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The King’s Singers

26 March 202421 March 2024 Karen Yee

The King’s Singers (KS) is a classical music supergroup with two Grammys and one Emmy that performs over 100 concerts per season all over the world. If you haven’t heard of them, then open your ears!

This group have been around since 1968 and is steeped in the English choral tradition of King’s College Cambridge, but brings those high precision vocal and ensemble skills to an eclectic range of styles from avant-garde to Renaissance to contemporary pop.

The line-up has changed over the years, but the quality and versatility of the group have not. Jonathon Howard (bass) has been a member for 13 years, and Christopher Bruerton (baritone) for 11 years. Chris is from NZ, and don’t we Aussies love to embrace Kiwis who make the international stage! Patrick Dunachie and Edward Button sing countertenor (the male equivalent of the soprano range), Julian Gregory, tenor, and Nick Ashby, baritone.

The current lineup has been stable for four years, and what a busy four years it has been! They have released 11 albums since 2019 and also launched their Global Foundation, which seeks to reach out to community singers and choirs through free workshops and online sing-along videos. The foundation also nurtures new composers through competitions, workshops, and commissions and brings in mentors such as Joe Hisaishi and Ola Gjeilo.

Their website says, “Underpinning all this work is the fundamental belief that the act of singing together is beneficial, both individually and also for the societies in which we live. In today’s ever-more fractured world, we feel it’s more important than ever.”

The album that showcases songs that bind people together in grief, in celebration, or when fighting for a cause is “Finding Harmony”(2020) and their Melbourne Recital Centre concert (19 March, 2024) opened with four songs from this album, including This Little Light of Mine and If I Can Help Somebody from the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.

Three albums were released in 2023 (I told you they were busy!), and we were treated to highlights from each. ”Tom + Will – Weelkes & Byrd: 400 Years” featured Renaissance psalms and madrigals, “Wonderland” featured avant-garde musical storytelling with Georgy Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories, and “When You Wish Upon a Star” is a Disney album but with arrangements commissioned from the likes of John Rutter, Toby Young and Alexander L’Estrange.

However, it was the Australian ties that brought the experience close to our hearts. During the tour that placed the King’s Singers on the international stage in 1972, they visited 30 different Australian cities and sang a song they had commissioned from Australian composer Malcolm Williamson. This song “The Musicians of Bremen” was recorded for Wonderland (2023) and really shined in performance with each singer taking on a character in the story (donkey, dog, cat, rooster, and two would-be thieves).

Derek Bogle’s song ‘’And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” always brings me to tears but the dissonance between the bare-faced lyrics (about the ANZAC veteran returning from war without legs and asking the question why) and the light musical setting was even more poignant due to beauty of the arrangement and the softly caressing warm velvety tones that is the King’s Singer’s signature sound.

If a choir nerd friend brought you, there was more than enough familiar music to keep you happy: from Mexican mariachi band to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Beatles and even Horses by Aussie Daryl Braithwaite, now a pop music favourite. They were pleased to tell us that the Melbourne Recital Centre is one of their favourite venues in the whole world and gave us two encores – a hilarious Flight of the Bumblebee (complete with an imagined bee making a nuisance of itself) and then I Still Call Australia Home. What’s not to like!

Finally, to choir nerds—did you know that Timothy Wayne-Wright, ex-KS, now lives in NZ and visits Australia regularly? He will be leading professional development workshops for singers and conductors at UKARIA A Capella Academy, Adelaide, in June 2024, with VOCES8 as Ensemble in Residence. Get on it if you can!

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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French Film Festival – The Book Of Solutions

12 March 2024 Kat Skarbek

The Book of Solutions is a quirky, sometimes funny, sometimes confusing comedy-drama from writer-director Michel Gondry, who is best known outside of France for directing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The story centres on Marc, a paranoid filmmaker with a narcissistic personality and an incredibly creative but highly distractible mind, which borders on the pathological. To prevent the studio from shutting his film down, he and his crew steal the footage and retreat to Marc’s aunt’s house in the country to finish it.

Marc spends most of his time there, avoiding watching his film whilst restlessly pursuing whatever idea takes hold of his mind at the moment. These pursuits range from being elected mayor of the rural town to filming an ant for three days to creating a soundtrack for his film by gracelessly conducting the orchestra himself with a series of bizarre body and hand gestures. The orchestra scene was a particular favourite, and I enjoyed the idea that someone clueless could make something special happen through their unwavering belief in themselves.

Marc’s pompous narration throughout is also very funny, with a favourite line coming after his triumphant booking of Sting (who works on his soundtrack): ‘Some victories are so spectacular they don’t need a voiceover’.

Over the course of the movie, his increasingly erratic mood and behaviour begin to alienate his crew, worry his elderly aunt, and lead to him being unable to tell facts from fiction in real life. His strangely obsessive thoughts result in him writing ‘The Book of Solutions’, which is supposed to provide the answers to any conflict from the local to the global. All of the ideas in the book are based on his own highly skewed (and often contradictory) perception of the world as he tries to finish his film while his mind simultaneously unravels.

Although Marc’s childlike ability to lose himself in whatever captures his attention at the moment is a beautiful illustration of the power of being totally present, I personally found the film lacked a satisfying story. Like Marc, the film jumps from one thing to the next without any real connectivity or explanation, although it’s an enjoyable journey nonetheless.

