Meanwhile, I think it’s important to note that I’m really pleased with our expression of interest for Floating Land 2013. While I can’t give anything away, I can tell you that, should our submission be successful, we’ll be needing incredible dancers and multi-disciplinary performers for a show like no other. We’ll also be inviting interested peeps from the community to get involved in the creative process. We enjoyed so much, working with local actors and non-actors to create Floating Words last year and we’re looking forward to being involved again, in any capacity, really; Floating Land is a very different festival for the Sunshine Coast. It’s growing biannually and gaining a reputation internationally. If you want to get in on the next one (31st May – 9th June 2013), stick with us, kids!
Floating Land is an ongoing conversation about creativity, culture and the environment pivoting on a dynamic ten-day event in the UNESCO listed Biosphere of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Conceived in 2001 as an outdoor sculpture exhibition, Floating Land is now solidified one of Australia’s most significant green art events sparking the imagination of artists, scientists, politicians and conservationists globally. Leah Barclay was engaged as the guest curator in 2011 and successfully delivered a dynamic program on the theme ‘Water Culture’, expanding the traditional elements of Floating Land to include works engaging ephemeral projections, light and sound in the natural environment.
The biannual project is framed around a thematic site-specific artist residency and offers a platform for creative responses, provocations and interactive experiences that can underpin new ways of thinking and inspire change. The diverse creative responses of Floating Land become embedded in a rich program of community workshops, forums and interactive labs designed to confront and challenge a spectrum of environmental issues across disciplines. The intention is not just to deliver engaging experiences for the local community, but also to harness the energy of these conversations, ideas and visions across virtual platforms exploring new paradigms for our collective future. Visit www.floatingland.org.au for further information. Source: leahbarclay.com
Yesterday, somebody reblogged my review of Too Late! (Antigone) Contest #2 and I thought, "What a good idea!" So here is an awesome piece that I felt I must reblog. I love this piece so much! Read it all. Then go read the rest of Alexander Chee's blog...
But she’s sticking with it. This week it’s Suzuki. Yikes!
(There’s plenty about Suzuki method online and clips from Zen Zen Zo’s shows – complete shows are available to purchase – but I like the way Martinez explains the basic stuff in this clip – and this one – in case you’re still wondering what Cathy’s talking about. Below is Zen Zen Zo’s Training Room Doco to give you the company’s POV).
Guest blogger, Mary Eggleston, saw The Method Gun and, after an intensive series of workshops, performed in Time, Space and the Body.
The Method Gun
Created by Rude Mechs | written by Kirk Lynn | directed by Shawn Sides
Brisbane Powerhouse
Reviewed by Mary Eggleston
The Method Gun was a relentlessly inventive exploration of the creative process and the ecstasy & excesses of performing. At times hilarious and at times painfully intimate, this story is about an ensemble of actors, abandoned by their sage, Stella Burden.
It begins with Ms Burden, training guru of the 60s and 70s and at first I was unsure if this Stella was a real actual person. I had never heard of her but was it just another hole in my theatrical education? To my relief, this “other Stella” was indeed a creation of Rude Mechs. She was a shameless lie, invented to tell the truth.
Attracted by the idea of risky training methods for actors and the cult like power of theatrical companies over their members, The Rudes wanted to know if it were possible to act oneself to death!
After Stella’s mysterious disappearance into the South American jungle, her devoted disciples decide to continue their 9-year process for a high-concept production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” to be performed without the main characters (Stanley, Blanche, Stella or Mitch).
Rude Mechs company members re-enact the final months in this grueling 9-year-in-the-making production of “Street Car”, by using text from the journals and performance reports of Stella Burden’s company. This dramaturgical layering was superbly orchestrated, as was their awe-inspiring final scene. My heart was racing as the cast pulled off an amazing “ah-ha” moment, choreographed to perfection among swinging pendulum lights.
The fact that much of its content was (as an artistic co-director of my own company and physical theatre performer) a little “close to the bone”, only heightened The Rudes’ intention to demonstrate a “…sense of desperation, inadequacy, and frustration inherent to the process of creating meaningful work for the stage… and a longing for the return of inspiration and a more believable presentation of self in everyday life…”
The World Theatre Festival finished at the Brisbane Powerhouse on Sunday (26th Feb. 2012), so if you didn’t see The Method Gun, sorry but you missed it. Yes, it’s a bit sad but I’m still buzzing! Not only ‘cause I got to see the fabulous Rude Mechs theatre company from Austin, Texas but this year I was lucky enough to be part of the fun. I was able to learn from and create with an amazing collective of local artists under the expert guidance of Barney O’Hanlon (USA) and Laura Sheedy (AUS).
