arts reviews
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD Theatre
Sydney Theatre to 14 Sep Shakespeare’s Hamlet meets Beckett’s Waiting For Godot in Simon Phillip’s production of Tom Stoppard’s tragicomedy Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead. Stage and screen actor Toby Schmitz plays the tormented Guildenstern, spouting lengthy tonguetwisting discourse as he stalks the stage in a perpetual existential funk, while singersongwriter and comedian Tim Minchin is endearing as his requisite simpleminded counterpart, Rosencrantz. Both characters oscillate between philosophical musing and witty ripostes while striking comic poses in Gabriela Tylesova’s detailed leather costumes. With such an experienced cast there
of players. The exploits of one of the players, Alfred (George Kemp, in his debut performance for STC) successfully captures both amusement and sympathy throughout the show. Bethany Cannan
52 • THE MUSIC • 21ST AUGUST 2013
performance. Twomey is the only character that the audience can grasp onto and believe in some way, owing largely to Hayes’ charismatic performance.
Sam Hilton
STORM BOY
DELECTABLE SHELTER
FRIDAY
Seymour Centre (finished)
Old Fitzroy Theatre to 31 Aug
Delectable Shelter begins at the end of the world. Just as humanity enters its darkest hour, a wealthy family is bundled into a shelter deep below the surface of the earth. It will be their job to keep breeding, their descendants to repopulate the earth in 350 years’ time. The fact is, though, they were chosen for their wealth, not their intelligence. The family is joined by one of designers of shelter project, Tor ( Jolyon James). Tor is the strongest character, a buffoon in his own right but with more
Daniela Giorgi’s Friday tries for too much of a good thing. Everyone likes a good bit of political satire but it only sticks when it is sharp and focused. Giorgi never quite achieves such, rather creating a mess of indistinguishable white noise. Friday is overloaded with characters, each with their own point to make and each almost talking over each to make it. Everything gets lost as both the audience struggles to lock onto something and the actors struggle to make themselves noticed in the crowd.
Theatre
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
are a number of impressive supporting roles. Ewen Leslie in particular is fantastic as The Player, while Heather Mitchell and John Gaden enthusiastically embrace the roles of Gertrude and Polonius respectively. The fast and often confusing dialogue will leave you in awe, especially of Schmitz and Leslie’s masterful deliveries and exceptional comedic timing. Noteworthy too is the imposing set design: vertigo inducing platform mechanics allow the stage to be raised to a sharp angle to form the bow of a ship, while bulky archways on either side of the stage provide entry and exit most frequently for the band
box that strikes a fine line of being ordinary and hellish at the same time by way of hideously bland wallpaper and matching furniture. The darkness of the play feels right at home in such a space.
sinister motivations than in the others. He sees himself as the designer of the postapocalyptic society and he will take any means to achieve them. As a satirical comedy, the play – written and directed by The Hayloft Project’s Benedict Hardie – doesn’t quite work. Despite a handful of moments that produce genuine laughter, it never really achieves a confident, comical stride. The satire of the privileged Western society’s mid crisis of confidence is well observed but never really cutting. The coup de grace of the production is the remarkable set by Claude Marcus. A single claustrophobic
Sam Hilton
Theatre
STC, Wharf One to 8 Sep
Theatre
Michael Scott-Mitchell’s set looks as though it could have washed up on stage – artful driftwood, a small wooden boat. The dunes of the Coorong, so crucial to the topos of Colin Thiele’s story, are wonderfully realised in a structure that looks part shack, part whale’s rib cage. The hybrid nature of the home works – a well-meaning but taciturn Hideaway Tom (Peter O’Brien) and his son Storm Boy (Rory Potter) practically live in the water the way the storm rolls in here (Damien Cooper’s lighting and Kingsley Reeve’s sound bringing the force of the gale). Trevor Jamieson’s Fingerbone Bill joins the fray
DELECTABLE SHELTER
At the heart of the play is Bill Twomey (Peter Hayes), the transport minister of a fictional province who has made and continues to make bad decisions. Twomey is surrounded by his chief of staff, the opposition leader, the woman who gives tours of parliament, the ghost of his long dead best friend, the cleaning lady and it goes on and on like this. While the noise is overwhelming, it is worth noting that director Julie Baz has done an admirable job in staging all those voices. The play moves seamlessly despite the number of characters entering, saying what they have to say, and exiting. Hayes offers the standout
as a wise fool, a protector of the animals in the neighbouring sanctuary; constantly cracking jokes, Jamieson’s balance between humour and humanity evident even in just his physical performance, where clowning skills are on display alongside traditional dance. When three orphaned pelicans enter their world (puppeteered with a real sense of life by Shaka Cook and Michael Smith) each man’s brooding existence is forced into flight. Mr Percival provides for them perspective on what it means to care for another, on our roles in the world, and on what it’s like to leave the nest. Dave Drayton