Theatre Australia 3(5) December 1978 by UOW Library

Pinder’s Last Laugh Nowra on theatre Opera Extra

COMPLETE FESTIVAL OF SYDNEY SUPPLEMENT INSIDE

W ho’s sharing who’s stocking this Christmas?

Nimrod Theatre 500 Elizabeth St Surry Hills NSW 2010

NIMROD

Until Sunday 26 November Nimrod Upstairs

director Richard W herrett designer Larry Eastw ood Lou Brown, B randon Burke, Tom Farley, Gillian Jones, Margo Lee, roung

Until Sunday 19 November Nimrod Downstairs

oldKomfort

devised by Robyn Archer directed by Ken Horler design by Martin Sharp Robyn Archer, Jo h n G aden, Sharon Raschke, Jerry W esley

From Saturday 25 November Nimrod Downstairs

David Allen directed by Richard W herrett designed by A nthony Babicci T erence Clarke, Drew Forsythe, Henri Szeps, Kerry W alker

From Saturday 2 December Nimrod Upstairs Tom Stoppard directed by Ken Horler designed by Larry Eastw ood Jo h n G aden, Barry Lovett, W alter Pym, G eraldine Turner, G eorge W haley Nimrod Street Theatre Company Limited. Artistic Directors: John Bell, Ken Horler, Richard Wherrett. General Manager: Paul lies

The national magazine of the performing arts

Theatre Australia Volume 3 No. 5

December 1978

Departments

2 3 6 7 8 50

Comment Quotes and Queries Noises Off Whispers, Rumours and Facts Letters Guide — Theatre, Opera, Dance

Spotlight

9 10

Alexander Hay on acting — Joan Ambrose Joe MacColum looks back at his seven years with the Queensland Theatre Co.

11 11

Telethon Appeal

Features

12 15 17

Whose Stocking would you like to sharefor Christmas? John Pinder — Raymond Stanley reports Louis Nowra — Writer's View

Profile: Joan Sydney — Colin O’Brien John Pinder

P.15

II, David Allen

Playscript

Gone With Hardy — Act

International

20 42

Random Jottings on London Theatre and Film — Alan Bayreuth King — William Shoubridge

Dance

ADT's Choreographic Worksop-— Alan Brissenden

Opera

Opera Extra — Pamela Ruskin, David G^ger and

Theatre Reviews

VIC

William Shoubridge f

wollongoni

Annie — Raymond Stanley Nygw c The Spalding Family Album — Margaret McLusky The Next Greatest Pleasure — John Bryson Liv Ullmann — Roger Pulvers The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui — Roger Pulvers Light Shining in Buckinghamshire — V. 1. Richards 25

QLD

Habeas Corpus and Mothers and Fathers — Veronica Kelly Heartbreak House — Jeremy Ridgman Hamlet — Don Batchelor 27

A Hatful of Sykes and The Hostage — Collin O'Brien The Empire Builders — Peter Mann Rock-ola — Cliff Gillam Die Zauberflote — Derek Moore Morgan Patience — Peter Mann 30

Five page Opera Extra begins P.41

NSW

Flesh and Blood — Anthony Barclay The Lady from Maxim's — Errol Bray A Lad 'n his Lamp — Robert Page A Visit with the Family — Rex Cramphorn 33

Cymbeline — Michael Morley Windows and On The Edge in Search of Happiness — Bruce McKendry

Film

Patrick — Elizabeth Riddell

Records

Lighter listening; operetta, ballet — Roger Coveil

Books

The great revealed — John McCallum

Records

P.48

Thespia’s Crossword No.6

Film Review — PATRICK P.54

Tliealre Australia Editor: Executive Editor: Manager: Artist:

Robert Page Lucy Wagner Brad Keeling Henry Cho

Advisory Board:

The Festival Season is with us once more. With the proliferation of state festivals, the twelve months from the ’78 Adelaide Festival must be the biggest year for these mass events to date. The dramatic ripples of the Adelaide Festival went on spreading around the continent as the international companies showed their works in most states. In that sense it is a national event, and one which really does inject fresh inspiration into the work done here. Cricot 2’s Dead Class and Steve Berkoffs East seem to have been the pick of a remarkable and varied crop that had been chosen with great skill. This year Queensland too, entered the festival stakes with its Brisbane Warrana Festival of the Arts, and the quantity and quality of theatre events there seem to have been an exciting new departure. With an open air Oedipus, Steve Spears as temporary writer in residence at La Boite and a mammoth production of The Ancient Mariner in St John’s Cathedral in the first harvest, who knows what future years will bring. Melbourne celebrated Moomba once again, but this community festival is less interested than most in the dramatic side of communal activities. Not to be outdone, Tasmania is joining the fray with an International Puppet Festival being held in Hobart during the first week of January ’79. The reason that Hobart is hosting this major coming together of world-wide puppeteers is the outstanding work that has been done by the Tasmanian Puppet Theatre over the last two years. They have been recognised by the Tasmanian Premier, Mr Lowe, who has been quoted as saying that “the dedicated team at the TPT is helping to put Tasmania on the artistic map, as well as providing entertainment and valuable educational assistance.” This dedication is now being borne out throughout Australia in the acclamation accorded to the tour of Momma's Little Horror Show, currently in Sydney. The theme of the Puppet Festival is “Puppets: Mime, Mask, Movement and Sound,” and taking part will be companies from China, Japan, Russia and the UK. Perth will be starting its annual festivities — this year much boosted by anniversary celebrations — in February, but in the mean time the month long Sydney Festival will be on again beginning with the traditional Opera House New Year’s Eve party. Last year an impressive one million four hundred thousand people attended events and performances of the Festival overall — with one hundred thousand of those seeing the various theatre fare available. For 1979 over eighteen theatres of Sydney are preparing a variety of entertainment for the Festival, ranging from opera to panto and for all age ranges. Mainly the Sydney Festival has capitalised on what theatre has been planned for that time anyway, and simply brought it under their umbrella with publicity and perhaps some donation towards the cost, but it has done little to initiate events in the field. In this addition Nimrod is once more mounting its now regular production of Treasure Island on Clark Island, 2

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

with the boat trip out as an extra bonus for the kids, and also opening Buzo’s Makassar Reef in its Upstairs Theatre. The Australian Opera’s summer season — Albert Herring and Fidelio — will be opening under the banner and the Marionette Theatre of Australia will be showing The Mysterious Potamus. More unusually PACT will be presenting a children’s do-ityourself pantomime, and the Theatre Royal is taking advantage of the Festival to launch its own company. Their first production will be Ben Travers’ The Bed Before Yesterday for which Rachel Roberts is coming over to star. But this year the Festival is also creating happenings in the theatre — as they always have with jazz for instance — not just promoting what already exists. In spite of the Hobart Puppet Festival, Sydney is putting on the Golden Lion Puppet-Troupe who live in Australia but specialise in the rare craft of Sicilian puppetry. Sicily’s tradition of puppetry differs from most because of its three hundred year-old tradition of folklore and the use of metre high puppets, some of which weigh twenty kilos. Instead of the strings used to work smaller puppets these ones are manipulated by iron bars, and being hand carved and painted they are unique in Australia. Golden Lion will be presenting the original version of Pinocchio — in English — with thirty small marionettes. Festival of Sydney Playwrights is the other venture the Festival is making possible in January, which has grown out of the Ensemble’s alternative theatre at the Stables. A season of four new Australian plays will take place there from 2nd to 21st January; plays that involve too much risk for the Ensemble to stage at their main theatre, but which have come out of their Playreading Bureau with an obvious need to be presented to an audience. Although the playwrights’ names will be unfamiliar the Festival’s sponsorship has meant that four strong directors — Stanley Walsh, Tony Ingersent, Fred Simms and Gary Baxter — will be directing experienced actors in the plays. The first is written by Phillip Mann, presently an ABC TV Drama Script Editor, whose How Sleep The Brave will not be his first stage script, but the first to be produced in Sydney. Likewise Ken Hale is also an experienced writer, but Syndrome is his first stage play, about politics and corruption. The two remaining plays are a double-bill of one-acters by Graeme Nixon, who has worked in TV and film but has not written for the stage since doing the odd revue and plays at university in the fifties. This obviously valuable exercise could encourage an interesting new initiative in playwrighting in those who are mature and experienced in other media, and from which the theatre may have a lot to gain. So, everything is set to go from New Year’s Eve and “Australia’s biggest free party" centring round a six and a half hour concert on the Opera House forecourt. Apparently there is a growing interest abroad in the now famous opening of the Festival so perhaps it will afford a chance to increasingly show to overseas tourists that the infamous Qantas ads are not to be taken seriously.

John Bell, Graeme Blundell, Ellen Braye, Katharine Brisbane, Vivian Chalwyn, Gordon Chater, John Clark, Michael Crosby, W.A. Enright, Jack Hibberd, Ken Horler, Garrie Hutchinson, Robert Jordan, Philip Mason, Stan Marks, Jake Newby, Phil Noyce, Raymond Omodei, Philip Parsons, Diana Sharpe, Ken Southgate, Raymond Stanley, Elizabeth Sweeting, Marlis Thiersch, John Timlin, Tony Trench, Guthrie Worby, Richard Wherrett. Advertising:

Manager and Co-ordinator: Brad Keeling Adelaide: Melbourne: > Brad Keeling Sydney: J (02) 922-4494 Brisbane: Media Resources, Queensland

(07) 262-6798 Perth: Patrick Cordier (09) 364-2127 Correspondents: N.S.W.: Vic.: Qld.: W.A.: S.A.:

Editors (049) 67-4470 Raymond Stanley (03) 419-1204 Don Batchelor (07) 269-3018 Joan Ambrose (09) 299-6639 Michael Morley (08) 275-2204

Theatre Australia gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Australia Council, the Literature Board of the Australia Council, the New South Wales Cultural Grants Board, the Arts Grants Advisory Committee of South Australia, the Queensland Cultural Activities Department, the Victorian Ministry of the Arts, The Western Australian Arts Council and the Assistance of the University of Newcastle. Manuscripts:

Manuscripts and editorial correspondence should be forwarded to the editorial office, 80 Elizabeth Street, Mayfield, NSW 2304. Telephone (049) 67-4470. Whilst every care is taken of manuscripts and visual material supplied for this magazine, the publishers and their agents accept no liability for loss or damage which may occur. Unsolicited manuscripts and visual material will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. Opinions expressed in signed articles are not necessarily those of the editors. Subscriptions:

The subscription rate is $18.00 post free within Australia. Cheques should be made payable to Theatre Australia and posted to Theatre Publications Ltd., 80 Elizabeth Street, Mayfield, NSW 2304. Theatre Australia is published by Theatre Publications Ltd., 80 Elizabeth Street, Mayfield, NSW 2304. Telephone (049) 67-4470. Distributed by subscription and through theatre foyers etc. by Theatre Publications Ltd., and to newsagents throughout Australia by Gordon and Gotch (A’asia) Ltd., Melbourne, Sydney. Wholly set up by Tell & Sell Promotions, printed in Australia by Leader Publishing House. © Theatre Publications Ltd. All rights reserved except where specified. The cover price is maximum recommended retail price only. Registered for posting as a periodical-category B.

Noel Ferner. Photo: Peter Holderness

AVAILABLE FOR DAME N O E L F E R R IE R

“Christmas comes but once a year and once it used to bring us at least one, or sometimes two, pantomimes in each of our capital cities. The sad part about many of the kids today, yesterday and even the day before, is that they’ve never experienced a real live Tivoli Pantomime with all of the stars of the current night time variety show appearing twice daily as the Ugly Sisters, Babes in the Wood, Principal Boy, Dick Whittington etc. If any one single factor developed my love for the theatre it was my annual pilgrimage to the dear old Tivoli in Melbourne, to perch precariously mesmerised in the gods, singing along, catching a few Minties which made it to the upper circle, screaming at the villain, stamping my feet and roaring advice to the principal boy (who else but the amazing Jenny Howard), going to the lavatory during the tedious love song and hating it when the curtain fell for the last time on the whole magical experience. Perhaps we could shave off a few thousand dollars from the opera and the ballet companies and use it to finance a Palladium sized panto annually at the Opera House. Dare 1 say this would do more to build our future theatre audiences than all the school visits to see Swan Lake Gilbert and Sullivan and Shakespeare rolled into one. Also I would make a terrific Dame and furthermore 1 am available. Happy Christmas!"

HOOPLA 79 G A R R IE H U T C H IN S O N

“Onwards and upwards. At this moment, in

early November, we confidently believe there will be a 1979, and yes we do believe in Father Christmas. We have applied to the patrons for funds, we still have one and a half theatres, we are still talking to each other, and it appears that in spite of an up and down, in and out year we are still friends with a number of actors, writers and directors. Thanlc you very much. But most of all, we are still in existence. Having reached that conclusion (1 write therefore we exist) we have to decide what to do. In fact we know what we want to do, but until the patrons let slip a few crumbs from the table we are unable to know for sure, and thus we won’t say. We’ve been talking to the theatre people we have worked with over the past couple of years, to see what they think, and there have been long nights with a flagon of ruby port sitting in the stalls and describing productions with the moving finger on the dark stage and mumbling quiet imprecations into the flies. Various wives, husbands, barpersons, lovers, sportsmen, dealers and absent friends have put in their bit. Suffice to say if we’re allowed to do it, it will be real nice. Not chestnuts as one patron suggested but nuts nonetheless. Watch this space.”

LIGHT POWERED FESTIVAL AGCSPOKESMAN

with gas since 1841. It is as a result of discussion between AGC and the Festival Committee that they decide what parts of the Festival to participate in. This year the company is taking part in the opening party, sponsoring the Australian Festival of Folk Life at the Regent Theatre and the Childrens Theatre at Hyde Park — and of course the parade. These are leading activities within the Festival of Sydney and ones in need of financial support. The Australian Gas Light Company wishes the Festival of Sydney much success, and congratulates the Festival Committee on what it has done for the community. They are pleased to be part of the whole venture.”

MAKING USE OF STATE RIVALRY PE TE R H E M M IN G S , D ire c to r A u s tra lia n O p e ra .

“From 1971-1976 it was right and natural that most of The Australian Opera’s efforts should be concentrated on developing an audience for the magnetic symbol of the Sydney Opera House. With 98% audiences in 1978 that can be said to have been done. Now on the horizon are great new opera houses in Melbourne and Brisbane and one already existing in Adelaide. The Australian Opera must now fulfil the national commitment inherent in its title in tandem with the State Companies. In these three states combined subscriptions are now the order of the day and have led to greatly increased houses. The Australian Opera has also bought a production of Idomeneo from the Victoria State Opera and invited the Symphony Orchestra of South Australia to bring to Sydney their production of Nicholas Maw’s One Man Show. In this way the State Companies are strengthened and Sydney sees a wider repertoire at a time when financial problems might militate against this. Those involved in the cause of developing opera in Australia should use interstate rivalries to advantage."

QTC PROGNOSIS FOR SUCCESS ALA N

EDW ARDS,

A r tis tic

D ir e c to r ,

Q TC .

“Our capital city season for '79 will start with

since its inception in 1977. They have taken on this role and supported the Festival because as the oldest commercial company in the country,

Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, then Breaker Morant by Ken Ross, followed by Hedda Gabler. Another Australian play with Dave Allen’s Gone With Hardy, then Streetcar Named Desire. The play after that isn’t yet decided on, but for the Brisbane and Warrana Festival of the Arts we’ll be doing a huge open air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream

they feel very much a part of the Sydney community. They have been supplying Sydney

in Albert Park which hopefully will involve the Queensland Opera and Ballet, and possibly the

“The Australian Gaslight Company is the principle commercial sponsor of the Festival of Sydney, and has been in each of the three years

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Q&Q Queensland Theatre Orchestra. We end the year with what we hope will be a smash hit, Frank Thring in The Man Who Came to Dinner. We’ll be keeping up our three country tours with Arts Council and next year’s will be Clowneroonies, after it’s played the Sydney Festival, and The Twenties and All That Jazz, probably directed by John Deidrich. I don't yet know what the third will be. Sleuth has been such a success this year that we have pulled it back from touring into a short season in December in Brisbane. I believe in capitalising on success and 1978 has been an extremely good year for us, especially Big Toys, Cherry Orchard and Lear. This means there are two possible new schemes for next year, budgets permitting; one is keeping on Warner Street Church Hall and doing ‘poor theatre’ productions in it; and the other is six o’clock theatre at the SGIO, which would mean giving young directors a chance of doing one hour, good plays before the main performance. It looks like a good prognosis for the QTC in ’79, and added to all that our TIE work will keep going, primary and secondary concentrating on International Year of the Child, and Project Spearhead in more specialised areas, particularly handicapped children.”

FESTIVAL DRAMA P A U L IN E

STEEL,

P re s s

P u b lic ity

O ffic e r

“The Festival of Perth has announced its drama programme for 1979 together with a major breakthrough in the field of corporate sponsorship of drama in Western Australia. Leading English playwright Tom Stoppard heads the list of distinguished theatricals coming to Perth from overseas and interstate. The Festival in association with Clifford Hocking will bring to Australia the world famous Prospect Theatre Company from London, with stars Derek Jacobi and Timothy West. From Sydney the Nimrod Theatre Company will present for Festival a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet directed by John Bell and starring Mel Gibson, Angela Punch, Kerry Walker, Drew Forsythe and Peter Carroll, whilst the National Theatre Company will

present

the

Australian

Premiere

Stoppard’s new play Night and Day. The Perth Building Society is sponsoring the 1979 Festival’s drama programme for the first time. This is a particularly important development in arts funding as huge increases

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR REP

P S POTSHOTS

M IC H A E L

T E R R Y V A U G H A N , D ir e c to r , C a n b e rr a

LANCHBERRY,

D ire c to r ,

C a n b e rr a R ep.

T h e a tr e C e n tre

“This is all a new departure for me and one that I welcome. I left Saddlers Wells in 1973 after fifteen years of singing and directing around the world — a car accident stopped me singing — and went to direct the Tasmanian Opera Company for five years. Now I’m getting used to Australian drama; Buzo's Martello Towers was the first Australian

“The Australian premiere season of Flextime, New Zealander Roger Hall’s comedy about the Public Service, turned out to be more popular with Canberra’s youngies than with the middleaged public servants. The Canberra Theatre Trust’s production directed by John Tasker pan for three and a half weeks in October at the Playhouse to full houses, and enthusiastic cheers and whistles from the 20-30 year-olds

play I’d directed and it did excellent business. Directing drama as opposed to opera means you use very different thought processes, you create your own rhythms and stresses. I’m looking forward to creating my own ensemble here and aiming for a professional core of actors eventually. Next year we will be doing Godspell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will be designed by Patrick Gauci of the Victorian State Opera, and then Anne Godfrey Smith will be directing Dusa Fish Stas and Vi. After that the Servant o f Two Masters is on the cards, hopefully in a modern version. I want to be very democratic and am going to great lengths to find new people; 150 were auditioned for Godspell. I see Rep as very serious in its work, it has been going now for forty years and I want to stretch it, as well as myself, in new directions. At the moment eighty people are attending the classes I give, with fifty on the waiting list. Coming from a musical family and background (I'm Jack’s nephew) I centre my teaching on that, and Grotowski, and find that it works very well.

B IL L Y O U N G , P ro d u c e r , K ir r ib illi Pub

I’m only sorry that what I am doing in Canberra is seen as valid and of interest here, but was ignored in Hobart.”

NZ BROTHERS PETER CARROLL

“I am here to tell you that I have returned from NZ after a terrific six week tour for Nimrod in (what else?) Ron Blair’s The Christian Brothers. All the major centres were hit: Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin; and the audience girls and pois seemed to enjoy themselves very much. I found petrol dearer, food the same, rent cheaper, wages smaller, and I’m not saying anything about the wine. The whole place really is a most superb golf course covered with lamb chops and occasional earthquakes (of which we had two but slept through one).

both excellent. The presentations of Roger Hall’s plays Glide Time and Middle Aged Spread were enjoying tremendous appeal and bear comparison in content and approach with our

general in Australia.”

own David Williamson.”

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

SYDNEY’S LAST PUB THEATRE

T h e a tr e .

in the cost of theatre productions in particular make it imperative that Arts organisations look for commercial and private patronage in addition to Government subsidy to fill the everincreasing gap between production costs and box-office revenue. It is to be hoped that other companies will follow the Perth Building Society and thus help maintain the growth of high quality drama in particular and the Arts in

comprising 80% of the audiences. After-show comments from older public servants or thank-yous from P S guests of maturer vintage were rather noticeably absent. Maybe some of the lines cut a bit too deep — “Ever noticed a bloke’s face when you tell him you’re a public servant? He’s sorry for you.” “The bosses are so damn worried about what the public might think they don’t give a stuff about the staff.” And the clincher “...my life’s been just a waste of time.” However, Flextime’s sending-up of the P S is mostly in lighter vein — “Look Mum, I can’t talk now, it’s teabreak. I’ll ring you later” — and in Canberra obviously appealed to the general public. Which is clearly why Nimrod Theatre subsequently secured the rights; a potshot at local departments could be as popular interstate as in Canberra.”

The NZ theatre scene grows apace with permanent.companies in each centre proudly patronised by the locals. Two productions that I saw Sweeney Todd and State o f Revolution were

L to R — Laura Gabriel (Dorothy), Paul Chubb (Witch) The Over The Rainbow Show Kirribilli Pub Theatre 1978. “I decided to produce Kirribilli Pub Theatre after seeing and participating in similar ventures at the Civic Hotel and the White Horse Hotel. Those two venues have since closed which leaves us, to my knowledge, as the only professional pub theatre in Sydney. Our first production, The Over the Rainbow (Continued on page 52)

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Telephone 358 6788

Telephone 63 2218 THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

enthusiasts this is a great place to browse but at the time of writing there was a possibility that the mart may not get underway properly before Christmas. I hope it is well underway by now as these sort of items make great presents. LEGAL HASSLES MY MISTAKE I received a phone call from the C'omputicket office about last month’s comment in which I mentioned that London seats available through Computicket are probably the second best seats in the house. Well, they are not the second best seats in the house at all — they are the best.

Last month The Canberra Repertory Society advertised their new production — Godspell but at the last minute they were unable to put the play on. Why? 1 don’t know except that there was a problem with the rights etcetera. This is a shame because Canberra Rep is a very hard working bunch and deserve greater success than they are getting. A Midsummer Night's Dream starts this month so get along to see it if you can.

ON STAGE Ms Joyce Higgins a lady whose name is usually associated with casting has been spending the past few months looking for financial support for a theatrical company she is starting called On Stage. The concept of On Stage is to give opportunities to actors and actresses who are confronted with the problem of the chicken and the egg. Through this company potentially good actors and actresses can gain valuable experience on stage.

Anne Phelan

The firey tempered Biddy Carroll (Aleda Johnsen), holding at gun point the evil villain Sir Garfield Squeeze (Bruce Barry), whilst a bewildered heroine Sally Lightfoot (Anne Semler) watches on. A scene from the Music Hall’s current thrilling melodrama Crushed By Desire. HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY Not so long ago the Music Hall in Sydney held its seventeenth birthday. The show, Crushed With Desire starring Anne Semler (above) and Bruce Barry was extremely good entertainment typical of the Music Hall. The price is right, the food is excellent and it’s a great night out if ever you are in Sydney. Their next production starts in February next year and if it’s anything like the current show it is definitely worth seeing. By the way, keep an eye out for our Theatre Restaurant Review in the May issue

oiTA . ANTIQUE MART Deberah Brooks and Joe Lebovic have started up a memorabilia market in the Antique Market in Surry Hills in Sydney. This mart specialises in movie posters and general theatrical memorabilia as well as art and so on. For 6

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

CABARET Last month Cabaret started at the actors company and unfortunately Anne Phelan (above) doesn't remind me of Sally Bowles in the slightest but don’t let that stop you from seeing the show. Miss Phelan, an ex-Glitter Sister is a good performer and has an interesting voice and any way everything the Actors Company does is worth seeing. FISHING FOR STARDOM Greg Rowe of Storm Boy fame and Hardy Kruger star in the South Australian Film Corporation’s latest film — Blue Fin. This film is one of the best Australian films 1 have ever seen. It caters for a wide range of audience but mainly it’s a boy’s adventure film. I have heard that Greg Rowe has a three year contract with the SAFC and to my knowledge if this is so he is the only actor in the country with such a contract.

YOU NEED OPERA AUSTRALIA ALL THE NATIONAL NEWS INTERVIEWS WITH VISITING PERSONALITIES, BACKGROUND MATERIAL ON BOTH NATIONAL AND REGIONAL COMPANY PRODUCTIONS.

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AN EXPENSIVE BALL In the October issue of TA there was an advertisment for The Performing Arts Ball held by The Designers Association in the Performing Arts. The ball was to be held at the Paddington Town Hall, it was twenty dollars per head and it was fancy dress. The ball was cancelled because of lack of interest but in my opinion it was not lack of interest but lack of money that prevented people wanting to go. Twenty bucks is a lot of money for a night out at the Paddo Town Hall when the Black and White Ball at the Wentworth Hotel was only sixteen.

Circulation Manager, Opera Australia PC). Box R223, Royal Exchange, NSW 2000 I enclose my cheque for . Please send the next 12 issues of Opera Australia to: Name Address Postcode

Ray Stanley’s

WHISPERS RUMOURS

Managements could perhaps save both them selves and investors much money and less anguish if, when staging American plays and musicals, they followed one simple rule: first wait and see how it fares in London. If it flops there, then it will do likewise here. If it is a success in London it can still fail here, but the chances of this happening are not too great. As far as 1 know there has never been an exception to this rule. If anyone thinks they know of one, I should like to hear of it. Story going around London of the fellow who went to the box office of the Prince Edward Theatre and asked for two tickets to see Evita. “Sorry, sold out!”, he was told. He persisted: “If Prince Philip or Prince Charles wanted two seats for tonight would you have them?” “Of course”, came the reply. “Well, they’re NOT coming”, he said, “so I'll have their seats!” Yet another Dracula play in America. This time Dracula, the Vampire King in San Diego, with Michael Ansara starring . . . And, jumping onto the Dracula bandwaggon, there’s going to be an Australian film called Thirst about women vampires. It will be produced by Tony Fantasm Ginnane, with screenplay written by The Australian (once Age) columnist John Pinkney . . . Meanwhile, despite rumours floating around to the contrary, am assured by Kenn Brodziak that the John Waters Dracula will open in Melbourne next February. After seven years Joe MacColum is obviously going to be missed as associate director of the Queensland Theatre Company, where his productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, St Joan and The Cherry Orchard were obvious highlights. Now he’s going to free-lance as a director, and first up will be Shaw’s You Never Can Tell — for the QTC early in 1979! Joe wants to remain in Queensland, directing for non-professional as well as professional groups, because of the considerable theatrical activity and growth he sees taking place in the state. As he puts it: “The theatrical pot is close to boiling here and, as I don't mind the heat, I want to continue to work in the kitchen.” But, just occasionally, we’d like to see your work in some of the eastern states Joe. Rumours that Diana Rigg will be coming out to play St Joan. Remember last time it toured, back in 1962 for the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Zoe Caldwell was the Maid. And

back in the early thirties it was Sybil Thorndike . . . When is actor Brian James going to finish that Gothic type novel he’s writing? Isn’t generally known, but Brian has written several short stories . . . Is it true that Steve Berkoffs production of Metamorphosis for the Nimrod is likely to tour next year? And what about Tiny Tim going there next year! Am more than a little confused as to just what is a superstar. It doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand with talent I know, but is usually associated with someone whose name is such a household one, the mere mention of it sets off furious activity at the box office. Right at the beginning of the advertising campaign in Melbourne for the two Quintero-directed plays, Liv Ullmann was proudly designated as a ‘superstar’. A little later, as if the promoters were a little unsure, posters appeared around the city displaying Ullmann’s portrait with the words “This is Liv Ullmann”. So am still wondering just what is the definition of a superstar. Anyone like to enlighten me? See that Jack of all trades at the South Australian Theatre Company (and what’s more master of all), actor, playwright, director, translator (plus many others we won't name!) Nick Enright, is being referred to as “The Whiz Kid”. Couldn't agree more . . . With people still talking about her stunning performance as Margo Channing in a non-professional production of Applause, wonder where producer Leonard Cooper will be staging Val Lehman's upcoming one-woman show . . . Just when I thought we’d heard the last of The 20s And All That Jazz (and really, at this stage of their careers those kids ought to be moving on to other things), I learn the show definitely opens in Hong Kong next March. Seems it will be presented there by Derek Nimmo and his son. Sounds like a good link up, that marriage between Garry Van Egmond and Robert Sturgess to jointly present classical attractions, with latter operating this division. Garry, who was once Harry M Miller’s right hand man in Melbourne, has been involved in presentation of a number of successful pop groups, made a lot of money out of the Doctors in Love tour and more recently the Bette Midler concerts. Robert for several years was general manager for the old JCWs and responsible for signing up Victoria de Los Angeles, Guiseppe di Stefano, Yehudi Menuhin and Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic. As an independent producer, he was responsible for the recent 14week tour of Keith Michell and the Chichester Festival Theatre Comany which grossed over one million dollars. Memo to all state companies: Although he’s still got the best part of a year to go under his present contract playing Tom in TV’s The Sullivans, Steven Tandy is itching to get back to the stage. Wouldn’t mind repeating his role of Kilroy in Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real, or John Worth in The Importance o f Being Earnest. Steven says it’s his ambition to one day play Othello....And did you hear about Margaret

Littman strolling with Tennessee Williams when a painfully thin girl hobbled by. “That’s Anorexia Nervosa”, whispered Margaret. Replied Williams: “Oh Margaret, you know everybody!” Looks a strong cast John Finlayson has assembled for that revue-style play Bullshot Crummond, opening January 4 at Hobart’s Theatre Royal for the Tasmanian Fiesta: Sandy Gore, Betty Bobbitt, Gary Down, John Diedrich and Allen Harvey. Let’s hope it transfers to the mainland...Will Terry Donovan get the opportunity of re-creating his outstanding stage performance in the title role when the film of Breaker Morant is made? Bruce Beresford will be directing...Apparently career of composer Marvin Chorus Line Hamlish started when, as an 18-year-old rehearsal pianist for Peggy Lee, he was asked at the last moment to play the piano at a party. “I don’t play for parties”, he said, “and besides, I’ve got my homework to do!” Told that Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel was giving the party, Marvin said: “I’ll be there in 10 minutes!” And that’s how it all started for him. Derek Glynne, JCW’s one-time London rep, who was involved with Michael Edgley in presentation of Marcel Marceau on his last tour, and will be co-presenting with Michael the D’Oyley Carte Opera Company here May September next year, has further ideas for Australia. He has acquired Australian rights to three London successes: Six o f One, Shut Your Eyes and Think of England and Whose Life Is It Anyway? One British star will probably be imported for each production...Heard in the foyer after the opening of Annie in Melbourne: “The sets are lovely — but why must the cast keep getting in front of them?” And at the Melbourne opening of the Liv Ullman plays, in the audience was New York critic Clive Barnes nodding off to sleep!!

ONLY AUSTRALIAN BOOKS at

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Re-issue now available of “Theatres in Australia” an Historical Perspective of significant buildings by Ross Thorne. $2.95.

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Dear Sir, I refer to Pamela Ruskin's interview with Kristian Fredrikson in your October issue. Kris is a member of the Designers Association in the Performing Arts and we wish to support his views regarding the import of overseas designers. DAPA now numbers seventy members from film, theatre and television. Forty six are theatre designers and eight are N1DA students, three of whom are about to graduate. DAPA has no objection to a designer of brilliant talent entering the country — this would always prove a stimulus. But we have protested strongly to managements and shall continue to protest if a subsidised company brings in a designer whose work we consider could be equalled or surpassed by one of our members. Unfortunately, there are limited opportunities for designers to be resident with a company, thereby ensuring a regular weekly wage, and the remainder battle to secure commissions. Even those who may appear to be doing well, often have gaps between jobs. There is no guarantee of continuity of work. Surely, therefore, we have a right to expect Australian artists to be considered before an overseas one. Other countries are now tightening their laws against importing foreign designers in order to give employment to their own people. It’s about time Australia did the same! Your sincerely, A ils a C a r p e n te r A d m in is tra to r , D A P A

Dear Sir, Kristian Fredrikson asserted in your last issue that “We are turning out design graduates from NIDA at the taxpayers expense and they are not being used.” If this is intended as a criticism of producers and managements who bypass Australians in favour of imported British or European designers, then 1 am most sympathetic. If it is intended to suggest that NIDA is wasting the taxpayers' money by training people who cannot find employment, it is quite untrue. There have been 16 graduates in Design since 1974. Peter Cook. Fiona Reilly and Stephen Gow are currently designing productions for the Queensland Theatre Company. Steve Nolan, Mark Wager and Lyn Forde are with the Melbourne Theatre Company. Phillip Edmiston has established his own Marionette company. Christopher Webster has been constantly engaged in film art direction and Louella Hatfield is with the A.B.C. Bill Pritchard and Melody Cooper have freelanced with a number of theatre companies in Sydney and Melbourne. Anthony Babicci designs for the Q Theatre. THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Jane Hipsley has gone to England to undertake further studies in design and Eamon D’Arcy is an assistant designer for the British National Theatre. Eamon is sharing in the Loudon Sainthill Scholarship for Australian designers. Before the Design Course was established, several graduates of the Production Course have become professional designers. Kim Carpenter designs for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Robert Dein has designed for the Young Vic Company in London and Lindsay McGarrity is also working in Britain. The NIDA Design Course does not pretend to graduate finished artists. It is primarily concerned with training craftsmen competent to work in the design department of professional theatre companies, in film and television, who will hopefully progress to greater responsibility as they gain experience. This is exactly what most of them have done. Yours sincerely. JO H N R C L A R K D ire c to r

Dear Sir, John Clark can rest assured that 1 intended no criticism of NIDA — a national school of design is unquestionably required. If there is any question of taxpayers’ money being wasted, the fault lies not with NIDA, which is fulfilling its function, but with any subsidised theatre management which favours overseas designers at the expense of competent resident artists. That NIDA graduates of the last few years are satisfactorily employed is reassuring, but does not lessen the fact that any increase in import designers will decrease their future prospects. NIDA graduates make up only part of the total design force in this country. Let an overseas designer take one of the few resident positions here and an Australian could lose a career and a living. For every imported design an Australian is out of work. The hard fact is that at the best of times a design career is tough to negotiate, particularly as it takes many years for a free-lance designer to gain the number of credits necessary to command enough fees in a year to be commensurate with the average annual wage. The young Australian designer on the first rungs is in double jeopardy — he/she is not only competing with numerous compatriots, but also with the possibility that a future commission could be lost to an import designer. The first case is part of the normal cut and thrust of theatre and usually resolved by the individual's talent quota, but the second is a discouraging situation for those young craftsmen who would ordinarily hope one day to accept — as John Clark says — “greater responsibility”.

As country after country closes its gates to the itinerant designer, Australia is apparently still open to any foreign designer invited in by a wellheeled company. Managements give various persuasive reasons for imports — based mostly on the argument that import directors prefer to work with their own designers. Understandable perhaps, but if a company were to seriously express a wish to use an Australian designer I am sure it could find just as cogent reasons not to import. Several resident designers, myself included, have already worked successfully with international directors and choreographers. The country which produced Loudon Sainthill, Nolan, and Truscott, etc, surely holds enough credentials to employ its own. The objection to imports is not based on their quality — sometimes the results are stimulating — but on the increasing quantity. If there were a reciprocal agreement or a quota system the situation would appear less menacing. A sensible arrangement made now would enable Australian audiences to enjoy the work of their most talented investments as well as a percentage of top international design and thus avoid increased conflict and the inevitable cry for a total ban on imports. Yours sincerely, K r is tia n F re d r ik s o n F itz r o y , V ic to r ia .

