Rusty Bugles
Tue, 15 Apr 2003, 08:45 pmGreg Ross6 posts in thread
Rusty Bugles
Tue, 15 Apr 2003, 08:45 pmRusty audiences. Whilst some would argue that professional theatre doesnÂ’t need support on this site, a broader perspective would take into account the reality that many actors in amateur theatre quietly hope one day, to cross over into the professional ranks.
Don’t despair, there’s even hope for middle aged absolute beginners. Why just the other day, no lesser person than Ray Omodei offered me a role … as a boab tree! “Just stand still for a couple of hours, looking fat in the middle with nuts hanging down! You’re a natural.” But I digress.
Rusty Bugles is bloody magnificent. Quintessentially Australian and as relevant now, as it was in the late 1940s. Jake NewbyÂ’s setting and set is a stroke of pure genius and realism. To an ex cattle train driver like me, itÂ’s an authentic bush camp.
The acting is superb, with an eclectic mob of blokes, some with vast professional theatre experience and some just starting out, but hell, all of them kicked off in amateur theatre, when a Jo Marsh, a Sue Lynch, or a Gemma Gurney took a chance on them.
Humour laced with pathos, exposes the larrikin spirit and the path to a concluding powerful sense of the history that has formed our national character. The blokes are so good, I vividly remembered every mining camp and stockyard IÂ’ve ever worked, lived and camped in.
However, in spite of attention from and a deservedly superb review by Ron Banks, audience numbers are down and they are struggling to find ways to bring people into the marquee. Sound familiar? And just as with amateur theatre, the cost of advertising has now reached a prohibitive stage (no pun intended).
TheyÂ’re half way through the season and need four or five capacity audience nights. But more importantly, anyone wishing to turn pro at some stage, needs productions like this to succeed. For the sake of your craft and possible career ambitions, seize the moment, go support them and take a few friends.
I did and IÂ’m going back for another look and to learn a touch more - the thin bloke playing the scraggly eucalypt is magnificent.
Greg Ross
Don’t despair, there’s even hope for middle aged absolute beginners. Why just the other day, no lesser person than Ray Omodei offered me a role … as a boab tree! “Just stand still for a couple of hours, looking fat in the middle with nuts hanging down! You’re a natural.” But I digress.
Rusty Bugles is bloody magnificent. Quintessentially Australian and as relevant now, as it was in the late 1940s. Jake NewbyÂ’s setting and set is a stroke of pure genius and realism. To an ex cattle train driver like me, itÂ’s an authentic bush camp.
The acting is superb, with an eclectic mob of blokes, some with vast professional theatre experience and some just starting out, but hell, all of them kicked off in amateur theatre, when a Jo Marsh, a Sue Lynch, or a Gemma Gurney took a chance on them.
Humour laced with pathos, exposes the larrikin spirit and the path to a concluding powerful sense of the history that has formed our national character. The blokes are so good, I vividly remembered every mining camp and stockyard IÂ’ve ever worked, lived and camped in.
However, in spite of attention from and a deservedly superb review by Ron Banks, audience numbers are down and they are struggling to find ways to bring people into the marquee. Sound familiar? And just as with amateur theatre, the cost of advertising has now reached a prohibitive stage (no pun intended).
TheyÂ’re half way through the season and need four or five capacity audience nights. But more importantly, anyone wishing to turn pro at some stage, needs productions like this to succeed. For the sake of your craft and possible career ambitions, seize the moment, go support them and take a few friends.
I did and IÂ’m going back for another look and to learn a touch more - the thin bloke playing the scraggly eucalypt is magnificent.
Greg Ross
Re: Rusty Bugles
Mon, 21 Apr 2003, 01:18 pmTEN-SHUN!! All able-bodied persons to report to BOCS office and be kitted out with tickets to this production...final duty roster this week.
Really interesting piece, both from a historical sense and a character sense. Written in 1948, there's a nostalgic feeling to the piece but at the same time it pretty well reflects Australian attitudes and conditions today and the depiction of the Northern Territory locale seems pretty accurate and familiar.
Although it's obviously about soldiers, and so there's a particular design and attitude to the story, there is really not much reference to "the war", apart from the documentary aspect of "this is where and when the events took place". Really it's about characters, and because there are so many men on stage, the interaction between them is what keeps our interest. Apart from small incidences, the overall plot is about characters waiting around for nothing to happen...so in that way it's like an Australian precursor to Waiting For Godot. And while the idioms and the technology place it in an era, it's surprising to note that the writing seems so modern when it was also written before Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll...it's virtually the first Australian classic play.
A pity that it is inevitably linked with war images, and that we are all consciously or unconciously totally sick to death of war images currently in the media, because that may be accounting for the low attendence, and it's not really about that.
