LORD OF THE FLIES (PLAY)

Written by William Goulding

Adapted by Nigel Williams

Directed by Caitlin Baker & Lachlan Houen

Canberra REP at the Canberra REP Theatre, Acton to 10 August

 

Reviewed by Len Power 26 July 2024

 

First published in 1954, William Goulding’s “Lord Of The Flies” became a best-selling novel which has also been filmed. It’s long been a choice for reading in schools, and it remains a popular and well-known novel.

Stranded on a remote island after a plane crash, a group of English schoolboys try to govern themselves with disastrous results. The story challenges our ideas about civility and chaos as well as morality and the power of leadership.

Adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams, the play is a good choice for the dramatic opportunities it gives a young cast.

However, the decision by the directors to cast females to play male characters is distracting and confusing with most of these cast members struggling to find valid characterizations.

Only Winsome Oglivie convinced as schoolboy, Piggy. Her strong, thoughtful performance showed that gender changing can work if the actor is skilful enough to play the internal and external aspects required by the character.

Joshua James gave a good performance as Ralph, the schoolboy who tried to reason with democracy and kindness. His sensitive performance made the problems he faced more gripping and real as the play progressed.

Ty McKenzie as Jack began well but needed to find more ways to express anger as the frustration and aggression of his character grew. His continual shouting became tiresome. Characterizations of most of the cast needed more depth.

The atmospheric island set with its various acting levels and spaces, designed by Michael Sparks, should have given the directors plenty of choices for staging, but the action often seemed too restricted where it was played on the set, making it look unconvincing.

The continual drumming behind the action in the second act made it sound like an old Tarzan movie and you wondered if, maybe, there were other people on the island after all. If all the survivors were onstage, who was drumming?

The final scene with the appearance of the naval officer was melodramatic. It was never made clear when the action of the play took place and the 1950s-sounding authority of the naval officer barking commands, which the boys dutifully and silently obeyed, seemed unrealistic, producing unbelieving laughter from the audience.

This was not the strong and believable theatre experience it should have been.

 

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

MARY STUART (PLAY)

An adaptation by Kate Mulvaney after Friedrich Schiller

Directed by Luke Rogers

Chaika Theatre at the ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 3 August

 

Reviewed by Len Power 24 July 2024

 

The story of Mary, Queen Of Scots has been the subject of many books, films, plays and opera over the years. This version has been adapted by Kate Mulvaney from the 1800 play by the German author, Friedrich Schiller. Her version was staged in 2019 in Sydney.

The play starts towards the end of Mary Stuart’s long imprisonment in England. In the legendary rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, great forces are at play, with nations at stake and citizens ready to fight for the just cause. Mulvaney’s adaptation with its modern sensibility focusses on their personal conflict, finding a clever way to bring them dramatically together, even though they never actually met.

The large cast of ten bring this story vividly to life in director, Luke Rogers’ production. The production design by Kathleen Kershaw has the acting space in the form of a cross with the audience seated on both sides. This creates an intimacy between cast and onlookers, drawing us deeply into the play.

Performances by the cast members playing courtiers and others are effective, with especially fine work from Richard Manning as Burleigh, James McMahon as Mortimer, Cameron Thomas as Paulet and Jarrad West as Leicester.

Steph Roberts as Mary Stuart

In the leading roles of Queen Elizabeth and Mary Stuart, Karen Vickery and Steph Roberts are a great match for each other, giving their very different characters nobility, strength and colour as opposing queens while still appealing to us as troubled and real women.

Karen Vickery as Queen Elizabeth I

Mulvaney brings them together in a troubled, drunken dream by Elizabeth after a party. The dialogue in this long scene crackles with electricity and it’s the highlight of the play. Both actors give extraordinary performances in this key scene with never a false moment, making these women deeply human, not just dusty characters from history.

Costuming is a mix of modern day with a suggestion of the period and is quite effective. The sound design by Georgia Snudden provides a subtle soundscape with surprising, but apt, modern music for the party scene at the start of the second act.

Director, Luke Rogers, has brought all the elements of this handsome production together very well. It’s a great production like this that we always hope for when we go to the theatre.

