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Tag Archives: PLAYS

THEATRE: Jean Giraudoux’s THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1943)

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 20TH CENTURY ART, 21st CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, AMERICAN DRAMA, Classical Theatre, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, ENGLISH DRAMA, FILM, FRENCH DRAMA, FRENCH THEATRE, HISTORY, LITERATURE, MOVIES, MUSICALS, PEOPLE, THEATRE, Uncategorized, USA

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ACTING, ACTORS, CINEMA, DRAMA, FILM, FRENCH THEATRE, JEAN GIRAUDOUX, MOVIES, PLAYS, THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT, THEATRE

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This is an article in the series devoted to seemingly ‘neglected’ plays and playwrights.

images-7Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) was a major French writer in the early 20th Century, particularly in the period between WW1 and WW2. Many of his plays were international successes including Amphitryon 38 (1929), The Enchanted (1933), The Trojan War Will Not Take Place( 1935), Electra (1937), and particularly Ondine (1939) and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1943). images-10

Considering Giraudoux’s social and political position, as well as his heightened poetic realism, I find it rather extraordinary that he is now relatively neglected. Is this because a number of his great characters are elderly? His themes and subject matter are still extremely relevant to our complex modern world, just as challenging and, dare I say it, ‘innovative’ as they were when first written and performed. Maybe it’s the arguments – relatively long scenes, reminiscent of Shaw, in which a particular issue is debated. However, in context, they are still theatrically dramatic.

images-4The Madwoman of Chaillot is a case in point. Written in 1943 but not performed until 1945, this is truly a wonderful play – and very relevant for today.56198939

It deals with an eccentric old woman and her equally eccentric friends in Paris who are concerned with the environmental changes they see being inflicted upon their region in Paris, and elsewhere. These environmental and ecological changes are massive in their potential destructiveness, and are led and desired by a group of conniving and manipulative successful corporate businessmen. These corporate executives are known as The Prospector, The President, The Baron, The Broker. They plan to rip up streets in PAris to get at the oil hidden underneath. Countess Aurelai, the madwoman of Chaillot, is determined to stop them. She gathers together her own little army, made up of The Street Singer, The Sewer Man, The Flower Girl, The Sergeant, and most importantly The Rag Picker. Then there are her elderly so-called aristocratic friends – Constance, Gabrielle and Josephine.images-13

At a very strange tea-party organized by Aurelia the corporate executives are put on trial. This is truly extraordinary scene, and in particular The Rag Picker’s advocerial prosecutor’s speech is fantastic – breathtaking. One by one the corporate executives, these ‘wreckers of the world’s joy’ are judged, condemned and lured to a basement from which they never return – they disappear – or are they murdered. It isn’t actually stated, but the suggestion that Aurelai and her friends have actually deliberately led them to their deaths, and subsequently are murderers, is very unsettling. Nonetheless, the evil man have gone, and joy returns to the world. Still – what may, or has happened to bring about this happy ending is rather complex and creepy.

static.playbillThe play was a considerable success when it was first produced, and subsequently was performed in London, New York, and many other parts of the world. In 1969 Jerry Herman, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee turned the play into the musical Dear World, which starred Angela Lansbury. images-5

Also in 1969 British director Bryan Forbes made a movie version with a truly amazing cast featuring Paul Henreid, Charles Boyer, Yul Brynner, Richard Chamberlain, Danny Kaye, Oskar Homolka,  Nannette Newman, John Gavin, Donald Pleasance, and Katharine Hepburn as Countess Aurelia, with her friends played by Edith Evans, Margaret Leighton and Giulietta Masina – amazing! Unfortunately, however, the film is not really successful, despite the brilliance of the actors. Nonetheless,it is worth watching, especially if you are unfamiliar with this extraordinary play.

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Many notable and terrific actresses have played Countess Aurelia, including Martita Hunt, Geraldine Page and Anne Jackson.

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The play occasionally re-appears, usually in American Universities theatre courses, and in Europe, sometimes in rather exciting modern re-inventions. However, as far as I’m aware it hasn’t (surprisingly) been seen in Australia for centuries – literally.

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It would be so wonderful to see this play live again on-stage. I am quite surprised that it is now in the ‘neglected’ plays bin, at least in Australia. Maybe it simply isn’t known about, not being taught in respective drama schools and History of Theatre course? Hence this article. It does feel sometimes that the respective state theatre subsidized seasons come from the list of plays in whatever History of Theatre course the deciding artists have authorities may have done as students – it is a bit limited and predictable.

Not only is The Madwoman of Chaillot extremely topical for today’s world it also offers great roles for senior actors – something, or rather person who are also somewhat relatively ‘neglected’ in the Australian professional theatre. A new production of this with a cast of some of our finest ‘senior’ actors and actresses would be amazing to see. The Madwoman of Chaillot is a play well worth reviving.

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TONY KNIGHT

THEATRE: ALFIAN SA’AT – Singapore’s ‘enfant terrible’ & ‘prankish provocateur, libertarian hipster’

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 21st CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, Adelaide, ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, ART, ASIAN ART, ASIAN THEATRE, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, HISTORY, LITERATURE, PEOPLE, PLAYS, SINGAPORE, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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download-10With Alfian Sa-at’s and Marcia Vanderstraaten’s  HOTEL (2015) about to open here in Adelaide as part of the Oz-Asia Festival I thought it opportune to write something about Alfian Sa’at, one of Singapore’s best modern playwrights. Most people in Australia may not be aware of Alfian Sa’at and his work. This is an attempt to slightly address that. He is an exceptional playwright, poet, and from my all to brief dealings with him, a really great guy as well. I first became aware of Alfian Sa’at’s work whilst I was living in Singapore. During that time I was fortunate enough to see a number of his plays being performed by Singapore’s terrific Wild Rice theatre company, led by another exceptional person, Ivan Heng, the Artistic Director and co-founder of Wild Rice. The productions I saw included Dreamplay (2000), which is Part One of Alfian Sa’at’s beautiful Asian Boys Trilogy (2000-07), Cooling Off Day (2011), Cook a Pot of Curry (2013), and my personal favourite, the intriguing The Optic Trilogy (2001). All these are terrific plays and make an excellent introduction to the world of Alfian Sa’at.

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Alfian Sa’at was born in Singapore in 1977 and attended Raffles Junior College where his passion for theatre was first revealed. His tremendous creative spirit led to the publication of his first collection of  poetry One Fierce Hour in 1998. This was a instant success with The Malaysian New Strait Times praising and calling him a ‘prankish provocateur’ and ‘libertarian hipster’. What followed was a steady outflow of excellent work – a collection of short stories called Corridor (1999), many of which have been adapted for television, and his second collection of poetry A History of Amnesia (2001). All these are available and are excellent reads; personal favourite being Corridor.

It was partly due to this work, and subsequent others, that Alfian Sa’at earned the moniker of being Singapore’s enfant terrible. He is a ‘provocateur’. This rebellious stance is also evident in his many plays, which are often acute observations of contemporary life in Singapore, combined with a deep knowledge and appreciation of Singapore’s history, as well as World Theatre in general, and a delicious and mischievous wit.

download-7The Asian Boys Trilogy is something that could be seen during Sydney’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and/or Adelaide’s Feast Festival. This is a terrific ‘gay’ play that is not only enlightening about ‘gay’ life in South-East Asia, past and present, but is also very entertaining. I have only seen Part One – Dreamplay, which is theatrically influenced by Strindberg’s Dreamplay, and was directed by Ivan Heng and featured the wonderful Singapore actor and dear friend Galeb Goh, amongst other excellent Singapore actors.

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One sequence in Alfian Sa’at’s Dreamplay that I found particularly fascinating and gripping involved a relationship between a young Chinese-Singaporean and a Japanese officer during the horrendous Japanese occupation of Singapore during WW2. To be frank, Australians know virtually nothing about this tragic chapter of Singapore’s history, and yet we are intrinsically involved, not just because of the horrors of Changi Prison, but much much more, which time and space does not allow me to enter into here.

downloadCooling Off Day (2011) was actually the first Alfian Sa’at play I saw. It is a series of monologues based around the then recent Singapore General Election. I didn’t know much about the politics of Singapore so this was a terrific introduction. Whilst some of it went way over my head and was very local specific, nonetheless, it was extremely entertaining and enlightening. I loved the structure of the piece, a snap-shot of Singapore at a particular and politically important moment in time, the different voices and perspectives, a cross section of Singaporean characters and society, and the vital and engaging performances by the respective actors. It was also through this play and production that I became aware of the delights of Singlish.