Dear Sir, Much as 1 regret having to cast doubts on a fine and dramatic yarn, the account of the performance on 22 July, 1936 of Till The Day I Die by the New Theatre in your last issue would appear to differ somewhat from the recollections of my parents who were on the stage of the Savoy that evening. Unfortunately they have not kept documentary evidence but they have written their memories down for me. My father, Jack Maclean writes as follows:“I played the role of Ernst in Till The Day I Die on the night of 22nd July, 1936 at the Savoy Theatre when the police were present. I also played the part of Ernst for over 20 times after that performance at the New Theatre in 36 Pitt Street on Sunday evenings to invited audiences as the play was banned. The police did not crash into the Savoy Theatre but remained at the back of the hall taking notes. There was no interference from the police and although the police wagon was parked outside the theatre, the play went on without a hitch and no arrests were made.” My mother, Pat Tucker, adds the following: “I was in Waiting for Lefty at the Savoy in July 1936 and remember the police standing along the back wall taking notes. It was a good (Continued on page 14)

Alexander Hay on acting Recorded by Joan Ambrose “T here is a quality about the theatre that I lik e, w hich m any actors find disturbing, the ephem eral quality, the idea that there is a perform ance on a given evening, and that an actor utterly com m its him self, then it is gone, and then there m ust be another perform ance with an equal am oun t of com m itm ent on the next evening, — that excites m e. 1 like being in a play, bu ild in g a character, living w ith it for a long tim e, and then when the final curtain com es on the last nigh t, there is som e sense of regret, bu t then there is change. T he set m ust com e down bu t a new set will be bu ilt, and then there will be a com p lete ch an ge, an organic change, a difference in style, in century even, a difference in tem p eram ent with a new part. All that fascin ates me. “ A nd there are m any other aspects. T he work. T he actors concep t. It is a very com p licated thing, for I believe the bu sin ess of the actor is to hold up a mirror. No. For that w ould im ply realism — the theatre is not realism . T he bu siness of an actor, is I believe, to illum inate hum anity to hu m anity, and if a play does not attem pt that in som e way it really d o esn ’t interest m e. “ B ut I d id n ’t always regard theatre so seriously. In fact I becam e an actor more or less by ch ance. I w anted to leave school. The careers m aster had a list of possible occu p ation s that began with A ble seam an and en d ed w ith Z oologist. N one appealed but I th ou gh t I’d try Actor. “T he Royal A cadem y of D ram atic Art offered a scholarship. “ O n the app ointed day I w ent to London for the interview. I was ushered into the inner cham bers of an im posing b u ild in g and discovered that the adjud icating pan el consisted of various dignitories inclu ding Irene and V iolet V anbrugh, a sm all snoring dog, and in addition G eorge Bernard Shaw, sharply qu izzical, look in g at m e with intent blue eyes under his shaggy eyebrows. “T he aud ition piece was to be from Sh akespeare. I thou ght H am let. I decided that “T o be or not to b e ” was tactlessly inappropriate for this occasion and had chosen “ O h w hat a rogue and peasan t slave am I” and with what com posu re I had, I was about to laun ch off on “ O h w hat a rogu e” etcetera when lun ch was served to the com m ittee. A nd from there on, apart from w aving a fork at m e to proceed, they took no notice of m e at all, and the dog con tin u ed to chase rabbits in his dream s. “ I left the aud ition think ing, well, I w onder w h at’s on the careers m aster’s list under B. “ No one was m ore confoun ded than I w hen a letter cam e a fortnight later to say

that I had been awarded the scholarship. “ S tu dents did not learn a lot at R A D A at that period, in the sense of form al lessons. T h ese days som e of those lessons w ould be regarded as som ew hat quaint. Lessons on the correct way to pour tea for instan ce, but my tutors created an atm osp here of theatre that one absorbed, and of course, London theatre at the tim e, w as m agic. Students, for a few pence could sit in the gods. I think I went to the theatre every night of the week. “T hen I join ed a com pany as an assistant stage m anager and eventually un derstud ied. T here was m arvellous talen t to observe and work with. A nd my seriou sness of purpose grew. For I believe that the even tual im portance of an actor depend s on his own spiritual developm ent. A cting I believe is not com pletely a m atter of talen t. Y ou can see m any talen ted actors perform bu t un less he or she has a depth to call up on, that perform ance will not be m em orable and hau nting. Som e perform ances I have seen have su stained m e all my life. I believe that to be, in essence is greater than to do. T his is not a play on words. U n less you are, you cannot do. U n less there is a light burning w ithin him , an actor is less than he sh ould be. “ R uth D raper is the perform er who had this inner quality, in my opin ion , to a greater degree than any other perform er I have seen in my life tim e. She was the great inspiration of my acting life. A lthou gh she h ad been in London m any tim es, for som e reason I had never been to her perform ance. I su pp ose I considered, who is this diseuse? W ell finally I did see her. She cam e on stage, a m iddle-aged lady in a chocolate colou red, velvet gow n, with corrugated iron grey hair. Not a b eautiful lady. But w ithin m om en ts w ithout any change of costum e or covering her hair she b ecam e a young girl from Crian Larich, The Im m igrant on Ellis Island, and there follow ed a perform ance of total m agic. C om plete entrancin g m agic. “ A nd yet by saying that an actor m ust have an essen tial inner quality I am not denying tech n iq u e. Certainly not. In fact if I hear som eone saying that I am a tech nical actor, my reply is — excellent! But of course that person may have a different con n otation of the word tech nique in m ind to the con n otation that I have. T o m e tech n iq u e is everything. T ech n iq u e is the way you have foun d to reveal your concep tion to your audience. But of course, if all th at an aud ien ce is aware of is a tech n ical process going on, then I can only say that that particular tech nique is very bad. But to deny tech nique is to deny craft, and I w o n ’t su bscribe to that. “ A nd yet I always want an aud ien ce to be aware that they are in the theatre, in the

sense that they are present and drawn into dram atic action that is not life, it is m ore heigh ten ed , m agical, and again, I use the word, illu m in atin g than anything in real life can offer. A nd I want to create a perform ance that provokes a response from the aud ien ce that involves b oth the intellect and the im agin ation . I am a cerebral actor. I am at my best w hen I feel there are m any levels to portray. “ In recent years it is G en et who has excited m e m ost and who has brought m e closest to w hat I believe theatre is all about. It is to do with falsity. A bu n ch of real flowers on the stage, strangely, inevitably looks false, but artificial flow ers look real. Falsity, in the theatre therefore contains truth. G en et was com pletely concerned with fake. Illusion. H is craving was for flowers, jew els, the sp lend our of royalty. But he was a crim inal, utterly and com pletely depraved, a recidivist, and a betrayer of friends. Not at all attractive, but this perverse and basically desp icable hum an b ein g could find the beauty that he needed, in the m ost tawdry circu m stan ces of his life. A nd desp ite his deprivation, his vision created diam on d s from spittle, roses in drops of blood from the execu tion er’s knife, a pearl coronet from stained dentures. H is b elief and beauty cam e from illusion , and the process of im agin ation . “T o m e, in theatre, in the falsity, in the illusion , in the lie, there can be fou n d a profound reality and tru th ” . THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Spotlight

Joe MacColum looks back at his seven years with the Queensland Theatre Co. “ W hat was the effect on you of w orking with the Q TC as director for seven years? asked Theatre Australia. In the seven years 1 did thirty p rod u c tions. Over those years the com pany of actors of course ch an ged considerably, but always there was a core of six or eight actors who rem ained for several years and as this core ch an ged only slowly, there was continuity of working with the sam e group over a series of productions. T his, for m e, was the m ost interesting and im portant aspect of the period — to work year after year, on several p rod u c tions per year, with a largely constan t group of actors. It is generally accepted that the optim um con d ition s under w hich actors can work is one w hich provides security of em ploym en t, encouragem ent to con tin u e exploring and acquiring new sk ills and tech niques, the opportunity to risk the occasion al m istake w ithout d am agin g career prospects. T hese conditions are not often foun d, they im ply long term c o n tracts and large perm anent com panies. Hard as it m ay be for the actor to find his optim um conditions, it is even harder for a director. U sually only by foun ding and b u ild in g his own com pany of actors in his own theatre can a director find this continuity but, m ore often than not, the adm inistrative burden grows heavier and heavier and the w ould-be director finds h e ’s sp en ding m ore tim e at his desk than 10

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

on the rehearsal floor. F ortnnately for m e I know virtually nothing abou t adm inistration and a balan ce sh eet is a mystery I’ve never been able to solve; the fact that they always balan ce astou n d s m e, for I have never once com e to agreem en t with my bank as to how m uch m oney I have to my credit, the bank statem en t invariably shows I have less than my own reckon in g. A lthough this m eant I w asn’t able to give m uch help to the D irector of the Q TC, A lan Edw ards, in his figuring, it also m eant I could devote m ore tim e to the work of the actors and my owm work. 1 w as given a virtually unique opp ortu nity to plan work on my own craft over a long period, as were m any of my actors and we worked closely together on this, devoting m any a night to the analysis of our co m b in ed efforts, seeking to find better m eth od s of working together to get the best out of each other. O nly in my very early days as a director, before I cam e to A ustralia som e seventeen years ago, did I place any faith on the “b lo c k in g ’’ of plays. It is now m any years since I’ve given an actor a m ove or a gesture excep t in em ergency. But in this recent experien ce I’ve learned how to trust and rely on actors to a degree which enables m e now to see how m uch and for how lon g I really d id n ’t trust actors. I thou gh I did, but I d id n ’t and c o n sequently robbed them of their greatest asset, creative think ing. I am now blase about a m em b er of an audience, or a critic

praising som e stage ‘picture’, or bit of b u sin ess, in my production, but the actors and I know it was not solely ‘m y’ idea, it grew from our agreed belief that m ove m ent and gesture is as m uch part of the process of com m u n ication as speech is and just as I w ould not dream of telling an actor how to speak his lines. I w ould not state that a m ove should be so-an d-so. T ogether we w ould have discovered w hat we believed to be the truth of a situation and m oves and gestures as well as lin es or silen ce were d ictated by and arose out of the necessity of stating this truth as clearly as p ossib le. “ N o te s” at the end of a rehearsal, especially at the end of a run, are an accepted part of a director’s role. I have slowly com e to believe they are not only tim e-w astin g, bu t a w edge driven betw een actors and director, keeping them apart and dividing too sharply the roles of these two co m p o n en ts of a theatrical p rod uction. O nce the “ trust-th e-actor” relationship had becom e not a pious piece of lipservice, bu t an essential part of the day-to-day work it becam e evident that ‘n o tes’ sh ould not be an end-of-th e-d ay ritual, bu t sh ould be given when their necessity arises, w hen they can be m ost useful, w hen alternatives may be tested, when the actor can explain his intentions and test them on the director-audience and adjust as necessary, when they can be either private or public as the occasion d em and s, w hen they can be a two-way process betw een actors and director rather than a teach er-pup il relationship as norm al ‘n o te s’ often tend to be. O nly less than two years separated my several years as tutor at N ID A from the com m en cem en t of my work with the Q TC. D uring these 1963-1970 N ID A years a wave o f youn g actors em erged who now form the m ain treasury of A ustralian m ature acting; w atching their continuin g growth has been fascinating. W atch in g the develop m en t of the core actors with the Q TC w as a sim ilar process and m ost satisfying of all was the com in g together in several p rod u ction s of people from b oth categories. I personally would love to see the Q TC b ecom e a com pany which these, no longer ju st ‘p rom ising talen t’ but m ature actors cap ab le of trem endou s further d evelop m en t, cou ld look to as a place where, from tim e to tim e, they could work on several consecutive produ ctions in an atm osp here of further exploration of their talen ts, o f encouragem ent to w iden yet m ore their p oten tials. T he director, I have discovered, is as liable to fall into a form ula of work as easily as is the actor, w hen the tem p tation to choose w hat you know will work as against the dangerous possibility of failure arising from the attem p t to try new m eth ods. A gain as with the actor, the free-lance director tends to play safe, further work may be jeopardised by an idea w hich d o esn ’t su cceed. It is for this reason I realise I have been very lucky in having these seven years, I w ould w ish the sam e opportunity for others, especially young A u stralian , directors. F uture free lance directin g appears very challen gin g after th ese sab b atical years — th an k you QTC!

Telethon Appeal Theatre A u s tra lia s u p p o rts th e T e le th o n . P le a s e s e n d a n y d o n a tio n s to: P a u lin e M a jo r, T e le th o n A p p e a l, P O Box 9 , A d e la id e 5 0 0 0 . T he T e le th o n A ppeal is sponsored annually in S o u th A u stralia by NW S C hannel 9. R adio 5D N and “T he N ew s” to aid various ch arities. C harities are sel e cte d according to th eir p articu lar needs and help is m ainly given as a result of an a p p lic a tio n by th e charity w ith due con sid eration to o b ta in help from oth er sources. T e le th o n is th e only C harity A ppeal co n d u cte d in S o u th A u stralia which varies its ch arities and th is gives all ch a rities who are not regularly sponsored by A p p eals th rough th e various m edia, a chance to appeal to th e generosity of th e people of our S ta te . Over th e past 18 years, T elet hon has raised well in excess of $2,000,000 for very needy and w orthw hile ch arities in S ou th A u stralia. T his am ount does not include G overnm ent subsidies. F und raisin g inclu des th e running of th e M iss T e le th o n Q u est, 5 D N -T eleth o n Fair, T e le th o n lo tter ie s, F ashion Parades, m any private fu n c tio n s, T eleth on Doorknock and our annual C hannel 9 on -air A ppeal. O n Saturday 16th D ecem ber from 6.00am to m id n igh t, th e sta tio n will deal exclusively w ith raising m oney for T e le th o n , w ith n ation al and s ta te person a litie s and a r tis ts giving th eir tim e to aid th e A p peal. R adio 5D N greatly a ssists C hannel 9 w ith radio coverage and th e event has always been heavily prom oted th rou gh “ T he N ew s” . P erso n a lities already invited for th is year inclu d e D ian e C ilen to, Ed D evereaux,

Jimmy H ann an, M ark H olden, cast m em bers of “ T he Y oung D o c to rs” and “T he S u llivan s” w ith th e list growing daily. T his year, fo r th e first tim e. T eleth o n will be e x ten d e d to th e N orthern T err itory. O ur m ain beneficiary, M inda H om e, has been providing resid en tial care and tr a in in g fo r in te lle ctu a lly h an d icap ped p eop le from th e N orthern Territory fo r 80 years but has never b efore appealed fo r fu n d s th ere.

A Let te r-D r o p in con ju ction w ith th e A ppeal will ta k e place th rou gh ou t S ou th A u stralia and th e N orthern T erritory in early D ecem b er. All envelopes retu rn ed to us will be inclu ded in a free lo ttery w ith a prize of $1,000 from th e A d elaide P erm anent B uilding Society. No e ffo r t has been spared in plan ning and p rom otin g th e 1978 T eleth o n A ppeal and we hop e th a t, w ith th e generosity of th e general pu blic, it will achieve a record result.

Profile: Joan Sydney

K en na’s A H ard G od to V ladim ir in a recent M ike M orris directed all-fem ale

M arriage and m igration to Perth fo l lowed. Joan told me that she and her husband picked W estern A ustralia because they were im pressed w ith its having a N inety-M ile Beach: T hey w'ere sick of big cities . . . . Fam ily com m itm ents kept her out of the theatre for som e years in Perth, but eventually she appeared in Priestly’s When We Are M arried at the Playhouse. Frank Baden-Pow ell saw her, and O ld tim e M usicals follow ed, then the persona w hich brought her general public notice, D iam on d Lil. Joan returned to straight theatre in T ennessee W illiam ’s Sm all Craft Warnings, and has been seen regularly since, both as a contract player with the P layhouse and freelance. Joan finds the present situation for actors in Perth — no contract players, all catch-ascatch can — ‘terrifying and stim u latin g’. So w hat if Joan is tem p ted to cross the N ullabor? W e are used to w atching — or were used, because even such hom ey shows m ust now be beyond A BC -TV — Certain Women and m using how Ron G raham and Joan Bruce graced, for so long, the W estern Stage. W ell, if Joan is drawn away, at least we have som ething to thank the N inety-M ile Beach for. U n til Charlie Court finds a way of selling it overseas, it is ju st quietly sitting there.

Waiting fo r Godot.

Colin O’Brien “ Som e m en m ust love my lady” remarks Berowne in L o v e ’s Labour Lost, “ and som e, Joan” . I cannot com m ent on Navarre, bu t here in Perth we always seem to have a theatrical Joan on w hom to dote. It used to be Joan Bruce before she left us for the F lesh pots of T he East, a desertion for w hich we have ju st brought ourselves to forgive her. Currently we have Joan Sydney. M s Sydney ruefully adm itted to m e that she was not born in a trunk, but could lay claim to reasonable theatrical antecedents. H er m aternal grandm other was wardrobe m istress for E dith E vans’ Saint Joan in Liverpool, and rem em bers han ding on a note from G BS him self: “ P lease ask M iss Evans not to wear quite so m uch lip rouge” . T he young N oel Coward also crossed her bows. O n her father’s side were uncles w ho could boast being pub en ter tainers. Perhaps all this explain s the range of Joan’s work: she has appeared in everything from Hello Dolly! (as guess who) through a m agnificent A ggie in Peter

There is no question that Joan has a wide follow ing, I w ould suspect for her com m an d of both the bravura D olly requires and a very accessible em otion she can give, based on a deceptive degree of tech nical skill. She is also popular in the profession for her hard work and pro fessional dedication. To cap it all, she both writes and presents regularly an ABC child ren ’s program m e, Let 's Join In, the proceeds of w hich keep her out of the dogh ouse in these perilous tim es. Joan learned the nuts and bolts of the theatre as part of a child ren’s com pany in Rhyl, N orth W ales. Since entry to the profession for a young girl in those days depend ed on being svelte and W est End, she reluctantly looked to b ecom in g a librarian, but took an offer for a sum m er com pany in Aberystwyth. T hence to O ldham in stage m anagem ent, but m oving on to character parts. Sacked when a letter she wrote supporting a visiting critic’s slam m ing of the com pany for doing North Country com ed ies (which the paper printed, w hich was not Joan’s intention in writing it), she m oved back to London. Still in the theatre m ind you — b u t as an usher, rising to ice-cream seller.

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Whose stocking would you like to AlfredSandor feels that Christmas is all about peace and goodwill and would like to share his with Messrs Begin and Sadat. Knowing Alfred he could probably talk them into accepting whole new peace agreements!

Barry Eaton’s namedroppers’ guide to who wants to be with whom this Christmas In the theatre world Christmas can sometimes present problems of separation, for one reason or another. So. we at Theatre Australia decided to ask some of the actors in Sydney who they

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intend sharing their Christmas stocking with this year, or failing that who in their wildest dreams they would fancy sharing it with — and why? As you can imagine the reactions were to say the least interesting.

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Ronald Biggs John H aters in a typical Dracula like gesture would like to empty his stocking and then send it to Ronald Biggs to wear for his next holdup. (Does he have advance information. I wonder?) The cast of Bedroom Farce weren't lost for a few well chosen words about the issue.

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Carol Rave has had the problem of separation

all year, as her husband has been working in Central America and she hasn't seen him for ages. But he will be home for Christmas, so Carol is all smiles. But she is prepared for a little covering bet that, "if the air traffic controllers go on strike, I will settle for Paul Newman, or if he can't get away from Joanne, then Bob Hawke!"

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Barry Creyton would just love to share Elizabeth Taylor's stocking. As he says, "she's been so generous with it in the past!” Shane Porteous was more practical in his approach. "The last time I shared a stocking with someone, I got athlete’s foot. Which is all very well, but it doesn’t really suit the rest of the body 1 was born with, decidedly now athletic. Maybe this Christmas I should try to share someone's body stocking. In which case I'll probably get something else — like five years!”

Anne Haddy will be spending Christmas as the newly wed Mrs James Condon and the best of luck to both of them. Although Anne wouldn't mind opening her stocking with Lord Louis Mountbatten.

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M arshal Tito

Google Withers and John McCallum interrupted their rehearsals for Kingfisher to compile a list. They agreed on Greta Garbo, Marshal Tito, Solzhenitsen and Iris Murdoch. What an interesting Christmas dinner party that would make.

The Cast

Ron Haddrick is nobody’s fool. “I would like to share Ruth Cracknel!. Carmen Duncan, Kate Fitzpatrick and Jacki Weaver's Christmas stocking, because I saw the gifts they received on the first night of Bedroom Farce. Judging by that their Christmas stockings will be full to overflowing with the fabulous presents.” Jacki Weaver is not telling anyone who she is sharing her Christmas stocking with.

share this Christmas?

Jack Nicholson

Kate Fitzpatrick replied, “I was going to write yet another variation on my Jack Nicholson for Christmas wish fantasies. But I’ve decided to leave the poor bugger alone. I’ll not be sharing my stocking with anyone." Ruth Cracknell feels similarly. “I have my own Christmas stocking and. I don't want to share anyone’s. I'll share their Christmas though!" Carmen Duncan feels that Christmas is for children and will be sharing her stocking, “with mv two adorable children".

"Choppie/ / Judy Ferris wants to share her stocking with Choppie — a very special doggie friend of hers. Why1? I hear you cry. Well because lie's m New York. What better reason'1

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Barbra Streisand Director Peter Williams would like to share his stocking with Robert Redford and find Barbra Streisand inside. Kinky! Don Reid, always the gentleman, would like to open his stocking with.“whichever gentle lady had left her stocking for him to hang up." Happy Christmas. Don! m W Ä 1

Miss Piggy The Fickle Tickles At the Music Hall. Anne Sender wants to share her stocking with Miss Piggy — cause she’s a real ham! Reg Gillam being of sound mind and body is open to offers. Amanda Noble is about the most truthful of all. She will definitely be sharing her stocking w ith her lover as he is the only guy she fantasises over — and he has the cutest bottom. (Her words, not mine I hasten to add!) “Not only that, he is looking over my shoulder at the moment to check out who I am fantasising over" (Spoil sport).

Pooh Bear

John Howitt whose new 269 Playhouse has recently opened at the old Independent Theatre says, "the wife of the president of the Black Stump workers club. Mrs Fanny Flute and her backing group the Fickle Tickles." To have any idea of what all that is about, you'll have to refer to John's advertisement in this issue, or else go and see the show. Brian Young would like to open his stocking w ith the Luton Girls Choir. Greedy little devil! Alistair Smart off cruising with the Sitmar Theatre this Christmas is on the lookout for the perfect woman. "In the words of W C F ields, she must be deaf and dumb and oversexed and own a liquor store!

June Salter, having a temporary rest before Crown Matrimonial goes on tour replied. “Pooh

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Bear, cause he gets lots of honey for Christmas

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and 1 love honey." So that's why she’s such a sweet lady. At the Ensemble Theatre, rehearsals for Flesh and Blood were interrupted to ponder over the more important question of Christmas stockings.

Almost anyone Max Meldrum however deserves the final word. Who would he fantasise about opening his Christmas stocking this year? "Almost anyone!"

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

(Continued from page 8) performance and the audience gave us a great ovation. During interval Victor Arnold told us that one of the cast did not want to be involved and Jerry Wells wanted someone to go on and read the part of the Nazi wife. 1 volunteered only so as the play — Till The Day I Die — could go on, and went on with the book and read the lines — with great distaste. Victor Arnold (Secretary of the WAC) went out front during interval and told the audience that the police were trying to have the play stopped — but the audience shouted “Play on” which we did. There were no arrests and afterwards the play was put on at the Club many times to invited audiences.” These accounts would appear to agree rather more closely with the Sydney Morning Herald of 23 July, 1936 than with Mona Brand’s article. The Sydney Morning Herald simply says:“Police were present throughout the production, and a shorthand writer took a transcript of the players' parts, with a view of deciding further action.” If the audience was “...treated to the exciting spectacle of the Sydney police charging through..” then surely this would have made better copy. A reading of the end of scene one would also seem to indicate that the Gestapo were “due to knock on a door" but not to “burst in": there is a “slow fadeout” after the last line “Open the door! This is the Secret Police." My parents are alive and contractable to confirm the above on (Sydney) 642-7571. Yours faithfully, ALANNA M ACLEAN M a s te r T e a c h e r in D ra m a P h illip C o lle g e — A C T

Dear Sir, My intelligence as a creati-ve artist is offended by the destructive criticism directed at White Women. I'm tired of Mr Shoubridge and of his fellow critics' demands to razzamataz their intellectual prejudices. Why should many of Australia’s creative artists be subjected to the blatant lack of both knowledge and sensitivity on the part of the critic? Dance is a complete and complex language. This is understood by few critics because of their rigid and inflexible attitudes. With reference to White Women, my intentions were not to present a ballet that allowed the audience to become voyeurs upon the sentimentality of the conscious state, but to induce within them an experience of schizophrenic awareness. Teetering on the edge of being stillborn, mangled, self conscious and hindered, a schizophrenic’s experiences can be as “cold, 14

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

heartless and mindless as the clatter of ice cubes at a cocktail party.” If out of Mr Shoubridge's “total lack of reaction” comes a 690 word review, then 1 consider White Woman a success. Yours sincerely, G ra e m e W a ts o n R e s id e n t C h o r e o g ra p h e r

Dear Sir, A propos of Marguerite Wells’ piece about the Theatre Centre of some months ago and Max Purnell’s letter in reply, I thought I would enclose for information the list of attractions put on by ourselves either in partnership or as solo ventures during 1977/78. These were supported mainly from our grant from the Australia Council and I think it’s a pretty good coverage of the performing arts including “Australianmade” for less than $30,000. The list does not of course include the hundreds of things put on in both theatres by other managements; too many to list, but ranging from the Australian Opera and Australian Ballet through East, Side By Side by Sondheim premiere season, Marcel Marceau, etc etc etc to Doctor In Love, rock groups, artists such as Jose Feliciano, not to mention the ABC concerts and exciting conventions like the Australian Institute of Political Science! As both theatres were occupied for around 85% of the year, and the average attendance was 76% (not counting conventions) I am still wondering what Marguerite’s “empty spaces” meant. And the wide scope of the Trust’s presentations plus all those from other managements makes me wonder what she meant by “no culture”. What kind of culture? Sincerely T e rry Vaughan D ir e c to r , C a n b e rr a T h e a tr e C e n tre

Dear Sir, Ray Stanley’s column “Whispers, Rumours and Facts” in the October issue was misleading in its comments on Hoopla’s attitude to the problems of the Old Tote Theatre Company. For the record I enclose a copy of a statement made by Hoopla’s Chairman, Mr. Lloyd O’Neil, concerning this issue. You are welcome to reprint this in full.* May I also say that; 1. We have enormous admiration for Nimrod and have frequently acknowledged their contribution to this theatre and the Australian theatre in general.

CANBERRA THEATRE TRUST ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITIES 1/7/77 TO 30/6/78 Performances Opera Amahl and the Night Visitors Dance Queensland Ballet Chhau Bengal Masked Dancers Polish Mime Ballet Theatre Drama While the Billy Boils (Leonard Teale) Stretch of the Imagination (APG) Fortune Theatre Lunchhour Season: Bananas (Bradshawe) The Proposal (Chekov) Oldenberg The Christian Brothers (Blair) Big Toys (Old Tote) Fortune Theatre Lunchhour Season: Norm and Ahmed (Buzo) The Hard Word (Mike Giles) Fumed Oak (Coward)

4 The Hard Word Witold Gombrowicz in Buenos Aires (Pulvers) 10 Children Richard Bradshaw & His Shadow Puppets 10 Patrick's Hat Trick 9 My Country (Leonard Teale) 14 Robin Hood (December 1977) 2 Robin Hood (March 1978) 2 Dale Woodward Glove Puppet Workshop 4 Cinderella 14 Dale Woodward Rod Puppet Workshop 6 Charlie, the Green Dragon 10 Concerts Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with Irene Plotnikova 1 Ut Hoy! (Christmas Choral Concert) 1 St. John’s College Choir, Cambridge 1 Roger Woodward Beethoven Recital 1 Lunchhour concert (Eliz. Trust Melbourne Orchestra) 1 Musicals Bells Are Ringing 9 Tarantara! Tarantara! 7 Never the Twain 4 The 20s And All That Jazz 13 Variety Wushu of China 2 Old Fashioned Show 1 Memory Lane 1 Comedy Chris Langham's One-Man Show 6 Films Love Letters from Teralba Road 1 2 The Singer and the Dancer / Children’s films: Smokey Joe 5 Anoop & the Elephant 5*123 Exhibitions Brushmen of the Bush 11 days National Collection 28 days Meetings Seminar on Festivals 1

2 4 2 2 10 10 5 4 5 4 5 5 5

2. Katharine Hepburn is a superb actress. The question is whether subsidies should be directed towards the presentation of overseas stars and whether a policy of presenting such stars in a heavily subsidised company is an appropriate response to the Australian theatre.

needs of the

3. Hoopla, like all subsidised theatres, needs bums on seats. Indeed we would like to see Ray Stanley’s here more often. Sincerely, C a r r illo G a n tn e r E x e c u tiv e D ir e c to r

*(Space restriction unfortunately does not allow us to reproduce this statement. Anyone wanting copies should contact Hoopla in Melbourne — Ed.)

W ho will be the major figures in com m ercial theatre — or w hat will pass for com m ercial theatre — in ten years time? W ith governm ent han d-ou ts probably very depleted, only those possessin g business acum en com bined with dedication to the theatre presum ably will be the survivors, not the flirting idealists or those merely out for a quick buck. M ichael Edgley of course will be right out front in the late ’80s, Tony Frewin prom inently around and I suspect Paul lies (if he has not been lured back to E ngland) will be a significan t nam e, then very likely John D iedrich and possibly Peter W illiam s (never having m et him I cannot be m ore definite). I should not be surprised to see substantial contributions com ing from two as yet untried unknowns: Leonard C ooper and JCW ’s Ashley G ordon. O f one thing I can be certain — barring m ishaps, John Pinder will be well to the fore. But it will be a com m ercial theatre such as we cannot conceive of now. Som e fifteen years ago I suggested to Harry M M iller, then im porting people like Roy O rbison and Louis Arm strong, that eventually he would becom e involved in presenting plays and m usicals. “ N ow ay. N ot interested in th em ” , Harry M curtly said, and dism issed the subject. John Pinder does not regard his involvem ent in the com m ercial area as utterly im possible; he sim ply refuses to look m ore than a year ahead. P in der’s career so far has all the hallm arks of a success story. New Zealand born, as a child his parents would take him to the theatre. “ 1 rem em ber seeing Salad Days . . . I rem em ber seein g a lot of the W illiam son m usicals, and being very intrigued by live perform ances as opp osed to m ovies. “ I spent my form ative years in D unedin, a city w hich w as very active theatrically. There were two professional dramatic com panies, two major am ateur com panies, a sem i-profession al opera com pany and a very active university theatre com pany, plus touring productions. It was also know n as the ‘graveyard of touring p rod u ction s’. Y ou could also pick up cheap sets — they used to dump them in D u n ed in . D u nedin Repertory Society had one of the best w orkshops ever seen; it was full of old JCW stuff that they’d du m ped for next to nothing there. “ It was a very active town to grow up in from seventeen to twenty. It was a good town. I saw as m uch, or more — adm ittedly im ported stuff — than I saw in the su bseq uent five years in A ustralia, ranging from G reek classics th rough to

W h o’s A fraid o f Virginia W oolf”. In D u nedin Pinder w as traim ng as a fine arts teacher. “ B ecause o f that I got roped in to do sets for G ilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. It intrigued m e and I did a subseq uent one for a teach ers’ college production, and from then on was asked to do several for the local am ateur rep society, which I d id ” . O ne play P inder designed for was The Caucasian Chalk Circle, also working backstage. T each in g for a while, he was involved in a few am ateur things in the

JOHN PINDER Raymond Stanley reports on the life, work and future of the man who has brought style and pazazz to theatre restaurants.

various towns in which he was resident, then drifted into journalism , actually doing som e theatre criticism . M oving to A ustralia, P inder worked as a journalist for the ABC, first in Sydney and then M elbourne, and becam e involved with rock m usicians. After five years he left the ABC. “ I was fed up with the absurd notion that objectivity is an attribute that one should have as a journalist. I just thou ght that that was ridiculous. I co u ld n ’t face that sort of con cep t of journalism at a ll” . Before long (in the late ’60s, early ’70s) Pinder was prom oting rock concerts. They were m ainly at the M uchm ore Ballroom “which had a good reputation for prom ot ing local bizarre talent. W e used to put on revue sk etches and sight acts in between rock bands . . . the A P G used to do the sketches, and there were jugglers and so on. Bands w hich started there and becam e well known inclu ded M atchbox, Circus Oz and D addy C ool. If you lik ed to do a fam ily tree of A ustralian rock m usic, you'd find a lot of p eople floated through there. “ U ltim ately I becam e m ore interested in the theatrical p ossibilities o f it than the m usical possib ilities, and we staged quite a num ber of quite bizarre events that were specially put together, bands that were put together. W e did alm ost com ed y shows, and put in m ore sop histicated ligh tin g and that sort of stuff. Effectively it w as a dance hall, but we were spending tw ice as m uch as anybody else in the dance hall business on the production of the show s.” It was a full tim e job for Pinder. He would run betw een twelve and fifteen concerts a year, as well as doin g things with radio station s and at the M yer M usic Bowl. “ I staged the concert at w hich Billy Thorpe reputedly had 200,000 people at the Myer M usic Bowl. It was supposedly bigger than T he Seekers concert, which has the reputation of b ein g the biggest ever concert there. “ T hat was the era w hen ‘fringe’ entertainm ent w asn’t acknow ledged by the daily m edia. It’s very different now . . . well, tim e has gone by and the ’70s period is a very different period to the ’60s. T hat sort of era w asn ’t d ocum ented by the daily press at all in term s of what was really going on. In fact, in m usical and theatrical terms, it was really an active period in M elbou rn e.” A fter the rock concert period Pinder went to Europe for som e tim e, an d when he returned to M elbourne it w as to work for a com pany which had p lan s to construct a com plex w hich eventually, because of lack of finance, failed to m aterialise. D esp ite this Pinder learned a lot. “T he com p lex was to be in Bourke Street and w as to include a c in em a that w ould have been like the L ongford, a cabaret room that w ould have been like T he Last Laugh, a sh opp in g arcadem arket situ ation of the currently fa sh io n able type, coffee shop han g-out places, plus a live theatre. T he people that were gathered togeth er for that inclu ded the folk w ho now run F oib les, Tony G innane (producer of Patrick and the THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Fantasm

film s), and people w ho su b sequently b ecam e major figures in the current generation A P G ” . W hen the com plex schem e folded, Pinder was so enam oured w ith the idea of a theatre restaurant, he decid ed to open The Flying T rapeeze in Fitzroy w ith about $2,000. It had b een a Y ugoslav cafe, and the rent was ab ou t $25 a w eek. “ I’ve always been a great believer that the creation of venues causes a flow on of quite consid erab le significan ce in term s of the talent th a t’s attracted to a place. It d oesn ’t hap p en to legitim ate theatre, because th a t’s ju st an em pty space within w hich you do som ething. But I’ve always worked on the principle o f creating som ething more than just a w orking place, that it has got to have its own am bience. A nd that w as true of th e M uchm ore Ballroom ; p eop le would go there without know ing w hat w as on, and in m arketing terms I think th a t’s im portant. Y ou create an am bience w hich people want to be in, and to a certain extent they trust your ju d gem ent abou t w hat is in it in term s of perform ance” . After two and a half years P inder sold The Flying T rapeeze, but m ade nothing out of the sale. It was sold for w hat the plant was w orth, plu s a couple o f thousand dollars. “ It’s kept going and it’s continued to develop new peop le, w hich I th in k is great. The Flying T rapeeze is still the m ost im portant theatre restaurant in A ustralia. You can afford to fail there. T hey can take risks that we c a n ’t take, an d none of the bigger places can tak e”. Pinder then w ent into partnership with Roger Evans for his current successful venture, T he Last Laugh, a theatre restaurant seatin g around two hundred, which opened Septem ber 1976. Evans, with m uch all round restaurant experience in London, ran his own in Sydney. He would visit T he Flying T rapeeze when in M elbourne, Pinder would eat at E vans’ restaurant w hen in Sydney. ‘‘W e form one com plete person working together. W e b oth have attributes which com plem ent each other. W e m ake the decisions about w hat hap pens at T h e Last Laugh jointly and the em phasis tends to lie that I am involved in the running of the entertainm ent, and he in running of the rest of it. But w h en it com es to saying yes or no to a show , R oger’s as involved as I am. ‘‘Lots of rum ours go around that I’m going to do su ch and such in the future. My m ethod of findin g out w hether I’m on the right track is to fly kites w ith people all the tim e. I like usin g people as a sounding board — all sorts of people. I talk a lot, but I also listen a lot. And w hat people are thinking is the m ost im portant thing. So I tend to ask other people w hose opinions I’m interested in: ‘W hat do you think of idea X Y Z ?’ A nd th a t’s how I com e to a decision. ‘‘The two of us will check ou t other people and then w e’ll m ake the final decision togeth er about w hat sh ow ’s going to go in. R oger’s m uch better w ith money than I am. I’m totally irresponsible and h e’s Dretty responsible. W e com plem ent each other in term s of w hat we think we 16

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

like, and basically we start from that prem ise when we put a show together. “ I’d never p u t a show in here purely because I th ou gh t it would m ake money, m uch as the idea of m aking m oney has great app eal. C liff H ocking is a guy that I adm ire a lot, and Cliff once said he prom otes things that he wants to see, that h e’d like to have the best seats for, and largely we operate from that prem ise as w ell.” At the tim e of interview ing Pinder eight m ain p rodu ctions had been staged at The Last Laugh. Seven of them had proved to be box office su ccesses, one had closed in a hurry. “ W e d o n ’t really have the resources to create shows from the ground up. W e tend to pick up a show at a certain poin t, or part of it will be in existen ce. W e h aven ’t got resources to com m ission a writer really to write a show, then put it into production, w orkshop it and do it. “Back to Bourke Street was a typical exam ple. It started originally as a threepeople one-hou r th in g at the Back Theatre of the Pram F actory at m idnigh t, and we loved it and invited them to add to the production, and they doubled the size of the cast and it w as com pletely re-worked and then cam e here. “ The Circus [W aiter, T h ere’s A Circus In My Soup] w as an exam ple where we did have more involvem ent in pu ttin g it together, b ecau se that was pretty weird stuff and nobody had ever done anything like it before. W e were involved in that in term s of its developm ent. I’m quite proud of that. T o m e that was one of the m ost excitin g things I’ve ever been connected with. It was the longest run w e’ve had — five and half m onth s — and could have lasted m uch longer. “ W h at’s really exciting about the outstand in g sh ow s w e’ve had here, each of them could, in term s, of places like Tikki and John’s co n tin u e the sam e them e and have con tin u ed and becom e a circus theatre restaurant. Back to Bourke Street could have con tin u ed indefinitely, but it would have driven us all m ad. Pinder certainly did a service in providing the opportunity for M elbourne to see M om m a 's Little Horror Show. To m any it appeared as a risky op eration , presenting such a show, how ever brilliant, in a theatre restaurant atm osphere. Now, having seen it in su ch a venue, it is difficult to im agin e it anyw here else. D esp ite the ready availability of liquor, one could have heard that proverbial pin drop during perform ances. It was a source of great regret to P inder that, ow ing to other com m itm ents, the season could not have been extended; m ost certainly it could have played indefinitely.

In the past T he Last Laugh has provided opportunities for new acts to develop at late show s. T his is going to occu r again with the op en in g of another room, upstairs, seatin g ninety and staging m id night show s w here the entertainm ent will change every cou p le of weeks. “ A lm ost anybody will be able to perform there; com edy, cabaret acts. M any well know n people w ho we co u ld n ’t tie up for a m ajor season, but who think the place is good fun, have said: ‘G ee, th a t’d be fan tastic, I’d love to com e and do five nights w hen I’m in town, at m idnight, after a show or w h atever.’ T hen there’ll be totally un kn ow n people w h o’ve never worked b efo re” . T he bar will be a place for theatrical people to han g out late at night. D esp ite w hat Pinder says and thinks him self at this period in tim e, one would be surprised if he rem ains con ten t with just The Last L augh. U ltim ately one would expect him to exten d to other fields. He shows no lik in g for other A ustralian cities though. M elbou rn e he thinks is “the m ost excitin g city in A ustralia to work in. I think in term s of perform ance it is the best city in A ustralia to be in, becau se it doesn ’t have the sort of ‘arty farty’ preten sions of A delaide and the superficial flash preten sions of S yd ney” . H e is full of praise though for “ the flexibility of the A delaide F estival Centre, the quality of its staff and non-bureaucratic nature; it’s run efficiently and effectively.” As fa r as im p o rtin g a ttr a c tio n s goes, Pinder is only in te re ste d in ‘a ltern ative T h e a tr e ’ typ e a ttr a c tio n s, not likely to c a tch th e eye of a com m erical m an age m en t, bu t w hich he fe e ls neverth eless sh ould be seen here. T hat is why he brough t direct from San F rancisco his present sh ow ,L O S lo a n ’s T hreeB lackand

Three W h ite R efin ed Jubilee M instrels. Pinder really is far m ore interested in the export of A ustralian talen t. “ W e have things h ap p en in g here that should be shown to the rest of the world in that they are quite u n iq u e ” . Pinder has strong feelin gs about su b sidies, believin g these should be restricted to exp erim en tal type theatre only. He cannot u n d erstan d why a com pany like the M TC does not reduce its su bsid ies with the un dou bted profits installation of liquor bars in its th eatres w ould bring. He believes su ch com p an ies could follow the exam ple of picture theatre people and tie in m erch an d isin g effects w ith their products. A m an of the calibre of John Pinder inevitably is d estin ed to play an im portant role in A u stra lia ’s theatre world of the future.

WRITER’S VIEW Louis Nowra at twenty-eight has already made an enormous impact in the theatre. His play ALBERT NAMES EDWARD was broadcast by the ABC in 1975; INNER VOICES first performed at Nimrod has since been produced all over the country; VISIONS won considerable acclaim under Rex Cramphorn’s direction as part of the Paris season. With THE MISERY OF BEAUTY [1976] he showed his great talent as a novelist. Here he discusses his own standpoint as an uncompromising loner among new writers.

