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Theatre Overview 2004.
 There
is little doubt that Adelaide's fortune in the arts seems to
boom in the even years and this is in large part due to the
enviable reputation of the international Festival of the Arts.
Like other areas seeking public and private sponsorship, music
has tended to focus on conservative repertoire that sells seats.
And this is a fact that was not been lost on Festival organisers
this year.
The reduced music programme for this year's Festival tended to focus on safe repertoire and performances with the excellent local Adelaide Symphony soon proving themselves to be the unsung heroes in world premieres by Sculthorpe and Conyngham, the Miles-like musings of 'Blood On The Floor' and the strings fared well in Sitkovetsky's transcription of Bach's masterly 'Goldberg Variations'. Other highlights included Bryn Terfel and Kristjian Jaarvi's New York based Absolute Ensemble in the often-diffuse music of Frank Zappa.
Similarly the Adelaide Symphony's season aimed for conservative repertoire with much time given over to the likes of Rachmaninov, Tchaikowsky and Beethoven, as well as the Dvorak centenary. But amongst this often safe terrain, there were a few risks taken - Michael Kieran Harvey's virtuosic account of Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto, the magisterial Kovacevich in Mozart #21 and well as vital performances of the Tchaikovsky 'Pathetique' and an inquiring approach to the first piano concerto by Roger Woodward. David Sharp should also receive praise for Elder Hall concerts that featured not only William Byrd, but also Milhaud's 'Le Boeuf sur le Toit' and Matthew Hindson's witty and ingenious 'The Nightingale And The Rave'.
In the mid-year the Cabaret Festival delivered that which was promised with a generous programme of international acts and styles that covered everything from Harold Arlen and Coward; to the boulevards of Jacques Brel and the poetic musings of Joni Mitchell. However last month's gay and lesbian festival FEAST adopted an approach which focused more upon the celebration of the gay and lesbian community and lifestyle than art per se. Whilst women kept up a brave front on the musical side of things, much of the cabaret material, which has featured so strongly in recent festivals, was missing, though thanks should go to Enda Markey and Belinda Lemon's 'Outrageously Divine'. The highlight however proved to be the drama 'Pig Tales' which unfortunately drew small audiences, the larger ones attending community events and tried and true acts like Stephen Dawson's 'Filthy Pervert Seeks Same'.
Towards the end of the year, although State Opera was rehearsing for the fabulous 'Ring Cycle', other plans came to fruition whilst providing more thought provoking fare for Adelaide audiences and both companies involved deserve considerable praise. Leigh Warren and Tim Sexton's odyssey through the operatic works of Philip Glass continued with an excellent production of the second half of 'Einstein On The Beach' and Patrick Lim has provided several fine evenings of operatic entertainment with intimate productions of Bernstein, Ravel and others. And, as we now know, the year has been topped off with a truly world class production of Wagner's 'Ring Cycle'. It will be interesting to see what next year brings.
Brett Allen-Bayes
Some random thoughts on what seemed a fairly random year in the arts...
Is it really only recently that Womadelaide became a yearly event instead of biennial? Bravo, then, it's always an enjoyable time of year, and when it's wrapped up with the last week or so of the Festival and Fringe, and so many things to see and do, the name of the game becomes survival. Hearing great music in the sublime surrounds of the Botanic Park makes that job just a little bit easier, which is why I chose to spend two of the most enjoyable days of the year just lounging around on the lawns, wandering around as the whim took me.
Is it really less than a year since the end of the Festival of the Arts and the Fringe Festival? Somehow, it seems much longer, but as I reflect, I realise the squabbling and intrigues surrounding the Fringe board mean they have little more than a year to get their house in order. One note only: since a board is meant to steer and act in the best interests of an organisation, how can anyone be convinced by the unseemly and self-serving behaviour we've heard about this year?
During the Festival and Fringe I saw a large number of performances, and I make note of two in particular, not only because they are cherished moments, but they both happen to be locally produced shows with local casts in superb productions. Windmill Theatre's excellent 'Riverland' based in part on the stories of the 1950s flood on the river transcended its undeniable pitch as children's theatre and became a glorious piece - working beyond mere categories. It was simple, effective, funny and entertaining, and brilliantly realised in just about an hour's theatre, as it followed the journey back to the river of an Aboriginal family who seemed in danger of losing their way, literally and metaphorically. Super stuff.