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Singlish is the English based patois or slang that is spoken in Singapore. When I was there Singlish was often denigrated as not being ‘proper English’ by those in the so-called social and academic elite, who can be ruthlessly and dully conservative. I loved it! When queried I would be mischievously provocative with these borish snobs, stating that I thought Shakespeare would have loved it too. Shakespeare was a words-smith and you only have to be familiar with his plays, as well as his contemporaries, to see how much he incorporated colloquial English (and others) slang into his works.

download-9I tried many times to speak Singlish, much to the amusement of my Singapore friends. I even had a couple of Singlish dictionaries, and would fervently implore my Singapore students and friends to speak Singlish as I just loved hearing it. Unfortunately, I never got the hang of it – lah. Friends would just giggle at my attempts, my problem centring on differences in stress. Australians follow our English-speaking heritage with an iambic word/vowel stress (Dee-DUM), weak-strong; Singaporeans follow their English-speaking heritage with a trochaic word/vowel stress (DUM-Dee), strong-weak. I couldn’t break my Australian cultural habit. Instead of saying the common ‘CAN lah’, I would say ‘Can LAH’, which generally produced shrieks of laughter. Nonetheless, I was acutely aware that whenever Singlish was spoken in the theatre, as in Alfian’s plays, it was like an electric current suddenly shot through the audience, making them excited and animated – it was fantastic! This was most apparent in Alfian Sa’at’s delightful domestic comedy Cook a Pot of Curry – I didn’t understand half of it, but it didn’t matter, I just enjoyed the vitality of the show, and the joy of the Singapore audience as it would roar with laughter at recognition of themselves and their unique colloquial language. I am sure Hotel will have some Singlish in it – can’t wait to hear it again.

download-12As previously mentioned, my favourite amongst Alfian’s plays is The Optic Trilogy. This is a two-hander between an unnamed man and woman in three separate scenes. I remember this Wild Rice production clearly, which featured dear friend and colleague the wonderful Brendon Fernandez,  and how from the very first scene set in a hotel room I was absolutely transfixed – by the drama, the complexity, the language, and the brilliant performances. This is a play about deceit, full of poetic metaphors, and is often very funny. It has been performed in a number of other countries, but not, as yet, in Australia. This is the play that I would love to do in Australia. I can only encourage you to get hold of it, as it is published, and read it. But please – let me do it! Haha!.

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Hopefully this brief little introduction to some of the works of Alfian Sa’at will encourage you to find out more about this terrific Singapore playwright and poet. It is well worth the effort. Also – if you haven’t as yet booked your tickets for Hotel here in Adelaide then please do so immediately – now! From all reports it is simply marvelous – both parts. I know that if you do you will not be disappointed and discover the joy of Alfian Sa’at, as well as Wild Rice.

TONY KNIGHT

GREAT ACTORS: Olivia de Havilland

19 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 20TH CENTURY ART, 21st CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, AMERICAN DRAMA, AMERICAN FILM AND CINEMA, BROADWAY, CINEMA, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, ENGLISH THEATRE, FILM, Film Noir, HISTORY, Hollywood, LITERATURE, MOVIES, MUSICALS, PEOPLE, PLAYS, SHAKESPEARE, THEATRE, Uncategorized, USA

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Olivia_De_Haviland_1933DAME OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND was born 1 July, 1916, in Tokyo and at the grand age of 101 she is still alive and well and living in Paris. Whilst her parents were British, nonetheless she and her younger sister Joan (later known as Joan Fontaine) was raised in Saratoga, California by their mother. She made her acting debut in an amateur production of Alice in Wonderland. What follows in this rather lengthy article is essentially a tribute to Olivia de Havilland’s brilliant career. In my respective acting classes I am often citing past great actors and films, of which my young (and not so young) students are often completely unaware. Many have not even seen or even know about Gone With The Wind, which is perhaps the film that most would identify with Olivia de Havilland. However, there is so much more to this extraordinary actress and 20th and 21st Century woman.

Nmidnight_1935In 1934 she played the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That summer the legendary director Max Reinhardt came to Los Angeles to direct a production of The Dream at the Hollywood Bowl. One of Reinhardt’s assistants saw Olivia de Havilland in the Saratoga production. Due to this assistant’s praise Reinhardt offered de Havilland the second understudy for the role of Hermia. One week before the production opened Gloria Stuart (Titanic), who was playing Hermia, and the first understudy left the production and Olivia de Havilland went on. Reinhardt A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream_1935was so impressed with the then 18 years old Olivia de Havilland that he subsequently cast her as Hermia in his lavish 1935 film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She appeared with alongside other Hollywood legends including James Cagney, Dick Powell and a very young Mickey Rooney. Also in the cast was Australian actress Jean Muir who played Helena.

Following A Midsummer Night’s Dream she then appeared in Captain Blood (1935) with Errol Flynn. This hugely popular film, Olivia de Havilland’s ‘break-out’ film, led to more films in which she starred with Errol Flynn – Four’s A Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died With Their Boots On (1941).

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Olivia_de_Havilland_and_Errol_Flynn_in_Captain_Blood_trailerThe 8 films that Olivia de Havilland did with Errol Flynn’s is a classic example of the successful on-screen romantic couple. Born from the Hollywood Studio system, as well as the classical theatre, many have tried to emulate this very specific but elusive kind of movie magic, but only a few have ever been as successful as the de Havilland-Flynn pairing. This includes, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, and Doris Day and Rock Hudson. In modern cinema the films of Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are the only on-screen pairing that comes close, although I would also argue that the pairing of Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series captures this special type of movie magic.

It'sLoveI'mAfterPosterIn the 1930s as well as the films she made with Errol Flynn she also appeared in a few films with Bette Davis, my favourite being It’s Love I’m After (1937). This marked the beginning of a life-long friendship between Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis, which is an aspect of de Havilland’s current plans to sue the producer’s of the TV series Feud that deals with the relationship between Davis and Joan Crawford, and in which Catherine Zeta-Jones appears as Olivia de Havilland. One delightful little story about Olivia de Havilland’s relationship with Bette Davis can be found in the This Is Your Life: Bette Davis episode in which Olivia de Havilland makes a surprise appearance. She talks about her relationship with Bette Davis, who is sitting right next to her, and they laugh about how prior to The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex de Havilland was Flynn’s leading lady, but in Elizabeth and Essex she now was Bette Davis’ maid! Haha!

00aOlivia de Havilland also appeared in such ‘big budget’ epics such as Anthony Adverse (1936), but then came the biggest of them all – Gone With The Wind (1939).220px-Poster_-_Gone_With_the_Wind_01 I love Gone With The Wind, in which Olivia de Havilland played ‘mealy-mouthed’ Melanie Wilkes. She, like the rest of the film, is simply wonderful. I am fully aware that it now attracts some severe criticism in regards to its depiction of slavery and African-American stereotypes. Whilst there may be some validity in these censures, nonetheless, it is still a great film – for many reasons. Olivia de Havilland was amongst the first to congratulate Academy Award co-Best Supporting Actress nominee Hattie McDaniel when McDaniel won the award – the first African-American actress to do so. I love Hattie McDaniel’s quip when she was criticized as subscribing to so-called ‘Uncle Tom’ black stereotypes for her fabulous and memorable performance of Mammy: “I’d rather make seven hundred dollars playing a maid than seven dollars being one’.

images-1Despite being somewhat overshadowed by Vivien Leigh, with whom Olivia de Havilland enjoyed a great friendship and working relationship, nonetheless, de Havilland’s Melanie also displays a wonderful ‘cool charm’ and ability to successfully lie and deceive. This ‘cool charm’ is particularly apparent in the second half of the film, in the Atlanta section, involving the deception of the army in regards to her wounded husband, Ashley (Leslie Howard). Olivia de Havilland is also at her best in all her scenes with Vivien Leigh (and there are a lot) including the final ‘death of Melanie’ scene. She is also wonderful in her scenes with Clark Gable, comforting him after the death of Bonnie, and before that her one scene with the terrific Ona Mason as Belle Watling.

imagesOne terrific example of superb screen acting is the sequence in which Melanie recognizes from afar the returning battle scarred Ashley (Leslie Howard); in this short sequence there are no words spoken, and the range of emotions that go across Olivia de Havilland’s face is wonderful and extraordinary – from concern, intrigue, disbelieve, realization and finally rapturous joy. I love Gone With The Wind and have watched it many many times, and always find it delightful and discovering something new about it.

downloadOlivia de Havilland made 16 films during the 1940s. The best of these in the e 40s are Santa Fe Trail (1940), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and The Died with their Boots On (1941). During WW2 Olivia de Havilland was an active member of the Hollywood Canteen, dancing and entertaining troops. This is somewhat reflected in the film images copyThank Your Lucky Stars (1943), in which she appears in a comic song ‘The Dreamer’ with Ida Lupino and George Tobias. Olivia de Havilland also bravely visited front-line troops on islands and other places in the Pacific war zone.

From 1943 to 1945 Olivia de Havilland was engaged in a legal battle with Warner Brothers to whom she was contracted. This was a battle for artistic freedom. A number of others, including Bette Davis, had challenged the fixed and rigid control the respective studios had over their contract players and failed. Not Olivia de Havilland. Her landmark victory meant that in future contract players were able to negotiate their artistic freedom and work with other studios. It went into law as the ‘De Havilland Law’. Even her estranged sister, Joan Fontaine, acknowledged her victory, stating, “Hollywood owes Olivia a great deal”. Subsequently, however, due to Warner Brothers’ influence, and the respective studios ganging together, Olivia de Havilland was ‘blacklisted’ and did not work for two years.

220px-ToeachhisownPOSTERIn 1945 she signed a two-picture deal with Paramount Pictures and subsequently made To Each His Own (1946), for which she received her first Academy Award for Best Actress.What To Each His Own exemplifies is Olivia de Havilland’s artistic need and desire to play characters that go through a considerable transformation, physically as well as psychologically. In To Each His Own Olivia de Havilland beautifully plays an unwed mother who has to give up her child. In this highly romantic drama the character she plays, Jody, ages from a young innocent American girl to an old woman in WW2 London. Whilst it is perhaps easy today to dismiss this sentimental drama, nonetheless, for its time it was covering controversial ground. Furthermore, To Each His Own marked the beginning of a new period in Olivia de Havilland’s career that saw her make films which what are possible her most impressive in regards to acting performances.

