Blackie Blackie Brown, Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company Production, Beckett Theatre, Saturday July 28th 2018

Blackie Blackie Brown, Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company Production, Beckett Theatre, Saturday July 28th 2018

"Blackie Blackie Brown" was presented as a co-production by the Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company at the Beckett Theatre on Saturday July 28th 2018

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.  I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.

"Blackie Blackie Brown" has a full title "Blackie Blackie Brown The Traditional Owner of Death" by Nakkiah Lui is a funny show that touches some taboo subjects to provide a hopeful future.  I have not laughed so hard for so long at such an entertaining and confronting piece of theatre.

The production is a sublime piece of co-operation between all of the theatrical departments.  Credit must be paid to Declan Greene who brought this piece to life with the wonderfully talented dynamic duo of Ash Flanders and Dalara Williams.

The video displays reminded me of David Atkins' production of "Hairspray" where they used multiple LED screens.  Here, we witness the incredible talents of Mike Greaney as the Animation and Video Director for the Animation trio of Jayden Dowler, Maira Primandari and James Neilson.

Lighting and Projection Design by Verity Hampson is an explosion of sensory delights that surprise and transport us between locations, themes and time.

Design by Elizabeth Gadsby with Concept Artist Emily Johnson is a sheer joy taking us from various locations to transporting us into dreamscapes.  Sound Realiser, Nate Edmondson excites and teases us with a soundscape of aural delights.

The staging made use of the raked stage made up of 11 x 5 = 55 squares and the vertical back drop was 11 x 4 = 44 squares. (Personally, I rose at 4.44 am to see the lunar eclipse then rose again to see it at 5.55 am.  This is of no relevance to the play, but is a personal note to remember the spiritual coincidences that we are presented with every day.)   The numbers mean nothing, other than making me think of the 400 people that Blackie Blackie Brown was pursuing.

The squares became doors, cupboards, a kitchen, hiding places, a police car, a television, a bar, and many other wonderful images.  The most impressive was the use of trapdoors.  A real surprise was the archaeological dig with the smashed square and what eventuates.  The use of the broken square reminded me of the 2017 play at the Melbourne Festival called "Germinal" at the Merlyn Theatre.  Here Declan Green has skillfully sucked us into his vision with unnerving surprise.

The use of the standing ESWING SEGWAY by Ash Flanders was sublime. He navigated this device with many options of forward and backward motion, and up and down the raked stage to absolutely delight the audience. 

Ash Flanders is a name I will not forget.  What a versatile talented young man to create so many different characters with individual mannerisms, vocal qualities and personalities.  I loved his opening camp interaction, and his policeman.  There were too many to list here.   But DO NOT forget his name!

Dalara Williams gave us a sensitive and powerful performance with honesty and vulnerability.  Her getting fit sequence playing off, and opposite. the video demonstrated superb timing.  Her interactions with Ash Flanders had a connection with another performer to keep us captivated.  Though, towards the end, vocally, I found a few lines hard to understand.

Declan Green is a force to be reckoned with, as he brought to life so many aspects of modern Australian life.  Yes, it is in your face and unrelenting.  Except the show lost pace and needed a second wind with about twenty minutes to go.  Here, the work needs some tightening to keep the momentum.  

Coincidentally some of the political comments were relevant as there were five by-elections on this very day.

The set and actors became a pin-ball machine.  They took us on a journey as they became a a dreamscape - via a conversation with a Great Grandmother.

There were news updates and interviews to see the antics of Blackie Blackie Brown from many perspectives.  This made the show less didactic and more credible as we were looking into the mirror of Australia.

The show paid homage to "Batman" and other cartoons with the captions.  At another time, an interaction paid homage to Dorothy and her chat to the Wizard from "The Wizard of Oz".  There were so many popular cultural references for different audience members to identify with.

With some fine tuning of the last twenty minutes, this production of "Blackie Blackie Brown" deserves to tour to festivals around the world as it showcases so many wonderful aspects of artistic collaboration.

So far, this is one of the best productions for 2018.

"Blackie Blackie Brown" obtained an 8.5/10.

Note:  I am finalising this review of "Blackie Blackie Brown" in late September 2018.  I am so happy that this production is being revised in 2019.  See it!

The Homosexuals or Faggots, Griffin Theatre Company, Merlyn Theatre Malthouse, Wednesday March 1st 2017

The Homosexuals or Faggots, Griffin Theatre Company, Merlyn Theatre Malthouse, Wednesday March 1st 2017

"The Homosexuals or Faggots" a production by Griffin Theatre Company was presented at the Merlyn Theatre Malthouse on Wednesday March 1st 2017

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.  I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.

