Review – Wrong Skin

Wrong Skin told the story of two aborigines from the same skin group falling in love. Much like Romeo and Juliet, this is forbidden and caused much angst and conflict within the skin group. It also depicted everyday life on Enclo Island while incorporating dances by the Chooky Dancers.
The actors started by introducing themselves and stating all the different groups they belonged to – this broke the fourth wall. Then the actress playing the girl who falls in love explained to the audience that in real life she and the actor playing her lover are actually from different skin groups so they are allowed to pretend to fall in love. This demonstrated to the audience how serious the laws surrounding the skin groups are.
When the story began it was presented in a series of scenes that did not necessarily connect in a coherent fashion. Each depicted the lifestyle of the young aborigines of this island. Most were centred around the disco held every Saturday night and we supported by video footage of the Chooky dancers on their island acting out the same scenes and those being performed on stage. Many of the scenes suddenly became dances in which the personalities of the actors shone through.
The proscenium arch stage was used. Along the sides of the stage were TVs which often showed static – to me this represented the intrusion of technology and Americanism in the lives of these people which is at one with nature. The actors were performing on sand which emphasised the differences in their lifestyle compared to mine.
The tragedy of the Romero and Juliet-esque story combined with the energetic, fun dance style of the Chooky dancers was quite bizarre. It did allow the audience an insight into their culture and also showcased the Chooky dancers. In my opinion, it was entertaining at the time. However, to me the dancing trivialised the story of the two lovers. At the end, after someone had died and the lovers been torn apart the actors launched once again into their famous Zorba dance. For me, this detracted from the story. It seemed that the aim of the director was solely to give the Chooky dancers and opportunity to demonstrate their skills to the world. As two separate performances, the play and the dancing would have been fascinating and incredible.
One of the most interesting aspects of the play was that none of the dialogue was in English apart from words that symbolised the Americanisation of the culture. Word like ‘America’, ‘lipstick’ and ‘cell phone’ were used when the mother of the girl was yelling at her for acting like an American rather than an Aborigine. The way in which these words stood out starkly emphasised the huge impact of technology and Americanisation on the culture.
As the audience could not understand any of the dialogue all of the meaning was conveyed through movement and gesture. Gentleness contrasted with aggression which demonstrated love and conflict. The facial expressions of the actors also varied greatly and showed the emotion of the scene. Music was often played throughout the play (largely contemporary/pop/techno), thus during the scenes between the lovers the music was much softer or even silent which represented the passion and love between him. The TVs showing static occasionally were very loud further demonstrating the intrusion of American culture.
Unlike many plays, the characters did not seem to change, they were all static characters. The situation around them changed but they did not change their views or values.
One thing that stood out to me was the use of a cyclorama at the back of the stage and the projection of images not only to this but also onto the actors themselves. In my eyes this emphasised the importance of nature and peace in their society. When talking about their totems they had images of the animal projected onto their torso demonstrating the connection between man and animal.

April 12, 2010. Reviews. Leave a comment.

Sadako — Kanute Productions

– Target audience: 8 and above
–thus colouring production: -cute manner -high energy/high personality -charicature (father, brother, friend)

–transformation of character: -impressive focus on characters -characterisations did not bleed into each other (expressive skills)

— multiple characters

SET:

– very effective – origami
– lanterns bobbing along water
– tableaux in picture frames – 3D – emotion – hiroshima victims
– light box – creating shadows
– theme of origmi
– contrasting hospital – flicketing flurescent lights — sterile
– simple to watch

MUSIC
– traditional Japanese music
– drumming at beginning — great attention to drumming

–loose fitting and plain clothes
–accessories made the characters

August 6, 2009. Reviews. 1 comment.

