Lysistrata
Thu, 29 July 2004, 02:43 pmSidsel3 posts in thread
Lysistrata
Thu, 29 July 2004, 02:43 pmAttended the first night of Lysistrata at Subiaco Theatre Centre last night, what a hoot! A feast for the eye and imagination, a Must See! But not for the uptight. Be prepared for a few BIG surprises! Well done, cast, crew and especially Jemma!
Re: Lysistrata - worth seeing
Thu, 5 Aug 2004, 01:18 amVery much enjoyed tonight's (Wednesday's) performance of Lysistrata.
Having participated in the 3/3/03 moved reading at the Rechabites (as Cinesias), I knew what to expect but was keen to see how the material could be developed in a full production. The result was a lot of fun.
Jemma Gurney has done well to once again manage a very large cast (25) in the relatively tiny Subi Studio space. The design, staging, choreography and overall feel was fun, cheeky and energetic. The tiered set gave a suitably Athenian feel while allowing many levels to arrange the action and never feel too crowded even in full-cast scenes.
There seemed to be a general direction to underplay the fact that the dialogue is very stylised rhyme...which I'm not sure was the best possible choice, although I can imagine a worse choice would be to emphasize the rhyme scheme BADLY, and make it sound sing-song. But I could see opportunities in the writing to squeeze even more humour out of the fact that every line had a matching (and sometimes contrived) rhyme; especially as it later became a plot point to emphasise that the women spoke in couplets while the magistrate spoke in limericks. To really emphasise the cleverness of the writing would require a strong discipline to the inherent rhythm while still conveying the meaning, and the pace of dialogue would've needed to have been very slick....having said this, the choice tonight was NOT a bad one (and I should also point out that the reading I participated in did not achieve this either).
Choosing therefore to stress meaning rather than rhythm, I thought Sherryl Spencer carried the central role clearly and believably. Her 'gang' tended to lean toward more one-dimensional characters, but this only assisted the parody and humour. Particularly hilarious was Sally Sainsbury's total immersion in her character, totally different to anything I've seen before. (And man, is she looking buff..! )
The scene between Cinesias and Myrrhine was wonderfully realised. I now wish the version I did had been properly choreographed without scripts in hand...there was so much more comedy potential.
Well choreographed, too, were the 'battle' scenes between the old men & women's choruses, some nicely pathetic but endearing grappling and mock combat. In general, the women had much clearer diction than the men's growling and grumbling, but both groups could've been a bit tighter on cues in the shared dialogue, sometimes I felt it lacked a crispness of pace...I guess that's me again wanting to see the language and rhyme exploited to its full potential.
And I wasn't quite certain if the dodgy grey eye makeup on many old men & women was a character choice, or just dodgy..!
Many other support characters were admirably handled...quite a tribute in a huge cast where it's difficult to get more than just a moment to shine; everybody supported the production completely. A particular example would be Melissa Merchant, who had no lines to speak and just had to stand still and look gorgeous...but every minor character contributed to the whole in a similar way.
This is only about the third Blak Yak production I've seen, but I've enjoyed each one of them. I'm now starting to recognise faces from show to show, and a few names I regularly see posting here. Well done to you all, and all the best for the last few shows of the season.
Cheers,
Craig
Having participated in the 3/3/03 moved reading at the Rechabites (as Cinesias), I knew what to expect but was keen to see how the material could be developed in a full production. The result was a lot of fun.
Jemma Gurney has done well to once again manage a very large cast (25) in the relatively tiny Subi Studio space. The design, staging, choreography and overall feel was fun, cheeky and energetic. The tiered set gave a suitably Athenian feel while allowing many levels to arrange the action and never feel too crowded even in full-cast scenes.
There seemed to be a general direction to underplay the fact that the dialogue is very stylised rhyme...which I'm not sure was the best possible choice, although I can imagine a worse choice would be to emphasize the rhyme scheme BADLY, and make it sound sing-song. But I could see opportunities in the writing to squeeze even more humour out of the fact that every line had a matching (and sometimes contrived) rhyme; especially as it later became a plot point to emphasise that the women spoke in couplets while the magistrate spoke in limericks. To really emphasise the cleverness of the writing would require a strong discipline to the inherent rhythm while still conveying the meaning, and the pace of dialogue would've needed to have been very slick....having said this, the choice tonight was NOT a bad one (and I should also point out that the reading I participated in did not achieve this either).
Choosing therefore to stress meaning rather than rhythm, I thought Sherryl Spencer carried the central role clearly and believably. Her 'gang' tended to lean toward more one-dimensional characters, but this only assisted the parody and humour. Particularly hilarious was Sally Sainsbury's total immersion in her character, totally different to anything I've seen before. (And man, is she looking buff..! )
The scene between Cinesias and Myrrhine was wonderfully realised. I now wish the version I did had been properly choreographed without scripts in hand...there was so much more comedy potential.
Well choreographed, too, were the 'battle' scenes between the old men & women's choruses, some nicely pathetic but endearing grappling and mock combat. In general, the women had much clearer diction than the men's growling and grumbling, but both groups could've been a bit tighter on cues in the shared dialogue, sometimes I felt it lacked a crispness of pace...I guess that's me again wanting to see the language and rhyme exploited to its full potential.
And I wasn't quite certain if the dodgy grey eye makeup on many old men & women was a character choice, or just dodgy..!
Many other support characters were admirably handled...quite a tribute in a huge cast where it's difficult to get more than just a moment to shine; everybody supported the production completely. A particular example would be Melissa Merchant, who had no lines to speak and just had to stand still and look gorgeous...but every minor character contributed to the whole in a similar way.
This is only about the third Blak Yak production I've seen, but I've enjoyed each one of them. I'm now starting to recognise faces from show to show, and a few names I regularly see posting here. Well done to you all, and all the best for the last few shows of the season.
Cheers,
Craig