Art Smitten

Hosts Erin and Michaela were joined on the mics with Producer Lauren to share stories about their parents (trying) to use technology. 

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On Thursday I went to see The Addams Family Musical, a performance by Federation University’s 2016 graduating Musical Theatre class. The musical comedy was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and based on Charles Addams’ iconic characters in his comic strip The Addams Family. It was performed at Theatre Works on Acland St in St Kilda and its closing night was on Saturday.

As soon as the orchestra began playing the overture you knew this play would be a crowd pleaser. Rainer Pollard conducted a talented group of musicians, who were both expressive and controlled, and their performance suggested a strong connection between the conductor and musicians. The play then began with the Addams family gathered around the family tree in the graveyard, a yearly ritual to celebrate life and death, and honour their ancestors. The ensemble of ancestors, portraying figures like Marie Antoinette, a WW1 soldier and a suffragette, were summoned out of their graves for the first number; When You’re an Addams. What a spectacular start to the show. The entire cast were charismatic and the blocking of the dancing was inspired and well planned. Adrienne Chisholm’s set and costume design was fantastic, notably the ancestors looked like spooky spectres as they swanned across the stage.

As the family return to the house, Uncle Fester (Liam Dodds) stayed behind and closed off the gates to the underworld, enlisting the help of his ancestors to ensure a dinner scheduled for that night went smoothly. Wednesday Addams, (Tess Walsh) had suddenly fallen in love with a preppy young man from Ohio, Lucas Beineke (Jack Saunders) and invited him around for dinner so their two families could meet. Two worlds were about to collide, and the couple needed all the help they could get for One Normal Night, the name of another musical number which was spellbinding.

Many of the family members struggled to understand Wednesday’s new found feelings, as she began to favour bursting into song over torturing her brother Pugsley (Mackenzie Pinder). Her parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams (Andrew Thomas, Bridget Mylecharane) are gravely concerned by her new attitude but try to set aside their differences for the sake of their daughter’s happiness. However, Pugsley fears he will lose his sister to the light side and plots to break up her relationship during the dinner. The prim parents of Lucas, Mal and Alice Beineke (Shaune Davis, Cathryn McDonald) arrive and are seated for supper. They end the meal with a game called Full Disclosure, where you slip from a chalice and tell the absolute truth. Pugsley pours a potion into the cup, a concoction which is designed to bring out one’s dark side, and it is intended for Wednesday but is instead intercepted by Alice and she transforms into her less inhibited self.

A special mention goes to Patrick Schnur, who played the butler, Lurch, and to Emma Austin who played Grandma Addams. They were delightful to watch for their comedic timing in particular. A highlight of the night was when the Beineke’s had arrived and the family was trying to be as ordinary as possible. Grandma, returning from the cemetery of ancestors, suddenly bursts through the front door, and seeing them exclaims, “Boy, is it normal out there!” Another highlight was the expressions on all performers faces during the scene where Alice asks whether they have a little girls room, and Gomez replies “We used to but we let them all out.” Liam Dodds should be commended for his convincing and expressive performance of Uncle Fester, a character who is in love with the moon. My only criticism would be concerning the Tango De Amor towards the end of the Act Two, which felt a bit underwhelming on the technique side in comparison to the other dance numbers. However, it was an extremely strong performance by all cast and crew. The director, David Wynen, Musical Director, Rainer Pollard and Production Manager, Jim Austin, should be pleased with their show.

Review written by Erin Connellan

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Hosts Erin and Michaela had the chance to chat to designer and visual artist, CALLUM MORTON from Ranters Theatre Company to discuss Come Away with Me to the End of the World.

Come Away with Me to the End of the World is being performed at Malthouse Theatre – the Beckett Theatre from the 5th – 24th July.

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On Friday night I danced to the rhythmic genius of Quarter Street, one of Melbourne’s hottest Salsa bands, as they performed in the first of three “House Parties” at the heritage-listed Kew Court House. Spoilt with a dance floor rather than a seated concert, the audience took full advantage of the space in the former courthouse and police station.

