 |
| Muriel's Wedding - Sydney Theatre Company Photo:Lisa Tomasetti |
I was in Sydney last weekend for a few days to see theatre, catch up with friends, have a meeting and visit a couple of galleries.
Robert Mapplethorpe:
The Perfect Medium – Art Gallery of NSW
“Don’t miss the XYZ room,” said the woman at the ticket box.
“It’s near the flowers.”
“The XYZ room is near the flowers,” said the woman checking
the tickets at the entrance.
In a world where we are given lots of warnings for films and
theatre and exhibitions, as cautions to avoid things, it was refreshing to be
encouraged to look at Mapplethorpe’s most challenging works.
On the other hand,
isn’t that what people visiting a Mapplethorpe exhibition are looking for? Do
people go for his work with flowers?
Some of Mapplethorpe’s imagery is iconic, most of it is
beautiful and very little of this exhibition was confronting; but the XYZ room
was still kept off to the side, housing works from three compendiums of Mapplethorpe’s
interests – erotica, flowers and black men.
There was also a selection of his work with Patti Smith,
along with portraits of famous people like Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono and Isabella
Rossellini. A strong overview of his career.
Three Sisters –
Sydney Theatre Company
A Kip Williams production of an Andrew Upton adaptation of
Chekhov with this cast, including Alison Bell, Eryn Jean Norvill, Mark Leonard
Winter, Nikki Shiels, Chris Ryan… the list goes on. This should have been
amazing. I am only ever a fan of Chekhov when it’s non-traditional: Simon Stone’s
The Cherry Orchard or Eamon Flack’s Ivanov. This seemed to be another
production in that same vein. And for much of the first half, it was engaging
and funny and with that bleak undercurrent, because it is Chekhov.
The second half loses the fun of the first and dives
headlong into Chekhovian nihilism. I am not a fan of Chekhov in general, but I
have enjoyed work based on his work before. With this team, I had very high
expectations. They were only rarely met and never in the second half.
 |
| Three Sisters, Sydney Theatre Company Photo: Brett Boardman |
Pipilotti Rist: Sip My Ocean – Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
I love visiting the MCA in Circular Quay because it’s
central and because the shows there are so often surprising and delightful.
Their own collection and what they have on display normally turns over between
my visits is always strong, and their feature exhibitions open up new worlds to
me.
Rist is a Swiss artist and her work is a combination of
video installations and sculpture. Though her work was previously unknown to
me, I can see how her pioneering work has inspired others; notably how Ever Is Over All (1996) was clearly an
inspiration for Beyonce’s Hold Up
music video.
My favourite work of hers in this exhibition was Pixelwald motherboard – a room full of
strings of glowing lights that was meant to evoke the vision of an exploding
television. Astonishing.
Merciless Gods –
Little Ones/Griffin Theatre
It’s not the first time I’ve travelled to Sydney and ended
up seeing work that I’ve missed in Melbourne. I was very lucky to get a ticket
to a previously sold-out performance of Little Ones’ Merciless Gods which was performed at Northcote Town Hall earlier
this year.
Based on a collection of short stories by Christos Tsiolkas,
Dan Giovanni has selected eight of these stories to put on stage – a compendium
of pieces told from the fringes of society. This isn’t the high camp I normally
associate with Little Ones but I loved the boldness of the story choices and
the ensemble is superb. I’m glad I caught up with this and I hope Sydney gets
to see more of the Little Ones in the future.
Muriel’s Wedding –
Sydney Theatre Company
Reinventing the classic Aussie film to be a stage musical seemed
fraught; how do you find someone, anyone to write songs that won’t fade into
the background next to the selection of ABBA songs that Muriel escapes into? And
how do you use those ABBA songs without them feeling like a distraction?
Thankfully, Kate Miller-Heidke and partner Keir Nuttall have
created fully-theatrical songs that capture the wild swings of emotion in
Muriel’s life. They fit neatly alongside PJ Hogan’s book, based on his original
film. There’s been some updates; the social media aspect is both a blessing and
a curse to the show.
The first act is solid; director Simon Phillips keeps the
show moving using a grab bag of his classic theatrical trickery. It is a strong
musical and not just a play with songs; and it’s a long way from the jukebox
musicals of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
or Mamma Mia.
The second act is a bit messier. The script veers wildly
around. Strong emotional moments are drawn out too long. There’s some attempt
to give the love interests some depth, but that distracts from Muriel’s story –
and in the end, does the show gain anything much from fleshing out the token
men?
Overall, though, this is a strong show that deserves a long
life touring the world.
Atlantis –
Belvoir Theatre Company
Hi, I’m Keith Gow, playwright and theatre blogger. I have
seen lots of Lally Katz shows and even aside from the show where she starred
and talked about her life, most of her plays contain her in some way, shape or
form. Not just in the way that some writers write what they know, but Lally is
often a character in her own plays. In Atlantis,
Lally is played by Amber McMahon. Amber is always amazing and she makes the
perfect Lally, if you can’t have Lally telling these stories herself in person.
I love the honesty of Lally’s work and while the idea of a
writer putting themselves into their own work could feel self-indulgent (and
perhaps some of Lally’s early work might be described that way), somehow Atlantis doesn’t feel like that at all.
Lally has gained enough perspective of her life over the last few years to tell
a riotous, outrageous, touching story about writing and relationships; about
motherhood and birthing new worlds on stage.
Rosemary Meyers has found her way into Lally’s head and
sitting front row at Belvoir, I felt like I was immersed in this bizarre
dimension that was a little bit Vegas, a little bit Miami and a whole lot of
Lally Katz. And if I might have missed the Apocalypse Bear and the Hope
Dolphin, I still got to see Lally’s imaginary Panther friend… and the funniest,
most athletic sex scene I’ve ever seen on stage.
 |
| Atlantis, Belvoir Photo: Daniel Boud |
Comments