Snow, as created by Slava

Artwork of Slava's Snowshow (Source: Scoop.it)

My usual mantra concerning clowns are that they are always, at best, a necessary evil. In my experience the humour is low-brow, annoying, and ususally serves as padding to the superior action that goes on stage elsewhere in performance. That said, my friend had told me great things about Slava's Snowshow, and I'd previously seen a segment of the act in Cirque du Soleil's Alegría. I know that since I was never going to see snow in London this year, Slava's Snowshow was probably being the closest thing to living in the real thing.

The chorus of forlorn clowns (Source: Slava's Snowshow).

Concieved and written by Slava Polunin, the piece is a series of sketches that are loosely tied together through various esoteric symbolism and themes of loneliness. The humour of the clowns is surprisingly charming, and very sweet, not relying on the usual toilet humour or slapstick. The talent of the performers is awing, who move with adorable choreography and endearing innocence. There is no real language spoken, and instead choreography and music dictate the mood while the performer's movement and  the audience laugh. Only one or two sketches are devoid of humour, the rest are wonderfully original, endearing and whimsical. Particularly entertaining scenes included a hilariously dramatic, repetitive falling off a seat to Mozart's Requiem and the capsizing of a ship which involves sharks doing floor dives among the mist on stage. The piece de resistance is the finale, after a tender and somewhat sorrowful display an elderly clown causes a thunderous snowstorm which sweeps the space with thousands of cut snowflakes. It really is gorgeous and truly magical, and needs to be lived to be believed.

Clowns in a boat sketch (Source: Wikipedia).

Attention could be easily lost in a large theatre but there is also a fair amount of audience interaction, which is just enchanting. A giant spider web passes over the audience, snow falls and sits among the seats and giant spheres lumber across the space, moved by the hands underneath. It's wonderful to watch, but my issue with the piece was that due to where I was sitting it was impossible to be immersed into the action. The piece is clearly made for smaller theatres, since much of this interaction doesn't reach people sitting in the nosebleed seats. While I had a bunch of awful children sitting behind me, I felt bad that they didn't get to be caught in the grand finale and feel any snow, and likewise, everyone who handled the giant bouncing balls had no sense of space and kept hitting them back to the front.

The lighting is gorgeous and sensual, suitably matching the moods of the sketches on stage. The music is also fitting - simplistic, quirky and sweet, however somewhat occasionally tacky. The use of Carmina Burana in the finale is a bit jarring since it feels like some original scoring that isn't so bombastic could have enhanced the magic even more.

It's slow to take off - and at times I wondered why I was there - but at certain points in the piece there is a wonderful whimsical charm to the piece, and once it draws you in you are kept firmly engaged. If you are going to see the piece, make sure you see it up close and in the middle - staying at the side really removes you from the action and it's somewhat disappointing to be watching the spectacle rather than living it. A lot of things contribute to making this an enchanting piece of theatre, and it's easy to see why so many people have been swept away by it.

Slava's Snowshow performed at the Royal Festival Hall from December 17th - January 7th.

Kooza at the Royal Albert Hall

Artwork from Kooza, featuring 'The Trickster' (Source: Group Line).

Talking about Cirque du Soleil is a precarious embarkment these days. My violent love-hate relationship towards the company swings from side to side as a viciously sharpened pendulum, moving like a little boy's favourite yo-yo in the wind on a blustery day. Cirque's annual January engagement this year brings Kooza to the Royal Albert Hall, a show directed by prominent theatre director with many accolades, awards, and experience at directing accomplished multi-million dollar productions ex-clown David Shiner, the mastermind behind Banana Shpeel, who totes the 'art' of clowning to be best thing since sliced bread.

The Innocent. Being Innocent.
It's his thing, yo.
(Source: Cirque du Soleil).

When Kooza opened it was described as "a return to Cirque's roots", which everyone knows is performing without animals and allocating large amounts of stage times to awful clown acts. All in all, Kooza is not as terrible as I was warned it would be - it claims to look at themes of innocence, identity and fear through a barrage of circus acts and a lot of clowning. To some extent it succeeds but a major issue with the show is its nauseating and egregious prominence of clowns, owing to the horrible attempt at making a homage to the 'art'. There are a total of six in the show, which means there is more inane toilet humour and slapstick than any other show in the world. Also, while this show draws Cirque back to its roots, it also falls into the oxymoron that the original Cirque wasn't actually that unique or noteworthy, and it wasn't until almost a decade after its inception that they started their signature fusion of theatre and circus acts which has made them so prominent. But never you mind that - just pay money!

