Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - Page 37
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Radio: Passing of Peter Jeppesen ........................ Page 38 Theatre: Celtic Illusion review by Cat McGregor ............ P39 Country Music: Rob Foenander’s column ................... Page 38 Showbiz Stop Press: Latest radio ratings ......................... Page 41 Cheryl Threadgold: Melb’s best local theatre news ........... Page 43 OVATT”S MEGA CRO PL US THE LLO PLUS CROSS SWORD
GREAT BODDY OF WORK Teleny: tackle out
● Jackson Raine (top) and Tom Byers in Teleny. ■ This week Sebastian Faulks said: "Making books into films and plays is very fraught and it seldom works.” This production supports that argument. Teleny, the novel, allows the reader to imagine their own characters and couplings. Here the audience has no need for imagination and with stage nudity comes the risk the audience may stop watching the characters and concentrate on the performers' diction and accents. But regardless of the novel-to-play argument, this play has endurance in spades. The program mentions a rehearsed reading but not a workshop production; my kingdom for a dramaturg. At its core, Teleny is a love story between two men but telling it briefly is not explored. This production carries warnings about nudity, strong language and simulated sex but nothing about verbosity and an absence of wit. The running time of more than three hours is testing for the audience but testament to the strength and skill of the director, cast and crew. The fact that high standards were maintained throughout speaks volumes for their expertise and enthusiasm. The lovers Camille (Tom Byers) and Teleny (Jackson Raine) were outstanding. It was a superb effort from a young Byers to achieve such sustained quality in so demanding a role. Camille's mother (Frederique Fouche) looked and sounded divinely French by both artistry and birth. The staging did much for the continuity of the play. New works are welcome but should be rehearsed to death first so that the script is ready to roll, tackle in or out. Produced by: Fly-On-The-Wall Theatre. Playwright: Barry Lowe. Director: Robert Chuter Venue: Chapel off Chapel. Until June 15 - Review by Cenarth Fox
Star Bursts ■ Former Channel 7 weatherman Grant Denyer is to host the new generation of game show Family Feud on Network Ten. It is rumoured that the show will go to air in the 6pm timeslot on Channel 10, against the hour-long news broadcasts on Channels 7 and 9. ■ The Songs They Sang is a musical narrative of the Vilna Ghetto, Lithuania during the Holocaust. It involves a feature documentary, a CD, a concert based on the music, a comprehensive website and an education kit based on the film and CD put together by St Kilda resident Anna Monea. The documentary (94mins) will be screened at The Backlot Studio, 65 Haig St, Southbank, from June 1128. ■ Classic Cinemas Elsternwick will screen Australian director Gracie Otto’s new documentary The Last Impresario at 4pm on Sunday, Jule 22. It looks at theatre and film producer Michael White. Proceeding the screening Gracie will partake in a Q&A to discuss her film.
By ASH LONG
● Michael Boddy in a 1964 episode of Homicide ■ Michael Boddy, one of the pioneers of the first decade of television in Melbourne, has died, aged 80. Boddy was one of the first children’s show personalities in Melbourne when ATV-0 opened in August 1964, 50 years ago. He also acted in early episodes of Australian television drama such as Homicide. Born on March 8, 1934, in England, his theatrical works included Age of Consent (1969), Dead Men Running (1971) and Redheap (1972). He was raised in the Yorkshire village of Baldersby, the son of a vicar. He was a student of the Bible, and of the hymns of the Church of England. He thoroughly loved wordplay, theatre and language. Michael Boddy arrived in Tasmania in 1959, and his first wife Margaret became a well-known television personality. He moved from being a teacher, and in 1964 worked with the Emerald Hill Theatre. One of his first television roles was in The Brand (episode 23 of Homicide) after roles in Consider Your Verdict and They Found A Cave. He was host of Crackerjack. Further TV roles included The Magic Boomerang, The Tribulations Of Mr Dupont Momone, Contradbandits, Hunter, Skippy, Ned Kelly, Matlock Police, Catwalk and Rush. Boddy wrote columns for The Canberra Times and The Australian, and six books. He wrote children’s programs for the ABC, and collaborated on productions of Hamlet On Ice, Biggles, Cash and Cradle of Hercules. he enjoyed music hall and vaudeville. With second wife Janet, who he married in 1968, and they moved to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, where he published The Binalong Bugle. Michael Boddy is survived by Janet, children Daniel and Catherine, grandchildren Christopher, Jesse, Sam, Emily, Phoebe and William. Another son, Marcus, predeceased him. His ashes will be laid at the family property, Scribble Rock.
Cutting Boys
● Nicholas Colla and Nigel Langley in The Cutting Boys at La Mama Theatre until June 8. Photo: Sarah Walker ■ Writer-director Daniel Lammin's uncompromising new work The Cutting Boys, inspired by a horrific true story, is playing at La Mama Theatre until June 8. Yuri and Max are best friends, two ordinary 20-somethings, living ordinary twenty-something lives ... until they do something very wrong. Daniel says the play was inspired by an incident in Russia in 2009, involving two young men who committed an unspeakable act against a teenage girl. "When I read about the case, I was horrified, not just by what they did, but that they were around the same age I was at the time," he says. "I began writing The Cutting Boys in a mad burst of energy, mostly to somehow comprehend how anyone my age could conceive of doing anything like that." Daniel finds himself drawn to exploring the actions of pairs of violent young men, including the Columbine massacre and the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Bulger. "This is more out of confusion than curiosity, a need to understand how something like this can happen," says Daniel. Daniel hopes audiences will leave The Cutting Boys wanting to talk about the questions it asks, about masculinity, about violence against women, about youth and mental health. Also about our relationship with violence, both as a society and as a form of storytelling, about other questions not yet considered. "You won't find the answers in the show, but it will hopefully provoke thought and discussion." Performance Season: Until June 8 Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday St, Carlton Times: Wed, Sun 6.30pm; Thu, Fri, Sat 7.30pm Tickets: $25 Full | $15 Concession Bookings: www.lamama.com.au or 9347 6142 - By Cheryl Threadgold with Deborah Marinaro
Showbiz Briefs
● Michael Boddy with Reg livermore, 1966.
■ Opening night of The Speechmaker, produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company, is being held at the Arts Centre Melbourne: Playhouse. Previews started last weekend. It continues until July 5. ■ Todd McKenney played his one-man show at Warrnambool and Frankston over the weekend. He next plays Grease in Perth, then another one-man show Mirror Ball early next year. ■ More than 3000 students from 200 Victorian schools will set perform hits from Queen, Katy Perry, Lorde, Led Zeppelin, the Eurythmics in this year’s Victorian State Schools Spectacular on September 13 at Hisense Arena. ■ New Melbourne theatre company Q44 is currently rehearsing for its upcoming production of Orphans starring Ashley Mckenzie, Mark Davis and Gareth Reeves, reports AussieTheatre.com.au