Subclass 26A
Fri, 4 Mar 2005, 08:21 pmWalter Plinge2 posts in thread
Subclass 26A
Fri, 4 Mar 2005, 08:21 pmI saw this show just before it finished at fortyfivedownstairs Flinders Lane last weekend. More of a gallery than a theatre really. Then again, this play was more like an action installation than a drama. At least it's a timely reminder that Melbourne IS the cultural capital of Australia, despite the "Gron Pree".
Anyway, back to the play. I think it was all about detention centres and the effect they have on people. Not just those who end up as inmates, not understanding what they have done wrong, not being entitled to legal counsel or visitors, not knowing how long they are to be detained nor what they can do to extricate themselves - but also those who are charged with keeping them there and how the experience tends to flow on and dehumanise not only them but their families, friends and ultimately all of us. Then again, I could be wrong.
The acting was so good, I was totally convinced that they were real people. That is, until they changed into each other. Then again, maybe that was just me.
The light and sound design must have been good because the only changes I noticed was when they flicked the fluoros on and off. Set? Anyone can paint a room out.
The highlight was the sound which consisted of a percussionist (onstage but behind a bar) with a range of drums, xylophones, cymbals, gongs, bells, bin lids etc (no computer generated rubbish) which assisted the narrative much as the old honkey-tonks used to do the silent movies. I have seen this done before and it works well if used wisely, as it was here.
I recommend this play to any drama student groups or avante garde theatre companies who want to tackle something difficult but very authentic and relevant. To find out more about it, try www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or me at bullsh@iinet.net.au
Anyway, back to the play. I think it was all about detention centres and the effect they have on people. Not just those who end up as inmates, not understanding what they have done wrong, not being entitled to legal counsel or visitors, not knowing how long they are to be detained nor what they can do to extricate themselves - but also those who are charged with keeping them there and how the experience tends to flow on and dehumanise not only them but their families, friends and ultimately all of us. Then again, I could be wrong.
The acting was so good, I was totally convinced that they were real people. That is, until they changed into each other. Then again, maybe that was just me.
The light and sound design must have been good because the only changes I noticed was when they flicked the fluoros on and off. Set? Anyone can paint a room out.
The highlight was the sound which consisted of a percussionist (onstage but behind a bar) with a range of drums, xylophones, cymbals, gongs, bells, bin lids etc (no computer generated rubbish) which assisted the narrative much as the old honkey-tonks used to do the silent movies. I have seen this done before and it works well if used wisely, as it was here.
I recommend this play to any drama student groups or avante garde theatre companies who want to tackle something difficult but very authentic and relevant. To find out more about it, try www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or me at bullsh@iinet.net.au
Walter PlingeFri, 4 Mar 2005, 08:21 pm
I saw this show just before it finished at fortyfivedownstairs Flinders Lane last weekend. More of a gallery than a theatre really. Then again, this play was more like an action installation than a drama. At least it's a timely reminder that Melbourne IS the cultural capital of Australia, despite the "Gron Pree".
Anyway, back to the play. I think it was all about detention centres and the effect they have on people. Not just those who end up as inmates, not understanding what they have done wrong, not being entitled to legal counsel or visitors, not knowing how long they are to be detained nor what they can do to extricate themselves - but also those who are charged with keeping them there and how the experience tends to flow on and dehumanise not only them but their families, friends and ultimately all of us. Then again, I could be wrong.
The acting was so good, I was totally convinced that they were real people. That is, until they changed into each other. Then again, maybe that was just me.
The light and sound design must have been good because the only changes I noticed was when they flicked the fluoros on and off. Set? Anyone can paint a room out.
The highlight was the sound which consisted of a percussionist (onstage but behind a bar) with a range of drums, xylophones, cymbals, gongs, bells, bin lids etc (no computer generated rubbish) which assisted the narrative much as the old honkey-tonks used to do the silent movies. I have seen this done before and it works well if used wisely, as it was here.
I recommend this play to any drama student groups or avante garde theatre companies who want to tackle something difficult but very authentic and relevant. To find out more about it, try www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or me at bullsh@iinet.net.au
Anyway, back to the play. I think it was all about detention centres and the effect they have on people. Not just those who end up as inmates, not understanding what they have done wrong, not being entitled to legal counsel or visitors, not knowing how long they are to be detained nor what they can do to extricate themselves - but also those who are charged with keeping them there and how the experience tends to flow on and dehumanise not only them but their families, friends and ultimately all of us. Then again, I could be wrong.
The acting was so good, I was totally convinced that they were real people. That is, until they changed into each other. Then again, maybe that was just me.
The light and sound design must have been good because the only changes I noticed was when they flicked the fluoros on and off. Set? Anyone can paint a room out.
The highlight was the sound which consisted of a percussionist (onstage but behind a bar) with a range of drums, xylophones, cymbals, gongs, bells, bin lids etc (no computer generated rubbish) which assisted the narrative much as the old honkey-tonks used to do the silent movies. I have seen this done before and it works well if used wisely, as it was here.
