Brilliant. Simply brilliant. A stunning tour de force from start to finish that every actor, and aspiring actor, should see at least twice. The first time to enjoy an outstanding performance by a wonderful actress, and the second time to study how she weaves her magic across two hours of some of the best theatre one is ever likely to see.

I am, of course, talking about the mesmerizing Pearlly Chua and her portrayal of Emily of Emerald Hill, currently running at the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston for the rest of this month. Written by Stella Kon and directed by Chin San Sooi, this is a production that I predict New South Wales audiences are going to be talking about for some time to come, and this is the Australian premier. On opening night it played to a packed house. Grab a seat while you can. Pearlly Chua is magnificent. Her voice is an instrument of power that she plays with all the skill of a concert virtuoso, moving with practiced ease from light young girl to uncertain child to shrill, domineering woman and eventual faltering oblivion. This is powerful stuff and just as riveting is the physical grace with which she commands the stage.

Watching her move one is reminded so often of a classical dancer, both of the Asian and Western ballet disciplines. Not a gesture is wasted, not a single step superfluous. She dramatically illuminates a phrase with one poised finger, creates a market place with a movement of her body, conveys a moment of triumph with the replacement of a telephone receiver, lights up the stage with a sudden smile. Like all great actors, it's the 'truth' underpinning her performance that makes it so compelling.
This is such a rich and rare talent that to miss it would not be so much a theatrical sin as a crime.

This play is a triumph for all concerned, for The Phoenix Theatre and for Steen personally, the man who, through single minded determination and theatrical flair, made it all possible. Congratulations, everyone.

Mark Sheridan

My food writer friend, Carol Selva Rajah, called this week to tell me about a great play that was having its Australian premiere at the Phoenix Theatre in Wollongong. I wouldn't normally drive three hours to see a play but this one, Emily of Emerald Hill, has won rave reviews in Singapore and Malaysia.

The story is centred around Emily's Peranakan heritage and as we had only just returned from Singapore and Malaysia, where we immersed ourselves in the Peranakan culture, the timing was apt.

Carol was unaware we had been visiting the land of her birth, so there seemed to be a message in the fact that she was contacting me out of the blue to invite me to a play about the places we had recently been exploring. In Penang, we had spent hours at the wonderful Peranakan House, which vividly portrays the intriguing blend of Chinese and Malay culture that has developed over hundreds of years of Chinese settlement in the region.

I’m a great fan of Nyonya cooking – “nyonya” is the term for a Peranakan woman and the name has been given over to their cuisine. Sydney-based Carol Selva Rajah is one of its foremost exponents, and I was pleased to see one of her cookbooks prominently displayed in a newsagent in Singapore’s Changi airport during my travels.

Carol Selva RajahCarol cooked a special Nyonya meal which preceded Wednesday’s premiere, with theatre goers tucking into an assortment of beef, fish, chicken and noodle dishes, including her piece de resistance, beef rendang.

The Phoenix Theatre, formerly the Bridge Theatre, is committed to expressing the cultural diversity of the region, and the premiere of Emily certainly exemplified that. The room was exceptionally crowded but there was a great conviviality and a strong Malaysian presence, not just among the invited guests but also among the posters and decorative objects on the walls.

The theatre has very comfortable tiered seating and is quite intimate, making it the perfect venue for Emily's monologue. Pearlly Chua gave a riveting performance as Emily, holding the audience in her hands as she took us through the full gamut of emotions, even getting us to join in with singing Happy Birthday at one point.

There's a beautiful scene where she cooks a dish, taking us through the recipe step by step, and although it is done without props (save for a single spoon), you could almost smell the dish being cooked.

I'm not going to give away the story for it is one you need to see for yourself, but let's just say Emily is a compelling character. At times, she is bossy and manipulating and it is hard to feel sympathy for her; at other times, she'll have you in stitches, and there are times when your heart aches for her. As director Chin San Sooi says, she is "beautifully authentic with warts and all. She is an open book".

First performed in 1984, the play was written by Stella Kon, who is descended from two families with strong links to Singapore's historic Emerald Hill Road. The play is fictitious but based on stories told in many families, thus providing an evocative portrayal of Singapore life in the early decades of last century.

Pearlly Chua has performed the role of Emily more times than any other actor, and her energy, facial expressions, mannerisms, voice and command of the audience are remarkable - not to mention her memory in being able to recite a couple of hours of almost non-stop monologue. Emily of Emerald Hill is on at the Phoenix Theatre in Wollongong until the end of February; from Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm and Saturday matinees at 3pm. I heartily recommend it.

