26/10/2012 Les Miserables @ Riverside Theatre (Riverside Lyric Ensemble)
Musically the cast and orchestra of this production were very good; at the start, it even sounded (spookily) similar the CSR but the main actors managed to give their very well-known parts a bit of their own character. My only quibble musically would be that the whole show was played at a quicker tempo than I'd like, which gave some of the more emotional moments a rushed feeling (though it possibly allowed the quite long show to end at a decent hour??).
The actor playing Valjean was the standout, vocally and in acting. Eponine was also great in her part vocally, and she had the best death scene with a fantastically judged performance of A Little Fall of Rain; but bizarrely, she also decided to play all her scenes with Marius with hunched shoulders and sagging posture as if she were Gollum watching over his precious...it was very distracting.
The major problem with this production was probably direction, or lack of it. It was particularly noticeable in how movement around the stage was terrible; often actors were left to sing their solos at the front of the stage as if in recital rather than in a theatrical performance, and in some group scenes the energy of the main performances would be sapped by background characters haphazardly moving across the stage into each other's paths and in distracting ways.
I went with a mixed group of friends, from Les Mis diehard fanatics to someone who turned to me after the show and asked, in all seriousness, "So tell me about this French Revolution thing". So I think the fact that everyone really enjoyed it speaks to the appeal of the musical despite the flaws to be expected from an (semi-)amateur production.
20/10/2012 Much Ado About Nothing (Globe Shakespeare on Screen)
This would've been so much fun to see in person, I think, and even on film it comes across as a really charming production that handles the balance between comedy and drama in this play really well. Beatrice and Benedick's sparring never gets tiresome and still gets laughs, no matter how many times I've seen/heard it. Nice, simple staging and I loved how the actors used the audience as part of their performance!
30/9/2012 Private Lives @ Belvoir
Fairly straight-forward adaptation, though in modern-dress with some other anachronistic touches that mostly worked (still not quite sure about that Phil Collins moment). Very funny, and the actors did well with the furious pace of Coward's cracking script, but there's still a weird disconnect when your brain registers the casual racism and the violence against women that's just laughed off.
6/7/2012 The Duchess of Malfi @ Playhouse, Opera House (Bell Shakespeare)
Oooh, depressing. I mean, any synopsis of the plot would make that clear but geez, when it's compacted down like this it's just one terrible thing after another. Coupled with a dark, claustrophobic set full of sharp edges and it was all a bit much after a while. Lucy Bell delivered a nice, subtle performance of as the Duchess but the male cast veered between OTT villainy and blank ambiguity.
19/5/2012 Les Liaisons Dangereuses @ Wharf 1 Theatre (STC)
Simple and elegant staging, overall really good production with particularly strong performances by the female cast. Justine Clark was heartbreakingly lovely as Tourvel. Pamela Rabe was great too, though almost unrecognisable in her grey wig. But - and it's probably an unpopular opinion - I thought Hugo Weaving was a bit too arch in this, even allowing for the source material.
21/4/2012 Macbeth @ Drama Theatre, Opera House (Bell Shakespeare)
Hm. Great staging - instead of the traditional stone walls of Scottish castles, it all takes place on an empty, grassy stage with a mirror above casting a reflection that serves to make the emptiness seem ever darker and more foreboding. Interesting choice to collapse the three witches into one portrayal, using body shape and voice distortion to bring a creepy, eerie tone to Lizzie Schebesta's intriguing performance.
But overall, I didn't enjoy this - didn't enjoy the choice to sexualise Macbeth's connection with the witches, didn't enjoy Katie Jean Harding once again histrionically playing another bereaved mother, didn't enjoy the way it dragged and dragged even as it got closer and closer to everything falling to pieces.
24/3/2012 This Is Our Youth @ Drama Theatre, Opera House
Really enjoyed this. Despite it being a play written in the 90s about kids in the 80s it still felt relevant and applicable to the predominantly (and unusually) young audience watching 20, 30 years on. I like that Lonergan managed to capture a portrait of youth that's going to feel true even if the clothes, the drugs, the phones and presidents keep changing.
The three young actors were all very good. Michael Cera played to type as the hapless perpetual screw-up Warren, and at first his distinctive voice took a little getting used to in a live setting, but he is a very good, subtle physical comedian and he also managed to bring to surface surprising moments of joy and choked-up sadness in turn. Emily Barclay was all coltish teenage girlishness and nerves, perfectly performed. But Keiran Culkin was the best as the fast-talking Dennis, full of barely-suppressed rage. He owned the part so well that we were surprised to find out afterwards that he'd originally played Warren in a NY production!
**
I also saw the all-male production of Pirates of Penzance at Sydney Theatre, which was very enjoyable and provided a lot of food for thought about gender roles, but I forgot to make notes on that...
Anyway, I have a Belvoir subscription for next year (5 plays!) and I'm hoping to get some tickets to some of the major productions STC will put on, so bring on 2013!
