Review of Blackout at Adelaide Festival: More dance element please

A wedding held on a cruise ship was disrupted by a storm and everyone on board experienced some kind of revelation.  This Australia/ Portugal co-production Blackout was by Paulo Castro and Jo Stone, making its world premiere at the Adelaide Festival.   The performance was held at AC Arts Main Theatre.

While this was billed as a dance programme under the Adelaide Festival, it was more like a physical theatre / drama performance to me, with spoken texts and dialogue taking up bulk of the performance time.   On the cruise ship, we had the insecure bride and bridegroom, the absent bride’s father, the drunken bridesmaid, the over-friendly best man, the unsuccessful musician-friend, the macho ship captain and the waitress with a secret.  While these characters could be stereotypical, they were handled by the excellent ensemble cast.

Girl Asleep and Fugitives: Fairy tales updated for modern times

I had the pleasure of catching 2 performances of Windmill Theatre at the Adelaide Festival.   Titled Windmill Trilogy, it consisted of 2 previously written plays Fugitives and School Dance, and a premiere Girl Asleep at the Festival.  Windmill Theatre is an Australian company focusing on teens and children's audience.

Girl Asleep was a coming of age story for teens and children.  Greta was trying to fit into her new environment, her new school, her not-so-friendly schoolmates.  She found comfort in Elliot, an awkward but kind boy. On the eve of her 15th birthday, her parents threw her a surprise party and strange events unfolded.   Probably inspired by Alice in Wonderland, we saw Greta entering a world where she met characters that somehow resembled those in reality. Artistic Director Rosemary Myers and the production team succeeded in creating a world of fantasy, employing puppetry, 50s design, lights and music in the small Space Theatre at the Festival Theatre. During the preview, certain scenes were slightly long but it should be taken care of at the opening night.    The cast was tight, with most actors playing multiple roles.  Ellen Steele played Greta with innocent charm while Eamon Farren was convincing as Greta’s awkward friend Elliot.   It is good to see a theatre company pumping resources in creating works for the youth.

Fugitives was a retelling of Robin Hood, set in the near future.  The young Robin returned to his hometown after a few years' absence, leaving his love interest Marion waiting in vain.  At the same time, the town was run by the evil forces, where the guards looked like Star Wars troopers. Among all these chaos, he had to deal with a love triangle.

Fugitives started well, where the characters were well introduced in the early scenes.  Things got muddled when it tried on one hand, dealing with the baddies and on the other hand, the love triangle. Having said that, the creative team did make the production tight and the ensemble cast held the performance together.  The young audience obviously were engaged.

While I found both plays a bit weak on the plot, I could be seeing from the point f view of an adult.  Based on the reception given to the cast on both nights, Windmill Theatre obviously had hit the right notes with the target audience.

Review: Roman Tragedies @ Adelaide Festival - Shakespeare plays, CNN style

There was huge anticipation from the audience waiting to enter the Festival Theatre of the Adelaide Festival Centre.   We were keen to see how Dutch director Ivo Van Hove was going to condense and combine 3 of the Shakespeare political plays, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra,  into a 6-hour production.  On top of that, the production would be set in a world of live media and reporting.   The performance Roman Tragedies was staged by Toneelgroep Amsterdam as one of the key productions of the Adelaide Festival 2014. Audience were free to choose which sections of the auditorium to watch the show, even the performing area. I decided to start with the circle seats.  The screen on top of the stage would either provide commentary on historical events, quotes from famous people and do a live feed of the incidents.

Gearing up for Adelaide Festival

About 2 weeks to the opening of Adelaide Festival, considered one of the major arts festivals in the world.   This year's Festival will run from 28 Feb to 16 Mar.  In addition to performing arts, the festival will also feature visual art and literary arts events.  A fringe festival will also run parallel to it.

Notable performances in the first part of the festival would be Director Ivo Van Hove's Roman Tragedies, a trilogy of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra as a sprawling and immersive multimedia spectacular.   At 6 hours, the audience would be part of the action while on stage with the actors. 

Another interesting production would be SKaGen's Bigmouth.  From the write-up:  "With five microphones and unrelenting energy, Valentijn Dhaenens celebrates 2500 years of oration in a tour de force one-man performance. From Socrates to Bin Laden, victory speeches to eulogies and the rousing to the frankly inept, the most memorable addresses in history are woven together to create a thrilling and powerful oratory rollercoaster..." 

Australia would be represented in theatre with a collaboration with Portugal company in a performance called Blackout, Windmill Theatre's Girl Asleep, and State Theatre of South Australia's The Seagull.

Interesting theatre programme for the Adelaide Festival.   More information on the Festival and other programmes: http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/

Opera Krakowska contemporary take on Madama Butterfly

It was a packed Friday evening (11 Oct) at the Krakow Opera House where Puccini's Madama Butterfly would be performed.  This contemporary looking building was opened in December 2008 and has since played an important role in the arts and culture calendar of Krakow.

The Krakow Opera was established in 1958 and did not have a permanent home till recently. This Opera House enables the company to plan and stage more performances.  In fact, the online Operabase website ranked Krakow Opera as the top 47 opera houses in the world, up from 98th position from the previous year.

Intermission time..

 I last caught Krakow Opera in 2008 where they staged La Boheme at the Julius Slowack Theatre, and I was eager to see this company again in its new (well, not so new now) home.

The 760-seat theatre was an intimate size and the audience was seated close to the stage.

On the night of performance, Marta Abako played the role of Cio-Cio-San and Tamasz Kuk took on the role of Pinkerton.  Both sang the role competently and I specially liked the dramatic acting of Marta Abako.  They were supported well by Agnieszka Czastka's Suzuki, Stanislaw Kufluk's Sharpless and Pawel Wunder's Goro.

It was a contemporary staging and the director Tomasz Tokarczyk made full use of the elevation stage and sliding sets to good effects.  The placement of singers and the chorus were also done smoothly.  The production team did take liberty with infusing various Asian elements into this production, and being an Asian, it looked awkward at times.  But this is just a minor comment.







This was the second Madama Butterfly production that I had seen this year, the other being Singapore Lyric Opera's production.  In terms of staging, Krakow Opera has an edge over SLO.

With appreciation to Opera Krakowska.  Website: http://www.opera.krakow.pl/english.php

Please also see my write-up on Wieliczkav Salt Mine

Plateau Effect by Cullberg Ballet: First encounter with choreographer Jefta van Dinther

It was a mix of young and young-at-heart audience on the Tuesday evening of Culberg Ballet's Plateau Effect.  It would be my second encounter wiht the Cullberg Ballet - the first being former Artistic Director Mats Ek's Giselle at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1999 (year to be confirmed).  So what a good way to end my journey in Stockholm by catching this company's performance at the Dansens Hus, a major dance venue in Sweden.

Performances at Nam Phu Fountain in the evening

Nam Phu Fountain was the landmark in Vientiane City.  In the evening, the area was converted into a dining area.  Visitors around the area would get to listen to music from the band hired by the restaurant.

The band performed mostly coveres and sang in English.  The standard is good.  Recommend for a drink there.


For more pages on Laos: http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/p/laos-travels_22.html

Vietnam Water Puppets.. again and again

This is my third time catching the Water Puppets.  The first was in the 90s in Singapore, the second occassion was in 2005 and now, 2012.  I enjoyed this art form and since I had some time to kill before my next appointment, I forked out 100,000d (US$5) for the 5 pm performance.  The troupe stages 3 performances a day and cheaper ticket prices are available.  It was a small auditorium and you had a good view even if you purchased the cheaper tickets.

The art form is believed to be more than 1000 years old and originated from the paddy fields.