Christine Salins

Euripides would have loved it; his most famous play rewritten for modern audiences but still presented with all the panache and panoply of ancient Greece. A truly commanding spectacle to celebrate the re-opening of the old Bridge Theatre as the very new, very comfortable, very theatrical Phoenix, itself a wonderful blend of old style theatre and modern accessibility.

For those unfamiliar with the play, it is a tale of betrayal, revenge, witchcraft, duplicity and infanticide, set in ancient Greece but brought up to date by Steen's very clever adaptation of the language into the modern idiom. This might not please the purists, but it works and Greek drama was never about intellectual propriety. It was about entertainment, and that's what this production is from the opening appearance of Atalanta and Chorus to the closing scenes as a glittering Hecate rises from the ashes of Medea's downfall and condemns Jason to his solitary fate.

The set, the period costumes and the lighting are superbly done. There is a very clever convention that allows Medea's children to be seen on stage without having to keep two eight year-olds up half the night, and then there is the cast.

So much energy, hard work, enthusiasm and sacrifice by everyone concerned goes into community theatre productions that I am generally loathe to single anyone out for special mention. On this occasion, however, there are exceptions to be made. Medea herself is a hugely demanding role requiring the actor to run the whole gamut of human emotion in the space of less than two hours. It needs power, poise, sensitivity and control, all of which Suzi Russell manages to find while carting round a magnificent costume that looked as though its weight alone would have defeated a lesser performer.

Her scene with Rob Macken's outraged and warmly sympathetic Ageus was perhaps my favourite moment of the play.

If you miss this production, you will have missed something very close to a defining moment in the history of theatre in the Illawarra, I think. It is a hugely courageous thing to re-open a theatre that has been closed for eight years with something that may not, at first glance, have mass appeal. But the truth is, this is community theatre at its best. Try not to miss it; it is an exceptional experience.

Mark Sheridan

The premiere of a new Australian play - particularly relevant to the area in which it was presented, with local actors. A great thing for the Illawarra, and it was great to see such a large and enthusiastic audience. Speaking to several of them afterwards, they were so excited to have an important piece of theatre, written about a famous man (D.H.Lawrence), by a local playwright, and presented there where it happened.

The play is very, very interesting, the paintings are beautiful, and as it should be, the second act surpassed the first act. The final moments were quite beautiful. I was enthralled.

It would be great if the dancer/spirit was unique to that role, and not taking any other role. I find the aura around that girl quite enchanting - I would have liked her to 'dance' more in her moments - not any longer but more dance movements, rather than just the stylized walking. Her characterization of the sensually aware wife was excellent - but I would have to make a choice between her spirit performance, and her' real' persona. Both excellent, but restricting for her as the spirit essence is interrupted by the reality role.

Tim was very good - he was physically right, the right age and weight and he is a good actor. Susan was also very good - I could not hear her clearly some of the time, a bit more projection would help, but keeping the realism and she looked wonderful. The other player - Brad - was also strong - his first and second characters were excellent, but the other two not so strong or clear in intent. He has the most difficult roles - he has to convince us he is four different people in a short space of time - and he did very well..

The actors must always find the light - sometimes they were speaking in darkness. The projected paintings were beautiful, and the effect of the painting appearing as the woman brushed the canvas was wonderful. It was a fault of the venue that the actors' shadows sometimes crossed the light of the projection, letting us lose the illusion - this would be eliminated in a larger venue.

The variety of live speech, poetry, and voice over was excellent - it gives the audience many varied impressions, and helps us to focus on what is important. It was a wonderful evening - the audience was impressed, and impressive in their appreciation, The artists must be very proud and pleased with this first presentation.

Robina Beard

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tim Allen

Eaton Gorge Theatre Co. Wollongong
Reviewed by Geoffrey Sykes Friday 14th January 2011

In Scandinavia outdoor theatre is all the rage in the window of warm months that comprises their summer. Hundreds go at a time to the intoxicating mix of theatrical celebration and the long northern twilights. I sensed some of that magic, and also learnt a bit more, of summer theatre, at Much Ado About Nothing (Eaton Gorge Theatre Co.), now playing at the Botanical Gardens, Wollongong.

In the first act language and staging of Shakespeare's English renaissance farce of court and marital manners and was supplemented by a cockatoo chorus, twilight traces and the dim spotlight of a half moon - a subliminal, natural cyclorama for the nuances of the bard's banter. As director, Tim Allen achieved a measured fluidity of ironic action within the curved ornamental garden - characters overheard each other, disguised and spied through lattices of wood, flowers and greenery. Intersecting garden paths provided a rustic stage to the flamboyant and often masterful performances of the leads. Chris Beckey was consistently sprightly as Don Pedro, thrusting his youthful gusto in all directions including tussles with the audience, repined on blankets and baskets around the circular lawn. Chris Miller was composed and clear as Benedick, and the quartet of prominent males was rounded by Ivan Sumelj and Tim Allen (again) as Claudio and Lenato respectively - both  were assured and cultivated in delivery of the pathways of Shakespeare's linguisteries as the surrounding plants and flowers.

