The Latest From Australia

I have had a pretty busy time so this month’s news is a little light on compared to the norm. I have been preparing for a production I am directing in June and the casting and pre-production have been taking most of my time. The play is a new work called “The Dogger’s Run” written by Geoffrey O’Connell and Drew Tingwell and is a play with music. It follows the journey of the dogger who keeps the 5000-mile dingo fence repaired and lays poison baits to kill the dingos. Alongside that journey we follow a couple of young Vietnamese refugees on their journey to seek asylum in Australia. It is a very interesting play that looks to examine the nature of the journeys.

My wife and I in journey mode, had a weekend in Sydney during which time we climbed the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge. All I can say is if you get the chance do it. It is a phenomenal experience and one I will remember for a long time to come.

Movies:

News and rumours: AUSTRALIAN FILMS SELECTED FOR CANNES

Three Australian films - Baz Luhrmann's feature Moulin Rouge and two short films - have so far been selected for the Cannes International Film Festival.
Bird In The Wire was written, directed and produced by Melbourne-based Phillip Donnellon.  The two-minute film is set on a production line. A coat hanger factory, a white pigeon and a young woman reveal that even the briefest encounter can inspire relief from life's everyday routines.  Australian films have featured regularly in the Shorts Competition.
Martin Four will participate in the Cinefondation section of the Festival, which was created in 1998 to showcase short films, which are first films, or from film school graduates.  This is only the second time that an Australian film has been selected.
Martin Four is about a young man caught in the dreams of his mother.  It is an exploration of a mother and son's love, about fantasies and deceit and was written and directed by Ben Hackworth, who studied at Amherst College in Massachussets before returning to Australia to live in Melbourne.

Theatre:

The Sinbin: Writer: Ray Mooney. Director: Peter Oysten. The Courthouse Theatre - Carlton.

This play is about the magnificent game of Australian football. This game is not to be confused with Rugby, Soccer or Gridiron. This is Aussie Rules. The club we focus on in this play is not one of the well-known professional clubs, but a suburban blood and booze club where training consists of a few laps and a few beers. These guys are garbage collectors during the day and behind the politics of the club lay the politics of local government. The performances are raucous and testosterone charged, and the two women in the production, Verity McIntyre and Katie Reilly give as good as they get. These girls are tough; they have to be in this environment. Peter Oysten has pulled fantastically detailed and tough performances from all the actors. Some I knew and some I didn’t, but there were some very impressive characters out there. For me the standouts are Neil Pigot as Shaky the club secretary, John Flaus as Sir Arthur, club president and politician, Syd Brisbane as The Grub, a player who doesn’t train, and John Brumpton as The Coach.

Ray Mooney’s script gets a bit hard to follow on occasions as the vocal levels rise in a theatre that was better suited to being a courthouse. It is a hard theatre to work vocally as it tends to swallow the sound. But overall the cast do a mighty fine job.

Verdict: Actors: 8, The Courthouse: 2.

I Don’t Wanna Play House. Writer/performer Tammy Anderson. Director: John Bolton. Playbox at the Malthouse Theatre.

A deeply disturbing piece of theatre based on Tammy’s own life. I was moved and upset by this performance. Tammy plays herself and all the important people in her life. Her mother, a woman who keeps choosing arseholes as partners, her grandmother a wonderful woman who keeps taking the family back into her heart, and the various men in her and her mother’s lives many of whom are abusive and violent. With the help of Don Hopkins who plays guitar and sings country songs at various moments, Tammy takes us on a journey that is so personal and painful that on opening night many in the audience were moved to tears. That is not to say that there are not wonderfully funny moments here. Some of the moments in this performance are warm and tender and hysterically funny. Tammy has a disarming smile and a vivacious quality as an actor and she delights in taking us on a wild roller-coaster ride. She also plays guitar and sings with Don Hopkins on some wonderful duets. I guess the thing I really want to say about this, is that it is one of the bravest things I have ever seen on a stage.  John Bolton’s direction is just right and never gets in the way of the performer and the story. Tammy lived in 16 houses by the time she was 15 years old, and that is only the beginning. This is a show that should tour and be seen by many. In the end what shines through is the optimism and joy that Tammy has for life.

Verdict: Theatre can and should always be this powerful.

© 2001 Don Bridges

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