Perhaps this lack of a traditional storyline can be chalked up to the fact that it is, after all, a French film and the French have a far more existential relationship with story and filmmaking than Hollywood does. Or perhaps it’s because the film represents a confusing window into the internal struggle of an unsound but sometimes brilliant mind.

Regardless, it’s as darkly humorous and provocative as one might expect a French film to be and is certainly worth watching, even if you’re new to French cinema.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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A Fish Is A Terrible Friend

11 March 2024 Karen Yee

Phoebe Anne Taylor heard the words she wrote in her play A Fish Is a Terrible Friend spoken out loud for the first time in three years and was terrified. Written over a period of one and a half weeks whilst in residency at Arteles Creative Center in Finland eight years ago, Taylor’s words give life to characters negotiating the meaning of life, love and loss and reveal a lot about her thoughts at the time. I was privileged to attend a reading of the play hosted by Incognita Enterprises at the inspiring venue and artists’ hub, Montsalvat, Eltham.

A play reading is very different from a fully produced play. There are no costumes or sets, lighting or sound effects to convey when or where a scene takes place. We have to listen carefully to the “big print,” that is, the playwright’s descriptions of the scenes and actions of the characters, which are read out loud by a Narrator, in this case, Taylor herself, who is also an actor.

It is understood that the actors will be reading from their script with little or no rehearsal. In this case, there was one rehearsal a week before. The actors remain seated for the duration, and we watch them carefully for facial expressions and body language that add to their vocal communication. There is nothing else to watch. We have to use our imagination to provide an image of the character’s appearance and movements (for example, when the narrator says, “They kiss”).

This makes the whole experience more like listening to a radio play or podcast, and I closed my eyes to picture the scenario or wondered how it could be made to work on stage. We are drawn into being co-creators of the play’s imagery in our minds. In fact, the whole creative process is on show here, especially highlighted by the playwright’s introduction and the Q&A discussion at the end. I found it an exhilarating and inspirational format.

Luckily for us, actors Sarah Hallam, Sally McLean, Paul Rochford and Phoebe Anne Taylor are all seasoned professionals who are so highly trained that each of them are also actor trainers. It was not hard to follow what was happening, and the performances were engaging. Interestingly, Taylor has been intentionally writing gender-neutral characters into her plays for some time now. This allows them to be played by any gender, whether cis or trans. The characters pronouns are written parenthetically as “(they/them)” which then can be replaced in the rehearsal stage with the preferred pronoun of the actor and/or at the discretion of the director.

The protagonists of this play are Alpha (Rochford) and Omega (Hallam), and they need to work out their tortured relationship before the world ends. “I want to die with you, but I couldn’t leave you”, admits Alpha while they watch the doom approaching. McLean plays four other characters who serve to interrupt, comment on and move the action along. Her reading of the sleazy bartender called the Flamingo was hilarious and pretty much stole the show.

I haven’t given away much about the play itself because the highlights of this play reading were the insights into Taylor’s creative process and how it sparked my own imagination. Plus, I think you should see it yourself when it gets fully produced. In the meantime, keep an eye on Incognita Enterprises for its quality events, classes, and productions.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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French Film Festival: The Edge Of The Blade

6 March 2024 Rebecca Yeo

Ooh la la—it’s time for the 35th Annual French Film Festival. This year’s festival runs from 5 March to early to mid-April, depending on where you live. So, stock up on your favourite French treats, French Fries, Croissants, Baguettes and Escargot, and get into the spirit of this film festival. I was lucky to start the festival with a French Musketeer-flavoured film, “The Edge of the Blade.”

Set in Paris in 1887, The Edge of the Blade (French: Une affaire d’honneur) explores a world where duels have been officially outlawed but continue to be a regular practice as the only possible way to defend one’s honour.

Clement Lacaze, a fencing expert, desperately tries to prevent his nephew from engaging in an uneven duel with more experienced Colonel Berchere. Meanwhile, Marie-Rose Astie de Valsayre, a feminist fighting for women’s equality, challenges the notion that honour is solely a male affair. The movie effectively portrays various forms of duels, making it a highly conceivable experience.

The Edge of the Blade is Vincent Perez’s fourth feature, and he acts as both director and actor in his latest flick. Perez plays the film’s antagonist, Colonel Berchere, who defends his honour by duelling the main antagonist, Clement Lacaze (played by Roschdy Zem), and his nephew, Adrien Lacaze (played by Noham Edje). Doria Tiller appears as real-life feminist Marie-Rose Astie de Valsayre. Although interesting, seeing her life story depicted in her own movie would be additionally pleasing.

The Edge of the Blade is a fascinating look into a part of history that is uncommon today. It delves into the craze of duels and themes of honour and justice. The film also displays a backdrop of impending war and societal changes. Fight scenes are skillfully choreographed, and the production design adds to the film’s historical authenticity.

The Edge of the Blade captures the tension of a bygone era, where honour, pride, and equality intersect. Vincent Perez’s direction and acting contribute to a film that balances action, drama, and historical context. If you appreciate period pieces and enjoy a touch of swashbuckling adventure, this film is worth exploring.

Don’t go at a snail’s pace—check out The Edge of the Blade at this year’s Alliance Francaise French Film Festival before time runs out in April. Films and film session details are on the official French Film Festival website.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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