The play premiered at the Versailles Palace fête, but because of the Tartuffe’s attitude to religion, the archbishop of Paris, Hardouin, threatened excommunication for anyone who watched, performed in or even read the play. Molière therefore asked his friend King Louis XIV for support. The play was rewritten and called ‘Panulphe’ – a Sudanese word – but it was again banned, however the King allowed private performances for the French aristocracy.

This delightful, bawdy and uproarious adaptation of the original satire is by Australian librettist and playwright, Justin Fleming. Justin, who has been vice-president of the Australian Writers’ Guild and a board member of the Australian National Playwrights’ Centre, has produced a magnificently crafted script; still in the original couplet style, the completely new dialogue is contemporary, and with many fun up-to-the-minute references.

Before the play, I met several Fleming fans, who had been especially drawn to this production because of his immense sense of humour and writing skills. Justin was also present at the opening night performance.

This play was Kate Cherry’s Perth swansong. In the past 7 years with Black Swan, she has directed or co-directed, more than two dozen memorable productions, but this had to be the ultimate. When a play has the whole house standing in admiration and ovation of a play, then this shows that every aspect has succeeded. We wish Kate well for the future.

This show is a joint production between two old friends, the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Queensland Theatre Company. The fast moving, enthralling, two and a half hour performances start at 7.30 each evening in the Heath Ledger Theatre, within the State Theatre Centre, 174 William Street in Northbridge. The season runs until Sunday 6^th November.

The scene is Orgon’s chic house in present day Australia – 400 years after the Paris home in Molière’s book. Richard Roberts’ sumptuous sets and haute couture costume design (costumière, Jenny Edwards) has retained the air of Parisian affluence. The clever hair and makeup consultant is Raquel Alessi, who has added a little humour to her skills.

The design has two sets built onto the largest revolve that one could envisage. It is actually wider than the stage, overlapping into the wings! The opening scene is the exterior of a modern, white concrete building with a sandstone block, character wall and aluminium framed windows. There is an exterior, upstairs balcony and a suntrap patio.

When the stage rotates, it reveals an amazing interior, reminiscent of Rose’s old Peppermint Grove palace! A curved staircase led down from the long internal balcony, to the white marble floor below. A white grand piano stood in the corner, a raised dining area was overlooked by a huge, upbeat, orange oil painting (Marek Szyler). Centre stage were two armchairs and a bright orange, studded settee.

Lighting designer, David Murray employed a line of footlights to cast a nocturnal glow to the house exterior. Inside he used domestic downlights, enhanced with LEDs. The later gave subtle colour changes according to the mood of the play; clever designing.

The stage management was smoothly carried out by Peter Sutherland and his assistant, Georgia Landré-Ord.

       We enter the house to find wild revelries taking place. The adamant head of the household, the extremely wealthy Orgon (Steve Turner) is out seeing a friend, and so his family are making the most of his absence. His whimsical, attractive daughter, Mariane (Tessa Lind) and her handsome fiancé, Valère (James Sweeny) are kissing on the couch. Mariane’s uncontrollable stepbrother, Damis (Alex Williams) is, as usual, living life to excess as he empties a champagne bottle.

   The interfering, streetwise maid, Dorine (Emily Weir) with her multipurpose, fluffy dusting wand, pretends to clean, whilst listening intently to all of the household gossip. Suddenly, she spots the smartly dressed, austere yet gullible grandmother, Madame Pernelle (Jenny Davis), returning home, closely followed by Orgon. Panic ensues.

     Orgon announces that his new spiritual leader is an aging, devout minister, Tartuffe (Darren Gilshenan). Like most Maharishi, he is celibate – unless God provides this unprincipled and duplicitous man with beautiful women.

     Orgon’s loving wife, Elmire (Alison Van Reeken) warns her mother-in-law, Madame Pernelle of the dangers of her husband’s new friend Tartuffe. Even when Tartuffe cons Orgon into making generous donations to his ‘cause’, Orgon still decides that his daughter would be better off with Tartuffe as a husband, so postpones Mariane’s wedding; Mariane has several novel ways of dealing with the stress of the situation.

     When Orgon gets a little too generous, a cunning plan is called for by the family.

   Why does the ABC reporter (Hugh Parker) call at the house?

The play was racy, ranging from the girlish, crush-like love of Mariane, to the normally demur Elmire who turns on all her sex glands in an attempt to seduce Tartuffe into her trap. Tartuffe himself was perfectly depicted as an unctuous letch, with every subtle, facial expression displaying his true inner thoughts.

