Paulina Lenoir: Puella Eterna

 

Paulina Lenoir: Puella Eterna

The Yurt at the Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, Tue 12 Mar

Paulina Lenoir was busy preening herself in front of a mirror as the audience filed in. We were able to take in her extensive wardrobe and props collection draped around the stage and allow the music to get us in the mood for Puella Eterna – the Eternal Girl. All of this was brought to an abrupt halt by a welcome to country. It was an intrusion into an artistic process, the building of relationship between audience and performer, that was already underway.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to bother Lenoir. She moved seemlessly into her strangely bewitching style and announces that she has big plans for the universe tonight! An endless striptease has the audience laughing along. Then, in a madcap slightly deranged way we travel her whole life with her.

She introduces her baby-self as a puppet – “I did not choose to be born” and requires audience assistance to communicate and eat in some classic slapstick. She progresses to the toddler stage and manages to move around and talk with more of the audience on her knees in quite endearing fashion. She soon grows up – quite literally!! But it’s a rapid ride and menopause is soon upon her and is the occasion of some of the strangest dance moves you’ll ever see!

She has many ploys for engaging the audience in her brief life – many in the audience get real roses – and she regularly checks in with her timekeeper to make sure she has enough time to get to the end of her life and die before the show’s over!! But it doesn’t quite end there ….

Lenoir’s clown is disarmingly ingenuous, and likes to appear as if she’s a bit of a duffer but one has this sneaking feeling that behind that innocent smile she is having the last laugh. But you’re not sure why. Or even if it’s true!

But therein lies the joy and mystery of it all. On the outside you’ll be smiling and laughing throughout; on the inside you may be asking questions that have no answers!

This review also posted on The Clothesline.

Sounds of the Hazara - Adelaide Fringe Music Review

[MUSIC/World Music ~ SA ~ ADELAIDE FRINGE PREMIERE]

Nexus Arts Venue, Sat 25 Feb, 2024.

The Hazara are one of the many ethnic groups that make up the population of Afghanistan. They in particular have been subject to harassment and violence since the return to power of the Taliban. There are approximately 40000 Hazara now living in Australia.

As Keith Preston told us in his introduction the Adelaide Fringe is slowly but surely becoming more representative of the diverse cultural make-up of our society – due in part it must be said, to the tireless efforts of people like Keith who strive to make it happen.

And so we gather at Nexus Arts to enjoy Hazara folks songs led by the humble, gracious Feroz Ansari on vocals and harmonium. Ansari is supported by fellow countryman Mehran Yawary on keyboards and electronic percussion,  well-known Adelaide musician Quentin Ayers on dobro and guitar, and Preston on santoor and bouzouki. It was a line-up that worked really well in the end. There were some issues with instrument balance earlier in the show where the harmonium and vocals were being dominated by the keyboard and percussion. The program does refer to ‘fusion styles’ – and it’s always a challenge to get the blend of traditional and modern instruments in the right balance. Once this was sorted the music quite rocked!

Most songs followed a similar pattern with a quieter vocal intro with harmonium, with other instruments joining in once the song was established. Some of the programmed percussion arrangements were wonderful – complex and catchy. Ansari’s vocals were right on the money – melodic and plaintive with that lovely central Asian/Middle Eastern style of vocal where the singer slides into and across notes that the Western pentatonic scale doesn’t feature. There were some lovely instrumental moments from Preston on santoor, and Ayers on guitars.

Ansari mentioned that the poetry of the original songs was very difficult to translate into English but it seemed that one way or another all the songs were about love.

It is sadly ironic that Australian audiences are now fortunate to have ethnic musicians of this calibre living amongst us who can participate in such events and enrich our cultural life. A really enjoyable performance of music from another world.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

Silly Little Things - Theatre Review

Star Theatre Two at Star Theatres, Fri 23 Feb, 2024.

Laura Knaggs has written a delightful story, and tells it beautifully. She plays the part of Rosie, a young woman who is finally free of an oppressive long term relationship and desperate to celebrate her freedom;  start a new more exciting life. But it turns out she’s not that good at making decisions on her own. Her best friend is dealing with her own problems, her nosy neighbour keeps making life difficult, good men are hard to find, and her flower shop is going under. And the last thing she wants to do is give in and go back to her mother for help. Perhaps a few more shots of tequila will fix things? They don’t.

Rosie takes us all along this frustrating, entertaining ride with mostly good humour, sporadic misplaced optimism, and an honest vulnerability. She’s pretty hyper early on and it’s as if her speedy enthusiasm is plunging her into train wreck territory. But luckily for Rosie a near disaster opens her eyes just enough to help her see the good that’s right in front of her.

