Heart of Gold

‘Heart of Gold’ is a musical filled with dark humour. It was written by local playwright, Thea Costantino, and presented by Hold Your Horses, in association with PICA and Side Pony Productions. It is showing at PICA’s Performance Space at 7.30 each evening until the 14^th November. Two matinees, Saturday 7^th and 14^th November at 2.00 pm

       In a remote, tiny Westralian town live widow, Iris Brown (Shirley van Sanden) and her children, 12 years old Angus (Tim Watts) and Violet (Sarah McKellar) who is having her fourteenth birthday. The farm on which they live is falling to pieces about them. With no neighbours to help and no friends, Iris is at her wits end. Then, to Violet’s party arrives the egotistical and slimy, Constable Irving Saddle (Brendan Ewing) full of his own importance. Irving is obviously fond of the family, but will he be their salvation?

       The children, in their solitude, decide to create a world of their own. Angus, like Thurber’s Walter Mitty, takes refuge in a fantasy world that he sees as being at war with the Eastern States, and society in general. A chance discovery gives Angus the opportunity to create a real army (Oda Aunan, Whitney Richards, Lily Newbury-Freeman, Maree Cole and Natalya Alessi) to help him and his sister conquer evil.

When you buy a programme and find it to be totally fascinating, then you can be assured that the show will probably be just as inventive. The programme for this show was in the form of a collection of Westralian citizens’ wartime identity cards, collated into a book.

It is evident that the team (all in their late 20s) consisting of writer, director, composer, choreographer and designers have all worked very closely to integrate the overall effect. Writer Thea is currently at Curtin University completing her PhD, where she is investigating the depiction of history in visual art, literature and film, by employing the ‘grotesque’. With her blend of humour and horror, she achieves an amazingly effective contrast. This production is essentially a tragic story, with numerous musical and hilarious interludes.

Designer duo, Tarryn Gill (costumes) and Pilar Mata Dupont (set) have also spent the past five years developing this ‘Heart of Gold’ venture. They have systematically worked through five projects in order to produce this ‘Heart of Gold’ musical. The tasks undertaken included photography, dance, performance, film and tableaux vivant – their dedication is apparent, with the result that the stage manager (Nicole Gillespie) had far greater demands than normal, but the show flowed flawlessly.

The choreography (Tarryn Gill and Claudia Alessi) is extremely inventive, ranging from a few Zeigfeld follies routines, to the thoroughly entertaining sausage shimmy. The army chorus had to perform on sand and yet managed intricate manoeuvres. They should be congratulated on their very dry humour presentation of this hilarious and demanding performance. The music (Ash Gibson Greig) was precise with sound effects and actions being built into the score.

The set was amazingly detailed and superbly constructed, with every corner being used by the cast. The lighting design by Lucy Birkinshaw was complex, yet appeared to flow smoothly as it followed the performers around the stage, changing in mood colours and intensities with precision.

Director Zoë Pepper proved her skills in horror three years ago, with her thoroughly entertaining ‘Manic Pony’. Here she reaches the ultimate as she tackles this complex work with complete competence.

This was a rare ‘complete’ production it has horror, quirky characters, great music and choreography. Every aspect has been researched and honed to perfection. Fabulous performances. This adult themed musical could tour nationally. Strongly recommended, a wonderful production.