What I like about a festival like the World Theatre Festival is the expectation that I will see performances from different cultures, hear different languages expressing new and different ideas. Diciembre (translation December) by Teatro en el Blanco from Chile is a Spanish speaking show set in the near future. It's about war and what it is like to live in a war-torn country.
The audience enters the theatre to see three actors sitting at a Christmas Eve party with jingle bells being played over and over again which gives an eerie feeling, it's as if a ticking time bomb is about to go off. Twin sisters (who are both pregnant) are throwing a Christmas party for their brother who is on leave from the army. The brother wants to know who fathered his sisters' children, but this question goes unanswered. While this scene gives the impression of a happy family it is anything but, with the two sisters fighting over the future of their brother as one sister who is all for the war wants him to go back and join his troop. The other sister wants to help him escape and hide out until the war is over as she fears he will be killed. The underlying question throughout the show is, 'who got the sisters pregnant?'
I took a little while to get used to the Spanish language and the subtitles sometimes changed very quickly and I missed a lot of the dialogue. It would be good to see this show in a smaller more intimate space with a better placing of the screen showing the English text as its placing made it very awkward to read from where I was sitting. Performers Trinidad Gonzalez, Jorge Becker and Mariana Munoz performed well in their multiple roles in this politically charged, tension filled performance. In the end after all the fighting and squabbling between the three siblings you can say that the sisters literally spilled the beans.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
RRAMP it up
A solo spotlight shines on well known Brisbane identity Christine Johnston standing center stage in a long dark dress holding a red guitar, her majestic presence filling the large space of the Powerhouse Theatre. Rramp also featuring Lisa O'Neill and Peter Nelson is part of the World Theatre Festival's Scratch Works program showing new works in various stages of progress.
Described in the program as 'An experiment in development', the performers use various art forms of music, dance movements, video and song in this 20min theatrical piece that takes the audience on a journey back in time. It's about memories from childhood and the things of importance that a child might collect, it's about family, school and relationships formed with people and pets. The naive artwork that was shown on the screen throughout the performance was expressive and engaging.
I have followed Christine Johnston's work for many years and have an expectation that it will be unusual and a little quirky and this performance did not disappoint. Her amazing voice range and musical capabilities including saw playing are impressive. Lisa O'Neill showed amazing stamina with her dance movement piece on tippy toes wearing ballet shoes which added another layer to this performance. Rramp is the perfect piece to showcase as part of the Scratch Works program and I look forward to seeing it develop into a full production.
Described in the program as 'An experiment in development', the performers use various art forms of music, dance movements, video and song in this 20min theatrical piece that takes the audience on a journey back in time. It's about memories from childhood and the things of importance that a child might collect, it's about family, school and relationships formed with people and pets. The naive artwork that was shown on the screen throughout the performance was expressive and engaging.
I have followed Christine Johnston's work for many years and have an expectation that it will be unusual and a little quirky and this performance did not disappoint. Her amazing voice range and musical capabilities including saw playing are impressive. Lisa O'Neill showed amazing stamina with her dance movement piece on tippy toes wearing ballet shoes which added another layer to this performance. Rramp is the perfect piece to showcase as part of the Scratch Works program and I look forward to seeing it develop into a full production.
Friday, February 18, 2011
a RANDOM act
It was my first attendance to the Brisbane Powerhouse's Turbine Studio, a small intimate theatre that is well suited to a one person show like Random presented by Real TV which is a Melbourne based company.
Random is written in a poetic prose style by debbie tucker green who writes her name with all lower case letters. It is set in the city of London, but it could be set in almost any city. The play tells story of a day in the life of an average suburban family of four who's lives are turned upside down when a random act of violence hits their teenage son with tragic consequences. Each family member reacts in their own way as they struggle to accept the devastating news. I was unfamiliar with some words of the text which also had its own rhythm and pace. It took me a little while to tune into the natural flow of the language.
The solo performance by Zahra Newman was outstanding as she effortlessly changed roles, in turn playing the adult daughter, the teenage son, the mother and the father. She did this with gestures, body movements and voice. Zahra's ability to change roles quickly was superbly demonstrated in one scene with a rapid fire exchange of words between mother and daughter. Tanja Beer's set design of wire framed rectangular towers of varying heights scattered around the stage evoked images of city skyscrapers that complemented the script well. The production team have presented a show that would be the highlight of any festival and is definitely the highlight at this year's (2011) World Theatre Festival.