She still has that lovely bouncy personality but it’s not so manic now. She’s calmed down and has become a much nicer, smarter person.

So there is a moral to the story if you’re looking for one. Or you could just sit back and enjoy Knagg’s charming manner, the tightly scripted narrative, her impressive range of acting skills, and great sense of comedy. She’s a natural, and is clearly very much at home on the stage.

One small peeve – I think the title of this show belittles it. There’s a lot more going on here than Silly Little Things, but I guess that’s how Rosie may have seen things at the time.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

Fish Bowl - Adelaide Fringe 2023 Review

 

[THEATRE AND PHYSICAL THEATRE/Immersive ~ South Australia]

The Studio at Holden St Theatres, Tue 7 Mar, 2023.

Fish Bowl is part seminar, part theatre. While daring to entertain on a touchy subject like dementia it also provides a lot of advice on how to cope with, and treat, people with dementia.

Set in an aged care nursing home the players switch between being patients and carers, often quickly shifting from troubled /troublesome patient to narrator in the same scene. It’s a very effective technique that holds audience attention and attempts to explain the patient’s behaviour - why the patient might be all of a sudden roaming around the room in an agitated state, or affectionately addressing a soft toy as their spouse.

There is a tragi-comic aspect to dementia that is also on show here. As the old cliché says, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, and often either response is appropriate.  But people in the caring role have to get past that and come up with strategies to deal with the situation at hand. Fish Bowl shows us several delightful examples: a scene encouraging a patient to recite a long poem while getting them ready for bed is quite beautiful and amazing to watch.

There are also moments of extreme, violent anger that are quite scary. Such are the swings and roundabouts of dealing with dementia – childlike joy one moment; explosive fury the next.

Full marks to Fish Bowl Theatre for delving into this challenging territory. It’s instructive and enjoyable theatre that attempts to cast somewhat of a positive light on how one can cope with people who have dementia; how one can build relationships across the cognitive disconnect.  I commend them for that but the sooner a cure is found for this dreadful dignity sapping disease the better.

Director: Steph Daughtry
Writer: Matthew Barker
Performers: Matthew Barker & Evie Leonard.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

The Sensemaker - Adelaide Fringe 2023 Review

 

[THEATRE AND PHYSICAL THEATRE/Comedy ~ AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE ~ Switzerland]

The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall, Fri 10 Mar, 2023.

How long are you prepared to wait on the phone? How many looped menus do you tolerate? Are you patient? How willing are you to accept instructions from a phone bot? What do you do while you’re on hold? The Sensemaker will help you answer such questions. It may also leave you with an uneasy feeling that this nonsense is in its infancy and could get much worse.

The Sensemaker is a wonderful solo show that puts the spotlight on an issue that has exploded in very recent times – just what should our relationship be with bots. And Elsa Couvreur does so in such a glorious and graceful fashion. In an unusual combination of dance and comedy she commands attention form the outset. Every sideways glance, every twitch of a finger, every sigh, is calculated and intended to convey meaning. She is riveting to watch.

Couvreur shows inexhaustible patience as we endure the endless wait for her ‘’request to be processed.’ She comes up with some very inventive ways to pass the time and amuse herself and us before things get a bit weird and the phone bot would appear to be very much overstepping the mark. The caller needs to decide whether she wants to continue to have her ‘request processed’.

This clever show takes what is normally private behaviour into a very public space, and does so with subtle humour, and an abundance of elegance.

Countless hours have gone into the preparation of the many layers of pre-recorded messages and on-hold music. Clever use of multiple languages and the ironic use of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy may mean you’ll never here it the same way again.

A magnificent show displaying mastery of the technical and artistic sides of theatre. Superb entertainment that also throws up just so many questions. Deserved a much larger audience.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

Glenn Skuthorpe and Band Play Dire Straits

 

Eliza Hall at Payinthi, Sat 4 Mar, 2023.

Attempting to play the music of Dire Straits is a risky business. Band leader and vocalist Mark Knopfler is one of the few in rock music who carved out new territory. He invented a distinctly new sound that was instantly recognisable as Knopfler’s – an understated vocal style and a bluesy melodic electric guitar finger style that was smooth as silk.

Turns out Glenn Skuthorpe’s delivery style is very much suited to playing Dire Straits music. Whether he subconsciously picked up the Knopfler way from hours of listening to him or it was just inherent in who he was doesn’t really matter. What matters is that is he has that same ability to deliver a vocal full of rich melody in that low almost semi-spoken way, and to play the guitar with emphasis on accuracy and tone rather than volume and speed. No shenanigans; no ‘look at me’ theatrics – just solid musicianship with a great feel.