Gabrielle Hammond and Alex Hardy stood out as the female leads - Gabrielle in particular as the feisty and verbose Beatrice. They were backed well by Monica Schwenchke (Margaret) and Erin Mascord (Ursula). The program said the cast provided their own costumes, and these proved a lot of fun and colourful as the natural scenery. There was visual pleasure as Margaret and Hero unravelled love's hidden perils next to the vines and verbiage, as well as at the ritualised mourning of Hero's spectre. Diction suffered a little outdoors, but pleasantly at the hands of twilight bird calls in the first act - one could wonder if six radio mikes would be worth the investment. But the second act was clearer, as if the black night seemed to provide  a natural amphitheatre. The natural lightshow faded in the second act, and one might question the use of harsh work lights - especially for the wedding. The visual contrast between acts was great, and some theatre along with fairy lights might have enhanced night in the garden. Likewise, a parapet, steps or other cut-outs, of court or the Forest of Arden, could have made the garden more enchanting by day.

Modern productions of Shakespeare can assume prior knowledge in audiences of the intricacies of language, character and plot, especially in a complex text such as this. Even with that knowledge, much of the rhetoric of Shakespearian idiom can be lost 500 years on - especially when fast paced, actor centred delivery is the preferred style in almost all modern productions (Peter Greenaway a notable exception). For those fresh to the work - including the three year olds who sat (and danced) relatively happy through its three hours - some or many details would wash over, but the festive enjoyment intended by the author is still evidenced, in the energy, visual interest and action of this production.

There is a poignancy about this comedy - its mix of passion, lost and past love, and youth - that links it to Shakespeare's tragedies. Yes, the outcome redeems, but the path, through a fragile human condition and fragmented society, seems to continue to have modern resonance. It is a work that continues to provide opportunity and challenge in its contemporary presentation.

This particular production was both courageous, deserving and accomplished, with some outstanding acting, that found is its worthy fulfilment in the last gleeful choreographed dance.

Geoffrey Sykes

See Photos

- Index

---

Sweeney Todd - The Musical

By Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Adam Fisher and Bethany Levy

The Roo Theatre Company, Shellharbour
Reviewed by Geoffrey Sykes Friday 26th November 2010

Sitting in the back rows of the old Her Majesty Theatre I remember Geraldine Turner as Nellie Lovett in the first Sydney production of Sweeny Todd, and that was about all. Ever since I have been adverse to its swanky Gothic tale - but in the front row of the Roo's production, the show all fell into place. Nothing but the complex delight of Sondheim compositions could have redeemed the perverse story of criminal revenge and cannibalism. Dickensian macabre becomes a platform and rationale for an almost vaudevillian plethora of melodrama, emotion, sentimentality and romance.

The Roo production of this sophisticated yet engaging piece was entirely up to its artistic challenge, in terms of set, costume, direction and above all, the prodigious and disciplined talent of its leads and ensemble. The show proved honest, capable, tight and exciting, a true jewel for Illawarra theatre. Daniel Kenyon brought substantial experience and high accomplishment in Sydney musical companies to the harmonies and complexities of the demanding role of Sweeny, while Evan Kerr proved a true jack in the box younger talent in the versatile role of Tobias Ragg. Anne-Marie Fanning made the whole enterprise of recycling human flesh plausible, stepping between singing and acting effortlessly. Brett Johnson and Kiara Vinton didn't miss a beat as the hapless lovestruck couple, and Ainsley Oates was a delight in Mid Victorian prostituted subterfuge as Lucy Barker. Josif Jovanovski brought a rich vocal range, and with the Parlor Songs revealed what this show is really able. For Sondheim, and the Roo, it was a showcase for musical virtuosity and talent, almost art for art's sake. The ensemble was entirely adequate, and the company numbers, especially the Ballad, City on Fire, Elixir and the rambunctiously indigestible God, That's Good, were an assembled delight.

The staging was fully visualised, including the unstairs/downstairs mobile deus ex machina of execution. The large Roo space was a constant plane of moving lights, cast, steps, notices and fog - Dicken's London set for modern appetites. The stage did seem to empty to bare white in the first half of Act One - spots were used for solos in the Second, and could have been throughout. Yet lighting on the whole was complex, fast and colourful. The show is a license for old fashioned theatricality and emotional intensities, and Roo rose to this occasion.