Photos by Jane Duong 

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

ECHOED VOICES (CONCERT)

Siobhan Stagg, soprano

Nico de Villiers, piano

National Opera presentation

Albert Hall July 19

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Securing the right to host a recital with Australian star soprano, Siobhan Stagg and pianist Nico de Villiers, National Opera had good reason to be proud of themselves.

Born in Mildura, Victoria, Stagg joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin as a young artist, spending six years there as a principal soloist, singing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Micaëla in Carmen, Gilda in Rigoletto, Marguerite in Les Huguenots, Musetta in La Boheme and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, to name just a few of her lead roles.

Even as a young artist, she stepped into serious roles elsewhere at short notice, notably Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at London’s Royal Opera House. Her US debut was as Cinderella in Massenet’s Cendrillon at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and, back at home, she sang Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande for Victorian Opera, winning her a 2019 Green Room Award.

Siobhan Stagg

South African pianist, coach and author Nico de Villiers holds degrees from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the University of Michigan and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

He has performed as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician in many prestigious venues internationally. He has long been infatuated with the Dutch-American composer, Richard Hageman and has spent years promoting Hageman’s music.

Nico de Villiers

A Dutch-American composer, Hageman, after becoming an American citizen in 1925, famously conducted for the Metropolitan Opera and coached at the Curtis Institute. He even shared an Academy Award in Hollywood for his score to John Ford’s western movie, Stagecoach. He also acted on film as the conductor, Carlo Santi, in The Great Caruso.

This unusual recital, Echoed Voices, featured works by Richard Hageman, Richard Strauss and Henri Duparc. Educational as well as entertaining, Stagg sang many of Hageman’s songs along with others by Strauss and Duparc. Nico de Villiers explained and demonstrated in fascinating detail the influences of those two composers on Hageman’s work.

Nico de Villiers and Siobhan Stagg

To listen to Stagg singing is to realize you’re in the presence of a great and deservedly renowned singer. Her powerful voice soars effortlessly to the high notes which she then easily sustains. She displays a notable sensitivity in quieter moments of the songs and her ability to display emotions with her voice and body language showed that she is also a fine actress. It was impossible to choose any song as a highlight of the recital as they were all superbly sung.

Both artists showed that Richard Hageman’s work is worthy of greater recognition. Siobhan Stagg and Nico de Villiers made warm and down to earth connections with the audience by their friendly explanations of the songs. It gave an unusual intimacy to the evening.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 20 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

 

BOMBSHELLS (PLAY)

Written by Joanna Murray-Smith

Directed by Jordan Best

Echo Theatre Production

Q Theatre, Queanbeyan to 27 July

 

Reviewed by Len Power 18 July 2024

 

Written in 2001 by Joanna Murray-Smith, ‘Bombshells’ was a set of six monologues which were played in the original production by one actress. Echo Theatre’s production gives six local actresses the opportunity to play one monologue each.

Showing the characters and inner thoughts of these women hanging in and striving for happiness in situations they find themselves in at different times of their lives, it adds up to a celebration of all women.

Amy Kowalczuk as Meryl, the mother

All six women give strong, thoughtful performances. Amy Kowalczuk’s exhausted mother feels guilty as she struggles to cope with her family’s needs and Kate Harris makes a speech at a cacti preservation club when her personal doubts and fears overtake her. Sally Taylor is an intense teenager desperate to win a school talent show and Ella Buckley begins to have doubts about her future on her wedding day. Alice Ferguson, a widow, suffocated by her dull life after losing her husband, confesses to an unexpected encounter and Lainie Hart is a visiting Cabaret star who is not as happy as she appears to her adoring public.

Ella Buckley as Theresa, the bride

Director, Jordan Best, gives each actress the opportunity to shine, ensuring the levels of character and emotion remain believable throughout. All six actresses remain on stage as each monologue is played. In the transitions between monologues, it was a nice touch to keep us aware of them as if their lives are continuing silently while the show progresses. Jacob Aquilina’s clever lighting design is particularly effective in these transitions.

The stage has six acting zones for each of the characters and Roz Hall’s effective set design gives us an insight into each of them. The clever costume designs by Jens Nordstrom match the characters of these women very well.

Each of the monologues are lengthy and often intense. It all felt a bit of a marathon being played in one act of over 100 minutes and an interval would have helped.

Although written in 2001, the theme of the show still holds true today even if some of the references have dated. This is an entertaining, witty and fun evening with a group of very interesting women.