Supported by a great band who clearly really enjoyed playing these songs, Skuthorpe and co delivered an excellent show. Claire O’Meara on keys/piano added welcome harmonies on several songs, and Aldo DiSario on drums was just all class – great to watch and listen to. Like so many bass players Mike Haynes was just totally focused on his craft and there were several occasions when you realised that it was his bass lines that were punctuating the beat with a metronomic pulse – beautiful work on Romeo And Juliet.
Mark Hawkins spent most of the time on rhythm guitar but added saxophone when necessary – the sax and piano duet at the start of Tunnel of Love works beautifully as a teasing intro to the main event. Skuthorpe’s guitar solo on this piece was a treat.

The show closed with the hauntingly beautiful Local Hero – not strictly a Dire Straits song but who cares – we all wanted to hear it, and Skuthorpe’s guitar was true to the original melody and feel. Just beautiful.

As it so often is with bands the quality of the final product is so dependent on the acoustics of the venue and the ability of the human doing the mixing to get the balance right. The sound was a little muddy early on, but things got better as the show progressed. But this is a real challenge for anyone playing Dire Straits. Knopfler was not a loud player, and he was a relatively quiet singer but somehow you have to get that vocal and guitar cutting through the mix, so the signature sound is at the core. There were times when that wasn’t the case, but all in all this was a great show. Those subtle melodies, trademark guitar licks, and the almost detached vocal mood were all there to remind us just how good Dire Straits were. And how good Glenn Skuthorpe is!

(This review also published on The Clothesline.)

Recalibrate - Adelaide Fringe Review 2023

 

The Lab at Light ADL @ West Village, Thu 2 Mar, 2023.

The Lab’s L-shaped stage and 180-degree panoramic projection backdrop encourages innovation. The fourth wall disappears as characters are in full view as they arrive and exit the stage. The extended projection space allows for all manner of use – text messages on screen, characters who are not physically present can interact with on stage players, radical changes of set from one scene to another, locating scenes in specific geographical locations, the use of silhouette, and canny use of liminal messaging between scenes via abstract imagery and sound.

All of these elements are employed with excellent effect in Recalibrate. And then of course you have the rightly billed powerhouse cast.

Simone (Emma Beach) has returned home from Las Vegas to help out with a mystery family emergency. Her entrance is awkward and funny – it’s immediately obvious she’s the black sheep of the family. She’s also someone who can see through crap and knows when people are fooling themselves. Her sister, Mary (Katie O’Reilly) is a case in point; lost in the world of motherhood. Their mother Carmel (Jacqy Phillips) is an academic coming to the end of her tenure. She is desperate for Tessa (Kelly Vincent), her star student, to stay on and complete her degree, but Tessa is tired of theoretical ‘academic bullshit’ and wants out. Relationships between all the characters seem fractured and tense until Carmel stages a protest on the roof of the university armed with a megaphone. Her impassioned rant from the rooftops is both an irrational outpouring and a brilliant account of what she sees as wrong in the world. As a fellow Boomer I found it deeply moving and had to fight back tears. A line was crossed here – somewhere it stopped being theatre and became terribly real. It was a powerful moment.

This desperate display of emotion briefly brings a degree of equilibrium until a final twist challenges the sisters one more time.

Jacqy Phillips, Kelly Vincent, Emma Beech and Katie O’Reilly were all wonderful in their respective roles, but Phillips’ performance is one for the ages.

It might be described as dark comedy. Variously bleak, humorous, and hopeful. But nothing in life is straightforward and everything comes at a cost. A really impressive new work from the SA Playwrights Theatre.

Written by Lucy Combe. Directed by Elena Vereker.

(This review also published in The Clothesline.)

An Unwasted Evening – The Genius of Tom Lehrer

 [CABARET/Comedy ~ WORLD PREMIERE ~ South Australia]

The Jade, Sun 19 Feb, 2023.

American Tom Lehrer was something of a child prodigy. He studied classical music from the age of 7, and was admitted to Harvard at the age of 15. He did eventually become a Maths professor and taught at Harvard and MIT but somewhere along the way he got distracted by musical theatre and started writing his own tunes.

Satire was his chosen genre and for 20 years from the mid-fifties onwards Lehrer’s songs were part of American popular culture. Nothing was off limits for Tom Lehrer – he poked fun at everything: war; religion, social mores, politics – and made people laugh in the process.

