always good to see a new play that is a little bit different, with Black Martini; they give you something fresh each time.

The set (designer – Sam Knox) comprises a bare stage floor, painted with a fascinating map of the Middle East as it was in 1890. Wooden pallets and sandbags stand at the side. Rear stage is a long canvas tent, with a central entrance. Katie Southwell’s lighting design was low key, adding to the drama and misery of the situation. Jess Serio’s sound design was impressive.

Jess Bennett-Hullin’s costume design was complex and varied. With help from John King, as Military Adviser, Jess had to ‘equip’ a modern day army, fighting in Iraq, along with ancient Greek warriors complete with tabards, chitoniskos and greaves. All combatants were complete with weapons.

       With a golden spear in her hand, the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena (Chloé Laffar) enters and explains how distressed she is by the behaviour of military hero, Ajax (Rhys Hyatt). He is slowly losing his sanity and killing animals, thinking they are Greeks being led by his arch enemy, Odysseus – also known as Ulysses (Hock Edwards). Ajax has a few faithful warriors (Shannen Precious, Tay Broadley) but most have deserted him.

     We jump forward a couple of millennia as a platoon of American soldiers wearing night sights enters the same desert scene.

     There is Debbie (Cat Perez) back for her fourth tour in Iraq, then there is a sex-starved sergeant (Launcelot Ronzan) who ‘using’ a young female recruit, AJ (Sam Knox) for his fun. In the evenings the women try to avoid the males by playing cards. Rugged soldier, Sickles (Amanda Ferguson) looks after the innocent recruits, whilst the chaplain (Luke Gratton) provides for their mental care and the nurse (Claire Tebbutt) tries to cope with the injured.

     At one stage, in a very moving speech, Constance Mangus (Tijana Šimić) tries to explain what the war is doing to the soldiers, but finds it hard to justify the suffering and skirmishes. How little war has changed over the years.

For Thomas Dimmick, this was a particularly difficult play to direct; he had to convincingly show the ancient lifestyle and aggression of the Greek troops, with a contrasting modern narrative of today’s soldiers with their advanced weaponry, and yet retain the playwright’s clever use of parallels. The actors were required to give powerful and assured performances, as no one is fooled by a set of wimpy soldiers. On the whole – with Harriet Fettis’ movement choreography – the tension and horror of the situation held up very well for the whole 100 minutes of this drama.

With material gained from interviews with Iraq war veterans and their families, the script is poignant. Once again several of the actors stood out as they ‘lived’ the wretchedness of the soldiers. Cat Perez as the grieving soldier, riddled with guilt at not stopping the suicide of her friend; and Sam Knox, as AJ, who was horrifyingly raped, by her sergeant, just as Cassandra had been raped by Ajax, both gave particularly convincing and moving performances.

Rhys, as Ajax dripping in blood (great makeup) perfectly captured the madness of this ancient warrior.

This production was – due to the subject – very heavy going, but it had numerous qualities not often seen in student productions of this complexity. Great team work.

This 65-minute production is being presented by the Black Martini Theatre Group, in the Murdoch University Drama Workshop, next to car park 4, 90 South Street, Murdoch. The performances are on nightly until Saturday 16^th May, with curtain up at the slightly earlier time of 7.30 pm.

Sam Knox’s set depicts a typical young student’s diseased bedroom. Dark blue walls covered in posters of the cinema’s famous heroes. In the corner stands an old wardrobe. The floor is covered with clothes and junk. In the centre of the stage is a double bed with octopus tentacles crawling out from underneath. Stage Managed by Michael Casas.

       The sun shines through the drawn curtains. The mound in the bed is static. Lazarus (Alex McVey) is depressed, and has been lying there for the past three days, refusing to move. His flat mate, Panda (Shannon Rogers) is madly in love with Laz, but he is too self-centred with his troubles to notice. Panda tries every trick in the book and various enticements, to get Lazarus to leave his bed, but he won’t even talk to her.

      In his little world, Laz sees himself as the master of his own fate there. Then, like a scene from the ‘Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, his wardrobe door opens and out steps the mysterious, mischievous Sidney Arthur (Philip Hutton). Lazarus seems to recognise Sid, but is not too sure who he is.