"The Homosexuals or Faggots"  is a farce which is a theatrical genre rarely written for the modern stage.  Melbourne is lucky to have two new modern day farces on our stages playing concurrently with "The Play That Goes Wrong".

"The Homosexuals or Faggots"  was directed by Lee Lewis from a script by Declan Greene.  The script is quite funny building on various perspectives of political correctness, free speech and offense.

The dialogue sounded real for the various characters with the different sentence lengths and word choices.  The build up of the situation created tension to ensure the audience was prepared for a farce.
Declan Greene is a playwright to watch develop with his keen ear and sharp wit.

Design by Marg Horwell highlights the minimalist modern apartment in Darlinghurst.  At times it reminded me of "The Book Club" set with the open stage or thrust stage format.  The hidden seat reminds me of many farces and old movies as in "Arsenic and Old Lace".  The red wallpaper on stage right, through the main door, was very amateurish as each character walked past the wallpaper shook.  This reminded me of some sets from "The House of Elliott".

The costumes were fun and inappropriately appropriate for the theme of the show.  The choice of costumes importantly added to the farcical action.

Simon Burke played Warren a photographer with a penchant for risque male models.   Warren reveals his secret desires that underpin through the mayhem.

Warren's husband, Kim is played by Simon Corfield with rapid fired academic dialogue.  Their relationship had the requisite tensions and familiarity of a long term relationship, including fantasies, suspicion and history.  Simon Corfield played the drama queen with aplomb and showed a development of his character.

Simon Burke was at his funniest when lecherous or dreaming of a Jewish circumcised man.  It was his Nirvana.  Vocally, Simon Burke has a rich voice that is easy on the ear.  Physically he was a little cautious, which is understandable as he had an ankle bandaged, possibly from a twist on stage. Genevieve Lemon plays Diana and makes an impressive entrance wearing a Bill Cosby mask.  She uses her body for maximum comic effect in her various guises.  When untying her hairy, this added to the tense build up with honesty and determination.  Her message was pointed and sharp.  Her hair let down was symbolic of her freedom to express her honesty.  This was a great scene.

Drop dead gorgeous Lincoln Younes played the male model Lucacz.  What was more memorable than his body was that he could actually act.  His ability to bring realism to his role with his natural physical attributes and more importantly develop his character was impressive.  Lincoln Younes  showed us what he wanted to achieve and added to the mayhem.

Mama Alto played the dual role of Bae Bae and Pam.  I adored the confusing mispronunciation of Bae Bae as "baby" by various characters.  The repetition of a joke is fundamental to a good farce.  Mama Alto distinguished both of these characters with very deliberate physical and vocal choices.  She accomplished these differences with skill and assurance. Mama Alto also channels  Drew Forsythe from Sydney Theatre Company's  "The Venetian Twins", which had quicker entrances for the dual characters.

The play took about five minutes to build up for me, though other audience members were laughing.

As a modern day farce "The Homosexuals or Faggots" is laboured with the slow pick of cues at times slowing down the action.  There was not enough business by each character showing us what they needed or wanted, for a farce.  There was not enough of door slamming and misadventure.

More could have been played with the sliding door to the bar covering the front door for near misses and potential accidents to keep the audience on their toes.

Staging wise, the sight lines were lost at times with the main front entrance.  We had centrally located  seats and struggled at times to see entrances due to the masking by other actors.

The final moments were thrown away, as some audience members could not see the action of Kim's reaction clearly, due to masking.

Simple physical masking issues should have been resolved much earlier.  I wonder if the director moved around the seating arrangement to obtain different views of the stage.  For once, I think the most extreme side seats would obtain a better overall view of the action.

The final section could be reworked to highlight a more dynamic ending: with the chaos of Pam waking up and how Warren and Kim deal with this.  The ending fizzled out and my partner could barely see the final exit due to masking.  The ending need to smack you in the face rather than have a 1960's sci-fiction movie question mark ending.  This farcical ending was not as strong as other farces that I have seen.

Griffin Theatre Company have presented some great works at the Merlyn Theatre Malthouse with their version of "Holding the Man".  I long to see more work by Griffin Theatre Company  and hope they return more regularly to Melbourne.

"The Homosexuals or Faggots"  is a fun night at the theatre and will be popular with the amateur and community theatre groups.

Yes I gave this a 7/10 but with some work it could be a 9/10 production.