These two acclaimed artists graced the Brisbane Powerhouse over a four-week period to instruct Time, Space and the Body, an extended exploration of The Viewpoints and Composition.
Long time SITI Company (NY) member, Barney O’Hanlon and ex-pat, Laura Sheedy (The PIT – NY), lead 22 wonderful local actors, performance artists and directors to a final showing of our work on Sat 25th Feb in the Turbine Studio.
The studio become our home for the time and proved itself as a very adaptable and workable space. Time & Space collides with the human body in every moment of our lives and The Viewpoints method is able to change the way you see the world – forever.
It is not surprising that Barney O’Hanlon is an old friend of the Rude Mechscompany members and it was Barney who lead a Q&A after The Method Gun on Friday night. All in all – I had such an amazing WTF with y’all!
“La Boite’s theatre is perfect for Shakespeare: it’s open and alive and allows actors and audiences to come together to share the joy.”
La Boite Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, David Berthold.
Have you ever been a part of Woodford Folk Festival’s shared joy? For the first show of La Boite’s 2012 season, David Berthold has brought a little bit of Woodford to The Roundhouse Theatre and it’s truly wonderful. The Forest of Arden IS Woodfordia and Berthold’s As You Like It is full to overflowing with the same joy, love and good karma. Bill Hauritz will be pleased.
Boasting exceptional performances and containing the best bit of fight choreography we’ve seen at La Boite, indeed; the best we’ve seen in Brisbane in a good while, by (Lead Fight Director this time) Justin Palazzo-Orr, this is a show for everybody. It’s funny and witty and heaps of fun. We are reminded by this play, that Shakespeare’s writing is so good, not only does it stand the test of time but also, it continues to appeal to all sorts.
Probably the most convoluted of the comedies, with a massive cast – in terms of programming, it often loses out to the more popular Twelfth Night – the plot of As You Like It may be unfamiliar. In simplest terms, the love story is central: girl meets boy, they fall instantly in love, girl disguises herself as boy, boy meets girl disguised as boy and they hang out in the forest together, become mates and wed, the girl’s true identity revealed on their nuptial day. Duke Senior and his merry men also inhabit the forest – their commitment is more permanent, their lifestyle a good deal greener and they provide much of the perspective of the play.
Director, David Berthold and Designer, Renee Mulder, have created, with suits and city skirts and jeans and flannel shirts, the look and feel of last year’s Woodford. Woodford has changed since its humble beginnings in the Maleny show grounds and the new mood has been perfectly captured. Rosalind (the remarkable Helen Howard) and Celia (Helen Cassidy) wear black, Cue-style suits and the latest season’s chunky suede shoes, which is just as well, because in narrower heels it’s a challenge to tread the shredded playground rubber that covers the floor of the theatre. As the god, Hymen, in his glittering, high-heeled disco diva boots, Alec Snow is a standout amongst student interns and puts to shame with his confident strut, many of the women in the audience (no offence, no-less-confident women in the audience. It’s just that Snow got to rehearse and as such, he looks to be a contender for the next run of Priscilla)!
Centre stage is a circular dais, which suddenly rises, in a simple, beautiful and breathtaking reveal, earning surprised applause from the opening night audience. Colourful lanterns, indie folk music (props to vocalist Lucy-Ann Langkilde, ready for a Chai Tent chalkboard gig), Tony O’Connor style forest sounds by Composer and Sound Designer Guy Webster and pretty, dreamy lighting, all amber and blue and pink, thanks to David Walters’ trek-out-to-the-Amphitheatre-after-the-Lantern-Parade-passes-by inspired lighting design, all combine to bring the magic of Arden Forest to our midst.
It’s not just the design that is stunning. The performances are superb. We can see the company at work on the next generation of actors, with a stronger focus on training and mentorship this year (there are eight interns in this production), doing their bit to close the gap between accomplished performers and the new, eager actors. Holding their own, in that middle ground where the graduates dwell, are Luke Cadden and Dominic Nimo, in their La Boite debuts.