Random is written in a poetic prose style by debbie tucker green who writes her name with all lower case letters. It is set in the city of London, but it could be set in almost any city. The play tells story of a day in the life of an average suburban family of four who's lives are turned upside down when a random act of violence hits their teenage son with tragic consequences. Each family member reacts in their own way as they struggle to accept the devastating news. I was unfamiliar with some words of the text which also had its own rhythm and pace. It took me a little while to tune into the natural flow of the language.
The solo performance by Zahra Newman was outstanding as she effortlessly changed roles, in turn playing the adult daughter, the teenage son, the mother and the father. She did this with gestures, body movements and voice. Zahra's ability to change roles quickly was superbly demonstrated in one scene with a rapid fire exchange of words between mother and daughter. Tanja Beer's set design of wire framed rectangular towers of varying heights scattered around the stage evoked images of city skyscrapers that complemented the script well. The production team have presented a show that would be the highlight of any festival and is definitely the highlight at this year's (2011) World Theatre Festival.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Razzle Dazzle Astronauts - Apollo 13
I grew up with space travel and man landing on the moon and I hoped I was about to relive a little of that excitement and fascination with Apollo 13: Mission Control being performed by Hackman from New Zealand as part of the World Theatre Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre.
The show started in the foyer with the entrance of the famous American newsman Walter Cronkite accompanied by an astronaut in a space suit to announce that one of the astronauts was unable to go on the flight and an audience member chosen to take their place. The audience lined up to form a path for the astronauts to walk along to enter the space shuttle. The audience then entered the theatre while Bruce Springsteen sang Born in the USA. Despite the Apollo 13 event preceding the song by a number of years it did set the tone for the show. The theatre was set like a replica of 1970's mission control room at NASA, retro computer consoles were lined up in rows for audiences members to sit at. The set also consisted of two large video screens, a large blackboard and press gallery seats on each side for audience members who wished to view the action quietly.
Each computer console was slightly different, some had small video screens, some had headphones, some had old fashion phones with the round dial, some just had lots of switches and they all had lots of flashing lights which would indicate what was happening at a given time. Each console was labeled with a job description, mine was press gallery along with three others beside me. We were encouraged to introduce ourselves to the other people sitting in our row. The proceedings were led by a couple of NASA's ground staff, they were get up and go young guys with loud American accents. The action was just about non stop with audience members having varies tasks to perform, video images of the rocket ship blast off shaking the whole theatre, regular video news reports from Walter Cronkite, danger alerts with loud sirens and flashing lights interspersed with the occasional chit chat and video footage of the astronaut's wife expressing hope for her husband's safe return.
All the performers worked well to bring a jam-packed show together that engages and entertains. The set design was excellent, especially the computer consoles that appeared to really work. Kip Chapman and Brad Knewstubb have created a unique show that appeals to a wide range of age groups. At the performance I attended most of the audience were school students who's youthful eagerness helped to make the performance just that little more enjoyable. It is a show that is a great history lesson on 1970's technology especially for the tech savvy kids of today.
The show started in the foyer with the entrance of the famous American newsman Walter Cronkite accompanied by an astronaut in a space suit to announce that one of the astronauts was unable to go on the flight and an audience member chosen to take their place. The audience lined up to form a path for the astronauts to walk along to enter the space shuttle. The audience then entered the theatre while Bruce Springsteen sang Born in the USA. Despite the Apollo 13 event preceding the song by a number of years it did set the tone for the show. The theatre was set like a replica of 1970's mission control room at NASA, retro computer consoles were lined up in rows for audiences members to sit at. The set also consisted of two large video screens, a large blackboard and press gallery seats on each side for audience members who wished to view the action quietly.
Each computer console was slightly different, some had small video screens, some had headphones, some had old fashion phones with the round dial, some just had lots of switches and they all had lots of flashing lights which would indicate what was happening at a given time. Each console was labeled with a job description, mine was press gallery along with three others beside me. We were encouraged to introduce ourselves to the other people sitting in our row. The proceedings were led by a couple of NASA's ground staff, they were get up and go young guys with loud American accents. The action was just about non stop with audience members having varies tasks to perform, video images of the rocket ship blast off shaking the whole theatre, regular video news reports from Walter Cronkite, danger alerts with loud sirens and flashing lights interspersed with the occasional chit chat and video footage of the astronaut's wife expressing hope for her husband's safe return.
All the performers worked well to bring a jam-packed show together that engages and entertains. The set design was excellent, especially the computer consoles that appeared to really work. Kip Chapman and Brad Knewstubb have created a unique show that appeals to a wide range of age groups. At the performance I attended most of the audience were school students who's youthful eagerness helped to make the performance just that little more enjoyable. It is a show that is a great history lesson on 1970's technology especially for the tech savvy kids of today.
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