Quarter Street champion the gritty sounds typical of the Salsa Dura, a style developed in 1970s New York by the Puerto Rican migrants. Unlike its brother, Salsa Romántica, the Salsa Dura is less polished and demands a more darling sound, especially from its brass section. Quarter Street did not disappoint in that respect. Lazaro Pompa, on trumpet, along with Ben Gillespie and Jimmy Bowman, on trombones, commanded the stage with their explosive fanfare. They jolted the party to life with quick bursts of notes, bending them around the beat.

The boys melted these vibrant melodies with their dynamic rhythms, charming the audience into swaying along with the music. Leo Salvo, on the güiro, Luis Poblete, on the congas, Cris Saavedra, on the bongos and cow bell and Sebastian Orellana on the drums, maintained a tight beat. However, this wasn’t the end of the rhythm section. Cesar Saavedra, on double base, along with a mysterious pianoman reinforced the beat through their melodic instruments and created that distinctive salsa sound. Together, they formed a smooth unit which balanced instrumental breaks and vocal sections.

With that, who could forget the vocals of Sergio Botero, along with Salvo and Poblete. Their deeper tones cut through the higher pitches of the brass section, giving the songs a richness. To suggest they are simply singers would be selling them short; they are best described as entertainers. Botero’s spirited dancing was infectious and drew the crowd from the comfort of the walls to the open dance floor.

Quarter Street closed their two-hour performance with Tumba la Caña Jibarito, or Grave, Beer, Sandwich. They called for the audience to revel in the hedonistic pleasures given to you in the moment, especially due to the inevitability of death. Both the sound and sentiment resonated with the audience, and a majority of the crowd tossed away their insecurities and dared to dance for the final song. The way I moved could only be described as a balter; an archaic English word which means to dance without art or skill, but with great joy and enthusiasm. However, it is important to note for those of you who also balter around the dancefloor, that this did not affect the quality of the night. Whether you are a seasoned salsa dancer or owner of two left feet, Quarter street will persuade you to shake off your inhibitions and allow their beat to flow through you.

The Kew Court House will be having two more House Parties, starring the 8-piece Melbourne band, Papa Chango, who merge together afrobeat and psychedelic guitar, and Melbourne based Mariachi Los Romanticos, who blend Mexican folk and pop with Spanish lyrics and Latin rhythm. Papa Chango will perform on the 29th of July and Mariachi Los Romanticos will perform on the 26th of August, with doors opening at 7pm. Tickets are available online at the Hawthorne Arts Centre website. However, if you’re interested in catching Quarter Street, check out their next gig at Open Studio in Northcote, on the 22nd of July at 9pm or find them playing at The Night Cat in Fitzroy.

Review written by Erin Connellan

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Rachel reviews Nic Green's Trilogy at Arts House in Melbourne.

Triology was performed for a limited season at Arts House in Melbourne. Trilogy was presented across the UK to wide acclaim. 

"Trilogy begins by celebrating women in today’s world – with all their complexities, in their skins and as they are. Honest and adventurous, Trilogy deftly weaves performance, participation, discussion, music and archival material; carving out new space for feminism and rallying the power and strength in women together." - City of Melbourne.

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Emma reviews the Malthouse Theatre’s production of The Events 

The Events was written as a response to the 2011 massacre in Norway. Devastatingly, this story is still as relevant today as it was five years ago. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victims of the recent 2016 attack in Orlando, USA.

The Events is being performed at Malthouse Theatre, Merlyn Theatre until July 10th.

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*Note to listeners: this review contains gun shot sound effects*

This year, the Scandinavian Film Festival is leading with what might sound like just another World War 2 movie, but is one that actually turns the tables the tables on a lot of its predecessors. The Danish film Under Sandet (literally Under the Sand), is a drama set in post-war landmine-ridden Denmark and is being released internationally with the English title Land of Mine, a rather unfortunate, hopefully accidental pun on an obviously serious issue.

It's easy to see why the second world war is still a cinematic staple. The Third Reich, and its soldiers, remain the definitive example of what hateful extremism can lead to, and what we all want to avoid becoming. No film has ever had to work especially hard to characterise Nazi soldiers as villains.