      Sid chats to Lazarus, trying to get him to open up about his past memories and why he won’t leave his bed. Even when Lazarus’s red-hot friend, Mackenzie (Rhianna Hall) calls around, he cannot be tempted from his kip. Lazarus even prefers his exotic fantasies about Harry Potter and Superman, than to make love – or sabre fight (choreographed by Launcelot Ronzan) – with Mackenzie.

       Can Sid get to the bottom of Lazarus’s problems? Will Sidney ever be normal again?

Plenty of lateral thinking from the director, Thomas Dimmick, has this very funny play belting along at a cracking pace. The cast are exceptional, with the miserable Lazarus being perfectly countered by the zany and whacky Sidney. Two superb performances, but Philip won the day with his numerous accents and impersonations.

The soundscape called for numerous split second cues, but designer Luke Gratton was well up to the task. His choice of music showed great imagination, and was perfect. The sound effects ranged in volume from 10 to 100 decibels.

The lighting designer, Scott McArdle, created some wonderful effects from sunrise to the dappled light of the fantasy sections. Slick operation by Jess Serio.

Some extra fun was added by the choice of costumes by designer Cat Perez.

If you like ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Young Ones’, then you will love this skilfully presented, madcap blend. Plenty of belly laughs, sensitively mixed in with the odd sad cameo. MOST enjoyable, great theatre.

The set was simple, a couple of chairs and a back screen. The filming and background projection (David Cox) showed Cooper Van Vlijmen as young Harvey, swimming in the ocean. Good makeup and hair design from Sophie Braham and Cassee Lazic.

        The scene opens with Harvey (Eamonn Skov), a depressed teenager who has lost interest in the world. He is standing on a beach staring at the tide waxing and waning, recalling how a decade earlier he had almost drowned. Harvey’s mother (Chloé Laffar) misses her husband, Arnold (Ryan Partridge) who disappeared all those years ago. She is distraught at the change in her son, as he mindlessly watches videos and trolling the internet.

       Harvey has a new girlfriend, Emma (Claire Tebbutt), who is determined to drag him back to normality. Then one evening, Harvey is visited by two spirits, one is smiling and in a bright flowery dress (costumes Abbey McCaughan), she is Hope (Katherine O’Brien – excellent) the other is in an army garb, lackadaisical and laconic, Doubt (Hannah Anderson – superb). They talk to Harvey and suggest that he goes back to the same beach that he almost drowned at, because he lost most of his soul there.

       Harvey recalls the love of his life from that terrible time a decade ago, Rebecca (Tarryn McGrath) and sees himself as the much younger man (Sean Mackey).

       Onto the scene appears The Keeper (Bella Doyle, very good), or Suit as she is affectionately know. ‘Suit’ is a stern, manipulative woman determined to ruin anyone that steps in her way, so will Harvey be able to regain what has been lost all of these years?

Anthony KJ has written a fairly simple story, but skilfully blended in some advanced ideas and moods. Sadly, psychological themes are one of the hardest to direct and perform. The cast worked hard, but the tale did not quite click. The pace was about 20% too slow; admittedly, Harvey was depressed, but most of the other characters should have been operating at normal speed.

Because Harvey did not give any affection, or shows little response, does not mean that the others should have been ‘traumatised’ too, by also lacking in normal, affectionate chemistry. The mother and girlfriend should have been physically closer, touching, with cuddles, pecks and kisses.

A couple of suggestions; keep eye contact with the person that you are talking to; often the actors addressed the heavens. Develop a second octave – usually a lower one – as beginners or nervous actors, often go up an octave and stay there for their performances. Work your waist and neck muscles, ‘Hope’ was very good, radiating her feelings, and ‘Doubt’ who was deliberately static, allowed her magnificent expressions to say it all.

This was an advanced play, difficult to perform, but given a wonderfully bold attempt by the writer, directors and cast.

After twenty years of coping with multiple sclerosis, Clare died aged only 57. She was one of an extraordinary and rare generation of British female playwrights who emerged in the 1980s. Her freedom of style and lack of restraint freed up many female UK writers to tackle new and previously ‘not talked about’ areas. After graduating as a teacher from Manchester Uni, she took plays around the schools. Then, as a tutor at Birmingham Uni, she had Sarah Kane as a student; they were co-founders of the pioneering feminists’, Women’s Theatre Group.

This bold, sensibly priced, this two-hour comedy / character study can be seen in the Murdoch Drama Rehearsal Space, opposite car park 4, Murdoch University, Murdoch, each evening at 7.00 until Saturday 4^th October.

