Sir David Attenborough. Image supplied

Australian audiences will still, albeit a month late, see Sir David onstage in his acclaimed show A Life on Earth in July. And thank goodness for that!

With a career spanning nearly 60 years, Sir David Attenborough is arguably the world’s best-known natural history film-maker. This return season of A Life on Earth was planned to accommodate the thousands of Australians who missed the show in 2012.

Originally scheduled to commence in Brisbane, the revised 2013 tour schedule will now kick off in Melbourne and then move on to Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.

“Sir David was extremely disappointed that he was unable to travel in June”, said Simon Baggs, CEO of Lateral Events.

“He enjoyed his Australian shows last year so much he is very much looking forward to present his show to all those who were unable to get tickets in 2012. His show will include some of his new work such as Africa and Galapagos.”

If you had tickets to the show in any city, please read the information below carefully.

Patrons with tickets to the June shows in Melbourne (Ticketmaster), Perth and Adelaide (Ticketek) will be contacted by their ticketing agency and invited to attend the new dates. If the new dates are not convenient, ticket holders will be asked to apply for a refund before June 21. Any released tickets will go on sale at 9am on Monday 24 June, once refunds have been requested.

In a slightly different system, patrons with tickets to the June shows in Sydney (Ticketmaster), Canberra (Ticketek) and Brisbane (Qtix) will automatically be provided with a refund, but will be are invited via email on June 24 to have first priority to purchase tickets for the new dates. Any available tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday 26 June. 

Note, the venue in Brisbane is now Brisbane Entertainment Centre, and the venue in Sydney is now Capitol Theatre. The updated tour schedule is below:

Thursday 11 July — Melbourne, MCEC Plenary 2

Friday 12 July — Melbourne, MCEC Plenary 2

Wednesday 17 July — Sydney, Capitol Theatre

Thursday 18 July — Sydney, Capitol Theatre

Friday 19 July — Canberra, Royal Theatre, National Convention Centre Canberra

Wednesday 24 July — Perth, Riverside Theatre

Thursday 25 July — Perth, Riverside Theatre

Saturday 27 July — Adelaide, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Tuesday 30 July — Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Wednesday 31 July — Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre

For more information, visit www.alifeonearth.com.au

Relax, Sir David IS coming to Australia is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Lucy Maunder

When Jacques Brel died in 1978 at the age of 49 he left behind a body of work whose influence extends far beyond any barriers of genre, culture or age. Still, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s tribute show Love. War. Death. BREL is a puzzling affair.

The set seemed to want to represent a jaded French café with table and stools and a mildly littered floor. A piano with a violinist almost hiding behind it took up the rest of the stage and the musical accompaniment was a highlight of this show with some superbly emotive work from that violinist complementing the singers.

Quotes from Beckett, Camus and Sartre among others acted as a surprising and beautiful gateway into some songs.

BREL is presented with a highly polished performance from the singers and musicians. The trouble is it was too polished. Brel’s work is sophisticated but underlying that is a gritty melancholy, which was overlooked in favour of a glossy magazine style presentation. While some of Brel’s work is gloriously uplifting mockery he was always dealing with a time and a people who were broken by the effects of war with his own performances coming straight out of his Id directly into that of his audience. BREL takes a cerebral path to its audience, it made me want to go home and watch Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris rather than have a drink to music. However, there’s certainly enough here to satisfy Brel’s many devotees and it’s worth the price of admission even for those not so acquainted with Brel’s brilliance as it provides an easy entry point to his work.

Lucy Maunder was the standout voice but John O’May and Helen Morse sung Brel’s major works with skill, and a wonderfully rousing rendition of ‘Carousel’ opened and closed the show.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival — Love. War. Death. BREL is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Image — Jon Green

Director Crispin Taylor has once again managed to inspire and elicit the best from his cast of WAAPA’s (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) musical theatre students, in this years major musical production, Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Looking a little like Drew Barrymore Millie’s leading lady, Emily Hart, proved last night that she is a star in the making and according to Crispin in The Sunday Times — 16 June, is tipped to be the next big thing since Lucy Durack to exit the corridors of WAAPA.

Hart’s performance of Millie was flawless as she acted, sang and danced like a seasoned professional. From the moment she walked on stage for the opening number you are drawn to her charm and charisma as she commands the audiences attention.

