Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - Page 113
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AT LAST: THE ETTA JAMES STORY Out Of The Water
● Ngaire Dawn Fair and Brett Cousins in Out of the Water, Red Stitch Theatre’s first production for 2014. ■ New Artistic Director of Red Stitch Theatre, Ella Caldwell, this week announced her inaugural season for 2014, revealing eight plays, including two world premieres (Out Of The Water and The Mesh), two Australian premieres (Belleville and The Flick) and four plays never before seen in Victoria (This Year’s Ashes, Grounded, Glory Dazed and Eurydice). For the past 13 years, Red Stitch has provided audiences with must see contemporary plays from around the world, and the new season announced this week is no exception. Run by actors for actors, the company is often the first to introduce Melbourne audiences to exciting international playwrights from their intimate space in St Kilda. Ella Caldwell says that in curating Season 2014 she celebrates the core principles of an artist driven company that nurtures the craft of acting and great writing, meanwhile embarking on new ventures that embrace the evolution of Red Stitch and audiences. “In the coming year we offer a number of world and local premieres and developments with Australian writers, whilst working with some of the best directors in the country,” said Caldwell. Acclaimed film and theatre director Nadia Tass will direct two productions, including the world premiere of award winning US playwright Brooke Berman’s Out Of The Water, and the Australian premiere of Annie Baker’s The Flick which sees Red Stitch collaborating with the Melbourne International Film Festival for the first time. Amy Herzog, writer of the critically lauded 4000 Miles from the company’s 2012 season, brings her talents back to Red Stitch with Belleville, a chilling interrogation of deception and dependency set in a Parisian suburb. Denny Lawrence returns to Melbourne to direct. Tom Wells’s production The Kitchen Sink will hit the road and tour regional Victoria from February, whilst March provides an extraordinary mini-festival with Playlist. For one night only, Red Stich will present 12 bite-sized plays by a selection of writers. Each writer creates a play inspired by their favourite song that is only as long as the song itself. Accompanied by live music and performed by Red Stitch actors, the party takes place in underground hub Donkey Wheel House. After revealing eight plays, Red Stitch haS decided to keep a little something up their sleeves for the final play for the season. This production will be revealed in 2014, hot off the press. The first production for 2014 will be Out of the Water (February 5-March 8) written by American playwright Brooke Berman and directed by Nadia Tass. - Cheryl Threadgold
By RITA CRISPIN
● Vkia Bull sings the music of Etta James ■ Following a smash-hit national tour, Vika Bull has paid a return visit to Melbourne with extra shows. To a packed and appreciative audience Bull relates the narrative by British writer John Livings, exploring the highs and lows of James’s tempestuous life. This is not an impersonation and Bull is not acting. Sharing the narration with trumpeter Tibor Gyapjas, they tell a tight concise story smoothly flowing into the songs. Even at her lowest times, there was one thing that always brought James back from the dark: that was music and her singing. Bull puts her heart and soul into some of the best known and not so well known soul, gospel and rock and roll songs for which James was so loved and which influenced singers such as Diana Ross and The Rolling Stones and younger singers, Christine Aguilera and Amy Winehouse. In some of the songs, particularly At Last and Roll With Me Henry’, Bull’s phrasing and throaty catch in the voice is a sure sign of the study and love of James’s voice. The red hot Essential R & Band not only backed her with wonderful instrumentals, but with vocal backing and each of the seven musicians had a well-deserved solo spot. They received a standing ovation and Bull and the band returned to the stage with a short encore to more rapturous applause. Great entertainment. Etta James born in Los Angeles, California, in 1938 was from an early age hailed as a gospel prodigy. Her professional career commenced in 1954, soared in the sixties and seventies and despite continuous drug related problems, she continued to produce albums. She was awarded a Grammy nomination for her 1973 album Etta James, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. She died in January last year. Melbourne performances: Saturday, November 30 at 8pm and Sunday, December 1 at 3pm. Venue: Athenaeum Theatre, Collins Street, Melbourne. Bookings: Ticketek
Not Safe For Work
● Kazia Kaczmarek, James Wardlow and Ben Prendergast in NSFW at Red Stitch until December 21. Photo: Jodie Hutchinson ■ In NSFW (‘not safe for work’) playwright Lucy Kirkwood explores sexism and spin with satirical wit. Doghouse magazine, editor Aiden (Ben Prendergast) is delighted with his newest ‘page 3 girl’, mounted on the wall beside two other large topless females, until the bombshell hits – she is only 14 and an irate father is on the phone! Damage control blasts off with a spin of gigantic proportions, hideous in hypocrisy, superb in alacrity of wit , and biting in satire. Kasia Kaczmarek’s still, compromised PA is a marvelous foil for the verbal quicksteps of editor Aiden, as he seeks to include her in the stoush. Father, James Bradshaw, keeps us guessing to the end about his motives for coming down from Manchester. If there is such a style as satirical tragedy it is embodied in this sad sack, wound up to explode. Although the first 10 minutes didn’t quite grab the office feel, once in the groove the above actors, plus Mark Casamento, Olga Makeeva and Matt Whitty fully exploited Kirkwood’s satirical words. The finessed Whitty and duplicitous Prendergast are particularly funny. When fired for his errors, Whitty moves to Electra, a stylish women’s magazine, hoping for a new start. Oh dear! The magazine world certainly doesn’t come out of this play with shining lights. From the brazen ‘Doghouse world’ to the manipulations of ‘Electra’ Kirkwood, a writer for UK television paints a seedy picture. The desperation of poverty, ‘suck it up,’ stay alive - it’s all laid bare. Director Tanya Dickson’s stark white setting leaves a canvas to be coloured with the dialogue’s wit, and despite a couple of British accent fluctuations this is bitingly funny work in usual Red Stitch style - social commentary of high standard. Performance Season: Until December 21 Venue: Red Stitch Theatre, Rear 2 Chapel St, St Kilda Bookings: redstitch.net or 9533 8083 - Review by Maggie Morrison
Soundtracks at Town Hall ■ Concerts with a difference are always fun, and there's a beauty coming up on Tuesday December 10 at Melbourne Town Hall. It is called Organ & … Percussion & Soprano, which the producers claim will have film soundtracks soaring to majestic new heights. I can't recall the last time I heard of a concert with this particular mix of voice and instruments, but it features the well regarded Synergy Percussion alongside side organist Brendon Lukin and his wife, soprano Cath Lukin.
It will include soundtracks from blockbuster films, the most unusual of which might be the Lord Of The Rings, which involves Cath Lukin singing in ‘Elvish', which she learned especially for this concert. But you don't have to be a Lord Of The Rings fans to enjoy this concert - there will also be music from Star Wars, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Mission. Cath Lukin studied music in Chicago, USA, on both choral and conducting scholarships and has worked with the Metropolitan Arts Orchestra and with
members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Husband Brendon is a full-time member of the RAAF band, organist and choirmaster of St David's Anglican Church in Newtown and an organ teacher at Geelong College, and he has performed as organ soloist with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Singapore Symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic. The Grand Organ of the Melbourne Town Hall will be using its 10,000 pipes to pump out these glorious sounds. Turn to Page 115