After being involved in the theatre scene for almost 16 years, it still surprises me just how articulately live performance can capture a unique experience and make it feel universal. Seeing Threadbare was one such experience. Regardless of background, status or age, the audience were invited with open loving arms to sit and feel this story of identity, belonging and fading memories.
We follow Sasha who has some exciting news they would like to share with their beloved gran Elaine. But the repercussions of sharing this part of their lives might damage the relationship between them. Elaine also has dementia. Time seems fleeting and memories are fading. But luckily Sasha has the safety net of a home filled with the love of the family they have chosen.
Multidisciplinary artist Tomas Parrish-Chynoweth embodies the character of Sasha with beautiful vulnerability. Etched on their face and voice was the fraught complexity of navigating through love, identity and memory. Rebecca Morton’s Elaine was simply divine to watch. Every time we saw the light of recognition fade from her eyes, our hearts would crumble to pieces. Sasha’s partner Kaden was played by Blake Appleqvist. Their ability to expertly balance softness, heat and comedy added dimension to the budding relationship that few actors would be able to achieve. Matisse Laida’s Riley gave the audience permission to find humour in some of the more absurd aspects of queerness. Comic timing is no joke but Laida used it with graceful ease.
Completing the family was Sarah Fitzgerald as Kahani. Their performance perfectly encapsulated the exhausting burden of being the “caretakers” of the family. Each actor moved with fluidity, trust and conviction. This can be credited to Manali Datar’s adept and careful direction. Congratulations on this triumphant directorial debut! What this team has achieved with Tomas Parrish-Chynoweth’s poignant script is nothing short of brilliant.
Leaving the theatre space, I could see I was definitely not the only audience member with tears in their eyes and a smile on their face. Sometimes tolerance and forgiveness can feel like wounding yourself especially if you are the oppressed. And sometimes it is too much to bear at the risk of disturbing your peace. But if you can do it, it can also be the greatest gift you give yourself and another person. Love is love is love and at its heart, Threadbare is a celebration of acceptance in all its forms and love in all its forms. I can still feel it holding me close like the warm embrace of my grandmother. Threadbare is showing at the St Martins Youth Arts Centre until the 19th of July.
Creating a successful one-man show is a Herculean task. It requires an enduring assurance of self, vigour of spirit and bold leaps of faith. If you have furthermore chosen to stage an autobiographical story, then the courage and confidence that is required of you is tenfold. Writer and performer Peter Cook has achieved great critical acclaim and impressive mileage from his one-man play Breaking the Castle currently showing at Theatre Works until the 19th of July. Since its premier on the Canberra stage in 2020, this show has undergone a few iterations and is promised to continue developing. If you don’t manage to catch it before the weekend, just quickly zip over to the Sydney Opera House where it will be showing from the 23rd to the 26th of July. Or keep an eye out for the film that will be sure to come out soon.
Upon entry the audience is greeted with a thrust stage (pun intended) designed by Raymond Milner. A menagerie of detritus from half-eaten takeaway containers, books by Shakespeare, alcohol bottles and lines of cocaine litter the space. Eminem’s proclamations of strength and grit fill our ears as we find our seats in one of three sides of the audience. It starts and we begin the journey of this man’s struggle with addiction, ambition and self-actualization.
Enter Davey: an aspiring actor who loves Shakespeare, one-night stands, alcohol and drugs. But this love affair comes at much too high a price. The cost of numbing yourself from unprocessed trauma means that you also lose touch with reality and who you want to be. To be or not to be, indeed.
Each emotional beat of this performance can be credited to director Dr Bridget Boyle and her keen eye for blocking and pacing. There is a strong sense of honest collaboration between the director and writer/ performer and this relationship of trust shines through onstage. You can almost see Boyle’s invisible guiding hand as Cook moves through the space, embodying various characters and voices. The use of Kimmo Vennonen’s soundscape and Ben Hughes’ lighting design further accentuated each dramatic moment as they transpire.
Breaking the Castle is earnest, defiant and deeply personal. It is no easy feat to present your life and bear the vulnerability of self reflection. Yet at its core, this show is about knowing the life you want and daring to pursue it. I wish Peter Cook all the best of luck in finding more things that he likes about himself and the beautiful journey that lies ahead.
