June Newsletter |
| Posted on 28th June, 2010 |
Productions for 2010
The Peach Season, by Debra Oswald, directed by Chris Neale, production manager Bob Harnwell
Debbi Szota, presiding in place of Ben, travelling in exotic places, spoke very highly of this play, now being performed. She commented that it is a great play, with excellent performances, and that the set invoked gasps of admiration from the audience.
Chris said that the play was being well received, and especially thanked Selina Timms, one of our drama teachers, who stepped into the role of Sheena only three weeks ago. Her performance is amazing. There are still seats available for this week. Members are reminded that if you have purchased tickets for one performance, you may attend for free on any other night when there are seats available.
Don’t miss this production. It is excellent. Dates of performances are in FOH roster in the May newsletter.
Aladdin directed by Lyn Harnwell, production manager Jim Bieler, will be a children’s production in the July school holidays. Lyn reported that rehearsals are going very well, the posters are ready for distribution, and schools have received an email of a letter and poster for their newsletters. With adults playing most of the main roles, and a large cast of children, this is a fun show for all the family. Parents waiting for their children in the audience are getting lots of laughs.
Bookings are open now.
David Williamson is looking for an experienced Players member for Front-of-House for each performance. See page 6 for the roster, and ring David if you can help.
Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, directed by Kathryn Hudson, production manager Debbi Szota will be the fourth production for the year. The Seniors’ preview is on 26th August. Opening night is 28th August, then Wednesday 1st September to Friday 3rd, Sunday 5th @ 2pm, then Wednesday 8th to Saturday
11th August. Betty Hume has the set model well on the way, and Kathryn is having a read-through on Tuesday 15th June. News about the crew will be in the July newsletter.
Bernard Nightingale: David Williamson;
Septimus Hodge: Darren Lester;
Valentine Coverly : still looking;
Thomasina Coverly: Jamie-lee Steele
Jellaby: Maurice Pepper; Gus/Angus: Alex Dunne
Ezra Chater: Jeff Harris
Captain Brice RN: Varis Lux
Richard Noakes: John Ashworth
Hannah Jarvis: Kylie Newton
Chloe Coverly: Elly Steinmetz
Lady Croom: Lisa Perritt
HONOUR
Sydney Theatre Company – May 5
Honour was written some fifteen years ago and produced here, and in London and New York, to considerable acclaim. Indeed, Britain’s New Statesman declared that “Joanna Murray-Smith is the most exciting Australian dramatist of her generation”. So, while I have never seen any other of the
Playwright’s fourteen works, I went along to this Sydney Theatre Company production with rather
The “honour” of the title refers, one assumes, to the betrayal of trust – loss of honour – that occurs when things go wrong in a relationship and the quest to retrieve some dignity and respect from the situation, needed for individual survival. It is also the name of the pivotal character, Honour, married to George for 32 years. George is a writer and Honour, once a promising writer, has instead spent her life as loving wife, mother and supporter of George’s successful career. The marriage takes a turn, however, when George becomes captivated by a smart, striking and, above all, provocative young journalist sent to interview him. He walks out on both his wife and their shared life.
An old story, but the play’s concerns are laid out with passion and a fierce honesty – and moments of humour – as the playwright examines the complex nature of love and partnering longevity.
Wendy Hughes is stunning as Honour, as she grapples with her shock and reaffirms herself in these new circumstances. She is balanced by the always convincing William Zappa, with Paula Arundell and Yael Stone as reporter/lover and daughter respectively. (As I was unable to get a programme, I can’t confirm their characters’ names).
The set by Michael Scott-Mitchell was quite beautiful, redolent of a spacious verandah, with wide steps across the middle of the stage and stylish, underlit railings encompassing it. It was impersonal but allowed us to focus on the intensity of the action unfolding within. Director Lee Lewis moved the actors around the space very cleverly. The lighting and a few musical and sound intrusions spelled out the change of time and scene for the various episodes.
Nevertheless, I do have a complaint. Why should we be asked to sit for nearly 1 hr. and 40 minutes without an intermission? I know this is the way now but the play clearly had a moment for a break and surely the Opera House wants our refreshment dollars?