Every actor had a rich, well-observed character that they depicted with aplomb. The chemistry and inter-connection of all of the actors, many of whom are major award winners, was amazing. Without meaning to be cruel, Jenny Davis has been around for decades, being probably one of WA’s most admired actors, and in this play she proves that not only has she still ‘got it’, but she is still improving; great to see you Jenny.

Emily Weir as the maid played the part with every cell of her body, uproarious performance. Alison van Reeken as the demure wife, gave a brave and side splitting piece of acting as she was mercilessly hunted, whilst her husband, Steve Turner – always great value – retained his cool obstinacy.

Director Kate Cherry handled the delivery of the tricky couplets perfectly; they could easily have become dry in style and slowed the pace. Instead the show rocked from beginning to end.

Sound Designer/Composer, Tony Brumpton, hit the mark perfectly by giving just the right amount of subtle background melody.

The crafting of this play was exemplary, from script through the technical production to the hilarious performances. One of the funniest bawdy plays ever.

Based on a 14th century, Chinese fable ‘The Circle of Chalk’; this is the Black Swan State Theatre Company’s first international collaboration. Presented in the ‘Beijing or Peking Opera’ style that combines music, speech, mime, dance and acrobatics is part of the 2016 Winter Arts Festival.

‘The Chalk Circle’ parable is usually presented as a dramatic tragedy. Here we are taken back to the original folk tale. It is presented with Brechtian techniques, in a traditional setting but with contemporary middle-class dialogue, at times quite coarse. The upshot is approaching an adults’ pantomime, which may come as a shock to the purists, but it is fresh and great fun. Brecht actually wrote music and songs for the play, but these have been added to and refined.

This innovative, 3-hour presentation can be seen nightly in the Heath Ledger Theatre, within the State Theatre Centre of WA in Northbridge. Performances are at 7.30 until Sunday 14th August – the sixtieth anniversary of Brecht’s death. There are also some matinées.

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The story is set in the Soviet Union area of Galinsk around the end of the Second World War.

The stage is like that of a new theatre. There is no backcloth, no flats in the wings, any drapes or scenery of any kind. A few well-chosen props are on the stage, along with wardrobe racks. (Set Designer Richard Roberts assisted by Lui Hong Ping).

As the play begins, three layered, sculptured backcloths are raised from the floor; they give a wonderful appearance of mountains in a mist. A Chinese gateway arch is rolled into position.

The men who are exalted officials wear the stunning, brightly coloured and highly embroidered, Hanfu, and the ladies traditional Princess costumes. The Costume Designer, Zhao Yan, although still young, she has designed for more than six dozen productions.

With little scenery, the demands on the Lighting Designer, Mark Howett to create atmosphere, was high.

      The actors wander onto the stage in their black, rehearsal trackies and T-shirts. They begin their warmup routine, and then select their masks from a rack of specially designed façades (Designer of props and masks, Professor Zhang Huaxiang).

 

‘The Singer’ (Musical Director/Sound Designer, Dr Clint Bracknell) with guitar in hand, takes his seat at the foot of the proscenium arch. Accompanied by a brightly dressed, indigenous singer (Lynette Narkle), the two beautiful voices set the scene.

     The Malaysian percussionist, Arunachala, attacks the timpani – the play has begun.

     In the town of Nuhka, the church is filling for Easter Mass. The slimy Fat Prince (Luke Hewitt) ingratiates himself with the powerful Governor, Georgi (Geoff Kelso) and his egotistical wife, Natella (Caitlin Beresford-Ord) as they sweep past the peasants. The Prince admires the Governess’s new baby, Michael, who has been left outside the church with the maid, Grusha (Alex Malone). Two soldiers are admiring Grusha, when one, Simon (James Sweeny) tells his dim friend (Kenneth Ransom) how he has watched her bathing in the river. Grusha is horrified.

     The Fat Prince has arranged a political coup, and with the Government deposed and her husband dead, Natella escapes the heartless, murdering Ironshirts (Adam Booth, Alison van Reeken). In doing so, she leaves her son behind, yet takes time to collect her expensive wardrobe of clothes.

     Grusha is keen to look after the baby, but with the gestapo-like Ironshirts searching for the child, she accepts the help of a kindly peasant woman (Kylie Farmer, Indigenous name Kaarljilba Kaardn). They escape across the northern mountains to her brother (Steve Turner), Lavrenti’s farm; well away from the Governor’s friends and the Ladies of the Court (Felicity McKay) who may recognise her.

       What will become of Grusha? Her lovers on the way? Moreover, the baby? Who is Judge Azdak?