Louis Nowra There is no such thing as the history of A ustralian playw riting. W e have a past which con tain s the irregular occurring achievem ents of a Louis E sson or Patrick W hite, bu t A ustralian playw riting is all present. M ost of the playwrights of any merit are alive and writing, yet to reach w hite-haired m iddle age. T his vigorous developm ent of our playw riting has hap pened in the past ten years and now, if I interpret som e recent articles correctly, a tiny, heterogeneous group of playw rights, dubbed ‘the new w ave’, of whom I am su pp osed to be one, is considered to have arrived. T he journalistic term ‘new w ave’ seem s to have been coined, not in order to help u n derstand in g of the playw rights involved, bu t to shove disparate writers into a neat category. A s far as I’m concerned the term is so vague as to be darkness itself, and it’s under the cover of this darkness that I escape. U n align ed to any theatre, and writing plays w hich are not part of the m ainstream , I can stand alone, w atching those around m e with the lucidity and brazen detachm ent of a loner. A lth ou gh free of the tag of belonging to any new m ovem ent or group, I m ust, of course, acknow ledge that in both content and purpose my work is a break from what has com e before. T his break has m ore to do w ith my personal disposition and ideas rather than a deliberate desire to be different. My dem iurgic im pulses and predilection for solitary activity has also led m e to shun the m ediocrity of group com prom ise. T he upsurge in A ustralian playw riting during the late 1960s and early 1970s, with its group orientated activities and attitudes, centred in M elbourne around La M am a and Pram theatres, and with its con sciou s desire to concern itself with A ustralian society, although having my sym pathy, ultim ately m eant very little to m e becau se it was too obvious, too direct, lack in g in am bivalence and what the great South A m erican writer and film m aker, Jose Cuevero, called ‘the resonance of the personal vision confronting reality.’ M ore im portantly, I realised that A u s tralian playw riting was lim iting itself, not only b ecau se of w hat it w ished to express, b u t also how it expressed it; that is, through naturalism . A part from som e notab le exceptions, the m ost popular and esteem ed A ustralian plays have been naturalistic, and, to be blu nt, it’s a style I abhor. N aturalism is a constricted and constricting approach to the world. A play written in the n atu ral

istic m ode has no greater resonance than the sum total of its parts. No m atter how funny or tech nically astute such a play m ay be, it com forts its audience, and confirm s their ‘reality’. Art should not confirm or duplicate; it m ust rephrase and recast. Plays sh ould pull the carpet from under the a u d ien ce’s feet and m ake them see the world differently so that they can perceive things anew or question their own reality. If natu ralism raises any ‘w orthw hile’ questions (god preserve us from E m inent Ideas, Big T hem es and Im portant C auses in literature) they relate m ore to ephem eral social or p olitical problem s w hich never jolt the m ost im portant part of an audience — its psyche. It’s noticeab le that even a natu ralist like the overrated Ibsen realised that su ch a m ethod cannot provide a tool for digging through the m any layers of experience and he resorted to sym b olism , clam p in g it on his work {Lady fro m the Sea, for exam ple, where we alm ost drown in it) to try and provide a greater resonance and depth. But such attem p ts never work, as it’s a bit like erecting perm anent scaffolding on a slum exterior in order to m ake it appear beautiful. G radually, I’ve com e to see that plays, not only those written in A ustralia, but anyw here, sh ould develop a style that is not as deliberate and negative as the term ‘an ti-n atu ralism ’ im plies, but som ething

positive along the sam e lines. It genuinely pu zzles m e that m any A ustralian p lay w rights are writing in a m ode that m ovies and m usic gave up long ago and w hich television has appropriated and excelled at (on occasions). W hile such senescen t plays have scenes filled with tedious explication, rhetoric and ‘stagey’ confrontations, m ovies have developed a narrative te ch nique that m odern aud ien ces have assim ilated into their regular patterns of thou ght very quickly. A film ’s elliptical narration, m inus dissolves and clum sy narrative explication, results in pared down scenes and a culm inative effect that can be extrem ely pow erful and evocative. M odern m usic (W ebern’s pieces, for exam ple) has been able to strip m usic to its essen tials, and w hereas w ith the rom antics texture w as obvious and overtly stated with great in sisten ce, m odern m usic im plies the texture and, by ju xtap osition s and careful paring, can provide just as rich a resonance as the rom antics achieved, but w ithout the dropsy. My concern with evolving a new form w ithout going to avant (sic) garish e x trem es, and w hich w ould be considered natural and unforced, has led m e to study the m ech anism s of thou ght and visu al isation, and, in turn, has led m e on to projects outsid e my plays and fiction. A set of ‘g a m e s’ and ‘strategies’ called The Topology o f Im agination will be pu blished

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

WRITER’S VIEW: LOUIS NOWRA soon, and som etim e after that a book of visual and m nem onic think ing (incorporat ing, for instan ce, C am illo’s Idea del Theatro and Kurt Stadler's Visual Thinking) will be com p leted . These projects perhaps sound Kurt Stad ler’s Visual Thinking) will be com pleted. T hese projects perhaps sound more grand than they really are, but such interests have helped me develop and clarify my ideas as regards form and narrative structure. Each scene, in a play of m ine, is im portant unto itself and serves an em b lem atic function. T he scenes are to be perform ed as if they were a series of hu m orou s or serious facts, rather than revelations. T he stage and scene should contain only what is necessary in order to help each piece slot firmly into the other, with the ju xtap osition of scenes and their interplay eventually creating the them atic concerns and resonance; a bit like w atching strands being plaited to form a rope. T h is approach m ust be done in a d etached m anner so the aud ien ce can occasion ally draw back from the play, like a cam era m oving from close-up to m edium shot, or, if you wish to be m ore literary, like a reader stop ping to un derline a passage in a book. T his does not m ean I dislike the aud ien ce to have a certain em pathy with w h at’s hap p en in g on stage (rem em ber, I do not m ean identification; which is a form of m ental instability), but I think they sh ould also jud ge a scene with their intellect and be aware of the overall interplay of scene and character. This approach has been called, by one em b on p oin t critic, ‘flesh less’, and for A ustralian aud ien ces brought up on a diet of cosy fam iliarity with the m iddle class three w alled world of our theatre, then my approach does provide a slight chill; though I’d like to think it’s the initial shiver of being confronted with fresh air after having left a stuffy room . W ith my play Inner Voices, for exam ple, w hen I found I m ay be creating too m uch sym pathy, and therefore involvem ent, I used the sim ple, but effective exp ed ien t of dark hum our and irony to undercut gratuitous em otion . It’s an approach I’ve

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

also used in my novel The M isery o f Beauty w here, because of un usual and unfam iliar characters and situations, an ironic d etach m en t, I hope, is m aintained. It sh ould also be added, w ithin this context, how highly I esteem the p lay wrights O rton and Congreve, whose valuable lesson in creating a sardonic distan ce I’ve tried to adapt to my own purpose. Ideally. I w ould like to create a constan t dram atic tension, where the aud ien ce felt the taut con n ection betw een em pathy and d etach m en t, vision and fact, heart and head, dead-p an irony and com m itm ent and em otion al release and repression (an oxym oronic tight rope walk as it were). I think this approach has occasion ally worked in Edw ard Bond's plays. Brecht, w hose debt I’m som etim es considered to be in (by those w ho sh ould know better), is a playw right w hose nursery-land ideology and m ech an istic tech nique is anath em a to m e. H is theatre is em b alm ed for all to see at any Berliner E nsem b le produ ction. Any debt I do owe (and any literary banker would be well advised at this poin t to keep a w atch on my tongu e, just in case it pops into my cheek ) is to the sim ple, but w onderful advice of Novalis: M ake the fam iliar appear strange and the m arvel lous appear com m on place. O ne of the m ain problem s, to w hich I’ve alluded to above is that A ustralian aud ien ces love to recognise and identify with w h at’s on stage. The affairs of the m iddle class, its habits, speech and behaviour hold im m ense attraction for them , even after ten years of constan t exposure. My play A lbert Names E dw ard was criticised b ecau se, although set in A ustralia, I had the characters speak E nglish, rather than ‘A ustralian E n g lish ’. My attitude to langu age is in keeping with my idea of d etachm en t, just as is my use of analogy and m etaphor. T his interest in having A ustralian aud ien ces detached led m e in Inner Voices and Visions to even distance my aud ien ce through geography by setting my plays in other countries. The lack of A ustralian props was considered alm ost subversive by som e people, as if a

lack of A ustralian scenery m ade my work ‘u n -au stralian ’. Interestingly, such criti cism reinforces our parochialism . O nly in A ustralia cou ld one be accused of d esert ing o n e ’s country by not writing abou t it directly. Y et K leist’s purpose in setting his work in G reece, W est Indies and C hile was un derstood and respected, as was B on d ’s in setting his plays in Japan and A m erica and W itk iew icz’s in setting one of his in New G u in ea and A ustralia. Perhaps such criticism is sym p tom atic of all young nations. Henry Jam es’ disap pointm ent in being criticised for sim ilar reasons perm anently sou red him , and yet, who rem em bers those writers praised at the sam e tim e for not ‘d esertin g’ A m erica? Im p lied w ith my style is also an interest in the scope of plays. Instead of a living room , I w ant sp ace and freedom to m ove. T he current crop of m onologues, no m atter how good or bad they m ay be, have proved to be im m en sely popular. I realise such plays are a boon for theatres who are very fond o f their cheapness to produce, but I w onder if they’re healthy for our theatre in the long run? For I see theatre (and in all that I’ve said, it has been a phantom h au n tin g this article) as atrophy ing un less it can offer som eth in g m ore than natu ralism and plays of sm all scope. P erhaps I’m hypercritical of A ustralian plays and theatre, but contrary to what som e m ay think , I believe som e of it has, in its own wayward and im m ature fashion, a vulgar vitality and vigor m issing from overseas theatre. It still am azes m e that A u stralians app laud the success of our playw rights in a country like E nglan d and m easure us again st its theatre, as if it were autom atically better. How m any of those cheerin g sp ectators have ever seen the theatre of our M other Country? It’s m ore akin to em b alm en t than an enriching experien ce. A sign of its p oison ous quality is its attitu d e to som e of its best playw rights (Edw ard B ond for exam ple) who are forced to find respect and su ccess in E urope. Even the new E nglish p lay wrights like H are or P oliakoff are grossly overrated, and yet, from this m ausoleum we im port m ediocre playw rights like Snoo W ilson, porcine has-b een s like John O sborne, and directors who leave noth in g beh in d but average productions and em pty coffers. W ith the financial difficu lties of staging large cast plays, or even staging plays rem otely ‘u n com m ercial’, I w onder how long A u stralian playw rights offering new directions can be perform ed, especailly when few of our playhouses are adven turous en ou gh and the sam e old stuff is so lucrative. New7 directions m ust be res p ected and encouraged by our playh ouses, or else A u stralian playw riting will soon be history, p ast history. T his entropy o f our theatre I’m attem p tin g (in my owm peculiar fash ion ) to forestall, by help in g to open up our dram a w hen it seem s on the verge of en closin g in on itself, by offering one of the alternatives, not the alternative, and by prom oting variegation rather than add ing to a single colour. Every other country has taken such a wish to expand for granted, and as a natural out-grow ing of things, only in A ustralia does it seem a heresy.

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Ai■sballa S u b s c rip tio n s a v a ila b le th r o u g h

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER ! 978

International

Alan Seymour RANDOM JOTTINGS ON LONDON THEATRE AND FILM

M id-O ctober. T he m ild, sunny autum n is turning cold and misty. The fog also descends on a m ind trying to sort out the confusion of im pressions of a theatregoer, film buff, m usic-lover, trying to keep up with all th a t’s interesting — w hilst running a pretty active professional career. O ne night in the Festival H all in late Septem ber it struck me, not for the first tim e, that the sk ills m arshalled by theatre practitioners to project an artistic e x perience look shoddy when com pared with the skills and experien ces on offer from the m usical world. H aitink was con d u ctin g the M ahler 3rd Sym phony w hich, for the uninitiated, uses a huge orchestra, a contralto and two choirs, and takes an hour and three quarters to perform , by which tim e the perform ers, condu ctor and audience are wrung out. T he work is a great p h ilosop h ical exploration of a kind w hich, in the theatre, only the classics now seem able to offer us, contem porary playwrights in the western world being too nervous to put their heads on the chopp ing block. M ahler’s m usic soars, probes, prods deep into the dark recesses of our un con sciou s psych es where m yth and m emory and unknow n kn ow led ge lies w aiting for discovery. It sp eak s to us som etim es overpoweringly, som etim es in the m ost intim ate whisper, of birth, life, death and w hat, if anything, com es after. It takes us a long way out o f ourselves then, as m usic does, returns us, nourished, restored, and, above all, challenged. How rarely people of the theatre even conceive any of this to be their function. An even in g’s m ild titlillation, a few com m ents on our m ores, a send -up of our p olitical or social odd ities and even the m ost cherished of our playw rights feel that they have done enough . In m id-O ctob er The Stage is c o m p la in ing that no new plays have b een presented in the W est E nd since A ugust, surely the longest dry spell in years (T his of course does not m ean there are no plays, only that the old ones are still running). The subsidised theatres (the three auditoria at the N ational, the RSC’s Aldw ych and W arehouse T heatres, and the Royal Court) of course have been presenting new productions eith er of classical revivals or of new work. B ut the com m ercial theatre seem s now to look to the top-ech elon fringe or com m unity theatres (such as H am p stead Theatre Club or th e Court) for product w hich will transfer and, w ith any luck, run.

The Stage also m akes the fair com m ent that if, as often h ap pens, m an agem en ts try out new plays in half-su bsid ised regional theatres before bringing them into London, the su bsid y arrangem ents for the regions should be altered to take this into 20

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

account. Subsidy is originally m ean t to be for the benefit of the local com m u nity and London m an agem en ts may thus be said ever so gently to be ripping off som e of the good burghers of N ottingham , Leicester or M uch G rotting on the N aze. D ifficu lt to agree, however, that regional aud ien ces do not enjoy the excitem ent of new plays especially if done with more accom plished perform ers than they m ight otherw ise see. Purists have always fulm inated against regional au d ien ces being given London plays with London stars. The audiences have voted with their feet poin tin g in the direction of the auditorium . T his is not to ask for a w holly star-orientated m etro p olitan-b iased theatre. But it is in con sis tent for som e p eop le to dem and, as they do that the N ation al, the Royal Ballet and Opera should get out of th e G reat W en more often to give regional aud ien ces the pleasure of their com pany, whilst criticising theatres and m anagem ents when they do the equivalent. In cidental pleasures. Robert Stephens has blossom ed into one of our m ost lovable character actors. A fter a bum py period in his career, the traditionally bad stretch betw een dashing young lead and senior practitioner, he now unrolls as from an endless spool of finest silk, a succession of rich, warm, lovingly observed portraits (portraits on silk? pardon m y im agery) of som e of the rep ertoire’s finest characters. T his I first noticed a year ago when Robert played superbly in my film -for-television adaptation of L P H artley’s novels Eutace and H ild a ; giving a wry elegance and touching insigh t to the seem ingly waspish eccentric Jasper Bentwich. Som e m onths ago he gave a rich expansiveness to the som etim es irritating character of G ayef in the N ation al’s Cherry Orchard and by the end of the even in g had the au d ien ce in that m ost extraordinary state of not know ing whether to lau gh or to cry at this m ost exasperatingly lovable man. Now he has won deligh ted n otices for his perform ance in C ongreve’s The Double D ealer,, a new production at the N ational, less dry and brittle than has been the fash ion for som e decades, m ore m ellow and b itter-sw eet, no doubt than ks to the tem peram ental approach of the director Peter W ood. The N ational at last seem s to have hit consistent form . T his w eek ’s an n ou n ce m ent that C hristopher M orahan and Bill G askell are to run two com panies in the big op en -stage O livier and M ichael R udm an (A m erican ex-director of E din burgh’s Traverse and L ond on’s H am pstead) is to take over the proscenium staged Lyttleton prom ises som e new excitem ents. Peter H all, the boss, is going to content h im self with experim en tal work m ainly in the sm all C ottesloe. A nd it is said that there will be m ore tim e (and

money) for touring, som ething the theatre needs to do, see above, to justify m onies lifted from the British, not ju st the London, taxpayer. Robin R am say did a brave thing, cam e to town and m an aged to convince, by dint of au d ition in g it in som ebod y’s living room, his on e-m an Henry Lawson show The B astard fro m the Bush was ripe m aterial for R iverside Studios at H am m er sm ith, one of our m ost vigorous com m unity theatres now. On five Sundays at 5pm Robin roared and ram paged through the neatly a ssem b led m aterial and though his light voice may at tim es m iss som e of the author’s deep dry irony everything else is excellently observed — and projected with more tech nical sk ills than m ost A ustralian actors w orking or trying to work here usually have to offer. A ustralians som e tim es w rong-h ead ed ly dism iss technique as a kind of unnecessary artifice. Robin dem onstrated that a wide vocal range coupled w ith physical adroitness can control and p oin t the m aterial by shaping a phrase, a w h ole passage, and one balanced again st another, to draw the full depth and m ean in g of the work. And at b oth en d s of the world, the film bu siness seem s to be bad. O nly one new A ustralian film in production (G illian A rm strong’s M y Brilliant Career) and here, d esp ite attem p ts from the N F F C ’s Film D evelop m en t Fund, few film s of any significan ce are getting started. True, Rank have com e back into feature film production w ith som e aplom b, about nine film s under their banner having been started in the p ast year or so. But it’s still Confessions o f a W anker tim e for the m ost part. Film m en talk of follow in g the “ A u stralian ex p erien ce” . F ortu nately,they are aware that this may m ean good film s projecting a rich and com plex national im age bu t will not autom atically m ake m illions at the b ox office. O ne thing w h ich has really taken off in recent years in L ondon is the supper club with m usical entertainm ent. Country C ousins at C h elsea, M adison at C am den Tow n, and various ritzy estab lish m en ts in M ayfair, sp ecialisin g in m agnificent old ladies like M ab el M ercer and the legen d ary Bricktop, are hugely su ccessfu l. A largely gay au d ien ce supports the lower cam p of Country C ousins, a hom ely and pleasant p lace if one can stan d the food and the interrup tion s on the sou nd system from local radio cabs . . . A nd at the P alladium a m ore adventurous m an age m ent offers the raunchy Bette M idler or such en terp rising hopefuls as Barry M anilow , com p oser turned singer. At the H am m ersm ith O deon and W em bley pop groups from 10CC to Rick W ak em an ’s eccentrics play to thousands of fans. Anyone from D ylan to Kris K ristofferson and Rita C oolidge m ay turn up som ew here or other. T o d a y ’s yaw niest controversy — will P unk survive, develop or die, ie becom e N ew -W ave com m ercial — may be revived by a m orbid interest in the case of Sid V iciou s and his m urdered girl-friend. W e know that P unk (its purists reject the m ealy-m ou th ed term ‘New W ave’) reflects the real violence ben eath the surface of our w ould-be sm ooth bourgeois society and all that, bu t isn ’t that taking it a little too far?

Theatre/Victoria

Kevan Johnston, N ancye Hayes and Jill Perrym an in Annie

A blockbuster, but... A N N IE ___________________

R andall B e rg er; Morgenthau, John E nglish; Hull, Lance S trauss; Perkins, D iane W ilson; Honor Guard, Ton y P ree ce; Justice Brandeis, John E nglish; Hoovervilleites. Policemen, Warbucks' Servants, New Yorkers: JoTin E n glish, H ila ry H e n sh aw , K a ry n O ’N e ill, Tony P re e c e , Jon S id n ey , Lance S trau ss , Lena V e rn e, D iane W ilson; Alternate Ensemble, D any M ay.

(Professional)

RAYMOND STANLEY Annie, a musical comedy with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Presented by J C Williamson Productions Ltd, Michael Edgley International Pty Ltd, and The Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, Vic. Opened 25 October 1978. Executive producer, R o bert G inn; director, G eorge M artin; choreography, Ethel M artin ; settings, D avid M itch ell, costumes, Theoni V A ld red g e; lighting. Sue N a ttrass; assistant to director. B etty P o under; musical director, Noel S m ith . Molly, S u zan n e Jo rd a n or Vanessa W in dsor; Pepper, M ic h e lle Leon or K im M cG u inn ess; Duffy, M ich elle A rg u e or Lisa Jan m a n; July, Jan e C h a rle s to n or Jo anne Long; Tessie, Robyn F ra n k or K e llie-A nn Shipp; Kate, B ryo ne de K re ts e r or H a yd ie May N e w m an ; Annie, S a lly Ann Bourne or Sandra K n o w les; Miss Hannigan, J ill P e rry m a n ; Bundles McCloskey, Noel C rav en ; Dog Catchers, L an ce S trauss, Tony P ree ce; Sandy, H im self; Lt Ward, John English; Sophie, the Kettle, D iane W ilson; Grace Farrell, Anne G rigg; Drake, Jon Sidney; Mrs Pugh. Robyn A rth u r; Mrs Greer, Lena V e rn e; Cecille, K a ry n O ’N eill; Annette, H ila ry H enshaw ; Oliver Warbucks. H ayes G ordon; A Star To Be, K a ry n O ’N e ill; Rooster Hannigan, Kevan Johnston; Lily, N a n cye Hayes; Bert Healy, Lance S trau ss ; Fred McCracken, R andall B e rg er; Jimmy Johnson, Ton y P ree ce; Sound Effects Man, Noel C raven; Bonnie Boylan, K a ry n O ’N e ill; Connie Boylan, Lena V e rn e; Ronnie Boylan, Robyn A rth u r; NBC Page, H ilary H e n sh aw ; FDR. Ric H u tton; Ickes, Noel C rav en ; Howe,

There can be no doubt about it this tim e. JCW s, M ichael Edgley and the A delaide F estival Centre Trust have a big block-bu ster success on their hands in Annie, based on the A m erican strip cartoon L ittle Orphan Annie. Every child in the country is going to insist its parents take it to see this m usical — and I sh ould not be surprised if, in the sh ow ’s final days, som e of its present wee tots have graduated to the adult roles. W ith overdosings of syrup — that include app ealing orphans, a cuddly dog, the biggest stage C hristm as tree ever seen, with snow flakes gently falling outside — Annie cannot fail with the G eneral P ublic, 99% of w hich is going to adore every sugary m om en t of it. T his is not to say the show is really good, nor that it has quality. O ne has only to look at som e of the high-rating TV program m es to know how undiscrim inat ing the G eneral P ublic is.

Annie is calcu lated to pull every trick in the A m erican show -biz book, to woo and brainw ash an uncritical audience into a joyful evening of pure escapism . A ll those people who disliked A Chorus Line, com plain ed about its heart-rending realism , lack of sets and costum es, and four-letter langu age, are going to fall about at this harm less piece of nonsense w hich probably would better a ccom m odate its patrons if it was played six m atinees a week and two evening perform ances. A Chorus Line was by no m eans perfect, but at least it excitingly pointed to new directions in w hich theatre m ight be going. Annie sim ply puts it several decades back to pieces like Irene, The Sound o f Music and Love From Judy — which, based on D addy Long Legs, also featured inm ates of an orphanage. ( Theatre Australia and m yself of course will yet again be accused in certain quarters of anti-com m ercial leanings!) Very briefly, Annie is set in New York in D ecem ber 1933 during the D epression period. The title ’s 11-year-old heroine refuses to accept she is an orphan; she was dum ped on the orphanage doorstep when THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

a baby. U n hap py at treatm ent from the orp h an age’s m atron, the drink-sodden M iss H ann igan , she runs away, adopts a stray dog, links up with a gang of hobos, and is returned to the orphanage by the police. W hen billionaire Oliver W arbucks w ants an orphan to spend C hristm as with him , naturally A nnie is the one. He becom es attach ed to A nnie, and prom ises to find her long-lost parents, even enlistin g the help of P resident R oosevelt and offering a large reward. M iss H an n ig a n ’s brother R ooster and his girl friend Lily pose as A n n ie’s parent, but of course the plot is exposed and D addy W arbucks adopts her. The best thing about the production for me is the sets; lifelike backdrops which, with the effcien t use of the revolve appear and disappear and repeatedly were greeted by applause from the first night audience. M uch pu blicity was m ade out of the difficulty of findin g an A nnie, w hich is high lighted by the fact the one seen on openin g night — Sally Ann Bourne — is com petent but seem s singularly to lack any personality and one certainly w ould hesi-

tate in predicting a future for her in show bu siness. W ith the exception of the teeny V an essa W indsor, the child ren’s cast seem ed no better than an average school production w ould be able to feature. The three outstand in g perform ances com e from N ancye H ayes as the dum b blonde Lily (who loses her tiny voice when im personating A n n ie’s w ould-be m other), Kevan Johnston as R ooster and Anne G rigg as the b eautiful graceful secretary to W arbucks. Ric H utton also im presses as a very slim -look in g F ranklin D R oosevelt. H itherto I have not been lacking in adm iration for the outstand in g talent of Jill Perrym an, bu t am disap pointed with her current perform ance. Portraying an already grotesque character, she m agnifies this by overdoing every m ovem ent and expression, lack in g her custom ary subtlety. A nd never for one m om ent is she able to su ggest a villainess, all the tim e one is convinced she really has a heart of gold — w hich is playing right against lines and situation. K now ing what a true prof essional Perrym an always is, one can only blam e director G eorge M artin; and the

way aud ien ces respond to her outrageous good-n atured contortions would appear to justify his m is-direction. On op en in g night H ayes G ordon did not appear too com fortable as D addy W arbucks and there was a tendency to underplay. A m ethod-type actor, he probably has had difficulty in finding any trace of su bstance to his part. O ne is surprised too that som eone as highly regarded as H ayes G ordon, with all his ideals at the E nsem b le, and after his pow erful Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, should choose his second stage appearance in m ore than twenty years to be in a m usical such as Annie. The score is not very notable. “T o m orrow” is of course likely to sw am p the airwaves un til we are all heartily sick of it. Personally I prefer the Kurt W eill-ish num ber “ W e ’d Like To T hank Y o u ” sung by the dow n and outs, and the sh ow stop ping “ Easy Street” perform ed by Jill Perrym an, K evan Johnston and Nancye Hayes. Annie is one m usical I have no desire to revisit.

Extending collage’s theatrical viability TH E SPA LD IN G F A M IL Y ALBUM MARGARET MCLUSKY The Spalding Family Album. Two Plays by C olin R yan. Everyman's Theatre Collective at La Mama Theatre, Melbourne, Vic. Opened 19 October, 1978. Producer, Director, Designer, R o bert C h u te r; Lighting Operation and Design, F re d W a lla c e .

Forget Me Not: Mrs Esther Gertrude Spalding, A n ne G ilfo rd ; James Frederick Albert Spalding Esq.. G ra em e D ale; Miss Annie Priscilla Carter, A nna M izza ; Miss Beatrice Elizabeth Carter, Joe -A nne M oore; Mrs Rose Grimpole, K im la rn F re c k e r; Mrs Sarah Wholesworth Carter, Jen ny S eedsm an; Mr Archie Carason. lain C h ris tie ; Miss Rita May Spalding, C h a n te lle Cox; Violet, Susan S hee; The Pianist. A n gela G ill. Esther: Mrs Esther Gertrude Spalding, Anna G ilfo rd ; Mrs Rose Grimpole, K im la rn F re c k e r; Miss Annie Priscilla Carter, A nna M izza; Miss Beatrice Elizabeth Carter. JoA nne M oore; Miss Phoebe Curlew, S h irle y G ra n g e; James Frederick Albert Spalding, Esq., G ra em e D ale; William Oscar Middleton. Esq.. L au rie M cD on ald . (Amateur)

For anyone who thou ght nothing h a p pened in sm all country towns, and were am azed that people were even able to tie a m arital knot in a hick town like D im b oola just wait and see what Esther G ertrude Spalding does with a hat pin in H orsham ! W ithout w ishing to dam n several h u n dred plays there are only two produ ctions I’ve seen on the ‘alternative’ circuit over the last decade w hich m easure up to La M am a’s latest and perhaps finest offering. Not since The Removalists in 1971 has La M am a ventured a play of such general excellence and certainly not since Ian M cF adyen’s zany and inspired M acBeth at W hy N ot in 1976 has direction com bined innovation, intuition and a high regard for theatrical fun dam entals — virtues d is m ally lack in g in m uch of our local theatre, in spite of the counter cultural cognoscenti. The Spalding Family A lbum has one reaching for the T hesaurus — vignette? tableau? m osaic? pastiche? It is clear from a great num ber of recently written plays by 22

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

A nna G ilford (Esther) and G len Barker in La M a m a ’s The Spalding Family Album . Photo: Robert Chuter. more or less unknow ns that collage is taking over from more conventional theatrical form s. M ost of these attem pts are courageou s. Som e are even co m m en dable. Colin R yan’s Family A lbum goes a great deal further, exten ding co lla g e’s

theatrical viability.

The Spalding Family A lbum com prises two plays — Forget M e N ot and E sther — com plem entary pieces which vividly por tray a fam ily and an individual firm ly rooted in their era — early tw entieth

century — in a sm all country town. The Spalding-C arter fam ily is dom inated by three quite exceptional sisters, disparate and unique: Esther, the eldest, a m agnetic and reputedly m urderous w om an, thrice widowed: Beatrice, beautiful and eccentric and lock ed up in an asylum at E sth er’s behest; and A n nie, down to earth and less enm eshed in her environm ent by the dem ands of sm all town convention.

Forget M e N ot is obviously but not offensively styled as a series of p h o to graphic lik en esses — ‘sep ia’ com es irresis tibly to m ind — of an era better docum ented in English than A ustralian literature — the hum drum of day to day existence: w alks in the garden, the scand als and the gossip, the occasion al excitem ent of a picnic — the wellbred world of the country gentility. The Carter sisters are not superficially eccentric — with the possible exception of Beatrice who drinks a little but also enjoys

No smell of dank sawdust TH E N E X T G R EA TEST PLEASURE JOHN BRYSON The Next Greatest Pleasure by D M S cott. Hoopla Theatre Foundation, Playbox Theatre. Melbourne. Vic. Opened 13 October 1978. Director. David K e n d all; Designer and Production Manager. S a ndra M atlo ck ; Stage Manager. T es sie H ill.

Sebastian. F re d e ric k P a rs lo w ; Dostoevsky/Mick O Brien. T e re n c e D onovan; Jack Bourke/Mr Stern M au rie Field s; Charles James Fox/Foxey/Mr Rose. B ruce K e rr; Marquis of Hastings/Hastings. W illiam G luth; Cathy/Lady Catherine. B a rb ara D ennis; Skittles/Fiona. Jillia n M u rra y. IProfessionalI

In this country a m atch betw een horses and theatre is no race, and th a t’s why The Next G reatest Pleasure is at the Playbox during the Spring Carnival. Steve M ystere’s Pharlap was a more adventurous play but did not pull m any of the racing set in 1977, and on Thursday night before the 1978 C aulfield, the Playbox look ed less than one-sixth full. No real wonder. T here is no sm ell of dank saw dust, none of the old sporting portraits that Jack H ib berd m akes visible in The Les Darcy Show, no frozen triple-deadheats. The play is about a sudden loser. Sebastian (the K ing) O ’Brien, dux of school and university, has becom e a successful SP, and on this one day of the year we follow his M elbourne Cup. The King accepts an im m ense rush on G old & Black and arranges to knobble it, though he c a n ’t keep it secret; then Sgt Bourke dem ands a trebling of his graft; young brother M ick b oasts of screwing Seb astian’s present wife since the honeym oon; he is bu sted by ferreting taxm en; his only son com m its suicide; his secretary and true-love throws him over; and his guiltnoire wins the Cup un knobbled. It’s been a hard day. The H oopla team handles these sloppy horse-pats with steam ing fortitude. David K endall has tried to keep the play straight, to let the faster one-liners work, but it’s all

playing the m adw om an for Mrs Grimp o le’s credu lou s and horrified benefit — and ind eed their bearing is im peccable, m ore aristocratic than genteel. W hile Esther has the personality and strength of m ind to m urder a hundred ineffectual m en, it is as likely that the jealousy and parochialism of her contem poraries m ade her a devil, “ a very im age of slaugh ter” . Esther, “ . . . a collection of E sth er’s m em ories . . . on the day of her death . . .” is m ore sinister. It was first perform ed at the G uild and La M am a earlier this year and originally stood alone. Forget Me Not locates Esther herself more firmly and the play is stronger for it. Esther, matriarch and n otorious widow is strongly drawn: a will of iron, an ability to suffer fools with a m ost regal wit and disdain; and an ind om itab le b elief that what she has done is right — w hatever she has done. She does not confess. It is tantalising to think of her both ways: as the unfairly m align ed inn ocent crucified by sm all town over the track. T he phantom intercessions of Charles Jam es Fox, D ostoevsky, and the M arquis of H astings do little to prepare us for the m odern characters they precede, and the tabloid explications of their fever treats gam bling as universally an addiction to chance w ithou t skill. O f course it is not. Frederick P arslow ’s w istful skill could not im pel S eb a stia n ’s com pulsive abreac tions beyond the first act. He may have liked m oving the part more, but the King is tied to his desk by the inconstant dem and of twelve telephones. M aurie Fields heavied his Sgt Jack (K ick y’r brains in) Bourke as well as it would allow, but felt u n com fortable as an im plausible T axm an Stern and was anxiou s to get off the stage. Bruce Kerr fared better in the Tax Act bu t no-on e could hold up the H awke parody that destroys Foxey’s toutish glee, and the political jokes lum bered with obesity. Jillian M urray’s task was im p ossib le. Her nym phet Skittles stam ps her tantrum feet and slurps her thum b, sh e ’s got to be twenty-eight; yet playing that age, as wife F iona, she can only bum p abou t the m antlepiece like an inflatable lady because the part is so vaccuous. But she flicks out her one good line with a dextrous snap. Fun, she sneers at the K ing, I’ve had more fun with my finger. She has the driest crack in the play. S cott’s script has no carefully extruded nor fiercely partisan position on any of the social or political issues it jokes about. It does not pretend im portance in this sense. But it is also a failure of entertainm ent. The players are forced to shuffle ankledeep in discarded betting jokes searching for som ething of value. W orkshopping at the N ational Playw right’s Conference h asn ’t cured the disabling defects in structure. They are m ade m ost poignant, curiously, by the very appropriate per form ance of B arbara D ennis as girl-friday and overnight Cathy. She is swish, com posed and m iddle-class. H ers is the task of adm inisterin g the coup de grace to an already b lood ied King. She m ust make this the m om en t of major clim ax, more devastating than the failure of his two m arriages, the decim ation of his fortunes, the suicide of his son. She lets him sit

idleness; and as the infam ous black widow — m align , crow -like, the essence of death hovering over H orsham . Colin Ryan has a quite exceptional ability to write conversation of a tim e long gone w ithout m aking it pretentious or effete: m uch of it has the sharpness and im peccable understatem ent of the best of Emma and a flair for juxtap osition which gives even the m ost trival com m ent of the m ost fatuous character a rapier thrust. As a com plem ent to R yan’s skill as writer, Robert Chuter has em ployed an im pressive talent in bringing the script to life, coaxing the form al period dialogue into believable and precise exch ange, neither clich e’d nor caricatured. The Everyman Collective unlike m any other “ en sem b les” works as a harm onious whole — each theatrical entity is given equal w eight and is delicately balan ced to form an exquisite, alm ost fragrant per form ance and production. All hail Everyman! there, waiting. T hen she does it. Sorry, she says. Sorry. But it has no im pact at all, we have known all this since the first act, and the point of her thrust slides away. The inevitability of her failure is also a com m ent on the play, its form has let them down, and she retreats off stage, brown skirt sw irling like a riding habit. R em em b er ing Victor Borge's com edy routine. Phonetic P unctuation, was then queasily apposite: A nd all he heard was the sound of her slowly departing horse — T hpppppp.

Element of risk missing LIV ULLMANN ROGER PULVERS Liv Ullmann J C Williamson Productions and Michael Edgley International at the Comedy Theatre. Melbourne. Vic. Opened Nov I, 1978. Director, Jose Q uin tero; Costumes Designer. T heoni V A ldredg e; Scenic Désigner. E ric Head; Lighting Design and Technical Direction. Sue N a ttra s s . The Bear by Anton Chekhov, translated by Alex Szogyi Elena Ivanovna Popova. Liv U llm ann; Grigory Stepanovich Smirnov. M ich ael Pate; Luka. D esm ond R olfe. The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau. A woman. Liw U llm an. (Professional)

There is no doubt that she is a superb actress. T here is a range of em otion always present in her gesture. I have rarely seen anybody who can change so quickly in m ood and apparent tem peram ent. The two plays, then, are good show cases for this skill. In The Bear she has to deal with a boor of a m an who m akes dem ands on her purse in the beginn in g and later on her heart. In the C octeau piece, she is tossed up and down by a lover who cares little for her. Jose Q uintero directed both pieces with a quiet naturalism . There was subtlety in a num ber of parts where other directors would have gone for cliched effects. In The Human Voices, for instance, he m ight have asked an actress to light a few cigarettes or to rap the table in her despair. But this would have taken away from the dram a, as M s U llm ann has it all THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

at her com m an d from the inside out. All this being the case, why was it largely unsatisfactory? The Bear was quite all right as a curtain raiser, to set the audience up for the true dram a of the second piece. But there is a basic flaw in the present-day conception of The Human Voice which, I feel, leaves a contem porary audience unm oved. C octeau ’s voice here is crying out an anquished love for a m ale lover, perhaps for R aym ond R adiguet. Of course, it is m asked hom osexu ality, as it is played by a wom an. T he part has been interpreted by Ingrid Bergm an, A nna M agnani, and others. Y et, today, all that talk about sham e, m onu m en tal regret, and horrible

guilt seem s out of place. D oes the audience really believe that a w om an would carry on like that? Perhaps, given the baroque context of the piece, with black gloves at the beginn in g, tangled wires that represent the w om an ’s torm ent, and slightly offbeat — for to d a y ’s world — details like a butler nam ed Joseph for M onsieur.

that it is C octeau trying to com m u nicate with a lover. Y et, in the piece there are a few references which m ust pu zzle som e. This being presented com m ercially, a decision m ay well have been m ade to leave out the ‘u n seem ly’ aspect. The piece m ight have com e to life if people believed that M s U llm ann was talking to a fem ale.

But what is m issing in all this is the elem en t of risk. The audience can feel itself uninvolved in the w om an’s misery and view it as a kind of operatic display. All the m ore so for A ustralia, where C octeau's torm ents over love and death in poetic flight are alien to the m ode of expression. N ow here in the program is it m entioned

A n u m ber of com ic m om ents in the m on ologu e seem ed to be lost. I felt that the essentially low -key direction may have been responsib le for these not em erging. A few lau gh s w ould have provided a bit m ore p u n ctu ation . But perhaps it was the openin g night audience that was as un responsive as it was polite in the presence of a great actress.

