Has Cookie done it again?
Sun, 4 Feb 2001, 05:39 amGrant Malcolm8 posts in thread
Has Cookie done it again?
Sun, 4 Feb 2001, 05:39 amTheatre reviewer for the West, Robert Cook, appears to have a knack for swimming against the tide. Some previous reviews have raised the ire of contributors on this site.
His recent description of Effie Crump Theatre's PIAF contribution as a "graveyard of stagy theatre" maybe yet another example:
Here's a response from MEAA's Steve Shaw:
Dear All,
rarely do I actively take on the roll of promoter. However, having just read Robert Cook's review of Effie Crump's production of "Redemption" I am forced to take action.
I attended the same performance as Cook and simply cannot reconcile his review with the production I saw and I am sure that the vast majority of audience members I spoke to post performance would have a similar reaction.
I do not intend to provide you with a review of my own, other than to say that Murray-Smith's writing and this play will always be difficult to perform and only the best of our performers will carry it.
The performances given, in my humble opinion, were stunning and are exactly what this play needs to give it life.
Cook has simply missed the point entirely.
If you have any intention of visiting Effies to see this production, do not let Cook's review influence your decision. This is genuinely quality work all round.
This is a production that deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible and shouldn't be perceived as a flop based on such a misguided interpretation.
Oh and for those of you who may be thinking "...well Marcelle is Steve's wife etc etc...", oh please, trust me, I am somewhat more mature than that.
Congratulations to Ingle for "The Getaway Bus" , the mob at Yirra Yaakin for "Alice" both of which I look forward to seeing shortly. Also congrats. to the Hole for "Ghosts".
His recent description of Effie Crump Theatre's PIAF contribution as a "graveyard of stagy theatre" maybe yet another example:
Here's a response from MEAA's Steve Shaw:
Dear All,
rarely do I actively take on the roll of promoter. However, having just read Robert Cook's review of Effie Crump's production of "Redemption" I am forced to take action.
I attended the same performance as Cook and simply cannot reconcile his review with the production I saw and I am sure that the vast majority of audience members I spoke to post performance would have a similar reaction.
I do not intend to provide you with a review of my own, other than to say that Murray-Smith's writing and this play will always be difficult to perform and only the best of our performers will carry it.
The performances given, in my humble opinion, were stunning and are exactly what this play needs to give it life.
Cook has simply missed the point entirely.
If you have any intention of visiting Effies to see this production, do not let Cook's review influence your decision. This is genuinely quality work all round.
This is a production that deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible and shouldn't be perceived as a flop based on such a misguided interpretation.
Oh and for those of you who may be thinking "...well Marcelle is Steve's wife etc etc...", oh please, trust me, I am somewhat more mature than that.
Congratulations to Ingle for "The Getaway Bus" , the mob at Yirra Yaakin for "Alice" both of which I look forward to seeing shortly. Also congrats. to the Hole for "Ghosts".
RE: By The Way ... Broadway?
Wed, 28 Feb 2001, 10:42 pmBarb Z wrote:
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"Effie Crump is billing this production as a premiere in Perth - in fact it was first done by Celtic Circle in July/August 1998; Andrea De Vaack directing Gwen Browning & Darryl Denic at The Palms in Subiaco ... just another example of the "professionals" ignoring community Theatre!"
And right she is too. Knew it sounded familiar.
And why, pray, shouldn't a "professional" theatre group ignore those Dread Beasts AmDram? For one thing there's too many of 'em. We should chop 'em out, and amalgamate a select few so we can ridicule them in the privacy of a glass of ropey claret. Send 'em back where they came from, I say. Ignore 'em and they'll GO AWAY. Less competition for the ever dwindling theatre-going dollar, which is becoming harder to prise from the vice-like grip of the increasingly reticent general pubics.
How DARE these jumped-up little upstarts have the graceless temerity to premiere works before we "proper" acting groups?? Where will this insolence end?? They'll be wanting to premiere works they've had WRITTEN for them! This isn't just stealing our thunder, it's taking the bread from our mouths! This is LARCENY, I tell you; GODDAMN LARCENY!! Sod it, we must stop the rot from whence it bagins- the publishing houses. Let's burn down the offices of Samuel French! THAT'LL stop 'em from acquiring rights to shows that should be left to those best qualified- us, the starving minority of thespians that receive money- yes, MONEY!!!- for their craft.
Nothin' for it comrades. Let's line the diseased little toerags against a wall and have 'em all shot! You Hamatuers are all DOOMED!! Comrades, load up yer uzis, and let us never remember that we too once sprang from such sullied foul stock. We too have amongst our ranks ex-Hamateurs. Those that got as far as they have by honing their craft in the sweatshops of Community Theatre- Heaven forfend we remember this sad truth, let us clamp the rich vein of culture that CT represents to Perth, and may we pros continue to bow to less people for less money because of less interesting works.
Walter J Hypocrite.