no doubt as to whose side The Law was on. This production was less successful than Trelawney partly because it lacked the same clarity of purpose and direction. It had a slightly dated, fiftiesish feel about its style. The choice of the eighteenth century as a setting did not seem to contribute anything or in any way illuminate the play’s meaning. The sets and costumes were pleasant to look at, but seemed gratuitous. The original cast of Trelaw ney has come to Australia but the exigencies of touring have meant that some substitutions have been made in The Merchant. This perhaps accounts for the sense of a still unsettled performance. Nevertheless, both product ions fully vindicate the Festival director’s decision to invite the Old Vic Theatre Company to come to Perth.
fulfull an idea he had been nursing for a decade, the performance in the idiom of puppet theatre of one of the archetypal tragic dramas in the western literary tradition. Designer Beverly Campbell-Jackson created a cast of "characters", ranging from traditional rod puppets to stylised giant figures operated from within by human cast members which were a constant delight to the eye. Moreover, the set
Success of spectacle and performance FAUST WINGS by Cliff Gillam Faust by Christopher Marlowe. Western Australian Theatre Company at Hayman Theatre, Perth, WA. Opened, February 7, 1981. Director, Peter Wilson; Designer, Beverley CampbellJackson; Stage Manager. Ian Stewart; Lighting. Ian Tregonning.
Peter Wilson, creator o f Faust.
Cast: Faust. Tony Nicholls; with Takeshi Hoshino, Noriko Noshimoto, Margot McCarthy, Greer Brad bury, Bruce Mohan, Dennis Clements, Christopher Saunders, Craig Colley, Dheera Sujan, Jane Davies, Alison Tame, Anne Gaunt, Clelia Tedeschi, Sarah Kernot, Christopher Warne, Jenine Mackay.
( Professional) Wings by Arthur Kopit. The Actor's Company at St George's Hall, Perth. WA. Opened. February 11, 1981. Director and Designer. Ken Dampbell-Dobbie; Stage Manager. Christina Pask; Lighting Design, Robin McCrae.
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Cast: Emily. Jenny McNae; Amy. Robin Millhouse; Doctors. Paul English and Michael Chapman; Nurses. Francesca Meehan and Molly Worsnop; Billy. Robert Parry; Mr Brownstein, Ray Richardson; Mrs Timmins. Molly Worsnop. (Professional)
The West Australian Theatre Com pany’s Festival offering, an adaptation of Marlowe’s classic Dr Faustus iox puppets, was one of the most unusual of the theatre productions among a group distinguished by its range and variety. Director Peter Wilson has a long history of involvement with puppet theatre, and following a successful period as Directorin-Residence at the Western Australian Institute of Technology in 1979 was invited to devise a puppet production for the 1981 Festival. This gave him the opportunity to
proved a marvel of mechanical ingenuity, with multiple traps allowing for surprise (and magical) entrances and exits, and a piece de resistance in the form of Faustus’ conjuring pentagram which became, lit with numerous flashing lights and belching vast quantities of smoke, Hell-Mouth itself. But, as Aristotle long ago recognised, spectacle ranks as the lowest, in terms of its contribution to the essential dramatic experience, of the six dramatic elements, and this puppet version of Dr Faustus went a long way toward proving his point. Despite the elaborate mimes, the highly skilled manipulation of the pair of rod puppets who simulated the spiritual dilemma and conflict in Faustus (played in human form by Tony Nicholls) and a veritable barrage of exploding flash-pots, clouds of smoke, and dragons and monsters unleashed from Hell-Mouth, the production lacked any really dramatic cohesion, seeming instead to lurch from one carefully prepared and skilfully executed "special effect" to another. As an attempt to animate and tap the dramatic power of one of the archetypal
myths of Western man then, Wilson’s Faust must be counted a failure. However, as an attempt to combine the ancient arts of puppertry and mime in a context of visual spectacle aided by all the mechanical resources of the modern stage, it was an entrancing success and one hopes the first of a good many more such innovative and daring experiments in this form of theatre. Innovative in a very different sense was the Festival offering of the newly formed Actor’s Company. Kopit’s play Wings is essentially one long interior monologue, delivered by a stroke victim from within a consciousness intact, but only gradually becoming aware of what has happened to her and of the extent to which she has been deprived of her powers of communication. This monologue is very cleverly crosscut with parallel sequences in which the blunt facts of her condition emerge through the attempts of hospital staff firstly to diagnose the extent of the brain-damage suffered and then to begin the long and difficult (given the degree of scientific ignorance which still surrounds the relation between brain structure and speech functions) process of rehabilitation. It is a masterful piece of writing on a subject both inherently difficult and little explored. The Actor’s Company rose to the challenges offered by the script. Director Campbell-Dobbie elicited from a largely inexperienced cast some marvellously fluent and disciplined ensemble playing, as well as a couple of sharp little cameos (notably Paul English as a harassed but basically sympathetic medico, and Ray Richardson as a cheerful Brooklyn Jewish stroke victim undergoing speech therapy). Campbell-Dobbie also provided for his players a set design which was both visually striking and dramatically efficient. The production was, however, and quite properly, dominated by Jenny McNae as the protagonist, Emily Stilson. She performed what was an extremely de manding and difficult role, involving long passages of lyricism, bouts of "word-salad" nonsense, and periods of extended facial mime matching taped voice-over, with a sensitivity, skill and authority truly remarkable. I do hope that Wings played on the whole to better houses than that on the night on which 1 saw it, not only because of the worth of both the play and the production as a whole, but because a performance of the quality given by Ms McNae is all too rare an event in the theatre in Perth these days. Wings was, without doubt, one of the surprises of this year’s Festival. Such an auspicious beginning bodes well for the future success of the fledgling Actor’s Company, which may indeed be the catalyctic fillip the Perth theatre scene has long needed. THEATRE AUSTRALIA APRIL 1981
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