M alcolm Keith (Rom a — 2nd from left) in the M T C ’s R esistable Rise o f A rturo Ui Photo: D avid Parker

Elegant formality without impact TH E R ESISTA B LE RISE OF ARTURO UI ROGER PULVERS The Resistable Rise o f Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht Melbourne Theatre Company, Athenaeum Theatre. Melbourne, Victoria. Opened 24 October, 1978. Director, B ruce M yles; Designer. K im C a rp e n te r; Lighting Designer, Jam ie Lew is; Music, M a rtin F rle d l; Choreography, C o le tte M ann. Arturo Ui. E d w in H o dgem an; Giri, A n tho ny H a w k in s ; Givola. Lex M arino s; Roma. M alc olm K e ith ; Old Dogsborough. E d w a rd H epple; Young Dogsborough. C a ry D ay; James Greenwool, D avid D o w n e r; Shorty, Rod W illia m s ; Young Inna, Ian S u ddards; The Barker. C a ry Dow n; Sheet, Roy B a ld w in ; Clark, John S tanton; Butcher, B ruce S p ence; Bowl, Lloyd C u n n in g to n ; Ragg, G erard M ag u ire; O'Casey, M ich ael Edgar; Actor, Sydney C o nabere; Goldman, John B o w m an; Fish. John Heyw o od; Dullfeet, Don B ridges; Dockdaisy, B etty B obbitt; Betty Dullfeet. J e n n ife r H agan. (Professional) 24

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Everybody hates H itler. T his being the case, we can all vent our lib eral’s conscien ce on the m an. The M TC p rodu c tion of The R esistable Rise o f Arturo Ui gave us a chance to do just that. It was a production of blan d display and subdued veneer. In a word, it lack ed daring. The play follow s the progress of a C hicago gangster w hose racket is protec tion. He uses intim id ation , extortion, and m urder to further his career. Brecht paralleled U i’s rise to pow er in and around C hicago to the rise of H itler in and around G erm any. T he play is about the con n ec tion betw een politics and crim e, where certain p olitician s can use public office for private aggrandisem ent. W e have our own U is in A ustralia, of the hom egrow n, if not the ‘dees, dem s, and d ose’ variety. Edw in H odgem an played U i quite m asterfully. It was an essentially C haplinesqu e U i, a p in t-size pea of a m an who

grows into a giant. In a sense, it m ay have been a villain too endearing. For the final sp eech, as horrific dem ogogue, did not feel as threatenin g to the audience as it sh'ould have. Som e of the supporting work, too, was excellen t. M alcolm K eith ’s R om a was an h on est-to-good n ess send-up of the C hicago m afiosi. A nd his accent was consistent. On the w hole, the A m erican accents were a very m ixed bag. It is only a technical point, actually, bu t I know that som e of these actors can hold an accent longer than they did. I heard at least five variations on a them e by Jam es Cagney. D avid D ow n er’s character was spot on. He b rough t to the part an intensity that cut through m uch of the blan dness. From the outset it was clear that the interpretation of the play by Bruce M yles was tak in g an easy, acceptable-to-everybody, way out. T he set was m uch too sm ooth ly conceived , with crates piled up in

Theatre / Queensland back in the neatest disarray. A nd the costum es were so beautiful, very m uch Robert Redford in The Sting. T his is the crux of the problem . If this production is to set a pattern for Brecht in M elbourne, then what we are going to get is a cultural orthodoxy, a sm ooth ed over easy-to-take p olitical and social m essage. Brecht w anted to confront the audiences of G erm any in the 1920’s with their own hypocrisy. I’d venture to say that the texture and ph ilosophical bent of the M TC audience of the 1970’s is not far from that earlier audience. In fact, I w ou ld n ’t be surprised if som e of the sam e people w eren’t in both audiences. If one is to be Brechtian then, one m ust attack the problem s in the play in a way that is relevant to the social evils of today. The ideas of W al Cherry and John W illett are on the very right track here. So was G eorge W haley’s production of The Threepenny Opera at N ID A . I am not saying that the action has to be transferred to A ustralia. But surely, a piece about the hypocrisy of H itler w ou ld n’t confront anybody now, not as the M TC has presented it. There were som e good effects in this production. A string of light bulbs glowed at every shot. T he scene in w hich U i m im ics a Shakespearean actor was w on derful. Sydney Conabere acted the hasbeen with a style that is all too fam iliar to us from orthodox Shakespeare p rodu c tions o f the M elbourne Theatre C om pany and the form er O ld Tote. I hop e that this production w on ’t set a precedent. O therw ise we will have a B recht-chic, an elegant form ality w ithout im pact; and a generation of theatre goers will be alien ated from B recht and keep their distan ce. F inally, why does the M TC put the duration of each act in the program: first act 95 m in u tes, second act 60 m inutes? If I had been Arturo U i, I would have stood up at the en d of A ct O ne and cancelled the interval.

Some beautiful writing LIG H T S H IN IN G IN B U C K IN G H A M S H IR E V. I. RICHARDS Light Shining In Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill. The Australian Performing Group at The Pram Factory, Carlton, Vic. Opened 24 October, 1978. Director, W ilfre d Last; Lighting. M lc h s lls Johnson, Ponch H a w ks »; Costumes, Rose Chong. R ichard M u rp h a tt, P s ts r H o sking, Jam as Shuvus, John Lay, Sua In g leto n , U rsu la H a rris o n . (Parts are

shared amongst the cast). (Professional)

Caryl C hurchill’s play Light Shining in Buckinghamshire has the advantage of being E nglish. Its subject is, therefore, chosen from the m illions of historical, com ical, pastoral p h ilosophical etc inci d e n ts available to th e research conscious playwright looking for a m om en t with contem porary ‘resonance’. A one in a m illion choice should have more going for it than the historically deprived A ustralian

playwright who has a one in fifty choice. Stands to reason. Not to m ention the A ustralian problem of a lot of the good stuff being already spoken for. (Two plays about Chidley for instance, two about M elba, Phar Lap Les Darcy, K ing O ’M alley, M enzies, even Charles H orne, for Christ’s sake.) However th e search does go on, m ore’s th e p ity perhaps. A nother advantage the English have is that their incid en ts are more im portant in the overall schem e of things. C om pared to the E nglish Civil W ar and the Putney D e b a te s, say, th e Eureka S tock ad e and R afaello Carboni pale a little bit. Not sentim entally, but intellectually. W e A u st ralians have sentim ent aplenty, it being the em otion that has fuelled a whole genera tion of playwrights. And whilst real A ustralians cannot hold with de T ocqueville’s sly dictum that w ithout history there can be no culture, I would say that part of our problem is that in a sm all country there are a sm aller num ber of big im agin ation s. So the intellectu al, im agin a tive, theatrical consciousn ess here has been left to a sm all and dim inishing num ber of writers, who have the m isfor tune to be surrounded by charlatans. From Louis Esson to John Rom eril large im agin ation s have been forced out of the theatre by sm all ones who know m eeting procedures, bank m anagers and funding bodies better. The charlatans pile unperform ed on unperform able scripts, using up the sm all store of history left and leaving huge areas of the theatre unexplored. If there is one trend in all the unperform ed scripts around it is that in transferring an im aginary production (the way the writer sees it in h is/h er head) to the page sim plicity and tough good dialogue go right out the window in favour of operatic effects, fake poeticism , form lessness and an absence of a point of view. M ost of all they try to do too m uch. So to Light Shining in Buckingham shire. T his is an exceedingly sim ple idea, and one th a t in th e A P G p rod u ction dir e c te d by W ilfred Last has com e out a bit boringly. T he idea is to take twenty or so aspects of the left of Crom wellian England and present th e m in th e form of m on ologu es / d ialogues / serm ons / recruit ing sp eech es and lit tie scenes put th e se on a bare sta g e and let th e ideas of th e Levellers, D iggers and th e C om m on M an, and W om an, speak for them selves. W rit te n in th e style of 17th century E nglish, th e lan gu age has th e sound of poetry and im portance, as indeed does the subject m a tte r . Cap D D em ocracy is a very subver sive d octrin e even now. The failu re of any society to listen to their prophets and grasp it as a sad com m entary on the subsisting selfishness of hum an beings, a d isillu sion m ent expressed at the end of the play. Perform ed in the Pram Factory’s sm all Back T heatre, the play m akes use of a lot of close-u p-theatre tech niques, in a sim ple and m oderately effective way, that could have done with a bit more explanatory flair. E du cation al yes, excitin g no. But som e b eautiful writing. A nd a play so obviously well worth doing; every p lay wright who c a n ’t get perform ed in A ustralia and wonders why, should read it.

Fine funny stylish shows HABEAS CORPUS M O TH ER S AND FA TH ER S VERONICA KELLY Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett. Queensland Theatre Company at SGIO Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland. Opened 25 October, 1978. Director, John K ru m m el; Designer, P e te r C ooke; Music, G eorge L a w re n c e ; Lighting Designer, P e te r S hoesm ith; Stage Manager, Jam es H enson. Arthur Wicksteed, Alan E d w ard s; Muriel Wicksteed, M onica M aughan; Dennis Wicksteed, Phil M oye; Constance Wicksteed, K a te S h eil; Mrs Swabb, W endy B lack lo ck ; Canon Throbbing. D u ncan W ass; Lady Rumpers, B a rb ara W yndon; Felicity Rumpers, Elaine Bolton; Mr Shanks, D ouglas H edge; Sir Percy Shorter, A lan Tobin; Mr Purdue, A llen B ic k fo rd . (Professional) Mothers and Fathers by Joseph Musaphia, Twelfth Night Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland. Opened 25 October, 1978. Director. Bill Redm ond; Designer. M ike B ridges; Lighting, J e rry Luke; Stage Manager, V ic to r A s h elfo rd . Bernard Longman. Paul M ason; Sally Longman, K e rry M cG u ire; Geraldine Boon, E liza b eth A le x a n d e r; Terry Boon, K it T ay lo r. (Professional)

As th e fe stiv e season approaches th e th e a tr e ’s fan cy turns to th o u g h ts of providing not only light e n te rta in m e n t for p a tro n s but th e ad d ition al b e n e fit, where p ossible, of a display piece and general le ttin g o ff of stea m fo r th e ar tists. R esu lts may currently be seen in th e o ffe r in g s of th e tw o su bsid ised p rofession al com panies: Q T C ’s Habeas Corpus and T w e lfth N ig h t’s M oth ers and Fathers. B o th are fin e, fu n n y and stylish shows and, ju d gin g by th e reaction s of aud ien ces, highly e n te rta in in g and a p p reciated . W hereas in th e case of M ot hers and F athers th e p rod u ction m akes th e play look a far sight b e tte r th a n it is, my only reservation about Habeas Corpus is th a t am ongst all th e brilliance on display B e n n e tt’s cou n term elod ies of sad ness and loneliness — his near-m ediaeval fea r of th e body as an alien carrier of sexu ality, aging, desease and d eath — te n d s to becom e subm erged in th e farcical W ildean p yrotech nics. John K ru m m el’s d irection plays th e fu n n y s tu ff as hard as it will go; ind eed, som ew hat harder. M ovem ents are stylised and snappy, bu t th e paciness rides over th e p lay’s p o te n tia l for variation of to n e , especially in th e solo passages fo r th e d octor-h ero A rthur W ick steed (A lan Edw ards) where a more w istfu l, inward rhythm cou ld have been risked. T he cast plays rewardingly to g e th er , w elded in to an en sem ble w ith a fairly un iform ability to present ch aracterisation s in th e re q u isite farce style. O u tsta n d in g ly enjoy able are M onica M au gh an ’s crisply lib id inous hom e c o u n tie s m atron , W endy B lack lock ’s ch o ru s-fig u re M rs Swabb, and A lan T o b in ’s ven gefu l Sir Percy Shorter, P resident of th e BM A, whose c o n tr i b u tio n to th e p ro d u ctio n ’s overall disTHEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

In term s of p lo t, it is th is m edical M achiavel who com es u n stu ck on his p r o fe ssio n ’s a p titu d e for screw ing all p a tie n ts ind iscrim inately, w h eth er privately or on th e N ation al H ealth — w hoever said farce cou ld n ’t be top ical? U nsurprisingly, th e o p p o rtu n ity for a sharper p o in tin g up of underlying social realities is here passed up in favour, ju stifia b ly perhaps, of a ssim ilation to th e M olieresqu e arch etyp e of th e crazy m edecin, and th e w him sical harm ony of th e p lay’s m u ltip le recon ciliation s and com prom ises was not greatly d istu rb ed . For B e n n e tt, unlike M oliere, even th e perennial dot tores are forgiveable as, w h eth er gu ilty or in n ocen t, we are all let o ff in th e end by th e great D o c to r ’s C e r tific a te of our com m on m ortality. A lum inary alm ost in its own right is P eter C ook e’s bare, radiantly w h ite se t. It is sim ply th e best design I can rem em ber seeing in th e SG IO T h eatre. N ot only does th e set fin ely com p lim en t th e p rod u c tio n , it harm onises w ith th e in tr a cta b le arch itectu re of th e th e a tre rather th a n let itse lf be a tta c k e d by it. The austere and restrictive sem i-circular proscenium arch is a co n sta n t visual problem , and here it is tr iu m p h an tly and w ittily overcom e. T he p u b lish ed e d itio n of M u sa p h ia ’s M others and Fathers rem inds us th a t com edy is a serious art, and by Bergson h e ’s r igh t, and may it ever be so considered. W hat th e n is one to m ake of a play w hose prem ises revolve around su b-L aw rencian assu m p tion s abou t th e superior sexual ach ievem en ts of th e w orking class v is-a -v is th e m iddle class, w ith m ales reduced to mere app en dages to service th e inexorable dem ands of th e wom b fo r its fu lfilm e n t in fe r tility ? Or could it be th a t we are being telegrap h ed a m etap h oric m essage on th e present sta te of a New Z ealand society feelin g itse lf vulnerable by reason of its sm all p o p u la tio n , and where th e cops are more p o te n t th a n th e lawyers? I guess n o t. As it is, th e only co n so la tio n to be had is th a t all fo u r ch aracters — m ale and fem ale, p roletariat and bourgeois — are han ded a calcu la i edly eq u a l-siz ed serving of cliches to hu m anise. A s Trevor G r iffith s p u ts it in his Comedians: “ W hen you walk in to th a t arena w ith a joke, you g o tta know why y o u ’re th e r e ” . W hile fe e lin g som ew hat queasy at the rather fa c ile d a ta of th e p lay’s u n su ccess fully pursued th e m es and ty p e -ch a ra c te r 26

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

isa tio n s, I w ith th e rest of th e audience hugely enjoyed th e p rod u ction on th e level of a polish ed event displaying a su p erla tive cast of com edy actors. It is hugely to Bill R ed m o n d ’s credit th a t his d irection in te g ra te s ta c t w ith flair. The c a stin g is sp o t-o n . Kerry M cG uire is a very fun ny lady ind eed, and if T w e lfth N ight could su cceed in its policy of persuading th e public th a t th e real th in g is b e tte r th a n th e tu b e, th e th e a tre would be packed to th e rafte r s. Paul M ason as her um brellau p -th e -a r s e solicitor hu sb and crowns an evening graced by su sta in ed com ic inven tio n w ith his drunk scene at th e p lay’s end, where h e ’s not follow in g any easy acts. P articu lar w arm th went out from me to E liz a b e th A lexander and Kit Taylor, who as th e proletarian couple have th e m ost p o te n tia lly invidious roles. Taylor avoids th e p itfa ll of p atron isin g his s tu d -w ith -th e -h e a r t-o f-g o ld tr a ffic cop, and E liza b eth A lexander projects v ita lity and in telligen ce as his tou gh ly m ercenary w ife, whose asp irations are d efin ed merely as th e stu n n in gly vulgar m aterialism cannily su ggested by M ike Bridge’s se t. May th ey all return soon and play us a b e tte r com edy.

Shaw at his most dynamic

Sim pson han dles the difficult transition from in n ocence, through cynicism and out at the other side to radiant w orldliness, with un sen tim en tal precision. T he first night was fraught with tech nical hitches. (W hen were airships ever reliable anyway?) After a second visit, I can report that the production is back on an even keel. T ake heart. La Boite; the prem iere, back in 1920, suffered from sim ilar problem s and lasted three hours, fifty m in u tes as a result!

High point, Murray Foy’s Claudius H A M LE T_________________ DON BATCHELOR Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The Arts Theatre Company at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education, Toowoomba, Queensland. Opened 17 October, 1978. Director, D avid A d d en b ro o ke; Designer, Jak B a llan tin e . Guest Artists: Gertrude, K a ta W ilson; Claudius, M u rra y Foy; Polonius, Kan Im ison; Horatio, R o bert K etton; Rosencrantz, G ra h am B yrn a; Student Players: Hamlet, D avid Lynch; Ophelia, J u lia Tom pson; Laertes, Paul H unt; Ghost, Fortinbras, Player King, G avan F en elon ; Player Queen, G w an S o aras; Guildenstern, Ian K a nny; Voltemand, B ra d le y F a rm e r; Cornelius, N ail Poulsen; Marcellus, C raig M cC om bs; Bernado, M ich ael D o w n e y; Francisco, D avid G lin s ta r; Grave Digger, M ark Hu nt; Osric, Priest, G eo ff M e tc a lf; Company of Players, Jo W a rd le w o rth , D w y e r.

W en d y

Low ,

G inny

B a rre tt,

Sue

(Pro/A m)

H EAR TB R EA K HOUSE D avid JEREMY RIDGMAN Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. La Boite Theatre, Brisbane, Queensland. Opened 20 October 1978. Director, R icha rd F o th erin g h a m ; Design Co-Ordinator, D iann a H eenan; Lighting Designer and Operator, S h irle y W illiam son ; Stage Manager, A nna P appas. Ellie Dunn, Meg Sim pson; Captain Shotover, Mac Hamilton? Nurse Guiness, E ileen B eatson; Lady Ariadne Utterwood. June Fin n ey; Hesione Hushabye, Patsy M cC arth y; Alfred Mangan, Bill D u nbar; Randall Utterwood, B ruce M cC o rm ack ; William Dunn, David Jessop; Ross Coombes, M azzin i Dunn; Hector Hushabye, Tim G affn ey .

(Amateur)

La B oite have sailed into what are for them the relatively unnavigated waters of the G P repertoire and, to stretch the m etaphor a little, have com e through with flying colours. H eartbreak House was seen by Shaw as his bid for im m ortality — “ B ehold my Lear!" He also adm itted that it was a “ frightfully long p lay” . Here it has been jud iciously pruned to a tidy two and a half hours w ithout losing any of its developing ironies. T he fable of society as a m oral vacuum , of the necessity for stout souls at the exp en se of broken hearts, unravels am id the paraphernalia of the Em pire and to the strains of Elgar. R ichard Fotherin gh am ’s crisp, colourful, at tim es alm ost p an tom im ic approach shows Shaw at his m ost dynam ic. The cast, one of the strongest seen at La Boite for som e tim e, is headed by Patsy M cC arthy’s braying, m ad-cap H esione and M ac H a m ilto n ’s bright-eyed Shotover. (Not unw isely, m ost of the characters have had a few years kn ocked off them .) H olding it all together is M eg S im p son ’s Ellie D u n n , m aybe a little more of a b lu e-stock in g than Shaw m ight have seen her, but thoroughly appealing: M eg

A d d en b rook e’s

production

H am let finds interesting heart for the play in the b an d of strolling actors. It is not m erely that in them H am let finds a m eans to expose Claudius; it is that his theatrical personality is uniquely stim u lated and fully expressed only through the theatrical situations he can su bseq uently desire. D ressing up in c o s tum e, he confronts his m other in a m ood of dram atic elation, w hich explains the extravagance of his actions in dealing with her, in d isp atch in g P olonius, and in goadin g C laudius. Prior to this explosion, C laudius has effected a sm ooth transition to kingship w hich has been pragm atically em braced by all. G ertrude, for exam ple, is not the w illing consort H am let im agines her to be. K ate W ilso n ’s perform ance skillfully dev elop s from initial cooln ess to final rejection when she deliberately drinks the poison cup. T he way all central characters, not just H am let, com e to recognise them selves is the p ro d u ctio n ’s finest feature. T he high perform ance poin t was M urray F oy’s C laudius, a politician brought to account by the inner m an and pathetically aware that he can n ot respond. D avid Lynch’s H am let, clearly drawn and charged with co m p ellin g wild em otion , lack ed the control to shape a really prom ising perform ance. It is seldom that we are privileged — as H am let, and C laudius were — to see a play that transform s our lives. But that this th ou gh tfu l, clearly realised, and clearly designed produ ction transform ed my u n derstand in g of the play is a rare enough experien ce to deserve my grateful a cclam a tion.

THE FESTIVAL OF SYDNEY SPECIAL PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS SUPPLEMENT The Third Sydney Jazz Festival At The Sydney Town Hall F o llo w in g th e s e n s a tio n a l s u c c e s s o f th e J a z z F e s tiv a ls in th e f ir s t tw o F e s ti v a ls o f S y d n e y , H o rs t L ie p o lt a n d th e F e s tiv a l a r e p ro u d to a n n o u c e th e T h ird S y d n e y J a z z F e s tiv a l. M onday 15 JA N U A R Y 8 . 0 0 p .m .

T u e sd a y 1 6 JA N U A R Y 8 .0 0 p .m .

“JAZZ QUARTET USA” Direct from New York Featuring: Chico Freeman — Flute/Tenor Sax/Bass Clarinet Mike Nock — Piano David Friesen — Bass Violin A1 Foster — Drums

Together with “RICHARD OCHALSKIS’ STRAIGHT AHEAD” “BRUCE CALE QUARTET” with special guest CHARLIE MUNRO A d m is s io n P r ic e s : (includes booking fee) $7.50 $6.50 $5.50 Students & Pensioners $5.50 “THE GUITAR IN JAZZ” Featuring the top guitar talent of George Colla Don Andrews Peter Boothman Steve Murphy John Conley with David Levy — Piano Ray Martin — Bass Violin Barry Woods — Drums A d m is s io n P r ic e s : (includes booking fee) $6.50 $5.50 $4.50 Students & Pensioners $4.50

W e d n e s d a y 1 7 “THE INTERNATIONAL JAM SESSION” with JA N U A R Y Laurie Bennett — Drums (Sydney) 8 . 0 0 p .m . John Hoffman — Trumpet/Flugelhorn (USA) Keith Hounslow — Cornet/Flugelhorn (Melbourne) Nancy Stuart — Jazz Singer (Sydney) Dutch Tilders — Blues Singer/Guitarist (Holland) Smoe — Tenor Sax (Adelaide) Tony Buchanon — Tenor Sax (Sydney) Jimmy Sloggett — Tenor Sax (Sydney) Jack Grimsley — Trombone (New Zealand) Bob Mclvor — Trombone (New Zealand) Ron Toussant — Violin (Brisbane) Tony Esterman — Piano (UK( Dieter Vogt — Bass Violin (Switzerland) A d m is s io n P r ic e s : (includes booking fee) $6.50 $5.50 $4.50 Students & Pensioners $4.50 T h u r sd a y 1 8 “DAVID LIEBMANN/MIKE NOCK ALL STARS” Direct from New York JA N U A R Y “JELLY ROLL BAND” 8 . 0 0 p .m . Featuring U.S. Saxophone Star David Van Kriedt (ex Stan Kenton Dave Brubeck) Together with “DICK HUGHES FAMOUS FIVE” A d m is s io n P r ic e s : (includes booking fee) $6.50 $5.50 $4.50 Students & Pensioners $4.50

F rid a y 1 9 JA N U A R Y 8 . 0 0 p .m .

“JAZZ QUARTET USA” Featuring: Chico Freeman

Flute/Tenor/Sax/Bass Clarinet

Mike Nock — Piano David Frieson — Bass Violin A1 Foster — Drums “JAZZ C O /O P” Featuring: Roger Frampton Together with “KEITH HOUNSLOW/TONY GOULD DUO” Direct from Melbourne A d m is s io n P r ic e s : (Includes booking fee) $7.50 $6.50 $5.50 Students & Pensioners $5.50

A SERIES OF 10 EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC CONCERTS FEATURING INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED LOCAL & OVERSEAS ARTISTS FRIDAY JAN. 5 EW AN MAC COLL AND PEGGY SEEGER

Two of the world’s greatest singer/songwriters. A concert of ballads, broadsides and hard-hitting songs. Tickets $7.50, $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

SATURDAY JAN. 6 BUSHWACKERS AND LARRIKINS

From Melbourne, Australia’s premier bush band, The Bushwackers and from ’Steak N Kidney’ The Larrikins. A full programme of Australian folk music to stop the hens laying for a week! Tickets $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

SUNDAY JAN. 7 MARGRET ROADKNIGHT IN CONCERT

(with some special guests) saluting her favourite songwriters — Randy Newman, Tom Paxton, Bill Davis/Peter Doley, Oscar Brown Jnr., Joe South, Malvina Reynolds and Taj Mahal.

Tickets $6.50, $5.50. includes booking fee.

Vin Garbutt, from England, is the only man capable of playing the 1812 Overture on a tin whistle! A fantastic entertainer supported by two of Australia's leading songwriters — Bernard Bolan (Rose Bay Ferry, Australia Square) and Eric Bogle (And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda). Tickets $7.50. $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

THURSDAY JAN. 11 LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY AND DAVEY GRAHAM

Two outstanding overseas guests on the same programme. Davey Graham from England is recognised as the ‘father of folk blues guitar’ — a m usician’s musician! And from Chicago, Little Brother is recognised as a pioneer interpreter of jazz and blues piano and song. ‘Downbeat M agazine calls him ‘outstanding’.’ Tickets $7.50, $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

FRIDAY JAN. 12 EWAN MAC COLL AND PEGGY SEEGER A second and entirely different concert. Tickets $7.50, $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

MONDAY JAN. 8 IRISH HOOLEY

The best of Irish music in Australia ... fiddlers, banjoists, flautists, pipers and singers. Tickets $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

TUESDAY JAN. 9 BLACK OUT!

WEDNESDAY JAN. 10 VIN GARBUTT W ITH ERIC BOGLE AND BERNARD BOLAN

A concert of black Australians. From Brewarinna comes the talents of Essie Coffey and the Black Images, Jack O’Lantem. Manny West, Wanjuk Marika. Tickets $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

SATURDAY JAN. 13 DAVEY GRAHAM AND LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY A second concert featuring these two musical giants. Tickets $7.50, $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

SUNDAY JAN. 14 SUNGUMA

Music from Papua New Guinea played and sung with flutes, jaw harps, drums and other traditional instruments. A unique opportunity to hear this exciting musical culture. Tickets $7.50, $6.50, $5.50, includes booking fee.

NOTE: all concerts start 8pm sharp and seating is by preferential booking Book early! Tickets: we have attempted to keep the tickets at a reasonable price structure and offer you a choice of seating areas. All seats at this theatre are good!

REGENT THEATRE

A Festival of Sydney Production: Sponsored by the Australian Gaslight Company

Co-ordinated by Warren Fahey.

The 1979 Festival Dance Week at the SYDNEY TOWN HALL Local and interstate dance companies present the latest in modern dance, contemporary ballet and folkloric/traditional in this five night long Festival of Dance in the Sydney Town Hall. Each evening, dance companies will perform a programme of different works — an ideal opportunity to catch up on what’s happening in Australian dance and develop your interest in this most graceful art form. Tuesday 9 January The One Extra Dance Group 7.30p.m. The Dance Company (N.S.W.) Wednesday 10 January Busy Bodies 7.30p.m. The Melbourne State Dance Theatre Thursday 11 January Dance Concert 7.30p.m. Kolobok (From Victoria) Friday 12 January Contemporary Dance Theatre (From Queensland) 7.30p.m. Dance Exchange (From Victoria) Saturday 13 January The Dance Company (N.S.W.) 7.30 p.m. Book early for this exciting week of contemporary dance. Admission prices: Adults: $4.50 (for each performance), Children, Students & Pensioners: $2.50 (Includes Booking Fee).

‘THE MYSTERIOUS POTAMUS’ (By T h e M arionette T h e a tre of A ustralia)

“The Mysterious Potamus” is an amusing tale for children set in the jungle land of Bimbambo. It follows the story of a long and sometimes dangerous search made by young Leo the Lion for a real, true friend. The little lion and his companion Harry the Hippo, meet all sorts of animals and get involved in all kinds of situations on their mission to find a friend for Leo. The show is full of the adventures they have in the jungle. Written by : V.Lifschitz and I. Kichanova Director : Richard Bradshaw Design : Norman Hetherington Puppet Maker : Ross Hill Music : Judy Bailey Puppeteers : Michael Creighton, Ross Hill, Ines Judd, Linda Raymond Richard Bradshaw, Norman Hetherington and Ross Hill were all in Moscow in 1976 to see the original production by the State Central Puppet Theatre for the International Festival of Puppetry and the Marionette Theatre’s production will be like the original Moscow version which was so acclaimed. “The Mysterious Potamus” will play a three week season in the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House during the Festival of Sydney. Opening Performances: Tuesday, 9th January at 11.00 a.m. & 2.00 p.m. with a special evening per formance at 8.00 p.m. Then daily at 11.00 a.m. & 2.00 p.m. Each Saturday at 2.00 p.m. concluding on Saturday, 27th January. A d m iss io n P r i c e s : Adults $4.00, Children, Pensioners, Students: $2.50.

SYDNEY TOW N HALL

Variety Programme 2nd January (Tuesday) at 8.00 p.m. “Salute to Sydney” featuring Tommy Tycho’s Festival Orchestra and leading Sydney vocalists. This will be the exciting opening night for the month-long programme of music and dance at the Sydney Town Hall, sponsored by Caltex. Admission: Adults $6.00 $5.50 $4.50; Children $4.50 (including booking fee).

5th January (Friday) at 8.00 p.m. “The Mike McClellan Show” featuring Irish comedienne Geraldine Doyle and the Newcastle songman. Bob Hudson. Mike McClellan, well-known singer/ songwriter headlines an evening of music, comedy and song. Mike’s brilliant guitar-picking will be a highlight of the fare and, on the lighter side Geraldine Doyle will amuse with her very own brand of humour. Bob Hudson will present his more infamous works of wit and humour in song. Admission: Adults $5.50 $4.50 $3.50; Children $2.50.

3rd January (Wednesday) at 8.00 p.m. The Turk Murphy Traditional Jazz Band, direct from San Francisco. This band was first established in 1948 and it’s prime objective has always been the playing of genuine traditional jazz. On the bill supporting Turk Murphy will be Sydney’s own leading jazz band, the Dick Hughes Famous Five. Admission: Adults $8.00; Children $6.00.

6th January (Saturday) at 8.00 p.m. “Music of the Moment” featuring the extraordinary music of David Tolley and FALSE START and incorporating the exhilarating SOUNDS FROM EARTH. This will be a special presentation of exciting modern music-making by the leading exponents of a whole new movement in Australian music, using an exciting range of electronic synthesizers. Admission: $2.50.

4th January (Thursday) at 8.00 p.m. An evening of organ and brass — a rare concert, presenting a programme including the works of Gabrielis, Purcell, Bernedetto Marcello. The city organist and members o f the Gordon Webb ensemble will work together to present this fascinating evening of organ, brass and trumpet. Admission: $2.50.

—

“ Treasure Island99 B a c h o n C la r h I s la n d a g a in T w ic e d a i l y th r o u g h o u t J a n u a r y

If you missed out on the sell-out seasons o f the Nimrod Theatre's production o f Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel o f adventure, book now for your trip across the mighty deep of Sydney Harbour to Clark Island where you will meet Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins, Blind Pugh and dozens o f other colourful characters in this greatest o f adventure stories for children o f all ages. “Long John Silver" will be played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, ",Squire Trelawney" by Terence Clarke, “Jim H aw kins" by Justin Byrne and “Ben G un“ & “Blind Pugh" will both be played by Ralph Cotterill. Ferries depart twice daily at 10.25 a.m. and 1.40 p.m. from the Farm Cove side o f the Opera House near the “M an of V\iar" steps. Admission Prices which include return ferry trip and booking fee will be $ 5 .4 0 for Adults and $ 3 .9 0 for Children and Pensioners.

YO HO HO AMD A S T R E E T S ICE CREAM ! mummamy

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FESTIVAL OF SYDNEY PLAYWRIGHTS THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE (in association with the Festival of Sydney) proudly presents a unique quartet of new plays by Australian writers. Each play will be presented for a week only at the Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross, Sydney.

S t a n l e y Walsh

F r e d S im m s

10-21 J a n u a r y , 8 . 0 0 p .m . D a n c in g P a r t n e r s a n d A n im a l, V e g e t a b l e & M i n e r a l by Graeme 2 - 7 J a n u a r y , 8 . 0 0 p .m .

H o w S l e e p T h e B r a v e by Phillip Mann. An intriguing play of personalities set on board an Australian warship. Directed by: Stanley Walsh.

Tony Ingersent

9 -1 4 J a n u a r y , 8 . 0 0 p . m . S y n d r o m e by Ken Hayles. A drama of conflict between a young man and his political father whom he accuses of corruption. Directed by: Tony Ingersent

Nixon. A poignant study of a lonely, divorced man, and a hilarious comedy about a television dominated family. Both plays directed by Fred Simms.

B a ry B a x ter

2 3 - 2 8 J a n u a r y . 8 . 0 0 p .m . D e m a n d by Derek Mortimer. A drama of conflicts both personal and industrial when workers occupy a factory. Directed by: Gary Baxter.

Admission price to each play: $4.50. A subscription ticket to each of the four plays will cost $1 2 00 — a saving of $6 00 on single ticket purchases.

World-famous, chart-breaking group from the U.S.A., often called “ the cultural phenomenon of the decade” , CHICAGO’S eight-man group will set the Sydney Sportsground alive on January 20th at 8.00 p.m. Admission: $1 2.50 (Reserve) $10.50 (Unreserved).

Members of the group are: Peter Cetera (bass), Donnie Dacus (guitar), Laudir de Oliveira (percussion), Robert Lamm (Keyboards), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Walter Parazaider (woodwinds), Danny Seraphine (drums).

Presented for the Festival o f Sydney by A .G .C . Paradine Entertainments.

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The Australian Opera

Performances during the Festival o f Sydney with the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra O p e ra T h e a tr e 7 .3 0 p .m . J a n u a ry 1 0 , 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 6 , 1 7 , 2 0 , 2 7 and 3 0 “ A L B E R T H E R R IN G ”

by Benjamin Britten

C O N C E R T HA LL 7 .3 0 p .m . J a n u a ry 1 3 ,1 5 , 1 8 , 2 0 , 2 3 , 2 7 , a n d 31 “ F ID E L IO ”

Conductor: William Reid

Director: John Cox Designer: Roger Butlin Featuring Elizabeth Fretwell, Heather Begg, Rhonda Bruce, Rosina Raisbeck, Jennifer Bermingham, Graeme Ewer, John Pringle, Neil Warren-Smith, Robert Gard, John Germain, Melinda Sharman and Louise Napier Flax. Admission Prices: Jan 10 — $26.50 $21.50 $15.00 $9.00, Other Evenings $21.50 $16.50 $12.00 $7.00, Matinee Jan 20 $18.00 $12.50 $9.00 $5.00. Students & pensioners half price.

by Ludwig van Beethoven Conductor: Carlo Felice Cillario Director: Bernd Berthaak Designer: Allan Lees Featuring Marilyn Richardson, Glenys Fowles, Donald Smith, Anson Austin, John Shaw, Donald Shanks, Robert Allman. Jan 13 $26.50 $21.50 $15.00 $9.00, Other Evenings $21.50 $16.50 $12.00 $7.00, Matinee Jan 20 $18.00 $12.50 $9 00 $5.00. Students & pensioners half price.

S T O P P R E S S . . . . The performance of ALBERT HERRING on January 12 is being offered as a special Festival performance at bargain basement prices.

Ewer as Albert

Carlo Felice Cillario — Conductor

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STARS OF THE BOLSHOI OPERA

Nina Terentieva — Mezzo Soprano

These distinguished Bolshoi Opera artists will perform excerpts from magnificent Russian Operas in semi-staged concert performances. The operas will include Boris Godanov, Eugene Onegin, Ruslan and Ludmila, Sadko, Francesca da Rimini, Prince Igor, The Stone Guests, The Tzar’s Bride, Mazepa, War & Peace, Ivan Susanin, Khovanschina, and Iolanta. Admission: $15.50 $12.50 $10.50 $5.50, Students & pensioners $8.00 $6.50 $5.50 $3.00.

Oleg Moralev

Fuat Mansurov

Alexander Voroshilo

— Director

Lev Kuznetsov

Boris Morozov

— Conductor

— Baritone

Mikhail Maslov

— Tenor

— Bass

— Baritone

Galina Kalinina — Soprano

Nina Fomina — Soprano

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra Two special Family Pops Concerts are organised fo r the final week o f the Sydney Town Flail programme: 20th January and 24th January at 7.00 p.m. The programme fo r both evenings will be conducted by Patrick Thomas.

Admission: Family ticket fo r two parents and two children (19 years and under) $16.50 (including booking fee) and $1.70 fo r each additional child in the family. Adults $6.70 and Children $3.70 (including booking fee).

ST PHILIP'S MUSIC F O U N D A TIO N 7 Festival Concerts

The St Philip's Music Foundation was formed in 1975 and consists of a chamber orchestra and two choirs which give numerous concerts in the beautiful St. Philip's church and in other historic buildings. The Foundation encourages talented musicians to perform important music which might otherwise be neglected and, when possible, to combine the performances with historical, architectural or literary interests. The Festival of Sydney is proud to announce the following programme of concerts: C h a m b e r m u s ic re c ita ls a t th e n e w ly r e s t o r e d St P h ilip 's C h u rc h .

January 14th (Sunday) at 7.00 pm — "Ayres Baroque", instrumental and vocal music from 17th and 18th centuries. January 21st (Sunday) at 7.00 pm — Music by Mozart, Carl Nielson Arnold, Michael Haydn, directed by David Potts. fl_ January 28th (Sunday) at 7.00 pm — Music for flute, harp and viola. January 29th (Monday) at 2.30 pm Music for brass and organ Gordon Webb Brass Ens Peter Bray (organ). Admission: $2.50. ■ I M M N N liS lilii

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January 27th (Saturday) and 29th (Monday) at 7.30 pm. —Choral and an Orchestral Concert by the St Philip's Singers with the St Philip Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Dyer and programme includes Missa "In Tempora Belli" for chorus, soloists and orchestra by Joseph Haydn and orchestral works by Hummel, Samuel Wesley and J.S. Bach. Admission: Adults $5.50 Children $3.50 Sydney Town Hall Concerts 23rd January (Tuesday) at 8.00 pm St Philip's Chamber Orchestra conducted by Michael Dyer with soloists Ronald Dowd (tenor), Elizabeth Powell (piano) Gordon Webb (trumpet). Programme includes "On Wenlock Edge" (Vaughan Williams), "Irkanda IV" (Peter Sculthorpe), and Piano Concerto No.1 (Shostakovich). These two concerts will be preceded by a Recital in the Foyer at 6.00 pm resenting music by 19th century >tral ianxjti mpose rs. ¡for the whole evening: jlO; Children $2.50 (All ‘f booking fee).

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THE LONDON EARLY MUSIC GROUP Directed by James Tyler HE INSTRUMENTS

Presented by the Festival of Sydney by arrangement with the Festival of Perth Two unforgettable concerts for lovers of music of the Elizabethan era. St. Mary’s Cathedral January 26th & 28th — 8.00 p.m.