Still, it was a fine afternoon in the theatre and my expectations were met. With its edgy, intelligent dialogue, sharply-drawn characters and perceptive treatment of a relevant issue, this play stands out. Its revival provided an opportunity to see what is now being called an Australian classic.
- Thank you, Dinah, for this contribution. Dinah is a loyal member of our 2nd Monday
Play-Reading Group.
News From the June Meeting
❅ Welcome to new Associate members Miki Isaac and Daniel Smith, and Junior member
Alex Dunne. We hope that you enjoy being members of our wonderful group.
❅ The Committee are looking for plays for 2011. Several submissions have been received, but if you have an idea for a play which you would like to direct next year, now is the time to approach any member of the Committee.
❅ Debbi Szota wanted to thank all the members who are working hard at the moment. With so many plays in planning and production, a great team effort is in progress, and she expressed thanks for the hard work being done by so many.
❅ We were sorry to hear that Alyson Whiteoak has not been well. We hope that you are better very soon, and back amongst us. Alyson will be looking for more ideas for our 60th birthday, now that she is on the mend. Some suggestions which have been made include: A Cavalcade of costumes, which could include a review of the plays in which they were used; a cocktail party; a documentary; an update of our book: Nowra Players, the first fifty years; t-shirts/jumpers with the logo.
❅ Please don’t put drinks on the speakers. They spill and are hard to clean out!
The Sapphires - by Tony Briggs, directed by Wesley Enoch
IPAC - Season 2010 Merrigong Theatre Company
A sell-out audience thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining, lively musical at IPAC. The original Sapphires were three members of an Aboriginal family from country Victoria, who, feeling rather lost on arriving in Melbourne, were invited into the Tiki Village, where a band of Maori musicians encouraged them to sing. They performed the hits of Motown for £6 a week each. When invited to perform in Vietnam, only one of the three was keen to go. She invited a fourth sister to join her. The two travelled for three months through Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. The program notes tell us: “They sang, go-go danced and did the hula for a gun-toting audience that would appear from out of the jungle in tanks and trucks.....When Laurel and Lois returned to Australia, The Sapphires disbanded and all four women moved on to other careers and raising families.”
The story is changed somewhat for the stage production, where all four sisters go off to Vietnam together, performing in difficult and dangerous conditions. The first of the sisters is Gail, played by the well-known Indigenous singer Christine Anu. She is the oldest, the one in charge, the bossiest. Her voice is wonderful, and her stage presence commanding. Julie, played by Hollie Andrew, and Kay, (Kylie Farmer) are the younger sisters, both slender and attractive, with lovely singing voices. Their characters have severe problems, and they portray the poignancy of their situations very well. The surprise and delight in the production is Casey Donovan, who won Australian Idol in 2006. Now 22, she is acting for the first time. In the Sun-Herald of May 23rd she is quoted: It’s a great script and I have all the giggly lines and I’m testing my skills as an actor.” She shows great comic skill, and excellent timing, and flaunts her rather large frame to great effect. Wonderful!
The supporting actors are very good too. Aljin Abella as Joe, the Vietnamese urchin who attaches himself to the group, is delightful - cheeky, and very agile. Oliver Wenn, as Dave, The Sapphires dorky manager plays his part effectively, and Kenneth Ransom as an American soldier, and Jimi Bani as Jimmy, Casey Donovan’s love interest, are convincing in their parts.
There is another star of this show. Tim Chappel, the costume designer, has really “gone to town” with possibly a dozen different outfits for each of the Sapphires. Their simple day shifts are authentic for the period, and their first stage outfits are clumsy. As they gain more expertise and confidence, their costumes become more and more effective, until, in their last but one number, they emerge with shimmering dresses, adorned with the most amazing feather boas I have ever seen. (Old Time Music Hall’s “Old Girls” - eat your heart out!). I was not surprised to read that Tim Chappel designed the costumes for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (the movie) and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Musical.