Ending 2010, with over 20 years in the game, the Roo Company scrubs up impressively indeed. The directors, Adam Fisher and Rachae Hannae, ensured a complex, baroque piece, of 30 songs and as many scene changes, ran like a well made and tuned machine. Under the warm late November salt scented skies on the Illawarra South Coast the night proved to be a fulfilling community occasion, and charming artistic delight.

Geoffrey Sykes


- Index

---

A Dream Play

By August Strindberg
Adapted by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Tim Maddock

Faculty Creative Arts, University of Wollongong
Third Year performance students
At Pact Theatre, Erskineville Sydney. November 6 2010

Reviewed by Geoffrey Sykes Saturday 6th November 2010

I have seen a number of expressionist plays this year - all in Berlin, all in German - but the only one in English was the most accessible of all. Caryl Churchill's adaptation of Strindberg's A Dream Play, was performed by graduating FCA students at Erskineville's Pact space. The space was flexible and entirely suited for the production's box like white constructed stage, although the rationale for its use for a Wollongong show and audience was not altogether clear - Pact is not a mainstage. Is there really a dearth of affordable and accessible performance spaces in Wollongong?  Could be.

The choice of play allowed maximum exposure and participation for all 15 graduating students of one half of the 2010 third year. The rapid, melange of style and text created multiple roles, dress changes, and adventures in voice, movement and characterisation rapidly shared in an ensemble style show. The script retained enough poeticism and structure in its language to uphold the challenging and complex pace of its narrative style. Direction was entirely competent, employing clever contemporary features, in vignettes and ensemble work, but between the adaptation and the direction it felt like Strindberg had been put on steroids, and at times there seemed to be information and sensory overload for an informal Erskineville audience. Sometimes effects seemed experimental and showy for their own sake, but mostly action was underpinned by feeling and meaning, however rapid and allusory these could seem. The overall effect was in the main satisfying if overwhelming and fussy in places.

All students rose to the occasion in this busy show. Madison Chippendale and Alice McClintock were appealing and versatile as the lead women, sharing the role of Agnes, the galactic visitor marooned on earth and seeking to make sense of life here. The female team as a whole were assured and versatile, sharing 20 roles between them. The male performers were all impressive - David Jackson, Steven McLeod, Thomas Weber and Aidan Emanuel played a plethora of costume changes and voices with precision and assurance. Jack Michel in particular was masterful in the visionary denouncement of the play. It was a pleasure to be with all the students on their final night of their studies.

Post modern or expressionist scripts can place great demands on performers - stripping continuing contexts of story or character. However challenged the students might have felt in such a show, they performed with seamless fluency. The original music - by composition students - faultlessly complemented the dramatic and stylistic needs of the show, and was never overstated.

This is the third FAC show I have seen in the past two years, and they have all been  in a post modern style. All have been successful and satisfying, especially as student shows, yet one wonders if this is becoming a house style for the Faculty.  I will look out for other genres - naturalism, narrative, musical, comedy and revue theatre - in the future, that I might well have missed in the past.

Geoffrey Sykes


- Index

---

4/8/2010

Lying Cheating Bastard

Merrigong Theatre
A Soft Tread Production
Directed by Nicholas Hamond


Reviewed by Olav Lehmann Tuesday 3rd August 2010

There are rare occasions when, at the end of the show, you walk into the foyer in a semi-trance. The Wow factor has taken over. This is a one man show and the audience was transfixed from beginning to end by the spectacular wizardry displayed by James Galea.

There is a strong story line starting with the young Galea discovering the tricks of side show games of chance. This in turn leads to his becoming a master card cheat under the tutelage of an international dodgy poker player. The demonstration of astounding card and other slight of hand tricks flowing throughout the narrative just added so much to an already sound script.

The second act introduces more of the seedy and criminal aspects of Galea and his aquantances and the impact this has in bringing him down to earth. There is a subtle moral to the story and I have no doubt those inclined to gamble for a hopeful quick buck will learn just how little chance they have of hitting the jackpot.

The well styled and constructed set allowed for excellent vocal projection which Galea used to great effect. Every word was clear. Not only is he a master card magician but also a a good narrator and actor.

I give this production a score of 9 out of 10. It is exceptional. Don't miss it.
Running at IPAC until Saturday 7th August at 8:00pm. there will also be a 2:00pm matinee Saturday

Olav Lehmann

- Index

---

| HOME |  | Detailed |  | Companies |  | News |  | Links |  | Reviews | 
| Arcadians |  | SPAT |  | Roo |  | Workshop |  | Merrigong | 
| Annual Diaries |  | Drama Classes | 

olav@theatreillawarra.info