and that’s a 2018 wrap

A quick pre-Christmas trip to Melbourne this week has not only give me my favourite theatre experience of the year in Calamity Jane, but provided a chance to reflect on a theatre year now done. Although still in the triple digits, I saw fewer shows in 2018 than in previous years, because…. Netflix. And, as usual, there have been many highlights, making it difficult to providing a definitive list of favourites. But reflective lists are what the end of a year is all about, so here is my eclectic top 10 of the memorable, the musical, the moving and the mirthful, and some honourable mentions.

1. Calamity Jane – Encore Season (Arts Centre Melbourne in association with One Eyed Man Productions, Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co)
2. Hamnet (Dead Centre) as part of Brisbane Festival
3. Good Muslim Boy (Queensland Theatre and Malthouse Theatre)
4. Everyday Requiem (Expressions Dance Company)
5. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Michael Cassel in Association with Paul Blake & Song/ATV Music Publishing & Mike Bosner)
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (The National Theatre)
7. The Origin of Love – The Songs and Stories of Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell)
8. Home (Geoff Sobelle/Beth Morrison Projects) as part of Brisbane Festival
9. At Last: The Etta James Story (Brisbane Powerhouse)
10. The Sound of a Finished Kiss (Now Look Here and Electric Moon in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse)

And mention also to the following highlights:

Best performance:

• Virgina Gay as the titular feisty frontierswoman in Calamity Jane
• Paul Capsis as 1970s gay icon, English writer, raconteur and actor Quentin Crisp in Resident Alien at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the 2018 Melt Festival of Queer Arts and Culture.

Best AV – A Christmas Carol (optikal bloc for shake & stir theatre co)

Most thought provoking –- Home (Geoff Sobelle/Beth Morrison Projects)

Best new work – The Sound of a Finished Kiss (Now Look Here and Electric Moon in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse)

Best musical

• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Michael Cassel in Association with Paul Blake & Song/ATV Music Publishing & Mike Bosner)
• Big Fish – The Musical (Phoenix Ensemble)
• Bare (Understudy Productions)

Best cabaret:

• At Last: The Etta James Story (Brisbane Powerhouse)
• Coupling (Brisbane Powerhouse)
• Christmas Actually (the little red company)

Best music – The Origin of Love – The Songs and Stories of Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell)

Best dance – Everyday Requiem (Expressions Dance Company)

Funniest – Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble)

Most joyous – I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You (The Good Room)

Cleverest – North by Northwest (QPAC and Kay & McLean Productions)

Most moving – Hamnet (Dead Centre)

English alien exposé

Resident Alien (Cameron Lukey)

Brisbane Powerhouse, Visy Theatre

May 17 – 20

‘It takes a man to suffer ignorance a smile, 

Be yourself no matter what they say.’ ….

So go the words of Sting’s 1987 song ‘An Englishman in New York’. And the Englishman in question was 1970s gay icon, English writer, raconteur and actor Quentin Crisp. At the time, Crisp was a resident alien in America, which is where audiences join him (Paul Capsis) for the show of that name, “Resident Alien”, which is appearing at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the 2018 Melt Festival of Queer Arts and Culture

The one-man show’s setting is Crisp’s dust-filled, filthy New York boarding house room, where the opinionated writer lived the last years of his life and where he surrounds himself with books he never reads, being who he is rather than what society wants him to be.  his is his dressing room for the stage of the world outside and so we become privy to his routines as, knowing he is being watched, he potters about his hermitage watching Oprah on a portable television and preparing himself for a luncheon date with Mr Brown and Mr Black. The 70-minute monologue that follows moves naturally from reflection on the superficial nature of modern fame to personal anecdotes and explanation of the logic behind his shocking surroundings. There is a real conversational feel to the way his musings are shared, with an intimacy enhanced by the Visy Theatre’s cosy space.

Appropriately given its subject matter, the script contains sharp and biting wit of the Oscar Wilde sort as Crisp offers a range of outspoken philosophies about societal institutions like education and marriage and in reflection of the differences between life in the US and UK. And much comedy comes from his not-entirely-eccentric, pithy observations and his unwavering belief in their wisdom. Relationships, politics … nothing is off limits from speaking his truth, not even Princess Diana. (“All she had to do was wave at the crowds.’’)

Multi award winning actor Paul Capsis more than just looks the part, but embodies it in every way. He captures Crisp’s theatrical, androgynous style, especially when dressed in suit, scarf and tilted hat atop quaffed locks (his hair, in particular, is perfection), but he also captures that voice; his every inflection is precise in its inhabit of the elderly effeminate icon’s being in complement to his every nuanced gesture, movement and rubber-faced reaction. So mesmerising is his performance to observe, that the audience watches in absorbed and engaged silence even when he is just frying eggs on his portable stovetop. Indeed, the use of silence features effectively throughout the piece and helps to present a Crisp at odds with his public persona as he takes small steps around the room, using everything around him for balance.

“Resident Alien” represents theatre at its very best. Its staging and production values are exquisite and its script is authentically filled with actual Crisp quotes. Capsis’ portrayal of Crisp is absolutely compelling, in fact, it is one of the best performances you will see this year, well deserving of its full standing ovation on opening night. Though on the surface it shares a glimpse into Quentin Crisp’s fascinating life, it is so well crafted as to also expose the essential vulnerability beneath the flamboyant veneer of the fiercely individual celebrity, giving audience members much to consider in reflection about whether we should pity Crisp for his living conditions or praise him for the honesty with which he viewed the world.