Brown acid - no time wasters

‘Brown Acid – no time wasters’ scripted by local prize winning writer Martin Lindsay and Brad Chester, is a Blak Yak Theatre presentation. It is being performed nightly at 8.00 pm, in The Studio at the Subiaco Arts Centre until 25^th April.

         A small punk / heavy metal group are auditioning for a new bass player, when Colin (Martin Lindsay) a bass player with attitude arrives. The group’s drummer (Adam Shuttleworth) thinks that he will be suitable, but guitarist (Kristen Berry) and singer (Scott Northover) are not convinced and prefer Terry (Alex Jones). Just as the audition seems to be starting, a bunch of aging musicians, who are Metallica fans, led by Mike (Phil Barnett) and Mel (Suzy Velinovski) arrive from next door and try to tell them how to run the show.

        We see the preparation for the first gig, and the help that they get from Stu (Matt Sheedy) and his bunch of student friends. How will their first concert be received?

The cast includes several Finley Award finalists and winners, so generally the quality of acting was good, with plenty of movement and well-delivered, funny dialogue. The farce, which was directed by Nick Donald, lacked melding and the pace required a little more punch. The story line was novel and had plenty of humour, but a play about musos without a note being played felt strange.  

Laugh his Canuk arse off if he saw this show. Well done, yet again, to Blak Yak. BIG ups to Martin for a snappy, very funny and really well written script. Yes, some brutal editing wouldn't go astray, but aside from that a solid and terrific effort. Big ups too, to Blak Yak for supporting a local writer and doing justice to his work. Cues and lines were a tad flabby last night and the pace does need a kick up the tush. This will fall into place very quickly though. Congrats to the cast. When y'all go see this show, you'll see why the Blak Yak kids were weighed down with so many Finley trinkets this year. A top class bunch of performers. The four leads were cast beautifully and if anyone can do Maniacal Bass Player better than Martin, I'd like to see it. (Obvious exception: Elbow McCann, but he's nuts in real life so, y'know....) Scott Northover inhabited his tortured, unappreciated and misunderstood Artiste beautifully. Kristen Berry has phenomenally good comic timing and is just a joy to watch. Adam Shuttleworth's bewildered and earnest drummer was a scream. Alex Jones and Phil Barnett demonstrate their impressive range with a series of increasingly hilarious bit parts. Honestly, by the end of the play I was nearly helpless!! Y-fronts, killer boots, glam-rock singlets, nun's habits, fishnets, A strings. This show has it ALL people. I went with a pro muso mate of mine last night. So accurate was the portayal of this pack of bickering and talentless numbnuts, it caused her actual physical pain. SO! For those of you who hate Shakespeare, would rather eat Ratsak than sit through yet another freakin' Moosickal or sitcom-to-stage abortion, then you're in for a treat! This show is fresh, funny and written by one of our own. Go out and support this effort people. Easter is over. No excuses! Go see what all the Blak Yak fuss is about. You won't be dissappointed!! Well done again to all. J

My honest thoughts and opinions were that this show needs a lot of work. There is definite potential and a few laughs along the way but I sincerly felt that neither the cast nor the script was ready for the performance. My suggestions for improvement would be 1. start of with much MUCH more energy, taking 2 and 1/2 minutes to begin dialogue and simply busying yourself with nonsense seemed quite self-serving. 2. cut your script. a huge enormous amount of editing needs to be done. 3. generally pick up the pace especially in terms of cue pickup, (this is desperately needed if the drummers humour is to be successful). simply doing this could easily shorten the night by 15 minutes or more. I apologise if this seems harsh but as an audience member I found myself wondering whether or not to return after interval...

These reviewers who thought the start lacked energy or pace or whatever have obviously never been members of a 'garage band'. Those that thought it needed editing probably just took too much fluid on board before the show and were busting for a 'wizz' by interval. As an erstwhile member of just such a combination, I found it all to familiar and naturalistic. I particularly loved the sounds emanating from the rehearsal booth next door. A couple of quibbles though: the guitarist had a tendency to rest her instrument on the machine-heads - a definite no-no, not least because it would put it out of tune very quickly. Secondly, why would a bass player be carrying spare strings for a six-string? Finally, I thought Mr Lindsay did a great job of channelling 'Elbow', even though I believe he is still with us. ;) Well done, all. Ssstinger>>>

I have a lot of friends in the cast (including Martin the playwright), and saw the play last night. There are some truly funny lines in this play, and some truly hilarious characters. Yes, it could have been improved through editing and tighter direction, but the play itself has a lot going for it. It made for a really good night out, I reckon. I disagree with Playtoe's comments about the start of the play. I didn't think the set-up seemed self-indulgent at all. I really liked the anticipation of waiting for the dialogue and action to commence. The biggest issue that I had was with the acting, which is disppointing given the talent that was on stage. Not that any of the acting was bad, more that the actors didn't seem to have a common energy level. Most of the cast either underplayed or overplayed their roles, with only a few sitting somewhere in between. This led to some signficantly uneven pacing, and spoilt what could have been a much tighter production. Personally, I think that those who underplayed came across much better than those that overplayed, and I would have liked to have seen a couple of the performances toned down a bit. Phil Barnett has to win Cameo of the Year for his next-door-neighbour. How can such a big hunky guy become turn himself into such a dweeb? I'm glad I got to see the first ever Martin Lindsay full length production. Do yourselves a favour and see it yourselves - you'll be able to tell your grandkids you saw Brown Acid when it premiered way back in the old days...

I have a lot of friends in the cast (including Martin the playwright), and saw the play last night. There are some truly funny lines in this play, and some truly hilarious characters. Yes, it could have been improved through editing and tighter direction, but the play itself has a lot going for it. It made for a really good night out, I reckon. I disagree with Playtoe's comments about the start of the play. I didn't think the set-up seemed self-indulgent at all. I really liked the anticipation of waiting for the dialogue and action to commence. The biggest issue that I had was with the acting, which is disppointing given the talent that was on stage. Not that any of the acting was bad, more that the actors didn't seem to have a common energy level. Most of the cast either underplayed or overplayed their roles, with only a few sitting somewhere in between. This led to some signficantly uneven pacing, and spoilt what could have been a much tighter production. Personally, I think that those who underplayed came across much better than those that overplayed, and I would have liked to have seen a couple of the performances toned down a bit. Phil Barnett has to win Cameo of the Year for his next-door-neighbour. How can such a big hunky guy become turn himself into such a dweeb? I'm glad I got to see the first ever Martin Lindsay full length production. Do yourselves a favour and see it yourselves - you'll be able to tell your grandkids you saw Brown Acid when it premiered way back in the old days...

Not sure how I managed to get a double post... :)