Agency
Wed, 18 Aug 2004, 09:20 amWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Agency
Wed, 18 Aug 2004, 09:20 amWhat: Agency
Where: The Blue Room (Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge)
When: 14, 17 August (yes, liked it so much I went back!)
How often have people heard me complaining that local theatre groups often put on the same old shows that have been done to death? (Is anyone keeping tally on how many times “The Sound of Music” has done the rounds?) The trouble is, and I do realize this, that new, unknown plays don’t always have the same capacity to put bums on seats and bring in the income required to keep a theatre group functioning and able to fund their next production. Sad, but true. (Apart from, perhaps, Blak Yak but that’s another story.)
Or in some cases it may be that a director sees a production, loves the script, thinks itÂ’s great and submits it at another club for the following year. In which case, I feel there could be a plethora of productions of Agency in the next couple of years. IÂ’m not a director, but I loved this script!
Set in the Garden of Eden, LillithÂ’s dating agency is in danger of closing and needs a run of successes with her clients. However, her computer system relies on honest input and it crashes when faced with her clientsÂ’ refusal to be honest about who they really are and what they are looking for. Discarding the computer in favour of divining with the cards to make perfect matches out of imperfect people, Lillith contrives to introduce these people in the combinations she thinks will work. This produces a series of hilarious scenes with moments of startling honesty, played out by a jumble of eccentric, hopelessly mismatched characters. (I admit I took a lot of this from the programme/publicity material and changed it to suit myself).
Yes, the play is bawdy and politically incorrect at times but it is funny and very clever. I like intelligent humour where you have to think a bit, and this is certainly written for the thinking people in the audience. I also think it is on the mark in terms of the subject matter of dating, relationships and relating to others.
I understand this piece was workshopped quite a bit early in rehearsals and the script kept changing to accommodate this process. Therefore IÂ’m not entirely sure how well-rounded the characters were originally written and how much input the actors had in shaping them but I found the overall result was very impressive.
I found the role of Lillith wonderful, particularly the change between act one and act two where the corporate look and attitude was replaced by one far more earthy. I thought Joy Northover was very good in this role, focused and well able to rise above the recalcitrant props I noticed during one performance.
When talking about the two actors who played the roles of the eight clients between them, I feel I must preface this and explain that my bias is as an actor and what find I tend to concentrate on most when I see a production are the performances. These actors played the eight characters, making each of them separate, and believable, without being simply stereotypes and without relying heavily on extreme costume changes. This really impressed me, and as an actor I hope I can learn something from this aspect of the performance. On the first night I saw the show, I found the distinction between the characters more immediately evident in the male characters, played by Leon Ousby, as opposed to the female characters, played by Kristine Lockwood, but by the time I saw the show again I found KristineÂ’s changes in character more distinct. I was also very impressed with the sense of rapport between the actors and their movement and body language onstage. One thing I found a little odd was that there seemed to be a couple of local references, and it is a locally written play, yet all LeonÂ’s characters had English accents. Having said that, the more I think about it, the more some of those accents perfectly suited and enhanced the character (Brian is a good example of this). There are a lot of ex-pats here, after all. And the Garden of Eden is probably very multicultural these days.
I thought the music in the play was good. This was something I paid a little bit more attention to on the second viewing and realized how appropriate the choices were. The lighting was also effective although sometimes I felt there was a bit of spill and Lillith was occasionally walking into patches of shadow.
I really could have made this a much shorter review and said – it’s a great play, go and see it!!!!! The show deserves to be well supported.
Where: The Blue Room (Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge)
When: 14, 17 August (yes, liked it so much I went back!)
How often have people heard me complaining that local theatre groups often put on the same old shows that have been done to death? (Is anyone keeping tally on how many times “The Sound of Music” has done the rounds?) The trouble is, and I do realize this, that new, unknown plays don’t always have the same capacity to put bums on seats and bring in the income required to keep a theatre group functioning and able to fund their next production. Sad, but true. (Apart from, perhaps, Blak Yak but that’s another story.)
Or in some cases it may be that a director sees a production, loves the script, thinks itÂ’s great and submits it at another club for the following year. In which case, I feel there could be a plethora of productions of Agency in the next couple of years. IÂ’m not a director, but I loved this script!
Set in the Garden of Eden, LillithÂ’s dating agency is in danger of closing and needs a run of successes with her clients. However, her computer system relies on honest input and it crashes when faced with her clientsÂ’ refusal to be honest about who they really are and what they are looking for. Discarding the computer in favour of divining with the cards to make perfect matches out of imperfect people, Lillith contrives to introduce these people in the combinations she thinks will work. This produces a series of hilarious scenes with moments of startling honesty, played out by a jumble of eccentric, hopelessly mismatched characters. (I admit I took a lot of this from the programme/publicity material and changed it to suit myself).