Hart is supported by some equally talented performances; As Mrs. Meers, Bobbie-Jean Henning provides the comical relief with perfect timing. At times the funniest moments occurred by accident, but they were handled with true professionalism. David Ouch and Sean Miley Moore as the brothers Ching Ho and Bun Foo play Mears’ sidekicks delivering their lines in Chinese.  Some funny (and clever) moments are achieved via audio visual technology as subtitles are projected above the set.

Clay Roberts as Millie’s love interest, Jimmy Smith, does a beautiful job supporting his leading lady. Jack O’Riley delivers a commanding performance as Mr Trevor Graydon, while Laura Johnston as Miss Dorothy Brown and Jessica van Wyk as Muzzy Van Hossmereas do a fine job of belting out some of the other powerful tunes in the show.

Impressive sets, designed by Steve Nolan, fly in and out seamlessly throughout the performance while choreography, by Jenny Lynnd, seems less subtle than in previous mid year musicals. Tight and perfectly syncronised, dancers tap sitting behind type writers creating the noise of keys hitting paper. Lynnd has also created an opening number which is so full of energy that is reaches a climax usually reserved to whip audiences in to a frenzy just before interval.

Costumes designed by Sally Phipps, are true to the era and with some quick flashy changes, add style to the characters. Highlights included Mrs. Meers oriental outfit, Muzzy Van Hossmere’s gold outfit and Millie’s entire wardrobe throughout the show. The toe tapping score is performed by a well rehearsed orchestra under the skillful baton of David King.

Act two saw the cast competing with a stage full of smoke which produced a spate of coughing in the audience. At various stages it was so thick it had me wondering if the smoke machines had malfunctioned.

It’s easy to see why The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts is regarded as one of the world’s leading performing arts academies as it once again has produced a thoroughly engaging evening of entertainment.

Book now through Ticketek.

WAAPA’s Millie is a Thoroughly Engaging Evening of Entertainment. is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

RRAMP — Brisbane Powerhouse

Christine Johnston, best known as one of the three Kransky Sisters, brings her latest oddball venture, RRAMP, to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Songs, dances, animation and more are all delivered with deadpan kookiness.

For 70 minutes Johnston sings skewed stories about chickens, tax receipts, scabs, kitchen utensils and her love of collecting and keeping things in jars (including skin from a suntan in 1978) in a wacky musical comedy.

The “band”, including Johnston, were all dressed in black and one gets the feeling that, as a performance art piece, it wouldn’t be out of place in the New York of Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory’ in the mid-1960s.

Johnston, in ankle length dress with her hair pulled back in a tight bun, recites linear love stories with a neurotic edge and a quirky base (which she tends to invert) while managing to look like a long dead Anglican schoolmistress – she even yodels like a corpse.

Her equally deadpan assistants Lisa O’Neill and Peter Nelson expand the range of the show with O’Neill impressing the audience with some perfectly peculiar dancing as Nelson shines on guitar, keyboards and trumpet. All three playing cowbells went over especially well with the audience.

While the show itself could be seen as anomaly of the Cabaret Festival, judging by the audience response alone it’s a clear success. But really, as Kate Ceberano says, Cabaret is an evolving art form, so bring on the weird and wacky!

Adelaide Cabaret Festival — RRAMP is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Vika Bull in At Last: The Etta James Story

If you aren’t familiar with her name you will most certainly know her music. With such hits as ‘It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World’, ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, ‘Sugar On The Floor’ and even more famously, the much anticipated closing number ‘At Last’.

At Last: The Etta James Story is a brief look at the fifty-seven year musical career of the queen of R&B, punctuated by her greatest hits. Born Jamesetta Hawkins, the child of a fourteen year old mother who spent much of her time in jail, Etta had a hard upbringing. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she struggled with addiction, rehab, relationships, and the law throughout her career.

Etta’s versatile vocals covered a range of styles including rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Influencing many contemporary singers such as Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse and Adele, Etta James was performing up until 2010 when she became ill.