As far as it goes in theatricality, anything is better than Ovo, so while Kooza lacks any serious discussion, its sense of storyline is pretty random, and its mise-en-scène is just a mélange of 'anything goes', it's still somehow enjoyable to watch. The plot focuses on a character called The Innocent (who is, you guessed it, innocent), who is pulled into a "zany kingdom" which is created and ruled by The Trickster (tricky, but also sinister). There's also a bunch of skeletons who turn up for one scene - no one will be able to explain why.

For Kooza, I'm happy to temporarily abandon my insanity and morals, and excuse the quality of the theatrical elements since the acts really blow you away, and there is a distinctly higher calibre of acrobatics and athleticism compared to other Cirque du Soleil productions. Aerial acts including the Highwire and Wheel of Death attracted the biggest applause I've ever heard for Cirque acts, where it was surreal to look around the entire Royal Albert Hall and see everyone clapping furiously. The Mystic Pixies have long departed from the tour, but the trio of tiny Asian women who perform Contortion brought the house down with a similar routine. The two highlights of the evening were the Hoops Manipulation and the Balancing on Chairs. I've wanted to see Irina Akimova's hoops act for years and it was certainly worth the wait (her act is better suited in Delirium, since there was better music and her costume wasn't as hideous), as she spins five hoops while rotating and grinning at the audience, and Yao Deng Bo's serene and languid act shows a mastery of patience and the entire scene is beautifully choreographed. We missed out on the Trapeze, and whoever was managing backstage apparently forgot there is a rotational act (Hand to Hand) that could have replaced it . . .

Akimova's Manipulation act (Source: Tumblr).

I've owned the soundtrack for the show for around five years, and it never dawned on me until I saw the production just how campy the music is. Jean-François Cóté's score is a bizarre fusion of 80's big band, Indian ethnic and pop music, and while certain pieces are beautiful and slow, adding multilayered percussion and REALLY LOUD drums sounds like a gimmick. The main theme, 'L'Innocent' is just . . . wow. It's flaming. It's just the most in your face Cirque score, and I'd have to agree with cynics that usually critics the music since it's very washy material, and with all the kiddies yelling vowels it sounds very childish. Other aspects include Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt's costumes and Florene Cornet's makeup, which are just a clusterfuck of colours and random tassels which blend right into Stéphane Roy's set, a giant bataclan resembling a triple-decker Indian tour bus which is gorgeously revealed.

Despite any criticism, I very much enjoyed the evening, and I think any London theatre viewers who were a bit disillusioned by Totem will enjoy Kooza due to its linearity and superb circus feats. The material performed by clowns is awful, the music is very contrived and the theatricality is lacking, but Kooza has its moments and certainly enchants the audience. At the end of the show the cast get together on stage and yell "Kooza!". Why not?

'Kooza' is also an underwear brand.

Just saying it like it is.

Tickets for Cirque du Soleil's Kooza are £25 - £80, and is showing at The Royal Albert Hall until February 14th. Duration of approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including a 30 minute interval. Book by visiting Cirque du Soleil's website.

THE ANNUAL SAMMYS

HAHAHAHA.

THEATRE

Best Production - The Method Gun (The Rude Mechanics)

Best Play - La Voix Humaine (Motherboard Productions/La Boite Indie)
Best Professional Work - The Method Gun (The Rude Mechanics)
Best Independent Work - Knee Deep (Casus)
Best Student Work - The Country (SUDs/Festival of Australian Student Theatre)

MUSIC

Best Song - And I Will Kiss (Underworld)

Best Recording/Album - Passion (Stephen Sondheim)
Best Instrumental - And I Will Kiss (Underworld)
Best Soundtrack - Moon (Clint Mansell)
Best Live Artist - Warmwaters (Warmwaters/Room60) [?]

EVERYTHING ELSE

Best Day of the Year - November 9th

Best Word - Ineffable

Best Exhibit - Cross Stitch (MetroArts)
Best Movie - The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki (Mamoru Hosoda)
Best Event - A Tribute of Sorts Opening Night (Monsters Appear/La Boite Indie)
Best Book/Text - The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
Best Game - Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet)

THEATRE COUNT

72 (includes repeated viewings, not including productions operated/performed in)

The Orphan of Zhao - A Dream Come True

The Orphan of Zhao promotional artwork (Source: Royal Shakespeare Company).

