The Latest From Australia

I have had an interesting month rehearsing and then playing the wonderful Chekhov classic “The Bear” for the Victorian College of the Arts directors’ season. The standard of the directors’ work was extremely high and after seeing the final products I am extremely confident of the future of theatre in this city. They did magnificent work all round. We only got to do 3 performances of each play unfortunately, but it was a wonderful experience and was warmly received by the audiences. As a result of this work, March’s column is a little shorter as I haven’t been able to see much theatre.

Movies:

News and rumours

Melbourne-based writer Desmond J Flannery has created The Jackal, a new orchestral/rockinterpretation of Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities, and he contacted me recently to tell me the exciting news that The Jackal has been chosen from over 80 musicals worldwide - to be given a Developmental Reading at the NEW TUNERS THEATRE Chicago on Monday, March 19, 2001. If any of you are in that area, get along and support a good Aussie idea and see a terrific show as well. There has already been a great deal of development done on the script and the music so this really deserves all the support you can give. 

The studio cast CD featuring JOHN WATERS, JOHN WOOD, NORMIE ROWE & RUSSELL MORRIS - and starring LORENZO IANNOTTI in the title role - is currently available at specialist stores and online at www.geocities.com/thejackalmusical If you are not in Chicago, visit the site for a comprehensive run down of this new work.

Nicole Kidman has pulled out of the feature Panic Room due to pain from her knee injury sustained on the Moulin Rouge shoot.

Two Aussies nominated for best actor at the upcoming Oscars: Russell Crowe for Gladiator and Geoffrey Rush for Quills.

The Disney telemovie Smooth Sailing begins shooting In Queensland on March 5.

Kiwi born actress Kerry Fox has won the best actress prize at the Berlin Film Festival for her role as an adulterous wife in Patrice Cherou's English language debut, Intimacy. The film won the Golden Bear, for the best film.

Mary Tyler Moore’s latest project The Kimes starring Mary Tyler Moore finishes shooting in Melbourne in early March.

Theatre:

The Empty Say By Kevin Summers, directed by Peter Stratford. At Chapel Off Chapel.

This is an intriguing piece of writing by Kevin Summers who is well known around Melbourne for his acting and writing. He is also a journalist with a heavy interest in politics and so when he aims his pen at the politicians in our country it is done with intelligence, wit and deep insights. The play revolves around an Australian Labor Party policy speech and we see the speech delivered at various times during the play. The performances are powerful and well rounded in particular Richard Moss who plays the leader of the opposition, Bill Files, whose tentative hold on the leadership of the party is slowly but surely slipping from his grip. The fact that he bears a strong resemblance to Kim Beasley the current leader of the ALP is a bonus and only makes the piece stronger. John Flaus as his father is an old style Union man and can’t abide all the backroom politics. He tells it like it used to be and like many of us wish it still was. Suzy Cato is the hard-nosed head of the Australian Medical Association, who is ruthlessly nailing Files to the cross with rumours and innuendo about his family. Jenny Seedsman is the wife who stands by him through thick and thin and is crumbling her own life and sanity in the process. Drew Tingwell is the press secretary to Files and he is a smarmy piece of work who knows exactly where his next job will be. The director, Peter Stratford, appears at the end as the victor and smiles a sickly smile for all as he gloats over his fallen comrade. Kevin Summers also appears as the best friend of Files, the man who ultimately comes to him to ask him to stand down. It is painful for him and us as he tells it like it is. The next election will be lost unless Files resigns. Politics is a dog’s game wherever it takes place. It is fairly civilised here in Australia, in comparison to other parts of the world, but it is still a filthy business and it takes a particular type of person to play those games. This play showed us those people in their best and worst light. This is a thought-provoking piece that had the foyer buzzing with political conversations afterward.

Verdict: Vote 1 Empty Say.

© 2001 Don Bridges ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

An Editor’s Note

Scene4 has been online for nearly a year. Much of its publication is in the magazine’s archives on this site. Just click the “archives” button and use the slow but steady Search Engine. With it you can find feature articles, columns, commentaries, plays, notebooks, and a few novelties, all for your reading pleasure and enlightenment. Enjoy! ...as we enjoy bringing it to you.    --AM

© 2000-2001 Aviar-DKA Ltd. All rights reserved (including authors’ and individual copyrights are indicated). No part of this material may be reproduced, translated, transmitted, framed or stored in a retrieval system for public or private use without the written  permission of the publisher and the individual copyright holder. For permissions, contact publishers@scene4.com.