I really liked the authenticity of the set, costumes (including the front of house staff), language, red dirt, and blokiness of the cast. Jake Newby's gigantic set (just one of the two sheds is wider than the Playhouse stage) worked really well. (although I wondered why the desk in the YMCA hut had 'Rusty Bugles' stencilled all over it....seemed a bit post-modernist, and out of place with all the other accurate detail).
The cast work really well together as a virtual ensemble...14 actors playing a wide range of different diggers, and there's not so much any lead characters as there are several main characters sharing their own takes on the same throughline. Because only a few were on stage almost the entire time, when each one entered for their particular scenes they brought a really good energy and focus to their part. And the crowd scenes worked well because there was literally a crowd!
I don't know whether it was the writing or the direction, but particularly in the first couple of scenes there was a strangely heightened quality, where some characters seemed too demonstrative, 'showing' us what they felt rather than actually 'feeling' it. But perhaps two reasons for this was to quickly establish the individual characters in the audience's mind (all in uniform, character differentiation was important); and the other being that perhaps that does reflect the 'locker room' kind of way that blokes do react with each other, not really letting feelings slip even when they're talking about feelings.
What this did though, was set up a bit of a style that really made the 'real' moments stand out. Rod Hall was terrific as the YMCA Sergeant, delightfully camp and effusive, but he didn't let the comedy take over his heartfelt reactions. Glenn Hall and Peter Docker have a touching character progression as they forge a mateship. And the 'news from home' scenes (Andrew Hale, Andy King) were poignant in how they affected the characters and revealed more than they had previously let slip.
Altogether, an enjoyable show worth checking out.
Daniel...you make great arguments, but despite the efforts of myself and a few notable others, there are still very few professional artists or companies that make effective use of this site's potential. I'm pretty sure most companies are aware of it, but getting them to participate is a different matter. So it's really up to individuals to promote the shows they're in or are connected with, and luckily Grant has made that pretty easy for responsible reps to post details on behalf of companies.
Grant...give a man in this production a fish, and I guess it would become a Rusty Trumpeter...
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]
Really interesting piece, both from a historical sense and a character sense. Written in 1948, there's a nostalgic feeling to the piece but at the same time it pretty well reflects Australian attitudes and conditions today and the depiction of the Northern Territory locale seems pretty accurate and familiar.
Although it's obviously about soldiers, and so there's a particular design and attitude to the story, there is really not much reference to "the war", apart from the documentary aspect of "this is where and when the events took place". Really it's about characters, and because there are so many men on stage, the interaction between them is what keeps our interest. Apart from small incidences, the overall plot is about characters waiting around for nothing to happen...so in that way it's like an Australian precursor to Waiting For Godot. And while the idioms and the technology place it in an era, it's surprising to note that the writing seems so modern when it was also written before Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll...it's virtually the first Australian classic play.
A pity that it is inevitably linked with war images, and that we are all consciously or unconciously totally sick to death of war images currently in the media, because that may be accounting for the low attendence, and it's not really about that.
I really liked the authenticity of the set, costumes (including the front of house staff), language, red dirt, and blokiness of the cast. Jake Newby's gigantic set (just one of the two sheds is wider than the Playhouse stage) worked really well. (although I wondered why the desk in the YMCA hut had 'Rusty Bugles' stencilled all over it....seemed a bit post-modernist, and out of place with all the other accurate detail).
The cast work really well together as a virtual ensemble...14 actors playing a wide range of different diggers, and there's not so much any lead characters as there are several main characters sharing their own takes on the same throughline. Because only a few were on stage almost the entire time, when each one entered for their particular scenes they brought a really good energy and focus to their part. And the crowd scenes worked well because there was literally a crowd!
I don't know whether it was the writing or the direction, but particularly in the first couple of scenes there was a strangely heightened quality, where some characters seemed too demonstrative, 'showing' us what they felt rather than actually 'feeling' it. But perhaps two reasons for this was to quickly establish the individual characters in the audience's mind (all in uniform, character differentiation was important); and the other being that perhaps that does reflect the 'locker room' kind of way that blokes do react with each other, not really letting feelings slip even when they're talking about feelings.
What this did though, was set up a bit of a style that really made the 'real' moments stand out. Rod Hall was terrific as the YMCA Sergeant, delightfully camp and effusive, but he didn't let the comedy take over his heartfelt reactions. Glenn Hall and Peter Docker have a touching character progression as they forge a mateship. And the 'news from home' scenes (Andrew Hale, Andy King) were poignant in how they affected the characters and revealed more than they had previously let slip.
Altogether, an enjoyable show worth checking out.
Daniel...you make great arguments, but despite the efforts of myself and a few notable others, there are still very few professional artists or companies that make effective use of this site's potential. I'm pretty sure most companies are aware of it, but getting them to participate is a different matter. So it's really up to individuals to promote the shows they're in or are connected with, and luckily Grant has made that pretty easy for responsible reps to post details on behalf of companies.
Grant...give a man in this production a fish, and I guess it would become a Rusty Trumpeter...
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]
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