Drama

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/2328/38285

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 134

Adrift in a Sea of Love and Loss. 'drowning in my ocean of You' by Fiona Sprott. State Theatre Company. [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2003-11) Bramwell, Murray Ross
It must be many years since a red velvet curtain has been seen in the appealingly dilapidated Queen’s Theatre, but it suits the mannered theatrics of Fiona Sprott’s drowning in my ocean of You, a play for voices and crooners set at the edge of a pier and, at times, at the edge of the wits as well. In this commissioned work for State Theatre, Sprott continues the appealing mix of whimsy and angst which she delved with her character of Jezebel in the highly rated monologues - Often I Find When I am Naked and Partly It’s About Love…Partly It’s About Massacre - performed by Jacqueline Linke. This play is about the ways in which events lodge in memory and in the unconscious- family experiences, rituals and disturbances.
Affirmation For Tradition. Womadelaide 2004 [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2004-04) Bramwell, Murray Ross
This year was going to be a testing one for Womadelaide. It was the beginning of annual stagings of the event and the first time, since inception in 1992, that it had been re-incorporated into the Adelaide Festival. Some of us predicted that this might be a bumpy change and we were quite wrong. Attendance figures show that Womad this year has been the best ever with figures of 70,077, up by several thousand on 2003 and around six thousand from 2001.
Another Country. "Despoiled Shore", "Medeamaterial" and "Landscape with Argonauts". The Border Project [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2002-07) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The Border Project is a new company committed, you might say, to pushing the boundaries. And with their first venture, based on the texts of German writer Heiner Muller, they have taken on the themes of exile, persecution and betrayal. Muller uses the story of Medea, the sorceress who betrays her father and slaughters her brother in order to help her lover Jason steal the Golden Fleece. The part of the narrative he focuses on most, though, is the episode Euripides uses for his disturbing tragedy where, after settling in Corinth, Jason abandons Medea to marry the daughter of the King Creon and, in revenge, Medea murders their two young sons and escapes to Athens. Not since Benedict Andrews’ ventures with Koltes and the "Ur Faust" or, more recently, Brink’s excellent "Quartet" has anyone taken on the vocabulary of experimental European theatre. But maybe these days there are other styles than over-wrought declamation. Something closer to the wit and comedy that is energetically ubiquitous in popular culture.
Audio with Pictures. "Music DVDs" [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2003-06) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The arrival of the DVD has been rapid in Australia. We are well-known for our speedy take-up of new technology but the saturation of the market by the digital versatile disc has been particularly swift even by our standards. Probably it is due to the fact that DVD players, which cost upwards of seven hundred dollars three years ago, now cost less than a quarter of that now. And Dolby digital sound systems are also far more affordable than component stereo units of, say, twenty years ago. Essentially, for a couple of thousand dollars you can fill your living room with speakers and still have a fat sub-woofer behind the sofa.
Back From the Dead. "Drums in the Night" by Bertolt Brecht. Brink Productions and State Theatre Company South Australia [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2005-04-14) Bramwell, Murray Ross
"Drums in the Night", written in the early 1920s when the playwright himself was only just out of his teens, has many of the elements of the later, more famous works. Featuring a simple, fable-like plot, satiric comment on corrupt power and served with a mix of music, songs and comic banter, this turbulent drama tells the story of Andreas Kragler, a soldier in the First World War, who comes back from the dead to find Anna, his betrothed, is about to marry Murk (William Allert), an opportunist young cad who is keenly currying favour with her father, Herr Balicke, (Michael Habib) a war profiteer and all-round class villain.
Back to Beguinnings. "Roger McGuinn". Governor Hindmarsh [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2001-07) Bramwell, Murray Ross
I first heard of Roger McGuinn when he was known as Jim. He was the serious young ectomorph in the houndstooth coat and little black lozenge spectacles on the cover of the first Byrds album. Foppish in their American Carnaby gear, singing harmonies four and five deep, the Byrds swooped on Bob Dylan songs and showed there really was another side to them. They layered and enriched the sketchy sound of early acoustic Dylan and with their careful diction raised up his poetic lyrics like jewellers setting gemstones. And the sound they added, like a dozen golden hammers, was Jim McGuinn’s chiming Rickenbacker twelve string guitar. McGuinn already had a career before the Byrds. As a kid barely out of high school he had been recruited to both the Limeliters and the Chad Mitchell Trio, riding high on the hootenanny craze of the early sixties. Growing up in Chicago he had been drawn to the folk scene, had attended the Old Town School of Folk and, at clubs such as the Gate of Horn, learned from such luminaries as Bob Gibson, Josh White and Odetta.
