Tag Archives: Australian Theatre Live

Australian Theatre Live – Emerald City

On Demand, Play January 29, 2024 Leave a comment

In 2014, when the artistic director of the Griffin Theatre Company,  Lee Lewis, had the opportunity to direct any play she wished, she reached back nearly 30 years to David Williamson’s comedic drama Emerald City.  The work continues to travel maddeningly well through time.  Using his own experience as a springboard, the Australian playwright examines the struggle between artistic passion and the desire for money and power.  Available to stream on the relatively-new-to-the US Australian Theatre Live, it is a treat for those who missed it during an early run produced by New York Theater Workshop.

The city in question is not the one Dorothy visited, but rather the glittery harbor-famed Sydney where in-demand screenwriter Colin (Mitchell Butel) has recently relocated his family from the more staid and traditional Melbourne.  He hopes the colorful energy of his new surroundings will be creatively renewing after his latest film disappointed at the box office.  But a new partnership with the well-connected vulgarian Mike (Ben Winspear) plays havoc with Colin’s priorities and reputation.  A secondary plot involving Colin’s wife of 18 years, Kate, (Lucy Bell) centers on book publishing and the question of who can tell a story, once-again relevant in the season of The Killers of the Flower Moon.  Colin’s agent, Elaine, (Jennifer Hagan), his bank manager, Malcolm, (Gareth Yuen) and Mike’s live-in girlfriend, Helen, (Kelly Paterniti) play pivotal roles in the unfolding of events.

Kelly Paterniti as Helen and Ben Winspear as Mike in Emerald City;
photo by Brett Boardman

There are two main reasons why the play still resonates.  While there has been an increase in the appetite for quality on screens big and small, there is still little profit to be made in arthouse projects: a dilemma for talent.  But there is also a timelessness to Williamson’s satiric conversation and smartly drawn characters.  His observational ability is on full display, especially when actors break the fourth wall and make us coconspirators.  Focus whips between them connecting with their audience and being in the moment, providing side-by-side viewpoints.  Butel is particularly skilled at humorously parroting the others.  Though it is the men who take up most of the 125 minute runtime with their posturing and machismo, the women with their deeper combination of beauty and brains are the ones behind the more surprising and memorable moments.  The piece begins to drag a bit towards the end, though that may be my post-pandemic attention span unaccustomed to two full acts.

Designer Ken Done supports the central conflict with his backdrop for Act I playfully drawn and the one for Act II dressed for business, shrouded in beige fabric.  A single couch and coffee table serve as all living rooms and a sole desk and sectional Everyman’s office.  This allows director Lewis to squeeze every millimeter from the tiny stage, including the area between staircases, and facilitates seamless handoffs between characters at a brisk pace.  Lighting designer Luiz Pampolha provides emphasis as does costumer designer Sophie Fletcher’s pops of color.

The Griffin was launched by actors and remains artisan-focused.  In his introduction to the digital version of Emerald City, Williamson makes clear that this is not a film but rather a first rate production viewed from the best seat in the house.  Indeed the camerawork is smooth and obviously well rehearsed, the sound is pristine, and the acting style genuinely theatrical.  Closed captioning is available as is a 10 second back button.  The stream costs $7.99 at https://stream.australiantheatre.live/ and is just one entry in a growing library developed with the intention of expanding access to Australian performing arts.

Australian Theatre Live – Orange Thrower

On Demand, streaming November 15, 2023 Leave a comment

For a little over a year, the non-profit Australian Theatre Live has made some of that continent’s most innovative stage productions available on demand.  Much like the New York Public Library’s Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, the platform also serves to preserve the works of a variety of performing artists. ATL is making their official US debut by hosting two public screenings — the second of which is in New York tomorrow* — as a springboard for building a relationship with a new audience. In addition to attracting theater lovers and fellow artists, they are offering an education-specific subscription service to bring this enriching content into the classroom.

For my introduction to the platform, I chose Kirsty Marillier’s Orange Thrower presented by the Griffin Theatre Company.  Griffin is Australia’s only theatre company that is dedicated exclusively to producing new playwrights.  Their Stables Theatre is a 105 seat house with a “kite shaped” stage that promotes a distinct and intimate relationship between performers and viewers.  That vibrancy translated well to the digital realm where director Peter Hiscock used three cameras to bring the home audience into the world created on stage by director/musician/performer Zindzi Okenyo.

The 80 minute comedic drama covers familiar territory from a unique perspective.  There is a layer of the mystical which is fittingly never fully explained.  This is not just a coming-of-age story, but rather one of coming-into-being.  We meet Zadie (Gabriela Van Wyk), a young woman of African decent living in a white suburban development, ironically called Paradise.  While she has code switched to the point of being almost permanently “on,” her younger sister Vimsey (Mariama Whitton) cannot wait to escape to a big city like Johannesburg where she’d find more people who look like her and share her perspective.  Their conflicting views are heightened when the two girls receive an unexpected visitor, Stekkie (director Okenyo) while their parents are away in South Africa.  Rounding out the cast is Callan Colley who provides brightness and levity in his two catalytic roles.  

Gabriela Van Wyk, Mariama Whitton and Callan Colley in Orange Thrower, a Griffin Theatre Company production available on ATL; photo by Brett Boardman

Designer Jeremy Allen’s set is centered around an open rectangle which is both a physical and a metaphorical window.  The moody lighting by Verity Hampson and a soundscape by Benjamin Pierpoint in which memories make a noise add to the feeling of otherworldliness.  Easily changed costumes topped off by Dynae Wood’s perfect wigs complete the imagery.  There is a warning that the production includes depictions of drug use, gun violence and mature themes, though these moments are nearly dreamlike.

During the pandemic, some American theatre companies offered a streaming option, but more often in the US the art form has been entangled in red tape and mismanagement. The on-demand vault of Australian Theatre Live currently has 26 entries created in partnership with nearly two dozen theatres and arts organizations.  It illustrates the value of making theatre accessible to everyone whether they live miles from a venue, have limited income, or have mobility issues.  As important, every cent of a $7.99 per month subscription goes to supporting the artists.  Learn more at https://australiantheatre.live/.  

* New Yorkers: You can join ATL for the New York debut of Indigenous artist Dylan Van Den Berg’s Whitefella Yella Tree, another Griffin Theatre Company production, at the Australian Theatre Festival (1350 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2400), on November 16, at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 p.m.)  To  register your interest in attending, please fill out this form.