Adelaide’s own Dr H does a great job of bringing Tom Lehrer’s songs to life for Adelaide audiences. He is an accomplished pianist, and got the balance between telling the stories and playing the songs just right. Even though many of Lehrer’s songs are as much spoken as they are sung (they are chock full of clever lyrics) they do require a vocal dexterity that Dr H is quite at home with. The Elements, a song about the periodic table as its subject is a case in point!

Tom Lehrer wasn’t overly concerned with political correctness and his songs were often banned. His ilk would have even more trouble getting airtime these days. But it was great to hear gems like The Vatican Rag and National Brotherhood Week again. A song from 1954, I Got It From Agnes, gets a new lease of life if you replace the term VD with COVID, and could be a candidate for the anthem of the times!

A really enjoyable show. Though there is a plethora of tribute acts on the Fringe program again this year, if the story is worth telling and the songs are worth hearing, then it’s worth putting on shows like this for those who missed artists like Tom Lehrer the first time round. And for the many who know and love Lehrer’s work and want to hear it again – It was a full house. Lots of interaction and singing along available for those who wish to express themselves in the ‘safe space’ of The Jade!

We went all home happy after a rousing singalong ending of We Will All Go Together When We Go. (Yep – an end of the world ditty!)

(This review also published on The Clothesline.)

Mustard - a play review

 Mustard by Eve O’Connor: Theatre On The Edge ~ Adelaide Fringe 2023 Review                                           [Theatre and Physical Theatre/New Writing ~ AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE ~ IRE]

The Arch at Holden Street Theatres, Fri 17 Feb, 2023.

Mustard charts the trajectory of a relationship from the dizzying heights of bliss to the darkest depths of despair, and describes one person’s – perhaps just slightly unhinged – reaction to the attendant emotional roller coaster. Nothing much new there, but what sets Mustard apart is the incisive nature of the writing that delves into the human psyche with harrowing and exhilarating detail, and the mesmerising routine of an actor experiencing metaphorical baptism and rebirth.

The writing here is so tight; so delicately crafted. Descriptions of what it’s like to lie alongside the beautiful body of someone you love are deliciously detailed and intimate. And, similarly, the physical pain of ultimate rejection is visceral – you feel it and remember equivalent moments in your own life.

It’s a play of extremes – joy and despair, wisdom and madness, love and hate – that suggests that the distance between these polar opposites can be frighteningly close.

There are moments in Mustard where the integration of physical theatre with an unerring delivery of a script woven with passion and intensity, the integration of body and mind, is perfect.

Written and played by Eva O’Connor, she delivers a masterful performance. Extraordinary theatre that will take you to the edge.

4.5 stars

This review also published on The Clothesline.

San Ureshi and Friends - Review

This is not San Ureshi but an old man playing the
erhu in a park in Beijing.

 Nexus Arts at West Village, Sat 26 Feb.

Sometimes listening to great music induces a feeling of total serenity. And when that occurs listening to music from cultures other than your own the experience can border on mystical. The San Ureshi ensemble’s concert at Nexus Arts offered such moments. Listening to this beautifully arranged music from East Asia was like enjoying your own intimate WOMADelaide festival. This collaboration of Chinese and Japanese musical traditions seemed all the more poignant in the current geopolitical climate.

The core ensemble consists of Zhao Lieng (originally from Singapore) on guzheng or Chinese harp; David Dai (Taiwan) on erhu or Chinese violin; and Satomi Ohnishi (Japan) on percussion. One of the early pieces drew inspiration from 12^th century Japan with what sounded like the drums of battle underpinning the beautiful contrasts of the plucked harp against the bowed notes of the erhu. A cello joined the ensemble and the interplay between cello and erhu was at times exquisite. Chinese traditional singer, Cindy Fan, delivered songs in the distinctive high pitched vocal style characteristic of much Chinese folk music and transported us into the mountains of northern China.

Extra violins in the second half of the program added depth and texture to the arrangements. Behind all of these wonderful pieces was a variety of percussion sounds that were sometimes quite forceful and at other times quietly delicate: I heard horses racing across the plains, and the falling of a gentle rain. At other times rhythms were subtle and implied – quite masterful! And watching the elegant hands of Zhao Lieng pluck the strings of her harp was akin to watching the hands of a Balinese dancer.

Satomi Ohnishi’s lighthearted and often humorous introductions to each piece was the perfect counterpoint to some seriously beautiful music. It’s hard not to imagine that this group are headed for bigger and better things. Being at this concert just felt like a very special privilege.

