M.ROCK
M.ROCK, Sydney Theatre Company and the Australian Theatre for Young People at Wharf 2, 12 June – 28 June, 2014. Photography: Lisa Tomasetti, above: Valerie Bader; right: Madeleine Jones, Clementine Mills and Joshua Brennan.
Lachlan Philpott’s M.Rock is a lot of fun. But more importantly, this quirky riff on the increasing disconnection between grandparents and grandchildren also has something important to say.
Namely: why do we expect people (women in this case) to retire graciously into a quiet life when they reach a certain age? Why shouldn’t they live large, as was the case with ‘DJ Granny’ Ruth Flowers a.k.a Mamy Rock, the British grandmother who became a European club superstar at the age of 80?
The granny in question here, Mabel Mudge (Valerie Bader) is from Bankstown not Bristol, but is happily living a life of knitting and playing piano for the local musical society when her 18-year-old granddaughter Tracey (Clementine Mills) goes missing during a whistle-stop tour of Europe.
Anxious for a bit of adventure herself, the intrepid Mabel sets off to find her and bring her home.
Her travels take her to the grotty warehouses and legendary club scene of Berlin, where Tracey has been spending her days squatting in an abandoned airship factory, and her days dancing all night at Die Hindenburg, a club ruled over by legendary DJ Messerschmitt (Brandon McClelland).
By the time Mabel arrives however, Tracey has moved on to the clubs of Prague, leaving Mabel to navigate the dark alleyways and over-zealous club bouncers of Berlin’s nightlife alone.
The rest you can probably guess, but what makes M.Rock sparkle is the dreamlike quality that imbues it. Tracey speaks in rhyming couplets; crazy coincidences are par for the course and every destination is populated by a cast of improbable characters (played by McClelland, Joshua Brennan and Madeleine Jones).
Presiding over it all is the benign, white track-suited presence of DJ Jonny Seymour, who in real life is one half (with Paul Mac) of the production duo Stereogamous.
Valerie Bader brings plenty of personality – and rocks the diamante headphones and mirrored aviator sunglasses – as the feisty Mabel, not ready to be pensioned off to the nursing home just yet.
Clementine Mills is excellent as the naïve Tracey, although Wharf 2’s acoustics make her difficult to hear in the first few scenes. The trio of Brennan, McClelland and Jones are marvellously adaptable, particularly Madeleine Jones, whose voice adds a poignant layer to DJ Jonny’s arrangements.
Set designer Adrienn Lord’s stage design is straightforward and effective, with DJ Jonny’s booth perched on high, leaving space plenty of space underneath for the domestic scenes.
Curiously for the subject matter however, it’s all quite sedate. We don’t get to see much of Mabel’s DJing skills and DJ Jonny never quite lets rip, no matter how much we’d like him to.
It’s a shame because the message behind M.Rock is as life affirming as the music that inspires it should be. Upping the attitude - and the volume - would make it very special indeed.
