ideas: on the arts
REVIEW: Year of magical theatre
It is my sad duty to report that of the best pieces of theatre I saw in Brisbane in 2009, none of them were original, locally produced shows.
And I’m in a reasonable position to judge. I spent a considerable period of the year sitting in darkened theatres; some 50 shows, I’ve worryingly counted, across four cities and two countries.
I experienced Cate Blanchett’s stately Sydney Theatre Company (Andrew Bovell’s gorgeously literate When The Rain Stops Falling will surely become a contemporary Australian classic); I revelled in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s gleaming new surrounds at the Sumner Theatre (quasi-musical Poor Boy was a richly flawed work); I even took New York’s Broadway by storm (nine shows in eight days required the utmost commitment to my dirty little hobby). In Brisbane, there’s barely a show I missed attending.
As a collective human experience theatre remains, to me, unsurpassed. But numerous shows in 2009 tested my devotion.
Queensland Theatre Company’s season, under Artistic Director Michael Gow, boldly bombed too many times. Its locally-produced work was all uniformly under-developed. For Richard Jordan’s 21 Down, which was workshopped for some 18 months after the clearly talented young writer won the Premier’s Drama Award, it was inexplicable. Gow’s baffling Toy Symphony only looked self-indulgent in a weak season. While School Of The Arts, the Billie Brown-penned farce that was, quite simply, excruciatingly abysmal, there was no reasonable excuse. Not that Gow’s season stood alone – there were disappointments too at La Boite (though the under-funded company should be celebrated for taking many more risks than its bigger Brisbane brother) and the Brisbane Powerhouse (Nick Earls’ The True Story of Butterfish, a headline act of the Brisbane Festival, deserved much better treatment).
Brisbane audiences had to grab onto the few gems in town. We certainly appreciated them more. Here are the Brisbane shows that truly left their mark:
5. That Face | Queensland Theatre Company
Polly Stenham was just 19 year’s old when she wrote this twisted love story between a mentally ill mother and her son imprisoned by her constant care. It was revelatory writing, brutally bleak but with such tremendous heart; as one British reviewer wrote “one of the most astonishing debuts I have seen”. Company B will bring the play to Sydney next year, but for Brisbane to see this play first was a real thrill. The expansive Billie Brown Studio beautifully brought an outstanding piece of theatre to life, with devastating performances from Helen Howard and Leon Cain. Full review…
4. The Trial Of The Catonsville Nine | Brisbane Powerhouse (The Actor’s Gang)
This was many things we hate about Americans: political, patriotic and preachy. But the powerful production from Tim Robbins’ Los Angeles-based Actor’s Gang was also deeply questioning of its place in the world. The true story of clergymen charged for burning military draft cards in opposition to the Vietnam War was brilliantly executed on the awkward Powerhouse Theatre stage, tightly choreographed with real rhythm and infectious passion. As I blogged at the time, its indictment of American imperialism, with its well-drawn contemporary hallmarks, seared on the brain long after the lights dimmed. Full review…
3. Rigoletto | Opera Queensland (Opera Australia)
Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic masterpieces (La Traviata opened Queensland Opera’s season) both received fair treatment in 2009. But the story of the tragic clown Rigoletto, with its brilliantly inventive staging from an original Opera Australia production, was a glorious finale to a fine season. Original director Elijah Moshinsky turned a lavish costume epic into a brooding psychological thriller, while still evoking its palpably Italian feel with top soprano Emma Matthews and opera veteran John Bolton Wood as her heartbroken father. Bellissimo. Full review…
2. Chicago
This latest reincarnation of Chicago, which premiered in Brisbane before touring nationally, was more cabaret than glossy musical. Before a swinging 14-piece band, the cast had just a few props to tell Broadway’s most devilishly delicious story. There was nowhere to hide, and everyone was knockout. Catherine Zeta-Jones shimmied away with the Oscar, but the tireless Caroline O’Connor may well be the world’s preeminent Velma Kelly. And Sharon Millerchip was the perfect foil and a fully-realised Roxie Hart. Even ex-Neighbours pin-up Craig McLachlan looked good. The bright lights of Chicago shone more brilliant than ever. Full review…
1. The Year Of Magical Thinking | Queensland Theatre Company (Syd Theatre Company)
Simply perfect. Joan Didion’s searing autobiographical portrait of the process of grief was the rarest of writing achievements – gorgeously lyrical while remaining vividly truthful. But this, we learn, goes to the heart of her character: in mourning her husband Didion suffered a sort of controlled, entirely coherent collapse, departmentalising an entirely sane mind from the magical hope that he would somehow come back. Robyn Nevin (pictured top) conveyed all this brilliantly, utterly captivating alone on stage for some 90 minutes. Someone called Cate Blanchett directed this for the Sydney Theatre Company; bringing it to Brisbane was the smartest thing the Queensland Theatre Company did all year. Pure theatrical magic. Full review…
There should be some honourable mentions. The best Australian work seen in Brisbane, by some distance, was Company B’s family drama The Seed. As part of a terrific season of work at the Garden’s Theatre, Kate Mulvany’s autobiographical heartbreaker was wonderfully staged and powerfully acted. The Queensland Theatre Company also gave us two-hander Ninety, from prolific Melbourne playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, with its terrific gimmick (the Cremorne Theatre stage rotated like a clock) and potent writing. Gow also delivered a fine production of The Crucible, with flawless casting and a mercifully light directorial touch to let Arthur Miller’s damnation burn as hot as ever.
At La Boite, I reckon its adaptation of Australian novel The White Earth was the best-looking show I’ve seen at the Roundhouse Theatre (and a better piece of theatre than the ambitious but over-hyped true-life drama of The Kursk). And at the Powerhouse, British double-act Ridiculusmus gave us gimmicky farce in a two-man The Importance of Being Earnest one week, followed by a gritty and original piece of contemporary human drama in Tough Time, Nice Time. The latter, particularly, was great stuff.
So what did we learn from all of that? Surely, the all-conquering might of the pen. The best theatre of 2009 emerged from the best writing – go figure, but a fact clearly lost on some programmers. May the New Year bring much more.
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3 comments for “REVIEW: Year of magical theatre”
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This is a fabulous look at theatre in Brisbane (and elsewhere) for 2009.
‘Rigoletto’ was my undoubted highlight for 2009. Bravo to Opera Queensland for this lavish production.
I also enjoyed the light-hearted, multi-media mash-up that was ‘Blue Love’ at LaBoite.
Honourable mention must go to Belarus Free Theatre’s ‘Being Harold Pinter’ at Brisbane Powerhouse earlier this year, for the intense emotional journey undertaken.
Blue Love was great fun. Nice pick.
I forgot about the Belorussians, to be honest. Pinter is a bit lost on me. But the story of that group and how it puts on performances in the face of brutal censorship was truly inspiring. I wrote about that here.
I would take The White Earth over That Face any day of the week. They both had their pros and cons but I felt that That Face was not much more than an unfunny Ab Fab. At least the White Earth said plenty about Queensland and gave us Stace Callaghan’s incredible performance as well as the design you mentioned. Let’s hope that La Boite can still produce this kind of show in future.
No independent theatre on the list? The Pillowman was my highlight of the year, and Bob Newman’s The Brink has been sticking around in my mind much longer than plenty of bigger, louder shows (which would be pretty much all of them).