(This review also published in The Clothesline)

Acoustic Tull's First Review

After going live 9 months ago Acoustic Tull finally have our first independent review – 4 stars from The Upside Review. Quite pleasing actually. I’d been thinking that if I was reviewing our show I’d give us 4 stars!

It’s been a wonderful musical ride thus far. There are many wonderful moments but I think for me it’s when I hear that flute fluttering at the beginning of The Witches Promise or that signature melodic motif in Thick as a Brick I just feel a smile inside in recognition of how good it sounds and feels. These wonderful flute sounds are courtesy of Kerryn Schofield – how lucky we were to find her!

You can read more about the group and how it came about over at our website. There are some videos there as well. There’s also an interview I did that talks more about who we are. There are a few photos on our Facebook site but if you search HERE you should find several photos of us performing.

We have about 30 songs in our repertoire now. Our next gig with our full repertoire will be at current ‘home’ – the Duke of Brunswick hotel on May 23rd.

We have just concluded two sell out shows at the AdelaideFringe – quite an achievement as many shows/venues are reporting lower attendance figures this year. Our Fringe show was much shorter (75 mins) and included some cabaret style elements to make it more Fringe suitable.

Jethro Tull have often included mythical characters in their songs and live performances and we decided to feature one of our own for our Fringe show. We had a friend dressed as an old homeless guy wander through the crowd as we played Aqualung and sit himself down on a bench in front of the stage and read the Thick as a Brick album cover (newspaper) as we played our version of this classic..

The idea was for this old Aqualung character to be totally anonymous and unacknowledged, as homeless people often are, and so we completely ignored him and played on as if he wasn’t there. It seemed this little theatrical cameo was a successful complement to our show but it did raise interesting questions about why we did it.

The questions that were asked with brief answers:

W here did this idea come from?

Tull has a history of using mythical characters in song, on stage and in videos. Reference to the vulnerable and disenfranchised is a recurring theme in Ian Anderson's writing. So the old man character was to reflect what Tull have done for years.

·         Is it merely for visual accompaniment to the song? NO

·         Is it meant to confront the audience with their own prejudices and stereotype notions of the homeless and destitute? YES

·         Is is designed to elicit emotions of sympathy - YES

·         Do you want the audience to be chuckling and sniggering, or squirming in their seats with discomfort?- NEITHER; JUST WONDERING WHY

·         How many of the audience I wonder would have gone away with a different (sympathetic) attitude to the homeless? MOST HOPEFULLY

·         Would the song be better served by a shocking slide show that portrays the injustice of the poor and abandoned? NO. THAT WAS NOT TULL’S WAY. TOO DIDACTIC

·         Was this just playing a practical joke at the expense of the disenfranchised? DEFINITELY NO

Greg Champion Review

Perhaps Greg Champion’s biggest claim to fame is being part of an ABC radio show that has been running for 40 years - the Coodabeen Champions. Author of one of many contenders for what couldabeen the national anthem – I Made A 100 In The Backyard At Mum’s – he’s a very funny man. Raised on the Hectorville tablelands (que?), he left Adelaide sometime in the distant past to seek fame and fortune with Adelaide band The Fabulaires, but somehow stumbled into the growing new field of musical sport comedy and has been there ever since. Or actually, he might have invented it!

40 years of live performance on radio and stage has yielded a performer very much in command of his quirky genre. His forte is writing satirical lyrics to well-known tunes – whether it be poking fun at Port Adelaide fans (something he does quite a lot of!), or the clichés coaches use in talks to their players. Another odd but considerable talent is the ability to play with the sounds of language in song – tongue-twisting Australian place names for example, or stringing together French words and phrases stolen by English.

Though he’s been living in Victoria for decades he says he still calls South Australia home and of course he has a song about it! Lots of wonderful local content that wouldabeen useless performing in any other state. He draws material from some of the more whacky listeners to Coodabeen Champions over the years that sometimes have better memories of songs he has done in the past than he does, and have also provided snippets of wisdom that occasionally made sense, or even if they didn’t were funny anyway.

This was a delightful show. Despite what he said, there were several people in the audience under 85 and we all laughed a lot. I don’t know why there weren’t more people there – there shouldabeen. Maybe they’re too old to get out? Or dead? Perhaps the audience for someone who makes jokes about football is too small? No matter – their loss.

And besides, it’s not just about football. The finale featuring several alternative versions of the National Anthem didn’t mention football once and was still hilarious. No couldabeen about it, he’s a comic champion.

(This review also published on The Clothesline)