Thousand tops

With 2020 being largely taken out of the mix, it has taken me just over 8 years to review 1000 shows as Blue Curtains Brisbane. And my top 10 favourites from within them, appropriately feature shows from 2013 to 2021… a mix of comedy, cabaret, musicals, theatre and festival fare.

1. Delectable Shelter (The Hayloft Project)

The Hayloft Project’s 2013 out-of-the-box black comedy, “Delectable Shelter” literally took place in a box as bunker at Brisbane Powerhouse in its claustrophobic tell of five doomsday survivors planning a utopian society. With ‘80s power ballads and hilarious homages to their ancestors from later descendants, there was so much by which to be entertained in the anarchy of its apocalyptic storytelling, making it my absolute favourite.

2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre of Great Britain)

In 2018, the National Theatre of Great Britain provided QPAC audiences with an unparalleled insight into the mind of someone living with an autism spectrum condition with their acclaimed production of Mark Hadden’s much-loved novel. Inventive, imaginative stage design which saw the floor and all three walls of the boxed-in set transformed into mathematical graph paper, provided many visually memorable moments authentic to experience of the show’s London production.

3. All My Love (HIT Productions)

HIT Productions’ sensitive “All My Love” chronicled the fascinating and little-known relationship between the larger-than-life writer and poet Henry Lawson and the radical socialist and literary icon Mary Gilmore, taking its audience along an evocative journey about the people beyond their words, but also their passion in a “Love Letters” type way.

4. Ladies in Black (Queensland Theatre)

The musical so nice, Queensland Theatre programed it twice. With stunning visuals and costumes, a soundtrack featuring over 20 original Tim Finn songs and humour, the Helpman-Award-winning musical took audiences into both the glitz of a high-end 1950s department store shop floor and the personal lives of its employees with infectious wit and charm.

5. The Revolutionists (The Curators)

The Curator’s 2021 drama-filled French-revolutionist play about a playwright writing a play was passionate, powerful, political and full of important messaging about women’s importance in history and the fundamental role of theatre and culture in history and civilisation.

6. The Tragedy of King Richard III (La Boite Theatre Company)

In 2016, Daniel Evans’ gave meaning anew to Shakespeare’s depiction of the Machiavellian King Richard III through bold exploration of its story’s silences, gaps and biases and dynamic discovery of new character depths and unexpected provocations.

7. Hamnet (Dead Centre)

As part of the 2018 Brisbane Festival, Ireland’s Dead Centre used audio visual technology in combination with live performance to give us the perfectly-pitched and movingly thought-provoking story of Shakespeare’s one son (just 11 when he died), knowing that he is just one letter away from greatness.

8. Boy Swallows Universe (Queensland Theatre)

My favourite ever Queensland Theatre show…. More than just recreating Trent Dalton’s story, the company’s landmark 2021 production of “Boy Swallows Universe”, honoured the original text and transformed it as a work of its own, dynamic in its realisation and anchored around its theme of resilience.

9. California Crooners Club (Parker + Mr French)

The 2016 Spiegeltent saw audiences treated to the first Brisfest appearance of the cool-cat cabaret crooners of the “California Crooners Club”. The energetic and charming show from genuine, generous performers (led by concept creator Hugh Sheridan), was a marvellous mixed bag of old, new and original numbers curated together and harmonised like familiar favourites.

10. Forthcoming (shake & stir theatre company)

Shake & stir theatre company’s contemporary adults-only choose-your-own-adventure romantic comedy “Fourthcoming” not only placed the course of the narrative in the audience’s hands, but provided an avalanche of non-stop laugh-until-you-cry moments.

And….

Special mention to La Boite Theatre Company’s “Still Standing”, which in 2002 and 2003 presented a music-filled immersion into the Brisbane rock scene of the 1980s as counter-culture to the repressive Bjelke-Petersen regime that although I saw before starting reviewing, still stands as my favourite ever Brisbane theatre experience.

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)

A show about a dog… and more

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (The National Theatre)

QPAC, Concert Hall

June 12 – 24

“I’m here to see a show about a dog,” an audience member obviously unfamiliar with Mark Haddon’s much-loved novel was overheard saying pre-show at opening night of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. Dogs do bookend the show’s narrative, but the National Theatre of Great Britain’s acclaimed production is about so much more than this, or even the unusual event of its title.

The story is of Christopher Boone (Joshua Jenkins), a 15-year-old boy from Swindon, England with autism spectrum disorder and a passion for mathematics, who finds his neighbours’ dog Wellington, dead on their front lawn, impaled by a garden fork. This kick-starts a series of events as Christopher makes it his mission to solve the crime of Wellington’s murder. While detectiving, he notes his findings in a journal that his teacher Siobhan (Julie Hale) has encouraged him to write. When his frustrated father Ed (Stuart Laing) confiscates the diary, a determined Christopher not only recovers his writing, but letters that reveal previously-unknown information about his dead mother.