It is curious, then, that in Land of Mine, these supposedly evil men appear in the form of scared, defeated young boys who just want to go home. Of course, as prisoners of war from the losing side, some are wondering if they'll even have much of a home to go to once they've been released. The ones that handled the landmines are being made to remove all 2.5 million of them from the beaches that they buried them on. Danish Sergeant Carl Rasmussen (Rolan Møller) is given a group of 14 German soldiers that are to dig up and defuse thousands of unexploded mines before they are allowed to go home. In a damaged country that has just been freed from German occupation, its German prisoners have become the lowest class of people. Sergeant Rasmussen and his fellow officers beat them, starve them, mock them, and deny them any medical attention, until it is too late.

The boys all find various ways to deal with their plight. Ludwig Haffke (Oskar Bökelmann), their leader, appointed while the war was still being fought, has resigned himself to the totality of their defeat and ultimate ruin. Most of the others are more hopeful, and spend their time talking about what they'll do when they get home and the lives that they will lead. Twin brothers Ernst and Werner Lessner (Emil and Oskar Buschow), seeing a country in need of rebuilding, plan to start up a bricklaying business, called Ernst, Wernst & Sons (even though the sons haven't been born yet). As tends to happen with twins, especially identical ones, their connection is strong. Ernst also shares a sort of big-brotherly bond with the little girl from the family farm that is next to the hut in which the boys are locked up every night. For Nazis, they seem to have an incredible capacity to love.

The real, unspoken leader of the group is now Sebastian Schumann (Louis Hoffman), a boy with a quiet maturity that is well beyond his years. He deals with the danger by taking control and becoming the protector.

The sergeant manages to do this dirty work by reminding himself of what these boys were party to and detaching himself emotionally from them, until they have their first casualty, and he sees just how much of himself there is in Sebastian.

As for the other characters in the Danish military, writer/director Martin Zandvliet doesn't quite afford them the same complexity and dynamism. Rasmussen's superiors, namely Lieutenant Ebbe Jensen (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), are painted as the cold, ivory tower authorities in this narrative, while the Sergeant has a very different point of view from working on the ground. However, Zandvliet is not about to deny that Ebbe has a point when he tells Carl "You have no idea what they have on their conscience." Of course, the audience of Land of Mine has much more than merely an idea of what these 14 boys might have done. They can also see as well as anyone that the Danish officers have their own people to protect and a country to rebuild. With not even enough food to feed the people of Denmark, why give any to the Germans? Someone has to clear the mines, so why not the people who put them there? Why risk the lives of people who had no involvement whatsoever with the atrocities committed by the Nazi party in cleaning up their mess?

Still, in cinema, murky misdeeds done offscreen seldom match the raw victimisation that takes place onscreen. The prior actions of these boys is left to the imagination, one that is more fuelled by their heartbreaking pleas for mercy than anything else. One has to wonder how much choice some members of the Hitler Youth generation really had in the part they were playing in all of this. By allowing us to spend time with this small company out of an enormous group of prisoners, Zandvliet makes it very hard for anyone to see a way that placing children in harm's way, even Nazi children, can truly be the answer to anything.

Review written by Christian Tsoutsouvas

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Rachel & Jim were fortunate to attend the exclusive media preview of NGV International’s newest winter masterpiece exhibition – DEGAS: A New Vision.

Rachel and Jim were also lucky to get a few words with Ted Gott, the senior curator of European Art at the NGV.

DEGAS: A New Vision is on at the NGV International in Melbourne until the 18th of September.

Pictured: one of the works showing at DEGAS: A New Vision, NGV International. 

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Christian, Emma and Lauren share their thoughts about the upcoming Australian election. They also try to disect the reasons why young people feel disengaged with politics. 

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Hosts Christian and Emma were joined on the line with RUSS PIRIE from St Martins Youth Arts Centre to discuss the Autism in the Arts forum as part of the Roadmap to Diversity series.

The series for 2016 will focus on:

Autism in the Arts: Friday 17 June, 6–7.30pm
Engaging Deaf and HOH in Arts: Friday 2 September, 6–7.30pm
Youth, Gender Diversity and sexuality in the Arts: Friday 23 September, 6–7.30pm

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