I recommend this play to any drama student groups or avante garde theatre companies who want to tackle something difficult but very authentic and relevant. To find out more about it, try www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or me at bullsh@iinet.net.au
NaSat, 5 Mar 2005, 12:53 pm
Re: Subclass 26A
Hi!
I saw this on their last night (I was actually there to help them bump out), and was only really impressed by their use of space, set design, lighting design and sound.
I'm not a big fan of non-naturalistic (and yet a big fan of absurdist!), and to me the whole performance could have had a greater effect. Their use of silence in amongst the haphazard 'coordinated' confusion of blocking and modern dance was good - I guess the whole point was to shock the audience and make them uncomfortable with the idea of people in detention centres, and to show how confusing the situation is for detainees. I personally would have done it a different way - too many shows about detention centres use chopped up plots, voices, speech, action. In fact, I haven't seen any that has actually dealt with the detainees in a naturalistic style (only the one performed by a group of actors reading out letters and monologues by and for detainees...not really a self-devised performance, but a staged reading). Wouldn't it be more effective to shock audiences by showing them naturalistically what goes on, instead of making them feel alienated towards detainees?
Anyway, I found the performance of Subclass 26A too long. Even though it was an hour, there was a point at which the performance and performers slowed down, and it could have ended there. Instead they continued on, with more of the same - I felt it was too much. There is such a thing as overusing a style or convention in theatre...while yes, Beckett is repetitious, it is intended in that way (to show the repetition of life and death, and the continued suffering of human existence). Here I felt the repetition was just being used for the sake of it.
While the performers themselves were intriguing, I kept wanting to hear them say something - something important, intelligent, and most of all, audible. They gave an all out performance, and I hold nothing against the actors and crew - all were fantastic. I just didn't think the show allowed the 'characters' anything in terms of emotion, the right to be there, anything interesting.
Most of the audience, from what I felt around me, were not used to seeing such performances - more used to the scripted dialogue one finds at the MTC - but I have seen too much of this stuff, and the more you see it, the less it alienates you, the less it shocks you, and the more bored you get.
I'd like to see a play about detention centres that has dialogue in it. (Although I did love the use of another language, something like Arabic maybe, that you don't see in shows - the character sitting down and having a monologue in a language other than English.)
I'd like to see it have staged 'abuse' - instead of seeing metaphors of it. I'd like to see something so naturalistic that it makes you sick when you leave. Because then we might feel like 'that could be me in there' instead of going away and not having any emotional connection with human beings who are in a despicable situation.
But that's just my opinion.
I saw this on their last night (I was actually there to help them bump out), and was only really impressed by their use of space, set design, lighting design and sound.
I'm not a big fan of non-naturalistic (and yet a big fan of absurdist!), and to me the whole performance could have had a greater effect. Their use of silence in amongst the haphazard 'coordinated' confusion of blocking and modern dance was good - I guess the whole point was to shock the audience and make them uncomfortable with the idea of people in detention centres, and to show how confusing the situation is for detainees. I personally would have done it a different way - too many shows about detention centres use chopped up plots, voices, speech, action. In fact, I haven't seen any that has actually dealt with the detainees in a naturalistic style (only the one performed by a group of actors reading out letters and monologues by and for detainees...not really a self-devised performance, but a staged reading). Wouldn't it be more effective to shock audiences by showing them naturalistically what goes on, instead of making them feel alienated towards detainees?
Anyway, I found the performance of Subclass 26A too long. Even though it was an hour, there was a point at which the performance and performers slowed down, and it could have ended there. Instead they continued on, with more of the same - I felt it was too much. There is such a thing as overusing a style or convention in theatre...while yes, Beckett is repetitious, it is intended in that way (to show the repetition of life and death, and the continued suffering of human existence). Here I felt the repetition was just being used for the sake of it.
While the performers themselves were intriguing, I kept wanting to hear them say something - something important, intelligent, and most of all, audible. They gave an all out performance, and I hold nothing against the actors and crew - all were fantastic. I just didn't think the show allowed the 'characters' anything in terms of emotion, the right to be there, anything interesting.
Most of the audience, from what I felt around me, were not used to seeing such performances - more used to the scripted dialogue one finds at the MTC - but I have seen too much of this stuff, and the more you see it, the less it alienates you, the less it shocks you, and the more bored you get.
I'd like to see a play about detention centres that has dialogue in it. (Although I did love the use of another language, something like Arabic maybe, that you don't see in shows - the character sitting down and having a monologue in a language other than English.)
I'd like to see it have staged 'abuse' - instead of seeing metaphors of it. I'd like to see something so naturalistic that it makes you sick when you leave. Because then we might feel like 'that could be me in there' instead of going away and not having any emotional connection with human beings who are in a despicable situation.
But that's just my opinion.