On the other hand, what Australian Dance Theatre managed to propel in 'Held' (along with New York based dance photographer Lois Greenfield) was a very sassy and up to the minute piece of frenetic activity which stormed its way into the consciousness of its opening night crowd. I'm sure no one in the audience had any real idea what they were in for - I certainly didn't! What we got was a performance which has now seen the company acclaimed globally. Bravo.
 A
little more locally, Brink Theatre spent a frustrating 2003
restructuring their ensemble and planning a comeback, which
they did most emphatically with Pinter's 'The Caretaker', presented
during the Fringe as a very successful stopgap production. They
followed that up with their State Theatre collaboration, Marty
Dennis' 'The Duck Shooter', gritty contemporary theatre which
had opinions polarised. Oscar Wilde, wasn't it, who noted the
importance of being talked about? When Brink examined the suicidal
mindset of Sarah Kane's '4.48 Psychosis' (with Budgie Lung Theatre)
late in the year it became apparent they'd had a blockbuster
year of moody introspective theatre.
Through the dreary winter period we had the Cabaret Festival, The Festival Of One (at Bakehouse theatre), and then a little later the Feast Festival to keep us afloat.
So it's not all dead during the year, but I can't help having misgivings about the resources devoted to bringing the Ring Cycle to fruition - at the very least this means a lot of other good works and endeavours miss out on support they should be able to count on. No matter where you stand on the state of the arts, more than $15 million has been spent by this little state (we're neither rich nor populous in the general scheme of things) on hosting the Ring Cycle, and that is an enormous gravy bowl for someone. The Minister assisting in the arts merely assures readers in the weekend papers that "the budget will balance". In whose dream? Thus, it's pleasing to report some minimal funding has dribbled through.
Collaborations are all the rage at the moment, largely because there is so little money available to mount even moderate performances. The problem is as acute for small and medium sized organisations as it is for the largest, hence Jeremy Sims Pork Chop Productions needed local help to bring Barry Otto in 'Last Cab To Darwin' to Adelaide in October. Wouldn't have missed it for quids, even though the message became somewhat confused somewhere.
Other honourable mentions: SALA week at the end of July was a riot of colour, a well organised visual arts assault upon the Adelaide Hills and Plains; the always interesting 'InSpace' programme at the Festival Centre sizzles along on the smell of an oily rag; and congratulations to Independent Theatre whose 21st season concluded recently with 'Chinchilla'.
See you next year.
Alex Wheaton
 Some
things appealing - some things appalling. And altogether - too
much for one person to see it all. It was certainly a festive
year, starting with the Adelaide Festival and Fringe including
Womadelaide, to the Cabaret Festival, The Festival Of One, Feast,
The Ring Cycle, and the many weekend events in the wine areas.
But I'm going to concentrate on theatre and let my colleagues
fill you in on the rest.
This year's Adelaide Festival was one of the best in recent memory - certainly streets ahead of the fiasco presided over by that short American dude with the hair-do whose name escapes me, even though he is a superb director of opera. The shows I still talk about from the Festival are the Canadian production, 'The Overcoat,' 'I Bought A Spade At Ikea To Dig My Own Grave' and 'Twelve Angry Men.' That's what I love about the festival - three completely different kinds of theatre from three different countries.
And how about Bell Shakespeare's 'The Comedy Of Errors!'? That was unbelievable - the atmosphere and characterisations, the rapid fire and completely intelligible dialogue and monologues were just awesome. It reminded me of State Theatre's 'Scapin' the year before with its complex and fresh interpretation.
I thought State had a good season and I have said so for several years. Rosalba Clemente has been an excellent Artistic Director - bringing to the stage an eclectic selection of plays. But after five years as Artistic Director and two as Associate Director, she is hanging up the comedy and tragedy masks for more individualised artistic pursuits and her family.