Written by critically acclaimed UK author John Livings and directed by Simon Myers, At Last: The Etta James Story premiered, just a year after her death from leukaemia in January 2013, at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre in February 2013. The show then toured to Sydney in April and has just closed in the Visy Theatre at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Performing the challenging repertoire of Etta James was powerhouse Vika Bull, who did not try to embody the singer as a character, but gave more of a narrated tribute concert. Having performed alongside the likes of John Farnham, Paul Kelly, Tim Finn and The Black Sorrows, and supported international music royalty including Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Billy Joel, and Sting, Vika Bull is a name in the jazz music scene in her own right. Bull showed great control over her voice, giving justice to the vocal demands of twenty-four songs in the Etta James catalogue. With a massive set of lungs, Bull sang up a storm that rumbled with sass and built up to hit thunderous heights.

Bull was backed by The Essential R&B Band, a slick eight-piece ensemble including musical director and pianist John McAll, guitarist Dion Hirini, trumpeter (and narrator) Tibor Gyapjas, saxophonist Remco Keijzer, trombonist (and vocals) Ben Gillespie, bass player Chris Beker, drummer John Watson, and Anton Delecca playing woodwinds.

Apart from a dodgy microphone stand that detracted from the class act, the only other criticism lay with the text and delivery of the narration. Although well researched, it felt a little colour-by-numbers and lacked the drama and flow required in an engaging piece of theatre.

Regardless of the clunky segmentation, the vocals and band were enough to keep the audience engaged and dancing in their seats. The enjoyment was palpable, via the reverberating foot stomping felt through the floor tiered seating, and culminated in a well-deserved standing ovation for the lovely Miss Bull.

For more information on At Last: The Etta James Story, visit their website: www.atlasttheettajamesstory.com.au

At Last: The Etta James Story is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Adriane Daff and Will O’Mahony
Photo: Courtney McAllister

Before even sitting down in the intimate theatre the performance definitely promised tension and menace; the floor was covered in a sea of balloons. These are honestly terrifying objects, just waiting to burst at any moment.

My past traumatic experiences with the balloons aside, Great White was well-written, engaging and witty from beginning to end. Exploring themes of insecurity, loneliness, sacrifice and love, the play centres around Ben’s (Will O’Mahony) encounter with a shark named Lauren (Adriane Daff) and his drowning relationship with his girlfriend, also named Lauren (Mikala Westall). They all find themselves struggling with time and what it means to be great.

The dialogue between Will O’Mahony’s Ben and both Laurens is what holds the play together so tightly. Adriane Daff is cool and collected as a young woman once taken by a shark, only to become a shark. Her manner and movements encapsulate her predicament as both a villain and victim, which was a truly gripping aspect of the performance; Mikala Westall was nothing short of natural, funny and lively.

The lighting (Joe Lui) and sound design (Will Slade) were subtle against the focus on characterisation at the heart of the play. The sound was minimal, providing little more than a menacing undertone during silences. In contrast, changes in lighting were frequent and predictable in a way that effectively dictated the mood for the audience. When the suspense rose the lighting was dim and blue, while relaxed exchanges were emphasised with yellow light.

Having already mentioned my experience with the balloons, I found this to be a successful use of design (Alicia Clements) that complement the tone of the play brilliantly. The simple swimming costumes were a wise choice over more elaborate outfits, allowing the underlying messages and the three performers to be the centre of attention for the audience.

More than anything, it was the strong dialogue and careful direction that made Great White such a pleasure to watch. There were only a few lulls in pace and each of the performers was well-suited to their role and totally believable. Will O’Mahony clearly knew what he wanted to achieve. Dramatic and psychological, this performance is something you can really sink your teeth into.

Great White — dramatic and psychological is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Benedict Hardie, By Their Own Hands

We’re still talking about Daniel Schlusser Ensemble’s Menagerie (based on the works of Tennessee Williams) and Fraught Outfit’s On the bodily education of young girls (based on a 1903 novella and developed with a cast of teenagers from St Martins Youth Theatre). I wrote briefly about them on my blog.

The Hayloft Project’s Benedict Hardie and Anne-Louise Sarks also adapted.  By Their Own Hands is the story of Oedipus and Jocasta; loved by the ancient Greeks and so popular that Freud based his own legacy on it. But do we really know the story and the people in it?

Anne-Louise and Benedict begin by  simply telling the story, and telling it in a way that gets the audience involved without any embarrassment. There’s nothing to be feared when they ask the audience to join them on the stage, and you might only be disappointed if you’re not chosen as a cast member. (As Sphinx, I can end the year happy that I was recognised for my true talent.)