The scene is the mid-1980s, in the bathroom of an East End flat in London. There is underwear drying on a rail, but the whole room (and auditorium) has bras and knickers everywhere. There is a ‘corner bath’ centre stage with a suspended, net curtained window overlooking the bins. A full-length mirror and vanity unit are against the rear wall.(Designer Karen Hansord). 

        A young girl is lounging in the bath with a flannel over her face. This is the virginal Jo (Samantha Larke), who seems to spend most of her days in the bath with her loofa! She lies there fantasising over the rich handsome man that is going to arrive in her life, and whisk her around the world.

      Mary (Cassee Lazic) walks into the bathroom, has a quick look in the mirror, winces at the sight of her body and shudders before rushing out again. She comes back in, and announces that she has found a revolting ‘Penthouse’ magazine in their dustbin. She reads aloud a letter from the magazine’s ‘Readers’ Page’ to show Jo just how disgusting pornography is – ‘after all, it is the tip of the iceberg leading to the world’s downfall and male depravity. It is omnipresent’. To Mary’s horror, she finds that Jo actually gets off on the writer’s lewd description of his Saturday night fun. Mary breaks down in tears, but refuses to tell Jo what is really going on in her mind.

      When Jo gets out of the bath, the third flatmate, the pedantic OCD sufferer, Celia (Stephanie Fitz-Henry) enters, only to find the bath covered in scum as usual. Celia finds the magazine and wonders how anyone can be interested in grubby sex generally.

      Saturday night will see a big party in the house, how will the three survive?

This play is a wonderful observation of how men objectify women as sex objects, and how women think men expect to see them. With skilfully handled direction by senior lecturer, Dr David Moody and his (ex-) student assistant directors, Belle Venus and Bob Morshidi, the whole situation was readily recognised.

Samantha Larke gave a very laid-back performance that gradually revealed Jo’s deeper and more sensitive feelings. Cassee Lazic’s character Mary, wore her heart on her sleeve, she had great trouble hiding her emotions and Cassee gave a heartrending, powerful performance. Stephanie was hilarious as the deep-thinking, officious housemate. Great teamwork, performed with a good, sound understanding of the beautifully written, rich dialogue.

Without wishing to detract from Samantha’s wonderful performance, or sounding too much like a pervert, is it too much to expect the girl in the bath to be nude, semi-nude or in flesh coloured underwear? When you are a student, this is a time to stretch your talents, face your fears and perform genres such as stand-up comedy, singing, dancing whilst in the company of friends. I found the fact that Jo was in an empty bath (yes real water could be very cold) draped with an aqua coloured ‘evening dress’ that was meant to represented the blue bath foam unrealistic. When Jo sat up to talk to her flatmates, the ‘water level’ came up with her bust. Could a bath full of kapok to look like foam, and pink underwear have been better? This loss of illusion weakened the effect.

Can I suggest that if someone is going to get very angry that they start with a low timbre of voice so that as their anger increases that they do not reach a pitch that is only audible to dogs?

The lighting and sound by Matt Pashley and Ryan Partridge showed just the correct amount of ‘feeling’ reflected by the play itself. Red Lauren Moir’s clever choice of costumes immediately demonstrated the personalities of the cast.

As with all of McIntyre’s plays, the script is clever, filled with insight and controversy. This production is first class – Excellent.

The fun-filled, two-hour variety performances, i.e. a total of four hours of quality entertainment, were seen on the 11^th and 12^th, and the 18^th and 19^th September.

The master of ceremonies enters in a loud colourful suit (Stephen Platt), explaining that his father had told him to be sure to be in the ‘Monet’, hence his flowery outfit. Seeing Stephen dressed like a set of curtains, I suspect his father actually told him ‘to pull himself together’. With a wonderful repartee, each of the acts was introduced with his hilarious, dry comments.

 Act One

‘Prisoner or Hostages’ written by Stephen B. Platt.

A dark comedy, where a male and female prisoner pedantically argue with their guard, as to whether they are in fact ‘prisoners’ or ‘hostages’.

Starring Leigh Fitzpatrick, Harriet Fettis, Launcelot Ronzan.

A very well written piece with an unusual and unique storyline. Very good performances.

 ‘Crazy little thing called love’ performed and choreographed by Xarna Rappold.