220px-The_dark_mirror_vhs_coverThis includes the complex ‘film noir’ psychological thriller The Dark Mirror (1946), in which she plays the dual role of twins battling each other in a torturous love triangle. This fascinating film, written by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Robert Siodmak has been regarded as a precursor to Johnson’s The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Olivia de Havilland was experimenting with the so-called ‘method acting’ technique, and did an enormous amount of research into the psychology of twins. It is speculative as to whether or not she also drew on her own problematic relationship with her sister, Joan Fontaine.

What is definite is that her work in The Dark Mirror in a way prepares Olivia de Havilland for her next two films that are in many ways the highlights of her career – Anatole Litvak’s The Snake Pit (1948), and William Wyler’s The Heiress (1949) for which Olivia de Havilland received her second Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award and the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress. Olivia de Havilland is simply marvelous in both The Snake Pit and The Heiress. There is an extraordinary and truly fascinating depth and complexity in the respective characters that she plays in these films. 220px-Snakepit1948_62862n

The Snake Pit is a harrowing and profoundly moving story about madness and the insane. One is completely seduced by Olivia de Havilland’s character, Virginia – is she insane or isn’t she? Just as effective as Russell Crowe in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001) one is drawn into the world of Olivia de Havilland’s Virginia – a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum, but doesn’t know how she got there.  Heiress_wylerThe Heiress is based on Henry James classic novella Washington Square, and the play adaptation by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. It is a story about deliberate cruelty. A young woman, a wealthy heiress called Catherine Sloper who is cruelly treated by her father, brilliantly played by Ralph Richardson. She falls in love with a young man, Morris Townsend, played by the irresistible Montgomery Cliff, who deserts her after being offered financial remuneration by her father. Years later, after her father has died and Catherine has inherited her fortune, Morris returns in the hope that Catherine will forgive him and that now they can be married. Catherine goes along with Morris’ plans until the devastating ending. When challenged by her Aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins) as to how Catherine can be so cruel, Catherine replies, “I was taught by experts”. This is a great story, complex and intriguing and Olivia de Havilland is simply brilliant, especially in the final scenes. Once again – as with The Snake Pit, and her other films in this period, one is seduced by her seeming innocence, unaware of the serpent that lies beneath until the end. Well worth watching.

220px-Rachel_moviepDue to family commitments and various theatre engagements in New York, which included playing Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Candida in George Bernard Shaw’s Candida, Olivia de Havilland did not make another film until 1952. When she did it was the mystery romance, My Cousin Rachel (1952), which was Richard Burton’s first US film. This was followed by Not as a Stranger (1955), which was Stanley Kramer’s debut film, and also featured Frank Sinatra. Her marriage to French journalist Marcus Goodrich meant that she relocated to live in Paris. She returned to Hollywood to make Michael Curtiz’s western The Proud Rebel with Alan Ladd, and 1959 she was in the British courtroom drama Libel (1959), directed by Anthony Asquith with Dirk Bogarde.

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220px-The_Light_in_the_Piazza_posterHer marriage to Marcus Goodrich ended in 1962, but they continued to TheLightInThePiazzacohabitate in the same house in Paris. In that same year Olivia de Havilland scored her greatest stage success, appearing with Henry Fonda on Broadway in Garson Kanin’s A Gift of Time. She also appeared in Guy Green’s film Light in the Piazza (1962) that many years later became the basis for Craig Lucas’ and Adam Guettel’s magnificent musical The Light in the Piazza (2005). In 1962 Olivia de Havilland published her semi-autobiographical book, Every Frenchman Has One, about her life in Paris, which subsequently became a bestseller.

220px-Lady_in_a_Cage_-_1964-_poster-1In 1964 Olivia de Havilland made two rather extraordinary psychological horror films. The first was Walter Grauman’s Lady in a Cage (1964), which featured a young James Cann. This is really odd 1960s film – and it is stylishly very 1960s, almost psychedelic at times, with the addition of a doco-drama element. The other film was Robert Aldrich’s Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) with Bette Davis, as well as other ‘old Hollywood’ actors, Joseph Cotton, Agnes Morehead, Mary Astor, and Australian actor Cecil Kellaway. Olivia de Havilland took over the role that Joan Crawford was playing when Crawford became too ill and had to withdraw. This film also features the young Bruce Dern.220px-Hush_Hush_Sweet_Charlotte_Poster Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is Robert Aldrich’s follow-up to his What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). As Bette Davis told me (yes – me) Baby Jane was the better of the two films due its script superiority. Still – Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a highly entertaining film, with the seemingly innocent Olivia de Havilland being actually as ruthless and cold-blooded as she was at the end of The Heiress.

 The 1970s was the decade that saw the final major film works of Olivia de Havilland. None of them are particularly good or memorable, although Airport ’77 (1977) is the best of the series that followed the success of Airport (1970); and the disaster film The Swarm (1978) is rated as one of the ‘worst films ever made’, and one of the ‘100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made’. Her final film was forgettable The Fifth Musketeer (1979).

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Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Olivia de Havilland was in a number of TV movies and mini-series. This included playing the Queen Mother in The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982). Her best TV performance was as the Dowager Empress Maria in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), for which she won a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series.

As the above indicates it is a phenomenal and highly diverse career.

She has been honoured many times, most recently being made a Dame of the British Empire the day before her 101th birthday on 31 June, 2017.

As previously mentioned, she is now back in the limelight due to her objections and legal battle with the makers of Feud: Bette and Joan (2017), in which Catherine Zetta-Jones plays Olivia de Havilland. Time will see how this all plays out. However, Time is not on Olivia de Havilland’s side. It is hoped that due to this incredible woman’s deserved status, as well as longevity and age, that no matter what she request that the respective producers will yield to her demands, and apologize for any offense. What does it really matter if Feud is shelved and unavailable for a few years. It has already been screened, and will soon fade into obscurity. We now are all fully aware that being a ‘celluloid hero’ doesn’t mean immortality; the ‘stars’ and films of yesteryear are now largely forgotten and unwatched. However, Olivia de Havilland is still with us. Olivia de Havilland now is really the only person left from the so called ‘Golden Years of Hollywood’. A wonderful actress, and a trailblazer, not only in terms of career but also in enabling other Hollywood artists to work freely. A LEGEND. Thank you Olivia de Havilland.

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TONY KNIGHT.

 

 

 

 

 

MUSICALS: FILM: Deep In My Heart (1954) – Sigmund Romberg

14 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 20TH CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, AMERICAN DRAMA IN THE 1950S, BROADWAY, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, FILM, HISTORY, Hollywood, MOVIES, MUSICALS, PEOPLE, PLAYS, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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downloadSigmund Romberg (1887-1951) is now a relatively neglected musical theatre artist; and yet, once upon a time, particularly in the 1920s, he was amongst the most celebrated of Broadway musical composers The film Deep in My Heart (1954), directed by film musical master Stanley Donen, is a Hollywood ‘musical bio-pic’ based on the life of Sigmund Romberg.

The ‘bio-pic’ is a sub-genre of filmic ‘historical drama’, which remains the primary genre in world cinema. One only has to look at the respective film awards from across the world to clearly see that most ‘Best Film’ awards have gone to ‘historical drama’ films. The musical ‘bio-pic’ is curious genre, wildly different in form and structure. Some attempt to cover and entire life of a particular musical artists, and some focus only part. A number of ‘musical bio-pics’ are based on successful theatre musicals, others are original film works, In all cases, however, the popular ‘hits’ of this artist is interweaved into the narrative – sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Part of this challenge involves whether or not the particular song advances the narrative, and/or reveals something specific about the artist.

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The most successful original works include Michael Curtiz’s Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) which is based on the life of Broadway artist George M, Cohan, and brilliantly portrayed by James Cagney; Alfred E. Green’s The Jolson Story (1946) and Henry Levin’s  Jolson Sings Again (1949) with Larry Parks as Al Jolson.

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In more modern times there are Sidney J. Furie’s Lady Sings the Blues (1972) about Billie Holiday, beautifully played by Diana Ross; Michael Apted’s Coal Miner’s Daughter(1980) about Loretta Lynn, played by Sissy Spacek; Mike Leigh’s Topsy-Turvy (1999) about Gilbert and Sullivan, played respectively by Allan Corduner and Jim Broadbent.

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In the 21st Century we have James Mangnold’s Walk the Line (2005) about the early life of Johnny Cash, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and June Carter, played by Reese Witherspoon; and Stephen Freares delightful Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) with Meryl Streep in the title role, as the woman labelled ‘the worst opera singer in the world’.

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Films based on Broadway musicals include William Wyler’s Funny Girl (1968) with Barbara Streisand repeating her performance as Fanny Brice, catapulting Streisand to international stardom. There are also a number of ‘made for television’ films and mini-series, such as Gypsy (1993) based on the Broadway musical of the same name about Gypsy Rose Lee, with Bette Midler as Lee’s mother, Rose; and Life with Judy Garland: Me and my Shadows (2001) with Judy Davis giving a mesmerizing and award winning performance as Judy Garland. There are many others, but these are my personal favourites.

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Deep in My Heart is the fourth in a series of ‘musical bio-pics’ that MGM made in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The others include – Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) about Jerome Kern, Words and Music (1948) about Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and Three Little Words (1950) about ‘Tin Pan Alley’ team Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. All these films are highly fictionalized, sanitized and sentimental, to the point of absurdity, treatments of the respective real artists lives. However, they all worth watching as these films contain spectacular musical numbers featuring the greatest MGM musical stars, including Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra and Mickey Rooney. As one critic in Variety wrote about Till the Clouds Roll By – ‘Why quibble about the story?’.

