WAYTCo and the City of Perth present EARTH by Jeffrey Jay Fowler
Mon, 5 Dec 2011, 03:05 pmadamb1 post in thread
WAYTCo and the City of Perth present EARTH by Jeffrey Jay Fowler
Mon, 5 Dec 2011, 03:05 pmReview: Robin Pascoe in The West Australian Monday December 5th 2011
Eight young people in vivid red tracksuits march onto and off-white square of carpet and sharply draw in breath as they eyeball the audience. The WA Theatre Company’s first production in an Earth, Wind and Fire trilogy announced its intentions with humour mixed with wry self-referential directness.
The opening ensemble section of the play used repetition, vocal rhythms, controlled use of face and gesture and a sense of playfulness to frame the action. It ironically dismissed the sometimes-criticised commonplaces of contemporary youth theatre (sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll), though there was still a tendency in paces to go for shock value (possible grandparent alert).
With the tracksuits shucked off in favour of street clothes, the action moved to eight sensitive character-driven monologues - some of which need editing but each with power and a sense of character journey. In future explorations in the trilogy it would be interesting to see the development of duologues, more often the basis for drama.
In an ensemble it is difficult to single out performers who shared the space so well. Alex Malone handled challenging material sensitively. Iskandar Sharazuddin had engaging comic presence. Thomas Vowels managed transitions between calm and anger perceptively.
The tight ensemble of performers gave strong focused performances under the direction of Jeffrey Jay Fowler. It is good to see WAYTCo nurturing a young emerging director and writer who has capably brought to the stage the best from the young cast.
The play posed interesting questions: what is the subject matter for devised youth theatre made by seemingly middle class white kids in Perth? What are the things that matter to this group of young people and beyond them to others like them? It is tightly scripted and constructed and rewards the audience by paying off jokes set up in the opening section.
Overall this was satisfying, intimate and interesting theatre with maturity and bite.
adambMon, 5 Dec 2011, 03:05 pm
Review: Robin Pascoe in The West Australian Monday December 5th 2011
Eight young people in vivid red tracksuits march onto and off-white square of carpet and sharply draw in breath as they eyeball the audience. The WA Theatre Company’s first production in an Earth, Wind and Fire trilogy announced its intentions with humour mixed with wry self-referential directness.
The opening ensemble section of the play used repetition, vocal rhythms, controlled use of face and gesture and a sense of playfulness to frame the action. It ironically dismissed the sometimes-criticised commonplaces of contemporary youth theatre (sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll), though there was still a tendency in paces to go for shock value (possible grandparent alert).
With the tracksuits shucked off in favour of street clothes, the action moved to eight sensitive character-driven monologues - some of which need editing but each with power and a sense of character journey. In future explorations in the trilogy it would be interesting to see the development of duologues, more often the basis for drama.
In an ensemble it is difficult to single out performers who shared the space so well. Alex Malone handled challenging material sensitively. Iskandar Sharazuddin had engaging comic presence. Thomas Vowels managed transitions between calm and anger perceptively.
The tight ensemble of performers gave strong focused performances under the direction of Jeffrey Jay Fowler. It is good to see WAYTCo nurturing a young emerging director and writer who has capably brought to the stage the best from the young cast.
The play posed interesting questions: what is the subject matter for devised youth theatre made by seemingly middle class white kids in Perth? What are the things that matter to this group of young people and beyond them to others like them? It is tightly scripted and constructed and rewards the audience by paying off jokes set up in the opening section.
Overall this was satisfying, intimate and interesting theatre with maturity and bite.