Rather than tell the story in first-person narrative, like the original novel, the segmented story is largely recalled by his teacher in share of Christopher’s writing, inset with moments in illustration and explanation of his unique world view, presenting like a play-within-a-play. This bring much humour as Christopher explains his dislike of metaphors and need for truth and predictability, and pathos too as he matter-of-factly describes how he hates being touched as much as the hates the colour yellow.

Just like its literary source material, the play provides an unparalleled insight into the mind of someone living with an autism spectrum condition. In its original, award-winning London production in West End’s Gielgud Theare, the show had an essential intimacy that suited the story of the socially–challenged young man finding his place in the world. However, even within QPAC’s Concert Hall, its subtle soundtrack allows for moments of audience absorption, such as when Christopher’s dad tells his story.

In many ways, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a small story, conveyed in a big show and, accordingly, Act Two is much louder… deliberately so in contrast to the comfort of Christopher’s familiar life as his internal experience of catching a train to London with his Pet Rat is captured in an aesthetic offensive thanks to remarkable Lighting (Paule Constable), Sound (Ian Dickinson) and Video (Finn Ross) Design that has not decreased in its impact in the six years of the show’s life.

Trains feature as an ongoing motif. In Act One, while talking to his teacher and us as an audience, Christopher progressively constructs an impressive train set around the stage, despite the quick scene transitions that occur throughout the show. Mathematics as a way of understanding and describing the world also features throughout the production. It not only serves as one of Christopher’s strengths but also becomes a perfect metaphor for his quest to make order and make meaning out of a confusing world.

Like in the novel, Christopher uses drawings, diagrams and equations to explain himself. On stage this comes courtesy of Bunny Christie’s impressive design, which sees the floor and all three walls of the boxed-in set transformed into mathematical graph paper, meaning that Christopher can draw all over the set through the power of video projections. In one of the most visually memorable moments, Christopher’s attempt to escape his isolation through the imagined experience of flying as an astronaut in space, is impressively brought to life through incredible lighting and projections.

Inventive, imaginative staging later sees boxes within the boxed-in stage transform into train seats, luggage and alike. And the ensemble of performers not only often operate with stylised movement, but become props themselves, serving as everything from a door to an ATM.

Each member of the touring cast is solid in their variety or roles. Debra Michaels endears Mrs Alexander, an elderly resident of Christopher’s street, with warm, grandmotherly tendencies and Julie Hale is wonderful as the teacher all teachers want to be, caring and compassionate in her response to Christopher’s unique needs.

Stuart Lang gives a measured performance as Christopher’s patient and protective, but emotionally-devastated single father and, as the boy’s mother Judy, Emma Beattie has us feeling at her inability to touch her own son. But “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is Christopher’s story and Joshua Jenkins gives a perfect performance down to the protagonist’s smallest nuance. He not only captures the part’s physicality and dialogue verbosity, but infuses it with honesty and great heart.

Sometimes what, over time, what one builds up in recollection as the best theatre show ever experienced, upon revisit, ultimately leads to comparative disappointment. Four years after seeing the show in London, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” remains the best theatre I have ever seen. The Australian touring production may not celebrate the prime number seats within its audience, but it still has a treat in its tail, worth staying for beyond the curtain call.

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” treats audiences with an unforgettable viewing experience. With props and pyrotechnics that, although impressive, do not overpower its story’s emotional core, it represents a perfect combination of theatrical ingredients in a page-to-stage retelling that is both true to its source material but also adds so much more. And it is easy to appreciate how it won both the Olivier and Tony awards for Best Play, Director, Actor, Lighting and Set Designs. Although Christopher only understands what is immediate and what is the truth, experience of his show will certainly linger long for fortunate audience members.

And so this was…

As John Lennon asks in his now Christmas standard, “so, this is Christmas and what have you done?” Reflection becomes par-for-the-course at the tail end of the holiday period, including of shows seen during the year passed and in what has become typical, my favourites are a little off-kilter from the perhaps usual list of big-budget showcases.

Local shows aside for a moment and 2015 allowed me opportunity to see the London productions of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and “The Book of Mormon”. I am yet to hear of anyone who has seen the Dog in the Night-Time on stage and not raved about the experience. And justifiably so; it is the best dramatic production I have ever seen, anywhere. And as for “The Book of Mormon”…. is there any feeling better than being able to tick from an in-mind list of shows you want to see. For me, this musical had been at the top of my to-see list for a number of years, replaced now by “Something Rotten” and while the show is shocking in its satire, it’s quite brilliant and definitely up there as one of my favourites.