Then we’re sent back to our seats and they tell the story again. It’s now that a huge plastic curtain and Marg Howell’s design comes into play and they tell the tale in ways that remind us how these ancient tales are as much about now and us as they were 2500 years ago when Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus were all the rage.

The title alone takes responsibility away from the gods and fate. They show how conflicted a man must be to consider killing his baby, and the moment when Jocasta realises who she married is soul chilling.

There’s been a lot of boring hoo-ha in recent weeks about the evils of adaption V original work. This season is proving that there’s nothing unoriginal about adaption. These works are sending us back to the source texts (what would Freud say about me having all the Electras and none of the Oedipuses in my book shelf?) and letting us see them again with such fresh eyes.

I don’t like the phrase “intelligent theatre”, but By Their Own Hands explores the relationship between audience and stage and re-tells a known story so powerfully and originally that I could feel new brain cells growing.

And we have The Rabble’s Story of O (after Pauline Réage’s novel) and Sisters Grimm’s The Sovereign Wife (inspired by Aussie-Aussie-Aussie cultural icons like Ken Done and The Man From Snowy River) to look forward to. After The Rabble’s astonishing Orlando at last year’s Melbourne Festival and having recently read O, I think this may be one of the most unforgettable shows of the year, unless they’re outdone by the glorious camp trashiness of the Sisters who have promised/threatened the likes of a character called Poof Cop.

NEON: By Their Own Hands is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Meow Meow. Image by Karl Giant

Meow Meow, who sometimes goes by Melissa Madden Gray, takes cabaret to new, exciting, and dizzying heights. Over the years there have been numerous shows in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival where observers are never safe from audience interaction, but having witnessed Meow Meow ply her trade, my appreciation of audience participation has broadened significantly (we are her props, and she utilises us expertly).

Meow Meow’s theatrical prowess hypnotises the audience into following her down a path of musical mayhem towards witty and wicked Weimar tunes, Brel, Brecht and more. The promise of the most enthralling cabaret experience dictates that you will follow wherever she leads. I guarantee it. And if you don’t, you’ll be sworn at in German.

The one hour and ten minute show is a continual highlight, and it feels wrong to focus on any one particular aspect. That said, ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ was a crowd favourite with the hilarious action on stage (well played Peter and Dennis) matched only by Meow Meow’s expressive vocals. The inherent risk of high-energy productions is performer (and, more likely in this case, audience) burnout. Meow Meow manages to perfectly taper her performance with emotional ebb and flow, dancing effortlessly between hysterical laughter and stunned silence within moments.

In addition to Meow Meow’s brilliance, every technical aspect of the production is of the highest quality. The musical duo provides a sturdy foundation for Meow Meow (and aren’t outside of her comedic reach). The stage manager performs a key role (also, not outside her comedic grasp). The sound and lighting enhanced the production and Meow Meow’s ‘self lighting’ in the final number drew the audience even closer to the fascinating, enthralling and sexy protagonist.

In a show where Meow Meow is constantly battling the producers, it seems as though everything must be done the hard way. If it isn’t wardrobe issues, then it’s the smoke machine, or the lighting, or the revolving stage, or, heavens above, the trapeze! Regardless of the challenge, Meow Meow always prevails with absolute professionalism and sidesplitting hilarity. Honestly, the majority of the audience was in tears!!

Even though Meow Meow perpetually faces challenges and nothing seems to work as planned, this production works in every way. Language, costume and adult content necessitate the 8.30pm time slot, but for anyone over 16 this is cabaret show is an absolute must see! It’s no wonder why her season at the Dunstan Playhouse was a sell out, and it’s a real shame that the season isn’t much, much longer.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival — Meow Meow is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Russya Connor

Immersion is the operative idea at work in Russya Connor’s performance piece Sea Inside.

From the moment we step through the theatre door into a red lit corridor lined with seashells and move inwards to the grey monochrome performance area, we are immersed. We’ve stepped into a vaguely organic space that is peppered with stone-shaped cushions and beanbags instead of traditional seating and in the middle of the room hang two long white aerial ribbons, while silhouettes of leafless trees are projected onto the back wall and a low jungle-inspired ambient tune pulses gently along with sounds of chirping birds.