I love the works by Sigmund Romberg. Deep in My Heart may not be historical accurate, nor is it particularly dramatically interesting, but the songs and the musical sequences are thrilling. They don’t necessarily capture the magical potency they have in the theatre, but as a tribute to Romberg, which is what the film essentially is, they are truly excellent. Furthermore, they are performed by great musical artists, including Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Ann Blyth, Jane Powell, Howard Keel – and more. There is a wonderful musical number, ‘I Love to go Swimmin’ with Wimmin’, with Gene Kelly and his brother Fred Kelly, the only time they appeared together on-screen.

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The film ‘stars’, however, are Jose Ferrer as Sigmund Romberg and Merle Oberon as Dorothy Donnelly, who was Romberg’s friend and wrote the book and libretto for The Student Prince (1924), Romberg’s most successful musical/operetta. Jose Ferrer is a terrific actor who rose to fame with his Academy Award winning performance of Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Merle Oberon is one of the screens great ‘professional beauties’, and is also an excellent actress. Whilst Jose Ferrer is a bit hammy and theatrical as Romberg, in the most delightful way, it is Merle Oberon who brings real gravitas, heart and soul to the film. Her final scene is extremely moving.

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Deep in My Heart follows the rise of Sigmund Romberg as a young ‘Tin Pan Alley’ composer in New York who prefers the more classical repertoire from his homeland Vienna than the contemporary and popular ‘ragtime’. After meeting Sam Harris he succumbs to popular tastes and writes a string of ‘hits’ with the hope that he will eventually be able to do his own preferred work. This he finally achieves with the production of Maytime (1917) and Blossom Time (1921), quickly followed by his masterworks The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928). He then lapses into relative obscurity, no longer deemed ‘fashionable’, Finally, however, after the death of his dear friend Dorothy Donnelly, and with the encouragement of his wife, he does a special concert at Carnegie Hall that honours him, his music and his legacy.

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His legacy – yes! Romberg is perhaps still considered ‘unfashionable’, nonetheless, his work is still highly relevant. His highly romantic songs prefigure those one can find in the works of Andrew Lloyd Weber, as well as Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boubil. These musical theatre artists, as well as Romberg fall into those works that bridge formal Viennese operetta and conventional jazz and pop orientated musical theatre. Romberg’s work is just as valid in musical theatre training as are the works of Gilbert and Sullivan – maybe even better – as they provide a ‘classical’ foundation for the singing voice that is perfect for modern musical theatre.

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So why is Romberg not done? I know from bitter experience that in a number of cases in regard to training I had to insist that Romberg was included in respective exercises and showings. This was somewhat reluctantly agreed too, but with a shaking of heads and sense of patronizing and indulging the ‘old man’. However, in all cases, once one of Romberg’s songs was performed the magic happened. They have their own unique and dramatic potency that can enrapt an audience. Rather than simplistic, overt sentimentality they demand considerable depth and technical skill. This is best exemplified by ‘Deep in my heart, dear’ from The Student Prince, ‘The Desert Song’, ‘Romance’ and ‘The Sabre Song’ from The Desert Song, and ‘Softly, as a Morning Sunshine’ and ‘Lover, Come Back to Me’ from The New Moon.

1785fe118e0aacdc030679d40da77075--new-moon-vintage-paper‘Lover, Come Back to Me’ is quite rightly one of the most important and wonderful popular songs from the 20th Century, evident in the many past and modern artists who have recorded their own versions of this beautiful song. Furthermore, there are the thrilling energetic numbers, such as ‘The Drinking Song’ in The Student Prince, ‘The Riff Song’ and ‘The Military Marching Song’ in The Desert Song, and ‘Stouthearted Men’ in The New Moon. It is perhaps difficult for young people to appreciate that when ‘The Drinking Song’ was first performed in 1924 its enormous popularity was almost regarded as revolutionary in ‘Prohibition’ America. It is still a wonderful and powerful ‘show-stopper’.

This prejudice against Romberg, however, I fear will remain – until a visionary producer/director comes along and re-invents the work in the same way that Joseph Papp re-invented Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance in 1981, turning that show into a modern mega-hit. This could easily happen to The Desert Song, as it could with another similar work from the same period – Rudolf Friml’s The Vagabond King (1925). All of Romberg’s major musicals were turned into films. Whilst these films may endorse the ‘unfashionable’ opinion of Romberg, nonetheless, they are all we currently have as a record of these once extremely popular works – plus Stanley Donen’s Deep in My Heart. There are also, however, numerous recordings by past and modern singers, classical and popular, who at the very least are savvy and clever enough to appreciate the power and potency of the works of Sigmund Romberg.

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TONY KNIGHT

GREAT ACTORS: ‘Sir Henry Irving & “The Bells” by Edward Gordon Craig.

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 19TH CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, ENGLISH HISTORY, ENGLISH THEATRE, FASHION, HISTORY, LITERATURE, PLAYS, SHAKESPEARE, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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download-2SIR HENRY IRVING (1838-1905) was the greatest English actor of the late 19th Century. Sadly, however, very few now know anything about Irving. Yet his legacy lives on in London, primarily due the still operating Lyceum Theatre. This was Irving’s theatre – a grand proscenium arch theatre in which he performed his greatest roles, and to which the world came to be awed, entertained and shocked. Irving excelled at Shakespeare, yet his most famous role was Mathias in Leopold Davis Lewis’ The Bells (1871). download-3

This play is an English Gothic melodrama and was an extremely popular, rivaling other significant plays of the late-19th Century, including those by Boucicault, Ibsen and Wilde. It has been called the first ‘modern horror’ play, a label that is not without justification and truth. It is perhaps difficult to grasp nearly 150 years since The Bells was first performed how radically different and innovative it was at the time. In the biography Henry Irving: The Actor and his Times (1951), written by Irving’s son. Laurence Irving, there are details about the opening night performance on 27 November, 1871. It was performed to a relatively small house, who steadily became more and more intensely fascinated with the play. One woman fainted, and at the end the audience was in a state of stunned silence. In a modern edition of the play, Henry Irving and ‘The Bells’: Irving’s personal script of the play (1980), editor Eric Jones-Evans wrote,  ‘The play left the first-nighters a little dazed. Old fashioned playgoers did not know what to make of it as a form of entertainment. But when the final curtain fell the audience, after a gasp or two, realised that they had witnessed the most masterly form of tragic acting that the British stage had seen for many a long day, and there was a storm of cheers. Then, still pale, still haggard, still haunted, as it were, by the terror he had so perfectly counterfeited, the actor came forward with the sort of smile that did not destroy the character of the Dracula1stBurgomaster or dispel the illusion of the stage’. Irving was immediately catapulted to the forefront of English theatre, where he remained, often reviving ‘The Bells’, until his death in 1905. Not only was he extremely influential in regards to the art and evolution of acting, he also influenced the creation and evolution of the ‘horror’ genre. This is not just due to The Bells, but also because he was the primary source of inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). Bram Stoker was the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre, as well as operating as Irving’s personal manager/agent and friend.

imageI’m fully aware that some may be a little perplexed as to why I would even bother to write about the now largely forgotten Irving. However, I have just re-read The Bells, partly because the edition I found in O’Connell’s Secondhand Bookshop in Adelaide had as its preface a wonderful piece by Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) titled Irving’s Masterpiece – “The Bells”. I don’t wish to dwell too much on Edward Gordon Craig, although there is much to relate and discuss. Suffice to state at that Craig is one of the grandfathers of modern theatre design. Craig knew Irving well, personally and professionally. He saw Irving perform in The Bells over 30 times, and this preface is extremely enlightening as it gives a glimpse of what Irving was actually like on stage in The Bells. 

downloadCraig writes of Irving’s ‘deep and human beauty which he lets you see’. In regard to Irving’s entrance in The Bells, following an ensemble scene of about 15 minutes, Craig provides a kind of challenging definition of true ensemble acting that runs contrary to modern assumptions and practice – ‘On his (Irving’s) appearance, they one and all fell back into their places, since to obtrude would have been out of the question.  Ensemble was achieved, but there was something to achieve it for, something for which it can lend support; ensemble supporting itself, is it not rather a ridiculous spectacle? That’ democratic acting if you like – “for we are jolly good fellows…which none of us will deny.” For Craig, true ensemble acting is non-democratic; it only exists when there is something, or someone, to achieve it for –  focus and a goal.

downloadWhat Craig isolates is the power of the ‘star’ actor. When Irving entered he was greeted with a thunderous round of applause. Ordinarily, as stated by Craig, and referencing Stanislavsky, such applause was an annoying ‘interruption’. However, in the case of Irving, and other ‘star’ actors, such ‘hurricane of applause’ is not an interruption. “It is no boisterous greeting by an excitable race, for a blustering actor – it was something which can only be described as part and parcel of the whole, as right as rain…Power responded to power…It was necessary to them – not him’. This is very particular type of cathartic release that is necessary for the audience ‘to take in what he was about to give them’. Curious. I’ve only ever experienced such a release on the commercial West End and Broadway stage, as well as the Kabuki theatre in Japan; in egalitarian ‘democratic’ Australia it never happens. Is this why we tend not to see and rate our actors as great? Because we, the judicious ‘democratic’ orientated audience, won’t allow it?

