Lords and Ladies

Wow. I saw Lords and Ladies by Arena last week and I thought it was really great. I was lucky to get in as it had been booked out a few times and was glad that I waited for a cancellation. The whole thing was very well put together from the costumes to the cool makeup to the music and all the scenery. The lady playing Nanny Ogg rocks and so does the dipsy blonde who was Magrat. Loved Death. It must have taken heaps of very hard work from the director and everyone else to pull off such a big show with such style and success. Everyone I know who saw the show thought it was great too. What other stuff does Arena do? I want to see more shows from these guys. They're brilliant.

Yeah I agree.You don't often see a show with so many people involved in it that is handled so well by the director.I wasn't a Terry Pratchett fan when I went on Saturday but i sure came away wanting to read his novels.Congrats to these guys for doing something that not much other theatre can do and thats inspiring the people that see it.

Wasn't it a fantastic show. I too loved Nanny Ogg. Has she been in anything else or is she doing anthing in the future, I hope so. I also loved the guy who played The Morris Dancer leader Jason. He was very funny. At one stage in the play the backdrop got stuck and all these guys dressed in black where frantically trying to fix it while the actors where frozen on stage. Jason comes out of the freeze and starts talking to the audience and telling jokes about elves until they had fixed the set. Impressive directing of such a large cast. In answer to your question, on the program it said that arena are going to be doing Dr Who and another Terry Pratchett play. Lets hope its more of the same quality.

I very much hope that Arena does continue to produce Terry Pratchett productions as they do it so well. I look forward to their other work as well. This production of Dr Who sounds rather interesting. But getting back to Lords and Ladies I must congratulate everyone on the show for providing myself and my partner with such an enjoyable evening out. The style of the show kept true to Mr Pratchett's enjoyable story telling skills, the pacing was excellent, the characters all rather worked together very well and the settings were very appropriate without being dominating.My partner was particularly impressed with the look of the elves and the way they were directed as they came across as quite menancing in their glamourously charming way. Well done, everyone and do hurry up with the next one! Cheers.

hey was I the only one to notice how many strong female characters were in this show? i'm studying women's issues and its sure refreshing to see a theatre production with some great female characters in it played by some really talented female actors. granny,nanny,magrat and even the elf queen were all great and a lot of the supporting cast of women were really good too. that's not to say the guys weren't but shows like this and the arena company should be congratulated on what they do and encouraged to do more

I have seen eleven Terry Pratchett productions both here in Perth and in Melbourne and Sydney and I must say without a doubt that the Arena Arts and Entertainment performance was by far the best. I came with a friend who has resisted becoming a Terry Pratchett fan but after seeing this excellent show she has now asked to borrow some of my books,so well done in converting another to the cause. I felt your show very much captured the spirit of Mr Prathcett's works and that many of yur cast were very good, particularly Michael Lamond, Judith Maitland, Brooke Silcox, Andrew Milne, Francesca Philips and the poor elf that got draggedaround everywhere. Your costume and makeup people should get a lot of praise as well. And the person who wrote up the program as it was very amusing. Once again, my congratulations to all concerned. We certainly need more shows of this very high quality.

hmmmm...

Is it just me or do all these reviews sound remarkably similar in tone and style?

And five of the six reviews with the same ip address...?

hehehe

great marketing though!

:-)

Cheers
Grant

[%sig%]

A bit late in the season for that, isn't it Grant?
Personally, I thought 'Wyrd Sisters' (last years production by Arena at Nexus) was better, but maybe that's just me.

My sincerest apologies for having an unremarkable writing style. Stinger is correct is suggesting that it can hardly be good advertising for a show that has already finished.

Hi Grant,
Just wanted to say, that I was a cast member and the costume co-ordinator for Lords & Ladies, and I definitely do not recognise any of the reviewers names at all! (Not even from Wyrd Sisters).
It was definitely not a set up! Many people came to the show, and it seemed that they were pretty much raving about it.
Let them have their say, and allow us to soak up a little glory for a minute or two!
We all worked extremely hard for a very long time, so it is nice to hear so much encouraging feedback.
We are already looking towards the next Terry Pratchett, early in 2003.
People if you want to be involved, details for auditions are posted on this websites audition page.
Regards,
Christien

Considering Lords & Ladies had to at the last minute put in a complete lighting rig - That was borowed from various sorces and was still being focussed on the Dress run. Not only but also they had a yoyo of a StageManager Come TM that just because he needed a holiday decided to have a stroke instead and had a vacation in Hospital - The show should have fell apart. The fact it was at the Hayman should have suggested wfen you hire the house, you get a standard lighting rig - but because of some internal wrangle with the powers that be - they levied a 4 hour hire charge on each individual light for the season - in that respect the other spaces such as the Maj or Burswood started to look inviting. However they did supply a student as a duty tech, at a cost. when I was advised of this I thought - Great a student?? however I was most upset when we worked with her - She was fantastic - not what expected atall - Anna Head was as good, if not better than most Pro's in the Industry - Not what I expected at all!!! Curtaian must be turning out some good students or is she just exceptional.

