Dennis Cleveland

It would be hard to justify Dennis Cleveland as Opera in the strictest sense, though I think life (and theatre) becomes very dull when we start judging everything ' in the strictest sense' What it is, is a very entertaining, thought provoking and rewarding theatrical experience.

Set in side the studio of a talk show television taping, complete with cameras, screens and warm up people the audience are taken through 90 minutes of Dennis Cleveland, (the host), talking to his guests and various members of the audience. This talking involving monologues, dialogue, solo song and moments of intense layered song (unlike anything I've heard before, almost simultaneous poetry).

What results is a fascinating, and at sometimes unrelenting, look at the media and influences on our lives and an interesting twist on who exactly are the monologues talking about themselves or ? At times it seemed almost installation like as the sound levels layered, the audience 'members' immersed themselves in the show and the real audience, watched each other, squirmed looking at their watches or danced to the music! Also, having yourself appear on a big screen behind the stage can do wonders to your feeling of unease in the audience.

It is hard to fault the performances of the American cast. The nature of their chorus roles as the guest of the show none really had a chance to shine but that isn't meant to be a negative comment on them as they were faultless in what they did,. It would be almost worth seeing the shows multi layered sections again to listen to separate cast members lines.

Didn't ever get enough of the single soloist at the back of the stage, apart from the action. Stunning voice, which I was always straining to hear. Not that it was hard it was just so damn good!

One complaint was that they were all miked. Possibly needed at other venues, but I personally found it a bit too amplified and took a little warmth out of their voices and performances (although I guess this may be have been planned also but I love hearing pure voices)

The Australian cast, (the audience plants), were on the whole very convincing, although the fact that they were so animated and there was no one sitting near most of them it wasn't hard to pick the plants, although I admit to being totally surprised by one of them. I must admit to being jarred by the Australian actors making American references but that was a little concern. A couple of performance were a little wooden but it was the first preview and the standard was high so this a little complaint.

Interestingly after writing such a positive review I'm still not sure exactly my sentiments about the show. It's production was great, its conceptsÂ…. I can't help but wonder that, culturally, the questions this show raises aren't as relevant as they would be for an American audience. Aside from our not really embracing the talk show format (okay we dip in but we don't go and see it live and hoot and holler)

A question for you who go and see it (and you should, this is theatre we're not going to produce here and if we do then it'll be on at PICA and no one will see it) when would an Australian audience say the final line of the play. My feeling would be it would be a long time before it does each night in the show.