Bryan Probets, as the jester Touchstone, manages to steal the show early on and later, whips up the audience in a riotous chorus; an old-fashioned, call and answer, effortlessly interactive theatre moment. His comedy is cleverly marked and he appears completely relaxed – delighted in fact – to be entertaining us. How lucky are we? The other exquisite moment in this piece belongs to Trevor Stuart, as Jaques. His delivery of the famed “All the world’s a stage” seven ages of man monologue is magnificent. If it has never stayed with you before, it will linger with you now.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Kate Wilson and Hayden Spencer, play their parts beautifully; the first, kind and wise and generous as Duke Senior, as comfortable in the forest digs here as if it were home, high on the Range, and the second, the mincing miss shepherdess, Audrey, in his hippie mountain chic attire, posing and pouting to make us laugh ‘til we cry. Kathryn Marquet brings Phoebe to life.
Helen Cassidy is a lovely Celia and she is well paired with Helen Howard as Rosalind. These two are a celebration of the sisterhood! Howard is a striking woman and it’s easy to watch her every move. That being said, it’s just as easy to be completely distracted by the Adonis good looks of the Bard Boy of Brisbane, Thomas Larkin, in the role of Orlando. We’ve seen his naked torso for some time now, in an image for his upcoming role (Romeo) in QTC’s Romeo and Juliet. But you know this. You’ve seen the poster and you’ve had your say on Twitter too, I’ll warrant. For those who have been living under a tree at Woodford, Larkin’s co-star, Melanie Zanetti, looking extremely young (just as Shakespeare intended… half her luck) has been the subject of some controversy, stirred by a single complaint from a woman on the Gold Coast. While I look forward to seeing him in Romeo and Juliet, as Orlando, we see Larkin in his best role to date.
As You Like It is a show of superlatives. Whether or not ideas are borrowed, this is a brilliant interpretation; it doesn’t miss a beat. If you’re feeling like a bit of a lift, this is the best show you can see in Brisbane this month. It’s gorgeous, guaranteed to please. It’s what the world needs now; love, sweet love, and pure, unadulterated Woodford-all-year-round shared joy. Do yourself a favour and see this one. It’s guaranteed to reinvigorate your soul and warm the cockles of your heart.
I adore the Visy theatre. It’s that “just right” Mama Bear sized space for very special stories. What a perfectly intimate space it is for Discover Love: a heart-wrenching, horrifying, bittersweet, beautiful story, based on actual events, from the world’s most political theatre company. If you wanted to see this show in Belarus, where it’s a crime to speak out against just about everything, you would have to know somebody who knew where it was being staged. Audiences are directed to secret performance spaces using SMS and word-of-mouth. Belarus theatre workers (and their audiences) have gone underground…it’s rave theatre and I’m grateful it’s a novelty in this country – “The Lucky Country” – and not a necessity.
The Lucky Country indeed. In cruel contrast, enforced disappearances, abductions, kidnappings and torture are rife in Belarus. In fact, politically motivated people have been disappearing, all over the world, since Nazi Germany’s Nacht und Nebel Decree of 1941. They speak out (or murmur something quietly at a party or at their workplace) and suddenly they simply disappear. Relatives of those who have disappeared have said that the pain of losing their loved one is the most acute a person can experience. There is no knowing whether or not the person is alive or dead. There is only the knowledge that they are being mistreated for their beliefs.
Directed by Mikalai Khalezin, Discover Love is the true story of Irina Krasovskaya and her husband, Anatoly, told from the point of view of Ira. She reveals how, in the midst of a near-perfect marriage and a beautiful life, Toly was abducted and murdered for his assistance to the democratic body of Belarus. It’s a love story turned political story turned human story. And it pangs, though not at first. At first, Ira shares tenderly and generously, the words bubbling over one another in her impatience to paint each picture, stories told by her grandmother and remembers, fondly, evenings spent around the radio, the spritely, contented Jewish neighbours who dance and cook and smile, and (not so fondly) her diffident father, who stomps into the tiny apartment in his heavy military boots and goes again, leaving a paper bag of candy – not the chocolates Ira preferred – on the kitchen table (“A father should know what his daughter likes!”).
Pavel Gorodnitski, who steps into a number of secondary roles, also has the heavy duty of playing a traditional clay pipe (like an ocarina), to open and close the show, establishing that, although based on real events, the story to which we are privy is a play; a piece of theatre.