While the theatre departmentat Curtain might not get any money {so I believe} from the house hire. Me thinks this is something between them and theirs. Not to attempt to rape a Community Production to satisfy their needs - Don't the get enough public money to exist. If they do - it comes down to bad management. They want the place used - But as a space user. I for one will ensure we go somewhere else. Anyway all I can say is it was a great experiance and I am getting one of my Grand kids to secretly buy some more of T.P's books. Which I can read and keep hidden - Disc Worlds, What? fairies and Elve's I don't know what your on about?????

Joe McCabe

At the risk of perpetuating this even further, I thought I'd provide some realistic (if late) feedback. (Let's see if this one gets four stars....)

I've now seen a dozen Pratchett productions in Perth, and there's been a few more that I've missed! I've performed in three of them and I directed the first Pratchett play in Australia, so I've got a bit of experience with the genre.

The trouble with the Pratchett books is, after a while, they all read the same. I started reading them in 1988 and devoured each as it was published. However, after a few years I started to get bored and moved on. But that's just me. Lords & Ladies was the first Pratchett play I'd seen where I hadn't previously read the book. I went in with no idea about the story, except that it had something to do with elves.

And that pretty much sums up the entire plot: Something to do with elves.

Okay, for anyone not familiar with Pratchett, all of his stories take place on the Discworld, a magical land (flat, like a pizza) populated with Wizards, Witches, Kings, Queens, Dragons and the like. In this installment, a bunch of elves (a "shortage of elves"?), magically imprisoned years ago, plot to escape their captivity and take over the world (or at least one particular Kingdom). A couple of witches try to stop them.

The witches are dour, haughty Granny Weatherwax (Judith Maitland) and bawdy, funloving Nanny Ogg (Francesca Philips). Popular recurring characters in many Pratchett books, much of the fun (and responsibility) depends upon their portrayal. Both actresses established the characters in last year's Wyrd Sisters and it was indeed good to see them back. Unfortunately, this time around the script let them down and they didn't have as much opportunity to work off each other (or part-time third witch, Magrat). Nevertheless, they make the second-best pair of witches I've ever seen, and are obviously having a ball with the roles.

Like Stinger, I preferred Wyrd Sisters - probably because of the stronger storyline. Those that adapt Pratchett's novels for the stage (Pratchett doesn't do it himself) seem to have more success with a strong, established parody (Wyrd Sisters is a spoof of the Scottish play; Maskerade is a spoof of Phantom of the Opera) rather than trying to adapt something less familiar / well known.

Anyway, this time around, the witches had less of a silly accent and could be more readily understood. Granny was suitably superior, but WHY in God's name was she wearing red and white striped tights under her gown??? Horrendously out of character!!! Pratchett himself has admitted that Nanny Ogg is one of his two favourite characters, so naturally she gets most of the good lines. It was nice to see her save the day too, with one of Binky's horseshoes.

There were a couple of subplots: a wizardly childhood friend of Granny returns with romance in mind; a bunch of Morris Dancers rehearse for a play; a quartet of Goth-witch-wannabes challenge Granny for superiority; Magrat tries to juggle witchery and royal duties; but most of these fall by the wayside or are lost in the confusion. The only thread with any satisfactory resolution involved the Wizard Ridcully attempting to woo Granny. MUCH humour was derived from his advances and her withering disdain. In the end, it was nice to see her facade soften for just a moment, as they agreed to stay friends. However, most of the second Act seemed to consist of elves chasing people and vice-versa.

Other characters I liked were Andrew Milne as Ridcully. Whilst far too young for the role, he did a pretty good job of portraying an elderly wizard. The leader of the young Goth witches was an excellent stuck-up, snooty little bitch, and it would've been good to see more of her (the staring contest was very effective) but she seemed to get swallowed in the mayhem of Act 2. Lydia Kenyon as the Elf Queen was gorgeous - very seductive, and moved and spoke perfectly in character throughout.

Speaking of the elves, costumes and makeup were SUPERB. Again, the Goth witches were convincing, the Elf King (Oberon?) a standout, and DEATH very impressive (at least we could understand his voice this year). Well done Christine, and all your comrades. The set was well done, particularly the huge fake rocks, allowing plenty of room for the large cast to run around madly. Last year's rotating-backdrop-thingees were used again (picture one of those old-fashioned rotating towels that used to hang in communal toilets - you'd yank on it and supposedly a clean section of towel appeared, while the used section went back up into the dispenser). They're very clever (and I'll admit I liked them last year), but with the time and noise needed to rotate a new painted backdrop into view, plus the fact that they broke several times during the season, are they really worth all the hassle?

It was an.... interesting.... choice to allow all the cast to come into the foyer in full costume and makeup to mingle with the audience at the end of the show. If nothing else, it gave us a close-up look at the wonderful costumes and makeup.

Lighting was great (sorry I'm not an aficionado and can't offer more feedback), and it's nice to see that director Simon James has an impressive collection of sci-fi movie soundtracks upon which to call (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator, Star Trek III & IV, 2001 - A Space Odyssey, etc). The venue was lovely, but why were there no signs pointing the direction for patrons? I know of some people who wandered around the Curtin campus, trying to find the closest car park, then trying to find the best route to the theatre. A couple of "This Way to L&L" signs wouldn't have gone astray. (I was going to say "next time" but not from the sound of Joe's posting.....)

JB