OZ Acts As You Like it

OZ Acts As You Like it

OZActs’ rendition of William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at the Williamstown Botanic Gardens provided an accessible and high-quality theatrical experience.

Despite rain earlier in the day, the setting of the Botanic Gardens provided a perfect backdrop. The atmosphere outside the performance space was immediately immersive, with people dressed in period costumes milling about, playing music, and interacting with the audience before the show commenced.

One of the highlights of the production was Rosalind’s portrayal, whose expressive movements and charismatic presence captivated the audience from the start. Touchstone (the court Jester) also stood out, entertaining the crowd before the show and during intervals with his witty antics. He even indulged in playful banter with the audience, encouraging them to throw fruit at him.

Despite the inherent complexity of Shakespearean language, the play was easy to follow, pleasing the wide audience, which included many family members of the cast (which Touchstone pointed out to the audience) and children. Song interludes helped set the scenes, and classic lines such as “all the world’s a stage” were delivered poignantly, resonating with the audience.

The chemistry between cousins Rosalind and Celia was another standout aspect of the performance, particularly in scenes involving scheming and plotting. The actors delivered every line with confidence, and the quick costume changes between characters were executed impressively, adding to the dynamic nature of the production (noting that the whole production was outdoors – so there was no traditional dressing room!).

The side and background characters added layers of comedy to the play, contributing to its light-hearted and comic tone. Despite this, the production skillfully balanced the humour with the darker subject matter, reminding the audience of the characters’ banishment by the Duke.

The outdoor setting was utilized to its fullest potential, with the production cleverly using the space. For example, during a scene where a character hangs love poems about Rosalind, blank scrolls are hung on tree branches, enhancing the immersive experience.

The costumes were exemplary period pieces, with each outfit contributing to the characters’ disguises and identities. From the intricate details to the versatility of accents and mannerisms, the costumes added depth to the characters and the overall narrative.

The production maintained a high energy level throughout despite the challenges of staging an outdoor play in unpredictable weather conditions. Moments such as Rosalind fainting and needing to be carried (“Counterfeit, I assure you”) provided memorable highlights, showcasing the actors’ commitment to their roles.

Overall, OZActs’ “As You Like It” production at Williamstown Botanic Gardens was a delightful rendition of Shakespeare’s timeless classic.

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Comedy Roulette – Take The Gamble

Comedy Roulette

Down one of Melbourne’s scenic laneways on a mellow Wednesday night in Theory bar, Comedy Roulette was about to begin. Hanging plants and disco balls adorned the booked-out show, which was filled with enthusiastic first-time attendees.

The premise was simple and clever – as our two bubbly, enigmatic hosts, Kru Harale and Olga Loitsenko, explained to us – behind the comedians on stage, a large spinning wheel was to be projected, containing a wide variety of prompts from “what Sydney hates about Melbourne”’ (which Hannah Sainty nailed – the good-looking people, and the good coffee) to “self-help titles that won’t sell”.

The wheel would begin to spin when the audience chanted, “Spin…that…wheel!”. The line-up of comedians rotates per show (much like the wheel itself), with this show featuring Suren Jayemanne, Diana Nguyen, Charlie Lewin, Hannah Sainty, Henry Yan, Zach Riley, Chris Nguyen, Aarti Vincent, Oliver Coleman, and the two fabulous hosts. A callout of “Who in the audience likes gambling?!” was met with a chuckle, and the games had begun – with the wheel’s prompts being a surprise to the comedians.

The show kicked off with Olga bantering with the front row and introducing the audience to a winning Estonian Eurovision song (and hilariously noting how widely Eurovision had been expanded for Australia even to be included).

Comedy Roulette

Oliver then made the audience giggle with his ‘enlightened’ persona, complaining about people meditating in public in Coburg. The laughs of the audience were magnified at various times throughout the night when jokes featured familiar Melbourne locations and tropes – later, the famously unclean Flinders Street Railway Station toilets would be the butt of a joke.

The comics employed various ways of engaging with the audience to spin the supposedly “voice-activated” wheel throughout the night, including stating “, We are a cult, and we must chant!”. Charlie didn’t miss a beat when the wheel had a momentary technical delay – he casually bantered with the audience like they were old friends, giving some sage words of wisdom – when your boomer Dad cracks it at one of your siblings – take that as an opportunity to add in your own personal crises to the mix.

After a quick drink break, the comedy took a more introspective turn, with topics ranging from Hannah’s reflections on the absurdities of health food shops to Suren’s thoughts on the complexities of religion, family dynamics, and the true crime genre (which Chris noted he loved listening to, but not partaking in). I laughed particularly hard at Zach’s recollection of a horrible past job in an unsanitary pub kitchen and when an audience member asked Aarti about her ‘worst Tinder date’, as she dryly explained that she was married before Tinder was even invented.

Henry charmed the audience with his awkward and endearing persona and stories. Diana’s candid anecdote about her mother’s horrified reaction to a previous comedy show entitled ‘Naked’ ended Comedy Roulette on a high, leaving the audience in stitches with her unabashed humour.

Throughout the night, each of the 11 comedians delivered an audience-engaging set of observant, clever, and witty jokes—the perfect mix of pre-prepared stand-up material and fast-paced improvisation. Comedy Roulette is a gateway drug to the upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival, in which many of the aforementioned comics will be performing. Take a gamble if you dare, as this is a room full of comedians to watch.

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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The King’s Singers

The Kings Singers

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 King's Singers

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

French Film Festival - The Book Of Solutions

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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