A beautifully choreographed, complex contemporary dance sequence. Stunning.

 ‘Since you’ve been gone, I’ve been alone’ by Bill Bailey

Bob Morshidi doing what he does best – a crazy comedy routine.

 ‘Light my Candle’ from the musical RENT

An excellent rendition of a well-known number by Joshua Towns and Cat Perez.

 ‘Serial Dater’ written by Gabriel Davis

Ellin Sears as an old lady.

 ‘Mercy!’ by Geordie Crawley

More madcap comedy from Mike Casas, Bob Morshidi and Corina Brown.

 

Act Two

‘Aurora’ choreography by Therese Cruise.

Misty Falls showed how Burlesque can bring out the very best in all women. A treat for the eyes – male and female.

 ‘Therapy’ from Tick Tick Boom.

Was performed by Cat Perez and Joshua Towns. Quality voices blending together perfectly.

 ‘Her First’ by the Frantics.

Stephen B. Platt, Mike Casas, Bob Morshidi, Leigh Fitzpatrick

 ‘Faust Monologue’ by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The only serious act in the show. A very powerful monologue delivered emotionally by Karen Hansord. Superb.

 ‘The World War Twosical’ by Stephen B. Platt

An uproarious short play about a film director trying to get funding for his latest ambitious project. He has to prove his case to the mercenary producer at each stage of the movie. VERY funny, with a wonderful cast that just jumped in and let themselves go! With impressive portrayals of the main country leaders of the war, including Churchill and Hitler, every leader was there. This could be developed into a full-length play. Punchy, hilarious and visually bizarre. Starring the great team of Bob Morshidi, Leigh Fitzpatrick, Ellin Sears, Launcelot Ronzan, Jenia Gladziejewski, Stephen B. Platt, Mike Casas, Corina Brown, Xarna Rappold, Harriet Fettis, Joshua Towns and Cat Perez.

Lighting was by John Bailey, with Jess Serio on sound. The front of house were to be congratulated on dressing especially for the occasion, they were Tess Thompson, Andrew Kocsis, Tiffany Banner and Adam Dean.

This could have been a half-hearted in-house romp, but instead there was a huge amount of quality scriptwriting, rehearsal and production skills poured into this ‘throw away’ show. MAGNIFICENT, a fun night.

This 18+ play is being produced by Second Chance Theatre in the Murdoch Drama Workshop, adjacent to Car Park 4, Banksia Drive, Murdoch University, Murdoch.

The sensibly priced tickets are available at the door. The curtain goes up nightly at 7.00 pm until Saturday 30^th August, with one matinée on Saturday afternoon at 1.00 pm.

The set is a black tile design, with white grouting lines. A dormitory area at the front of the stage has three areas of bedding. An office desk at the rear is the warden’s office, with shower areas on each side. The stage is starkly furnished, the emptiness emphasises the isolation and sinister desolation of this 2600 AD concentration camp. (Set and Graphic Design by Nicola Rivers, with some good effects by Stage Manager Milly Dee).

         Since the beginning of time, the weakest groups of people have been picked on by the others. At school 50 years ago, a person with a disability, unusual hair colour or sexual ‘peculiarity’ was instantly an ideal target. They were ‘weak freaks’ who did not conform to society. Now, thankfully, things have generally changed for the better; but with this reform to ‘all being equal’, general good manners can often be considered condescending or patronising. In this story we are taken 600 years into the future, where attitudes have become even more extreme.

      The superficially caring, Doctor Benjamin (Rhys Hyatt) has a new guest at his Facility; she is the highly spirited, intelligent Charlotte (Emily David). As bow-tied, Doctor Ben jokes his way around the amenities tour, Charlotte spots a naked man, Ethan (Scott McArdle) standing motionless in a bucket of cold water. In another corner, lying on the floor is Juliet (Jade Galambosi). She is wearing the regulation grey T-shirt and wool shorts (Wardrobe, Sophie Braham). Charlotte tries to strike up a conversation and show sympathy, but to this Institution, it is a sign of weakness and she is moved on by the ‘kind’ doctor.

      Charlotte discovers that poor Juliet has had a lobotomy, and so is now a harmless member of society. Dr Ben explains the routine of 4 showers per day, interspersed with demonstrations of ‘affection’ towards him. The whole establishment is under the watchful eye of numerous surveillance cameras, all supervised by The Warden (Laughton Mckenzie), an intelligent and logical man, who is actually totally insane and with no moral standards.