Yes, the play is bawdy and politically incorrect at times but it is funny and very clever. I like intelligent humour where you have to think a bit, and this is certainly written for the thinking people in the audience. I also think it is on the mark in terms of the subject matter of dating, relationships and relating to others.
I understand this piece was workshopped quite a bit early in rehearsals and the script kept changing to accommodate this process. Therefore IÂ’m not entirely sure how well-rounded the characters were originally written and how much input the actors had in shaping them but I found the overall result was very impressive.
I found the role of Lillith wonderful, particularly the change between act one and act two where the corporate look and attitude was replaced by one far more earthy. I thought Joy Northover was very good in this role, focused and well able to rise above the recalcitrant props I noticed during one performance.
When talking about the two actors who played the roles of the eight clients between them, I feel I must preface this and explain that my bias is as an actor and what find I tend to concentrate on most when I see a production are the performances. These actors played the eight characters, making each of them separate, and believable, without being simply stereotypes and without relying heavily on extreme costume changes. This really impressed me, and as an actor I hope I can learn something from this aspect of the performance. On the first night I saw the show, I found the distinction between the characters more immediately evident in the male characters, played by Leon Ousby, as opposed to the female characters, played by Kristine Lockwood, but by the time I saw the show again I found KristineÂ’s changes in character more distinct. I was also very impressed with the sense of rapport between the actors and their movement and body language onstage. One thing I found a little odd was that there seemed to be a couple of local references, and it is a locally written play, yet all LeonÂ’s characters had English accents. Having said that, the more I think about it, the more some of those accents perfectly suited and enhanced the character (Brian is a good example of this). There are a lot of ex-pats here, after all. And the Garden of Eden is probably very multicultural these days.
I thought the music in the play was good. This was something I paid a little bit more attention to on the second viewing and realized how appropriate the choices were. The lighting was also effective although sometimes I felt there was a bit of spill and Lillith was occasionally walking into patches of shadow.
I really could have made this a much shorter review and said – it’s a great play, go and see it!!!!! The show deserves to be well supported.
Walter PlingeWed, 18 Aug 2004, 09:20 am
What: Agency
Where: The Blue Room (Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge)
When: 14, 17 August (yes, liked it so much I went back!)
How often have people heard me complaining that local theatre groups often put on the same old shows that have been done to death? (Is anyone keeping tally on how many times “The Sound of Music” has done the rounds?) The trouble is, and I do realize this, that new, unknown plays don’t always have the same capacity to put bums on seats and bring in the income required to keep a theatre group functioning and able to fund their next production. Sad, but true. (Apart from, perhaps, Blak Yak but that’s another story.)
Or in some cases it may be that a director sees a production, loves the script, thinks itÂ’s great and submits it at another club for the following year. In which case, I feel there could be a plethora of productions of Agency in the next couple of years. IÂ’m not a director, but I loved this script!
Set in the Garden of Eden, LillithÂ’s dating agency is in danger of closing and needs a run of successes with her clients. However, her computer system relies on honest input and it crashes when faced with her clientsÂ’ refusal to be honest about who they really are and what they are looking for. Discarding the computer in favour of divining with the cards to make perfect matches out of imperfect people, Lillith contrives to introduce these people in the combinations she thinks will work. This produces a series of hilarious scenes with moments of startling honesty, played out by a jumble of eccentric, hopelessly mismatched characters. (I admit I took a lot of this from the programme/publicity material and changed it to suit myself).
Yes, the play is bawdy and politically incorrect at times but it is funny and very clever. I like intelligent humour where you have to think a bit, and this is certainly written for the thinking people in the audience. I also think it is on the mark in terms of the subject matter of dating, relationships and relating to others.
I understand this piece was workshopped quite a bit early in rehearsals and the script kept changing to accommodate this process. Therefore IÂ’m not entirely sure how well-rounded the characters were originally written and how much input the actors had in shaping them but I found the overall result was very impressive.
I found the role of Lillith wonderful, particularly the change between act one and act two where the corporate look and attitude was replaced by one far more earthy. I thought Joy Northover was very good in this role, focused and well able to rise above the recalcitrant props I noticed during one performance.