About three years ago I read Arthur Murphy’s The Orphan of China, and since being taken by the story I’d dreamt of seeing it on stage. My dream came true this week when my Dad and I took a roadtrip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see James Fenton’s new adaptation The Orphan of Zhao. Presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Gregory Doran, the new production is a sumptuous and vibrant staging of an extremely compelling, epic story, performed by an exquisite ensemble of actors.

The play is often compared to Hamlet due to its epic narrative – the real parallel can be found in the theme of revenge. Following an elaborately staged shaming by The Emperor’s usurping minister Tu’an Gu, the disgraced Minister Zhao’s entire clan is annihilated from history with the exception of his wife, the daughter of The Emperor. Matter are complicated further since the princess is pregnant, and when she gives birth Cheng Ying, a doctor, rescues Zhao’s son by sacrificing his own child to ensure the Zhao line can live on, and so that the Zhao clan one day can seek out their revenge. Although it loses a bit of momentum in the second act, the piece is extremely compelling work. There has been a lot of churlish bitching about this behind this production before it even began, which has viciously attacked RSC for only casting three Asian actors in this production. It’s very clear that rather than adhere to a gimmick, attempting to present an austere and gruelingly traditional staging of the text, race has been cast aside as a casting criteria and only the best, most talented actors into their respective roles.

Joe Dixon as Tu'an Gu (Source: Royal Shakespeare Company)

On that note, the ensemble cast are easily the strongest I’ve ever seen on stage, with multi-talented seventeen performers handling puppetry, voice acting, and movement all while managing to navigate around the theatre and entirely engross the audience. The ensemble are well used and all have a moment which shows exceptional talent, including mimicking the cries of a baby, bringing a ferocious dog to life, and executing precise choreography and stagecraft to evoke assassinations and duels. There are a few stand-outs due to their significant roles, where Jake Fairbrother’s pure and serene Cheng Bo is slightly effeminate but somehow beautifully other-worldy, and Graham Turner’s unwavering sense of duty as Cheng Ying also communicates his suffering in every line he speaks. Joe Dixon steals the stage and is a phenomenal highlight as antagonist Tu’an Gu – his portrayal of the character is unlike anything I expected from the role, while being calculated and virile, but also managing to be wickedly comical where appropriate.

Paul Englishby’s score is beautifully appropriate, with many soft passages presented with subtle Chinese rifts and flavors with the live orchestra mixed with some authentic instrumentation. This adaptation also included translations of the original songs, which I had not heard before and was very surprised (and glad) to hear. Niki Turner’s design is gorgeous, including a simplistic but striking architecture based set which allow actors to travel into and through the audience to fill out the entire theatre, and beautiful and authentic period costume designs.

The piece is everything I hoped it would be and more. Fenton’s new adaptation and Doran’s vision to the piece is an utter revelation to the original English translation. This epic is brought to life through an incredible cast, surrounded in a beautiful design with wonderful live music. It’s regrettable that the production has been attacked for a trivial matter of casting, since this production is oozing with talent and is easily one of the most gripping pieces I’ve seen perhaps not just this year, but in my life. I feel so lucky to have seen this piece, and wish I could see it again. 

Tickets for Royal Shakespeare Company's The Orphan of Zhao are £16 - £38, and is showing at Swan Theatre until March 28th. Duration of approximately 110 minutes. Book by visiting Royal Shakespeare Company's website.

My Year in Theatre (2012)

Throughout this year I've been working like a bitch on a number of shows. I've worked in community theatre, student productions, and professional and independent theatre. I've volunteed hundreds of hours for projects I've loved and been paid a little for others, and I've also given my time to ushering, facilitating, and teaching for many different organisations. I've also blogged for two professional theatre festivals and enjoyed blogging, either by invitation or just to share my thoughts on theatre, and supported a number of shows and collectives financially through Pozible and another fund raising schemes (buying lots of fund-raising chocolates . . !). So here is a comprehensive list and explanation of what I've been in - bring on 2013!

Sweeney Todd.

The first of show of the year had actually started rehearsals at the end of November of 2011. I was involved in my first musical, Ignatians Musical Society's Sweeney Todd where I was a chorus member among a cast of over 30. Although I was going to skip my audition, I ended up being offered a place in the ensemble and as a result spent over 400 hours in rehearsal, with included rigorous vocal rehearsals and exhausting all day rehearsals every weekend up until the show day. The show opened on March 21st and ran 18 performances until April 13th, and was my first time I had sung in front of a paying audience. I got to be creep around, wear a delightfully/dreafully tacky looking beard, get my throat slit, sing my favourite lines and run around the stage like a lunatic. Simply awesome, and if Ignatians stages any other Sondheim pieces, I'll be there (or if Passion comes up, watching the show and weeping gently every evening).