    The warped Dr Ben is obviously the Warden’s puppet, but can Ethan’s controlled and submitting silence win him freedom from this hell hole?

Under the well thought-out direction came from the actors themselves. The rich characters, each with their own style of dialogue, attitudes to life and personalities are perfectly presented by the five actors. McArdle, who has already proven himself as a fine writer, director and techie – this lighting design (smoothly operated by Rhianna Hall) instantly depicts the atmosphere required – now sets himself up for a most challenging role, demanding both nudity and displaying a man under tremendous stress.

This Facility has all kinds of torture, physical and mental. Hyatt gave a great performance as a cool leader who could have a massive mood swing at the mention of a single word. The performance was slightly caricaturised, but this helped emphasis the cold, calculating, uncaring manner of the perverted Warden (Mckenzie).

Emily David gave a powerful performance as the new guest, who fearlessly stood up to the controllers. With tears in her eyes, she had several moments when you thought she was going to crack at their attitudes, before carrying on boldly. Jade Galambosi captured the easy going ‘vegetable’ existence, which was still capable of tremendous emotional outbursts.

The atmosphere was topped off with an amazing soundscape (Composer, Aiden Willoughby) that subtly rumbled along in the background; with occasional blend of angelic voices, bringing that slight sign of hope to this wretched establishment.

This is not an easy show to watch, but the stark and brave approach holds one’s concentration for the full 80-minutes, bringing a new genuine fear for the future of the world.

The Revellers are performing this heavy-duty play to audiences of all age groups. Because of the wonderful character studies, this 100-minute play is on the schools’ set book list for this year. It is being performed at the Murdoch University Drama Workshop, off car park 4 in Murdoch University, 90 South Street. The performances commence at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until the 10^th May.

The scene is a fictional, Australian, working-class suburban beach in November 1989. The set is totally black, with the word ‘Blackrock’ emblazoned in red on the rear wall. White milk crates depict rocks and larger boxes symbolise a jetty. The set is quite ‘loose’ as the scenes change from outside locations to house interiors in seconds throughout the play, but the neutral ambience works well (Set design and costumes Tiffany Banner).

         It is late evening and as Jared (Joshua Towns) is sitting looking out to sea, his cousin Cherie (Hayley Lyons), who has managed to escape from the overbearing supervision of her mother Glenys (Shannon Rogers), walks down the sand to join him. As they discuss next Saturday’s birthday party for their quiet friend, Toby (Jesse Williamson – convincing), Toby’s caring sister, Rachel (Catherine Parrish), appears on the scene. This is Jared’s wealthy girlfriend.

        The night of the party arrives, and as Jared is leaving home, he gets some maternal advice from his divorced, sick mother, Dianne Kirby (Tegan Evans). At the beach club, loud-mouthed surfing star and bully, Brett, generally known as Ricko (Andrew Dawson) immediately tries to pick on Toby, but sensing that those present want Toby to have a pleasant birthday, he eases off. Ricko is followed closely by a starry-eyed love, Shana (Kate Raine). Another girl, Tiffany (Dominique Evans) is mingling and trying to join in with the various groups, but seems to be rejected by most.

       As the young teenagers get into the grog and cones, the unsupervised fun turns to debauchery. Toby has sex with a young virgin, Tracy, in the sand dunes. His lovemaking was rapidly followed by violence at the hands of a couple of local yobs, Davo (Cat Perez) and Scott (Travis Hasson) looking for ‘easy meat’. Was Tracy at any point consenting? On the other hand, was she repeatedly raped? Jared saw the whole incident and having done nothing to save the young victim, is filled with guilt and keen to tell the police; however, his mother and overbearing father, Len Kirby (Dean Lovatt – excellent) are far more worried about the family’s reputation and being dragged into the investigation.

      Jared is now faced with a moral dilemma, either going against his parents’ wishes and doing the right thing by Tracy, or remaining silent and covering for his miserable friends who are carrying on regardless.

       Some of the girls try to bring things into the open but meet a brick wall.