The band were on stage almost all the time. Assistant Musical Director was Simon Burke, on saxophone Ben Collins, guitar Andrew Weir and drums, Daniele Di Paola. While this sort of music isn’t my scene, (I’m more of a classical music gal), many of the tunes were familiar, and the singing, band playing and harmonies were enjoyable. There was only a basic set, although a full sized army jeep was on stage for much of the time. Trent Suidgeest, as lighting designer, had used his talents to great effect, too.
The writer and director are both Indigenous. Tony Briggs is a proud descendant of the Dhulan Yagan clan of the Yorta Yorta nation. The Sapphires is based on the experiences of his mother and her relatives. Wesley Enoch hails from Stradbroke Island. He directed the original season of The Sapphires for Company B Belvoir. It is great to see the stories of Indigenous people being told in mainstream theatre.
This production has moved to the Seymour Centre in Sydney from May 26 to June 20. We are fortunate to have been able to see it here in Wollongong, and at a very good price compared to the $47 to $65 quoted in the Sun- Herald article.
Robyn Dalleywater
Our Final Production for 2010
Now that play number 2, The Peach Season is on stage and play number 3, Aladdin is due in less than a month, and play number 4, Arcadia is cast, here are some details about the last play of the year, One Wife Too Many.
Background to The Beggar’s Opera.
This play was written by John Gay in the early decades of the seventeenth century. It was a satire against both the class system of the time and the sometimes pompous musical establishment. Its setting was among the lowest element of society, not the aristocracy. It used popular tunes of the time, not music specifically written, like in opera or operetta. At the time it was a sensation for its sexuality and its mischievous fun at the expense of the ruling classes.
The protagonists are petty criminals, gangsters and ladies of dubious reputation, and they sing the songs popular in the streets of the big cities. The play has been an influence down the years. Berthold Brecht, the great German playwright of the early and middle twentieth century, rewrote it as The Threepenny Opera with great music by Kurt Weill. Macheath, the highwayman, becomes Mack the Knife, often played like a Chicago gangster of the 1930s.
The play has inspired other musicians and writers to reinterpret the play in other forms and set in other times, including a post apocalyptic future called Vanishing Point. The Sydney Theatre Company in 2008 produced The Convicts’ Opera set on a convict ship bound for Australia. The version described below arose from a reading after a Play Reading night, at our theatre, where we all agreed it had great comic potential and so I, rather presumptuously followed Brecht’s footsteps and wrote another version.
One Wife Too Many
The setting is London about the middle of the nineteenth century in the foggy alleys and lanes of London – the sorts of places that Dickens wrote about in Bleak House and Oliver Twist. We meet the locals - pickpockets, thieves, house breakers and swindlers who are either under the patronage of Jonathan Peachum, the local fence and gang leader, or are footpads under the leadership of Captain Macheath, the highwayman. Men named Jemmy Twitcher, Crook-fingered Jack or Ben Budge, Nimming Ned and Harry Paddington, are of all ages and expertise.
Ezekiel Filch, a young man with an oily, sneaky manner, assists Peachum. Peachum has a wife, a jolly sort of woman who loves drink and cards and the company of young men, as well as a daughter, pretty Polly, who is hopelessly in love with Macheath. Peachum’s partner in crime is the warden of Newgate Prison, Silas Lockit, and together the two run all the rackets and corruptions in the underworld of London town. They know all the crooked judges and the corrupt politicians.
They can sell a friend or an enemy to the law without qualms or as easily transmute a hanging into transportation or a pardon. Lucy Lockit, Silas’s daughter, has already fallen victim to the charms of the handsome and charismatic Macheath. Once Peachum learns that Macheath has designs on Polly too, they set out to betray him. The two young women have no scruples in their desire to win Macheath, and there is a confrontation between the two of them in Macheath’s cell that shows there is no depths to which a woman in love will not go. Macheath’s downfall is of course, through women, and the women of the night, like Sally Vixen, Sukey Tawdry, Dolly Trull, Betty Doxy, Peggy Coaxer and Jenny Diver, are a rumbustious and lively lot of all ages, shapes and dispositions.
Mrs Diana Trapes, an older woman of great distinction and manner, and drinking companion of Lockit and Peachum, keeps them in bright gowns, hats and cloaks, to encourage custom.