The Festival gratefully acknowledges the generous co-operation of His Eminence Sir James Cardinal Freeman for making the Cathedral available for these two historic performances. “The group is as versatile as anyone has any right to expect of an assembly of four players and a singer. They can muster a consort of viols, a range of mini-wind bands and endless change of continuo ensemble. Mr. Tyler and his friends have worked very hard on questions of authenticity and performance practice.’’ The Times, London, 1 977

Because of restricted sight lines in the Cathedral, a total of 2,000 tickets only will be sold for each of these performances — so book early. Admission price: $7.50 $6.50 $5.50 Students & pensioners: $5.50

L to R: Alan Lumsden — Alto and tenor sackbutt bass flute, tenor and bass recorder; Paul Elliott — Tenor (seated); Oliver Brooks — Bass viol. Standing extreme right: David Watkins — Harp; James Tyler — Lute, tenor viol (seated).

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Bed B efore Y esterd ay

“This without doubt, is the funniest play any of us are likely to see, not just this year, but in this decade.” (Sandy Wilson, PLAYS & PLAYERS) Ben Travers, has surprised and delighted the British Theatre scene in his 89th year by coming up with what many regard as his funniest play — “Bed Before Yesterday”. An audacious romantic comedy, set in the 30’s giving an accurate picture of morals 40 years ago and interpreting them with an enlightened modern insight. Lindsay Anderson directs a cast headed by Rachel Roberts. The play is designed by the famous expatriot Australian designer, Allan Tagg and is presented for The Festival of Sydney by the MLC Theatre Royal Company by arrangement with H.M. Tennant Ltd. P e r fo r m a n c e s : From 11th January, Monday through Saturday at 8.15 p .m ., with a 2.00 p.m. matinee on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A d m is s io n : Adults $10.80; Children & Pensioners $5.50 (Matinees only).

“Snow W hite and the Seven Dwarfs”

This ever popular stage adaptation of The Grimm Brother’s Musical Fantasy, suitable fun for children and adults alike, will be presented by Rudas Organisation and the Regent Theatre during the 1979 Festival of Sydney. P e r fo r m a n c e s : Commence Tuesday, 2nd January, 1979 daily at 10.15 a m. and 2.00 p.m. and each Saturday at 1.00 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. until Saturday, 27th January, 1979. A d m is s io n : Adults; $4.75 Front Stalls & Dress Circle $4.00 Back Stalls & Dress Circle Childen & Pensioners: $2.95 Front Stalls & Dress Circle $2.20 Back Stalls & Dress Circle (Includes Booking Fee)

Live on S ta g e !

Sleeping Beauty

This musical and magical dancing pantomime, featuring “Dame Trotalot" and “Fairy Fluff” of the Cherly Regan Dancers, will be presented at the St. James Playhouse as part of the 1979 Festival of Sydney. Children will be able to participate on stage at performances twice daily, Monday — Friday at 10.15 a.m. & 2.15 p.m. and each Saturday at 2.15 p.m. from 6th January — 27th January. A d m is s io n : A d u lts $ 3 . 6 0 C h ild r e n $ 2 . 6 0 .

THE SEYMOUR ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE “THOUGHTS O F CHAIRMAN A LF”

(Y o rk T h e a tr e )

Starring Warren Mitchell as “Alf” telling the world what is wrong with it and at the same time disclosing his own life. Nightly per formances at 8.30 p.m. commence Tuesday, 9 January — 27 January. A d m is s io n : Adults $8.50 Students & Pensioners $4.50

“STATEM EN TS” (D o w n s ta irs a t th e S e y m o u r) A dramatic love story starring Olive Bodill & Anthony Wheeler. Performances commence Saturday, 17 January to Saturday 17 February at 8.30 p.m. Friday and Saturday performances at 6 p.m. & 8.30 p.m. A d m is s io n : General Public: $6.50; Trust Members $5.50; Parties (10 or more) $5.50; Students, Pensioners & Equity Members $4.50.

J a n u a r y 2 2 n d 1 1 . 0 0 a .m . Seymour Centre, the Sydney Theatre Critics Award Presentation.

THE SEYMOUR GROUP ENSEMBLE A young contemporary music ensemble, specialising in 20th century music, particularly the younger generation of Australian composers.

The programme will include “The Busker’s Story” (Alison Bauld 1978), and “The Soldier’s Tale” (Igor Stravinsky 1 91 8).

The Festival of Sydney is proud to present a special programme by this Ensemble at the historic Pitt Street Uniting Church, 264 Pitt Street, Sydney.

Performances: Wednesday 10th January and Friday 1 2th January at 8.00 p.m. Admission: Adults $4.50 Children & Pensioners $2.50. ■.

Computicket

is the official ticket seller for the 1979 Festival of Sydney. In addition, each Computicket outlet will be happy to give you any information you may require about the Festival. The main Festival Information Office will again be situated on the Ground Floor, O.T.C. Centre, Martin Place, and tickets to Festival attractions may be obtained there. Festival of Sydney information by telephone (after December 26), 949-5111 (Tourist Information Service).

Theatre/WA

Gained in interest and direction A H A TF U L OF SYK E S TH E H O STA G E COLLIN O’BRIEN W hen as a stripling I studied physics under the iron fist of Brother M urphy we learnt about an instrum ent called the m icrom eter screw gauge, capable of m easuring m inute diam eters and th ick nesses. Such a device would be essential for calcu latin g the m icroscopically thin plotline of A H atful o f Sykes. But then plot is not where its at, the play being a thinly disgu ised excu se for Sykes to strut his stuff aided and abetted by straight (rotund) person H attie Jacques and Deryck G uyler, in the roles they fill in the TV series. Ex M iss A u stralia Ann Sydney m akes a couple of eyes-and-teeth appearances, and th a t’s abou t it. In Big B ad M ouse with Jimmie Edwards a w hile back Sykes dem onstrated his considerable com m an d of m im e and m ugging, skills not evident on the sm all screen, and ju st as he was the best thing in B B M so of course does he warrant the price of adm ission here. T he reem ergen ce of com m ercial theatre in Perth — and theatre set up from here, not the fag-en d (if y ou ’ll excu se the expression) of shows brought out for T he East — is to be w elcom ed by all but the culturally sn obb ish. It does appeal to people who m ight otherw ise never go to the theatre, and w ho know s they may move on to H igher T h in gs . . . . A different kind of exercise in apparent sh ap elessn ess at the Playhouse: Brendan B eh an ’s The Hostage. It would appear that every fifty years or so the English theatre deserves, and gets, a kick in the naice m id d leclass pants delivered by an Irish boyo. In the fifties it was Behan, as it had been O ’Casey before him . The Hostage is built like an Irish wake: everyone know s what they’re there for, but the divil th ey’re going to let that interfere with the sin g in ’ the dh ancin’ and the lep p in ’. T he play hails from the era of the kitchen sink, but Behan seem s to have m isinterpreted the term to m ean that you therefore throw in everything including the kitchen sink. It was first presented by Joan L ittlew ood’s Stratford-atte-Bow e Theatre w orkshop, arguably the m ost vital popular theatre m ovem ent in England since the war. Like all plays worked up from im provisation it probably had a coherence and unity related to the particular style and personality of the particular actors who first worked on it; but also as usual with su ch plays, it tends not to quite work in spots w hen com m itted to cold print and

then revitalised by others. T his, plus the problem of the audience getting them selves accustom ed to the accents and idiom , probably explains som e slow ness and lack of direction in the first act. But from then on it gained in interest and direction. T he play is a hotch-p otch of song, dance and backchat, outrageous characterisation and m om ents of tender realism . T he G uinness flowed like the Liffey, and I seriously wondered whether one or two of the actors would still be coherent by the third act: they were, just. W hat plot there is concerns a young E nglish N ational servicem an held hostage in a D u b lin brothel, to be shot if a convicted IRA boy is hanged in Belfast. T his sort of theatre is M ike M orris’s forte: well, one of his fortes. It w ould be alm ost a travesty of such Total T heatre to dwell on individual perform ances, but I especially lik ed the warm th of W anda D avid son ’s portrayal of the young Irish skivvy who finds a brief m om ent of love with the T om m y, in which part A lan Fletcher turned in the best perform ance I’ve seen from him yet. R em em bering

M auri O g d en ’s work in that other fifties revival, The Knack, I suppose we have to grant him the Theatrical Scaffold of the Year Award for shoring up sh apeless plays. Joan Sydney, Rosem ary Barr, Jam es Beattie and Leslie W right all gave of their best w ith zest and brio, and Richard W illiam s han dled well the uneasy role of the only m enacin g character in the play. I still rem em ber the im pact of the first production of the play in Perth, directed by Frank B aden-P ow ell in the since d em olished M cN ess H all. Full of life for all its sh apelessness, of love for and frus tration with Irish sentim entality, petty aggression and genuine anger over c en turies of blan d E nglish oppression, it too left a lasting im pression from the hau nting final im age. T he Tom m y, shot, starts to rise from the floor in a ghastly greenish light singin g at first in a thin ethereal voice but b u ild in g to fortissim o backed by the whole com pany: The bells of hell go ding-aling-aling, For you but not for me; O D eath where is thy sting-aling-alin g, A nd grave thy victory . . . ? THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Boxes remained only boxes THE EMPIRE BUILDERS PETER MANN The Empire Builders by Boris Vian. Hayman Theatre. Bentley, WA opened 17 Oct. 1978 Director/designer. Ian W atson; Artist in-Residence. Father. In g la K n igh t; Mother. C a th a rin e Jen ning s; Daughter. F ra n c e s c a M eeham ; Neighbour. Donald Sm ith ; Schmurz. E ric M eyer; Mug. D am ien O ’D o h erty . (Pro/Am)

A new spaper-photograph caption, prom oting the season of The E m pire Builders at H aym an Theatre, quoted the director, Ian W atson, as believing in “ concen trating on the hum our in absurd p lays” . T his view provided som e insight on the perform ance on the openin g night. From w hat I saw, I had conclu ded that the director had decided that in an absurd play everything m ust be done absurdly. I query the treatm ent in this production, as it does not seem to m e that “the hum our in absurd p lays” required unrelenting inanity — to the exten t that there was no m eans of one gettin g any understanding of the characters. T he actors had apparently been asked to interpret everything as grotesque, thereby departing irrevocably from the apparent intention of the playwright. In the descriptive p assage introducing the scene, Vian requests “ a room with no special character, furnished in a conventional bourgeois m an n er” . W hat we saw was a bare room with packin g cases in it. C ubical, these boxes were painted with dice spots, w hich probably had som e su ggestion of evanescence, but in practice, the boxes were an extrem e lim itation on the action. W hereas, im aginatively used, they could have allow ed infinite variety of furnishing, these boxes rem ained only boxes, and proved a handicap to the actors. 1 have started from this poin t, as it is in keeping with the whole perform ance. G ood ideas were apparent, but they were of little accou nt, ultim ately, as they were m ostly extran eou s to the text. T he en igm atic presence of The Schm urz was sim ilarly obscured in this presentation. Likewise, the sideboard, w hich m eant so m uch to the inh abitants, was invisible in this room , although, as ind icated in the stage directions, its weight and p o m p o u s ness is part of the story. The Schm urz was quite visible, but he had lost significan ce in the action. T hat the crazed m em bers of this fam ily kicked and m altreated a w ounded and infirm creature was neither surprising nor unreasonable. Nor was he out of place in this bare room where im agin ation provided the fittings. It was not his fault that the player was in ex perienced, but no attitude seem ed to have been estab lish ed for him to the action, and it was difficu lt to register anything about him . T his su ggests that insu fficien t work had been done on the content of the text, and was borne out in the failure of the rest of the cast to establish any sort of interesting characterisation. It is hard to decide whether to entirely 28

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

blam e Mr W atson for the starkness of the character efforts, as previous stu dent-cast presentations at H aym an Theatre have been worked, it seem s, on ineptness being covered from sight by outrageous e x a g geration. T his m ight be acceptable in the situation of lower-prim ary school children being allow ed to “ sh ow -off” , but does little to ind icate that the theatre training ostensibly operating at W A IT , has any foundation of control or intelligen t developm ent. I applaud big scale work from dram a stu dents in training, but when, as in this case, the requisite reading of the text in order to do such things does not seem to have taken place, I m ust wonder w hether dram a stu dents at W A IT have ben efited in any way from this artist-in-residence period.

A reasonable ‘contact high’ ROCK-OLA_______________ CLIFF GILLAM Bockola by Tim G ooding. National Theatre Workshop Company at The Hole In The Wall Theatre. Perth. WA. Opened 11 October. 1978. Director and Designer M ike M o rris. Jet Deluxe. M ike P rice; Angel Sugar. M ic h e lle S tan ley; Pagliacci. R u pert B urns; Velvet. C aro le G o darde. (Professional)

Rock-ola gives the im pression of being one of those 4 am hash-fed fantasies that was for once rem em bered, and w h at’s worse, written down next day. I d o n ’t see m yself that it says anything very coherent about its ostensib le subject or properly creates that subject, (late 20th century incoherence and the C A U T IO N — S5 panacea R ock offers for our collective Post H iroshim a panic) as a jun ction of its form. And it does display a lam en table tendency to take the rock m ythos on the valuation of som e of its m ore extravagant prom ulgators and m ore or less faithfully regurgitate the standard cliches about transistors and teen -an gst. I c a n ’t see it, in other words, being anything like the final word, nor the final treatm ent of that big and so far, (in any m edium other than the three m inute single) ham fistedly treated subject, that neon-lit plum w hich has tem p ted so m any and been attained by none, T H E ROCK V ISIO N O F LIFE. But Rock-ola at the H ole-in-the-W all had its good points. Such as the occasion al appearance in the script of som e keen insight into the significant distortions which follow from the transposition of A m erican im agery into the consciousn ess of a New A ustralian Suburbanite. Such as an occasion ally acerbic undercutting, in the dialogue, of the overw helm ing inertia of nostalgia w hich the subject (even to an extent the style) tended to encourage in the audience. But best of all, such as the opportunity it gave four young actorsingers from The N ational Theatre W ork shop C om pany to really strut their stuff. I hadn't seen any of these people before, although I’d been forewarned by spies north of The T ropic of Capricorn w h o’d seen them touring in the N orth-W est Road Show about their considerable talent. Energy, intelligen ce, sensitivity and skill

m arked each perform ance, and if I m ake special m ention of M ichelle Stanley (A ngel Sugar) it’s not because her perform ance was better than that of Carole G odarde (Velvet), M ike Price (Jet D eluxe) or Rupert Burns (P agliacci) but only that I’m a sucker for the type of m ythical “ streettough but sen sitive” lady she was playing. The show was, by the way, beautifully cast, and M ike M orris’ hand was strongly evident not only in the tightness of the show but also in the exten sion of the design con cep t (horrible phrase that, but very in on the rock scene now adays) from the ju k e-b ox dom inatin g the stage to the 45 rpm singles served up as program m es. The only really d isap pointing feature of the show was the band, w hich was I suppose, adequ ate for the purpose — but just. Let m e try to sum up the whole experien ce for you this way — I found that the energy levels of the perform ance induced a reasonable ‘contact h ig h ’ but that my head stayed straight en ou gh to respond the play, as a play, in term s o f SO W H A T . T im G ooding seem ed to have gone to a lot of fuss to tell m e less than I can learn from , say, Bruce Sp rin gsteen’s

Racing in The Street.

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This was cutting beyond the bone, and as a result, the whole thing had a flat trajectory which grew steadily flatter as the evening progressed, and the lack of horn warm th, tru m p et/d ru m -ed ged brilliance and the cushion of trom bone roundness m ade itself felt. Inevitably the singers at no tim e stood in danger of being outw eighed, since their every note had a stark clarity em phasised by the som ew hat unflattering accoustic of the theatre, which presents the facts w ithout glossy halo. A m ong the singers, Norma Breese as Pam ina was m ost successful in injecting hum anity, life and warm th into her part, together with a sense of phrase-shaping which was lacking in John Ryall’s Pam ino, though he brought a fair degree of princely presence to his part. M arie M cK innon sang the Q ueen of N igh t’s two superb arias with com m en d ab le accuracy of intonation, but the lower part of the range failed to com e through with any punch, em phasis-

ing once again the perpetual scarcity value of singers endow ed by nature and art with the vocal equipm ent to com m and this huge tonal spectrum . Christopher W ad d ell’s youthful P apageno lent hum our to the som bre atm osphere, as did Joan H ind's m ischievous sense of fun as one of the three ladies. Of the rem aining characters, Neil M acleod’s Sarastro offered the right touch of dignity, although som ew hat short on vocal m ajesty, and Sue D onelly as P ap a gena, P ap agen o’s enchanted bride brought a nice slice of com edy to her part. G raham W ood led the m ini-orchestra in an unflagging violinistic m arathon. Ken C am p b ell-D ob b ie’s good a ll purpose, m att-black setting owed som e thing to the conventions of Japanese theatre, and the stage was m anaged with speedy efficiency. John H ind's m usical direction was scholarly rather than im aginative, depriv ing the m usic of the lilting elegance essential to M ozart’s inspired phrases. Lack of dram a in the delineation of the forces of darkness and light, as represent ed by the Q ueen of Night and Sarastro dem and a p assionate conviction in these characterisations, and without this, the opera loses m uch of its point. This lib retto’s core literary constructional fault lies in its dividend conflicts. The Q ueen of Night and Sarastro need to be dom inating and suprem ely powerful, both vocally and visually in order to throw into relief the story’s rom antic and com ic elem ents. If this does not happen, a whole dim ension is lost. Clearly this was a very enjoyable and satisfying experience for the participants, and one m ust com m end the energy, enthusiasm and skills dem onstrated by the directors in contrib uting to perform ances which m erit review at the professional level.

although every m ovem ent of his story defies logical explanation, and confounds our expectations of rom antic sequence. Perform ing G & S depends upon the skill with w hich these sudden shocks are presented, requiring com plete com m and of their tech nique by the perform ers so that they can ride these about-face situations with conviction. John M ilson ’s direction of Patience for the G & S Society of W A was unqu estion ably enjoyable, and he infused his cast with pleasing adven turousness in their characterisations, without anyone stepp in g out of line. M ost successful in both com ic d elin e ation, and clarity in speech and singing, was Reg W arwicker, as the D u ke. Perth has seen m any very tall m en on its stages, but none to handle his height to such effect as Mr W arwicker. He wore his cloth es well and interacted excellently with the other players. As P atience, Terry Johnson contributed great singing skill and such personal attractiveness that she was always w elcom e on the stage. As she is a high calibre perform er, I regretted that rusticity dem and ed such a crippling accent, which m ade the n on sensical changes of m anner within a speech very difficult. The sp ats/gaiters detracted from her app ear ance as they had a flatten in g effect.

In the second-title role, Barry Preece, as the poseur, R eginald B unthorne, was m ost effective, establishin g m any interesting facets of the character, and proving very popular with the audience. Such a perform er is m ost w elcom e at the present tim e, when few actors, it seem s are prepared to change their own im age in any way. W ith his skill, Mr Preece could have been directed to delay som e of his character details, as he rather fired all his guns at the outset and was left with no-where to go thereafter. There was nice work done by other players, keeping up the spirit of the style, but, regrettably, m any lines did not reach us, as, especially in the songs, the last several words trailed off. It is a feature of E nglish that essential m aterial is always contained in the final syllables of a sentence, and we had to forgo the enjoym ent of G ilbert’s lyrics when we did not hear. N evertheless, D esm on d Lukey had a pleasing voice and worked hard, D avid H olm es showed an adm irable sense of tim in g and m oved very well. The good work of A nne W atson and Christopher W addell was subd ued by costum es which did not seem to contribute to their characterisations. The G & S Society is worth its salt.

Opera Viva — Perth, Magic Flute — Mozart, Octagon Theatre Oct 78. Papegeno — Christopher Waddell; Papagena — Sue Donelly; Direction/Design — Ken Campbell-Nobbie. Photo: Colin Mediycott.

D IE Z A U B E R F L O T E DEREK MOORE MORGAN Twenty m inutes spent brooding on opera in a wayside bus shelter the other day convinced me once again of its total intractability as an art-form . Brave or foolhardy people the world over remain undeterred by the difficulties, spending m onths of hard labour on scenery, costum es and rehearsals galore in the pursuit of op era’s elusive m agic. Of such was P erth’s Die Zauberflote production by O pera Viva which com m enced on T hurs day O ctober 19th and ran for a total of six nights. U n fortu nately, whatever the restric tions, financial and otherwise of a sm all theatre like the O ctagon, M ozart’s fullest bloom of orchestral maturity from his life’s final year cries aloud for far more than the barest essen tials of a nine-piece orchestra.

Worth its salt P A TIE N C E _______________ PETER M ANN Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan. The G&S Society of WA. The Playhouse, WA. Opened 24 August 1978. Director, John M llaon; Musical Director, Rotor Bondy; Designer. Q roham M acloan.

Calverley, Doam ond Lukoy; Murgatroyd, D avid Holmoa; The Duke, Rag W a rw lc k o r; Reginald Bunthome, B arry Prooco; Archibald Grosvenor. C h rla to p h a r W addoll; Lady Jane. Anno W ataon; Patience, T a rry Johnaon. IProfessional)

Two m onth s before Patience opened at the O pera C om ique in 1881, a com edy by G ilbert’s fellow writer, F C Burnand, began a two-year run. T his play, The Colonel, approached the A esthetic m ove m ent as cynically as G ilbert, but with the wry com m ent that society gave its blessing to the situation of the aesthetic lady giving up her interst in things artistic, to devote herself to her hu sb and — to becom e a “good w ife” to a m an who was clearly nothing but a “ selfish scoun drel” . The review of the opening of Patience in the sam e volum e, praises G ilbert’s com m and of m aking his situations convincing,

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Theatre/NSW

Metaphor is really hyperbole FLESH AND BLOOD ANTHONY BARCLAY Flesh and Blood by William Henley. The Ensemble Theatre. Sydney, NSW. Opened November 9, 1978. Director, Robin Lovejoy; Designer. Yoshi Tosa. Harry. Ron G ra ham ; Della. Jud y F a rris ; John. Don Raid; Faye, Joanna D aw son; Nona. M aggie P latt; Howard. John Hagem an.

IProfessional)

E n sem b le's Flesh and Blood by A m eri can W illiam H enley in vites im m ed iate and in evitab le com parison w ith th eir previous and very su ccessfu l p rod u ction . Lam b o f God. And th e extrem ely ta le n te d local playwright John Sum m ons loses n o th in g in th e com parison. For a start Y oshi T o sa ’s set is alarm ingly close to Brian T uck er’s — sp arse,du ll, even n o n -d escrip t. T his surely m ust be T osa's b leakest e ffo r t th ou gh sim ply one cannot do m uch in th e way of se ts w ith th is kind of play at th e E nsem ble. The C h ristm as style m uzak se ts th e to n e well - in m ore ways th a n one - f o r H enley’s play, cen tred as it is about the ‘fe s tiv e ’ season . But m ost im p o rta n tly , b o th plays deal w ith sim ilar th em es: th e tw iste d fab ric of fam ily relation sh ip s, individual hop es and illusion s. As som eone nicely put it, hum an b eings, gnarled w ith su ffe r in g , un sch e m a tic, drenched w ith pain and joy. In a word, sim ply people. If an yth in g H en ley’s play has more w arm th th a n S u m m on s’ but I fo u n d th a t to be all th e more en ervatin g and som ew hat depressing. A m a tte r I will return to shortly. The e sse n tia l m echanism of plot is a neatly tw iste d love trian gle b etw een th e elder g en eration com prisin g Harry, his w ife D ella and Harry’s broth er john. It h ap pened, of course, when Harry was serving in th e m erchant m arines and th e result is Faye, ille g itim a te and youn gest of th ree children. The oth er results include tw e n ty years of know ing deceit and th e in evitab le revelations w hich occupy th e tw o a c ts of th e play. There is an equally neat m echanism fo r th e younger generation: a trip tych w ith Faye at th e cen tre, ille g itim a te, honest and unjudging, concerned like John to lib erate herself from fam ily ties. N ona, on th e o th er hand, is th e con ven tion al sister w hose agonies are reasonably universal and fairly contem porary: a m arriage, tw o child ren, the larger problem of extram a tira l sex, and a hu sb and m an ip u la t iv e ^ keen on N ona g e ttin g in to cou p le sw opp in g arrangem ents and having silicon injections! T hen we have H oward who retu rn ed from th e war a v egetab le in a w heelchair, m irroring th e illictn ess of th e brief union of John and D ella - viz. Faye. 30

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

His m u te presence is a co n sta n t rem inder of th e d iffic u ltie s of fa m ily com m u n i cation ! A dd t o all of th a t: th e play is set in Harry’s ap artm en t house, th e only o c cu p ied living space in a block of d eserted te n a m e n ts. John about to leave for Ireland, to die in peace and free Harry and D ella from th e p a st. John once a bridgem an like Harry, once fu ll of zest for life, w ho ste p p ed o ff a bu ilding site but fa iled in his suicide bid con seq u en tly becam e an alcoh olic and just hap pens to jum p o ff th e wagon as th e play begins. Harry, know n for his prowess as a co n str u c tio n worker far and wide across A m erica w ho has recently ‘slip p ed ’ from a girder. Harry w ho ch allen ged to skyscra per a n tic s by a cocky youn g dridgem an overcam e his fears and w atch ed th e young lad fa ll e ig h teen stories to his d ea th . But now Harry, like John, has dream s of step p in g o ff a m ile high b u ild in g and fa llin g to his d ea th , dancing slowly all th e way dow n. T he play’s m etap h or is th u m p ed hom e by D ella: “ W e’re all like Harry ... w alking narrow edges at great h eig h ts from th e grou n d .” But really th e m etop h or is not accu rate as m etap h or. No one character in H en ley’s play is at great h eigh ts, th ey are sim ply people. A nd if I may excuse m yself for delving in to so m uch plot d etail I will return to th e problem I h in ted at in my opening paragraph. H en ley’s play is shot th rough w ith ‘m eta p h o rs’ of steelw ork (tw iste d relation sh ip s) bridgem en (h eigh ts and fa lls, d e fe a ts and loss) but th e se are hinged uneasily t o p lo t . M et aphor is really hyperbole and generally th e play ind ulges in hyperbolic em otion . N ot th a t th is is un u su al in so m uch A m erican realism and it is an issue fa ced by m any a w riter in th is m ode. Simply, th e p lay’s ‘w arm th’, its h u m a n ity hovers b etw een cloying se n tim e n ta lity and an uneasy a ffirm a tio n of h u m an endurance. O f n ecessity dram a tic resolu tion is only plot resolution. R obin Lovejoy m anaged to point th e play’s co n tra st of th e loving and ‘b elo n g in gn ess’ of C h ristm as reunion undercut by loneliness, m em ory of d e fe a ts, w asted tim e and m issed op p ortu n ities. But th e direction did not overcom e th e p lay’s inh eren tly sta tic openin g and its sudden rushes tow ards revelations. T hou gh th e scenes worked well in iso la tio n (p artic u l a r t he J ohn- Faye scene) t he whole play was m arked by uneven pacing. But having said all th a t I m ust adm it th at th e a c tin g was fin e. Ron G raham 's Harry was excellent and particularly m oving in th e second A ct. D on R eid ’s John was a su sta in e d perform ance of th e play’s m ost a r tic u la te ch aracter of ‘th e private fires in which we all b u rn’. Judy Ferris, uneasy at first w ith D ella, m anaged a fin e com plim ent to Ron G raham in th e second a c t. Joanne

D aw son m anaged th e in te re stin g charac ter of Faye well th o u g h her jerky stage m ovem ent w hich may have been designed to give a sense of ‘c u te n e ss’ - was to o overd one. M aggie P la t t ’s N ona was aptly baln d and tou ch in gly com ic at ju st th e right m o m en ts. But i t ’s d e fin itely a p rod u ction in w hich th e actin g as actin g will hold in te r e st. In sh ort, to o m uch flesh and not enough blood.

Fair representation of the Old Tote THE LADY FROM M A X IM ’S ERROL BRAY The Lady From Maxim's by Georges Feydeau. The Old Tote Theatre Company at the Opera House Drama Theatre, Sydney, NSW. Opened 8 November, 1978. Director, Ted C raig ; Music. F ra n k E s ler-S m ith ; Choreography, C h ris tin e K o ltai; Lighting. J e rry Luke. Dr Mongicourt, Ronald F a lk ; Etienne, G ary F iles ; Dr Petypon, B a rry O tto; Mme Petypon. M aggie Dence; The Shrimp, Ju d y N unn; General Petypon du Grele, Jon Ew in g; The Dustman, W illie F en n ell; The Abbe, W a lte r Plinge; Mme Vidauban, M arg o t Lloyd; Mme Ponant, Robyn G ilc h ris t; Mme Claux, H elen Benbow ; Mme Sauvarel, Jo y ce Jacobs; Mme Hautignol, M a rie Lloyd; The Duchess de Valmonte, C o lleen C liffo rd ; Lieutenant Guerissac, A lex Pope; Lieutenant Chamerot, P e te r F ish er; Clementine, M ich elle Faw d o n ; Emile, G ary Files; Monsieur Vidauban, Ed Thom pson; Le Due de Valmonte, John C obley; The Prefect, W illie F e n n e ll; Lieutenant Corignon, P a tric k R ow e.

IProfessional)

The O ld T o te has gone out w ith a grin on its fa ce. Its p rod u ction of F eydeau’s The Lady From M a x im ’s, if not exa ctly a rom p, is a leisurely tr o t of great enjoym en t. The play itse lf is ingenious and to ta lly d e lig h tfu l. T he perform ances ranged from barely a d eq u a te to m arvel lous. Jam es R idew ood's se ts and c o stu m es were very good. Ted C raig’s direction is a bit careless. The p rod u ction is not tig h t enough but no doubt it will s e ttle down as th e season progresses. T he play is clever, fa st-m o v in g , w itty and very fu n n y. The c o m p lica tio n s are to o num erous to list but s u ffic e to say it all revolves around a vivacious p r o stitu te , The Shrim p, and a resp ectab le d octor who spends m ost of th e play p r e ten d in g she is his w ife w hile his real w ife w ho is a religious fa n a tic and his uncle who is a cru sty old general — w ell, th ey get in to som e very stran ge situ a tio n s. All of French so ciety is involved, from a D uchess to a d u stm a n and, am id st th e fu n , th e play m ak es som e p o in te d observations about m anners and m orals. A farce like th is, w ith so m any chances for little gem s of p erform an ces, will respond b est to a com pany th a t has worked as an ensem ble and th a t has more even ness of a c tin g str en g th th a n th is O ld T o te cast show s. There was a fa ir degree of u n ce r ta in ty and h e sita tio n in th e c a st. The second act in p articu lar, where

so p h istica te d c ity goes to conventionridden country and m any new fa c es are in trod u ced , was extrem ely im precise and loose in its stagin g. T oo m uch deference was given to th e lead ch aracters also. The tw o leads certain ly earned their keep however. Judy N unn was bright and bouncy and in to ta l co n tro l of The Shrim p. But th e show belon ged to Barry O tto , as D r P etypon. He played th e role w ith fla ir and dazzling style. T his is at last a role fully su ited to his ta len ts. N unn used her agile body and face to b e a u tifu l e ffe c t and O tto used his hands and eyes and voice to develop an hilarious and p e r fec tly tim ed perform an ce. They m ake a great team . R onald F alk was an excellent straight m an to O tto . He to o has sty le and has the ab ility to tu rn a sim ple role in to a very sa tisfy in g and fu n n y ch aracter stu dy. Jon Ew ing did not do as well w ith his blu stering, bu llying general. He had som e good m o m en ts but always seem ed to be stru gglin g w ith th e role. M aggie D ence also had her good scenes, particularly in her religious ecstascies, but th ere was a feelin g of se lf-co n scio u sn ess about her playing. It was w on derfu l to see W illie F ennell on sta g e again. He brought a fine sense of c o n fid e n c e and control to his tw o sm all roles. O f th e rest of th e cast, M ichelle Faw don was o u tsta n d in g in a sm all burst as th e fia n cee, C lem entine. C olleen C liffo rd was disap p oin tin gly lowkey, but th e n she was only in th a t second act where m ost of th e cast looked pretty lo s t . T ed C raig’s p rodu ction was like many o th ers he has done fo r th e T ote: alm ost ex cellen t, lo ts o f good elem en ts, but som ehow not all held to g e th er . The pace was slack and th e actin g far to o uneven. The fo c u s of a tte n tio n w as o fte n blurred and so m e tim e s absent entirely. B ut, for all th a t, i t ’s e n te rta in in g and lively show and a fa ir rep resen tation of what th e Old T o te usually achieved — a p r e tty good a tte m p t w ith fla sh es of brilliance.

Vehicle for star talents A LA P A N D H IS LAMP ROBERT PAGE A Lad n his Lamp. Words, D avid T h o rn to n , David N e tth eim ; Music, Hugh O ’K e e fe , P h illip S c o tt, A. Sullivan, Puccini, Brahms, Wagner, etc. Marian Street Theatre, Sydney, NSW. Opened 3 November, 1978. Director, A la s ta ir D u ncan; Designer, M ich ael O ’K ane; Choreography, K eith L ittle; Lighting, M ich ael N ey; Stage Management, F r a n c e * T a y lo r, S cott T h ie le , M ich ael Ney. Aladdin, Bunny G ibson; Widow Twankey, David N e tth eim ; Abanazar, Raym ond D u parc; Princess Baldroubador, C a rm en T a n tl; Wishee Washee, A rth u r P ic k e rin g ; Emperor Twin, John F aa asen; Chorus Gentlemen, S teph en T h o m a s, Rod D u nbar.

(Professional)

M arian S treet is a th e a tre of ups and downs resu ltin g from an a tte m p t to fu se N orth Shore appeal w ith a b u ild in g and se ttin g s w hich look as if th e place is still struggling to m ake ends m e et. P a n to m im e at least su its th e one and is forgiving w ith th e oth er — so long as th e changes are rung and th e show r a ttle s along.

A bevy of w riters and m usical sorts have con trived to m ake A Lad'n his Lamp do just th a t and have used th e p a n to m im e’s m urky and ille g itim a te past — th e term alone beggars d e fin itio n — to shove th is o ffe r in g more tow ards a hybrid w ith revue. Of course p a n to itse lf is a lord of m isrule event where every th in g , inclu d in g th e scrip t, is burlesqued, and being C h ristm as th ea trica l hair can be let down (literally in A banazar, R aym ond D u p arc’s case) and th e bou nd s b eaten . P a n to m im e — d esp ite th e scorn of critics, and of such h igh -m in d ed actorm anagers as D avid G arrick, who nonth eless in trod u ced it to Drury Lane in th e need of a quick quid — has a fairly d istin g u ish ed history. Its origins, in th e im p rovisâtional th e a tre of th e C om m edia d ell’ A rte, su ggest th a t however hard to pin down as a form it has always provided

th ou san d s. Can I m ention th e voice of J eannie L ittle w ithou t le ttin g th e genie out of th e b o ttle ? Perhaps n ot. There is old China and th e wicked uncle, th e lovely princess who m arries A laddin, th e m agic ring and lam p but n o th in g of th e lavishly set caves of plenty — where w ould you fin d th at in Sydney’s D ixon S t? Indeed th e whole is about as a u th en tic , th ou gh in ten tio n a lly so, as one of th ose terrible ta k e aways and like th o se isn ’t fillin g for very long. S till i t ’s very p alatab le, sw eet and appealing, and a fte r all C h ristm as isn ’t a tim e for being sour.

All words and small events A V IS IT W ITH TH E FA M ILY REXCRAMPHORN A Visit with the Family by Greg Bunbury. Nimrod Upstairs. Opened 14 October, 1978. Director, R ich a rd W h e rra tt; Designer, Larry Eastw ood; Lighting, G ra h a m * M u rra y . The Visitor, B rian Young; Father, Tom F a rle y ; Liz, Robyn N avin; Kit. H elen M orse; Mick. B ran don B u rke; Mim, G illian Jones; Joel, Lou B row n; Mother, M argo Lee.

(Professional)

T h om as, F aassen, Pickering, D unbar in th e M arian St T h e a tr e ’s

A Lad ’n his Lamp a sta r vehicle fo r sta r ta le n ts — especially ones blessed w ith clow ning or vaudevillean skills. A roll call which includes such great nam es of p a n to s past as Joseph G rim aldi, D an Leno, Harry Lander, Norm an W isdom and here M o and Bobby Le Brun, is not to be sn eezed at. D o u b tless aware of th is, director A lastair D u can has brought to g e th e r a cast well experienced in m u sica l/lig h t com edy roles. Bunny G ibson is th e trad principle boy (such tran svestism is not an unbroken line) who w ith to o many big m usicals beh in d her to nam e could have been given more of her head. D avid N e tth e im ’s D am e, W idow Twankey, appeared to w eigh in at th e required tw en ty sto n e, and th e a c to r /c o -a u th o r u n d ern eath it all gives a m atch in g p erform ance. The Em peror Twin, lost in Sydney’s C h in atow n , is John Faassen, whose nam e crops up in pre-w ar vaud e ville program m es and has risen to th e T o te ’s Lower D epth s not to m en tion s tin ts w ith Sad ler’s W ells and on th e W est E nd. A dynam ic duo of Step h en T hom as and Rod D unbar provide a parodic edge to th e whole as well as, w ith A rthu r P ickering, m u lti-roled ly m aking up fo r th e one th ou san d nine hundred and n in ety tw o who w eren’t in th e cast of

________ ___

A bout th e play. A Visit w ith th e Family is a straigh tforw ard rem iniscence of life in R ed fern in th e ‘3 0 ’s. Its style is m ain stream A u stralian n atu ralism th o u g h tfu l observation of th e ch aracters, som e nice in tera ctio n b etw een th e m , and a rather p leasan tly naive fla sh b a ck fram ew ork in which th e w r iter/v isito r arrives at th e house in which he was once a child to begin th e m em ory/play and conclu des it by in terru p tin g th e a c tio n at th e con cu lsion of th e rem em bered day. T he v isito r ’s in troductory m aterial is couched in a fairly literary style to which, for som e reason, I fo u n d m yself a little u n sy m p a th etic. From tim e to tim e I th o u g h t th e dialogue itse lf a little over-elab orate. I had m uch th e sam e feelin g w atch in g th e o th e r new A u str a lian play I’ve seen recen tly - The Lam b o f G od at th e E nsem b le. Perhaps th is ten d an cy is endem ic to first plays. O th er critics have invoked th e nam e of E ugene O ’N eill. A jok e in th e dialogue about a play in w hich people sell a cherry orchard con firm ed an im pression I had th a t Mr. Bunbury m ight be nurturing a g e n tle passion fo r Chekhov and looking fo r th e sam e sort of com p lexity and d ep th of su b -te x t in perform ance as is cu stom arily accorded to th e revered R ussian. In th is co n n ectio n , and particularly in relation to th e problem of fa ta l illness in a fam ily, th e play rem inded m e of Ray M a th e w ’s

Spring Song. N ot surprisingly, what w ith th e poverty, th e TB and th e com m u n ication problem s, th e to n e is generally som ew h at m elan choly, a lth o u g h a robust sense of selfaw areness and Irish hum our helps to keep se lf-p ity at bay. T he p lay’s greatest str e n g th seem s to m e th e handling of som e of th e fam ily relation sh ip s - th ey are slowly unveiled in a way th a t is as good as developing dram atic action . I p a r tic u larly lik ed th e brother and sister (Liz and M ick) relation sh ip and th e ones b etw een th e m o th er and son and th e m oth er and THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

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T^e 1977 Performing Arts Year Book For the first time in Australasia under one cover a detailed and photographic coverage of O P E R A -D R A M A -B A L L E T -F IL M -F O L K L O R IC -T E L E VISIO N-CO NCERT' with a representative listing o f all 1977 Casts - Directors ■ Composers - Writers - Conductors Designers - Arrangers ■ Choreographers - Venues - Etcetera.