Globally, the name ‘Anne Frank’ is recognized either from history lessons, reading the book, seeing the movie, travelling to The Netherlands or seeing the play such as I saw tonight presented by Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Company.
A theatre I had not been to before, the Lilydale Athenaeum Hall was built in 1888 and has itself a rich and interesting past, so immediately we step inside we are greeted with an ornate surrounding and red tapestry like walls depicting tales of those such as Dame Nellie Melba complete with her replica gowns. The ‘diary of a young girl’ on stage tonight has just as much power, strength and tenacity as any worthy legend.
It was my one regret when I travelled around the world that I did not visit the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family, the 17th-century canal building now known as Anne Frank House. Therefore, seeing this play, was like seeing inside what that place was like for her and her family and the people they welcomed in to stay with them in hiding in World War II. This family was nothing short of giving and kind and so were those risking their own lives who helped them.
Had it not been for a thief alerting the ‘green police’ to their hidden whereabouts, Anne’s family may have in fact survived the war. But it was only Anne’s father who came home and thereupon found Anne’s diary she had kept for their years in hiding. Having it originally published in 1947, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK gives an accurate account of what is was like for Jewish people in that terrible time, but at the same time, it gives a message of hope in how Anne, being a young teenager, could somehow look past the doom to visualize in her mind more of what the world might offer her.
Though Anne was not fortunate enough to survive the concentration camps after they were found in hiding in a small secret annex in Anne’s father’s Amsterdam business; in her diary she left a legacy of hope and a story of tremendous courage. It would be a privileged honour to play her character and Emily Barnes-Read, 18, in her first ‘community theatre’ production after multiple school lead roles, is so exceptional here that I felt every word from her was exactly how Anne would have spoken; how Anne would have felt; how Anne would have reacted.
Anyone who has raised teenage girls I’m sure would feel the same watching this show and my heart poured out love for Anne having to also overcome those challenging years of adolescence in such a cramped space – owing even more credit to her character and resilience and a credit to Emily’s star quality in conveying Anne’s every emotion as real as possible. Good poke of the tongue too!
There are some little laughs along the way. True friends help them stay hidden and bring them food. Food creates some of the comical situations and also those much more serious. The scene in which bread is eaten without permission highlights the acting abilities of Elizabeth Van Spronsen playing Anne’s mother, Edith. She was my favourite character in this show, inconspicuous at first as many mother figures are, but bellowing by the end that she will not stand for what is not right.
Anne’s father, Otto, played by David Spencer-Gardner, would be such a difficult role and David conquers it perfectly. He needs to be firm, tender, worried, confident, but above all he is a Dad and Anne loves him. I think one of the most beautiful parts of this play is Anne’s love for her Dad and how it shows the relationship of father-daughter support. It must have been a proud day her Dad first saw the work of Anne’s diary in print, very sad, but I’m sure very proud.
The story overall is somber of course as all war stories are, even ones that end well are usually still heart-stopping. However I expected to feel a lot more sad than I did at the end and I think this was because of the Director’s and Cast’s skills to extend to the audience in part a feeling of hope; that although these eight people lived in what none of us would ever want to contemplate, there was quiet hope within those walls that kept them safe one day at a time.
When finally the sirens blare; a scene you didn’t want to come but you knew it eventually would, because you know the story, I actually shallowed my breath. Everyone was frozen in their seats. At that moment we all witnessed these actors bring the reality and gut-wrenching feeling of that situation to us. All these years later, far far away from where it factually happened, we were there, you could sense their fear, their panic, their surrender to what was now inevitable. All I could think of afterwards is that I never want that feeling to be real for me or anyone I love; the world must make peace.
When Anne’s father reads Anne’s most important words from her writings, I am positive that almost no one in the audience could have avoided feeling emotional. Anne believed mostly “people are good at heart”. So may we all apply Anne’s spirit and message to this day and always. May we forever strive to live in a better world. A world of kindness and hope. And, as my own child packs (as I write this) to soon travel overseas for the first time on her own, I pray this is the future; sooner rather than later.