The dialogue and lyrics have been modernised and the music, like the original, uses contemporary tunes - of the twentieth century, tunes many will be familiar with, though the words have been changed. Sarah Turvey has chosen her music very well, and I am sure the music will be a great part of the production. If we can find enough people to have some fun interpreting these larger than life characters, the production will be a lot of fun.
For any further details or questions, please ring me on 4421 0829. The finished script will be available in late July.
- Lyn Harnwell
From The Bookshelf
During the last month, I have read of the lives of three notable people from the world of the theatre, in two interesting but very different books. The first, Judi Dench with a crack in her voice, by John Miller, was published in 1998, and is an extremely detailed account of the life of this wonderful actor, perhaps best known to Australian audiences through the British sitcom As Time Goes By. However, television has only played a relatively minor role in her life. She was born in 1934, into a family heavily involved in amateur theatricals with The Settlement Players, a very good amateur dramatic society in York.
From her very early days Judi attracted people to her side. In the book she is portrayed as being extremely warm-hearted, generous and considerate of others. Despite not being classically beautiful, she has a charisma on stage, which has always led to her gaining leading roles. Many people commented that acting on stage with Judi always led to an improvement in their own performances - not in a competitive way, but because she had so much skill, and understood her craft so well, that somehow she transmitted this to others.
In the Chronology of Parts, in the back of the biography, there is an amazing list of parts she has played, from the Virgin Mary, in 1957, in York Mystery Plays, through almost every Shakespeare play known; Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, Restoration Comedy and Brecht, to 30 television appearances , and, as of 1999, 19 films. And, as we all know, she is still working. What a wonderful career! One side to her performances which we would frown upon in the Players, is her tendency to play practical jokes. She is really very naughty, and often makes other actors, and herself, “corpse”, or collapse laughing, on the stage. Because she is a consummate actor, she can get away with it. We wouldn’t dare!
For anyone interested in the craft of acting, this book is well worth reading. It has detailed accounts of many of the most famous plays, and of the actors who have played in these plays. My copy is borrowed from a friend, but I am sure that the library would have this one, or something similar.
The other book which I really enjoyed this month was very different. By Ronnie Corbett, titled And it’s goodnight from him..., it was ostensibly an autobiography. In reality, it became a tribute to his partner in The Two Ronnies, Ronnie Barker. Written with David Nobbs, it is a very light-hearted, easy read, with many photographs, which bring back memories of that TV series which many of us loved. There are also many written excerpts from the same shows, and many very funny anecdotes. I have always felt that Ronnie Barker was by far the better actor, and this book reinforces that view. Where Ronnie Corbett struggled for many years to find his place in the theatre, Ronnie Barker was much more successful from early on.
They were eventually matched up for The Frost Report, where they became a successful team, and which led to The Two Ronnies, which ran from 1971 to 1987, and only finished then because Ronnie Barker was failing in health and felt that he couldn’t continue. However, he did go on to star in two very successful sitcoms, Open All Hours, and Porridge, as well as stage and screen appearances. In 1999 he was awarded a BAFTA lifetime achievement award. He had already been given an OBE in 1978.
Ronnie Corbett portrays Ronnie Barker as an intensely private, shy, man, while he, himself, had no trouble appearing as himself in public. Ronnie Barker always preferred to appear as a character, where he was much more at ease. People I have acted with in the Players have made similar comments to me. When they are on stage they assume a character, and this helps to overcome shyness. It is very interesting, how many people admit to intense shyness, but who are wonderful on the stage. (I don’t think Judi Dench fits this category!)
An amusing insight into Barker’s character is revealed in the book. While they were appearing in The Frost Report, they received many excellent, unsolicited scripts from a “Gerald Wiley”, which they had no hesitation in using. It was a long time before they discovered that it was Ronnie Barker submitting these scripts, typed by his wife on a different typewriter from the one he normally used. Reading books such as these, giving insights into successful actors, enhances my enjoyment of many aspects of the Theatre.
- Robyn Dalleywater
Last changed: 28th June, 2010 at 7:14 PM
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