Henry_Irving_Vanity_FairCraig then references the classical Noh theatre of Japan; how an entrance of a great actor is preceded by ‘suspense’, followed by a ‘surprise’. In regard to Irving, as well as Edmund Kean, ‘an entrance was something to experience’ – ‘The manner of coming on made it extraordinary with great actors – it was this manner of timing the appearance – measuring its speed and direction – which created a rhythm that was irresistible’. Whist most actors do not possess the talent and skill to be ‘great’, nonetheless, the lesson here is in detail and timing, which is something that all good actors can concentrate on and achieve through thorough and precise preparation. The rhythm of entrances is also not just confined to the theatre but is a vital aspect of film – ‘suspense’ then ‘surprise’. The reward for such detail being, as Craig observes in regard to Irving, is the intense focus of attention of the audience on the actor – ‘now watch what he will do – better still, how will he do it – best of all, watch his face and figure, and follow what it is these are hinting at’.

download-4Close attention to detail and the subtlety of psychological gestures is not something that is generally associated with 19th Century English acting, and yet it would seem that Henry Irving, as well as Ellen Terry, was a master at such insightful depth. Craig exemplifies Irving’s attention to detail, psychological gesture, and depth in how Irving as Mathias in The Bells removes his boots after entering, listening acutely to what is being said: ‘It was, in every gesture, every half move, in the play of his shoulders, legs, head and arms, mesmeric in the highest degree – slowly we were drawn to watch every inch of his work as we are drawn to read and linger on every syllable of a strangely fine writer. It was perfect craftsmanship’.

download-1Craig clearly captures a hint of what made Henry Irving a ‘great actor’, not only as Mathias in The Bells but also in Hamlet, Macbeth, Faust and many other roles: ‘The thing Irving set out to do was to show us the sorrow which slowly and remorsely beat him down. As, no matter who the human being may be, and what his crime, the sorrow which he suffers must appeal to our hearts, so Irving set out to wring our hearts, not to give us a clever exhibition of antics such as a murderer would be likely to go through. He does not appeal to any silly sentimentality in you – he merely states the case by showing you that quite obviously here is a strong human being, through a moment of weakness, falls into error and becomes for two hours a criminal – does what he knows he is doing – acts deliberately – but (here is Irving) acts automatically, as though impelled by an immense force, against which no resistance is possible.’

What is stated above has become of crucial importance in modern acting; not just here in Adelaide but elsewhere I have taught and experienced so-called ‘modern’ and ‘innovative’ theatre. The attention to detail is one thing – and many of you have heard me exclaim – ‘Acting is detail‘. The other thing is deliberate simplicity rather than indulge in sentimentality (generalised passive-aggressive bleating and ‘playing the victim’). Acting is a deliberate process of creative and imaginative detailed choices; characters act deliberately and consciously, good and bad, and it should be automatic to make it seem as if it is spontaneaous, ‘in the moment’, as if experienced for the first timei, ‘as though impelled by an immense force, against which no resistance is possible’. Too often this is not the case; there is no sense of deliberate action, only sentimental and demonstrative re-action, usually of the bleating kind, complemented by face pulling and excessive and ridiculous gesturing that has no meaning, except registering an actor’s discomfort and not insight re the character.

Whilst by no means the whole story, nonetheless, Edward Gordon Craig’s short essay on Henry Irving in The Bells does complement many of the things I hold dear and teach – part of an essential Acting Manifesto. Many will, and have, dismiss and ignore such sensible and practical advice, preferring the histrionics and ‘theatricalism’ currently demanded by the modern theatre of despair and deconstruction. Stanislavsky also loathed and criticized overt ‘theatricalism’. However, like everything, this too will pass – even though so-called ‘innovative’ deconstructive theatre has dominated our stages for the past 30-odd years. I’m not sure our current 30-something and 40-something ‘bright young things’ can do anything else. They certainly show a reluctance to embrace and challenge themselves with any different ‘style’, and certainly become resentful and pouty when challenged in regard to their relatively limited vision and expression. I don’t mind being labelled ‘classical’, and have and will continue to challenge myself with as many different theatrical styles as possible. ‘Innovation’, an over-used word I have come to loath, is too often merely ‘distortion’ – leading to bad acting. I believe, like Craig and Irving, that the actor should follow and aim for ‘the most ancient and unshakable tradition, which says the Dramatist (not the director) is to take the audience into his confidence. The actor who fails to do this (via sentimentality, demonstration, and imposed generalised emotional bleating) fails as an actor’.

As a final postscript to this rather lengthy article, there is something else about Irving and The Bells that is worth mentioning in regard to great acting. After the opening night, Irving was returning home with his wife, Florence, in a carriage. They had just reached Hyde Park corner when Florence ridiculed Irving, stating – ‘Are you going to make a fool of yourself like this all your life?’ Where upon Irving stopped the carriage, got down, and walked away, and never saw Florence again. One thing that all truly great actors have, and in a way must possess, is an almost obessional  dynamic energy in which the love of the art of acting is first and foremost. This may appear as completely selfish and ego driven to some, to many, but it is really once again this compelling ‘irresistible force’. It requires and demands great bravery, sacrifice, dedication and determination – even in the face of complete failure, ruin and ostracism. Whatever happens on a personal and professional front the ‘great actor’ never ever stops creating. Take that as you will. Laurence Olivier was once asked ‘Why do you act?’, Olivier responded with ‘Why do I breathe?’ – and that about sums it up – there actually isn’t a choice. This must have been what Irving experienced, a kind of epiphany, after his huge success on opening night of The Bells. Ironic in a way; that at roughly the same time that Ibsen wrote The Doll’s House (1872), the most controversial play of the 19th Century due to woman leaving husband, children, home and security, Henry Irving did the masculine version of the same thing.He walked out of his marriage for his own art. Of course he felt guilt – but he couldn’t live with this kind of negative judgment; the ‘irresistible force’ demanded he embrace his new identity – judge as you may.

TONY KNIGHT

THEATRE: OUR BOYS by Jonathan Lewis – Adelaide Repertory Theatre

10 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 20TH CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, Adelaide, ADELAIDE THEATRE, Australia, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, FILM, HISTORY, MOVIES, PEOPLE, PLAYS, PUBLIC ART, South Australia, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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our-boys8aweb-n101lvydljj1zc0idolu5n0qp1oqx8xcgdwj5j173cOur Boys by Jonathan Lewis is a two-act play that was first performed in London on 1993, and subsequently won a number of awards. The Adelaide Repertory Company’s production, directed by David Sims, is the Australian premiere of this thoroughly enjoyable, moving, challenging and unique play. My litmus test in regard to seeing theatre and films these days is whether or not it has moved me download-3emotionally. In the case of Our Boys it did most profoundly and in a way that caught me by surprise. Set in a military hospital in the 1984, we follow the trials and tribulations of 6 war veterans. On the surface, especially the first act, the play is download-2full of crude, smutty and vulgar British humour, similar to other hospital drama-comedies such as Carry on Doctor (1967) Peter Nichol’s The National Health (1969).

Some may dismiss this play as just another case of ‘men behaving badly’, nonetheless, something else is at work here. Underneath all this, and is partly the motivation for such behaviour is genuine fear – and specifically the fear of impotency. I’m finding it difficult to think of other dramatic works that concentrate on masculine impotency – a taboo topic that few men would even discuss let alone admit too. In a theatrical world that is often led by feminist ‘equality’ issue this play is a sober reminder that there are tragic contemporary male stories to be told as well; in a way it makes the play unique in contemporary theatre.

Our Boys, however, does join rather a long and brilliant heritage of other war and/or post-war traumatic stress dramas. This includes – R. C. Sherriff’s Journey End (1928) and W. Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered (1932). There are also William Wyler’s Academy Award Best Film winner The Best Years of our Lives (1946) and Fred Zimmerman’s The Men (1950), which was Marlon Brando’s debit film. Speaking of Brando it is an often neglected factor in regards Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) that one reason why Stanley and his buddies are so violent is partly associated with 2WW experiences. Other works include Willis Hall’s The Long and the Short and the Tall (1959), John Frankenheimer’s brilliant and unsurpassable The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Barry England’s Conduct Unbecoming (1969), David Rabes’ Sticks and Bones (1971) and Streamers (1976), Peter Nichols’ Privates on Parade (1977), Hal Ashbey’s Coming Home (1978), Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998), Simon Stevens’ Motortown (2006) and Stella Feehily’s O Go My Man (2006). Closer to home, there are such Australian dramas as Sumner Locke Elliott Rusty Bugles (1948), George Johnston’s My Brother Jack (1964), John Power’s The Last of the Knucklemen (1978), and Bill Bennetts’ A Street to Die (1985). However, the film that has the most immediate impact on Our Boys is the Michael Cimino’s devastating brilliant The Deer Hunter (1978).

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 Towards the end of Our Boys first act, in an attempt to cheer up the wheel-chair bound character of Lee, who is often inarticulate due to being shot in the head, the men stage a beer drinking competition called ‘Beer Hunter’ after the film The Deer Hunter. The drinking game parallels with devastating and highly memorable Russian roulette game in the The Deer Hunter. It is due to this game and the celebrations that the men find themselves in trouble, facing military discipline for ‘conduct unbecoming’ and expulsion from the army. With their self-esteem and sense of potency already vulnerable this new attack on their individual security brings forward issues of class warfare and scapegoating. The resident officer is blamed for being a back-stabbing informer – but he is innocent. The actual informer is one of their own, and without giving it away, is the character who has the most to lose. He betrays his friends and lies, blaming the officer; when the truth is finally revealed the sense of betrayed loyalty becomes violent in its retaliation. Surprise, surprise – not.