The actors offer energetic, heart-filled performances, all joy and strength, demonstrating a deep connection to their story and to each other; we see it during a delightful tango, choreographed by Olga Skvortsova. We breathe in with Ira, the fantastic fragrance of fresh oranges (a rare treat in so many cold countries), spilling from their plywood box, setting up some wholly sensory theatre. I always hope to experience more of this (and we do, during Neil Armfield’s production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll). It’s whole theatre, like the notion of the whole child in education, catering for every sense, every aspect of the experience. This simple joy, however, is masterfully transformed into fear and horror, as the assassin crushes the oranges underfoot on the day of Toly’s abduction, turning a symbol of goodness and beauty into a senseless, merciless act.
The space starts out clean and simple, the changing of bed linen used to bookend each chapter of the story; like the fairy bell to turn the page in your favourite Disney book, pretty handmade quilts projected onto a screen, above which are surtitles. A note on surtitles/subtitles: It often feels like we’re missing something, flicking between words and actors; missing something of the actors when having to read the surtitles or missing the precise meaning of the words whilst watching the actors. Like sitting back in our seats and tuning into the language of Shakespeare, it’s possible to follow both. It takes practice, which indicates that we should all see more foreign theatre, films and Shakespeare. (There is no shortage of great Shakespeare in Brisbane this year)! I love language – I feel sure I spoke plenty of languages in a previous life – and it was wonderful to hear the lilt and sharp edges of the Russian along with some beautiful Belarusian.
Despite Ira’s laments, Discover Love is such a light, lovely story for so long. There’s a feminine quality to the telling of it, so much innocence and joy, which is not entirely lost but becomes, unsurprisingly, a great deal darker as political events impact more directly upon the family. Harsh, interrogative lighting replaces the softer, gentler glow of happier times.
The concluding prayer, accompanied by projected images of protestors holding photographs of those who had disappeared, got me. And it got the majority of the audience, visibly, audibly; we were moved beyond words – I literally could not speak to anybody after the show about what we’d just been through together – and a sense of solidarity was established, in a moment of sympathy and compassion for these people, whose lives are unimaginable horror. Then the audience left the sacred space of the Visy and we made our way upstairs to the bar… and what did we do with those feelings when we left? What feeling remains, long after the show is over? What now?
This is life-affecting theatre. Whether or not it’s life changing is up to the individual.
Cathy Sheargold is vlogging about beginning Zen Zen Zo’s Actor Training. I know I said you would see her updates here on Tuesdays but this has been a crazy week for almost everybody I know. And now it’s Friday?! WTF? (Yes, that continues too, at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Get along and let us know what you see).
Technical probs have prevented me embedding Cathy’s latest vlog here but we’ll remedy that as soon as possible. Having had barely five hours sleep after seeing Summer of the Seventeenth Doll last night, I’m off to morning tea with the QTC peeps, then to the Matisse exhibition (artist’s date), then back to the coast to pick up Poppy from school and leave her with my sister-in-law (thanks, Kellie!), then to La Boite this evening for opening night of As You Like It and THEN to rehearsal in Noosa for Travelling Northall weekend. So…yes, as soon as possible. In the meantime, log into your Facebook account and watch it here.
UPDATE -
Here’s Cathy’s Ouch That Really Hurts Bingo card. MYO and join the FUN!
Billed as an “intensely physical performance by one of Italy’s most adventurous companies famed for its take-no-prisoners theatrical style,” I couldn’t help but remember something that those who have travelled extensively usually mention upon their return. “There’s good and bad and… interesting theatre everywhere,” they say. Let’s call Too Late (Antigone) Contest #2 interesting theatre. There is something sacred about sharing the space in which a work so intense and challenging happens and there is something slightly bemusing too. I may well be the only person in the entire western world who doesn’t love this particular piece of touring contemporary theatre.
Once we get past the title, which implies that one might like to have a certain level of understanding about the original ancient Greek story, which inspired Sophocles to write the play upon which Bertolt Brecht based his version in 1947, we enter a dark, open space within the Powerhouse theatre; a configuration I’ve not seen before. The audience is a typical festival crowd (yes, there’s such a thing) of newbies and hard-core theatre types, including performers from some of the other festival productions. A long, narrow strip of garish, greenish light delineates the performance space (the audience is seated on both sides of it) and two actors, one at either end, pace and sit and stand and stretch and prepare – for what seems like an eternity (Brecht’s 1977 version had the company of actors on stage throughout, in full view of the audience, forever fixing their make up and preparing for their scenes) – for a series of mini battles, which represent the recent political upheaval in Italy as much as they do the unsavoury events of the original tale. These battles intermixed with commentary from the actors as actors; make up the non-narrative structure of the show.
