Away??

Has anyone out there in ITA website-land seen the Black Swan production of Away which is on at present? I'm hearing opinions that concern me and so was wondering if they are the consensus.
My concern was heightened when Bon Wanks (damn spellcheck!!) did a review in the West in which he virtually just ran through the storyline.
Feedback would be appreciated - for and against.

Hi Dean,

I have no idea what you've heard about this production, but I seem to be going for the record of "Most productions of Away ever seen in a lifetime" Hmmm... I absolutely love the play, so I guess that really affects my humble opinions, I also really liked this version of it. I felt that this version was played for laughs more than any other version that I've seen, however the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy their evening (please also note... I have a feeling that many of the audience members on that particluar night were not regular theatre goers... some of the comments overheard in the interval assured me of this, but that's another story) I thought that Kerry Armstrong was truly moving in her portrayal of 'Coral' and at one point I found myself in tears. The stage design was extremely innovative, but at times I was certain that the actors were going to fall off (or were at least watching their footing carefully). Having said all that, I had a great evening out, a few tears and a lot of laughs. Does that help? PP

Thanks for that Paula. It was the "played for laughs" bit that was concerning me. I haven't seen this production and I find it hard to imagine how some of the more poignant scenes could be done this way. However, if it worked for the audience in general (and you in particular I assume), then that is great.
Any other opinions?

>> Any other opinions?

I'm prepared to say that Colonel Sanders can fry,
And that pigs and even Ansett jets can fly,
I'm prepared to say that things go better with Coke,
And that Saddam Hussain tells a darn good knock-knock joke,
I believe some folks can understand what Kenny is sayin',
And that Salt Lake City is a real nice place to stay in,
I believe that the Dirty Dozen weren't really dirty,
I believe that Joan Collins is still under thirty,
And I believe that the Devil is ready to repent,
But I can't believe George W. is President.

I was at marvel to see the Black Swan production of Away, once again i was astonised by the performance, with no credit lost to the actors and actresses, i felt that the play in itself was meaningless and felt as if well one wouldnt enjoy such a mockery being made of one of the greatest plays ever. Michael Gow would be shocked to see what his play has been transformed into, a shocking jokingly lighthearted attempt of humour tryign to turn something serious into a joke. So to you fellow critics who believe such play was marvellous, i challenge you to see something with a little bit more "class" Black Swan, hang your head in disgust
sincerely
C Wellington

Actually...

It was played for laughs, which may have detracted from the seriousness of the
play's themes, however I felt that this production made far more sense of the play this way than, for example, the WAAPA theatre graduating year performace a few years ago. And because Travis Cotton and Kerry Armstrong were so bloody good, I felt that they managed to strike the balance perfectly between being very funny and very poignant at the same time.

I have to say that Cloudstreet and Plainsong still stand as two of the most memorable theatre-going experiences of my life, and Black Swan would have to stuff up pretty damn badly to make their way into my bad books. I felt they could have done a lot worse with this production of Away.

Amanda Chesterton

Hmm
I came, I saw and I wasnt too impressed.
I thought that the play overall was a little shallow and trite.
I admired Kerry Armstrongs Performance (as I did all of them!) , although I feel that she is a little typecast. Maybe I just havent seen enough of her work.
I enjoyed seeing Niall formerly of Los Trio Ringbarkus, he is one of my favourite actors, as well as Ms Tempany Deckert who is a fine actor also.
I wasnt familiar with the rest of the cast, but enjoyed their performances greatly.
I feel that the final scene at the concert/beach was too over the top, sort of brimming over with a surplus of emotion.
The references to Shakespeare I found tiresome, mainly I suppose because they seemed to have no real excuse for being there (IMHO)
I think that unless an audience is invited to actively participate in a play early, it can be disconcerting to force them into it later.
I have not read or seen this play before, but I have had enough 60's angst and perpetual rehashes of the era to last me for quite a while and this was to a large extent just more of the same.
Lighting and Sound were uniformly excellent, overall a very slick production technically.
The stage was interesting and used to full advantage by the cast.
At times the actors could have been louder, but it is a large auditorium.
So that is my review, I was a little dissapointed, but still managed to enjoy the evening.

I haven't seen the show, but surely all of your gripes with the production have to do with Michael Gow's script rather than Black Swan's handling of it?

t

Yes my gripes are mostly about the play, but it was an ensemble performance.
Is Black Swan above criticism?
In any case there was no malicious intent in my comments, it was simply a review, take it or leave it for what it is.

Did BS do the original or the alternative script. Some of the scenes do lend themselves for laughs. If there is a problem with the production then surely it would come down the the director's interpretation. This script has been around for 15 years and is one of the most performed plays in the country.

Cheers!

Rohan

Hello,
I was just wondering if any of you guys/girls have any information of the meaning behind the different production styles and design choices of the different productions of AWAY?
I ask this because, at the moment my VCE Theatre Studies Class has chosen Away as our major performance piece of this semester, and i need some information from the companies that have preformed it, as I mentioned earlier.
Can anyone help me????