 Our Boys as well as the works cited above all involve “men behaving badly”, physically and emotionally, often due to past or current war experiences. The individual stories and characters highlight struggles for self-esteem, power and potency. In this masculine rationale if you do not have these things then you don’t have an identity and viability to make positive and active contributions to society. Whilst ‘feminists’ may rage, nonetheless, masculine identity, health and well-being is still firmly tied to these issue, which are generally the domain of the work-place. Men still are (too often) defined by the work place and what they do (or not do) for a living. What does one do when self-esteem, power, potency, viability, credibility and identity is taken away by things that are beyond your control by murderous violence – physical and/or psychological? Does one resort to the betrayal of loyalties, revenge, in order to satisfy delusional prejudices and self-preservation? In Our Boys these issues rise to the surface, especially in the second act. Ironically, there are good outcomes for some of the patients in Our Boys – but by no means not all – such is life. This mixture of fateful and fortuitous endings only serves to add to the overall greater complexity of the play

Throughout this admirable and ultimately extremely moving production the voice of Margaret Thatcher (post-Falkland War) is heard, stating things like ‘we must take care of our defenses in order to prepare for any situation’. But how can you prepare for sudden and inexplicable violence? One could argue, perhaps, that these men are in the military and subsequently are trained for the violence of war. But this is not necessarily so; not all military personnel are trained for and do active service; and yet are still targets for violence. Nor do all military personnel, especially when working in a domestic and local world, necessarily expect sudden violent acts of internal terrorism. The final scene of Our Boys attempts to articulate the ‘horror’ of home-front terrorist violence. It is the most moving as well as frightening moment of the play. The harrowing experience and subsequent trauma of home-front terrorist violence is stunningly realized in the final confession by Joe, the patient who has been in hospital the longest, and beautifully acted by Adam Tuominen. Joe has an inexplicable disease that has resulted in the removal of one of his fingers. This mysterious disease, however, could be read as metaphor for HIV/AIDS – or other cancers – as it seems as if it will never be cured. Or is it the disease inside his brain, the never-ending post-traumatic disorder due to the incredible violence he experienced. Joe’s story is partly based on a real-life event in a bombing in London by the IRA. As the story unfiled I found I was gasping and shaking my head with the sheer horror of the violence. How could anyone get over such things? The thing is – like an incurable disease – you don’t.

Congratulations to the Adelaide Repertory Theatre, David Sims, and all the actors involved in this terrific production – Adam Tuominen, Patrick Martin, James Edwards, Lee Cook, Nick Duddy and Leighton Vogt. Thank you for providing an opportunity to see this truly unique and moving modern play. It has remained with me, as it did with my Asian-Australian companion last night, who is studying English here in Adelaide. Admittedly, some of it went over his head, and I was a bit concerned as the Asian imitations in the ‘Beer Hunter’ scene, nonetheless, this was the scene he liked the most. Go figure. He also, like myself, was very impressed with Adam Tuominen’s Joe and Patrick Martin’s Lee. Thank you.

TONY KNIGHT

PLAY: The Teahouse of the August Moon

25 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in ACTING, ACTORS, AMERICAN DRAMA IN THE 1950S, DRAMA, FILM, HISTORY, LITERATURE, MOVIES, PLAYS, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON

Tonight I watched THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, a 1956 American film comedy based on the play and book of the same name; all of which were very successful at the time. I have long been aware of this play and film, and its success and importance in American drama, but this was the first time that I had ever actually sat down and watched it through. It was also of great interest to me – being a Marlon Brando fan – to watch Brando’s attempt at a complete transformation.

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THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON by John Patrick, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by Vern Sneider, opened on Broadway 15 October 1953. It was a great success, winning numerous awards, including the Tony and the New York Drama Critics for Best Play, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. David Wayne won the Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance as the Japanese interpreter, Sakini. The subsequent film in 1956 featured Marlon Brando as Sakini, with Glenn Ford as Captain Fisby, and Machiko Kyo as Lotus Blossom, a Geisha. Whilst Brand and Ford may be relatively well known, Machiko Kyo may not be – not until one is reminded that she is the female lead in Kurosawa’s RASHOMON (1950); this was to be her only non-Japanese film, and stands in contrast to most of her work.

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Standing in contrast – this implies a challenge – a departure from what may have been a generally accepted public persona by a particular actor. The same is true for Marlon Brando. His Sakini must be one of Brando’s most light-hearted characters, and certainly his most successful comedy.

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It has been customary to lam-blast this play, as well as Brando’s performance for ‘yellow-washing’. In other words, a ‘white actor’ playing an Asian character. This is still very much an issue today, part of a general push internationally for more employment and equal opportunities for non-white performers. I do not wish to enflame this debate, but rather for this once highly regarded play, and film, to be re-assessed. Why? Because it is absolutely charming, funny, joyous and touching.

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Yes – yes – it is full of stereotypes, funny-little-Asian folk v crass excitable American soldiers. Yes – it is very much a product of its time – post WW2 American drama. I have written before about this period, which also saw the beginning of the Cold War, McCarthyism, HUAC, and the publication of the Kinsey Report, the first in-depth study of the sexual activities of the contemporary American male and female. As previously mentioned, in a great deal of American drama in this period, there is considerable focus on the uncovering of a secret; that something rotten lies buried within that dramatically will eventually be exposed. The same is true for THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON. There is a secret – which is the actual construction of the TEAHOUSE, which is not why Captain Fisby was sent to the village of Tobiki in Okinawa – he was sent to create a schoolhouse and advance ideas of American democracy.

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There is a delightful satiric edge to how both the American and Japanese characters react and relate, to each other as well as the different cultures and ideas of respectability and images-14honour. It’s all very light-hearted, whimsical and fun. For example, at the beginning of the film, Colonel Wainwright Purdy III (yep – that’s his name) is worried about the morals of the men n his charge. Purdy is played by Paul Ford who played the character on Broadway. Purdy has seen Officers dancing with enlisted men! He instructs his Sergeant (played by Harry Morgan) to send out a memo – ‘No officer can dance with his privates!’. Well – it made me giggle.

I don’t wish to spoil the enjoyment that still can be had from this massive hit play and film from the 1950s. It certainly can be accused, and has been, of racial stereotyping, and a whole lot of other seemingly modern-day offensive matter. However, moving through this may I offer a couple of things in its defense.

For the play and the film to be so successful there must be something more than just the whimsy associated with a light-hearted cultural clash – and there is. The story verges on tragic-comedy at the end when Fisby’s Teahouse is exposed and he is ordered to leave. The final scene between he and Lotus Blossom, with Sakini as translator, in the ruins of the recently destroyed Teahouse, is extremely moving; and beautifully played by Brando, Ford, and especially Machiko Kyo. It is about the complexity of saying goodbye to someone and somewhere you deeply love, about acceptance in regard to things that drive people apart, the importance of memory of ‘time past’, and that one is ordinary and to be happy with that.

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It is not a-typical at all in context with a lot of other drama of the time; the heroics are not of earth-shaking importance, there is no grand-standing declaration of independence, ethics, morals, and human rights – it is all quite ordinary, realistic, simplistic, and tragic in its predictability – but then – magic happens.

In the true nature of classical comedy, with a wonderful deus ex machine, there is a happy ending. To be honest – despite enjoying this climatic moment in the film I think this may work better in the theatre. After being completely destroyed the Teahouse is once again fully restored due to its full beauty through the ingenuity and craftiness of Sakini and the village folk of Tobiki.

To watch this ‘live’ in a theatre would be so uplifting and exciting as well as – well – magical – joyous theatre magic!

As a side note – if any Head of a Theatre Design Department should read this – try setting this play and its design challenge to a young design student. The Teahouse is created and it must be stunning and beautiful; it then must be destroyed; and then – in a matter of a minute, for the climax of the play, it must be magically rebuilt and restored to its full beauty.

As regard to Brando and his performance of Sakini, for which he worked diligently, and respectfully, fully committing his talent and skill, I enjoyed his transformation – or attempt at a transformation.

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Brando had already established himself as the leading actor of his time with A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954). THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON comes after DESIREE (1954) in which Brando plays Napoleon Bonaparte, and sits between GUYS AND DOLLS (1955) and SAYONARA (1957) in a kind of unique arc that involves romance, comedy and interest in Japanese culture, as well as his obvious artistic drive to transform and challenge himself with different dramatic styles and characters.

Despite modern sensibilities, there is an artistry with the actor at work, just as much as there is with Olivier’s Othello, or John Hurt’s Elephant Man, or Yul Brynner’s King of Siam. I don’t wish to offend anyone, but to censor and suppress a talented actor’s desire to transform into a character with a different racial background may be nowadays ‘politically correct’, nonetheless, it is still artistic censorship, and subsequently needs to be at least questioned.

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'It makes no difference what I say. You've already decided I'm guilty.' 'Gasp! The witch can read minds!'
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You may be embarrassed and even offended by Brando’s performance – I was not; but rather fascinated (as always) with what he was going to do – how he was going to do it – and appreciating the artistic challenge. Not for all tastes, but hardly worth the outright condemnation that his performance as well as this play has earned. Whether or not this is cringe material or not, it is still worth watching – not necessarily because the transformation is successful or not but because of the attempt, the challenge for the actor, and the degree of difficulty.

