Various venues, Sydney (9-30th January, 2010)
Rogue's Gallery by Hal Willner
Sydney Opera House Forecourt (28 Jan)
I bought tix to Rogue's Gallery because the concept sounded fascinating, a retrospective, if you will, of sea shanties and ballads to warm the cockles. Besides which, Sir, my impoverished but pirate-loving flatmate, even saw sense in shelling out big bucks for this gig. And because I'd bought so frickin' many Sydney Festival tix, I was entitled to a 20% discount which saw the price drop from $140 to $116, an extra bonus.
In the lead up to the date, I then discovered how very awesome the lineup was: in addition to the unexpected but welcome appearance of actor Tim Robbins, there were stalwarts like Marianne Faithfull and Peter Garrett as well as crowd favourites Camille O'Sullivan and Sarah Blasko. It was going to be a musical bonanza.
Now, I'd retired home from work at 3-ish due to oncoming illness and general fatigue but couldn't nap cos of some inconsiderate power gardening going on outside. I give you this context because when the rain came buffeting down on us as we sat on the hard steps of the Sydney Opera House Forecourt (not a very comfortable place, mind you) I was kind of resigned to enduring the gig rather than fully embracing it.
It didn't start off well. Some artist named Baby Gramps sang some incomprehensible country-style twaddle that didn't even sound like it'd ever heard of the sea and hogged the stage for a good 10 minutes. Sir and I sighed with relief as he was replaced by Peter Garrett, best known as former Midnight Oil frontman (before his current stint as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts). Who knew that Garrett had a pirate voice? He was surprisingly good, though I thought he could've dressed more piratish to get us all in the mood.
I won't disseminate the whole gig for you but I will provide you with highlights and lowlights. On the up side was the delightful Camille O'Sullivan and Todd Rundgren, who both brought the right attitude and a bit of panache to the whole evening. Camille was wench-like in her flirtation with the audience, while Todd was suitably charismatic as a veritable captain of a ship. Their pairing on 'The Good Ship Venus' was a killer and there should have been more of that sort of thing.
Honourable mentions go to local gals Katy Steele and Sarah Blasko, whose steady, worldly voices encapsulated journeys around the world in each of their pieces. Gavin Friday and Liam Finn also impressed; Gavin especially with his filthy shanty about whores - ha! They both had the spirit of the night at the right level, giving as much to the crowd, which had already endured thunder, rain and lightning, as the crowd was pumping onto the stage.
Peaches' appearance was also suitably chaotic with a troupe of dancers in costume parading about the stage. The rest of the show would have been much livelier - colourful, rowdy - following her lead.
On the down side there was Marianne Faithfull, overhyped and underperforming in such an achingly obvious way (reading the lyrics off the song sheet, anyone?). Marry Waterson's a capella was unfortunately interrupted by the departure toot of the Diamond Princess, but it didn't excuse the fact that she sung the beautiful ballad mostly offkey. I mean, if you're going to sing a cappella, you have to be able to hit the notes, right?
David Thomas also failed to hit the right notes, growling his way through his numbers. I don't know anything about David Thomas as an artist, so I don't know if this was expected, but it just brought an unwelcome edge to the show. Look, I understand that pirates are supposed to be gruff-voiced, but you'd think you'd at least be able to hear the words.
Neither up nor down were Tim Robbins, Glenn Richards and Kami Thompson. Tim wasn't a bad singer nor guitarist, but there was no real flavour to his performances, and I can't even remember Glenn Richards being there, so unmarked was his contribution. Kami did a competent job of her part, but again, nothing of note.
Overall the show was an uneven collection of performances. If the 'shambles' were more colourful I could have forgiven it, but it seemed like two-fifths of the company were unable to muster enough energy to get into the spirit of things. I expected a bit more pluck, a bit more Peaches-like rowdiness and filthy fun songs good for a singalong. We needed this night to be rollicking and Rogue's Gallery did not provide this in the quantities required.
We came in the wind and the rain and the thunder and the lightning but the Rogues had battened down the hatches and left us with a damp show.
Gig rating: 6/10
Enjoyment rating: 7/10
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Headlong Theatre
York Theatre, Seymour Centre (30 Jan)
I'd never read Pirandello's original of this play, but the premise of characters looking for an author harks back to my cultural studies education and almost made me want to return to university. Almost.
The start is a little unsettling, setting the scene as a documentary-maker struggles to get the footage she needs to finish off a piece on euthanasia. Tempers begin to fray in the editing suite when six people dressed in black enter the scene. After much confusion, it is established that they are characters, abandoned by their author. Against her better judgement, the filmmaker allows the patriarch to tell his tale, which is then interrupted and twisted by each of the characters in turn. Things come to a head when she begins to recreate their story on film and they refuse to be recreated, insisting that they just are.
Throughout, I could see echoes of Beckett and Stoppard and this pleased me no end because I have always found discussions of existentialism most fruitful in theatre and literary demonstrations. There is also reference to 'Hamlet' - "To be or not to be" to describe the euthanasia that occurs in the doco as control over one's life, but also the "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I" soliloquy to illustrate the 'playing' metaphor - and a funny reference to the German 'Hamlet', which also played at the Sydney Festival.
It also reminded me of a Year 12 English unit I used to tutor, 'Telling the Truth'. I would give my students a reading of 'Rashomon: In a Grove' to illustrate how one event could have so many versions depending on the author of the story. The story from which the six characters derive undergoes a similar fragmentation as each brings their own attitude and bias to it, trying to bring the author, the filmmaker, onside. Everything thens twists away as the filmmaker herself becomes a character - which she is, in this play - and things go awry.
Outstanding performances by Catherine McCormack (the filmmaker) and Ian McDiarmid (the patriarch) make this production a real eye-opener of a play. Where many ensembles would make the premise seem contrived or even self-indulgent, Headlong's cast show a restraint that serves the corkscrew premise of the play well and bring everything to its poignant, razor sharp end.
I haven't seen a play that has made me think so much as this in a long while and I was surprised at the occasional bites of humour interspersed in the material. Not only did the troupe not make the mistake of taking the text too seriously, it gave complete control of meaning to the audience. Audience as author? Barthes would be proud.
Gig rating: 9/10
Enjoyment rating: 9/10
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