The original shocking story, briefly, for the uninitiated and for those who surfed rather than attend their Ancient History lectures (fair enough), goes like this: Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta (yes, you read that right), desires to bury properly, according to tradition, her brother, deemed traitorous by the king, Creon. Antigone elects to bury her brother’s body herself and she is captured and punished for breaking the law. In typical ancient history feminine I’m-as-empowered-as-a-prostitute-with-a-pimp response, she hangs herself. Haimon, the son of Creon who loves her, kills himself after finding her body.
At one point, one of the actors makes a reference in English, to the English surtitles; a wry dig at contemporary theatre that, unfortunately, didn’t go down so well with this particular audience, perhaps because there were those nodding their heads in agreement with the sentiment, “I hate contemporary theatre!”
The two actors, Silvia Calderoni and Vladimir Aleksic, play with power and status from the outset, becoming dogs, on all fours, barking and growling at each other before they become more obvious characters from ancient or current politics. They are highly physical, though not frighteningly physical; the Brechtian devices ensure that we remember they are actors in a play and, though relaxed, they are poised, ready for anything (and we’ve seen riskier moves in other productions). The androgynous-looking Calderoni (think Aaron Carter half dressed as Lisbeth Salander) literally throws herself into an early scene and onto Aleksic’s shoulders, beating him and kicking to bring down the low-set lighting rig above her. The most disturbing tactic, though used once too often, is a hug of the extreme (choking, suffocating) kind, which, when coupled with the amplified gurgled, strangulated sounds of the suddenly fragile Calderoni clasped beneath (for what seems a rather unreasonable length of time) the taller, broader figure of Aleksic, is quite chilling.
We know that a Brechtian piece particularly, and much of our contemporary theatre is designed to dissatisfy, prompting us to question the bigger issues in our dull little lives, to recognise the contradictions of living and to remember that even the good folk suffer. We see it and we know it to be true and yet it seems unfamiliar. It’s okay then, to leave the space feeling uncomfortable. That’s the idea.
Too Late! (Antigone) Contest #2 is not everyone’s cup of tea but if you see it’s coming to a theatre near you, I say, go. While it wasn’t my favourite thing on the menu, it was the Green Eggs and Ham show. And I know you think you don’t like green eggs and ham. But try it and youmay, I say. (Who am I to tell you that the Brioche is better?) Be prepared to sit and concentrate for 55 minutes and observe from the outside in; this is an interesting show, guaranteed to get you thinking – and talking – long after you’ve left the venue.
This is a fun, largely improvised performance from a Sydney-based group (Dara Gill, Sime Knezevic, Frank Mainoo, Natalie Randall & Malcolm Whittaker), which brings tongue-in-cheek indie film and a fresh take on improvisation to the theatre.
It’s a brilliant concept and it’s certainly a slicker show now than it was in 2010 (watch an older version below). It relies on the audience to drive the show, in role as journalists at a press conference for a make-believe movie, for which we see only the trailers. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Improvisation is widely considered the scariest form of theatre, for actors and audience alike. For those familiar with any level of actor training, the show is like one big, long, extended improvisation. For those without experience in drama games, think 20 Questions and allow a lot of flexibility on the answer-yes-or-no-only rule.
The show itself defies every theatrical convention but that of the suspension of disbelief. We are welcomed as members of the press and the actors are introduced, as any world famous movie star would be, to rapturous applause and blinding camera flashes from (imaginary) paparazzi. With a series of self-indulgent, picture perfect poses, the three nearly-Hollywood-groomed actors (no one was quite styled and polished enough), Malcolm Whittaker, Natalie Kate Randall and Frank B. Mainoo, smile and wave and turn and smile and wave until we feel like flicking to another channel…
I really enjoyed elements of this show, easily appreciating the clever premise and almost believing every word. The environment inside the space was superbly set – once seated, there was no mistaking we were in a press conference – what we needed were a few extra clues early on.
“You are invited to the premiere press conference for the new movie, This Is It. You’re the press…”
Okay, I concede; there’s a pretty big clue there, in the festival booklet. I also knew to expect the self-assured presence of Nathanael Cooper, Arts Editor of The Courier Mail, as host of the event. A knowing wink and inside knowledge of the usual proceedings served Cooper well.