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THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Theatre/S A fa th e r. I have to adm it th a t I fo u n d th e first act a little hard to d isen ta n g le — not having read the program m e I co u ld n ’t te ll w hether Liz was th e m oth er or elder sister of th e o th e r characters and I had som e d iffic u lty in deciding w h eth er M im w as a sister or siste r -in -la w in th e fam ily. A bout th e prod u ction . Part of th e problem , of course, is ca stin g a tig h t-k n it fam ily un it in relation to physical appearance. I th o u g h t Robyn Nevin and B randon Burke looked as if th ey m ight (Belong to g e th e r and, t o som e e x te n t, H elen M orse and G illian Jones did t o o — but not all four. I saw one of th o se not - so- good- as-1 he- night - bef ore perf orm ances (according not only to som e of th e cast b u t also to frien d s who had seen th e night before) and I have to report th a t I follow ed th e play on a narrative level m ildly in te re ste d in what w ould hap pen to th e ch aracters - w ith ou t being gripped by th e recreation of th e relation sh ip s b etw een th em . For m e th e play was all words and sm all even ts — I w ould have liked half as m uch said and done and tw ice as m uch fe lt. N evertheless I could see se c tio n s th a t had th e spark of life and fe lt th a t on a good night th e whole th in g could fire. I particularly liked w hat R obin Nevin and Brandon Burke bring to th eir relation sh ip (bickering and anger slowly a b a te to reveal th e a ffe c tio n b etw een th em ). H elen M orse plays K it, th e sister who a lter n a te ly a ccep ts and rejects her g e n tlem a n -ca lle r as she stru ggles to com e to term s w ith her new ly-discovered TB, w ith th o se c h a ra cteristic q u alities of m od esty and in tellig en ce which m ake M iss M orse’s work so a ttra c tiv e. It is also a great pleasure to see G illian Jones on sta g e again - she is M im , th e sister w ith th e advan ced TB and her fir s t-a c t ex h a u stio n and slow ness is b e a u tifu lly played. I also very m uch liked M argo L ee’s scene w ith T om Farley (th e fa th e r and m other) a lth o u g h I m u st, in fairn ess, rem ark th a t when seeing a play th a t one does not know, for th e first tim e, it is so m e tim e s a little d iffic u lt to disengage th e p erform an ce from th e role, and I particu larly lik ed th e w riting of th is scene. T he set (Larry E astw ood) had to work hard to give us so m any room s in such a sm all sp ace and it did seem , som etim es, as if th e loun ge room was to o sm all for people to fa c e one an oth er and have a con versation . But perhaps when they fa c ed fr o n t th ey were looking out of a window. I also wondered \yhy th e set seem ed to be raked when m ost of th e aud ien ce were se a ted above it. I needed th e reassurance of th e program m e to fe e l th a t th e sym phonic nature of th e surrounding m usic (Sullivan’s ‘Irish’ Sym phony) was really appropriate. A lto g e t her, R ichard W h e r re tt’s direction seem ed t o concen t rat e on t he narrat ive aspect s of th e play, leaving th e ch aracter develop m ent and th e m ore su b tle a sp ects of relation sh ip to look a fte r them selves. Perhaps th is im pression was associated w ith th e particu lar perform an ce I saw and perhaps, to o , a certain sense of forw ard narrative m o m en tu m is needed to su sta in a tte n tio n and in te re st.

Brian Jam es as th e S ta te T h eatre C om p any’s Cymbeline. P hoto: D avid W ilson

Fall off in standard C Y M B E LIN E ______________ MICHAEL MORLEY Cymbeline by William Shakespeare. State Theatre Company at The Playhouse Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia. Opened 3 November, 1978. Director, C olin Q oorgo; Lighting Designer, N igel Levings; Stage Manager, W ayn e J e lly . Cymbeline, B rian Jam es; Imogen, Linden W ilkin so n ; Posthumus Leonatus, M ich ael S ib e rry ; Queen, D aphne G re y; Cloten, C olin F rie ls ; Pisanio. W ayn e J a rra tt; Belarius, Edm und Pegge; Guiderius, Tony S trach a n ; Arviragus, P e te r S c h w a rz ; Philario, Edm und Pegge; lachimo, K e vin M iles; A French Gentleman, M ich ael F u lle r; Cornelius, Paul S o n killa; First Lord, N ick E n rig h t; Jupiter, Ton y Preh n; Sicilius Leonatus, C olin F rie ls ; Sicilius Wife, D aphne G rey; Leonatus' Brother, C h ris M ahoney; Leonatus Brother, M ic h e le S tayn er; Caius Lucius, Paul S o n killa; A Roman Captain, M ich ael F u lle r; A British Captain, M ich ael F reu n d t; A Gaoler, Ton y Preh n; Soothsayer, C olin F rie ls ; Ladies In Waiting. C h ris M ahoney, M ic h e le S ta y n e r; Lords In Attendance. John S a u n d ers, A n d rew M unro.

IProfessionalI

A fte r th e disciplin e and cohesion w hich set th e S ta te T h e a tr e ’s Servant o f Two M asters apart from all else th ey have done in th e past tw o years, one m ight ju stifia b ly have hoped fo r som e p r o fita b le a p p lica tio n of th e lessons learnt from , and evident in Signor F en oglio’s p rod u c tio n . N ot a bit of it. W ith th is Cymbeline we are back once more to th e m ud dled design, m essy c o stu m in g and lim p p erform an ces th a t have m arred so m any of Colin G eorge’s p rod u ction s. In sp ite of w hat som e people th in k , no critic enjoys w ritin g in co n siste n tly n egative term s: nor ind eed does he or she, relish seein g ob jective issues being ta k en as ‘ad h o m in em ’ invective. Speaking personally, w hat I may th in k about an actu a l p erform an ce or p rod u ction has little c o n n e c tio n w ith d a y -to -d a y c o n ta ct and con versation w ith th o se involved. As th e G erm an proverb has it, one can still th in k a “ good p erson ” and a “bad m u sician ” . The f a ll- o f f in stan dard from Servant

to Cymbeline is, however, so m arked th a t one m ust necessarily voice a num ber of serious reservation s about th e poin t of bringing in a visitin g director if no a tte m p t is m ade to retain or bu ild on his c o n tr ib u tio n . W here in Servant th e design was clear, sim ple and evocative, here it is clu tter ed , sty listica lly in coherent and fa lls back on th e old SATC stan d b y of litte r in g th e sta g e w ith opu len t or im posin g d etail rem arkable only fo r its irrelevance. T he sta g e , surrounded as it is by c u t-o u t fla ts rep resen tin g, one assum es, verdant groves, bu t resem bling n o th in g so m uch as a John Mart in’s Christ m as m agic grot to p a in te d th e shade of yukkhy green one norm ally a sso cia tes w ith art classes at prim ary school th a t have used all th e proper colours, is not so m uch a space for th e actors as an area in w hich to get lo st. T his th ey do w ith distu rb in g regularity, fu m b lin g in turn w ith th e te x t and th e related q u estion of w hat particu lar a ctio n th ey are m eant to be playing. W h eth er th is was delib erate on th e d irector’s part is hard to say: he speaks in his n o te s of a “ ram blin g” Shakespeare, and th e p rod u ction does m ore th a n enough to ju s tify th is view of th e play. But even th e m ost rigidly ‘fo r m a l’ co n cep tio n of Cymbeline w ould surely fin d m ore coherence and point in th e work th a n were on show in M r G eorge’s p rod u ction . ‘D e te f abu la’ one is te m p te d to assum e. T he costu m es were sim ply gorgeous: th ey may have added n o th in g to th e play but th ey certain ly looked as if som eone had spent a lot of tim e sortin g th rou gh b o lts of m aterial, skim m ing th rou gh p h otograp h s of past p ro d u ctio n s of th e play — m ostly from th e turn of th e century (I wonder if there was one in th e B righ ton Pavillion?) — and th e n lum pin g th e tw o to g e th er . W e had alm ost every conceivable style on view and a few not only ill-con ceived but alas, m isb e g o tten . Poor Im ogen sp orted for a tim e a crown th a t looked like a k itch en colander as it m ight have been designed by a sch izo phrenic pupil of th e ‘B auh aus’. C ym beline and his queen b o th looked as if th ey had w andered in from Cecil B de M ille silent version of Ben Hur, or indeed, any one of his early epics, while C loten and oth er you th s spent m uch of th eir tim e decid in g w h eth er to hide or display th eir jockstrap p ed posteriors. T he perform an ces ranged from th e histrion ic th rou gh th e em barrassed to th e anonym ous. K evin M iles’ lach im o seem ed to have sp en t m uch tim e recalling past bad p erform an ces of O livier and p u ttin g to good (if th a t is th e word) e ffe c t pat devices like th e averted gaze, th e in ten se, jerky delivery, th e o u tstr e tc h e d exp res sionist arm. N evertheless, his sp eak in g of th e lin es allow ed one to m ake som e con clu sion s abou t what he was actu ally THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

doing on th e sta g e at any particu lar tim e. Likewise, Brian James and D ap hn e Grey were m ostly m ercifu l to S h akesp eare’s te x t and th e a u d ien ce’s ears: but m uch of th e o th e r verse-sp eak in g — e x cep tin g , on occasion s. Linden W ilk in son ’s Im ogen — was sim ply su g g estin g th a t th e actors had as little idea as th e audience of w hat th ey were saying. Such lack of a tte n tio n to th e sense of Sh ak esp eare’s language is hardly th e fa u lt of th e actors alone. Colin Friels — w ith th e d irecto r’s approval? — had clearly decided th a t what C loten had to say w asn’t really w orth th e trouble, and had o p te d for an O cker version of Derek Jacob i’s clever, if so m etim es m annered, stam m er in th e TV version of I, Claudius. But Jacobi has th e sty le and disciplin e to convince one of th e a p tn ess of such a gim m ick: here it was sim ply annoying. And Tony S tra ch a n ’s agility, so adm irable in S e c a n t was here replaced by a num bing sense of ta len t being str a itja c k e te d . T he fig h t b etw een him and C loten in A ct 11 w ould win my personal award fo r th e m ost inept sta g e com bat I have ever seen. O ne of Colin G eorge’s least su ccessfu l directorial to u c h e s in th e past has been his use of in cid en ta l m usic. In th is resp ect, th is p rod u ction was no excep tion . W e had tw itte r in g forest m urm urs or spirit ual at m ospherics t o underline poin t s th e design was already m aking w ith th e discretion of a sledgeham m er; m artial fa n fa r es whenever appropriate (or n o t, as th e case may be); and an e a r -sp littin g t u t t i to em p h asize th e horror (!), g h a s t liness (!!) and SH O C K (!!!) of th e m om en t when Im ogen tu rn s over th e headless body of C loten . T his last to u ch surely deserves an hon ourable m en tion in th e next e d itio n of The A rt o f Coarse A cting. M usic sh ould never be used to prop up m o m en ts when a m ood has not been ad eq u ately e sta b lish ed by th e direction ; for in evitab ly th e result will be th e a tric a l m uzak. In th e light of th is, th e choice of Mr G eorge for one of th e S ta te O p era’s fo r th co m in g p rod u ction s seem s even stranger especially when th ere w ould appear to be a num ber of opera directors perhaps b e tte r equip ped and m ore e x perienced. I have spent som e tim e trying to fin d so m eth in g p ositive to say of th is Cymbeline, if only to balance my overall negative view of th e p rod u ction . W ould th a t I could. A nd before th e old cry of “ n o n -co n str u c tiv e critic ism ” com es blaring th rou gh th e S o u th -A u str a lia n eth er, one m ight point out th a t criticism — n eg a tiv e or p ositive — is, like a good idea, w hat you m ake of it. P erhaps th e single m ost d istressin g aspect of th e en tire even in g was th e evidence th a t Signor F en o g lio ’s p rod u ction had le ft its m ark on one m ind in th e S ta te T h eatre. For at th e openin g and close of A ct 1, and close of A ct II, we were tr ea te d to a direct copy of th e tab leau e ffe c t he had deployed so su ccessfu lly in S en ’ant. Here it was sim ply out of place, u n related to an yth in g else in th e p rod u ction , a good idea gone bad. Im ita tio n may be th e sincerest form of fla tter y : in th is case it seem ed to sta n d in for a p au city of in ven tion . 34

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

The sta g e C om pany’s On The Edge In Search O f H appiness and Windows. P h o to Jennie Taylop.

Stage Company at another Stage.. W IN D O W S ON THE EDGE IN SEARCH OF H A PPIN ESS BRUCE McKENDRY On The Edge In Search o f Happiness by Ken Ross and Windows by Pino Bosi. The Stage Company at The Union Theatre. Adelaide. South Australia. Opened 10 October. 1978. Director. B rian D ebnam ; Designer, Jim C o w ley; Choreographer, R aym ond Lew is. Man, Bill Rough; Mario, M artin Portus; Hans, John Noble; Professor. D avid H u rstho use; Colonel. Ron Rodger; Catrina, Polly Low; Whore, Jen ufa ScottR oberts; Man In Uniform. R aym ond L ew is. IAmateur)

A quiet tr ib u te to con tin u ed a p p lica tion and resourcef ullness was carried out at th e U n ion T h eatre by th e m atu rin g Stage C om pany. As part of th e Italian F estival th e S ta g e Com pany m ou n ted p rod u ction s of Pino B osi’s W indows and Ken R oss’ On th e Edge in Search o f Happiness to sm all houses as part of an all to o short five day season. T he plays were received en th u sia stica lly and m ust surely wet th e p u b lic’s a p p e tite fo r th in gs to com e from a com pany growing in sta tu r e and ability. It was pleasing to see th e S C move from its regular hom e, th e Sheridan T h eatre, to a m ore so p h istica te d venue allow ing p rod u ction to be tech n ically expressive and giving th e actors room to develop th eir a cts. T he U n ion T h eatre has w idth , good sight lines, fair fa c ilitie s but lacks a certain congenial w arm th. (Perhaps th e university m ight consider a paint job or tw o.) W indows as a play verges on th e surreal, its tim eless q u ality allow ed for th e bizarre d eb ate b etw een th e professor, th e colonel and M ario. All three characters being arch etyp es of a sort th ey to o k on a parallel to th e tricot om y of social th o u g h t. T he colon el, a sta u n ch figure of tr a d itio n , law and capitalism ; th e p r o f essor, a free th in k er, a m an of logic and friend of th e social right; while M ario m uch like th e lover in com m edia, is th e im p assion ed being whose rapture e m pow ers him to rise above th e day to day. The artist figu res in th e ch aracter of H ans th e p a in te r whose sexual singlem indedn ess sta n d s b etw een M ario and his girl. C an trin a as well as being M arios’ m use is also th e colon els’ d au gh ter a situ a tio n w hich leads to problem s of her availab ility; th e colonel is innocent of his d au gh ters sexual pangs while she in fa c t

su ffe r s from wet dream s. T he play ta k e s place at night on a m yth ical street where all in h a b ita n ts are asleep excep t fo r M ario; dog on th e prowl p in in g fo r his loved one. He w akes his c o -d e b a ter s, we get th e im pression th is p ractice h ap p en s o fte n , and so begins th e ta le. W h at evolves is th e saga of th e in ju stice of long noses, a pictu re of th e inner c o n flic ts of art versus sex, how th e right can m ingle w ith th e le ft in th e form of p r a ttle and gam es, a d ep iction of love under great duress and who in fa c t has th e lon gest nose in th e world? Light and airy but extrem ely well perform ed.

On th e Edge in Search o f Happiness, th e c u r ta in raiser to W indows and w orkshop ped w ith its cast was devised sp ecifically fo r th e Italian F estival. K en Ross has used a cartoon quick scene m eth o d to plot th e tran sit of a preA u stralian and p o st-A u str a lia n im m i grant. A d escent from th e p ayoff Italian society of legend s, probably not wrongly, of g e ttin g th e w ealth from a d ista n t land to th e fin a l decline in to fu ll A u ssiedom . Three b roth ers search out th e hap piness, tw o becom e en tren ch ed in th e beer can, ironing board fe u d while th e third ta k e s hom e to Italy w hat he earns. P erform ed in fron t of th e house cu rtain on th e ever so large U n ion fo r sta g e th e p resen ta tio n had a clarity and wit pleasing to th e sense of e n te r ta in m e n t. P hysicality displayed w ith a zest in group scenes th a t m ingled w ith th e narrative helped lift th e play out of a m onosyllab ic rut. The director Brian D ebn am c r a fte d b o th plays in to round w holesom e prod u cts. A director w hose solid use of a ctor and sp ace have won for him m any p ro d u ctio n s Brian D ebn am is gath erin g around th e S ta g e Com pany an ensem ble of actors and p rod u ction people w orthy of b ein g seen more o fte n . John N ob le, who un d erstu d ies as co m pany a d m in istra to r, turns out a fin e p erform an ce as H ans th e a r tist, d isp lay ing an in tu itio n for hum or which saved his ch aracter from b ecom in g stereotyp ed . M r N oble at th e fo o ty was a m asterp iece of ocker slander. A new m em ber to th e com pany was Ron Rodger playing th e colonel; his a c tin g show ed great con trol and not once did he allow his ch aracter to b ecom e to o D u n troon . D avid H ursthou se m ust be th e old trooper of th e com pany his a c tin g a b ility and range may never sto p growing; his portrayal of th e p rofessor w as an a ffe c tio n a te glim pse of a lovable soul. T he M an, th e one w ith th e long n ose, was brough t to life by Bill R ough and how well he did it. Sw itch in g from an a t t it u d e of ‘I can live w ith my a fflic tio n to ‘you will pay fo r my a f f lic t io n ’ his ch aracter in trigu ed by way of b ein g som ehow unrelated; a bizarre occu rren ce in th e unworldly Windows. M r R ough len t to In Search... a num ber of ch aracters nim ble in th eir ab ility to change, from th e crass cu sto m s m an to th e e n ig m a tic figu re who strolls on sta g e and m im es an openin g, to th e show th a t is. A lto g e th e r a good n ig h t, th e plays could have held m ore but th e perform an ces overcam e any sense of th r e a te n e d boredom .

Spot on Stan. Back to audience. A screen test. A fly buzzes round Stan s head. He slaps at it a few times. It flies over his shoulder and as he turns his head to follow it he sees the audience. Double-take. Turns slowly round, embarrassed. Hickory Hiram: American country bumpkin, a straw hat, chewing tobacco. Smiles and waves. Mimes conversation. Relaxes, and chews and talks contentedly. Without thinking prepares to spit out tobacco joice. Stops. Looks at audience: Shakes his head questioningly. Nods his head in acceptance. Thinks. Sees object in sky. Points to it. Audience supposedly look upwards. Hickory whips off hat, spits in it, clamps it back on head and smiles ingratiatingly. Freeze. Lights up on Jock. J o c k : That's it, Stanley! The kinema, the fiilums! Time’s getting on and so are you. It's nineteen twenty four already, you know. It’s now or never. I’ve just heard: Universal are interested. Somebody said you could be another Chaplin. He was there, in fact, at your screen test: Charlie himself. He didn't laugh once. That's a guid sign! S ta n : I didn’t think much to it. Nor that first two-reeler. Nuts in May. A bad title. That was her idea...

Jock

comes confidentially down to Stan.

by David Allen

J o c k : Aye well, that’s another thing. The

fillum producer, Carl — we were on first name terms in next to no time — Carl — I think he must have some Scot in him — well, Carl said, with regard to fillum potential: you definitely, me possibly — I think ma comedy’s a wee bitty too intellectual for the kinema — but her, our Kate, nae chance, nae chance at all! S ta n : That’s the trouble: we’re a double act.

Jock takes Stan to one side. J o c k : Listen, Stan. You're better on your own and you know it. Dump her. If you like, you can let me have her. S ta n : I can't do that. J o c k : Sure you can. S ta n : Do you think so? J o c k : If you don't make the break now... S ta n : ...I'm finished?

Jock shrugs It's difficult, Jock. You’ve no idea... J o c k : Look, laddie, I know you better than

yourself. I knew your father, and I know you. Remember Lost in the Jungle? I do. I remember that skinny lad with the pointed stick, sitting there in the wings and poking away at that poor old lion: ‘Roar yer gummy bastard!’ you were snarling: ‘Roar!’ Yer had grit then Stanley.

Stan thinks. S ta n : Did Universal like my idea for the

Hickory Hiram character? Loved it. Carl says there’s almost certainly a series in it. With a different girl in each episode. S ta n : A different girl? (pause) What about Kate? J o c k : Let me have her, Stanley." We've got on well enough in the past, (leer) S ta n : I’ll talk to her. J o c k : Talk hard, Stan. Jock:

Light change. Jock goes off. Kate joins Stan who tries on various bits o f costume for the Hickory Hiram character. Will you love me when I'm old, Stan? You are old. Not much older than you. You’ll begin to look it, if you go on drinking much more of that stuff. K a te : You started me on it. S ta n : Rubbish, Kate. K a te : Oh yes you did! S ta n : All right! Well now I'm telling you to K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n :

Graphics: MTC

Act II stop. I've stopped. You can stop. K a te : You haven’t stopped. Come on. Have a drink. Be nice. S ta n : No, Kate! K a te : You don't love me, do you? S ta n : Of course I do. (Hiram voice) As the bee loves honey: buzz, buzz, buzz.

Pause. K a te : I get frightened. S ta n : Good: keeps you on your toes. K a te : I get frightened of being left on my own. S ta n : Everybody does. K a te : Not you. S ta n : Me too, but I don’t let it get me down. K a te : When 1 was a little girl l was frightened

of growing old. Being alone was being old.. K a te : I was on my own a lot when I was little. Playing on the verandah. That was in the mornings. In the afternoons — sometimes — mother’d get out her old dresses — and we’d dress up, and dance together. In the heat. There’d be red dust everywhere.

Pause. S ta n : Why don’t you go back, Kate? You obviously miss it. K a te : What? S ta n : Why don't you go back. K a te : What are you up to? S ta n : Go back — take a holiday... K a te : No ...(pause) Mother said ‘Get out! Make something of yourself. Get out...!' S ta n : Just a holiday. K a te : I got out.

Pause. Do you miss home? S ta n : Wherever I work is home. Home is where the garbage grows.

Pause. Long pause. Kate watches Stan work intently on Hiram. Change o f mood. K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te :

Come to bed, Stan. No. I’m working on a new character. We don’t need one. / do. They’re all the same, your new

characters: baggy strides, funny walk — Chaplin! S ta n : This one’s different. K a te : How? S ta n : Well for one thing, he’s American. (Demonstrates with accent) ‘Hiram's the name, ma'am! Hickory Hiram! Howdy! (shakes hand with great enthusiasm) I'm jest up from the country and I'm aimin' ter make a fine career for myself, here in the city. Yup! You see. Innocent. Open. Friendly with everybody. Always ready to lend a hand. K a te : But things go wrong for him? S ta n : Yes, that's it. K a te : Charlie Chaplin's tramp! S ta n : No! Hiram's different! K a te : Sounds the same to me. S ta n : You don’t see, do you? Look, stop boozing and listen. (Takes glass from her) Chaplin’s little tramp is basically a city guy — city born and bred — a go-getter. You know, down and out but cocky. A bit sly, even cruel... K a te : I know the type... S ta n : And he always comes out on top. He can lose the girl, but he’s still there on top. Like Charlie himself. In the end you don’t really feel sorry for him: you admire him. K a te : Nice to be admired... S ta n : Hiram is different. Country, softer. More open. American. Someone Americans can feel comfortable with. Someone they’ve grown up with. K a te : They won't understand all that! They'll just say it’s another tramp, like Chaplin’s. S ta n : No they won’t! K a te : Of course they will! (Grabs glass back) S ta n : Oh, what do you know about it? K a te : I know as much about the business as you. S ta n : Do you? K a te : I’ve been in it as long as you. S ta n : Longer! K a te : (angry)

You're no spring chicken yourself, Mr. Stanley Jefferson! Are you? And how far have you got? Think about that! And then look at Chaplin! S ta n : I’ve thought about it! Believe me! You know what Chaplin did, don’t you? K a te : What? S ta n : He wasn’t a sucker: he went it alone! K a te : And what’s that supposed to mean? S ta n : You know what it means. K a te : Look — you don't carry me! S ta n : / didn’t say that — you did! K a te : You smug Pommy bugger: you needed me! S ta n : You forced yourself on me. K a te : What? I didn’t need you: I was doing fine: ...when I was with Cissy Morgan. S ta n : The Morgan Sisters! Big Cissy and you! The elephant and the kangaroo! K a te : You little shit! S ta n : Oh yes, the Morgan Sisters! We all knew about that act...! K a te : What do you mean? What about it? S ta n : I’ll tell you what! Just one step up from the tent show, that’s what: A Song, A Dance And A Shag! (beat) At lease Cissy Morgan could sing and dance! K a te : Rotten bastard! We didn't all have the easy time you did! S ta n : Easy? K a te : Too right! Easy! S ta n : Because I wasn’t born in some slum like Chaplin? Or some rural Australian backwater! K a te : Easy! Yes! We didn’t have theatre managers for fathers: we had to learn the hard way! S ta n : We! Don’t compare yourself with Charlie, you arrogant cow! You learnt nothing! THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

You just loved the glamour of it. You still do. You think it’s enough just to want to do it. Typical bloody colonial arrogance! No respect for tradition. K a te : Tradition! Oh yes! I've been your what dyer call it — tradition at work with that drunken Scotch shit you call your mate: falling all over the place, messing in his strides, touching up all the girls... S ta n : You should know...! K a te : (slapping his hand away) Drinking the war away with dear old Jock...! S ta n : You drove me to it. I nearly went under because of you. Well, no more. (Realises he still

has glass in his hand. He deliberately puts it down). Things are moving for me, Kate: you’re not going to hold me back!

Pause: They confront each other. K a te : I see. That’s it, is it. That’s the plan. Well you listen to me, Mr Laurel: you don't get rid of me like that. I'm your partner: Stan and Kate Laurel. Where you go, / go! S ta n : We'll see! K a te : Yes, we will! You bet! Now, first off. This new series of two-reelers. You'd better make sure I'm in there with you. By Christ, you’d better make sure of that! S ta n : We'll see.

They glare at each other. Lights. Music. Jock enters, dressed in 1920 film director gear, jodphurs. riding boots, megaphone. J o c k : Well, here I am again. And there’s been a

bit of a change, you’ll notice? I've hung up my sporran and dropped my kilt...well, I had a very handsome offer from my old pal Carl, ...oh no, not what you’re thinking, pal... He says I've got the making of a film director.

Jock sets up camera, props, et cetera. Although, I tell you, this place Hollywood, a man is safer in a pair of breeches than a skirt. You never know what you're going to run into around the studios. There's that young Douggie Fairbanks now. He’s got the sharpest sword in Beverley Hills, I hear. Ay, and the longest. I certainly wouldn't want to run into that. Not when I was wearing the kilt, that's for sure. He might mistake me for Theda Bara. Eh, palKvamp strut) No? Not even in the dark? From a very great distance9 Please yourself. I’ll have to settle for some other sort of action. (shouts) Action.

Silent film routines: Stan and Kate. Jock as Director. Silentfilm music. Kate minces on with imaginary dog on lead. The dog stops for a piss. Kate bends over the dog to pat it. Hiram (Stan) comes on reading a newspaper, not seeing Kate. Stands by her still reading. Takes out cigar. /hits it in mouth. Takes out match. Strikes it on Kate's bum. Huge reaction from Kate directed at camera. Cut (gives Stan thumbs down sign) Blackout. Lights up. Hiram (Stan) meets Kate who has to climb up on a chair and table to reach a high object. She coyly asks Stan to help her up. He does so with clumsy embarrassment and his hand goes up her dress as if he is goosing her. She reacts with exaggerated facial contortion, turning her face to the camera... J o c k : Cut! (Gives Stan ‘thumbs down 'sign) Blackout. Lights up. J o c k : Action!

Hiram (Stan) on bench eating a huge carrot. Kate comes on, looking for somewhere to sit down. Sees space by Stan, walks over. Stan does not notice her. Kate dusts seat. Turns to sit, sees friend passing by, pauses for a moment to wave. In that moment Stan places carrot on seat while he fastidiously dabs at his mouth. Kate sits on the upright carrot. Huge reaction (of pleasure) to the camera. 36

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

J o c k : Cut! (picks up camera and walks off in disgust) Stan and Kate break from routine. He is angry. She is laughing.

No, Kate, no, no, no! I love that gag. That carrot...! The censors don't! Who cares! The distributors and theatre owners, that's who? They won’t take the risk. K a te : What risk? Those are great burlesque gags! That carrot...! S ta n : It’s not worth it. Kate! K a te : Not worth what? S ta n : Getting a bad reputation. K a te : Theatricals've always had bad reputations. Who worries? S ta n : I do. Those gags are crude, Kate. They belong to the past. Times are changing. K a te : They get in the laughs. S ta n : But there's no character in them. Any comic can do them — and does. K a te : You're a snob. People like a good belly laugh. Look at Jock. S ta n : Jock had character. In his day. Don't underestimate Jock! But that’s the point, you see. Jock was Music Hall, Vaudeville, Burlesque not the films. K a te : The films! D’yer know something? I'm sick of hearing about the films, the pictures, the flicks! I'm sick of it! Who bloody well cares? They're nothing. They're not real theatre! S ta n : You're living in the past, Kate! That’s all over: the tent show' days — the stage-coaches — the miners with lumbago. You go back and find it if you can. (beat)Try Australia! K a te : Oh no you don't, Stanley! Whatever happens we stay together: stage or screen. And if it turns out to be the movies, then it’s going to be the two of us and the movies! S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n :

Kate storms off: Stan sits in dejection. S ta n : The rows! Jock my God, the rows!

Stan and Jock wince as they hear Kate. K a te : (offstage) Don't you look at me like that! I'm not horse-shit! You can't shovel me aside and forget me. I'm your bloody partner. You tell the producer that! Go on, you tell him! There’s got to be a part for me... J o c k : Very tricky... S ta n : I got round her in the end. Made all sorts of promises. I’d’ve promised her anything. She's a powerful woman. J o c k : Saw' reason, did she? S ta n : She wanted to go on eating, yes. So she agreed. J o c k : Good... S ta n : Bad...there were conditions... K a te : (offstage) I want you home as soon as the day’s shooting's over! J o c k : Oh, jinks! (Stock comedian's comment to audience) Sounds like ma mother-in-law! K a te : I'm not sitting in this apartment every night, twiddling my thumbs, wondering when you'll get back... J o c k : It is ma mother-in-law! K a te : I’m not having you staying out all hours drinking and fooling around... J o c k : Tut, tut, Stanley! K a te : (still offstage) I know all about those floozies down at the studio! J o c k : (interested) Floozies? Is that a fact...? S ta n : (A bit shamefaced) Aw, come on, Jock. You know me. J o c k : (sly) Sure I do, Stanley. S ta n : You’re as bad as her! (pause) Anyway I had to be back by six or life wasn’t worth living. Not that it was a load of fun when I did get back! J o c k : (knowing) Interrogation? S ta n : (self mocking) You're darn tooting. There was one evening in particular. When I got in she

was crying her eyes out.

Spot out on Jock. Lights up on Kate. Stan goes wearily to her. What's the matter, Kate? (She’s been drinking) I've heard. What have you heard? All about you! What does that mean? You know what it means! (significant) Little Edna. S ta n : Little Edna? K a te : Yes, you bastard! Little Edna: Miss Twinkletoes: The People’s Poppet. You know who I mean! S ta n : Of course I know who you mean. So what? K a te : You bastard! S ta n : (as it dawns what she means) For Christ’s sake Kate, she’s only ten years old! K a te : Fifteen! S ta n : Rubbish! K a te : That routine doesn’t fool me. I'm in the business, remember? S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te :

(She does ‘Shirley Temple’type send up. making it gross and suggestive) ' — won't you sing?’ ' — I will for you!’ ‘ — won't you dance?’ ‘ — I love you true!’

Ends with a brief suggestion o f a soft-shoe and an obscene pose. Breaking. Fifteen if she’s a day! S ta n : Ten years old. She’s only this big!

(indicates). K a te : A dwarf! (she’s still drunk) A clever dwarf! I’ve got the newspaper picture (scrabbles round in bed fo r the paper: finds it) Look at it you bastard! (shoves paper in hisface). S ta n : I’ve seen it, Kate. It’s a publicity picture. K a te : She's sitting on your lap! S ta n : I can see that. K a te : And you're feeding her a lollipop! S ta n : I know! I know! K a te : Look at her face. Look at it! S ta n : I’m looking, I’m looking! K a te : Look at those cunning goo-goo eyes gazing into yours and that little red tongue slithering out between those rose-bud lips and oh so gently going lick, lick, (impersonation) Fank you. Mister, it’s vewy kind of you to give a little girl a lick of your lollipop! S ta n : You're drunk! K a te : Dyer wonder I am — with all this!

(Throws down paper) S ta n : I thought we were both going on the wagon... K a te : ...don't you change the subject, you bastard...! S ta n : You’re sick. It’s all in your mind. K a te : (drunken dignity) All in my mind, is it? Oh yes? (cunning) Well there’s more to it than a picture. S ta n : What do you mean? K a te : (thinking) I had a visitor. S ta n : Who? K a te : The mother! (triumphant) S ta n : Whose mother? K a te : The dwarfs mother, stupid. The mother of little Miss Sick-Up herself. So there! S ta n : (calm) Go on. K a te : (changing tack: sentimental) A lovely lady. Really, Stan, she was. D’yer know who she reminded me of? S ta n : Your mother. K a te : That’s right, you bastard, my mother. Don't you say anything against my mother! S ta n : I wouldn't dream of it. K a te : A lovely lady: Mrs Little Edna, (preens herself) She was a fan of mine. She remembered the Morgan Sisters. Said it was our routines that inspired her to get Little Edna into show

business. And she had to work hard. Just like mother. She had to overcome all the opposition, battle ail the men...the bastards! S ta n : What's all this leading up to? K a te : I’ll tell you what it’s leading up to. It's leading up to men who take advantage of innocent girls. S ta n : Who are you talking about? K a te : You. I’m talking about you. You and that simpering juvenile siren, (impersonation) Oooh! Fank you Mister Laurel. S ta n : I thought you said she was innocent. Make up your mind! K a te : Don't you tell me what to do! She was innocent — yes she was — her mother told me — we sat here together and had a few drinks and talked. S ta n : ...and had a few drinks... K a te : (bursts out) It gets lonely here, on my own. Bloody lonely. I hate being on my own. I’ve told you — when I was a kid — I've told you... S ta n : Yes. You’ve told me... K a te : (pause) You don't believe me, do you? S ta n : I’ll go and see her. K a te : You don't believe me. S ta n : I’ll go and see her. Straighten this out. K a te : It won’t do you any good! We've made up our minds. We had a drink and made up our minds. We’ll stop you in your tracks: we’ll protect the innocent: we’ll make it public: it’ll be the end of your career... (sleeps). Lights out on Kate. Lights up on Jock. J o c k : All lies? S ta n : Sure. I knew that when she mentioned the drinking. Little Edna's mother was president of the Women’s Temperance Union... J o c k : Stanley, Stanley... S ta n : But it was dicey. There were some letters to the studio — anonymous — and some phone calls. It was tricky. It still is. What am I going to do9 Pause J o c k : I've told you till I'm tartan in the face, Stanley. Dump her! D U M-UMP. Dump! S ta n : It's not easy. J o c k : Nor’s my act, but I press on. S ta n : She won't listen. J o c k : D'yer want me ter have a go at her. S ta n : She won't listen to you either. J o c k : She might. And what’s the alternative? Murder? S ta n : She’s a big woman. Poison her booze? J o c k : That'd be an awful' waste o' good whiskey. No, let me have a go. We've got lots o' things in common, me and Kate. S ta n : Talk hard Jock. Stan walks off. Lights. Jock takes up performing position. J o c k : Right, professor! Music, if you please! Kate comes on. Jock and Kate. Old-fashioned routine with bagpipes. K a te : (sings) I left Australia’s sunny clime And travelled overseas. Just looking for a pleasant spot In which to take my ease. J o c k : (sings) She ended up in Scotland

Where she met a highland man Who taught her all his Scottish tricks: That’s where her strife began! K a te : For — I love his bagpipes, They fill me with delight. I blow them every morning And blow them every night. J o c k : It gives her lots of pleasure, It rarely gives her pain. If she couldn’t blow my bagpipes She’d never come again. T o g e th e r : We blow and we squeeze

And we squeeze and we blow We pump it for all we are worth. We're often mistaken by tourists For the Loch Ness monster giving birth. For — I love his bagpipes, They fill me with delight. I blow them every morning And blow them every night. But now our time is ending. We find it sad. That our years of blowing bagpipes Were the finest years we had. Mock Highland dance and bagpipe sounds. End o f routine. Lights change. J o c k : A great routine, that! K a te : I bet that takes you back a few years. J o c k : You and me both, Kate. K a te : (laughing) What are you talking about — That was before my time. J o c k : It's your style! K a te : Aw — stick your head up your kilt! J o c k : See what I mean. K a te : I do it to humour you, you grog-sodden old has-been! J o c k : How old are you, Kate? K a te : Go play with your sporran! J o c k : Have you looked in the mirror lately? K a te : What do you mean? J o c k : Tempus fugit, hen! That’s greek for when there's snow on the roof, it’s time to start stoking the boiler. You're getting on, Kate. Too long in the tooth to be playing those gay young innocent parts opposite Stan. And you're not really "films’ anyway, are you? You’re "theatre’. You’ve said it yourself. K a te : I'm a performer. I can do both! J o c k : No. Not the fillums. Not unless you're prepared to 'heavy' up, play the old boilers, the comic old bags. K a te : Listen, you scum-bag, you’ve been put up to this, haven’t you. Well, let's get one thing straight — (shouts) and I hope you’re listening to this, Mr Laurel! — I'm his partner, I'm his leading lady, I’m his wife... J o c k : ...his wife? K a te : As good as... J o c k : "‘As good as” isn't enough, Kate. K a te : Oh, get out! Leave me alone. J o c k : The studio's got big plans for Stan. K a te : Stan and Kate! J o c k : No, Kate! No Kate. They wouldn't wear it. No more carrot gags. Stan doesn't want that sort of thing any more, the really broad stuff. You must know that. It's not enough for him. Me, I’m only happy when I'm standing out there and I can hear them laughing and clapping... K a te : ...and giving you the bird! J o c k : (very serious) Aye, that too. That’s part of it. You know that. Anything, as long as it’s alive and breathing. That's what I've got against the fillums: too cold, yer ken, too calculating — all the time weighing up what some kinema audience weeks ahead is going to piss their pants at. I canna do that. I’ve got to have them there. I've got to get tae know them. Every time it’s a new experience. It’s dangerous; it’s exciting. Once I’m out there, I may have to change my material — or the way 1 put it across; I may have to extend or get off pretty damn quick. But that's what it's about: that’s what keeps me going. Pause. K a te : I thought Stan was like that. Once. J o c k : He’s grown out of it. He wants more

control. He’s always kept his audience at a distance. K a te : Not only his audience. J o c k : In one way I pity him; K a te : Why?