But that is not say that Brisbane has not seen its share of great shows of all sorts, from which my favourites would be:

1. All My Love (HIT Productions) – the story of Australia’s best-known poet and writer Henry Lawson and his relationship with fellow poet Mary Gilmore.
2. The Confidence Man (Side Pony Productions) – a choose-your-own-adventure of the theatrical kind as audience members use smartphone to flick between the characters’ stories, tuning in on their innermost thoughts as the action unfolds.
3. The Importance of Being Earnest (W!ld Rice) – a witty all-male telling of Oscar Wilde’s immortal play, as part of the Brisbane Festival.
4. Candide (Opera Q) – opera at its most accessible, merging music and comedy in a colourful and energetic search for Eden.
5. Tiptoe (Pentimento Productions) – Two timeframes unfold simultaneously on stage in this Australian psychological thriller with a twist from acclaimed playwright Sven Swenson.

• Best performance – Libby Munro in Grounded (Queensland Theatre Company)
• Best staging – Medea (La Boite Theatre Company)
• Best lighting – Dracula (shake+stir Theatre Company)
• Best AV – De Profundis (Brisbane Powerhouse and Metro Arts)
• Most interesting – The Mayne Effect (Flowers Theatre Company)
• Best Shakespeare – Titus (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble)
• Best musical – Anything Goes (Opera Australia and John Frost)
• Best cabaret – That 90s Show (Tom Sharah)
• Funniest – The Odd Couple (Queensland Theatre Company)
• Most fun – Velvet (Organised Pandemonium)
• Most entertaining – Hugh Jackman: Broadway to Oz (Dainty Group)

With appreciation of the notion that theatre-going begets theatre-going, I am also confident, however, that 2016 will bring with it a range of shows and potential new favourites. So, as Lennon also says…. “Let’s hope it’s a good one”.

Prime time curiosity

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Gielgud Theatre, London

June 24, 2014 – May 23, 2015

Page to stage productions are often fraught with danger and the apprehensive pre-show talk at “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” certainly reflected this, as audience members shared concern of how Mark Hadden’s critically acclaimed novel would translate. Unusually perhaps, however, this is a stage show that remains very true to its origins as the National Theatre production captures the major events of the story with minimal alteration.

The novel is narrated in first-person by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who sees everything that other people miss. Although Christopher’s condition is not explicitly stated, both the novel itself and the production’s program refer to Asperger syndrome. Initially, it is strange to hear the stage story narrated by Christopher’s mentor, Siobhan, however, ultimately, she makes a success of letting the audience inside the mind of a young man who likes maths and space, the colour red and his pet rat Tony, and hates yellow and brown and being touched.

It is not only Christopher’s idiosyncrasies that are amusing, but his literal interpretation of directions and bewilderment at metaphoric proverbs and everyday sayings. On stage, this has the potential to alienate audience members, perhaps reticent to laugh at the expense of a young AS suffered who simply doesn’t compute emotion or empathy, however, this is a production that shows compassion for its characters and no-one is demonised.

At its core, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a character study. Appropriately wearing his red ‘Pythagoras rules’ t-shirt, Graham Butler is every part Christopher, delivering an phenomenal, absorbing performance, nuanced down to every aspect of his facial expressions, body language and avoidance of eye-contact and more than worthy of the standing ovation bestowed upon him.

The other of the show’s standouts is its stunning design and extraordinary, imaginative Tron-like set, which, despite its initial starkness, is put to expert use to transport audience members into Christopher’s outer space dreams and numerical mindscape. Indeed, it features a most astonishing AV display, often resulting in audible gasps of awe as Act Two, in particular, provides insight into the chaotic overwhelm of new and different stimuli from Christopher’s perspective.

In addition to this, there is the added touch of Christopher’s designated special Prime Number seats within the stalls, in keeping with the novel’s unique chapter numbering and Christopher’s preference for order and logic (“prime numbers are like life; they are very logical”).

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is theatre at its very best, deservedly winning seven Olivier Awards in 2013, including Best New Play. From the simple story of Christopher’s written account of what happened on the night he discovers a neighbour’s dog, dead, just a few minutes after midnight, it becomes so much more as it follows his investigation into the crime and shares the resulting journey of discovery as he ventures beyond the end of his road for the first time.

As an interpretation of an existing text, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is brilliantly realised and possibly one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen. However, its appeal lies beyond just those who have familiarity with the novel and it is well worth staying in your seat (prime-numbered or otherwise) past the curtain call for the theatre equivalent of a Marvel movie post-credits scene. When you eventually leave the theatre and walk into the streets buzzing with the pure joy of the experience, you will know you’ve seen a five star show and like the curious cat, satisfaction will have you wanting to come back.