 

Photos by Photox Photography

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

WINTER RECITAL: WESLEY MUSIC SCHOLARS (CONCERT)

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest July14

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Aptly named due to the bitterly cold weather outside, the Winter Recital by the Wesley Music Scholars produced a welcome warmth with performances of selected works from the classics to jazz to modern.

Starting the concert with Franz Schubert’s Lied der Mignon, Phoebe Bourke, mezzo soprano, and Jojo Yuen, piano, gave a fine performance of this well-known song. Bourke’s sensitive singing gave depth to the pain and emotion in the character of Mignon.

Brad Tham, violin, and Pippa Newman, viola, followed with Reinhold Gliére’s 8 Pieces Op. 39. These varied works give performers a good opportunity to showcase their abilities and both players showed great skill in their playing, as well as showing how much they were enjoying it.

Pippa Newman and Brad Tham

Next, soprano, Evangeline Osborne, a jazz voice and composition student, and pianist, Martin Magill, performed two contrasting works, Wayne Shorter’s Black Orpheus, a haunting latin melody from the famous film and Louis Armstrong’s jaunty Sunny Side Of The Street. Osborne showed fine technique and ability to entertain with these songs and Magill, with his nimble playing, showed that he was a sensitive and accomplished accompanist.

Gabriel Fromyhr

They were followed by Gabriel Fromyhr on cello who played 3 Courantes by J.S. Bach. His confident, relaxed playing brought out the differences between all three fast-paced works and showed his mastery of the instrument.

Tanya Boag on violin then performed the Allemande from J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Violin in D minor. She gave a thoughtfully sensitive performance of this melodic work.

From left: Phoebe Bourke, Evangeline Osborne, Pippa Newman, Martin Magill and Jesse Hill

Evangeline Osborne, soprano, Phoebe Bourke, mezzo soprano, Pippa Newman, alto, Martin Magill, tenor and Jesse Hill, baritone, performed the final item of four very different songs, commencing with Purcell’s Thou Knowest Lord and following with Billy Joel’s And So It Goes, Peace Offering by Jesse Hill and Our Song by Kate Miller-Heidke. Their voices skilfully blended with great appeal across the different styles of music.

This charming concert showed that, with young performers of this calibre, Australia’s future in music performance is assured.

 

Photos by Dallice Trost

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 15 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

 

REQUIEM (CONCERT)

Coro

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest July 14

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Coro’s latest program featured composers’ works that have more under the surface than might be immediately apparent. The program of individual items worked very well together.

Founded in 2011 by composer and conductor David Mackay and singer Paul Eldon, Coro is an award-winning chamber choir which has built a reputation for its innovative approach to performance and repertoire.

Donald Mackay, conductor

Conducted by Donald Mackay, the choir commenced with Maurice Duruflé’s Motets, composed in 1960. Their singing was beautifully clear and accurate. The second motet performed by women only was sensitively and memorably sung. There was great depth in the singing throughout and the finale was sombre and reflective.

Next, Nicholas Michael Smith’s recent choral work, Salve Regina, was an Australian premiere performance and the choir sang it with strength and conviction, the words making it a strong plea for mercy.

The third item, The Country Of Marriage, was a world premiere performance. Composed in 2014 as a wedding gift by this concert’s conductor, Donald Mackay, the text was from a few lines of the poem, The Country Of Marriage by Wendell Berry. It was a beautiful work with sensitive singing by the choir. Tenor, Paul Eldon and baritone, Daniel Sanderson, were featured and sang their parts with great feeling.

There was also a rich, colourful arrangement by John Aue of James Yorkston’s 1883 work, Molly Malone, as well as Oliver Messaien’s O Sacrum Convivium, haunting and beautiful in its complexity. The choir gave a fine performance of both works.

Barbara Jane Gilby

In a change of pace, one of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies was given a sensitive performance by the string orchestra with Barbara Jane Gilby, who also did the arrangement, playing the violin part.

