SCORCHED

July 24th 2008 6:05 pm | Theatre | Review - By Diana Simmonds

Scorched, Belvoir Street Theatre July 19-September 7, 2008; phone: 02 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au

WHEN Wajdi Mouawad was six years old he saw Christian militiamen machine-gun a bus full of Palestinians in the Beirut suburb of Ain al-Rummaneh. Twenty seven passengers were killed in retaliation for the death, hours earlier, of a Christian. Thus began the civil war. For Mouawad it was also the beginning of an accumulation of memories and events which finally emerged in 2003 as the play Scorched.

The word "Lebanon" is never mentioned in the play but it is clear that it takes place there before, during and after that civil war. It spans half a century and the lives of three women: Nazira (Gillian Jones), her daughter Jihane (Paul Arundell) and Jihane's daughter Nawal (Zindzi Okenyo). Like so many such conflicts and uncivil upheavals, however, it could have taken place anywhere; and still is taking place in various parts of the world.

Scorched begins with Nawal's death and the reading of the will to her adult children, twins Simon (Ashley Lyons) and Janine (Yael Stone), by their mother's "friend and notary" Alphonse Lebel (Brian Lipson). To the twins - mathematician Janine and amateur boxer-jock Simon - brought up in a peaceful country a world away from their mother's origins, the terms of the will are at once enfuriating and unfathomable. The will also delivers a life-changing shock of revelation and offers them a challenging quest, back to the old country.

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Music's night of nights

July 22nd 2008 3:54 pm | Music | News - By Diana Simmonds

ON MONDAY evening (July 21) the Australian music industry celebrated the year's outstanding Australian classical music achievements at the Classical Music Awards. They were presented by APRA and the Australian Music Centre, in the Playhouse Theatre of the Sydney Opera House.

Hosted by ABC Classic FM's velvet-voiced Julia Lester, the awards featured performances by Mark Isaacs, The Song Company and Windstrokes William Barton, Claire Edwardes, Iain Grandage and Mel Robinson.

Most notably, from the point of view of artists in other fields, part of the music awards is a section devoted to State and Territory winners, chosen by a representative panel from each state and territory. A novel idea that the Helpmann awards organisers might like to consider.

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Cirque du Soleil - Dralion

July 19th 2008 3:50 pm | Theatre | Review - By Diana Simmonds

DRALION is the Cirque du Soleil show for those with ultra-short memories or no previous experience.

Cirque du Soleil brought a new magic to human circus when they arrived in Australia some ten years ago with the first of what turned out to be a series of marvellous travelling shows, Saltimbanco, Varekai and, most memorable of all, Alegria. They had devised a weird and wonderful hybrid of circus, acrobatics and theatre with wildly imaginative costumes and some of the most mind-boggling rubber-jointed performers gathered from all over the world. And a unifying link of a live band and onstage singers narrating the show in a non-language that nevertheless seemed to mean something in the lavish, dazzling spectacle.

"Lavish" is what made the Cirque visually different; the numbers of performers were also lavish and there was even a certain lavishness in the soaring storylines of love, peace, tolerance and multi-creature/ multi-ethnic inclusiveness. Millions all over the world related to what they were seeing: amazing physical tricks and skills, colour and movement and exciting fun. Cirque du Soleil has become a very successful conglomerate and brand.

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An Oak Tree

July 17th 2008 11:34 pm | Theatre | Review - By Diana Simmonds

THERE is nothing new under the sun, apparently, but sometimes you get a flash of just that. An Oak Tree is one of those flashes. It's nothing like you've ever seen before and is impossible to describe without spoiling everything in it that will have you riveted to your seat, palms sweating.

An Oak Tree is a two-hander with a twist: only one of the actors has seen the script and knows what is going to happen. The other actor - each night a different one and unknown to the audience until the show begins - is almost totally in the dark. Having agreed to do it, they turn up an hour before, get a routine introduction to the evening and then they're on.

The situations and scripts are revealed to that actor and the audience simultaneously, bit by bit. It would be foolish to think the audience is as nervous as the actor, but it's not far off the truth. It makes you realise, all over again, that part of the deal in conventional theatre is that we expect everyone on stage to know what they're doing and why they're there. If one participant is in the same boat as us, it's unnerving and exciting; weird and unsettling.

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McReele

July 16th 2008 11:43 am | Theatre | Review - By Diana Simmonds

WHAT do you think when you read a spruik for a show that quotes a review from elsewhere? Do you think: hmmm, that sounds fantastic, must book? Or: I wonder what the rest of the review was like?

The Ensemble's latest production, McReele, is an off-Broadway play from 2005 by Stephen Belber. One of their selling lines is:

"Like John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, it scrutinises moral certainty and the suitability of a man to hold a position of power and influence." - Variety.

Wow. So Variety reckons it's like John Patrick Shanley's very successful and very good Doubt. That would be a reasonable assumption, don't you think? Actually, the review reads like this

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Bill Henson at the NGA

July 15th 2008 7:00 am | Visual Art | News - By Diana Simmonds

BILL Henson is not generally known for public pronouncements. His art usually speaks for him and for itself. Recent events have shifted the focus of public (media) interest in him, however, and it's easy to imagine a shopping list would be closely scrutinised if it were his.

The fervid reaction to his appearance this week at the opening of the National Gallery's latest major photographic exhibition was predictable, but still startling in its intensity. Camera crews from TV network news jostled for position, print reporters jostled back.

The exhibition, an extensive and historical survey of black and white photography titled Picture Paradise: Asia-Pacific photography 1840s-1940s, would not normally make a preliminary newslist even in the silly season, let alone achieve the roll-up that swamped the NGA. And for what?

Henson made a considered, learned and articulate speech that is approximately 1500 words in length. It will add to the pleasure and experience of viewing the exhibition. Not that you'd know that from media reports which, unless some coverage was missed (possible) consisted of a voice-over explaining to viewers who the mild-looking bearded geezer is and then a brief grab of him speaking.

Click through to read all of Henson's speech

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