Poor Boy Review

First play to be performed at the new Sumner Theatre in Melbourne, Poor Boy, written by Matt Cameron and directed by Simon Phillips, is an entertaining ‘play with songs’. It is written as a modern day ghost story and was completely inspired by Tim Finn’s ‘Poor Boy’. Due to this, it seems fitting that the songs performed in the play are those already produced by Tim Finn and Split Enz. The songs were used to portray the emotion of the characters and their situation. Synopsis The characters in the play are as follows; Jem’s mother, father and sister, respectively: Vivianne, Sol and Cedy, Danny’s mother, brother and widow, respectively: Ruth, Miles and Clare. The story begins with Jeremy Glass’s seventh birthday. While he was a normal young boy up to this point, he wakes up after nearly being hit by an oncoming vehicle and suddenly announces that he is actually a man called Danny who died seven years before in a hit and run accid pb3_large ent. The spirit of Danny wants to find his grieving family while Jem’s family still want to keep their son and thus the conflict begins. After much dispute, the characters begin to accept and believe that while the little boy physically looks like Jem, he is obviously Danny in spirit. Through all this action, many dark secrets are uncovered and things that have been unspoken of for years are finally brought to surface. Comedy is, scattered throughout, generally in the form of Sadie’s cries for attention. Comic relief helped keep the audience engaged. Vivianne ends up accepting that she can no longer play the part of Jem/Danny’s mother and gives him to Ruth. The end of the play reveals that Sol was actually the driver in the hit and run accident that killed Danny and his mind is put to rest as Danny reveals that it was in fact suicide, after walking in on his Clare, having sex with his Miles. As a gradual process throughout the play, the characters adjust their focus from the actor of Jem to the actor of Danny. When, at the end of the play, the characters no longer see Jem, Danny says goodbye and when Jem wakes up, he is Jem in spirit and in body once again. The relationships and emotions between the characters in this story are quite complex. Vivianne and Sol feel as though their marriage has failed and can no longer communicate. This is demonstrated by the frustration they show through the manner in which they speak to one another and also in the way the both sit by themselves instead of uniting in their pain. Sadie feels overshadowed by Jem due to all the attention he is receiving. Because of this she acts in radical ways to try and shock others into noticing her, (wearing black and red clothes and lots of make-up, yelling and screaming, etc.) this fails however, a relationship begins with Miles as he knows how she feels, having been overshadowed by Danny all his life. Clare resents Miles as it is because of him and her that Danny died and she cannot live with the guilt. She holds on so tightly to the past that she cannot even leave the house. Ruth cannot bring herself to become close to her only lasting son as she feels it means letting go of Danny. She also feels an immense sense of loss as not only did she lose her son, but she did not even get to say goodbye. Finally, Danny and Jem are obviously linked in many, many ways. First of all because Danny was actually killed by Jem’s father who was speeding as he was trying to get to Jem’s birth. ‘I’m trapped in a seven year old boy’s body, I’ve always been trapped in a seven year old boy’s body’. Danny’s dad left when he was seven years old and he was forced to become the man of the house even though he was still a little boy and even felt that it was his fault that his dad left, it then seems fitting that the body that he takes over is that of a seven year old boy. Another link is the constant reference to the zebra crossing and the zebra mask that Danny used to wear as a boy. This is because Danny was killed/committed suicide on a zebra crossing and Jem’s fainting spell on the zebra crossing was the causal incident of Danny taking over his body. Having studied Laban’s Basic Actions I was aware of the strength of movement patterns and choices made by the performers in order to convey their emotion and intentions. Sadie generally glides, as she moves in and out of their lives without them noticing. Ruth dabs most of the time as she tries to gently mother Jem/Danny and wants everything to be right again. Sol tends to punch and slash when becoming angry. These movements help develop the personalities of the characters and their mannerisms. Directorial Overview and Creative Teams COSTUMES The costumes are all of contemporary style. Clare’s costume changes, however, symbolised her transformation. From feeling like a ghost, dead inside, wearing thin white, almost wedding-like dressing gowns (which could also symbolise her inability to move on from her marriage to Danny) to much bolder, darker colours by the end, showing her growth in strength. Sadie’s sometimes radical costumes comically represent her cry for attention. With the loss of her brother taking her parents’ attention completely away from her, she eventually dresses in louder, slightly more promiscuous clothes and wears heavy make-up. The transition is gradual. Each time her parents continue to ignore her, her clothes and make-up become bolder and even more promiscuous. Her clothes are in sync with her behaviour as she evolves. The play is set in a house that resembled quite closely a sailing boat which is reminiscent of the ship that Sol had lost. Both the two families make use of the same set but not literally live in the same house. This idea of their houses being exactly the same further strengthens the connection between the families. It also is quite interesting as it is a non-naturalistic set with naturalistic acting until of course the actors burst into song which is non-naturalistic again, eclectic in style. These aspects add to the strangeness of the ghost story. The play uses a proscenium arch and a fourth wall is also in place which strengthens the detachment of the audience from the characters. The use of these styles and conventions allows the audience to be omniscient. The use of song lets the actors to portray certain emotions of the character that could perhaps not be communicated through actions or speech. In this play many of the characters struggle with communication, singing songs together let the audience see that even while the characters did not realise it, they were all in the boat and struggling in the same ways. While many props are used, several are deeply symbolic. The tree growing, as mentioned by one of the characters, symbolises Danny, still in the heart of Ruth. Clare and Danny’s wedding rings represent the way Danny is torn between loving Clare and resenting her for what she did. This is shown when he takes off her ring and throws it away but keeps his own ring of his finger. The piano lets Clare and Danny relate back to when they were still very much in love and alive. The sinking of Sol’s boat represents the pivotal point in the Glass family’s life, when everything started going downhill. The birds on the wall ‘trying to fly away’ represent everybody’s desire to let go of the past and last but most certainly not least is the radio. It is through the radio that Danny comes to Jem. This idea was obviously also inspired by the song Poor Boy. ‘The crackle of the radio A message in the evening sky’ (Poor Boy, Split Enz) A radio sits on top of the piano in the lounge of both houses. In the opening scene, the radio crackles with static as if something is trying to be transmitted. This radio symbolises Danny’s link to this world and also the static of the radio relates to the broken connections between the characters. Finally, the most obvious is that of the zebra mask. The zebra crossing is a link between Jem and Danny as previously mentioned. However, the black and white strips of a zebra could, in this instance, also represent the collision of all things innocent and pure (seven year old boy on his birthday) with darker, more tainted aspects (older man committing suicide because of his wife’s infidelity). The use of a zebra crossing may encompass the idea in that in order to get to the other side, to completely the journey, one must encounter both good and bad. As for the lighting design, there are several general washes, one for during the day, with warm colours and one for during the night, mostly blues and blacks. These also aid in creating the atmosphere which often imitates the emotions of the characters. For example, when the mood is tragic and sombre such as the scene when Vivianne and Sol give up their son, a dark blue general wash is used. However, contrasting against this is such a scene as that when Jem wakes up from being Danny. In this scene a lighter, more yellow general wash was used. Many specials are used as well. For example, the light coming from the lit candles of the birthday cake is aided through extra light being shined, most likely from a Profile Spot of Fresnel. Also, to emphasise the significance of a character in a certain scene, when all the lights are being dimmed, one special lingers on that character slightly longer than the rest. This could be trying to represent the fact that that character feels completely alone in their grief, as many of the characters did. Transitions between scenes are generally smooth, set changes however were obvious which I find detracts from the play but it often unavoidable. Most transitions followed a song and while the stage was in darkness the ensemble would play another tune, while this generally worked well, a way it could improve was by continuing the same song during the transition. This would make the scenes less disjointed.