Even though the above synopsis may seem to be filled with ‘spoilers’, the storyline for this play is fairly obvious from the start, so what it is really doing is demonstrating the numerous attitudes, morals and behaviour to be found in any small community. The direction called for plenty of pace and clear guidance as to the innate personality traits of each character, and Adam Dean – through being a very competent actor – has done a sterling job. He has captured the nasty undertones of the rapists, and has chosen a wonderful actress in Catherine Parrish, to show the compassionate side of the repercussions.

The intimate setting of this theatre allows the audience to be part of the surfing crowd, far better than the larger venues that I have experienced in the past. The director has created several entry points for the cast around the auditorium and at times had several in action. This helped build the tension very effectively. The cast were generally well above average, but one or two members found it difficult to be convincingly uncouth or display incredible anger, a skill that comes with time.

The lighting was designed by Adam Dean, Aleesha and Joey McKenna-Green. Multiple spotlights picked out the specific areas, thus keeping the action intimate. The quality sound was operated by Pippa Makin, and often called for accurate cuing. The Artistic Director, Andrew Kocsis created a very effective shrine and kept on top of the numerous exits and entrances from around the auditorium. Andrew is helping Revellers set up an acting training school in Kadidjiny Park Hall in Melville, to encourage anyone that fancies trying the theatre.

This is a very demanding play to present, but this team has given us an admirable night’s entertainment and plenty to think about when it comes to camaraderie versus decency.

This performance is being presented by Murdoch University in the Drama Workshop, off car park 4, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch; with performances officially starting at 7.00 pm each evening until Saturday 14^th December.  There is also a 2.00 pm matinee on Saturday the 14^th. I say ‘officially’ because the performers start their warm-up about twenty minutes before ‘curtain up’ and this is certainly worth seeing.

The lighting is very dim over the large black-painted floor space. The rear wall consists of black drapes. To the left and right of the stage are two massive projection screens (approx. 50 sq. metres each).

 

         On the floor are six dancers (Amy Murray, Anna Weir, Bethsaida Tapsall, Hayley Lyons, Rhianna Hall and Salmiyah), dressed in a white leotard, shorts and a tank top. In total silence, the group are doing yoga exercises such as the Sun Salutation followed by breathing exercises. Slowly they start gliding and sliding around the floor, loosening their neck muscles and then their torsos. Lit only by the screens, one showing a journey through space, the other is a live projection of the handheld camerawork by Steph Davenport.

       The movement continues as the recorded and live music creeps into the background. Piano music with plenty of echo starts, and slowly this develops into a more definite rhythm with more percussion. Soon the dancers are moving energetically around the stage, the lights go off and the whole stage is in darkness.

      One of the screens backlights to show a silhouette of a woman dancing, the six dancers start moving slowly as the mysterious dancer (Monica Gagliano) appears shaking wind chime pipes. Soon there is a red glow and the dancers can be seen going through a series of emotions. Starting with tired depression, the mood gradually swings to happiness and elation. The wonderful live music played by Monnie Gagliano and incorporates the sound of tree branches, a sitar and a Shruti Box. Just as the group become carefree, tragedy strikes. You are invited onto the stage to join the dancers in coping with the tragedy (no embarrassment in joining them). Then a procession leads us through to the Studio Theatre area where we re-take our seats.

       A large swimming pool covers the floor of the theatre, and the smell of chlorine fills the air. The dancers now dressed in only their leotards and muslin skirts walk into the ‘sea’. They become totally submerged. Lights dance on the top of the water as a mix of xylophone and vibraphone play gently in the background. Night falls and the water becomes dark, the dancers are now dancing synchronised. The music becomes threatening before dawn rises. These water nymphs continue their underwater prayers and dancing and discover the power of hydro cleansing.

Forget movie swimming star, Esther Williams (‘wet she is a star, dry she ain’t’) and Busby Berkeley’s renowned piece, ‘By a Waterfall’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csG6MBYsmOU), this is live and the real thing 80 years later. Salmiyah and assistant director, Scott McArdle have produced a memorable, original production. The dancers made the whole routine look so simple, when they must have been hurting inside.

Set designer, Ally Snell has joined with stage managers Danica Rickard and John King to give us massive projection screens and a large swimming pool – it must have been a nightmare in the making. Along with Scott McArdle and Tim Brain’s lighting (operated by Daley King) which depicted magical patterns on the surface of the water, along with surrounding ripple effects to give the feeling of being deep under the water with the nymphs, the overall result was wonderful. The cool water must have been most welcome at the end of the gruelling dance routine.

