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!
SidselThu, 29 July 2004, 02:43 pm
Attended 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!
Walter PlingeSat, 31 July 2004, 05:24 pm
Re: Lysistrata
I really enjoyed LYSISTRATA last night (Friday30th) the cast seemed to bound along with great energy and fun, congratulations to all involved. Sherryl Spencer was spot-on as the passionate Lysistrata, supported very ably by a strong cast numbering more than 20.
Sally Sainbury, as the spiky haired gym nut Lampito and Isabelle Jeneve, the naughty but nice walking hormone Myrrhine kicked in big belts of belly laughter, likewise Andrew (is that a real goatee?) Watson as the zealous one-eyed Magistrate and the wonderfully pathetic Officers / Delegates, as his Weapons of Mass Debation. You'll understand better when you see this show, but suffice to say adultshop.com, a supporter of the production, supply props. MAN, do they supply props..!
Pat Goulding and Sean Haining vigorously incite their Old Women and Old Men into funny-with-an-edge acerbic verbal and then surprisingly physical sparring. The two choruses form a grey blur of a chiropractor's dream, joints a' popping, as they more than once, battle each other around another excellent Barry Carpenter set.
And hey, a special mention too for Mel Merchant as Reconciliation, for her dedication to the role. She's not there for long, but her efforts are apppreciated (I reckon though, my kids will be out of uni by the time you manage to remove all of the glitter)
I know there's a deep and meaningful anti-war message in LYSISTRATA, and having served in the military overseas it's personally very pertinent, but I was too busy laughing and being entertained to get too hung up on it. Well done Jemma Gurney (director) and Blak Yak Theatre.
LYSISTRATA is on for only 4 more nights, Wed 4th - Sat 7th in the Studio at the Subiaco Theatre - don't leave it too late, Blak Yak productions tend to sell out in the last week once word gets around.
Sally Sainbury, as the spiky haired gym nut Lampito and Isabelle Jeneve, the naughty but nice walking hormone Myrrhine kicked in big belts of belly laughter, likewise Andrew (is that a real goatee?) Watson as the zealous one-eyed Magistrate and the wonderfully pathetic Officers / Delegates, as his Weapons of Mass Debation. You'll understand better when you see this show, but suffice to say adultshop.com, a supporter of the production, supply props. MAN, do they supply props..!
Pat Goulding and Sean Haining vigorously incite their Old Women and Old Men into funny-with-an-edge acerbic verbal and then surprisingly physical sparring. The two choruses form a grey blur of a chiropractor's dream, joints a' popping, as they more than once, battle each other around another excellent Barry Carpenter set.
And hey, a special mention too for Mel Merchant as Reconciliation, for her dedication to the role. She's not there for long, but her efforts are apppreciated (I reckon though, my kids will be out of uni by the time you manage to remove all of the glitter)
I know there's a deep and meaningful anti-war message in LYSISTRATA, and having served in the military overseas it's personally very pertinent, but I was too busy laughing and being entertained to get too hung up on it. Well done Jemma Gurney (director) and Blak Yak Theatre.
LYSISTRATA is on for only 4 more nights, Wed 4th - Sat 7th in the Studio at the Subiaco Theatre - don't leave it too late, Blak Yak productions tend to sell out in the last week once word gets around.
crgwllmsThu, 5 Aug 2004, 01:18 am
Re: Lysistrata - worth seeing
Very 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