Of Little Matter.

Simultaneous with Sweeney, I was also involved in two other projects. One of which was helping Sarah Winter realise her incredible concept for a floating feast through her PhD studies. We had a week in February of trial and error, brainstorming, and realising things that were out of an enchanting dream. The project went on to become a dinner with gravity, which had a two week run at La Boite Indie across the 28th of June til the 8th of July later in the year. The other project was the first Vena Cava Production's show of the year, Of Little Matter, which had rehearsals through February and March and performed from March 26th - 31st. Under the direction of David Morton the show is one of the first of it's kind, a show with an ensemble of actors who helped bring a story to life by animating characters exclusively with their hands. Despite not being able to dedicate myself fully to the project, I was the composer and sound designer on the show, a couple of pieces being some of my favourite things I've written this year. Although I'm no longer involved with the project, it went on to do a creative development at Brisbane Powerhouse in November this year, and with it's potential it's not going to stop there. I also spent a lot of time during late February as a featured blogger in Brisbane Powerhouse's World Theatre Festival, where I saw A Spectacular of Sorts, the prelude to a very special show I would be later working on in October.

a dinner with gravity.

The next saga I got involved in was Copstitutes! Professional Lovers, Amateur Detectives! Concieved, written, directed and also partly acted by Nicholas K Watson, this piece had its read through in April before entering a very vague rehearsal process in May, where in performed May 25th for one performance, with an oversold audience that flowed out of The Studio. We reunited for another special showing after we were selected as a wildcard contestant in August for Short + Sweet. We had a good performance on the 18th, but were unsuccessful going any further (not really a surprise to us, though). During the entire Copstitutes process I was also writing reviews for productions in Anywhere Theatre Festival, a cute little emerging festival which aims to solve the issue of having independent theatre presented in a theatre by having them present anywhere - cafés, parks, roads etc.  Earlier in May we were also working on our Production 2 show, Performing, Seriously! which was facilitated by Benjamin Schostakowski and had one performance on the 30th (we got a very high mark for it!).

June and July rolled by with a dinner with gravity (which had a sell out season) and I also joined onto Vena Cava's third production of the year, Iphigenia 2.0, which was directed by Dave Sleswick. I was sound designer, composer and operator for the show, which was an adaptation of the original text Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides by Charles Mee. The new text is a vicious attack on consumerism and the evils of war, and the season ran from July 30th until August 3rd. After having fun with Copstitutes again, I hopped straight into doing sound design for David Stewart's honours piece, Cotton Pony. Following the unfortunate life of Ebony Zedler, the piece examined how far theatre could be taken before the audience renders it unacceptable. Despite its darker nature, the piece was very funny, and it was so much fun to be able to pick and choose any music I wanted without having to worry about copyright.

A Tribute of Sorts.

September (and later December) was the only month where I wasn't involved directly with a production, so I enjoyed seeing a lot of works at the Brisbane Festival. I did also volunteer the entire duration of the Festival of Australian Student Theatre (FAST) from the 7th-9th, which is a fantastic annual event which invites students from all over Australian to travel to Brisbane and present their work  at La Boite's Roundhouse Theatre. In October I started work on two shows, one of which was my best friend's writing/directing debut for a piece in 2high Festival called Propagation. I was sound designer/operator, although I'm ashamed to say that it was never priority and I wish I could have worked on it more - it was a big success though, and a lot of people were very impressed by its one showing on the 10th of November. In October I also started to work as an assistant stage hand (read: moving things around behind the seasons as quietly and quickly as humanly possible like a bitch) on my favourite show of the year. A Spectacular of Sorts changed into A Tribute of Sorts, which was written and directed by Benjamin Schostakowski with Emily Curtin and Dash Kruck. The narrative revolves around cousins Ivan and Juniper Plank, who take it upon themselves to coordinate a grim but hilariously inappropriate homage to children who find death "a little too quickly". The show's season, which ran from October 25th until November 10th, was an absolute sell out and the best fun I've ever had on a show - as Lucas Stibbard said, I'm very "heart sore" to see it go, but hopefully it will have another life somewhere, someday . . . :0).

And then the theatre world stopped. :)