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Don Bridges Australia Claudine Jones San Francisco
Jamie Zubairi London Michael Bettencourt Boston
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DON BRIDGES in AUSTRALIA

The Latest From Australia

 I was lucky this month to be able to attend the 4th National Performance Conference in Sydney and to immerse my self in the incredible array of workshops, seminars, master classes, performances and debate that such a conference brings. Day 1 started with a key note address by Richard Wherrett former Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, who spoke of the need to dig deeper as artists and especially of the notion “If we don’t care, we die.” This set the theme for the next three days and in the sessions I attended, and everyone’s conference will be a different one, we looked at “Exploring the Boundaries of Male Performance,” “New Technology and it’s Impact on Performance,” and “The Death of Character.” That was day one and the discussions from the sessions kicked into our breaks and also the drinks and meals that we headed off to after the day had officially finished.

Day 2 started with a gentle voice and movement class, then “Drama at the ABC.” This session promised to be a very fiery and interesting debate as the Managing Director of the ABC, Jonathan Shier was one of the speakers. He declined to appear however as one of the other panellists was the first person he sacked when he took over the reins of the ABC. All we wanted really was to tell him how much we care about and need our national broadcaster, and that the ABC needs to do more local drama. In the afternoon a session on the landscape and character in Australian films, a wonderful master class in acting for the camera with Denny Lawrence and Tony Wickert, which gave a mere glimpse of the technique these guys use to teach, then a session on “American Film Production in Australia.” This session was very informative and the panel included Rick McCallum producer of Star Wars, Kim Williams the CEO of Fox Studios Australia and various other panellists, all experts in their fields. Simon Whipp from Equity held the Union line brilliantly.

Day 3 started with a session on the training of Australian actors and this was a very heated session with the major training institutions all represented and all arguing their own agendas. My next session was a ninety-minute Discussion with Rick McCallum and for me this session was worth its weight in digital tape. According to him, this is where we are headed. The next Star Wars movie will be delivered not on film but in digital format, tape or disc. There has been no film used in the entire shoot and there will be none used in the entire process. This, if everything works the way he and George Lucas plan it to, will effectively cut the distributors out of the loop. No longer will there have to be prints made of the film. No longer will they have to be handled with kid gloves and sent via very expensive delivery systems. The delivery will be via FedEx or Australia Post for $25 and each copy will cost around $25 to produce. This throws up an interesting scenario where a producer can quickly, easily and safely distribute their own film with no overheads, and no infrastructure. Obviously it is more complicated that that but I was most impressed by this man and by what he had to say. Oh, and by the way, as part of a deal done by Lynne Gailey from the Equity Section after Star Wars finished shooting here, Rick paid his own accommodation and fares to be here for the conference.

A wonderful session at the Opera House next, was “The Way We Were,” a nostalgic look at some of Australia’s most enduring performers. With some short entertaining numbers thrown in along the way, they talked of their careers and lives in the industry, from Vaudeville and radio through to the classical theatre and on to television. Some of the younger performers near me were amazed that these people fought the same problems that still exist today. Imported artists running off with our jobs and low wages, and safety issues. Many came away from the session determined to become more involved and active in their union. That has to be a good thing. The final session was a plenary session to discuss the weekend and to talk about the highs and lows and successes and failures.

I would urge any performers to be involved in their union, but also in this type of forum if they get the chance. The weekend was $300 for registration for Equity members and that is an absolute bargain. Especially when you consider that some people were able to obtain funding to pay their fares and registration through state bodies. And how did they find out about this facility? Through Equity and the Alliance of course.

Movies:

News and rumours

The fine young Aussie actor Sam Worthington who was terrific as the brother in Bootmen took off for to Prague on the 22 Jan to appear in a major role in the M.G.M. movie "Harts War " which stars Bruce Willis. Sam will be filming for up to 3 months in this P.O.W. drama. He gets to wear boots again but can’t imagine there will be much dancing.

Attendance rates at movies in Australia and New Zealand have dropped. It seems that part of the reason for the drop in New Zealand was the lowering of the drinking age. In Australia the news is not all bad however, as the local films caught more than doubled their usual share of the box office.

Australian actors have been in the forefront in the past 12 months, playing major roles in some of the most successful films of 2000. Russell Crowe starred in Gladiator, number one at the box office around the world, and was nominated for an Academy Award for The Insider. Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger starred in The Patriot while Hugh Jackman was a lead in X-Men. Number two film for the year, Mission Impossible II was largely filmed here with an Australian crew and a number of Australian stars including John Polson and Richard Roxborough. Cate Blanchett featured in The Talented Mr Ripley, Ben Mendelsohn in Vertical Limit and Toni Collette in Shaft. Acclaimed Australian director Bruce Beresford created the worldwide hit Double Jeopardy.

