The Rusalka Thread

Thankyou for your kind words Gordon. However, the sound design was by Jeffrey and I cannot accept the credit for his compositions. - Chris Isaacs

In all of the programmes and publicity literature Chris is called Issacs yet he spells it Isaacs, which is correct?

I saw this and thought it was a complete mish-mash. Didn't know what it wanted to be. Black comedy? Dark and dramatic? If it was an attempt to fuse the two, it didn't work. The dream sequence was typically wanky and completely redundant; play would have worked fine without. The revelation the writer was making up her story about being a secret agent was no revelation at all. The "space-ray gun" was so out of context, it made everything else laughable. So much exposition, not enough doing. Lots of talk about the "re-animation process" yet it builds to nothing and we don't see any of it. What a frickin' letdown.

http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/perth/the-rusalka-thread-1610.html

Isacs.

I spell my name Isaacs. I guess that's the correct way... gee I really hope it is, otherwise I'm probably going to have an identity crisis pretty soon.

I think its spelt kriss iissaks

Sorry, I have to agree with the Wentworth guy. I got so bored during the play I was counting how people were in the audience (about 25 out of 50, it seemed). I don't know why these Blue Room shows have to have so many wanky bits. I've seen better new work done in community theatre yet stuff like this gets a higher profile. In fairness, the set was atmospheric but was almost wasted and shattered when that damn toy gun came out and destroyed the illusion. The girl playing Freya lost her accent a few times, too. A good 15 minutes chopped out of the script wouldn't have hurt, either. Pace, pace, pace, people. Agree about the ending, too.

Oda is actually from Norway, so her accent is genuine the entire play.

I thought the piece was very clever. Explosive fun. It started out slow and creepy, but I thought that time developed the characters nicely, adding impact to the fun and silly revelations. I really enjoyed the whole thing. I thought it was very theatrical.

All I know is that it's one hour of my life I won't get back. I think I would have enjoyed myself more if I stayed in the bar.

If you’re going to bag out this show, I think you should give some valid reasons, instead of merely stating empty opinions, which is no help to any prospective audience member. I saw the show on preview night, and although there were a few rough patches I enjoyed it and liked the play more than other Blue Room shows I have seen recently. The writing, although a little erratic at the end, was strong and original. I particularly liked the animated rock. The acting was excellent by the trio of women (with a stand out performance from Jo Morris) and the soundscapes were very professional. The music reminded me of Twin Peaks - quirky and disturbing. Overall, I think the play suffered slightly from an identity crisis (it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be), but nonetheless I had fun and am not asking for my time back, which would have been spent on facebook anyway. I think what people have the biggest problem with this show is that it was written by Jeffery Jay Fowler who has critical acclaim and several accolades for his shows in his past. Having never seen one, I can not compare, but I can imagine that this show, which is somewhat different to his previous productions, have been a let to his people who liked ‘Zen’s Red Mouth’ and ‘Hope is the Saddest’. But I think you should be forgiving because Jeff is an EMERGING ARTIST who is trying some new things. What is wrong with that? I’d rather see artist try and develop their skills over a plethora of genres and styles than stick to the same old thing time and time again like some people I could mention. In actual fact, I am jealous of Jeff in a way. He is showing his original work to Perth. So far, I haven’t had the opportunity to do this, but I hope to in the future. But I really admire Jeff’s courage to put his artistic integrity on the line and experiment. And if he wants to take a chance, let him. If you don’t like the show, please explain why, so that Jeff can take this on board as constructive criticism for his next project(s). Just don’t slag him off without justification.

It pays to proof read. Sorry for the typos.

I agree with Terry and Erica. 'Nuff said. Never seen any of Fowler's work before.

I thought the play attempted something interesting and built up quite nicely, but didn't get there. If it was trying to parody typical mystery endings, then go the full hog! Instead, my companions and myself were confused whether it was trying to do that at all. Strong performances however! And direction! And, yes, the accent was obviously consistent and genuine. The atmosphere of the play was well constructed with the help of the music and set, although, i didn't think it needed to underscore some scenes as it was distracting. I agree that the dance number was unnecessary. Didn't drive the story forward. Possibly something that was workshopped and should have been discarded a while ago. Again, the set was visually impressive and really transformed the studio space, but it wasn't fully utilised. A small detail confused me slightly. The transgender (?) character used it as a bed or chair SL. However, the author character had some chairs set up for her SR. Why did she not just use the set? The chairs didn't need to be natural, as the set generally wasn't. Again, I appreciate what you did. It was, for the most part, engaging, and the girls did a fantastic job. You could tell a lot of effort had been put in. It's really hard devising theatre. People should realise that before they begin aggressive criticism.

I saw the play last night and really enjoyed it. Can't understand some of the comments above. It had me laughing out loud and would see it again. I'll keep my eye out for more of Jeffery's work. Would love to seem more of his productions. Thank you for an enjoyable evening.

Goodness, if you thought this was good, get out to some of your community theatres and see something that is even better.

I also cannot for the life of me understand the empty criticisms this play has recieved, I saw The Reslaka Thread last week and absolutely adored it!! It is totally original and inventive, why do people feel so compelled to categorise theatre into specific genres? Can't we celebrate a piece of theatre that pushes boundaries and takes risks? Without resorting to the silly, uneducated bitchiness of alot of these comments I feel that the small amount of negative response this play has recieved is typical of a largely conservative Perth audience...I implore Jeffrey and his talented team to keep writing and making hilarious inspiring theatre!!! I also saw Hope Is the Saddest which I loved equally for totally different reasons, and like one observer commented, I applaud Jeff for not falling into comfort zones and continuing to explore and expand his obvious talent!! Bravo Resalka!!

I saw the play and I was bored. When an audience member suffers boredom, something is seriously wrong. Obviously, it's a just a personal opinion but I have to agree the godawful dream sequence just took up more time. If only writers could cut their own work.

Lighten up chuppa-chup! Something is wrong, but it's with you, not the play. How dare someone try something new! For your sake I hope those two minutes of dance haven't scarred you forever.

I disagree. Rusalka Thread is a contemporary piece of work made by young Western Australian artists who work professionally in the industry and have dedicated years to studying their art. Community theatre often produces last century scripts, with actors who do not have the gusto or ability to go full time with their work. Though I'm sure you could like The Rusalka Thread and Community Theatre, I'd say the group of people who enjoy both is very small.

I live in the wrong state, but I would like to make the following observation: Old is good new is bad is not true but then nor is new is good old is bad, We often make the mistake in assuming that if it is new work done by new people it somehow has an intrinsic value lacking in tried and true works. On the other hand we often make the same assessment of older work equally mistakenly. And to suggest that those who enjoy community theatre are somehow unable to enjoy experimental work is downright insulting. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

I saw this play last night and really enjoyed it. I went there feeling sceptical due to comments I had read in this thread, but was pleasantly surprised. Many laughs were had and I was impressed with the acting, writing and directing of the show. I look forward to more shows from JJF and in the future I will not arrive at a show influenced by a message board, as I had a very enjoyable theatre experience. Well done to everyone involved on a unique and original piece of theatre.