Beat the Bourgeoisie. "Drums in the Night" by Bertolt Brecht. Brink Productions and State Theatre Company of South Australia [review]
(The Australian, 2005-04-06) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Using a cabaret setting, director Chris Drummond, designer Gaelle Mellis and a fine cast give us essence of Weimar but with a convincingly contemporary style and a text that captures current vernacular without drowning in it. Brecht’s scathing satire of the beastly bourgeois is hilariously evident when Balicke the war profiteer (Michael Habib) sounds off at dinner to his wife (Jacqy Phillips) and son-in-law to be, Murk (William Allert) - the complacent exchanges rendered incomprehensible as they stuff their mouths with food. It is like a George Gross cartoon and as familiar as South Park.
Big World. Womadelaide 2001 [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2001-03) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Womadelaide Mark Six has come and gone and its remarkable continuity is again assured. The key to its success is clear. It is well-funded, well managed and has a modus operandi that not only works but is shared by the up-to-25,000 crowd that fills Botanic Park at its peak attendance. Few outdoor festivals enjoy the support that Womad has - from Government departments, quangos, NGOs, arts organisations, Botanic gardeners, St John, the police, caterers and stall holders, all the many contributors to its organisation.
Blind Faith Up Close and Personal. "The Blind Boys of Alabama". Governor Hindmarsh. [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2003-05) Bramwell, Murray Ross
In Adelaide for a second time are The Blind Boys of Alabama, the gospel singing group founded in 1939 and enjoying considerable chic since moving several years ago to Peter Gabriel’s Real Music label and collaborating with musicians of the calibre of David Lindley, Ben Harper and Robert Randolph. They have won Grammys two years running and their latest CD Higher Ground includes material from Prince, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield and Funkadelic.
Brains on the Outside. 'Vanishing Point' by Compagnie Philippe Genty. Her Majesty's. [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2004-09) Bramwell, Murray Ross
This new show has all the signatures of a Genty production. Located next to a miniature chair, white lines on a black backdrop provide the geometric paradox of the vanishing point. From the first we are intrigued with an idea - but one that doesn’t bear too much scrutiny. Instead we are propelled by Rene Aubry’s music, a slick blend of world music samples - didgeridoo, Arabic dub and irresistible dance beats - all thrumming through the tannoys. The performers, some initially planted in the audience, take to the stage, peachily lit in Patrick Riou’s sumptuous lighting.
Buried Lives. "A Lie of the Mind" by Sam Shepard. Brink Productions [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2001-12) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The second and final Brink production for the year is also an American play. Sam Shepard’s "A Lie of the Mind" makes an interesting pair with the company’s co-production with State Theatre back in June. That was "Killer Joe", Tracy Letts’ grim trailer park tragicomedy of love, and death, for sale. Both plays are set in the poor white margins, one in Texas, the other Montana. Both are about life at the bottom of the barrel. "A Lie of the Mind" is about these two families floundering with yet another fuck-up, parents in weary denial, while the dutiful sons Mike and Frankie try to find honourable resolution. For Mike it is to avenge his sister by forcing Jake into abject apology. For Frankie it is to make the trip to find Beth and report to his brother that she is still alright. In this process each of the characters is forced by the circumstances of Jake and Beth into awareness, however inarticulate, of the truth of their lives as opposed to the lies of the mind. "A Lie of the Mind" is a complex play - and sometimes a rambling one. Running three hours it is a saga of conflicting wills and contested history.
Cabaret Funnies - Fond and Furious. "iBob" by Bob Downe, "We Don't Have Husbands" by the Kransky Sisters, and "The Big Con" by Max Gilles and Eddie Perfect. Adelaide Cabaret Festival [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2005-07-08) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival, in part, arose from the need to separate from the avalanche of stand-up comedy that dominates the Fringe. However, there has been no shortage of funny business in the Festival Centre recently in a program that has included the CNNNN jokers, Sandman and Flacco, Wil Anderson - and Bob Downe. Even after twenty one years, it seems, you can’t keep an irrepressible man down. Bob Downe, the acrylic and polyester alter ego of Mark Trevorrow, has - you might say - come of age. But he hasn’t quite arrived either because he belongs in a long and hilarious line of repressed entertainers, those, like Norman Gunston, whose vaulting ambitious outweigh their talents, and whose geek-detectors are permanently switched off.
Cabaret in May. "Adelaide Cabaret Festival". [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2001-06) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The recent "Adelaide Cabaret Festival" has been a curious event. The result has been a mixed menu of middle of the road favourites, jazzy morning melodies, an outing for the ASO, a few choice items from here and there and a fair amount of the sort of popular comedy which we saw at the last "Adelaide Fringe". Some shows went wild - the "Sing-Along-Sound-of-Music" for starters- and, with modest box office targets and a built-in subsidy , performers such as Ross Skiffington, James Morrison, Julie Anthony and Judi Connelli were going to do well also.