Theatre

Man the Balloon: Writer: Matt Cameron. Director: Simon Phillips. Melbourne Theatre Company at the Fairfax Studio.

Any play that starts with an explosion in the dark gets the heart thumping, and when followed by a laugh before the first words are spoken, we know it’s going to be a good evening. When the lights come up there is a pair of smouldering stumps of legs at the front of the empty stage. Mrs. Schmelliot has just exploded. She is only the first of almost the entire population of a small country town, somewhere in Australia, to blow up spontaneously. Why are they doing it? Can it be stopped? Will the train that runs under the town ever stop here again? Does anybody in this town care about anyone but himself or herself? Only Elliot Schmelliot (Luke Elliot), who is fascinated by balloons of all types, seems to care or acknowledge that others have lives and loves and rights. This town has massive cracks, both physical and metaphorical, that divide it. The set by Shaun Gurton is magnificent, and the doors and windows aid the quick transitions that the actors have to make from one character to another. Special consultant Ross Skiffington, Australia’s premiere magic specialist has designed some truly outstanding illusions to baffle an already confused audience, for during the course of the play all but two of the characters explode, some before our very eyes. Where the hell does Chief Malarkey (Ross Williams) disappear to when he explodes before our very eyes while standing down stage centre? Where does Hector the VERY angry waiter (Francis Greenslade) go when he explodes while playing the piano accordion? All that is left of him is the accordion and his two hands on the keyboards. And then Mayor Flummery (Julie Forsyth) rides behind the bell tower on her scooter, explodes, and the scooter rolls onstage with only her hands and one leg remaining. This is black, absurd comedy and it had audience hooting with laughter. A man walking out beside me after, remarked that he had never seen theatre like this before, and I am pretty sure he was saying he’d love to see more. The cast are having an absolute ball and it shows on stage. Jane Turner and Richard Piper have particular fun as Fanny and Derek Fry, a couple who never really communicate or listen to each other, and Ross Williams has a ball as the town butcher Herb Schmelliot. Julie Forsyth as Dr Hindenburg the town Doctor and amateur Psychiatrist is always rushing off to her surgery to masturbate over other people’s fantasies and poor Father Pagan (Francis Greenslade) can’t get anyone to his church. The hardest job falls on Luke Elliot’s shoulders because it is he who has to remain the sane and even character amidst the insanity and madness of the towns’ people. John Cleese once said it is not funny to watch someone being crazy, what is funny is watching someone react to being crazy.

The train, which never stops, leaves things behind on the tracks for the towns’ people. Faddish things, like yoyos, Rubik’s Cubes and scooters. In the midst of all the mayhem of explosions, Waldo (Richard Piper) arrives in town. The train actually stops under the town for the first time, to drop him off. He is like a messiah, a prophet, who preaches in catchphrases from his latest book but really he is just another of the fads that the train drops for them. They follow Waldo blindly when he demands their faith, and the ultimate sacrifice is to explode. This charlatan does not convince Elliot, but when the girl he loves, the town artiste Nadia Popov (Kristen O’Leary), leaves town with Waldo in the balloon Elliot has been making for himself, he is suddenly the only inhabitant left in the town. Then there is another explosion and Nadia returns with a parachute, having survived the explosion of Waldo. They are like Adam and Eve in a town that they can never leave. He is finally the only man alive on earth for her and she sees him for the first time.

Verdict: A night of explosive theatre.

ART by Yasmina Reza, Translated by Christopher Hampton, Directed by Roger Hodgman. Melbourne Theatre Company at the Playhouse.

What a joy to see three consummate actors playing together on stage in this wonderful play. Each of these actors is well known in Australia for his performances on television, but in this case they are equally comfortable in the 900 seats Playhouse Theatre. The play for those that don’t already know concerns Serge (William McInnes) who has bought a painting. It is white. Just white. Oh, in certain light you can make out diagonal brushstrokes, but to all intents it is white. This painting is VERY expensive and it really pisses Marc (John Wood) off. He laughs at the painting and that sets off a train of events that threaten to tear their friendship apart. They each bring their friend Yvan (Kim Gyngell) into the argument, hoping that he will take a side. He is a great conciliator, or maybe he just can’t make a decision. Whatever, the three end up arguing about all sorts of things that have passed. It seems the painting is just the catalyst to bring the hostilities that have been bubbling away, to the surface. Well directed and a wonderful play, the real joy for me was seeing these three have such fun together on stage.

Verdict: It’s all white. Sorry that is a really awful pun!!

News and rumours

Melbourne-based writer Desmond J Flannery has created The Jackal, a new orchestral/rock interpretation 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 storesand online at www .geocities.com/thejackalmusical. If you are not in Chicago,visit the site for a comprehensive run down of this new work.

 

© 2001 Don Bridges ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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