Now, I’m not a lazy audience member. I freely admit that I am, in fact, a bit of a forum bunny but I wanted to hear from the actors, not ask the questions of them. I wanted somebody else to do that work, to have to think that much. Clearly, during the Sunday afternoon performance, a number of audience members felt the same way, keeping hands down and mouths shut. Tough crowd! I could certainly empathise with the performers but without that next level of specific skills, supreme confidence and a watertight connection between them; we were always going to have some awkward pauses. Some would say, kindly, that those moments heighten the tension and add to the drama, or the comedy as it happens, of the situation.
The level of interaction demanded by this show is not for everyone. And when you demand audience participation, you must prepare them for it. Explain how a press conference works before taking questions from the floor. Don’t assume your audience is stupid but don’t assume we know what you need from us either. Or that we’re prepared to play.
Issue audience members with lanyards, pre-printed with the name of the media outlet we are to represent, give clear instructions and help us slip into our roles by sharing with us, the rules of the game. Yes, I’d found that little hint in the festival booklet but when I found myself at the door, looking at a poster for a new film and a staff member concerned only with tearing tickets, without noticing our puzzled faces, I was thrown. Perhaps this was the director’s intent. But I wanted to feel a little more comfortable when I walked into the room. This is Role Play 101. A drama teacher might set up their classroom environment thus: “Welcome to the premiere press conference for the new movie, This Is It. After viewing the trailers for this film, you’ll have the opportunity to ask the stars of the film your questions. State your name and your publication (printed on your ID) before asking your question.” One extended trailer rather than five teasers would have sufficed.
Convincing characterisation within improvisation takes practice and a whole new level of confidence. I expected the actors, after two years on this show, to bail each other out more consistently. Instead, they each had a certain number of prepared lines and came back several times to the same points, bunging on the ego trips, which worked for Randall, though for the gentlemen not so much. They may have simply needed more material and permission to delve deeper into each theme or to spend longer on one or two rather than interrupt another in pursuit of a laugh. Or to have developed that special generousity that is not unique to impro actors, but to very good actors, who know when and how to share the spotlight. In true celebrity style, no one ever really reveals anything about anything; we are no more enlightened about the plot, characters or outcome of the film than when we started out! This, of course, is the idea and the joke works well.
There’s no denying Dara Gill and Team MESS are onto something. There’s a hunger for this sort of challenging, conspiratorial, interactive theatre. We eat up the parody, the sarcasm and the chance to pick our celebrities to pieces. The company has a fairly large following. They have their fans. They’re onto a good thing. Now I want to see them take it up a notch. They’ve found a niche. They just need to work harder to fill it.
Noosa at around 4pm. Image by Kim Buckley via Facebook.
In the midst of the storm today (Year 1 Word of the Day: terrifying), Seamus Mee reminded me via Facebook, of some of the most fantastic storm lines ever written.
King Lear
Act 3, Scene 2
LEAR
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulfurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ th’ world,
Crack nature’s molds, all germens spill at once
That make ingrateful man!
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.
I never gave you kingdom, called you children.
You owe me no subscription. Why then, let fall
Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand, your slave—
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That will with two pernicious daughters joined
Your high engendered battles ‘gainst a head
So old and white as this. Oh, ho! ‘Tis foul.
Sunset in Mudjimba after the storm. Image by Teneale Rush via Facebook.
Robyn Nevin will play Queen Lear. Image by James Croucher.
I can’t wait for Robyn Nevin’s QUEEN LEAR!
Nevin said she had been waiting for an opportunity to play Lear after McDonald suggested the role to her several years ago.
She has previously played a male role in Shakespeare: Mark Antony in a production of Julius Caesar directed by Simon Phillips.
“I really enjoyed playing Mark Antony but, goodness, people had difficulty with it,” Nevin said.
Director, Rachel McDonald said she wanted Nevin as Lear simply because she was “perfect for that role”.
Queen Lear would be staged as if written for a woman. “You don’t have to take a machete to it,” she said of the adaptation. “When you look at the play you only have to switch the pronouns and that’s it.”
Source: The Australian
Picture: James Croucher. Article: Matthew Westwood. September 28th 2011
Theatre Forum
An international journal of innovative performance
White House Celebrations
Assists time poor professionals to strategically define, manage and celebrate personal and business milestones…in an extraordinary way!
Recent Comments