Category: ff2011

Macbeth

Body in Space @ Arcade Lane – Regent One

11:59pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

I must have mentioned this a dozen times on this blog so far: I love me some Shakespeare. And, though, I occasionally flitter through favourites, I’ve always had a massive soft-spot for Macbeth – all the grief and angst and human failings just rub me the right way.

So when I saw there was a midnight Macbeth in the broken and rustic Arcade Lane space… well, I was there. I checked with Jack of The Neo to ensure that I wouldn’t offend if I left their gig a touch early, and I booked my ticket. Subsequently, a friend-of-the-family recommended this production to me – “it’s very much you. The performers all have bare feet.”

Arriving in plenty of time – I didn’t want to risk another starting-time kerfuffle – and into the Regent One space. It looks like they’ve installed a square “stage” of floating floorboards there; the six cast members sat in a semi-circle, intensely focussed; together they emit a sparse tune. A drumbeat here, a hum there. The only female member of the cast waits until we’re all seated, then breaks into a mournful wail: it’s wonderfully atmospheric, and when the actors playing the witches spin onto the “stage” from their positions in the semi-circle, their simple robes announce their entrance into the scene with a flourish.

It’s a remarkably sparse production – there’s absolutely no offstage assistance to the players. No lighting tweaks for mood, no music that’s not produced by the players themselves. The actors leave their positions, enter the scene, complete their part, then return to their seats; the scenery and the space exists in the audience’s mind, and they use their multi-use robes to full effect. And the little things – like Lady Macbeth’s invocation of the spirits – are accented with little vocal effects from the group.

Douglas Brooks is a suitably troubled Macbeth, displaying both the noble strength required of the characters initial efforts along with the broken conscience befitting the later parts of the play. Laura Irish is a delightful Lady Macbeth, smiling Nazi and poison tongue and shattered mind; the grey-haired Roger Sanders (most notable as Duncan) trod a fine line between ham and genius. Luke Walton’s simmering Macduff was mesmerising, and Daniel Allan’s Banquo…

Look – let’s just get one thing perfectly clear, here. I loved this production, this midnight Macbeth experience. Not only was it a great version of a great play, but it provided some of the greatest theatrical moments in recent memory. The plotting of Duncan’s downfall leads to vicious and snarling whispers between Macbeth and his wife, beautifully spaced and utterly compelling and you could have heard a pin drop; and the scene where the Ghost of Banquo approaches Macbeth at the feast was simply magnificent – Daniel’s Banquo ever-so-slowly inched forward with an intoxicating mixture of slight smile and ominous shaking head and immense menace, brutalising Macbeth without making contact… absolutely harrowing. But the highlight is undoubtedly the classic “Out, damned spot!” scene with Lady Macbeth: despite the music outside in Arcade Lane thumping away at 2am on a Sunday, everything outside of the stage slipped away – it was the most amazing sense of theatrical tunnel vision I’ve experienced. I could only see the players, I could only hear Laura’s frantic whispers, and see the madness in her face, her eyes… stunning.

And that’s the great thing about this production: it absolutely commanded your attention at all times. Sure, you may know Macbeth pretty well, but the way this Kiwi troupe told the tale you simply could not look away. Absolutely brilliant, and easily – even at this early stage – one of the highlights of the year.

The Neo

The Neo @ Crown & Sceptre Hotel

10:45pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

Ever since my first experience with The Neo in 2004, I’ve been a massive fan; I’ve seen them perform several times since, and every time (no matter how hungover they appeared) they managed to pull out all the stops and put on a great show.

But, arriving right on projected starting time this evening, I looked onstage and briefly thought I was way too early; I didn’t recognise anyone up there. It looked like a bunch of smart-casual, middle-aged men doing the sound check. But then a bearded Tim appeared, followed closely by Jack and Liam; Tim announces that they are, indeed, The Neo, and – despite the best efforts of cyclonic weather up North – they were here to play a bunch of original songs.

