Theatre Thoughts x 2

I've seen four different shows since last Wednesday, and there's not even a festival on - just Melbourne being its usual creative self. Some brief thoughts about two of the four shows I've seen in the last week, with the remaining two productions to hopefully be blogged about tomorrow:

SELF TORTURE AND STRENUOUS EXERCISE
By Harry Kondoleon Directed by Ben Pfeiffer
Presented by The Artisan Collective

Presented in the loft of Guildford Lane Gallery in the CBD, Self Torture and Strenuous Exercise is a black comedy of middle class manners which unfolds over a single evening, and concerns two middle class American couples: the complacent and forgiving Alvin (Mick LoMonaco), and his wife Beth (Kristina Brew) a failed poet; and the suicidal Adele (Marissa Bennett) and her unfaithful husband Carl (Josh Price) a popular but unimaginative novelist.

Opening at a dinner party at which under-the-table flirtations soon become obvious, events quickly unravel, with infidelity, angst, boredom and paranoia being served up for our entertainment.

While imaginatively staged, with the production making full use of the long but narrow loft space, this play failed to sustain my interest across its 60-odd minute running time. Ben Pfeiffer's direction resulted in an essentially one-note, borderline hysterical performance from all the cast, which drained most of the drama from the text. Bennett and Brew were the most impressive performers, and Pfeiffer's set and lighting design were also noteworthy, but otherwise this was not an especially memorable or enjoyable production.

Venue: The Guildford Lane Gallery, Guildford Lane, Melbourne
Season: March 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 &13 @ 8PM
Bookings: 0420 513 588 or artisanbookings@gmail.com


CATS
By Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
Presented by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and David Atkins Enterprises

One of the best known musicals in the world, CATS first opened in London in 1981, and since then has continued around the world, a seemingly endless theatrical juggernaut fuelled by synthesisers, legwarmers and lycra. I auditioned (unsuccessfully) for the original Australian production back in 1985, when I was fresh out of performing in my high school's musicals and my dreams were matched only by my innocence, but for one reason or another I never actually saw the production when it first opened in Melbourne.

This new production, which has been touring Asia since 2006, opened in the appropriately glamorous confines of The Regent Theatre on Saturday night. I went along more out of curiousity than anything else, and while I was sporadically entertained (and truth be told, I still have one or two of the seemingly endlessly repeated refrains from the show stuck in my head) I was mostly struck by how dated the show now feels.

The score is very much of its time, saturated in synths that evoke the 80s without any of the charm of the New Romantic era; and its plot - which concerns Old Deuteronomy announcing the name of the Jellicle Cat who he has selected for rebirth to his fellow felines - is tenuous at best. Sporadic attempts to drag the show into the modern era - such as John O'Hara's Australian Idol-style rockstar take on the Rum Tum Tugger, and his correspondingly thin vocals in 'Mr. Mistoffelees' grated; while the Asian stereotypes presented in the second act song 'Growltiger's Last Stand' were quite frankly offensive.

These criticisms aside, the cast were generally strong, whether singing or dancing, especially Delia Hannah as the aged and outcast Grizabella; and save for a couple of flat spots - most noticably the first act patter song 'Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer' - the show roared along at a fine pace. Had I seen it back in the 80s I'm sure I would have been blown away. As it was I was moderately entertained by this solid but dated piece of musical bombast.

Venue: Regent Theatre, 197 Collins Street Melbourne
Season: March 6 to April 4
Bookings: Ticketek