Directed by Dr Wang Xiaoying, the Vice President of the National Theatre of China, with Assistant Directors, music graduate, Chen Tao and Melbourne based, Hong Kong born, Felix Ching Ching Ho who is an independent theatre director, a new freshness was brought to the Perth stage. The pace was cracking; with stagehands and cast moving the props in and out within seconds, the story retained its drive wonderfully.

Most of the players had several characters to play, and with a different mask for each one, the appearance could change, but the facial expressions disappeared, putting the focus onto the body language. Steve Turner probably had the largest number of personalities to perform, each being rich in detail.

In the first Act, Alex Malone as Grusha was magnificent, giving a full range of emotions. The play requires the occasional song, and her beautifully soft, sweet voice was crystal clear. In Act 2, one of our masters of the stage, Geoff Kelso, proved that he still has that magic touch. His comic delivery was brilliant and his singing left the audience gaping at the quality of his crooning.

The whole cast worked unrelentingly to give the audience an inventive, novel production.

For the set, all of the walls are painted black – effectively a black box. Along the rear wall hang four brightly coloured, hula-hoops. The mood lighting has been well-designed by Chris Donnelly and smoothly operated by Meabh Walton.

        A man (Luke Fewster) enters the stage and states that in the same way as the brave pioneers came to Australia 200 years ago, the world is now looking for new pioneers to venture to Mars and populate.

       At a public meeting, young and enthusiastic ‘self-help’ guru, Robin (Will O’Mahony), bounces onto the stage and immediately engages the audience members; telling them that the self-centred ‘Me first’ approach is how they should be thinking. Continuing, he gives the onlooker 5 important aims in life.

      The lights rise to show us a domestic sitting room, where an exasperated father (Steve Turner) and his distraught wife (Andrea Gibbs) are discussing their autistic son, Sam (Luke Fewster). They are wondering why Sam and his visits to the ‘character developing’ special school seems to be having no affect whatsoever, whilst other youngsters improve greatly. There are students such as autistic Billy (Will O’Mahony), who seems to have conquered every known fact relating to the planet Mars.

      Sam’s twin sister, Wren (Felicity McKay) finds herself being in the last 200 applicants for the Mars expedition, however, Sam relies heavily on her love and care.

This is a beautiful tale that will connect with almost everyone. Writer / director, Will O’Mahony has just the right balance between humour and tragedy. The facts are fed in a way that the audience can accept and yet not feel lectured to. The cast, each of whom plays several very different characters, are magnificent, displaying the subtle twitches of a nervous autistic child’s hands, to the inconsolable parents’ tragic life – an extra special performance from Andrea. Then there is the distressed sister who wants to do her best for her brother, but all he wants to do is orbit around the room with his hula-hoop (incredible control).

This was an unusual play, reaching out to new boundaries, capturing emotions and blending them with hope. A first class play presented lovingly by a brilliant and talented team.

This is the kind of play that will be remembered for years to come.

On a point of interest, 450 years ago, the Ridolphi Plot was linked to Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up Parliament.

This gripping drama is being presented as part of the Fringe Summer Nights, in the main Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street in Northbridge.

This MUST SEE, one-hour show is on nightly at 9.30 until 20^th February.

At first glances, the set (designer, Trent Suidgeest) appears simple, with a table and a couple of chairs; however, in the corner of the stage is a telephone box, which has all of the magical properties of Superman’s ‘phone booth and a Dr Who box. The white rear wall of the box has projected onto it, video (also by Trent Suidgeest) of the old magician at work, and scenes of the many localities his son will experience on the way through this tale. I rarely comment on posters, but Jamie Breen’s stunning photo captured the play’s mystery perfectly. 

As always, Ben Collins soundscape was beautifully composed, and played subtly in the background.

 

       When he died, the world’s greatest escape artist and magician – The Great Ridolphi – left his immense wealth to a charity, with his sole son, Victor O’Meara receiving only a battered suitcase, filled with what appears to be trashy, op shop contents.

      A decade after his father’s death, Victor (Steve Turner) received a visit from a detective linked to the Art Fraud and Theft section of Scotland Yard. It seems at the time of his father’s death, a priceless museum painting had been swapped for a copy.

      The policeman was keen to hold onto the father’s suitcase, but Victor suspected there might be clues in it that he had missed.

      What did the random objects mean? Could his father really have been a master thief?

 

In an exciting and intriguing tale of mystery, you feel as though it is the Da Vinci Code all over again – except this time with quality! When I looked at the names of the scriptwriter, technical team, the actor and director, then considered their amazing achievements, with all of them having won every major WA prize in their field, I was blown away. Naturally, I was expecting a quality show, but what they have given us is just another realm.

Every member of the team has given their VERY best. Everyone left the theatre stunned at the overall perfection of this play. Amazing skills.