A Case of Mistaken Identity. "The Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol. State Theatre South Australia [review]
(The Adelaide Review, 2005-03-17) Bramwell, Murray Ross
For State Theatre’s contribution to Come Out and as a spritzy opening to the 2005 season, newly arrived Artistic Director Adam Cook has assembled a talented cast to stage an energetic revival of a European classic. The Government Inspector, Gogol’s tangled tale of mistaken identity and civic corruption offers plenty of chances for funny business and Cook makes the most of his opportunities.
Charming Picture Books Spring To Life. 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish' by Eric Carle. Windmill Performing Arts [review]
(The Australian, 2002-10-04) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Windmill Director Cate Fowler describes Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish as a production which was determined to be born. Commissioned for the 1998 Out of the Box Festival in Brisbane, it nearly stayed in its box when ACT based Company Skylark crashed after an embezzlement scandal. Fowler found rescue funds and the creative team - director Simon Phillips, puppeteer Peter Wilson and composer Ian McDonald saw the project through. Everybody’s having fun here and Cate Fowler’s commitment to Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish has paid off. Like that Hungry Caterpillar it has been in its cocoon for a while and now is ready to spread its very confident wings.
Cinematic Focus Richly Rewarded. Adelaide Film Festival - Shedding Light and Casting Shadows [review]
(The Australian, 2002-03-08) Bramwell, Murray Ross
The Adelaide Festival films have always been one of Peter Sellars’ pet ideas, and they have turned out to be among his best. With various funding, including $1.5m from the Festival, Shedding Light Director and SBS Independent executive, Bridget Ikin produced four features which premiered this week. Three of the four have Indigenous perspectives focusing on Truth and Reconciliation.
Clones Expose a Moral Dilemma. "A Number" by Caryl Churchill. State Theatre of South Australia [review]
(The Australian, 2004-05-14) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Whenever the subject of cloning human beings is raised, images from cinema science fiction are never far behind. With herds of mindless, robotic replicants - whether the smooth limbed Aryans in Blade Runner or the nasty battalions of squelchy orcs in The Lord of the Rings - they invariably equate cloning, or some similar form of duplication, with mass production and the machinations of evil-doers. But what if cloning was for much more likely human reasons - to replace a loved one who has died, a child for instance, and what if there was only one ?
Clowning Around. 'Moliere’s Scapin' adapted by Scott Witt. State Theatre Company with Queensland Theatre Company. [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2003-12) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Director Scott Witt, in this joint production for State Theatre and QTC, has freely adapted the original and given the Scapin actor ideas above his station. He longs for the seriousness of tragedy and much of the text parodies Hamlet, as the frustrated player endlessly tries to subvert the performance with the histrionics of high art. It is an amusing idea - in fact, a theme common to Daffy Duck - but it is not enough to sustain two hours on the main stage and that is where this production has its difficulties.
Combat Zone. "Third World Blues" by David Williamson. State Theatre Company [review]
(Adelaide Review, 2001-03) Bramwell, Murray Ross
For an artist to return to a finished work and then revise it, is rarely a simple matter. So when, in 1997, David Williamson went back to his 1972 script "Jugglers Three" and reworked it, he again raised interesting questions about the creative process. In negotiation with Sydney Theatre Company director Wayne Harrison, Williamson not only overhauled the text of "Jugglers Three" he even re-instated its original, somewhat cryptic title, "Third World Blues".
Comedy Preview. "Adelaide Fringe Festival". [preview]
(Adelaide Review', 2004-02) Bramwell, Murray Ross
Before television re-discovered Australian humour and FM breakfast executives began strip-mining the stand-up industry, comedy at the Adelaide Fringe was all one big lucky dip where Funny Stories, LosTrios Ringbarkus, the Doug Anthony Allstars, Flacco, the Jet Black Cowboy and the Castanet Club could all be found. Now we know our comics through Rove and ABC vehicles like The Glass House so many comedians already have a profile and a pedigree. Some legends are listed here. With "Gud", Paul McDermott presents his patented line in vehement wit, mixed with music from his own fine pipes and the talents of Cameron Bruce and Mick Moriarty. Dave Hughes comes out of the glass house and back to his true calling in the colosseum of stand-up and Rod Quantock, the most reasonable, funny and politically corrosive commentator in the country will provide therapeutic counsel back at the Nova. Also, Lano and Woodley, are back with the "The Island" a new show undoubtedly garnished with all the pratfalls, regressed physicality and social incompetence which has made them hilarious and irresistible in the past.

Browse

Browsing Drama by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options