Congratulations to this wonderfully talented cast and production team. I have so much respect for all your efforts from casting and costuming to set, lighting and sound – you all brought together this very important play; a thought-provoking and humbling experience. THANK YOU and WELL DONE to the expertise of Kellie Tweeddale (Director) and Angela Glennie (Production Manager).
THE AMAZING CAST:
ANNE FRANK – Emily Barnes-Read OTTO FRANK – David Spencer-Gardner EDITH FRANK – Elizabeth van Spronsen MARGOT FRANK – Em Beggs PETER VAN DAAN – Jackson Langelaan MRS VAN DAAN – Elizabeth Matjacic MR VAN DAAN – Mark Crowe MR DUSSEL – Jonathan Edwards MIEP GIES – Alexandra Carter MR KRALER – Jason Triggs
Based on THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK Book by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich Playing 3-19 July at Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Company
Venue: 39-41 Castella Street, Lilydale. If you don’t live close to the theatre then make the time to travel, plus there’s a great restaurant GRACIOUS GRACE CAFÉ right next door which is open for dinner during theatre seasons and it is worth the trip!
Photographer: Alexandra Carter – Wanderling Photography
You’ve seen headlines ripped straight from the world of this Nick Enright’s Blackrock. Stories of masculinity in violent crisis. Stories of economic divides pushing apart people who should stand together to support each other. Stories of female rape victims and witnesses being silenced by the communities that claim to protect them. An almost thirty-year-old play that explores issues as malleable and complex as gender, class and sexual violence should not be as relevant today as it was at the time, but it is. The fact that Lunatix Theatre’s production (directed by Grace Mclaughlin and Maddie Richards) resonated as strongly as it did is a credit not just to the writing but to the cast, director and designers involved.
Blackrock takes place in a small beach town of the same name, home to many working-class teenagers and their families. One night, a drunken birthday party ends in the gruesome death of a young girl, as she is found with her head smashed in by a rock after having been raped by three boys. Most of the story examines the fallout of this tragedy, with a young man named Jared (Flecther Von Arx) finding himself torn between loyalty to his ‘mates’; supporting his outraged girlfriend, Rachel (Sabrina Rault), whose brother is implicated in the crime; and coming to terms with his own place in the town.
While Jared is the main character, this play relies heavily on its ensemble cast, and the rapport, skill and energy across the board create scenes that feel greater than the sum of their actors. The dialogue itself feels age-appropriate without being cringey, and the actors bring it to life perfectly. Von Arx’s Jared is vulnerable and sympathetic for all his flaws, Rault’s performance as Rachel creates a strong likeable moral anchor, and Jared’s best friend, Ricko (played by Bailey Griffiths), has some of the most harrowing moments in the show, demonstrating the mundane horror of a mind that warps the rape and murder of a teenage girl into something that “just happened”.
This isn’t to downplay the rest of the ensemble, who all give amazing performances, especially in their physicality. The banter between the boys feels palpably uneasy even before tragedy strikes, due to the constant but subtle strutting, chest puffing and matey arm touches – casual ‘violence’ that foreshadows the real physical threat almost every male character in the play poses at some point. The actors also aren’t afraid to talk over each other, commit to physically uncomfortable scenes when necessary, and be extremely vulnerable overall. There is a great sense of trust and maturity, which is essential for navigating material this heavy.
The world of Blackrock is fleshed out further through design, with surfboards and wood panelling rightly marking the beach as the centre of the action, and consistent costume changes giving a strong sense of time passing, which is essential to strike home the long-term damage done to this community. There are some beautiful moments where lighting is used to create a sense of place, such as a blue spotlight giving the impression of the edge of a dock by the ocean. The only snag was the reliance on blackouts for major scene transitions, which sometimes killed the energetic pacing set by the cast.
This may be a difficult show for some to engage with. Most of the characters say or do heinous things, and yet we are invited to at least understand even the most warped perspectives. The mechanisms of denial, blame and desensitisation that kick in when people can’t face the truth are put on naked, ugly display. Still, whether you think you can step into Blackrock or not, keep an eye out for Lunatix’s future work. They created an experience that was deeply uncomfortable, deeply sad, and in desperate need of being seen.
