Result: Brush Up Your Shakespeare! (NOT STRICTLY A CRITIQUE.)

So...did you go last night? I did. It turned out well that I didn't buy my tickets in advance because UWA students had FREE entry! Beat that! (My husband still had to pay $20, though. A $20 dollar night out still beats a $30 night out. Just saying.)

According to the program, which was simple but included everything one wants in a program, except photos (I could have done with some photos to keep track of who was who), the directors were Jane Davidson (Chair of Music) and Paige Newmark. The students had been coached by Caroline Badnall who was also the piano accompaniment. These gentleladies did a fantastic job!

The audience enter the Callaway auditorium and climb up the seating which has those foldable seats that everyone loves. I'm little so it didn't bother me but my husband has a fractured tailbone and is a bit bigger than me so I could see the look of panic in his eyes when he beheld what our seating would be... for THREE HOURS!

On the auditorium floor there were twenty plain chairs in a broken semi circle and three chairs sitting apart at the front. When Caroline Badnall entered and approached the piano everyone applauded. I've only done musical theatre in high scool so my musical theatre/opera etiquette is a bit rusty. (Has anyone written a theatre/opera etiquette blog? That would be uber useful!) I decided to follow everyone's lead. Then the performers entered and we applauded again, this time I was genuinely excited because I could see my friend.The students sat down in the semi circle and then my friend, Alex and two other women, Laura and Brianna stood up, got into position, using the chairs as setting and commenced to weave a beautiful harmony of "Come Unto These Yellow Sands" from the Tempest (1.2) by Henry Purcell.

I honestly thought that they must have chosen the strongest number to open the night because this was such a beautiful performance by three very talented classical singers! 

The evening was in two parts and each song was either introduced or back announced with a commentary about the period, the writer and the context in Shakespeare's works. Some of the songs were lead into with the excerpt of Shakespeare that it came from or inspired it.

These are NOT Shakespearean actors, nor even regular actors, these are classical singers that are using clear diction, projection and convincing characterisation in their performance. They then start belting out an epic French, German or English classic and maintain their characterisation the whole way through! I was actually very impressed and not just a little bit jealous. How are these music students so talented at classical singing AND acting, as an actor I find this quite unfair!

The set was used very effectively and costuming was minimalist but used thoughtfully. There was one instance where three women changed into trousers and hoodies from their skirts and blouses while sitting in the background of the other peformances. It is a testament to their skilful discretion and the power of the students performing that no one (including my husband, who likes to pick up on irrelevant background details, drives me crazy) noticed until it was their turn to perform! The only suggestion that my husband made was that the lighting could have been used better. And this is true. Of course in a student production at a university it isn't always possible to rerig lighting or volunteer a lighting student (I don't think UWA has a film course, anyway). However, it was distracting having the spotlight on the microphone and then the microphone cast a shadow on the performers. Also, if the students in the background could have been cast in darkness they may have preferred that. This wasn't such a big deal for the audience, though, as the students sat perfectly still and watched the perfomances with interest and enjoyment, which motivated the audience to do the same (except my fidgeting husband: rocking and swaying and waving his arms and jiggling his legs, oh my god).

The reason I suggest the students would be more comfortable in darkness is because a couple of them were unwell and had to suppress coughs throughout. One of the singers, Tanya (a first year student) went pink and her eyes started to water as she swallowed a cough during a song. As a fellow live-performer I identified this for what it was and sent her my sympathy. My husband noticed in a later duet of Leonard Bernstein's "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love," from West Side Story by Fleuranne (She had a stirring, emotional voice and a very powerful stage presence) and Brianna (Her performances were diverse and dynamic and supported by a strong, high voice) that Tanya's eyes were watery and she was using her fan to strategically hide her face. He assumed she was moved. I thought that was sweet so I let him keep thinking that. It was good timing because if I were to cry during one of the performances, that would probably be it!

The highlight for me would be four performances that entranced me, two of which made me giggle like a school girl.

Probably because of my afffection for the character of Desdemona, "The Willow Song" from Othello (4.3) sung by Isabelle was stunning. The scene acted out by Isabelle and Alex leading into the performance moved the audience into the right mindframe to receive the melancholia and resignation of Desdemona's song. Isabelle's singing was high and clear and so stunning that it reminded me of bells and stars.

The next work was from Joanna performing Charles Gounod's "Je Veux Vivre" from the opera, Romeo et Juliette and although I wasn't convinced by her characterisation in the scene preceding her performance (Although, epic work by Kathleen and Rachael who acted Juliet's mother and Juliet's nurse. They acted the parts with humour and depth which reinforces that there are no small parts, just small actors!) but as soon as she was singing this beautiful song she transformed into Juliet! She moved so gracefully and sensually that it made me think of an adolescent girl giddy with the prospect of meeting and falling in love with Mr. Right at a ball!

Kathleen and Claire were also giddy adolescents but this time in Dan Studney and Kevin Murphy's Reefer Madness, singing "Romeo and Juliet." The song's lyrics would have been enough to make me laugh out loud but the women were so saccharine and cheesy that it was a fantastic example of muical theatre and an outstanding demonstration of the flexibility of their voices.

My friend Alex,who demonstrated the strength, clarity and beauty of her voice and the depth of her physical involvement with her performance through her stint as Ariel from the Tempest, took up a very different musical style for the second last performance of the night. Alex, Fleuranne and Lisa were hilariously witty and entertaining for their Reduced Shakespeare Company "Othello Rap" which recounts the whole play of Othello in a two or three minute rap. The juxtaposition of bumbling rappers with the wit and irony of the rap itself made me cry and squeal with delight.

As it turned out three hours was a bit of an exaggeration, it ended by nine thirty, leaving the impressed audience wanting more.

I spoke to Tanya after the show to congratulate her and she informed me that she had an infection that affected her being able to close and open her jaw! I thought her sassy and sexy vocal and physical display for Thomas Arne's "Under the Greenwood Tree" from As You Like It was really fun and entertaining. She wound up the audience and looked confident and her voice was deep and rich and clear. Her partner, Zlatko, was present, and she shared that her directors had not been confident in her ability to act up a 'whorish' character but that her boyfriend, a community theatre member of North Freo, had given her some useful direction, which obviously worked! (Classical musicians and Community theatricians unite!)

I waited for Alex and she came by and was looking stunning with the glow of success on her cheeks. I congratulated her too. She was concerned that her performance was better last night but that's the thing with audiences, they don't see every show and they aren't rehearsing with you so they don't know any better. We thought it was brilliant.

Like my husband said as we walked back to our car, "That was fun to watch, and now I can sound all posh and tell people I went to an opera!"