Now – the crowd sitting quietly in the Crown & Sceptre’s back room didn’t seem to recognise The Neo; I get the feeling that most of them were Neo-n00bs. So I imagine the promise of all-original songs may have been a bit daunting to them… but that didn’t seem to matter, because within a couple of songs the crowd was up and jumping around.

The band is still tighter than a duck’s chuff, freely swapping guitars as various people covered Robbie Hoad’s missing bass. Tim is still an amazing vocalist, freely ducking from soaring notes to staccato rap, and blasting the harmonica sweetly; Jack is still the consummate crowd-man, hopping through the bouncing mass while playing guitar. The horns are used sparingly, but effectively, and they’re not afraid of extended renditions of their songs, allowing plenty of opportunity for an initially gentle tune to verge into funk and chunk and back again.

The highlight was, undoubtedly, Bus Blues – all tight funk and rap in the verse, with a big hornsy chorus that never fails to bring a smile to the face. Unfortunately, I had to leave with a couple of songs still to play – but it was bloody brilliant to see the guys play again. I love The Neo :)

Fin [FringeTIX]

Mere Mortals Theatre @ The Tuxedo Cat – Green Room

8:30pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

The stage is a city of tin cans, large and small – spectacular and shiny and impersonal. The titular Fin arrives, a tin-can head upon a water-filled latex glove body, and proceeds to wander the city, engaging its many inhabitants and… well, it gets a bit sad.

But for all the concentration on the performers’ faces, some of the puppetry… well, it isn’t convincing.

The syringe mosquito is a classic example: the performer is completely focussed as the creature flits around, but the creature itself? Anonymous, inert. A mere object in the hand of its master, incapable of imparting any kind of expression. The barely-controlled jiggling of the tampon mice, the accidental tipping of items from the stage, and the eventual trashing of the city were other aspects that seemed cold, passionless, and even pointless.

Fin is the only exception to this rule; his two bolt eyes on his tin-can head are remarkably expressive, coupled with the clacking of his mouth, and the way the performers walk his latex-glove body around is sometimes really neat. He really is the star of the show, and when his doppelgänger arrives there’s some quite emotive moments; they manage to conjure a certain sensuality out of the sex scene, there’s an element of terror (and dampness, for the front row) to the chomping and slicing murder of the doppelgänger, and Fin’s eventual death (via a dye injection into his rubbery body from one of the syringe mosquitos) is really quite poignant.

But these moments are all-too-few, and very far between. There’s clearly some wonderful ideas present in Fin – Gina Moss and Sabrina D’Angelo have found some clever uses for everyday items, and created some creatures out of them. It just feels like they didn’t refine the ideas enough: some elements, like the condom snake, had so much promise, with their curious noise and visual texture all providing heaps of inspiration… but then the snake dies without fanfare, and the whole experience just feels underdeveloped.

As a result, too much of the performance just felt like two girls pissfarting around in their own world, oblivious to the audience that had – perhaps – expected a puppet show with coherent narrative and expression. Which is a shame, because – as I mentioned earlier – there are some really interesting ideas in there. I just felt like I was watching a living workshop for the show, and not the show itself.

Dust

Emiline Forster @ Iris Cinema

7:30pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

There’s little more than a handful of people at the Iris for this one-off screening of Dust, once you remove director / performer Emiline Forster from the crowd; she gives a short little introduction to the film, explaining that it was a video interpretation of an existing piece of dance (which won the Best Dance award at the 2010 Melbourne Fringe, no less!).

There’s a strong opening – clad in a white cleanroom suit and full gas mask, Forster performs a piece that is reminiscent of footage of assembly-line robots; it’s a convincing and identifiable introduction to the commercial industrial message of the piece. Unfortunately, it’s followed by the biggest let-down of the film – a segment that includes fast-moving, tongue-in-cheek characterisations of bureaucrats and executives, revelling in their profits. These little skits and dances, with their distinctly amateurish presentation, really coloured my view for a large amount of the remaining film.

