PRIDE - Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick
Fri, 5 Oct 2001, 10:24 amWalter Plinge1 post in thread
PRIDE - Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick
Fri, 5 Oct 2001, 10:24 amIt is no mean feat to maintain the focus of a discerning and critical Perth audience with a one man show about contemporary mythology, magical realism and political satire. Neither is it an easy task to weave these three genres together in a performance on a bare stage, under standard room lighting, with no technology in sight to punctuate the narrative or divert the audience with the usual, contemporary theatrical devices, tricks and sensationalism.
What you get with the performance of the PRIDE production of 'Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick' is Noel Christian in outstanding vocal form as your storyletter and guide through a twisted, Daliesque geography that from moment to moment, seduces you into 'beaming down' onto unfamiliar, fairytale planetoids, and then drags you kicking and screaming back into the Western Australian political present with deftness and dynamism. Noel Christian is a masterful writer and teller of tales - he touches all the senses - and this work provides his audience with a rich and multidimensional feast of imagery, folklore and political insight. His vocal range continues to expand as Christian explores the further reaches of his own potential as a performer - he is not complacent or nonchalant about the manner in which he speaks his own words, and the audience quickly becomes aware of Christian's own motivation to keep pushing the envelope, to entice the audience with an ever-evolving diversity of intonation, rythmn and dexterity. Physically, Christian is a ball of energy and his gesturing is eloquent and lucid. He demands the attention of his audience, and the works themselves evoke strong reactions as a consequence. Not everyone will remain in their comfort zone on Planet Christian, which is, of course, as it should be. Apparently some members of the audience have been agitated and angered by the work, as Christian drives them to listen to every word of his story and to take it in, in the moment. 'Being here, now' is a state of mind that only a discerning few seem to be able to cope with. But noone will be bored by these stories. Noel Christian is, by his very nature, compelling. Get along to the PRIDE season of these performances and try unravelling the paradoxes of Christian's prose yourself. Noel will be more than happy to compare reactions over a beer in the bar afterwords.
What you get with the performance of the PRIDE production of 'Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick' is Noel Christian in outstanding vocal form as your storyletter and guide through a twisted, Daliesque geography that from moment to moment, seduces you into 'beaming down' onto unfamiliar, fairytale planetoids, and then drags you kicking and screaming back into the Western Australian political present with deftness and dynamism. Noel Christian is a masterful writer and teller of tales - he touches all the senses - and this work provides his audience with a rich and multidimensional feast of imagery, folklore and political insight. His vocal range continues to expand as Christian explores the further reaches of his own potential as a performer - he is not complacent or nonchalant about the manner in which he speaks his own words, and the audience quickly becomes aware of Christian's own motivation to keep pushing the envelope, to entice the audience with an ever-evolving diversity of intonation, rythmn and dexterity. Physically, Christian is a ball of energy and his gesturing is eloquent and lucid. He demands the attention of his audience, and the works themselves evoke strong reactions as a consequence. Not everyone will remain in their comfort zone on Planet Christian, which is, of course, as it should be. Apparently some members of the audience have been agitated and angered by the work, as Christian drives them to listen to every word of his story and to take it in, in the moment. 'Being here, now' is a state of mind that only a discerning few seem to be able to cope with. But noone will be bored by these stories. Noel Christian is, by his very nature, compelling. Get along to the PRIDE season of these performances and try unravelling the paradoxes of Christian's prose yourself. Noel will be more than happy to compare reactions over a beer in the bar afterwords.
Walter PlingeFri, 5 Oct 2001, 10:24 am
It is no mean feat to maintain the focus of a discerning and critical Perth audience with a one man show about contemporary mythology, magical realism and political satire. Neither is it an easy task to weave these three genres together in a performance on a bare stage, under standard room lighting, with no technology in sight to punctuate the narrative or divert the audience with the usual, contemporary theatrical devices, tricks and sensationalism.
What you get with the performance of the PRIDE production of 'Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick' is Noel Christian in outstanding vocal form as your storyletter and guide through a twisted, Daliesque geography that from moment to moment, seduces you into 'beaming down' onto unfamiliar, fairytale planetoids, and then drags you kicking and screaming back into the Western Australian political present with deftness and dynamism. Noel Christian is a masterful writer and teller of tales - he touches all the senses - and this work provides his audience with a rich and multidimensional feast of imagery, folklore and political insight. His vocal range continues to expand as Christian explores the further reaches of his own potential as a performer - he is not complacent or nonchalant about the manner in which he speaks his own words, and the audience quickly becomes aware of Christian's own motivation to keep pushing the envelope, to entice the audience with an ever-evolving diversity of intonation, rythmn and dexterity. Physically, Christian is a ball of energy and his gesturing is eloquent and lucid. He demands the attention of his audience, and the works themselves evoke strong reactions as a consequence. Not everyone will remain in their comfort zone on Planet Christian, which is, of course, as it should be. Apparently some members of the audience have been agitated and angered by the work, as Christian drives them to listen to every word of his story and to take it in, in the moment. 'Being here, now' is a state of mind that only a discerning few seem to be able to cope with. But noone will be bored by these stories. Noel Christian is, by his very nature, compelling. Get along to the PRIDE season of these performances and try unravelling the paradoxes of Christian's prose yourself. Noel will be more than happy to compare reactions over a beer in the bar afterwords.
What you get with the performance of the PRIDE production of 'Wooden Hands & Crooked Mick' is Noel Christian in outstanding vocal form as your storyletter and guide through a twisted, Daliesque geography that from moment to moment, seduces you into 'beaming down' onto unfamiliar, fairytale planetoids, and then drags you kicking and screaming back into the Western Australian political present with deftness and dynamism. Noel Christian is a masterful writer and teller of tales - he touches all the senses - and this work provides his audience with a rich and multidimensional feast of imagery, folklore and political insight. His vocal range continues to expand as Christian explores the further reaches of his own potential as a performer - he is not complacent or nonchalant about the manner in which he speaks his own words, and the audience quickly becomes aware of Christian's own motivation to keep pushing the envelope, to entice the audience with an ever-evolving diversity of intonation, rythmn and dexterity. Physically, Christian is a ball of energy and his gesturing is eloquent and lucid. He demands the attention of his audience, and the works themselves evoke strong reactions as a consequence. Not everyone will remain in their comfort zone on Planet Christian, which is, of course, as it should be. Apparently some members of the audience have been agitated and angered by the work, as Christian drives them to listen to every word of his story and to take it in, in the moment. 'Being here, now' is a state of mind that only a discerning few seem to be able to cope with. But noone will be bored by these stories. Noel Christian is, by his very nature, compelling. Get along to the PRIDE season of these performances and try unravelling the paradoxes of Christian's prose yourself. Noel will be more than happy to compare reactions over a beer in the bar afterwords.