But – have a look yourself – and you be the judge. I enjoyed it – immensely; and can easily see why this play and film were such big hits in the 1950s – and could be again! Why? Because it offers hope – hope for a better future, and joy in being human.

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I would so love to see this play in the theatre. I very much doubt, however, that I will. The size of the cast and the cost of the design alone would be enormous. Maybe in the US perhaps, where revivals of popular old classics such as HARVEY, PICNIC, and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE have been met with great critical acclaim and popular success. This is not the case here in Australia – a different aesthetic in which ‘de-constructivist’ theatre from the 1990s still reigns supreme, and every story and set is generally about a victim caught in a waste land – not much joy I’m afraid. THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, subsequently, would be something radically different. Yes – ‘old fashioned’, but not without artistic worth, merit and success – hope and joy, and genuine theatre magic.

 

Michael Billington’s THE 101 GREATEST PLAYS: #2 – Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX

03 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in ACTING, ACTORS, Classical Greek Drama, Classical Theatre, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, HISTORY, LITERATURE, oedipus rex, PLAYS, THEATRE, TRAVELING IN INDIA, Uncategorized

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DRAMA, GREEK CLASSICAL DRAMA, oedipus rex, PLAYS, THEATRE

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3rd November 1945: Laurence Olivier as Oedipus denounces the blind seer Tiresius, played by Ralph Richardson (1902 - 1983), in a dramatic scene from Sophocles' tragedy. Original Publication: Picture Post - 3030 - Oedipus Rex A Great Greek Tragedy - pub. 1945 (Photo by Merlyn Severn/Picture Post/Getty Images)
3rd November 1945: Laurence Olivier as Oedipus denounces the blind seer Tiresius, played by Ralph Richardson (1902 – 1983), in a dramatic scene from Sophocles’ tragedy. Original Publication: Picture Post – 3030 – Oedipus Rex A Great Greek Tragedy – pub. 1945 (Photo by Merlyn Severn/Picture Post/Getty Images)

INTRODUCTION

The once lived a man named Oedipus Rex

You may have heard about his odd complex

His name appears in Freud’s Index ‘cause

He loved his Mother!

Tom Lehrer – Oedipus Rex

So runs one of the verses of Tom Lehrer’s hilarious take on Oedipus Rex. Lehrer was writing his song in the light of The Kinsey Report, the first serious examination and analysis of the sexual behaviour of the American male and female, which was published in the early 1950s. Freudian analysis, or psycho-analysis, was becoming increasingly popular in explaining certain human relationships. Freud used a number of classical Greek characters, such as Oedipus, to identify certain behavioural patterns, in this case between mother and son; another was the character of Electra in regard to hostile mother-daughter relationships. Whilst Oedipus and Electra are two very well-known yet very different characters from the classical Greek myths, nonetheless, they are today known (if they are known) through the plays written about them by Sophocles (c. 496-o6 BCE), after Aeschylus the second major classical Greek playwright.

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Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is the second play UK theatre critic Michael Billington lists in his 101 GREATEST PLAYS (2015). First performed in Athens around 429 BCE, as part of the annual festival and rituals honouring the demi-god of the theatre, Dionysus, it is the first in a trilogy of plays by Sophocles that is collectively known as The Theban Cycle and/or The Theban Plays. The others are Oedipus at Colonus (c. 406 BCE), and Antigone (c. 441 BCE). Whilst certainly constituting a ‘trilogy’ of plays favoured by the classical Greek theatre, nonetheless, as can be discerned by the attached dates the three plays were written and initially performed at vastly different times, and in a different order from how they are now subsequently regarded as a ‘trilogy’ of plays about the fall of the ancient Theban House of Laius.

Sophocles was not the only classical Greek playwright attracted to the stories associated with the House of Laius. Aeschylus had also written a trilogy of ‘Theban’ plays, of which sadly only his Seven Against Thebes (467 BCE)  remains. Arguably Seven Against Thebes has had an even greater influence on world drama and cinema than Oedipus Rex, being the source of inspiration for Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), and subsequently John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960); indeed it is genesis for any dramatic narrative that involves a group of people battling against a formidable enemy, such as Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna (c. 1612),  J. Lee Thompson’s The Guns of Navarone (1961), George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977), and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998).

Michael Billington’s short essay on Oedipus Rex is terrific – honest, balanced, informative and enlightening. He begins with tackling the influence of Freud, placing it within an historical context. Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, in which appears for the first time the so-called ‘Oedipus Complex’, was published in 1901. This is well before the first English production of the play. I didn’t know that the play was not actually performed in the UK until 1912!!!? This was due to censorship and the Lord Chamberlain’s office; something that Shakespeare had to contend with.Billington correctly questions the extent of our actual depth and knowledge of the play considering the ‘modern’ performance history in English is relatively new (only 116 years). He draws attention to version by John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee in 1678 in which displays certain ‘reservations’ by Dryden and Lee in regard to the mother-son sexual relationship, quoting the character of Oedipus, ‘An unknown hand…still checked my forward joy’. (HoHo!).

I was particularly taken with his addressing the ‘Freud’ issue, emphasizing that it is just one aspect of this truly fascinating play. He quotes Freud – ‘It is the fate of all of us perhaps…to direct our first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred and our first murderous wish against our father. Our dreams convince us that  this is so’. ‘Perhaps’ is a big perhaps, and ‘our dreams’ far from ‘convincing’. Billington brilliantly states that ‘danger in seeing the play as a Freudian textbook is two-fold. It underestimates the sublime intricacy of Sophocles plot, to which Aristotle paid due tribute. It also undermines the unresolved tensions, within in the play, between the power of fate and free will’; and ‘the brilliance of Sophocles’ play lies precisely in the extent to which it shows the hero exercising choices dependent on character. That is the source of its modernity rather the the embodiment of primal sexual urges’; and that the ‘key point of the play is ‘the tension between the pre-ordained and personal impulse is never ending’. I couldn’t agree more!

Billington openly admits that he was not completely won over by the play until he saw a performance by Ralph Fiennes in a 2008 production directed by Jonathan Kent ‘that finally unlocked the play’s complexity’. Billington concludes that based on this performance he ‘finally got to the heart of Sophocles’ play: one that shows, within an immaculate structure, that flawed characters are capable of huge suffering and that the belief in the workings of destiny does not exclude human responsibility’. Brilliant!

In the essay Billington references a number of productions, particularly Max Reinhardt’s ‘ground-breaking 1912 production’, and Laurence Olivier’s performance in 1945.

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3rd November 1945: Laurence Olivier as Oedipus denounces the blind seer Tiresius, played by Ralph Richardson (1902 - 1983), in a dramatic scene from Sophocles' tragedy. Original Publication: Picture Post - 3030 - Oedipus Rex A Great Greek Tragedy - pub. 1945 (Photo by Merlyn Severn/Picture Post/Getty Images)
3rd November 1945: Laurence Olivier as Oedipus denounces the blind seer Tiresius, played by Ralph Richardson (1902 – 1983), in a dramatic scene from Sophocles’ tragedy. Original Publication: Picture Post – 3030 – Oedipus Rex A Great Greek Tragedy – pub. 1945 (Photo by Merlyn Severn/Picture Post/Getty Images)
Lawrence Olivier as Oedipus in the 1946 Old Vic production of Sophocles' 'Oedipus'. LO British actor 22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989; Sophocles Greek tragedian 496 BCE - 406 BCE.
Lawrence Olivier as Oedipus in the 1946 Old Vic production of Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus’. LO British actor 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989; Sophocles Greek tragedian 496 BCE – 406 BCE.

I was a bit surprised, however, that he made only a relatively fleeting reference to Tyrone Guthrie’s production at Stratford Ontario, Canada, and Minneapolis in the USA. Billington is a bit of an expert and admirer of Guthrie, as evident in his ‘A-Z of Modern Drama: G is for Tyrone Guthrie‘ for The Guardian. Whilst not negating Billington’s excellent short essay on Oedipus Rex, I wish to add my own experience of Oedipus Rex, which involves two great 20th Century theatre artists – Tyrone Guthrie and Christopher Fettes.

TYRONE GUTHRIE: Oedipus Rex – The Old Tote Theatre, Sydney 1970

I was first introduced to Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex when still a schoolboy. The eminent UK theatre director, Sir TYRONE GUTHRIE, came to Australia in 1970 to direct a production of Oedipus Rex with Sydney’s Old Tote Theatre Company.

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Guthrie had directed a land-mark and ground-breaking Oedipus at Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in 1957, and the Sydney version was essentially a re-working of this production, but with Australian actors, designer, and technical crew. Ron Haddrick played Oedipus and Ruth Cracknell played Jocasta. itsruth3__jpg_320x240_crop_q85This was one of my very first experiences of professional theatre and I can still vividly recall it – or parts of it. Staged in the images-3Sir John Clancy auditorium in the middle of the University of NSW campus, it was massive, with all the characteristics of Guthrie’s particular ‘epic’ style. Everything was big – the masks, the costumes, the theatre space – everything. It was not, however, well received; one critic wondering why this play was even being done in the first place. Be that as it may, nonetheless, I do vividly remember the way Ruth Cracknell as Jocasta left the stage after realizing that Oedipus was her son; I also remember Ron Falk as the sharmantic soothsayer, Tiresias, who was dressed like a huge bird (a seagull?) and behaved accordingly, complementing the knowledge that Tiresias lived with birds. Sadly, Cracknell and Falk (as well as others) are no longer with us; Ron Haddrick, however, is still alive and I hope his memories of performing Oedipus in this production have been recorded for the National Archives.

