Picasso's Goldfinch
Wed, 31 Oct 2012, 09:31 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Picasso's Goldfinch
Wed, 31 Oct 2012, 09:31 am‘Picasso’s Goldfinch’ was written and produced by English born, career and vocational Counsellor, Tom Jeffcote. Having lived in the Perth area for more than forty years, Jeff has had quite a few plays produced, including ‘Apollinaire’s Jump’ and ‘Tough Love’. This latest play was a finalist in the inaugural, 2010 Richard Burton Playwriting Award.
'Picasso’s Goldfinch’ is showing at The Blue Room Studio, 53 James Street, Northbridge with performances until Saturday 17th November. All shows have curtain up at 8.30 pm.
Goldfinches can be heard chirping outside an artist’s studio. Inside a man is crouched over, with yet another glass of whisky in one hand and a small marble carving in the other. This is Wilson Stryker (Andrew Hale) an Australian painter who twenty years ago was the talk of the town. His paintings were in great demand all over the world, but he inexplicably lost his desire to paint and has become a miserable recluse.
One day, a smartly dressed, striking young woman, Therese (Tiffany Barton) arrives at his studio. She explains that she is a cub reporter, and has been advised by an editor that she will only get a job with the national paper if she achieves an interview with Stryker. The only problem being that he has not spoken to the Press for over twenty years. The artist is furious at this invasion of his privacy and pulls no punches in ordering the journalist out of his studio.
Feisty Therese has the nerve to stand her ground and asks why he is so rude and what has happened over the years to make him such a boor.
The artist recalls his happier years with his American friend Beatrice, and Sofia, his Spanish housekeeper. However, will Wilson share these fond memories with this annoying woman, or will his violent streak win?
Tiffany Barton has to play the parts of the three very different women, but as a previous nominee of Equity’s Best Actress Award, she has risen to the challenge perfectly. The demands on Tiffany were high, the women had different accents, body language and personalities, but she conquered these – and the brief, full-frontal nudity – brilliantly. Both actors had to portray mood changes from deep passion, through fun times, to livid anger.
Andrew Hale (an Equity Award winner) gave a remarkable performance as the broken, almost bipolar, man who had lost so much in his life, and is now consumed with depression and anger. The depth of the characters and the storyline has been extraordinarily well developed and scripted by Tom Jeffcote.
Dean Hall’s sound design is excellent, with just the right mix of sound effects and mood music.
The much-admired director, Lawrie Cullen-Tait, who brought to life the amazing story of another artist, Mark Rothko in the highly successful major production ‘Red’, has treated this Blue Room production equally with all the skills and attention. The team work in this show is terrific, a quality production highly recommended.
‘Picasso’s Goldfinch’ was written and produced by English born, career and vocational Counsellor, Tom Jeffcote. Having lived in the Perth area for more than forty years, Jeff has had quite a few plays produced, including ‘Apollinaire’s Jump’ and ‘Tough Love’. This latest play was a finalist in the inaugural, 2010 Richard Burton Playwriting Award.
'Picasso’s Goldfinch’ is showing at The Blue Room Studio, 53 James Street, Northbridge with performances until Saturday 17th November. All shows have curtain up at 8.30 pm.
Goldfinches can be heard chirping outside an artist’s studio. Inside a man is crouched over, with yet another glass of whisky in one hand and a small marble carving in the other. This is Wilson Stryker (Andrew Hale) an Australian painter who twenty years ago was the talk of the town. His paintings were in great demand all over the world, but he inexplicably lost his desire to paint and has become a miserable recluse.
One day, a smartly dressed, striking young woman, Therese (Tiffany Barton) arrives at his studio. She explains that she is a cub reporter, and has been advised by an editor that she will only get a job with the national paper if she achieves an interview with Stryker. The only problem being that he has not spoken to the Press for over twenty years. The artist is furious at this invasion of his privacy and pulls no punches in ordering the journalist out of his studio.
Feisty Therese has the nerve to stand her ground and asks why he is so rude and what has happened over the years to make him such a boor.
The artist recalls his happier years with his American friend Beatrice, and Sofia, his Spanish housekeeper. However, will Wilson share these fond memories with this annoying woman, or will his violent streak win?
Tiffany Barton has to play the parts of the three very different women, but as a previous nominee of Equity’s Best Actress Award, she has risen to the challenge perfectly. The demands on Tiffany were high, the women had different accents, body language and personalities, but she conquered these – and the brief, full-frontal nudity – brilliantly. Both actors had to portray mood changes from deep passion, through fun times, to livid anger.
Andrew Hale (an Equity Award winner) gave a remarkable performance as the broken, almost bipolar, man who had lost so much in his life, and is now consumed with depression and anger. The depth of the characters and the storyline has been extraordinarily well developed and scripted by Tom Jeffcote.
Dean Hall’s sound design is excellent, with just the right mix of sound effects and mood music.
The much-admired director, Lawrie Cullen-Tait, who brought to life the amazing story of another artist, Mark Rothko in the highly successful major production ‘Red’, has treated this Blue Room production equally with all the skills and attention. The team work in this show is terrific, a quality production highly recommended.