Covert, A Thoroughly, Modern Morality Play

Covert is stunning
Covert is intense.
Covert is wonderfully written.
Covert is superbly acted and directed.

Such are the moral dilemmas played out in front of the audience, I found myself driving home almost sympathising with Howard, Blair and Bush, quite apart from realising what returning Vietnam veterans must have gone through all those years ago, as they were exposed to our indifference and dissent.

Robert Jeffreys has pierced the protective wall of modern active army life and exposed the haunting reality of life on a necessary edge that most of us would rather not be confronted with. A superb, non-judgemental work that should be mandatory viewing for every Australian.

I have struggled in my ineffectual way to fault the play and apart from a couple of absolutely irrelevant opening night line stuff-ups, I could only come up with the nit-picking fact that Land Rovers are permanent 4WD, itÂ’s not something that needs to be engaged.

The acting was thoroughly believable, mind you, by my count, Greg McNeil and Peter Docker have now been in the Australian Army for 60 years - since "Rusty Bugles,” so they should know their way around the camouflage of army life! And the cast were obviously aware of the notorious Rechabites penchant for muffling male voices.

On that score, Deputy Premier Eric Ripper said on the way out, that the cost estimate for bringing the Rechabites Hall up to scratch was $4 million. I suggested that he could divert some of the revenue from Multa Novas.

To the Perth Theatre Company. Bloody fabulous once again. Skin Tight still lives with me and this superb work will do the same. DonÂ’t miss it.

Ps: Will the thought provoking solo one act play before the main event become a regular feature?

How Much Did it Cost Mr Ripper for his ticket ?

I sense where you're going and the answer you're wishing for. Herewith Â… and a wee touch more!

Whilst I don't work for the PTC and have no right to speak for them, I'm sure the Deputy Premier didn't pay and, by the way, neither did I. However, where as the general public will pay a cash price for a theatre ticket, governments and sponsors pay in other ways, usually in cash and inevitably a lot more than the price of two tickets.

It was a night when sponsors etc were invited. Eric Ripper was, I believe, in attendance as the Premier's representative and his partner, Lilliana Ravlich MLC, (also in attendance), is (please forgive me if I have state her position incorrectly), the Parliamentary Secretary to Sheila McHale, the Minister for the Arts, who I feel, is very genuine in her liking for and support of the arts.

It is my friend, vital to have the attention of government and business people, in order to keep on pushing the case for more support for the arts and to illustrate the usefulness of networking, IÂ’ll use my conversation with them the other night, to illustrate the point,

The company I am the marketing manager for, actively supports the arts and although I am of no personal importance, there is not a politician in this world, who would miss the fact that a reasonable sized business (180+ staff), is supporting the arts and is also interested in pushing for an up grading of available facilities etc.

I hope that answers your question.
Kind regards
Greg Ross

That may well be the case. It would seem the Minister responsible for Arts deputised someone else to go in her place .... I wonder how many deputies there are.

Yeah, what a dud portfolio that must be. Minister for the Arts...yawn :o

She's so obviously intrigued about the position that she doesn't bother showing up for events like this. Sums up the state of the artz in this city.

Arts ministers are a pain in the arts...

Having worked for a Minister for the Arts in a previous incarnation, I can say that they get invited to everything, EVERYTHING, that is vaguely arts related, from the opening of a quilting exhibition to grand opera.

They can't go to everything and have to deputise. Our Minister made sure she went to the community events - amateur art exhibitions (and always bought something), plays, etc etc.



Thou loggerheaded clay-brained clack-dish!

Minister McHale has a demonstrated passon for the arts and will go to as much as humanly possible.

Don't like politics but my interactions with the minister and what i've seen of her ina ction as Arts minister, i'm happy she's our champion in state government.

Of course there never going to enough or please everyone.

Sorry Greg, just had to get rid of that erroneous comma in your subject header.


NoWay wrote:
>
> That may well be the case. It would seem the Minister
> responsible for Arts deputised someone else to go in her
> place .... I wonder how many deputies there are.



I'm not sure why you have a problem with this?
It seems pretty responsible to me that if you can't personally attend (there is only ONE minister!) that you take the trouble to send a deputy representative. I'm sure the theatre company is not complaining.

Is it just a habit, that we like complaining about politicians even when there's not really a fault to find..?


Cheers,
Craig

[%sig%]

Sorry about that. I actually work for a political party (I'm writing under a pseudonym!)

When you're in this for a while you tend to get just a little bit cynical.