And that’s a shame, because the slow-yet-desperate nature of the remaining dance – lots of deliberate, anxious reaches and sweeps – is really quite lovely. Music excerpts throughout are great – a pleasing mix of industrial, light metal, and ominous ambient pieces accompany the dance segments of the film, and the sound design in general is excellent. The direction of the movie, too, is great: there’s wonderful framing of the subjects, and the constant shift of focus – whether intentional or not – creates a delicious texture to the movie, which already revels in noisy low-light compression.

It’s just that little “skit” segment that lets the whole piece down… because it stands out like a sore thumb compared to the quality of the rest of the work. But, based on the rest of the movie, Forster clearly has the eye of both a director and choreographer, as well as being a great dancer.

Pitch [FringeTIX]

TOS’T @ Gluttony (The Bally)

5:30pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

TOS’T is a young company borne of the National Institute of Circus Arts and, on the strength of this performance, one that we’ll be hearing from a lot more in the future. Because these youngsters, whilst lacking the polish and sheen of the more established circus shows in town at the moment, bring forth a freshness and enthusiasm and – yes – even something new to the table.

The four members of TOS’T – Tom (red), Ollie (yellow), Steph (purple) and Ty (green) – begin the performance with a tumbling and balance act that makes them look like a very acrobatic Wiggles contingent; all very competently performed, and certainly entertaining to the children present, but yet to win me over. The first segment, featuring Ty tumbling his way through a jungle chase, failed to impress – but it paved the way for the rest of the show, because it introduced the idea of narrative within the sets of tricks.

Another balance set with all four performers saw a fantastic three-high human structure that almost touched the roof of The Bally; a bit of juggling, including a great bit with the meteors, also impressed… as did the series of hat tricks. But it was the noir-themed risley segment – Ollie on his back, juggling and flipping Steph with his feet – that was absolutely amazed; I can’t recall having seen anything like it, certainly in recent years. The fact that Steph had a heavy tumble, and came straight back to attempt an even sterner challenge, was gobsmacking – and worthy of many more plaudits than my words can convey.

Despite – and maybe because of – the odd spill, I really, really liked TOS’T – after a slowish start, their enthusiasm completely won me over. Ollie is an incredible frontman, with an elastic face tailor-made for mugging to the crowd, milking applause. And with a selection of music that was partly sourced from anime and videogames, I’m even more endeared. Throw in some decent-to-stunning circus and clowning skills and you’ve got a great show.

Ali McGregor – Something Old, Something New

Ali McGregor (with Matthew Carey, Alana Dawes, and Barnabas Smith) @ The Spiegeltent

3:30pm, Sat 19 Feb 2011

Ali McGregor’s always been good to me; she’s always brought immensely enjoyable shows to the Fringe, and – to be honest – I felt like I needed that surety of a great musical act.

And, once again, she did not disappoint.

With Matthew Carey on piano, the gorgeous Alana Dawes on bass, and Barnabas Smith on drums, Ali soared through a set of jazz and blues influenced songs, both old and new. And whilst songs like La Isla Bonita were merely slightly jazzified and performed relatively straight, other songs – like Oops!… I Did It Again, with its falsetto dropping straight to a gravelly growl, and the operatic snatch in I Was Made for Lovin’ You – really showcased Ali’s amazing range.

I’d be lying if I said that everything worked, though – Tainted Love would have benefitted from some sparser instrumentation, and a chance to breath. But if that’s the price I have to pay for the brilliant lounge-cabaret mash-up of Fly Me To The Moon with a double-time I Will Survive, then that’s just fine by me.

Now – I’m no jazz fiend or opera junkie, but I love Ali’s voice… and stage presence. Constantly joking with the crowd, her demeanour is nothing short of charming – and that’s another reason I’ll keep coming back to Ali’s shows. Gorgeous sounds from a gorgeous woman – what’s not to love?