The music played a major part in the mood of the production and Aiden Willoughby and Monica Gagliano both excelled.

A fresh and beautifully performed show. My apologies if my interpretation of the dance routine isn’t quite right, but that is the excitement of contemporary dance, like jazz the interpretation is in the beholder. Another triumphant show from Murdoch.

This 100-minute drama is being produced by the Murdoch Theatre Company, and presented at the Murdoch University Drama Workshop, off car park, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch.

There are four shows nightly at 7.00, with the final show on Saturday 16^th November. There is also one matinee at 3.00 pm on Saturday.

Phil Collins’ prophetic song, ‘In the Air Tonight’ fades. It is shortly before a Christmas in the mid-1990s and something is certainly in the air. The scene is a sitting room that has been trashed, the contents are strewn everywhere (set design Daley King).

Soft, loving Julie (Tenielle Clarke) and demanding Carl (Rhys Hyatt) have been married for several years. Now both sides of the families are gathered, riddled with guilt and worried about what has happened to Julie, a wreck, who is sitting on the floor with a blank look that hides so many tragic emotions.

In the room with Julie is her brother, police constable Tony (Andrew Dawson), her lesbian sister-in-law, Penny (Leah Toyne), her widowed father-in-law, Barry (Laughton Mckenzie) who hasn’t been the best of fathers over the years. The scenes flash back and forth throughout the play; from their childhood to the present day marriage.

We see Julie moving in with Carl. Into a house that he originally bought along with his previous fiancée – who left him! Even here, despite the bewitched Julie’s care and love, Carl is a total bastard.

 The lighting design (Daley King) is restrained and with well-chosen lamp cell colours. The operation (Rebecca Thompson) is subtle and flows well with the emotions. A hanging birdcage, well up in the set, casts a shadow on the wall reminding us of the captured creatures that – like Julie – we keep for our own entertainment. The mood is completed by simple soundscape of almost plodding music from Aiden Willoughby (operated by Launcelot Ronzan). The costumes (Cassee Lazic, Shannon Rogers) have been well considered, adding to the personalities of each character and the era.

The author cleverly feeds snippets of the characters to the audience as she travels back and forward in time. She employs metaphors and symbolism such as the layers of babushka dolls. Just when you think that you understand the logic of the character, your feelings swing.

Thanks to the sympathetic direction you can see the tension building in the characters as they hide their feelings and paper over the cracks, bury their heads in the sand and refuse to discuss the problems on hand.

As the audience sit watching the apathy or disinterest of the family members, one wonders if we too have been complicit in such happenings. I am sure we know friends that have suffered like this – but could we have done something to protect them? Are we bringing up our children in the caring environment we were? If so, is it the correct one? The questions fly around your head as you leave the auditorium.

This play is the most powerful that I have seen both in community and professional theatre for a long time. It left the whole audience breathless. It is the genre that if handled even slightly wrongly by the actors or the by the directors, could have been a disaster. The co-directors Amy Murray and Rebecca Thompson have bravely taken on an extremely difficult play to produce effectively as their first major directing task. The challenging script is strongly narrative-based, and because the actors have to feel easy with rapid and powerful dialogue the directors were wise to allow actors’ input.

When actors argue often the dialogue becomes gabbled and indistinct, so it is important to let them find their own, natural level of pace to match the body language.

I have known Tenielle Clarke’s admirable work for several years now, and this is her crowning glory, she completely captured the depth of the young woman’s anger, grief and passion perfectly. The performances by the whole cast were superb, but Tenielle Clarke and Rhys Hyatt just blew us away. As the time went back and forward throughout the seven years of marriage, Tenielle had to change in a split second from a wife who is depressed, to nervous, one totally besotted by her new husband and then back to despair. Rhys was totally convincing as the irrational husband, and one could genuinely believe that he was in fact married to Tenielle with mood swings triggered by jealousy and self-doubt. Rhys has also had a varied career, and has tried many theatre genres with success.

The pace, the chemistry the subtle showing of emotions left everyone stunned. It certainly wasn’t an easy ‘watch’, and at times it was difficult not to rush onto the stage and protect poor Julie or to attack her diabolical husband. With such a drama, the silence at the end before the applause is a guide to success, but when the whole audience sit in total silence for minutes after a play finishes – that is a triumphant success.

A production of this quality doesn’t come around very often, so please try and catch it.