J o c k : Because he might be the clever one but

we get something out of it he doesn't. K a te : Do we? J o c k : You know we do, Kate. Very faintly in the background we hear a slow Gundagai'playing and audience applause. Kate listens. That's where you belong, my love. Like me. Jock starts to whistle the tune and begins a gentle but cocky dance around the stage. He holds out his arms to Kate. J o c k : Come on, hen! Give Stan his chance — and you take yours... Kate watches. Then, suddenly... K a te : No! (music stops) Stuff you! Stuff both of you! J o c k : Kate! K a te : No! I'm not giving it away! Just because it suits him. He's not going to use me! No chance! Gundagai' suddenly loud. Kate marches off. Light change. Spot on Jock who wearily begins his act. J o c k : There y’all are! Ker-ist but you're persistent! Like yon! (nods towards Kate) What’s that, pal? A little the worse for wear? Me? Aren’t we all? I'm no too happy about you, I can tell ya! Anyway, as you're here: did you catch the one about the Squatter's Daughter Her name was little Kate She gave more than she oughter When they took her on a date But from Bundaberg to Dallas She never had much luck Cause you can’t rely on fellers Who only want a bed for the night, clean sheets and porridge in the morning. Brightening: But we can't be sentimental, can we pal? We’ve got to change with the times, haven’t we. I mean, Jesus, Christ, it's 1924. Me, I'm going into the promotion business (takes off sporran and kilt, puts on trousers. Tidies himself up. Puts on glasses. Lights a cigar. No longer a caricature, but a typical business man: talks the while) We Scots know when ter change our image, yer ken. We move with the times. You’ll find us everywhere all over the world, shaping lives, controlling careers. We're particularly big in the entertainment industry. Artists are of course creative people, and they need to be able to devote themselves fully to that creativity. They need people like us. To smooth the way for them, you understand. Iron out money problems. Personal problems... Light on Stan, smoking nervously. Wouldn’t you agree. Stanley? S ta n : Whatever you say Jock. J o c k : James. S ta n : Sorry. James. J o c k : Jock's just a nickname. You understand? S ta n : Sure. Pause. J o c k : Ready to start shooting. Stanley? S ta n : Just about. The crew ready to go? J o c k : Everything set. Pause. S ta n : Well. I'll just er...and — oh. by the way. er Kate wants to know what costume she’ll be wearing. J o c k : (cold) Who wants to know what? S ta n : She wants to know the costume she’ll be wearing in the picture. J o c k : What picture? S ta n : You know what picture James... J o c k : ...Mr. McTavish. S ta n : Mr. McTavish...‘Detained’...the picture we start tomorrow. J o c k : The picture we start Stanley. You and /. And that doesn’t include Kate. THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

S ta n : Look Mr. McTavish. Sir. Kate and 1 had a long talk last night. We think it's important we go on working together... J o c k : Important for whom?... S ta n : For me as much as anyone. I think I need a partner... J o c k : You’re right. A business partner, a working partner — somebody like Oliver Hardy — but you don't need Kate. / don’t need Kate. Nobody needs Kate. In fact Kate’s absence would be a positive advantage as far as this or any other picture you were in would be concerned. S ta n : I think that's going too far! She’s not that bad. J o c k : She’s a menace! She lies, she boozes, she boasts! She’s a hater. I think, deep down — and I’m sorry to say this to you kid — she hates you. S ta n : (wry) Us bloody poms. J o c k : Us bloody men. more like. She's been used and I'm sorry — but I’m not stupid enough to allow her or even you to run my business! We have a contract, Stanley, you and I. Now you spring this on me the day before shooting starts. S ta n : I'm sorry. Mr. McTavish. Really. But

you can use Kate, surely, somewhere. J o c k : No, Stanley, I can't. S ta n : I think you’re being unreasonable. J o c k : I'm being unreasonable! S ta n : She’s my partner! J o c k : She’ll be the death of you! S ta n : (threat) Look, if she can't work in the

film, I won’t either!

Pause. J o c k : Are you serious? S ta n : (bravado) You can’t let all that money go

to waste. Shooting’s got to start tomorrow. J o c k : That’s not you talking. Stan. S ta n : (challenging) Isn't it? J o c k : She's got you. hasn’t she. A pro like you. S ta n : What’s your answer? Jock: My answer is that no-one’s indispensable. I could call half a dozen comics this minute who'd be ready — and willing to take your place... S ta n : Tomorrow...? J o c k : ...No...but we could shoot round them until they were ready. Nobody’s indispensible. Nobody...

Pause. S ta n : I see. J o c k : (quietly) Dump her Stanley. Stan: You’re wrong you know. She doesn't hate

me. Not deep down. That's why I can’t — somehow I just can't... J o c k : You could be somebody in this business. Like Chaplin. A name. S ta n : (quietly) Stan Laurel. Laurel. Even that's hers... J o c k : ...team you up with someone like Babe Hardy, give you a real comedy partner... S ta n : (suddenly) What do I do? J o c k : Do? S ta n : What’s the way out? J o c k : Look. Let me talk to her. Let me have a go? S ta n : What'll you say? J o c k : Whatever it is there won’t be any guilt on my part. S ta n : Talk hard, James.

Blackout. Film music. Lights up on Stan: He is dressing up, looking very smart. Flashing lights: A movie premiere. Stan smiles and waves, acknowledges his fans. Kate comes on and also smiles, hooking her arm in Stan 's. Still smiling, Stan disengages it. Kate hooks it in again with smiling determination. Still smiling, Stan stubs out his cigar on her arm. Kate looks at her arm. looks at the audience (beginning o f a Laurel and Hardy 'titfor ta t' routine) Kate brushes her arm, turns to Stan, removes cigar from his mouth. 38

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pulls open the front o f his trousers, drops it inside and brushes her hands off. Stan thinks. He turns to Kate, unbuttons her blouse, takes it off and stamps it into the ground, she does the same to his jacket. He pulls down her skirt. She drops his trousers. They glare at each other. Then they turn and stand side by side glaring out at audience. Blackout. In blackout sound comes up. They are in the middle o f a fighting row. Lights up. They are rolling half dressed on the floor. K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te : S ta n : K a te :

I hate you, Christ I hate you! You're not going to be in it! 1 am, I am. I am! It’s going to be me! Me! On my own! I’ll kill you first! I’m going to dump you! No you're not! We’re finished! I'll finish you!

She claws his face. He smacks her. They pummel each other and roll away exhausted. S ta n : We start shooting tomorrow. I’ll be there at that studio bright and early. Alone! K a te : You won't make that picture without me. S ta n : But 1 can't make it with you. Even if I wanted to. If you turn up they'll just cancel. K a te : No they w-on’t. Not with all their money tied up and the picture ready to go. Sets built, extras hired. They can’t afford it. And you've got a contract. S ta n : For pity’s sake. Kate. I can't. K a te : Well I’ll tell you what. S ta n : What? K a te : (starting very quiet and matter o f fact)

You can take that idea and you can put it where the monkey put his nuts. We’re a team. Whichever way you look at it we're a team: Stan and Kate: together: side by side: through rain and shine. From now on you only work with me. No more 'Sun Follies’. No more little Ednas. Only Little Kate. Your Little Kate! S ta n : I don't want to work with you any more! You can’t make me! K a te : I'll be with you all the time. At the studio. On the set. S ta n : I'll have the police throw you out! K a te : O.K. But I’ll just come back. (Builds) I’ll keep on coming back. I'll be everywhere you go. On location. At all the parties. And I'll yell after you. S ta n : You’ll what? K a te : I’ll yell after you. In the streets. In restaurants. I’ll follow you everywhere you go. I'll shout out everything I know about you. Mr Stanley Jefferson. I'll wreck you! S ta n : Crikey! K a te : (with amusement) Contortionist? S ta n : (sadly) Masochist.

Light change to spot on Jock. J o c k : Could you come over here a minute. I’d like a word with you.

Lights change. Film music. K a te : Good morning. J o c k : (Jock as Hardy) And a very good

morning to you. Stanley, get the little lady a seat...

becomes a fight between him and Stan over who is to help Kate. She becomes an object o f their competition. Stan lifts her halfway up. Jock pushes him aside. Kate falls back. Jock starts to lift her, from behind, knocking her hat over her eyes. Stan rushes to get chair for her and shoves it behind Jock so that he ends up sitting on it with Kate on his lap. Kate is spluttering to be heard but the hat's firmly over her face. Jock is completely obscured by Kate fo r the moment. Then his arms come through between hers. Old routine of his hands straightening her hat, mopping her brow, adjusting her bodice andfinally, modestly, pulling down her rucked up skirt. Freeze! Kate is humiliated and flabbergasted. Stan comes diffidently over and makes a minute adjustment to the hat. Jock’s face emerges over Kate's shoulder, glaring at Stan and then at audience. Stan scratches head and turns to face audience with puzzled 'idiot 'face. Tableau. Blackout. Lights up. J o c k : Honey, it's about the film. Lovie, just

remind me; did we ever say you were actually going to be in this film; did we ever sign anything? K a te : I’m Stan's partner. Stan and Kate Laurel. J o c k : Ay, but you see. we didn't sign a contract with Stan and Kate — only with Stan. K a te : That doesn’t alter anything; you can still use me. J o c k : Yes we can. If we want to. K a te : Well? J o c k : (harder) Is it true that Stan won't work unless you're in the picture? K a te : Absolutely. J o c k : I see. What if I were to say that if he won't work I'll just get myself another comedian. K a te : You can’t. As you said: Stan has a contract. J o c k : My, you're a beauty, aren't you. K a te : The sets are built; people hired. You must shoot with Stan.

Pause. J o c k : (shaking head) Oh, Kate, Kate, Kate,

Kate. What an innocent you are. It's almost attractive in its way that brash Australian confidence. Such a pity! K a te : You have to shoot with Stan! J o c k : (very quietly) Kate, you’ve been a millstone round Stan's neck for years. You say you love him... (Kate turns sharply to look at Stan) ...no, listen to me...you say you love him but what you're doing now’ is keeping him from making a living. Wait until you think I won’t be able to get another comedian. It won’t work, Kate. I mean it. K a te : What about Stan's contract? J o c k : Here’s Stan’s contract. (Takes it, tears it in two and gives both halves to Stan) I'm sorry it’s turned out this way. I thought we were going to work well together, Stanley. We respected each other. There was good faith on both sides I thought. (Pause) Honestly, Stan, I thought Kate loved you more than this.

Silence.

Kate smiles seductively at Jock whb twiddles his tie at her, Hardy fashion. Stan does headscratching and looksfor a chair.

K a te : (slowly, disjointed) I do. I do love him — he’d be lost without me — you depend on me, Stan — we’re good for each other — you know that,’you know you do...

J o c k : A chair, Stanley!

Silence.

Stan brings over chair and puts it down for Kate — smiling, Jock indicates seat. Kate turns to sit. Stan sees speck o f dust on chair and lifts it to wipe it off. Kate sits on floor. J o c k : Stanley! (to Kate) I'm most terribly sorry. Allow me! (bends to help her) Stan puts down chair and also goes to help. He bends at the same time as Jock and they bump heads. Jock becomes angry a la Hardy and it

All right. O.K.

Gets up and goes. Jock takes torn contract from Stan and hands him a new one. They shake hands. Stan watches Kate go. (softly) C rikey. During the following scene Jock begins to transform Stan into the Stan o f Laurel and Hardy, bringing out the costume, combing the hair up, etc. The Hardy costume is also brought

out on a rack and stands there. The two talk all the while very matter of fact. J o c k : What was it? The sex? S ta n : A lot of it. When you start out, you need

women. You know that. J o c k : Aye! S ta n : The drive’s so strong. All that creative energy — and the sex — they’re the same thing. J o c k : Oh, absolutely! S ta n : Mind you, she seduced me! J o c k : Is that a fact? S ta n : I wanted her to, of course. I needed security. J o c k : Getting it regular? S ta n : That’s it.

Pause. J o c k : I was the same. S ta n : Were you? J o c k : Oh aye. In my performing days. A

regular ram. Opening night and closing performance in particular. S ta n : I know what you mean. J o c k : I'd rush out and shag anything that moved, (pause) Though I could do without if I needed to (pause). Sometimes I found that being randy gave ma performance a finer edge, do you know what 1 mean? S ta n : Playing off your frustration. J o c k : Aye, promising yer prick a poke, (pause) She'll have to go. S ta n : What? J o c k : Kate. She'll have to go. S ta n : (looking round nervously) But I thought... J o c k : No, no, Stanley. As we agreed. Right away. Out of the country. You won’t be safe until she's completely out of your hair. S ta n : Perhaps you're right. (Shivering) The way she looked at me then, before she went. J o c k : An extended holiday? Back home. S ta n : Well, she’s still got relatives there. J o c k : Has she now? S ta n : Oh yes. She's even got a husband there. Somewhere. A proper one. J o c k : (mock astonishment) You don’t say. S ta n : I’ve known for years. J o c k : Why, she’ll probably be welcomed back with open arms. S ta n : More than likely. J o c k : They’re a very close-knit people: the Australians. S ta n : So I’ve heard.

They took at each other and laugh guiltily, realising the ingenuous game they've been playing. The transformation has taken place. Outwardly. Stan is now the complete Laurel o f Laurel and Hardy. J o c k : (as Hardy) Stanley. You are basically the innocent victim of circumstances. S ta n : (as Laurel) I am, aren't I? J o c k : If you hurt people, if you upset them — none of it's intentional. S ta n : In fact. I'm always doing my darndest to help people. J o c k : Of course you are. S ta n : People don’t understand.

J o c k : Now isn’t that the truth! S ta n : You're all heart, Ollie. J o c k : (patting Stan'sface) You too, Stanley.

Stan goes off stage. Jock watches him and then goes to the Hardy outfit and transforms himself into Oliver. As he does so he talks to the audience, as the old Jock. J o c k : (Himself) He wasn’t! He had more wives than 1 had hot dinners! Some of 'em he married more than once: up and down like a yo-yo. Socialites, actresses, singers: a different one on his arm every year — or so it seemed. Strongminded women for the most part: they all had a bit of Kate in them, I guess. (Pause) But, not too much. He was careful about that. You can’t really blame him, pal, can you? Not after her. Mind you. there were still rows and fights and battle but on a much more domestic level, if you take my meaning: there was never any artistic conflict. After Kate, Stan made sure of that. Doubly sure!

He finishes himself. Looks in mirror, a few Hardy expressions. Starts to leave stage.

I met him — and I'll get along alone now! Aye! And the sooner the better, I reckon! (chuckles) K a te : Very witty! Go smoke yer bagpipes! J o c k ’ s v o ic e : Tsk, tsk, do I detect a note of bitterness? K a te : (sarcastic) Bitterness? What have 1 got to be bitter about? I was treated with every consideration. It doesn't matter now. (Pause) Do you know why I did finally agree to come home? J o c k ’s v o ic e : Why? K a te : Because Stanley, that little shit, — him J o c k ’s v o ic e :

Lights up on Stan in costume. He gives a friendly 'Laurel'smile and wave. — he said —- after all those years he said it at last — that if I came back to Australia and

(hesitates)sorted out my problems... J o c k ’s v o ic e : ...got a divorce... K a te : ...never you mind what — but if I sorted

them out he'd marry me. J o c k ’s v o ic e : And you believed him?

Long pause: Kate thinks.

Kate? She made the long trip back home.

He minces off as Oliver Hardy. (Hardy voice) It's really a different world, sir, isn’t it? A different world.

Light change. Spot on Kate. She is performing. She sings 'Gundagai' very low-key and elegiac. She finishes and addresses audience. K a te : It’s lovely — and I say this very very sincerely — It’s lovely to be back here with you all in Australia again. J o c k ’s v o ic e : (from audience) How much did they pay. K a te : (sharp) What? J o c k ’s v o ic e : How much did they pay yer tae piss off home? K a te : (shading eyes to peer into audience) Who the hell's that? J o c k ’s v o ic e : Never you mind! Answer the question! K a te : I came back for a working holiday! J o c k ’s v o ic e : Call what you're doin’ work! K a te : Bloody hard work, sport! (still peering) Who is that? J o c k ’s v o ic e : Come on, how much did they pay yer? K a te : Not enough! I can tell you that! J o c k ’s v o ic e : They conned yer, didn’t they? K a te : (almost to herself Rooked. Yes. I was rooked. J o c k ’s v o ic e : Yer sold out, Kate: that’s what yer did! K a te : (realising) Oh, it's you. (Pause) Yes, I suppose I did. It happens. You do things you don't mean. I thought I'd just come back for a holiday. But it's a long way — and when you’ve travelled this far you realise just how tired you are. J o c k ’s v o ic e : Well, it’s certainly not a very lively performance yer givin' the noo! K a te : Coming from you, that's rich! J o c k ’s v o ic e : I changed wi’ the times, hen. You’re back where you started. And you’re not much good on yer own, are yer? K a te : I don’t need him. I got along alone before

K a te : (honest with herself) No. Of course I didn’t. I just wanted to. It was a way of keeping my pride. What a finale! When 1 got back Mother had hung on: they'd put her in a home: she died two days after I got off the boat. (Pause) A week later I heard Stan had got married in Los Angeles...

Phone rings. Stan mimes picking it ups and listening: The dim Stan Laurel o f Laurel. S ta n : Yes. This is the residence of Mr. Stanley

Laurel, Mr. Stanley Laurel of Hollywood. Mr. Stanley Laurel speaking. (Pause) What? Sydney Australia’? Would you repeat that name, please? (Pause) No, sorry, I don't know anyone of that name. I don't know anyone in Sydney, Australia. No. I'm sorry, I can't accept the call!

(Puts phone down). Jock as Oliver Hardy has come down on the stage where Kate stands. J o c k : (Hardy voice) So there you are, my good woman. On your own. No more Stanley. K a te : Gone. J o c k : Claimed by the films and the future. Sensible fellow...(walks past Kate towards Stan) Stanley are you ready? S ta n : Yes Ollie! You’re darn tootin' I am! J o c k : (brushinghim down)Tome then... S ta n : (holding ¿acG Ollie? J o c k : Yes, Stanley. S ta n : Do I know anyone called Kate Laurel? J o c k : Kate Laurel? I should say not! S ta n : Yes, I thought I didn’t, did I? J o c k : Kate Laurel indeed!

They smile at each other and shake hands. J o c k : Come Stanley we have work to do, you

and I. And just remember (glancing back at Kate) This is another fine mess I’ve got you out of...

They exit to Cuckoo Walt: ' Kate is left on stage. Single spot. 'Cuckoo Waltz ’fades. K a te : Gone, (sad laugh)Gone with Hardy. Slow blackout.

“Gone with Hardy" was originally a one act play. It underwent first major changes at the 1978 Playwrights Conference, including the extension into two acts. Further changes were madefor the Melbourne Theatre Company production. I have been helped immensely for the Nimrod production by Terence Clarke, who directed it for the Playwrights Conference, and further rewrites have occurred, though mainly confined to A ct 2. Hence it is Act 2 as performed at Nimrod published here. We have also called Kate by her first name, Nellie, for the sake o f its turn o f the century feeling, but she is still called Kate here as in the already published Act 1. — Richard Wherrett

END THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM

La Boite Theatre

by William Shakespeare

It’s not too late to join us for exciting Theatre.

DIRECTOR MICHAEL LANCHBERY OPENS 31ST JAN. 1979

SEPTEMBER ’78 APRIL ’79 SEASON OF PLAYS

THEATRE 3 CANBERRA REPERTORY

Celebrate the Yuletide Season at the Premiere of

Mil HEROD’S CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

EVERY CRES.f ACTON. 47-4222

By John O’Toole 24th November — 16th December 1978

“ Let me recommend this show” THE TIMES (LONDON) “Dynamite” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE “A joyous celebration... a tonic of a show... The audience loved every minute of it” DAILY TELEGRAPH (LONDON)

Join the fun for a veritable feast of spectacle, sentiment, education and some medieval mystery. A total unity guaranteed to hold you, the viewer, spellbound. In its premiere production at La Boite Theatre.

IRISH STEW By John Bradley

* L.O. Sloan’s THREE BLACK AND * THREE WHITE REFINED JUBILEE

2nd February — 3rd March 1979 A rollicking account of the ill fated voyage and aftermath of three Irish Musketeers who, managing to hijack the Irish-English Ferry on its way to Fisheguarde, Wales, face the ultimate forces of Righteousness!

MINSTRELS

“ One of the ten best plays of all tim e” — The Book of Lists.

By Eugene O’Neill 9th March — 7th April 1979 “ No more honest or unsparing autobiographical play exists in dramatic literature.” English critic Kenneth Tynan

B o o k now, Mon.toThurs. Dinner and Show $12.50 Fri. Dinner and Show $14 Sat. Dinner and Show $14.50 Door sales for show only $5.80

5 7 H A L E S T R E E T , B R IS B A N E .

PHONE (07) 361622

Theatre^Restaurant^^^^^^ 64 Smith St. Collingwood BOOK NOW 419 6226 419 6225

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

OPERA EXTRA Pamela Ruskin in Melbourne, David Gyger in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, William Shoubridge in Bayreuth.

Bill Beresford Pamela Ruskin M elbourne has been m uttering and snarling for som e years about its relation ship with the A ustralian O pera, w ith a list of ‘poor r elation ’ com plain ts as long as your arm — m ost of them ju stified . Then the ‘New D e a l’ was introduced that has swept away m ost of those com plain ts so successfully that the new join t subscription series with the V ictoria State O pera and including two Sutherland operas, is sold out. O ne of the com plain ts and one that caused a great deal of frustration in which, I, as a journalist shared, was that there was no one in M elbou rn e — or in the other states either, representing the Australian O pera excep t during the actual season. There was nobody to give one inform ation, nobody to w hom a com plaint could be m ade and no con tact with the com pany of any kind. T hat problem has been solved triu m ph antly in the person of the very urbane, experien ced and efficient Bill Beresford whose official title is that of M elbourne A dm inistrator o f the Australian O pera but whose bailiw ick exten ds to a roving com m ision around Canberra, A delaide, Perth and, to a lesser extent, T asm ania. Bill left A ustralia twenty five years ago. As he says, “ In those days, there was no real opera here and no subsidies. Now, particularly since the Sydney O pera H ouse was built, and there are opera houses being bu ilt in M elbourne, Perth and Brisbane, we have far better opera facilities than m ost other parts of the world — or we will have. A fter all, A m erica with its 178 m illion people has nothing to com pare with what we will have with 14 m illion and w e’ll have m ore opera houses per head of pop ulation than anywhere else in the world except for G erm any.” In the U K Bill Beresford got a job with the Daily Express, working in G lasgow , M anchester and London. “ I had always been opera m ad and went to it every night

when it was on in G lasgow. I had m et the resident producer of Covent G arden when I was in M an ch ester and one day, what I can only describe as a voice from heaven, told me to go to Covent G arden and get a job. By a com b in ation of sheer effrontery, poise and reasonable knowledge of the opera world, I con n ed a job as public relations officer, and stayed w ith the Royal for thirteen years.” After so long a stretch Bill thought he was due for a ch an ge and se t up his own PR firm and freelanced for ten years w orking as an entrepreneur, agent and publicity officer. He brought dan ce com pan ies to E n glan d from South K orea, from India and from Burm a. He han dled the publicity for D a m e M argot Fonteyn for a film and m anaged w hat he thought was brilliant coup. H e threw a huge party and borrowed a tam e anteater nam ed Bruce from H arrods for the occasion , who

absolutely charm ed the m edia w ho ph oto graphed him in every conceivable way. N ext m orning every paper had a front page picture of Bruce but not one carried a ph oto of D am e M argot. B ill’s face was redder than red. “ O ne can” he says sadly, “ be too clever!” W hat precisely is the tall and tactful Mr Beresford’s role in the A ustralian O pera’s M elbourne offsh oot. Som e people seem to see him as the head of the com plain ts departm ent. “ C ertainly I’m here to be helpful to all opera lovers and to those with valid com p lain ts but really som e of the com plain ts I’ve heard are absurd. Some people have com p lain ed that their seats are one row b eh in d the ones they had before or a cou p le of seats across the aisle. Certainly, w ith the current brochure there have been an om alies and the b ig m istake m ade was not to tell everyone, even old subscribers, it w as definitely to be first

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

International com e first served. Now we have experience of the p itfalls, we will correct the faults in the current brochure before the next season .” O ne of the qu estion s I asked Bill was whether he could help people in M el bourne who w ant tickets for the Sydney O pera H ouse w h ich is a con stan t query that I hear. He says ‘‘No! All I can do is to advise people how to get them and the best way is through a package deal w ith the railways or the airw ays” . I also ask him whether they used the sam e subscription system in the U K . Again the answer was “ No! It w ouldn't work. In sum m er, Covent G arden has a 50% tourist aud ien ce and 25% in winter and so you c a n ’t have the seats all taken. H ere we have a very sm all tourist p o p u la tio n .” Now that he has returned hom e, what does the new M elbourne adm inistrator think of the A ustralian O pera? W ell, obviously h e ’s not going to say he think s its rotten but his enthusiasm goes beyond politeness and diplom acy. “ I wras prepared to not be too critical but. in fact, I am very im pressed. I saw Nabuceo in Sydney and I can tell you that the chorus singin g was far better than anyth in g we hear at Covent G arden. T hen I w ent to Don G iovanni in M elbourne and that, rem em ber was not with Sutherland and I was transported. If I’d seen it in Salzburg or V ienna, I’d have said, ‘O f course, it could only be done this way here.’ I really was so im pressed. And I w’ent to Sydney to see The Dream and I can tell you that it wras a far better production of it than G ielgu d ’s in London. I d on ’t think A u stralians by and large, realise how high the quality o f the opera is, by and large, that they are se e in g ” . T his am bassad or of opera, this d ip lom at of the diva, this consul for the chorus, is a very sop h isticated man who regards him self as an intern ation alist. H is voice show s virtually no trace of his Sydney birth, nor even of his M elbourne up b rin g ing. He has travelled widely, m et m ost of the fam ous figures of the theatre world, has a m arvellous stock of anecdotes w hich he reels off with all the wit, and aplom b of the born raconteur and though he has m ade som eth in g of a cult of the tactful answer, there are signs that he can deal out the crushing reply should he becom e sufficently ruffled. He is also an excellent speaker and will, I im agine, when the word gets around, be m uch in dem and on those occasion s when fun ctions for som e branch or other of the arts are being organised. H eaven knows, we need an injection of new blood in the sluggish arteries of our body artistic. All kinds of developm ents to help spread the operatic word around are being steam ed up in the pressure cooker of Bill B eresford’s m ind. O ne of them is to start a Y oung F riends of the A ustralian O pera for the under 25’s, an excellent idea. He also w ants to get the schools in M elbourne involved. A nyone who thinks they have som eth in g to contrib ute can reach him at his office in the old YM C A b u ild in g at the corner of City Road, South M elbou rn e or ring him at 613-429. If you regard him only as a com p lain ts departm ent, though h e ’s too polite to say, write it down and put a m atch to it. 42

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Bayreuth Ring William Shoubridge In terms of the arts, it doesn’t take long for last year's “outrageous and controversial” to become this years standard procedure. In specific terms of Wagnerian music drama, what was an "epoch making affrontery” at Bayreuth in 1976. is now in 1978 the signal form of performing Wagner elsewhere, it is the new style. The raison d'etre of Bayreuth has always been to explore Wagner, to keep him alive from age to age. Wieland Wagner, the Master's grandson swept away all the literal obfusc of Cosima Wagner's petti fogging naturalism after the war with his radical bare-stage abstractions of psychological drama, but by 1974 even that was looking rather tired. It was obvious that Wieland's style had been tried and tested but it was time for some fresh air. a different cast of mind was needed. Perhaps Wieland (had he lived) could have done that, but he died in 1967. His brother Wolfgang took over the reins but Wolfgang's strength was always administrative (he admits it himself). However W'olfgang could always spot exciting talent when he saw it. talent that would supply Bayreuth with an injection of new life. He found it in Gotz Freidrich’s anti fascist T a n n h ä u se r and has certainly has it now with

Patrice Chereau's “historical allegory" production of The R in g . With this R in g , instead of gloomy, howling expanses of bare stage peopled with statues, we have realistic sets (and real horses), great creaking machinery, swift violent action, believable characters, gripping drama and Gods in frock coats. What C'hereau as director (with Richard Peduzzi as designer) and Pierre Boulez came up with in the new centenary R in g production in 1976 had audiences in pitched battles inside and outside the Festspeilhaus. tin whistles to drown out Boulez’s quicksilver, lyrical reading of the score and vehemenant boos whenever the stage action outraged, which was often. Many times were the police called in to quell the riots. Now in 1978. demure audiences are realizing that unexpected as it may be, this new R in g is a production of truly original thought and Chereau’s staging follows its line of logic right through to the very end. This is a R in g , that though it had earlier caused outrage was not created to do so. It has forced audiences to acknowledge in T h e R in g the presence of something more disturbing than a grand musical adventure of mythological gods in Nordic legend, it shows the pathways of power, the devouring momentum of greed, the place of personal endeavour w'ithin a vast social maelstrom. It is an intrinsically political production. Power portrayed literally on the stage as a huge iron wheel (also allegorical I suppose of Fate) is the driving force of all the sudden nervous violence that propels the action. It is historical in the sense that C’hereau has

OPERA EXTRA defined it as the history of the German (or Western European) people since Wagner's death to the present day. It is allegorical in the sense that parts of it are clearly labelled as representative (Wotan is the power dealer in a frock coat. Siegfried is the gullible working class dressed in a khaki boiler suit) but the whole production flashes through so many facets of theatrical production. There is mime, there is caberet grotesquerie, there is almost farcical cartoon strip (witness Siegfried’s battle with the

electric station; Alberich the evil dwarf steals a vital component of machinery and the chase is on from there. Alberich's realm of Nibelheim is a black void lit only by a harsh lamp swinging over the stage, bringing uneasy reminders of the search lights of Auschwitz. The Valkaries' Rock looks like a burnt out building in fire bombed Dresden while the territory of the Gibichung vassals in Gotterdamerung is a row of towering tenements out of which a clutch of peasants creep to rake over the coals of a demolished

Dragon), there is Expressionism in the forging of the sword and Impressionism in the meeting between Siegfried and the Wanderer. It sounds like a veritable rag bag, but it is all there, dictated in the music and libretto. The very opening is still enough to cause a fit of the vapours from some. Rather than a bevy of female aquatics at the bottom of the Rhine we are presented with three females looking for all the world like the cigarette girls out of Carmen lounging about on the steps of a huge hydro

Valhalla. But what still angers people about this Ring is the violence (they are calling Chereau the Sam Peckinpah of opera). It angers because there is a physical urgency about it, everyone who knows about that piece of machinery’s power becomes possessed with a blood lust (Siegfried for example in Gotterdamerung is not merely stabbed once by Hagen but repeatedly, and his blood splatters all over the stage in great gollops). It would seem that the machinery, like

atomic energy can be u&d to power the world but it can also become the agent of total annihilation. Chereau has reigned in all the vast woolly parts of The Ring into a huge tapestry of power mania, greed, revenge, innocence, personal freedom, bravery and cowardice. There are many “contradictory” parts in this Ring, but there is a fuller and profounder comprehension of human behaviour, violent or noble, underlying the characters and often simultaneously; a seriously limited scope of time scale but ultimately a sense of huge forces and vast issues portrayed as epic adventures; a work that aggravates, overwhelmes and deepens awareness and one whose argument leaves one ringed with associations and parallels even as one watches it. For me at least, who was getting ready to dismiss Wagner forever as a bore, it brings to life those images that surely must have been in the composer’s mind as he battled to bring them to life.

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

David Gyger Dream — AO’s crowing glory Queensland — Two major productions VSO — Entitled to a down In a good many ways, the Australian Opera production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream which ended the company’s 1978 winter season at the Sydney Opera House was the crowning glory of a season that had previously produced more than its fair share of artistic triumphs. Predictably, if sadly, it drew a certain amount of published criticism in the letters columns of the daily press; and the ultra-conservative subscribers stomped out of performances in their scores throughout the season. No matter: from just about any point of view it is better for operagoers to stomp out of the new and the different than for them to doze quietly and smugly through an unadulterated diet of standard repertory fare. As a peer group, they must surely be the most resistant to new repertory blood of any body of patrons of the performing arts save perhaps the traditional balletomanes. In partial defence of their sensitivities, it must be admitted that musical language evolves much more rapidly than verbal language; hence, there is an almost inevitable tendency even among experienced opera-goers to prefer to probe the ! depths of an old friend in a familiar idiom rather than embark on the beginnings of a friendship with a new chum in the repertory. There is no language barrier between GBS and David Williamson, for instance; but Wagner and Verdi ; and Puccini — each of whom spoke quite a different musical language at the turn of the 20th century — are worlds removed from Janacek or Britten or Stravinsky, all of whom are now undeniably “classic” opera composers. All this amounts, I suppose, to a plea to the Australian Opera not to take undue notice of the dozens who stomp out of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Clearly, the only way to cure this kind of rejection-due-to-unfamiliarity is exposure supplemented by repeated exposure; and it is regrettable to note that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not scheduled for further performances anywhere in Australia during 1979. Given the heavy dosage of repeats

platoons; but Elijah Mashinsky’s superb production made everything crystal clear dramatically for those whose uninitiated ears were not equipped to cope with the musical signals. His handling of the transitional passages was particularly deft, aided considerably by the thoroughly adaptable semi-abstract set of Timothy O'Brien and Tazeena Firth, which gave the appearance of changing its very shape under some of the varied lighting superimposed on it by Roger Barratt. It was a combined master stroke of design and production to fly Oberon in on a lateral swing (his feet never touched the stage until Act III). Moshinsky made much comic use of a mid-stage pool containing real water, particularly in handling the earthly lovers misenamored by Puck’s inefficiency. They fell into it, walked into it unawares, leapt over it, splashed each other, used it as a reflecting glass; the cumulative effect of their antics lent particular aptness to Puck's “Lord, what fools these mortals be!" delivered from the upstage ramparts as he surveyed the mayhem below. Puck himself was made into a Dickensian, Chaplinesque, tramp in top hat and black cloak: the rude mechanicals beautifully realised as the none-too-bright earthy individuals they are; the boys chorus usually placed as far front as possible when it had to sing, right on the brink of the forestage area overhanging the pit to ensure the weakish voices would be heard to best advantage.

apparently forced on the AO by economic conditions next year, it is extraordinary that this new production should not even be given an airing in Melbourne, let alone the less populous outposts of Australian empire. It is hard to know exactly where to start in

John Pringle (Demetrius), Anson Austin (Lysander), Jennifer Bermingham (Hermia), Isobel Buchanan (Helena) and James Bowman (Oberon) in the AO’s

Midsummer

crazy red fright wig he donned for the play

analysing the particular success of the AO

marvellous score clearly differentiates these 44

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

the nature of the production to be acrobats as well as communicators of text. Bowman’s swing, which would have terrified anyone suffering from vertigo, did not deter him from including a considerable amount of physical movement in his characterisation — sometimes gripping the bar with bare prehensile feet and crouched like a wild animal ready to spring on its prey, using only the odd hand to steady himself. Naked to the waist, and sporting waist-length-and-beyond hair, he was as visually a creature not of this world as vocally; yet of course his manly and athletic stage presence belied any suggestion he was portraying a weak-kneed or effeminate character. Some purists may well have objected to the fact that an adult, rather than an adolescent, portrayed Puck; if one is to accept Britten’s intentions as reflected on the LP recording conducted by him, and presumably in the original stage production, it was perhaps a mistake. Others may object to the excessive flamboyance of Hyde's declamatory style, the extravagance of some of his stage acrobatics. I found both aspects of this realisation of the role mildly surprising to start off with, but thoroughly admired the performance as a perfectly legitimate reading of the role. Individually, there is a good deal less to be said about the others in the large and talented cast assembled for this Dream. Some of the characters are afforded no real acting or vocal scope — Theseus and Hippolyta, for instance, or even Tytania — and it would be unfair to criticise those who portrayed them in this production (Lyndon Terracini. Lesley Stender and Rhonda Bruce) for not making more of them dramatically. Even the earthly lovers are, by and large, stereotype mortals different the one from the next sufficiently to enhance their comic potential, but offering no real scope for dramatic individuality. In this department, Jennifer Bermingham and Isobel Buchanan were superbly comic and vocally excellent; their male counterparts, John Pringle and Anson Austin, were slightly less outstanding. The rustics were a greater triumph within the context of this production (as no doubt they are within the overall context of the work itselfj). Neil Warren-Smith was a marvellous Bottom/Pyramus, Alan Light a suitably officious Quince/Producer, Paul Ferris a suitably statuesque Snout/Wall; the rest thoroughly individual in their proper tradesmen's guises and marvellously apt in the context of the play within the opera. Particular mention must be made, of course, of Graeme Ewer’s superb Flute/Thisbe — particularly the latter; helped no end by the

Dream. Though it inevitably cuts out a great deal of the original Shakespeare text, including the whole of the play's first act, the libretto for the opera preserves all three sets of characters; thus it requires a large cast of talented principals who by and large move on and off stage in platoons. Musically, of course, Britten’s

Individual performance honors, were one forced to choose from among the remarkably even cast for this Dream, would have to be split between James Bowman's Oberon and Jonathan Hyde’s Puck — both of whom were required by

Night’s

Dream.

Photo: Branco Gaica.

within the play, but just about stealing the final

OPERA EXTRA Bergomask with a magnificently comic (and energetic) dance solo of indeterminate origin but immense effect. This was, overall. Ewer’s most original and effective dramatic portrayal 1 have seen; it was also the most pleasing vocal performance 1 have yet heard from him. Combined with his Flaminio in Scarlatti’s The Triumph o f Honor, which I saw in Brisbane early in August, it indicates a significant development in the level of Ewer's artistry. Finally, mention must be made of William Reid’s conducting stint. Reid has long since demonstrated a particular affinity with the works of Benjamin Britten through his excellent performances of Albert Herring in recent years; and he consolidated that impression with his expert handling of the Dream. His, finally, was the musical co-ordinating force that drew together all the disparate elements of this intrinsically fragmented opera and moulded them into an overall unity of great theatrical effectiveness. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which opened this year’s major Sydney winter opera season on June 14 with Leona Mitchell in the title role, returned early in October with Joan Carden making her debut in the part — and a very auspicious debut it was. She made some glorious sounds, and projected considerable dramatic impact even as far as the dress circle where I was sitting, no mean achievement in the Bennelong Point opera theatre. The major regional opera season of the month was in Brisbane, where the Queensland Opera Company mounted overlapping productions of Gounod’s Faust and Bizet's- The Pearl Fishers. All round, the more successful was The Pearl Fishers, though the most interesting individual performances were in the minor roles of Faust. John Milson’s sure-footed production of Pearl Fishers, to excellent evocative designs by Graham Maclean, efficiently exploited the opportunities to keep things moving which exist within this definitely flawed work; the stage picture was suitably exotic, the sounds of the chorus excellent. Sally Robertson was a fine Leila. Yusef Kayrooz sang Nadir nicely, though his acting left a good deal to be desired (nevertheless it was a considerable improvement on his recent Masked Ball in Canberra). Paul Neal was a suitably sonorous Zurga. The night I saw it, the Faust was not as effective overall. I rather liked the use of projections carefully synchronised with the orchestra both to represent Faust’s vision of Marguerite in the opening scene and to portray her redemption and ascent to heaven in the final one. Elsewhere, Peter Cooke’s designs were mostly adequate, but not up to the best we have seen from him. John Thompson's direction worked effectively enough in the more intimate scenes, but left occasional blanks in the crowd scenes and failed to make plausible the church scene, with Mephistopheles popping in and out more like a human yo-yo than a supernatural presence.