Her greatest achievement has been making State Theatre accessible to patrons and local practitioners alike. She is responsible for State having the greatest number of season subscribers in 12 years, and she created the Pay What You Can scheme for those who are pecuniarily challenged. In those five years at the top, 70% of the artists, directors and designers were South Australians - this is a vast improvement on the efforts of interstate creative directors. Hidden in the subtext of that bland statistic is the collaborative relations and opportunities she has provided to the city's other professional theatre companies - Vitalstatistix, Brink, Patch, Windmill and occasionally others. She established the On Site Theatre Laboratory, which is dedicated to the creation of new theatre, and she helped set up Dramatic Women, who have sponsored a play a year since 2002, and will do so again in 2005.
Clemente has been less successful at acting and directing: her portrayal last year of Martha in 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf?' was overblown and this year's directing efforts fared not much better. In 'Death Of A Salesman,' she allowed Margot Feneley and William Zappa to terribly overact. Zappa was too physical in his portrayal of Willy's anxiety and fear - the excessive shaking and manic behaviour just looked weird and reduced the opportunity for empathy. The scene in the kitchen with Linda and the boys talking about the pipe, the one between Willy and Biff in the restaurant and the final scene in the kitchen all escalated from overwrought to shouting matches. The plain black featureless set resembled a rehearsal mock-up.
'Trojan Women' turned out to be a lot of tragic wailing. Not only was Troy sacked, but so were the girls - clothed as they were in uniformly drab brown slips. Clemente's augmentations to the script in a misfired effort to bring the past into the present lacked focus and had no power. Sometimes in single speeches, we were treated to invective concerning Greek oil, Bosnian crimes and American misadventurism in Iraq. Whoa! Pick one! A gang of soldiers periodically corral the women - only to disappear and to do so later. What was going on?
OK, now fast reverse back to the Festival. Who could forget the terrific job director Chris Drummond did with 'Night Letters?' Sure, a lot of people with short attention spans and low heat tolerance would rather forget, but this was a shining jewel in creativity and theatrical production.
Peter Green's The Bakehouse Theatre is a bridge between the amateur and professional worlds. Here one can see well-trained actors and practitioners taking chances. The funniest show I saw all year was at the Bakehouse - American George F Walker's 'Suburban Motel'. Directed by Peter Green, the play was funny because the characters took themselves so seriously and made the most memorable mistakes. The Festival Of One was a culled version of previous years and divided into three sessions. A highlight for me was Rob McPherson in Becky Mode's 'Fully Committed' in which he played over 40 characters without using a false moustache.
ARTS' production of Sven Swenson's perennial work-in-progress, 'The Siren's Kiss,' was also a good night out. The students and staff flowed the creative juices in this one - perhaps one day Swenson will put the cuffs on the script and thank ARTS on the inside cover for giving it a swell go.
After a total and complete absence from live theatre last year, Brink came back with yet more tales from the darkest folds in the back of the human brain. 'The Caretaker' presented during the Fringe was a complete success in performance, direction and production. I didn't see 'The Duck Shooter' but it also got good vibes. The folds didn't get much darker that in '4.48 Psyshosis' which was co-produced with Budgielung. Consisting of over twenty short scenes depicting the author's experience of the mental health system shortly before she killed herself, I was more fascinated with actors plunging into ice cold wet sand than the flotsam and jetsam of author Sarah Kane's disturbed mind.
Mixed Salad Days don't do much, but they do it well, and boy, do they put on an opening night nosh! 'Five Women Wearing the Same Dress' was a real delight - wonderful characterisations and compelling interactions.
The Adelaide Rep and Therry continued to do what they have done for decades and decades. The highlight for me was 'A Little Night Music'. Director Richard Trevaskis assembled a very talented cast and Therry's formidable production team dressed them to the nines! At the other end of the scale were Adelaide Rep's 'Hay Fever' and Therry's 'Night Must Fall'. With respect to the latter, some scripts deserve to die. It was a bad year for David Williamson in Adelaide - not his best plays and some unjust productions.
I don't like to comment on things I haven't seen, but Northern Lights won the Critics Circle's Coopers Award for best amateur group in recognition of their outstanding seasons of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Copacabana'. I have seen the company's work in the past and obviously they are still maintaining their very highest standards. Well done!
I will miss Rosalba Clemente's hand on the tiller, and I will also miss The Weimar Room as we know it. Best of luck to Torsten Meyer and Jacqueline Frajer - thanks for creating an important and hopefully ongoing contribution to Adelaide's night life.
David Grybowski
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