When talking about the two actors who played the roles of the eight clients between them, I feel I must preface this and explain that my bias is as an actor and what find I tend to concentrate on most when I see a production are the performances. These actors played the eight characters, making each of them separate, and believable, without being simply stereotypes and without relying heavily on extreme costume changes. This really impressed me, and as an actor I hope I can learn something from this aspect of the performance. On the first night I saw the show, I found the distinction between the characters more immediately evident in the male characters, played by Leon Ousby, as opposed to the female characters, played by Kristine Lockwood, but by the time I saw the show again I found KristineÂ’s changes in character more distinct. I was also very impressed with the sense of rapport between the actors and their movement and body language onstage. One thing I found a little odd was that there seemed to be a couple of local references, and it is a locally written play, yet all LeonÂ’s characters had English accents. Having said that, the more I think about it, the more some of those accents perfectly suited and enhanced the character (Brian is a good example of this). There are a lot of ex-pats here, after all. And the Garden of Eden is probably very multicultural these days.
I thought the music in the play was good. This was something I paid a little bit more attention to on the second viewing and realized how appropriate the choices were. The lighting was also effective although sometimes I felt there was a bit of spill and Lillith was occasionally walking into patches of shadow.
I really could have made this a much shorter review and said – it’s a great play, go and see it!!!!! The show deserves to be well supported.
Where: The Blue Room (Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge)
When: 14, 17 August (yes, liked it so much I went back!)
How often have people heard me complaining that local theatre groups often put on the same old shows that have been done to death? (Is anyone keeping tally on how many times “The Sound of Music” has done the rounds?) The trouble is, and I do realize this, that new, unknown plays don’t always have the same capacity to put bums on seats and bring in the income required to keep a theatre group functioning and able to fund their next production. Sad, but true. (Apart from, perhaps, Blak Yak but that’s another story.)
Or in some cases it may be that a director sees a production, loves the script, thinks itÂ’s great and submits it at another club for the following year. In which case, I feel there could be a plethora of productions of Agency in the next couple of years. IÂ’m not a director, but I loved this script!
Set in the Garden of Eden, LillithÂ’s dating agency is in danger of closing and needs a run of successes with her clients. However, her computer system relies on honest input and it crashes when faced with her clientsÂ’ refusal to be honest about who they really are and what they are looking for. Discarding the computer in favour of divining with the cards to make perfect matches out of imperfect people, Lillith contrives to introduce these people in the combinations she thinks will work. This produces a series of hilarious scenes with moments of startling honesty, played out by a jumble of eccentric, hopelessly mismatched characters. (I admit I took a lot of this from the programme/publicity material and changed it to suit myself).
Yes, the play is bawdy and politically incorrect at times but it is funny and very clever. I like intelligent humour where you have to think a bit, and this is certainly written for the thinking people in the audience. I also think it is on the mark in terms of the subject matter of dating, relationships and relating to others.
I understand this piece was workshopped quite a bit early in rehearsals and the script kept changing to accommodate this process. Therefore IÂ’m not entirely sure how well-rounded the characters were originally written and how much input the actors had in shaping them but I found the overall result was very impressive.
I found the role of Lillith wonderful, particularly the change between act one and act two where the corporate look and attitude was replaced by one far more earthy. I thought Joy Northover was very good in this role, focused and well able to rise above the recalcitrant props I noticed during one performance.
When talking about the two actors who played the roles of the eight clients between them, I feel I must preface this and explain that my bias is as an actor and what find I tend to concentrate on most when I see a production are the performances. These actors played the eight characters, making each of them separate, and believable, without being simply stereotypes and without relying heavily on extreme costume changes. This really impressed me, and as an actor I hope I can learn something from this aspect of the performance. On the first night I saw the show, I found the distinction between the characters more immediately evident in the male characters, played by Leon Ousby, as opposed to the female characters, played by Kristine Lockwood, but by the time I saw the show again I found KristineÂ’s changes in character more distinct. I was also very impressed with the sense of rapport between the actors and their movement and body language onstage. One thing I found a little odd was that there seemed to be a couple of local references, and it is a locally written play, yet all LeonÂ’s characters had English accents. Having said that, the more I think about it, the more some of those accents perfectly suited and enhanced the character (Brian is a good example of this). There are a lot of ex-pats here, after all. And the Garden of Eden is probably very multicultural these days.
I thought the music in the play was good. This was something I paid a little bit more attention to on the second viewing and realized how appropriate the choices were. The lighting was also effective although sometimes I felt there was a bit of spill and Lillith was occasionally walking into patches of shadow.
I really could have made this a much shorter review and said – it’s a great play, go and see it!!!!! The show deserves to be well supported.