"Covert"s theme of military coverup, in a military trial situation, immediately drew parallels to the films 'A Few Good Men' and 'Basic'. Robert Jeffrey's script does a good job of justifying the unglamorous and less "Tom Cruise" point of view, in a perhaps more realistic representation of decisions made under the pressures of conflict, of military code of honour, and of public/media/government image.

Thought the acting was solid throughout. Peter Docker's Captain Smith was a meaty role which he handled well, although I felt he was affecting an odd accent (almost British?) in his very formal scenes with his superior...maybe that's just Peter being formal and official, but it was a distraction to the start of an otherwise solid character.
Greg McNeil handles these 'tough Aussie' roles really well, and still retains a streak of larrikin humour. (Although 'Major Peacock' is an unfortunate choice of character name....although it wasn't related to the performances at all, I couldn't help thinking of a cross between the game Cluedo and the character in 'Are You being Served')
Kemal Osman seems the perfect choice for the buff, tough, and slightly dense private...it's a good thing I saw his multiple roles in 'The Brick And The Rose' to realise that he's only acting a character here.
This is the first time I've seen Roderick Cairns, and I liked how he portrayed the conflict of the 'military' persona and the 'human' persona, which is the crux of the play.
The character who is the catalyst for the drama, played by Caroline Brazier, had a similar journey, and it was interesting to see how her moral right was subjugated to the political; an unusual plot turn that gave us a more interesting insight into her character. I thought it was a bit far-fetched that Captain Smith would have even the slightest hope of their getting back together... obviously his character was pretty self-focussed.

The design and lighting were simple and effective. The few disappointments were technicalities, but distracting enough.

The most glaring were the stage punches. These were really weak and unbelievable. Given that there were at least three or four and they were responsible for significant character moments, it's a shame these weren't either stylised or choreographed better.

There was a strange moment when a map chart fell off the wall (the heat in the venue staging its own war against the sticky tape backing). Peter's character saw it, but didn't do anything. Most of the scene was face-to-face dialogue, and it wouldn't have been hard to have fixed it or removed it...in fact it would have been a really interesting action to play; the completion or interruption of which would have spoken volumes as the conversation became more passionate. Ignoring it only allows it to become an out-of-play distraction.

(I've spoken about this kind of thing before, and I know it's a really difficult call to make...stuffing around trying to fix the problem might actually be more of a distraction. The actor needs to assess this and whether it can be dealt with, while not ever losing the rhythm of the action onstage. But I'm reminded of a great shot in Reservoir Dogs where the door to the warehouse accidentally swung open...Harvey Keitel, realising he could remain in shot, changed his blocking and walked way up the back of the building to close the door, while delivering his dialogue. That shot made the final film. It's also why a certain amount of improvisation training is really important for an actor in situations like this.)

The blackout at the end of act 1 was so close on the word cue that I don't feel the audience got to see any reactions to the line being said (which was significant). Just a beat would've made it less annoying going to interval....although the fact that act 2 began exactly where act 1 left off made it less of a problem.
And the playback of the walkman through the house speakers was a strange distraction to the reality I was absorbed in. I know the Rechabites is a sound sponge, and amplification would be necessary to make it clear, but I reckon it would've been possible to have a separate speaker out the back to make the sound seem like it matched the source, rather than coming through the house speakers and breaking the reality.


These faults are pretty minor though, and I guess only annoyed me because it's the Perth Theatre Company and my expectations are reasonably high. Not a pleasant story, but also not a thoroughly devastating one; as a night of drama it works very well, and as a new Australian work it's hitting all the marks.

Cheers,
Craig

Saw the show last night, like most people here I liked it. I agree wholeheartedly with Craig Williams' comments about the stage punches. Maybe its just the martial artist in me getting annoyed here, but really - there is no excuse at any level for the punches to look that weak (ie obviously no impact, overly large verbal grunt on hit, reaction out of time with the punch hitting), let alone Perth Theatre Company. Particularly when we're just talking about punches to the stomach, not exactly the most high risk of fight dynamics.

Maybe it was just the night I saw it, but I was also somewhat dissapointed with Peter Docker's Captain Smith. The Brittish-esque formal accent (stage-voice maybe?) was inconsistent and distracting - especially when it crept into the scenes where he was conversing with the main character (also his lover). When delivering military formal dialogue, the voice seemed fine, but when having an intimate/passionate argument with a lover? Didn't quite gel. However, I have to add to that that he picked up tremendously in the 2nd half of the play, where I think the script played a lot more to his strengths.

Really though, its worth seeing on the basis of the script alone. Add what is mostly a great set of performances to it and I'd recommend catching it before the season ends.