It is a great shame that most young Australian actors, directors, and theatre professionals are unaware of Tyrone Guthrie’s considerable importance and influence in regard to contemporary Australian theatre. Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s he was on a government sponsored panel that concentrated on the future of Australian theatre. This is too much a subject to deal with here, nonetheless – despite concerns for how we collectively spoke at the time (Aussie ‘strine?), and an insistence that Australian actors receive a training in ‘classical’ theatre in the UK, it was Guthrie who called for a National Australian Theatre to be established. This didn’t happen. It was, however, partly due to Guthrie that the respective State theatre companies were established, as well as the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Furthermore, Guthrie had a major influence on one of the most important contemporary Australian actor-director’s – JOHN BELL. in the early 1960s John Bell and Anna Volska worked with Guthrie in the UK. Returning to Australia they worked as professional actors with the Old Tote Theatre Company and others as well as establishing the Nimrod Theatre (later Belvoir Street Theatre). Again – as a young schoolboy and theatre addict I was witness to all of this (thank you Mum and Dad). Looking back I can see how much Guthrie influenced what Nimrod and Belvoir Street did in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in regard to ‘classical’ drama. I don’t necessarily mean in regard to interpretation and style but in regard to the use and design of the actual space – open and multi-purpose (like Shakespeare-Burbage’s Globe Theatre, and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, USA. Guthrie’s influence is perhaps most discernible when the Bell’s (Anna being John’s wife) established THE BELL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY. The first season included Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice – and was staged in a tent. Again – it is the use of theatrical space, including the actor-audience relationship, that shows Guthrie’s influence. The company subsequently went from strength to strength, mainly due to the artistic leadership of John Bell. Furthermore, The Bell Shakespeare Company is Australia’s only national touring theatre company, so in a way the Bell’s have established what Tyrone Guthrie envisonaged – a National Australian Theatre Company (sort of).

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Needless to add as must be relatively obvious that I am a great fan of the Bell’s,and extremely influenced by their acting and artistic vision, leadership and production. Thank you.

‘SCAPEGOAT’ RITUAL: Oedipus Rex 

Whilst a student at the Drama Centre, London, in the late-1970s I again locked horns with Oedipus Rex. Indeed, it was the play I had chosen as part of my audition/interview for the Director’s course, and I remember getting grilled by Christopher Fettes. I must have done OK, however, as I was accepted. During the 1st Year of Drama Centre, Oedipus Rex was one of the set classical plays chosen by Christopher for his ‘Analysis’ classes with the 1st Year actors and directors. I don’t recall very much about any actual presentation, but I do remember being inspired and enlightened, as well as amazed, at Christopher’s techniques of analysis, things that I continue to practice to this day.

Christopher focused us on the ritualistic function and importance of the play within the fertility festival devoted to Dionysus. This was an approach and interpretation very influenced by Francis Ferguson’s The Idea of the Theatre, as well as Peter Brook’s The Empty Space, particularly Brook’s chapter on ‘Holy Theatre’. It  also concentrated on Aristotle’s Poetics, especially so as Aristotle makes frequent reference to Oedipus Rex in his identification of the form, structure and purpose of classical tragedy. Aristotle established that the cathartic release of ‘pity and terror’ was the essential function and purpose of tragedy. Christopher Fettes, however, demanded that we go further than acknowledging this and that the play was a part of a fertility ritual. What exactly was this fertility ritual? Solving this led to the discovering of what the play was about, and the precise cathartic release of a specific emotional and psychological human condition and need, which would not only explain the continued popularity of the play but also open up its inter-connection to the universal web of other dramatic works, stories and myths. In the case of Oedipus Rex it was a SCAPEGOAT RITUAL.

The need to scapegoat others, for either an individual or a group to be blamed and take on the sins and guilt of a community is part of the human condition. It is not a particularly attractive part, nonetheless, we all do it, have done, and will continue to do it. Oedipus, as King of Thebes, takes on the responsibility to find out the murderer of the previous king, King Laius, and thus rid Thebes of the pollutant that has brought plague to the city.  What he does not know, but will be reveal at a tragic cost, is that he is the actual pollutant – he is the killer. At the end of the play, Oedipus accepts his fate and is subsequently ostracized by the community.

This is just one aspect of Oedipus Rex. It is, however, a crucial element – the taking on the sins of a community, being the scapegoat. It links to other narratives and characters, as well as persons and groups; such as Jesus Christ as well as John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953). It focuses this particularly part of the Dionysus fertility festival involving drama and an audience; it is hoped that the community who experiences this play is subsequently purged of the need and desire to scapegoat for the benefit of the community.

As Christopher Fettes emphasized what is happening to Thebes that warrants this task and need to find a scapegoat is the plague; in this case – ‘The Red Death’. Christopher took us through various acting and directing exercises associated with the dramatic action of the opening of the play, the actual entry of the Chorus, before anyone has actually spoken. Luckily for me, I was aware through studying Ancient History at Sydney Grammar School that the issue of plague dominated Athens around the time Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex. There is an actual and quite graphic account of Athens in the grip of this devastating plague in Thucydides The Peloponnesian War, the main historical source and record of the epic war between Athens (and her allies) and Sparta 431-404 BCE. This was very much Sophocles throwing a ‘mirror up to nature’.

There are many other elements to Oedipus Rex; e.g. the ‘tragic flaw’, the issue of ‘fate’, and the symbolism of sight and blindness. It is remarkable and fascinating that this particular play from the classical Greek canon has attracted so much commentary throughout the ages, from Aristotle to Coleridge, Billington and beyond. Coleridge regarded as amongst the three most perfectly plotted narratives in literature; the others being Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749) and Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610). It can also be seen as the first ‘Detective Story’, with Oedipus being both detective and criminal. Furthermore, its world-wide performance history is extraordinary as it is massive, with many great actors and directors, as well as designers attracted to the imaginative power and depth of this tragedy; this includes Max Reinhardt, Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

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Lawrence Olivier as Oedipus in the 1946 Old Vic production of Sophocles' 'Oedipus'. LO British actor 22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989; Sophocles Greek tragedian 496 BCE - 406 BCE.
Lawrence Olivier as Oedipus in the 1946 Old Vic production of Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus’. LO British actor 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989; Sophocles Greek tragedian 496 BCE – 406 BCE.
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 Read it – or even better see it – if you can; it is relatively clear to me that Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is like how Harold Bloom describes Shakespeare’s Hamlet – that it is a conundrum, and that each era in time and each community in which it is performed comes up its own unique interpretation in line with a specific historical and social context.

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NEXT – #3. Helen by Euripides (c. 480-407 BCE).

OLD TIMES by Harold Pinter

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in ACTING, ACTORS, Adelaide, ART, Australia, DRAMA, HAROLD PINTER, LITERATURE, PEOPLE, PLAYS, South Australia, THEATRE, Uncategorized

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Adelaide, ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, Australia, DRAMA, HAROLD PINTER, PLAYS, South Australia, THEATRE, Tony Knight

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OLD TIMES by Harold Pinter was first produced in 1971 and went on to be performed around the world. Since the beginning of the 21st Century it has been consistently revived, the play’s dark and mysterious content and subject matter seemingly striking a resonate chord with the modern zeitgeist.

The play has been interpreted in many ways. Pinter never really offered any concrete explanation; he once told Anthony Hopkins who when he was playing the character of Deeley asked Pinter to explain the ending, ‘I don’t know. Just do it’.

It is the open ambiguity of this play that fascinates me. I am mid-way into rehearsals and just letting it unfold as I work with the actors. I have some idea where I am going with it,of course, but I know that it is a journey – and where I am now may not be where I finish. That is part of what makes this play so marvelous. I want people to talk about it afterwards and discuss their own interpretation, rather than me and the actors signposting it, and simply leaving the theatre immediately forgetting the piece as if it was some sort of fast-food rubbish, and ‘where shall we go for drink?’

Currently, I see the play as a kind of power-struggle in regards to memory. Who controls memory? We will all have different perspectives and interpretations about the same experienced event. How many times has that happened to you? That you get surprised by what another person remembers about a mutually shared experience.

Pinter wrote, ‘The past is what you remember, imagine your remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend to remember’. This is explored in OLD TIMES.

He also wrote, ‘A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false’.

I am reminded of other ‘memory’ plays that seem to connect with OLD TIMES; such as Sartre’s IN CAMERA, and Tennessee Williams’ THE GLASS MENAGERIE. THE GLASS MENAGERIE opens with the character Tom stating, ‘The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seem to happen to music’. This is true for OLD TIMES, with the importance of music from the 1930s playing a significant part; however, it s not ‘dimly lighted’ but rather glaringly bright as if one is in kind of surgical waiting room. In regard to it being ‘realistic’ or not, Pinter wrote about his work, ‘What goes on in my plays is realistic, but what I’m doing is not realism’. Delightfully ambiguous.

This production is the launch of a new professional company in Adelaide. It is only a short season, playing 6-9 APRIL in the SPACE THEATRE at the ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE. I would like to thank the FESTIVAL CENTRE, CARLA ZAMPATTI, as well as the STAR THEATRE Adelaide, for their generous and kind support. Like the play itself, my business partner and myself are taking a leap into the unknown. Our intentions are good, we are doing this for the art and for Adelaide actors – hopefully you will come along and support us – BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!!!

 

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