The final work of the program was the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, performed by choir and orchestra. In seven parts, its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. The work has dramatic as well as quiet moments, all of it achingly memorable. The soloists were Jang Hee Han, bass, Hannah Bleby, soprano, and Andrew Fysh, bass. They, the choir and the orchestra gave this the work the sensitivity it needs. It was a highly satisfying performance to end this excellent concert.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 15 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

  

THE WOMAN IN BLACK (PLAY)

 

Story by Susan Hill

Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt

Directed by Robin Herford, Associate Director: Antony Eden

Canberra Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre to July 14

 

Reviewed by Len Power 10 July 2024

Good ghost stories are those that engage your imagination, gripping and taking you on a dark journey where something nasty in the shadows may be about to strike. The Woman In Black is a fine example of this genre – frightening, imaginative and enjoyable at the same time.

Based on the 1983 book of the same name by English author Susan Hill, Stephen Mallatratt has created a stage adaptation that uses the magic of theatre to really get your imagination going. First performed in London in 1989, the show ran until 2023, becoming the second longest-running non-musical play in London’s West End, after The Mousetrap.

Arthur Kipps, a man deeply disturbed by an incident that occurred 30 years previously, struggles to present his story in rehearsal for a staged reading. Assisted by an actor who assumes the role of Kipps for the retelling, Arthur then plays the other male characters in a story of remote Eel Marsh House and the strange experience of the young lawyer Kipps who travels there to finalise an estate. What the young Kipps encounters is a true horror that reaches out into the present day.

John Waters and Daniel MacPherson

The framing device of a play-within-a-play works very well. We readily accept that we are asked to use imagination for the various scenes that unfold, setting us up for the supernatural aspects of the story. The suspenseful atmosphere builds unsettlingly well – there are strange, unexplained sounds, the rocking chair swinging back and forth in an empty room, the fumbled torch that plunges us into darkness and the locked door that suddenly opens by itself. Then there is something horribly eerie in the shadows as well…

John Waters

John Waters is the older Arthur Kipps at the start and end of the play who is the storyteller and he plays the various other male characters encountered in the story. Daniel MacPherson is the actor who then plays the younger Kipps in the story. Both actors play their roles convincingly, keeping the impact of the incidents in the play that affect their characters at a very real level.

Daniel MacPherson

Clever lighting and sound designs add a great deal to the atmospheric set, making this a memorable journey into the dark world of the imagination.

 

Photos by Justin Nicholas

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 11 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS (CONCERT)

National Capital Orchestra

Canberra Choral Society

Llewellyn Choir

Soloists: Sarah Darnley-Stuart (soprano),

Emma Mauch (soprano), Ryan O’Donnell (Tenor)

and Sitiveni Talei (Bass)

Conducted by Louis Sharpe

Llewellyn Hall July 6

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Although his Missa Solemnis is less well-known than his 9^th Symphony, Beethoven composed both in 1824. Completed just three years before his death, his achievement with both works is astounding, given that by this time he was profoundly deaf. A reflection of Beethoven’s own spiritual beliefs, the Missa Solemnis pushed the boundaries of what a mass setting usually encompasses.

The work is rarely performed because it is one of the most demanding pieces in both choral and orchestral repertoire. Exactly two hundred years since it was first heard, it was a challenge readily taken on by the National Capital Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society and members of the Llewellyn Choir with Louis Sharpe courageously conducting.

Louis Sharpe, conductor

Also performing were soloists Sarah Darnley-Stuart, soprano, Emma Mauch, soprano, Ryan O’Donnell, tenor, and Sitiveni Talei, bass. Dan Walker was the Chorus Master.

Soloists from left: Sarah Darnley-Stuart, Emma Mauch, Ryan O'Donnell and Sitiveni Talei

From the opening Kyrie, the performers sang and played confidently, giving an engaging and energetic performance that continued at a high standard throughout this lengthy work.

The Gloria that followed was especially dynamic and the many voices blended with the orchestra to produce a moving and often quite thrilling sound. They excelled themselves with Et vitam venturi, the famously difficult end of the Credo.

After interval, the playing and singing of the Sanctus was sensitively done and, in the Benedictus, first violinist, Thayer Preece Parker, played the high solo part so movingly, it was one of the highlights of the performance.

Thayer Preece Parker, first violinist

Although they sang very well throughout the work, the Agnus Dei gave the soloists their main opportunity to shine. Their unique voices rang out superbly, blending well with each other. The performance of this final section of the work was particularly moving with its plea for peace very clear.

This was a performance that everyone involved should be proud of. They were given well-deserved, lengthy applause at the conclusion of this outstanding concert.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 7 July 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.