Phyllis Ball’s Marguerite was marvellous toward the end, particularly in the final trio which was thoroughly satisfying all round; but was distinctly under powered early in the evening. Gino Zancanaro was quite a pleasing Faust; John Brosnan filled the part of Mephistopheles with plenty of gusto but perhaps a little too much good humor to be a convincing devil. The outstanding individual performances came in Arthur Johnson’s beautifully sung Valentine and Margaret Russell’s stunning Siebel — she made more of this pants role than 1 have ever seen on stage before, playing him as a petulant adolescent boy acutely aware of his personal inadequacies: fiercely intense, charmingly impotent. Russell has the boyish physique to make one’s mouth water at the prospect of seeing her in such other classic pants roles as Cherubino in The Marriage o f Figaro or even Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier. If, of course, she could sing them: perhaps one day she might. On the nights 1 saw them, Georg Tintner’s conducting stint in Faust was more orchestrally rewarding than Graeme Young’s for Pearl

Fishers. On both occasions, though, the Queensland Theatre Orchestra seemed more accident-prone than when I last heard it; perhaps the rather enormous strain of preparing and performing two such major works in repertory was the root of the problem. The other major State production of the month was Victoria State Opera’s presentation of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld in a

production all but devoid of the champagne sparkle that is the essence of vintage Offenbach. The designs and the action tended to be vulgar rather than naughty, the humor claggy and sick rather than charming and vivacious. There were a few nice moments, but they were separated by interminably long stretches of unadulterated ennui. Individually the performances were acceptable or better; collectively, the whole thing ended up as a rather depressing big yawn. The cast, led by Suzanne Steele as Eurydice, David Gray as Orpheus, Robert Gard as Pluto, Ronald Dowd as Joh Styx and Evelyn Krape as Public Opinion, was scarcely a weak one: indeed, it was uniformly more than talented and proficient enough to have succeeded spectacularly. Likewise, Richard Divall’s musical direction was never less than reliable and usually a good way along the road to sparkling. Which leads inevitably, I guess, to the conclusion that the trouble with this Orpheus has to be sheeted home to Betty Pounder’s direction and Kenneth Rowell’s designs. Both are established theatre talents of undoubted quality, and one must not make too much of the aberration of this failure. Individuals, like performing companies, inevitably have their downs as well as their ups. And the Victoria State Opera was more than entitled to have the down of this Orpheus following the consecutive ups of last year’s Pelleas and Melisande and this year’s Idomeneo. and the interesting music theatre program it staged in August-September. THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Alan Brissenden

Dance

ADT’s Choreographic Workshop — flair, imagination, style joyousness of the finale. If Alain Israel is given more opportunity he could develop into an important choreographer, for he has imaginative strength, a sensuous apprehension of music and a growing sense of formal structure. He needs more practice in using these attributes so that he can overcome a certain tentativeness of approach. So much is clear from Intrusion, in which a protagonist, danced with dramatic clarity by Tony Westwood, climbs down a web-like rope ladder, hung centre-stage, to defend himself behind the fragile rubber strands which hold it to the ground. Four intruders attack him, destroying his shelter and leaving him dead, hanging limply from his escape route, the ladder. The eerie sonorities of Ligeti’s music (movements 2 and 5 from the String Quartet) and Robert Last’s lighting are essential to the ballet’s effectiveness; its weakness is in the movement for the intruders, which degenerates at times into melodramatic gestures of menace. In The Room, Pamela Buckman has developed a promising idea from last year’s workshop, when she made a solo for Scoglio expressing frustration and boredom, but her additions only partly succeed. In the first, Nobbs expresses despair at the death of his beloved; in the second Israel as an old man remembers himself as a young one, Westwood. The choreography, individual in its alternation of stillness and broad, sweeping gesture, is interesting enough to exist without the framework of the stories, and each solo would be better on a bare stage, as unencumbered reactions to the music. The Three Brides is Julia Cotton’s excursion into the world of the Symbolists, especially Jan Toorop, in which a young man finds Death the most demanding of the three ladies he is wooing. Pretentious to a degree, the ballet is saved if at all by the performers: Claire Stonier deliciously pre-Raphaelite as the young virgin, John Nobbs, overcoming a faint ridiculousness of costume, as Death, Julia Blaikie hauntingly lyrical as the third bride, who is left to lament over the body

The five ballets in the Australian Dance Theatre’s workshops season were all by members of the company, and vindicate Jonathan Taylor’s policy of cultivating the talent available there. Presented with flair, technical assurance and as finished productions, they showed a wide range of imagination, movement and style. Joseph Scoglio’s Songs o f Innocence was the major work, attractive to look at, not lacking in 46

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

serious thought, and danced superbly by the cast of five. Without any special claims to originality, the ballet is a suite of nine dances to parts of Bach’s “Magnificat” — abstract interpretations of the music, with a suggestion of divine-human relationship in a couple of places, most notably in the pas de deux for John Nobbs and Darryl Phillips. The title is misleading, as there is no discernible connection with William Blake’s work of the same name, unless it lies in the

of Alain Israel, the intense, bewildered suitor. The music, from the film Performance, is in continual argument with Michael Pearce’s medieval costumes. The generally serious tone of the programme was enlivened by Blake Brown’s Happy Hooker, in which a jaunty Sylvia Yamada (or a slinky Julia Blaikie) provokes and gets the better of Tony Westwood, whose bar she hip-swings into, and the choreographer himself or Joseph Scoglio, whoever is dancing the role of the stud. All good fun, if a little repetitive, and danced in the right spirit to Leo Kottke’s thudding guitar.

Film

Elizabeth Riddell

Patrick — holes just too big The three most recent Australian films to be taken seriously have been The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Newsfront and Mouth to Mouth. No three could be more dissimilar, but they were clearly made with a total commitment to art as well as a hopeful look at the market.

Patrick is different. Patrick is a frankly commercial film in the psychokinetic range of Carrie, Omens One and Two, The Exorcist, The Phantom o f the Paradise etc but made with less money and, compared at least with Carrie and Phantom, a good deal less finesse. The critic P P McGuiness writing in the

National Times expressed the view that the people of Australia would not be happy to think that their tax money — which is what the Australian Film Commission and the various State-sponsored film corporations spend — was going to movies like Patrick. In other words films which include some public funds in their financial arrangements should aim at quality. In this connection, Patrick is a one-off. It is a spinechiller, or it would chill the spine if it had a plot which hung together and was not quite so silly. For instance, when the head doctor at the private hospital where Patrick lies on a bed, wired for sound but little else, wishes to do away with Patrick — who has become an embarrassment — he approaches him with a giant syringe full of some lethal mixture and failing to make contact with Patrick’s body substitutes a visitor’s chair for the syringe and flails away at Patrick’s head, to no effect. When all he had to do was pull a plug, thus cutting off the electricity that kept Patrick alive, or at least half alive. In films of this type there are always great plot holes around which the imagination has to make its way, or all enjoyment is lost. But the plotholes in Patrick are just too big. To start at the beginning, there is Patrick lying on his bed, his great grey-blue eyes, set in a fringe of dark lashes, open, but not showing so much as a flicker of human intelligence, his limbs, guessed to be shapely, hidden under a sheet. The new nurse arrives — Susan Penhaligon, better known to British audiences for television performances. She is an appealing actress but the script turns her into a ninny. She believes that she can “get through” to Patrick, while his response is to spit. It is his only response, to anything...or almost. Nurse learns that the chief doctor, played at full bore by Robert Helpmann, is keeping Patrick on the artificial-life-system in order to observe, for the benefit of science, the exact moment and method of the spirit leaving the body. This could happen any time he switches off the current, but he just never gets around to

Patrick lies in hospital between life and death...a scene from the Filmways Release of Australian International Film Corporation’s...Paine*. Photo: David Parker it. Beside the doctor there is another malevolent force at work in the person of the matron (Julia Blake). These people are shut up together in a hospital (the film was made in Melbourne) that appears to have only one other patient, a dotty old man who makes puddles of urine on the floor of the corridor. This made the audience laugh at the not too-well-attended session where I was also captive. Nurse Penhaligon does not spend all her time in the hospital, though her mind is never far from Patrick. She chums up with a neuro surgeon (Bruce Barry) and seems prepared to swap him for the husband from whom she is estranged, played debonairly by Rod Mullinar. But her particular interest in the surgeon is in getting a second opinion on Patrick’s condition. In the meantime she has made certain physical experiments with Patrick. Not to put it

too delicately, she finds out, by slipping her hand under the bedclothes, that Patrick’s sexual urges are not as played-out as the rest of him. He falls in love with her and this brings on the homicidal impulse that landed him in hospital in the first place — he threw a heater into the bath where his mother was frolicking with her boy friend. Patrick has supernatural powers and uses them against both the husband and the would-be lover. He arranges for the latter to get an attack of the bends in his own swimming pool, in an incident that comes right to the edge of farce. The film was produced by Anthony Ginnane and Richard Franklin and directed by Franklin. It is hard to say in the face of all this silliness whether the cast is performing well or not. They are possibly just doing as they are told. But it can be said that Robert Helpmann once again (as in The Mango Tree) grossly overdoes it. Dr Coppelius rides again.

Dr. Wright (Bruce Barry) and Nurse Kathy Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon) return to her flat to find it has been ransacked for no apparent reason... Photo: David Parker THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

Roger Co veil

Records

Lighter listening; operetta, ballet

When Wiener Blut (Vienna Blood) is performed or recorded or broadcast it is invariably described as being by Johann Strauss Jr, despite the fact that this is an operetta that Strauss did not write. The music is all by or derived from Strauss, but it was put together by another musician, Adolf Muller Jr, when the seventy-three year old Strauss felt too tired even to rummage among his older melodies to fulfil an operetta commission. The justification for describing this arrangement of existing Strauss music as an operetta by him is that the composer approved of its being done by Muller and, presumably, had no violent objection to the text by Victor Leon and Leo Stein. Strauss himself was dead before the work reached the stage in Vienna on what would have been his seventyfourth birthday. After a false start it was a success and, unlike most such patched-together works, it has retained a place in the operetta repertory. Muller did his work with skill, in fact, not merely selecting a string of waltz tunes but putting together some of Strauss’s earlier music, most of it forgotten at the time, with skilfully calculated contrasts and with the ability to build a sequence of melodies into sustained scenes and finales. That skill can be savoured on a recording of the work made by Willi Boskovsky and the Philharmonia Hungarica, the chorus of the Cologne Opera, a Viennese Schrammelmusic ensemble and a cast led by Anneliese Rothenberger, Nicolai Gedda and Renate Holm (EMI Electrola, reissued by the World Record Club QR 04463-64; 2 discs). The story is set in 1815 and concerns the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic wars and the behindthe-scenes scheming associated with that diplomatic event. The set does not include a complete libretto with translation, so that nonGerman speaking listeners will have to be content with relishing the operetta-ish ripeness of the dialogue, with its almost audible winking and smirking, for the sound of it alone and with following the story from a printed synopsis. The music is, of course, the principal attraction of 48

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

the set; and it is very idiomatically conducted and played and sung with spirit and a sense of fun that make it uncommonly vivid. Some of the singing is not absolutely true in pitch, but this occurs mostly in the comic parts where some exaggeration of style and characterisation probably contribute to this effect. The recording is made in stereo/quadraphonic compatible sound and is full, robust and reverberant. Among a batch of five recordings of ballet music there are three that I can recommend and two that have defects either in musical quality or in performance. Louis Fremaux, chief conductor-designate of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a conflation of the two suites from Walton’s Facade and, on the other side, Walton’s arrangement of music by J.S. Bach in the form of a ballet suite entitled The

Wise Virgins (HMV stereo/quad compatible, reissued by the World Record Club QR 04254). Walton’s Facade music is among the most durable of all 20th century compositions. It preserves a happy balance between the amusement of parody and the possession of ample musical substance and invention in its own right. This performance of it is not outstandingly brilliant or precise, but the tempos are well judged and the music is presented in a convincing spirit and in abundant sound. The Wise Virgins was a ballet score from the start, unlike the original Facade, but has never rivalled the success of the Ashton ballet set to the first suite from Facade in effectiveness or popularity. It is a masterly piece of scoring, however, and does no disservice to the reputations of either Bach or Walton. I doubt whether Charles Mackerras’s arrangement of Sullivan tunes for John Cranko’s ballet Pineapple Poll will prove quite as durable as Facade; but I should expect it to have a currency at least rivalling that of Rosenthal’s Gaiete Parisienne ballet suite based on Offenbach. It has a similar kind of exuberance in orchestration and surpasses it in the ingenuity with which it combines tunes from different Gilbert and Sullivan operas or reveals new aspects of their charm or buoyancy. Mackerras himself conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a recording originally issued in 1962 and now dusted off and freshened up with no loss of character. I recommend this strongly to anyone who has not yet heard it; and Mackerras’s notes identify in general terms the sources of each section of the ballet so that you need not be teased by the problem of working out which Gilbert and Sullivan work he has drawn on at any given moment. When Mackerras first produced this score in 1951 it announced the

high order of talent of this young Australian musician to the world in general. Mackerras has since amply confirmed the promise of Pineapple Poll, though he has chosen to do it more in terms of conducting than in continuing to work as arranger and composer. The only other ballet score put together by him that I know draws on the music of Verdi. These days he is more likely to be using his skill in orchestral dovetailing in trying to arrive at the final solution of a score by Janacek or some other composer whose work is still to gain its full measure of recognition. CBS has brought out one of Leopold Stokowski’s last recordings, a version of Aurora's Wedding, the ballet score extracted by Diaghilev for reasons of economy from Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty. Even in its shortened form this Tchaikovsky score is one of the glories of traditional ballet; and the sumptuous effects and contrasts of the music suit Stokowski’s unrivalled feeling for orchestral colour in this performance with the National Philharmonic Orchestra (CBSSBR 235900). I would be less inclined to rush to acquire excerpts from Gliere’s ballet The Red Poppy, not because there are any serious defects in the performance by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra under Yuri Fayer (MelodiyaJHMVOASD 7566) but because so much of the music is heavy, shortwinded in invention and bogus in feeling. The Russian Sailors’ Dance is the best known number in the score and deserves to be by a good margin. There is nothing wrong with the quality of the ballet score, Les Petits Riens, which the young Mozart wrote for no less a person than Noverre in Paris in 1778; and the ballet music that Mozart wrote for his opera Idomeneo three years later is of a standard nothing less than magnificent. Unfortunately, the combination of these two scores on a record made by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Philippe Entremont (CBS SBR 23519) is not particularly inviting solely because of the limpness of the

Books

John McCallum

The great revealed — for Christmas reading of the authenticity of the controversial letters to Countess Delphina Potocka. She reproduces large parts of them and their explicit and unsophisticated sexuality is startling, even in the context of this sympathetic biography. For opera-lovers not mad keen on reading Hutchinson has two volumes in the Metropolitan Opera Guild Composer Series, Verdi and Puccini (r r p $9.95 each). Again the texts (by Paul Hume and William Weaver respectively) are not critical considerations of the work, although the composers and their audiences are allowed to make some sort of assessment (Verdi getting thirty eight curtain calls, the entire last act as an encore, etc). The books are very handsome, richly illustrated, and with complete descriptions of the repertory as appendices. The texts are factual and anecdotal, and the publishers have thoughtfully summarised them in the picture-captions for the semi-literate. Perfect presents.

For Christmas and holiday reading biography has many rewards. It appeals to the instinct for gossip while implying that such gossip is important. It reassures us about the ordinariness of the great while romantically evoking their extraordinariness. For those with ambitions it allows vicarious indentification with success, as well as heartening, if strained, comparisons with their own progress so far. An uncritical journalistic biography, such as Ruth Jordan’s Nocturne: A life o f Chopin (Constable, r r p $20.00) is doubly satisfying in that it does not require serious appreciation of the subject’s genius. This is in accordance with Kingsley Amis’ dictum that for hangover reading (another important consideration for Christmas) the very great should be treated carefully. At such times you do not want to be reminded of your inferiority to the man next door, let alone Milton. (On the same principle, he suggests, you should avoid Mozart, restricting your hangover listening to someone who is merely a towering genius.) And Chopin is an ideal subject. Unquestionably great yet satisfyingly inadequate in other ways. Romantic, consumptive, admired and worshipped yet reticent about public performances. A stirring success story with a suitably pathetic downturn at the end. Ms Jordan’s biography claims to revise the image of him as an ethereal “sylph of the piano”, yet manages to retain the sentimental, romantic feeling about his life. Perhaps he really was like that — from Marie Wodzinska to George Sand to Jane Stirling is an odd progression. The new “plain, earthy” Chopin depends largely on Jordan’s acceptance

Valery and Galina Panov are famous in the West among people who have no interest in ballet. Their attempts to leave the Soviet Union, the two years physical and mental persecution they suffered there, and the massive public campaign in the West which saved their lives and finally forced the Russian authorities to allow them to leave are told from a personal point of view in the last part of To Dance, by Valery in collaboration with George Feifer (W H Allen). This is probably the most important book in this selection. Panov talks about his life as if he were a romantic little boy hero in a children’s story. He tells of his confused and rebellious childhood; his passion for dancing, apparently not shared by many established dancers when he was young; his rise to become one of the greatest of his generation of new, athletic, male dancers; his fairy-tale meeting with Galina, when he realised she was The One after a long search; and finally the long time of trial, with a happy ending at Tel Aviv airport. “I felt so happy I had to dance.” The book shows its origins, told in a series of long conversations between Panov and Feifer, and it has some of the faint feeling of selfindulgence which attend such autobiography, but Panov is sincere, unpretentious and really does have a fascinating story to tell. It is not only a book for ballet lovers. If you get it as a gift don’t start reading it or you’ll end up keeping it. To continue this list of the great revealed is The Theatres o f George Devine, by Irving Wardle (Jonathan Cape, r r p $24.80). This is an excellent account of the work of a man little appreciated outside England. His work with a succession of different groups of people — OUDS, Motley, the London Theatre Studio, the Old Vic Centre — led to the founding of the

English Stage Company. The influence of the ESC at the Royal Court in the last twenty years is well known, but Devine himself was in some ways in the background. As Wardle says “While other people at the Court were making their reputations, he was minding the shop.” Charles Schwartz’ biography Cole Porter is now published in its British edition (W H Allen, r r p $18.20) and is an obvious present for those interested, or those keen on his successful biography of Gershwin. Finally, for children, are two books which might cater for a developing interest in the theatre. The Facts About a Theatre Company follows the Prospect Company in Britain through auditions, rehearsals, technical production, performance and touring for a year. Assuming readers will not take this as the only way to run a theatre company, it should be valuable, entertaining and interesting. Model Theatres and how to make them by Alan J Allport (Hutchinson, r r p $7.95) introduces a craft which I shouldn’t have thought was very popular among Australian children. There is an appeal, no doubt, in making models of any kind, but this book is not likely to create much interest in the tired and pointless kind of theatre it describes; in spite of the author’s promise that his readers have the chance to become godlike artists of the theatre as envisaged by Edward Gordon Craig.

THE PERFORMING ARTS BOOKSHOP 232 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. 2000. Telephone: Patrick Carr [02] 233 1658 THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

THEATRE OPERA DANCE

A .C .T . FORTUNE THEATRE COMPANY Touring ACT schools HIBISCUS THEATRE RESTAURANT (51-3131)

Rags to Ritz s Fridays and Saturdays (continuing). REID HOUSE (47-0781) Canberra Children’s Theatre The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. 1 & 2 Dec. THEATRE 3 (47-4222) Canberra Repertory Godspell, Music and Lyrics by Steven Schwartz; Director, Michael Lanchbery; Musical Director, Andrew Kay. 1-23 Dec, Wednesdays to Saturdays. TIVOLI THEATRE RESTAURANT (49-1411)

Vaudeville Capers Fridays and Saturdays (continuing).

For entries, contact Marguerite Wells on 49-3192.

NEW S O U TH W A LE S ACTORS COMPANY (660 2503)

Caberet by Masteroff, Kander and Ebb; with Anne Phelan; director, Steve Agnew. Throughout Dec. ARTS COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES (357-6611) The Bandelles — Magical family group.

Blinkie Bill. AUSTRALIAN BALLET (20588) Opera Theatre. Spartacus, premiere — Laszlo Sergegi’s production, given for the first time to a Western company and arranged with Interkoncert, Budapest. Music by Khatchaturian. 1 Dec - 23 Dec. AUSTRALIAN THEATRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (20588) Saturday Morning Workshops — National Institute of Dramatic Art, from 10 am to 1 pm. Age limit 12-22, to 16 Dec. AUSTRALIAN OPERA (231-2300) Yeoman o f the Guard by Gilbert and Sullivan. 1, 2 Dec. Opening again 10 Jan. ENSEMBLE THEATRE (929-8877) Flesh and Blood by William Hanley; director, Robin Lovejoy with Ron Graham, Judy Ferris, Don Reid, Joanne Dawson, Maggie Platt, John Hageman. Throughout December. FRANK STRAINS BULL ’N BUSH THEATRE RESTAURANT (357-4627) Magic o f Yesterday with Noel Brophy, Keith Bowell, Julie Fullerton, Neil Bryant and Alan Norman; director, Frank Strain; choreographer, George Carden, (continuing) GENESIAN THEATRE (827-3023) A Woman o f no Importance, by Oscar Wilde; with Tony Hayes, Marlene Harsell and Margaret Morrison; director, Margaret Rieneck. To 9 Dec. Two Christmas plays by Henry Gheon:

The Journey o f the Three Kings Farce at Devils Bridge Throughout December. 50

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE (212-3411) director, Sir Robert Helpmann; starring John Waters. To 16 Dec.

Dracula,

KIRRIBILLI PUBTHEATRE (92-1415) Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. The Over the Rainbow Show by Rick Maier and Malcolm Frawley; director, Malcolm Frawley; with Paul Chubb, Laura Gabrielle, Richman Young, Susan Asquith, Steven Sacks. Throughout December. LES CURRIE PRESENTATIONS (358 5676) Mike Jackson folk singer, will tour infant, primary and secondary schools in the Central West and Riverina districts. To 16 Dec.

The Art o f Pierre Struys. Exhibition and sale by international Dutch artist with works from his travels to central-Asia and Siberia. To 7 Dec. From 16 Dec an exhibition of childrens’ historical antique books and toys. THEATRE ROYAL (231-6111) The Human Voice — one of Cocteau’s most magnificent works. Starring Liv Ullman. To 16 Dec.

For entries contact Candy Baker on 357-1200.

Q U E E N S LA N D ARTS THEATRE (36-2344)

MARIAN STREET (498-3166) A Lad 'n his Lamp, an adult pantomime. Director, Alistair Duncan; with Bunny Gibson, David Nettheim, John Fasson and Raymond du Pare. To 23 Dec.

Norman, Is That You? by Ron Clark and Sam

MUSIC HALL THEATRE RESTAURANT (909-8222) Crushed by Desire, written and directed by Michael Boddy. Throughout December.

HER MAJESTY’S (221-2777) Crown Matrimonial by Royce Ryton; director, Peter Williams; with June Salter and John Hamblin. To 16 December.

MUSIC LOFT THEATRE (977-6585)

QUEENSLAND THEATRE COMPANY (221-5177) Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer; director, Terrence Clarke; with Brian Blain and Robert Alexander. In association with Q’ld Arts Council — 6-23 December. Clowneroonies devised and directed by Geoffery Rush. 8-16 December at 10.30 am plus 11,12,13, 14,15 Dec at 2.00 pm.

Encore, a musical revue starring the Toppano family and Lee Young. Throughout December. NEW THEATRE (519 3403)

Knock, Knock by Jules Feiffer; director, Fred Simms; with December.

Betty

Millis.

Throughout

NIMROD THEATRE (699 5003)

Jumpers by Tom Stopard; with John Gaden, Geraldine Turner, George Whaley, Barry Lovett, Walter Tym and Mary Hare; director, Ken Horler. Throughout December. Downstairs: Gone With Hardy by David Allen; with Kerry Walker, Henry Szeps and Drew Forsyth; director, Richard Wherrett. Throughout December. OLD TOTE (663-6122) Drama Theatre:

Bobrick. Director, Kevin Radbourne. To 23 Dec. The Nutcracker devised and directed by Gordon Shaw. Saturday at 2.00 pm to 16 December.

LA BOITE (36-1622)

Mr Herod's

Christmas Pageant by John O'Toole; director, Jennifer Blocksidge. To 16 December. TWELFTH NIGHT THEATRE (52-5888) Catch Me If You Can by Robert Thomas; director, Babette Stephens; with Kit Taylor. To 9 December.

For entries contact Don Batchelor on 269-3018.

The Lady from Maxims — a George Feydeau farce; director, Ted Craig. To 14 Dec.

SO U TH A U S T R A L IA

Q THEATRE, PENRITH (047 21-5735) The Drunkard — a melodrama. Stage adaptation by William H Smith; Director, Ron Hackett. Showing at Bankstown Town Hall throughout December.

PANORAMA THEATRE ARTS (276-8531) The Patrick Pierce Motel by Hugh Leonard; director, Robert Kimber. At Theatre 62, 8 pm, 13-16, 20-23 Dec.

ROCKS PLAYERS (531-1761) They Are Dying Out by Peter Handke; director, Tony Barclay. Throughout December. SEYMOUR CENTRE (692 0555) Die Fledermaus by Strauss. Presented by Touring Theatre Company. To 9 Dec. Everest Theatre: Momma’s Little Horror Show. Tasmanian Puppet Theatre, written and directed by Nigel Triffit. To 23 Dec. Downstairs: 5 Flights to Freedom by Alexandra Hynes. An international multi-media mime production by New South Wales Theatre of the Deaf. Director, Adam Salzer; designer, Yoshi Tosa; lighting, Bangiarani. To 16 Dec. Downstairs: An evening of improvisation and short plays by Tuesday Company. 20, 21,22, 23 Dec. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE (20588) Exhibition Hall:

QTHEATRE (223-5651) Call Me Madam, producer, Bill Munroe; musical director, Barry Hill. To 2 Dec. SHERIDAN THEATRE (267-3751) Adelaide Theatre Group: The London Blitz Show devised by Bubble Theatre Company; director, John Noble. Wed-Sat 8 pm 13-16, 2023 Dec. THESPACE(51 0121) ACT Hatrick Season: Troupe: Dickinson by David Allen with David Young; director, David Young. 8.30 pm to 2 Dec. Stage Company: The Fall Guy by Linda Aronson; director, John Noble. 8.30 pm 14-16, 18-23 Dec. STATE THEATRE COMPANY (51-5151) Summer o f the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler; director, Ron Blair. To 16 Dec.

For entries contact Chris Johns on 223-8610.

T A S M A N IA TASMANIAN PUPPET THEATRE (23-7996)

Momma's Little Horror Show, Seymour Centre. Sydney. 23 Nov - 23 Dec. THEATRE ROYAL (34-6266) Hobart Hospital Charity Show 2-6 Dec.

For entries contact the Editorial Office on (049)67-4470.

V IC T O R IA ALEXANDER THEATRE (543 2828) Forthcoming Alexander Theatre Company production: Children’s Holiday Show, Peter Pan. Director, Marie Cuminsky. At 10.00 am and 2.00 pm Monday to Friday Sat matinee, 2.00 pm 3-27 Jan. ARENA CHILDREN’S THEATRE (24-9667) Plays in Performance: Lower Primary Sticks and Bones Upper Primary Yertahulti (Touring Metropolitan and Country schools). BOW-TIE — Theatre-in education programme — Shake, Rattle and Roll. ARENA THEATRE COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES — Youth Theatre, Wednesdays 5-8 pm. Women’s Theatre Group, Thursday 10-12 or Tuesdays 7.30-9.30 pm. Dance/Movement Workshop Mondays 4.30-6.00 pm. Drama Workshop, Saturday morning for 13-15 year olds. After School Drama Workshops 9-12 year olds, Tuesdays 4-6 pm, 6-8 year olds Thursday 45.30 pm. CAT-CALL. Tutorship scheme for schools (pupils and staff) SCAT Suitcase Activity Theatre (one actor/teacher drama experience). AUSTRALIAN PERFORMING GROUP (PRAM FACTORY) (347-71-33) Front Theatre: Ship’s Whistle by Barry Oakley; director, Paul Hampton. To 24 Dec. Back Theatre: The Unemployment Show. Group-devised production; acted by people who have been recently unemployed. Assisted by Allison Richards and Claire Dobbin. COMEDY THEATRE (663-4993) Kingfisher by William Douglas-Home; starring Googie Withers, John McCallum, and Frank Thring; director, George Ogilvie. From 29 Nov. CREATIVE ARTS THEATRE (870 6742) Community-based theatre working in schools, libraries, and community centres. TIE team. FLYING TRAPEZE CAFE (41 3727) A vant-garbage and Captain Rock. Nightly, Tues to Sat. FOIBLES Theatre Restaurant (347-2397) Original comedy entertainment. Special Christmas show, with Rod Quantock, Mary Kenneally, Stephen Blackburn, Neville Stern and Geoff Brooks.

LA MAMA (350-4593/347-6085) Gross Parody by Cliff Kelsall. Thurs-Sun, 8.30 pm 7-24 Dec.

HOLE IN THE WALL (381-2403) California Suite by Neil Simon; Stephen Barry. 29 Nov - 30 Dec.

MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY (654-4000) Russell Street Theatre: Once A Catholic by Mary O’Malley; director, Ray Lawler. Bodies by James Saunders. From 23 Jan. Atheneum Theatre: The Resistible Rise o f Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht; director, Bruce Myles. To 9 Dec. Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring; director, Simon Chilvers. From 14 Dec. Tributary Productions: (Artistic Co-ordinator, Judith Alexander). Workshops of new and unconventional Australian and overseas plays. Russell St Theatre: The Centenarian by Phillip Ryall; director, Lex Marinos. (Check performance times). 1,2,6, 7, 8, 9 Dec. Also: Saturday Morning Club, youth classes, Curtain-Up, country bus-to-theatre programme.

NATIONAL THEATRE (352-3500) Playhouse: No No Nanette by Shevelove, Harbach and Mandel; director, Edgar Metcalf. 21 Nov - 23 Dec. Matinee: The Cocky o f Bungaree by Richard Tulloch; director, Andrew Ross. 2-23 Dec.

OLD MILL, Geelong (052-21 -1444) Drama Centre of Deakin University. Thursday evening productions. PILGRIM PUPPET THEATRE (818-6650) The Tale of Mr Tod by Beatrix Potter; adapted and directed by June Epstein. To 16 Dec. Peter Pan, written and directed by Graeme Bent. At 10.15 am and 2.00 pm Tues to Fri. 2.00 pm Sat. From 5 Jan. POLYGLOT PUPPETS (818-1512) Multi cultural puppet theatre, with Mogg the Cat and Friends. Touring schools and community centres. PRINCESS THEATRE (662-2911)

Sleeping Beauty On Ice, holiday pantomime to commence early Jan. TENT SHOW, Batman Ave. (Bookings 663-4993) The Flintstones on Parade. 18 Jan - 8 Feb. TIKKI AND JOHN'S Theatre Lounge (663-1754) With Tikki and John Newman, Myrtle Roberts Vic Gordon, and guest artists. VICTORIAN STATE OPERA (41-5061) Main company: in recess until mid-Jan. Schools company: Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing by Malcolm Fox; director, George Deakes; choreography, Betty Pounder; with Ian Crow, Robyn Arthur, Toni Adelmahn, and Evan Zachariah. To 7 Dec. AUSTRALIAN PERFORMING GROUP

Circus Oz. Melbourne’s Unique Contemporary Circus, under the Big Top in the Andrew Grimwade Gardens, National Gallery. Dinner performances, as well as schools’ shows and weekend matinees. From 18 Nov, through summer.

director,

WA BALLET COMANY (335-6188) At the Octagon Theatre: Corelli 3. Four short ballets. Don Juan, Nightsong. 29 Nov 2 Dec.

For entries contact Joan Ambrose on 299 6639.

FDDCj for Audio Visuals Lighting Sound Films Lasers Special Effects

Design and Production since 1967. (02) 357-6479 P.O. Box 8, Kings Cross, 2011 a n n M cDo n a l d COLLEGE OF DANCING

(Est. 1926)

Ballet (R.A.D.) Examinations in all grades, pre-prelim inary to solo seal. Full-tim e day classes also

Classes and Private Tuition Ballroom , Latin A m erican, Old T im e, S ocial, Theatrical, M odern, Jazz and C lassical.

The G reenwood Hall Complex 196 L iverpool Road, Burwood. N S W. 2134 Phone 74 6362 {A H . 428 1694)

theres no business lik e .......

M a jo r A m a te u r C o m p a n ie s :

SHOWBUSINESS BOOKSHOP

HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE (663 3211)

BASIN THEATRE GROUP, 25th Anniversary season 1979, (762-1082) CLAYTON THEATRE GROUP, (878 1702) HEIDELBERG REPERTORY, (49-2262) MALVERN THEATRE, (211-0020) PUMPKIN THEATRE, Richmond, (42-8237) 1812 THEATRE, Ferntree Gully (796-8624)

Annie. Directors, George and Ethel Martin;

For entries contact Les Cartwright on 781-1777.

Huge selection of scripts f r o m : English Th eatre Gu ild , Dram atists Play Service, Evans Bros. Samu el Frenc h, Faber, C u r re n c y — M e t h u e n , D ra m a ti c Pub. Co. We carry T h ea tr e Australia. A f t e r D a r k , Dance Ma gaz ine, Plays & Players, Dan ce & Dan cer s,Fi lms & F i lm in g , S t e i n ’s Th eat ric al M a k e - u p , Leich ner M a k e - u p . Special a t t e n t io n to Mail Or de r Customers.

HOOPLA THEATRE FOUNDATION (63-7643) Playbox Theatre: The Unspeakable Adams with Phillip Adams. Upstairs Playbox: programme to be announced.

starring Hayes Gordon and Jill Perryman. Continuing. LAST LAUGH Theatre Restaurant (419-6226)

L O Sloan's Three Black and Three White Refined Jubilee Minstrels. A Cavalcade of American Minstrelsy 1796-1896. Direct from San Francisco.

W E S TER N A U S T R A L IA CIVIC THEATRE RESTAURANT (272 1595) Five Past Christmas ’78. Revue; director, Hal Davis. To 31 Dec.

YORK HOUSE BASEMENT ARCADE 294 LT. COLLINS STREET. MELBOURNE 3000 PHONE (03) 63 7508

CONTACT VIN FOSTER FOR PROMPT ATTENTION THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978

(Continued from page 4)

Q&Q Australia^ magazineoftheperformngaits

Theatre Australia

opened at the end of October to a capacity audience. My confidence in the show and everyone connected with it was confirmed by the overwhelming audience reaction. Written by Malcolm Frawley and Rick Maier, with music by Sandra Ridgewell, the audience is taken through a hilarious journey through an Oz of the seventies. Full credit go to an extremely talented cast headed by Laura Gabriel (ex Restless Years) and Paul Chubb; they are supported by Steven Stacks. Susan Asquith and (modestly) myself. Show ,

The venue enables us to supply a tasty meal and first class entertainment from 7 pm to midnight. The bar is open during this time as well. We are trying to put the “E” back in entertainment."

PUTTING TOGETHER A ONE PERSON SHOW

THESPIA'S PRIZE CROSSWORD No.6

B E V E R L E Y D U N N , M e lb o u rn e a c tr e s s

Address ......................................................................

Name............................................................................

“In a one person show a very special, vulnerable, trusting and totally personal relationship is set up with an audience. Once the trust is established, they will go anywhere with you and accept a range of things from you: an exciting responsibility. One's whole energy and concentration is involved. Playing a one-person show heightens one's response to audience awareness. It was exciting to go from the one-person show to U n d e r M ilk W o o d in which one was making direct yet anonymous contact with the audience in a variety of roles through the use of masks. A s W e A r e is a one-woman show which I devised, researched and presented for the Festival of Perth last February and have since presented for the Victorian Arts Council and at the Theatre Royal in Hobart. After U n d e r M ilk W o o d for the MTC I’ll be touring it in Tasmania at the end of October, the Northern Territory in March and Western Australia in April. Staged for me by Don Mackay, it is an entertainment showing aspects of life, people and relationships through the writings of Australian poets, writers, journalists and journal keepers, from our beginnings until now. In choosing material, I have two criteria: does it entertain? do / laugh/cry/think/smile/understand as a result of this poem/diary/letter/short story? Does it have something to say about us — as we are?”

Across:

1. 10. 11. 12. 13.

N ext Month

14. 16.

Hoopla David Williamson Reviews: Opera, Theatre, Ballet, Film, and lots more.

18. 19. 20. 23. 24. 25. 26.

Actor shapes one tour cunningly (5,8) Hardy Christmas books for children? (7) Class hardened like compositor’s product (7) Sidle out to speciality stores (5) At twenty to three, a couple for refreshment, we hear (3,3,3) Reject the engineers, though (5) The angriest gives a blouse (that is, to a good man) (9) Ranting is peculiarly exhausting (9) Bardot enters small musical ensemble in NSW (5) Pop reeled madly and put men back on the land (9) Deal to exchange Eastern dart (5) Ie, casks make queasy on board (7) Unsettle Diana’s endless headdress (7) Mick’s musos collect no lichen (8,5)

Down:

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7. 8. 9. 15. 16. 17. 2 1. 22. 23.

Moustache to hold onto while cycling? (9) Listener in poles comes closer (5) To advance an idea, put one in the mail...(5) ...otherwise, ring Tina O for restricting supplies (9) Former journalist surrounds me in a patch and is taken advantage of (9) Buttercups, etiolated, contain a disorder (5) Box-opener's annoyed in this piece (8,5) Drink Nellie's health in play (1,5,2,5) French name one in test having three terms (9) Part of a game to upset a relative (9) Lovers’ greeting incomplete, indeed! There's a slit in the wall (9) Instrument to be played softly? (5) Note twice repeated with a point became extinct (5) Italian poet was seated backwards, thus (5)

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Last month’s answers. 52

THEATRE AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 1978