Until now, I hadn’t yet experienced such a complete transformation to one of the Blue Room spaces; the orientation of the stage and audience areas, being seated on cushions on the vinyl dance flooring, and being enveloped in an ambient soundscape all contributed to an other-worldly feeling as we waited for the performance to begin. As the lights came down and Connor appeared in white, giving the impression of a greek goddess/pagan queen/acrobat hybrid, it was clear this would be a very unique performance piece.

What we witnessed is hard to classify or describe and is indeed even difficult to decipher. There was a constant projection of natural images (underwater and above-ground scenes) on the back wall and Connor narrates her performance with text based on the poetry of R.M. Rilke, both pre-recorded and live, sometimes in English, sometimes in German. She climbs up and down the aerial ribbons, swings in and out of the audience, talks to us upside down, sideways and backwards. She is a solid figure and displays a lot of strength and agility; she also manages to come up with dozens of ways to twist and contort around the ribbons, so each turn up into the air is new and different.

The lighting by Tegan Evans is especially good in spots and adds to the immersive feel; gobos and moving lights create underwater refractions on the floor. A bit of fog from the smoke machine allowed for individual shafts of light to create distinct light spaces for Connor to play in. The simple effect of a special spot on the ribbons themselves turned them into mesmerizing objects in their own right. The final element of total immersion of the senses is achieved through the sound design, with music scored by Ali Schmidl, which is electronic ambient with references to nature.

This is a metaphysical, philosophical work and a completely unique performance experience. There is no structure, no fourth wall and the performance remains ambiguous in the memory. Essentially the significance is sensory and seems to be an exploration of the subconscious, where one thought or feeling can trigger another, without clear linear paths between them. So if you’re expecting to see something conventional, this does not fall under that category, instead landing on the experimental end of even The Blue Room spectrum.

If, however, you are up for something quite different with a fringe feel and a very European sensibility, then this will do just the trick.

Sea Inside is a post from: AussieTheatre.com

Graceland and Asleep on the Wind, a play by Ellen Byron in two separate parts tells the story of three Americans from the South who believed Elvis could lift them up from the drudgery of their everyday lives.

In the first act, Graceland, two devoted Elvis fans, Rootie (Persia Blue) and Bev (Michelle Collins) show up simultaneously to the gates of Graceland in the early hours of the morning of its opening to the public in 1982. They’re both determined to be the first to enter Elvis’s former home, for very different reasons. Bev is initially aggressive towards Rootie, but when she discovers the painful past that Rootie is trying to overcome, a tender and unlikely friendship starts to blossom between them.

Asleep on the Wind takes place in Louisiana ten years earlier between Rootie and her older brother Beau (Leigh Scully). Beau is leaving the join the army and Rootie is desperate to keep her brother and best friend at home. It’s especially poignant, knowing what ends up happening to the two.

Persia Blue in Graceland and Asleep on the Wind. Image supplied.

Persia Blue is fantastic as the ditzy and desperately optimistic Rootie. She wears heartbreak very well and plays two very different versions of the same character in both parts. Michelle Collins delivers some great comedic moments as Bev, but is somehow more effective in her character’s quieter moments. It’s a fine performance, even if her accent slips from time to time. Leigh Scully delivers ‘loving big brother’ perfectly as Beau. He’s a strong physical presence and radiates warmth.

Jo-Anne Cahill has directed an energetic, brisk production. The relationship between Rootie and Bev is exactly what it should be in Graceland and Asleep on the Wind burns with both physical energy and sensitivity.

In this production, the pain and hardships faced, especially by Rootie are palpable. The play is her story and her struggle. In spite of this, it’s an uplifting experience that’s perfect for the company behind it.

Operating Theatre aims to stage quality productions in Sydney venues and then takes them into hospitals for free performances. Their last show, For the Love of Mic: By George! opened at the Seymour Centre and was then taken to St Vincents Hospital for patients, their families and staff.

As such, their productions really need to appeal to a broad audience and they’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. Ellen Byron’s script is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s inoffensive and touches on two themes that are pretty universal – family and Elvis.

More importantly than anything, Operating Theatre have found a winner and are fulfilling their mission of bringing quality productions with quality performances to those most in need of an uplifting hour or two.

Graceland and Asleep on the Wind is a post from: AussieTheatre.com