1994
Strip Tease
by Carl Hiaasen
Macmillan
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
If you were to browse the shelves for Carl Hiaasen’s five novels you might tend to pass them by. Double Whammy has on its cover a buggy-eyed bass munching a hundred dollars US. Tourist Season has a crocodile with an I-love-Florida cap hanging off its premolars and Skin Tight proclaims a close-up of an oiled navel with not enough bikini to write the price of the book on it. …
Continue Reading Back to topTheatre
A Kyogen Falstaff: The Braggart Samurai
Adaptation: Yasunari Takahashi
Director: Mansaku Nomura
Suke-emon Horato (Falstaff): Mansaku Nomura
Tara Kaja (Bardolph): Takeshi Nomura
Jiro Kaja (Pistol): Haruo Tsukizaki
Yakbei (Ford): Mannosuke Nomura
Omatsu (Mistress Ford): Yukio Ishida
Otake (Mistress Page): Shichisaku Ogawa
Koken (Stage Assistant): Ryosaku Nomura
Fue (flute): Takayuki Isso
Taiko (drum): Hitoshi Sakuraoi.
The Playhouse
Sir John Falstaff is Shakespeare’s big comic success. Hot with appetite, ripe with laughter, he is ego made flesh- and a force of …
Continue Reading Back to topA Cheery Soul
by Patrick White
Queensland Theatre Company
Her Majesty’s
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
On the slowly spinning revolve Bill Haycock’s design could be a retro-chic lunch place. Patrick White’s meticulously described kitchen scene, in cream and red chrome and formica, once embodied the Australian Ugliness, the bland vulgarity of that early Sixties suburban Sydney he lumped together as Sarsaparilla. Now it is aestheticised, wry down-market decor, unable to harm or threaten- as it did White and the young …
Continue Reading Back to topTomoe Shizune and Hakutobo
Union Hall
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
It is generally agreed that the first butoh performance was Forbidden Colours, based on the works of Mishima and presented by Tatsumi Hijikata at a Japanese dance festival in 1959. From there this eclectic dance drama form has been interpreted by a variety of companies and soloists. Some, such as Kazua Ohno, Sankai Juku and Byakko Sha have been visiting Australian festivals since the mid 1980s.
Hakutobo -which means the …
Continue Reading Back to topTwo Feet
Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre
Created, Directed and Performed by Meryl Tankard
Visual Design by Regis Lansac
Costume Design by Dianne Bridson
Lighting Design by Toby Harding
Assistant Director Peggy Watson
The Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
10 February
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
It is not putting it too strongly to say that Meryl Tankard has been exhilarating audiences in Adelaide in the past year. Since taking over as Artistic Director of the now eponymous Australian Dance Theatre, Tankard, …
Continue Reading Back to top1994
Lyrics
Paul Kelly
Angus and Robertson
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
Books of song lyrics are still quite rare. One thinks of The Beatles collection, whimsically decorated by Alan Aldridge, or the various editions of Bob Dylan songs. In the latter case there were frequent revelations. Dylan only occasionally provided lyric sheets with his album releases and we long term listeners found we had cherished some fascinating mishearings over the years. To read the actual wording (although Dylan watchers note …
Continue Reading Back to topVan Gogh:
His Sources, Genius and Influence
National Gallery of Victoria
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
It is not only in Aprill with his shoures soote. Even on the twelfth day of Christmas are folk likely to climb on night buses and goon on pilgrimages. But sacred journeys have always been a bit of a punt. Will the weather hold and the travel be safe ? Will the pitch be in good order after the Madonna concert ? Will the blisful …
Continue Reading Back to top1994
Graham Parker
The Office
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
When, in 1975, he sent a demo tape into Charlie Gillett’s show on Radio London, an unknown service station worker named Graham Parker helped jump-start English music. Weary with disco and reeling from lugubrious concept albums, listeners were suddenly swept by a New Wave. Short songs with sharp lyrics and pumped up rhythm were back. Power pop somebody called it, others called it punk. Whatever it was, it unleashed a burst …
Continue Reading Back to top1994
Jim Rose Circus Sideshow
Old Lion
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
O Rose, thou art sick. Blake didn’t know the half of it. From Seattle, Washington, grunge mecca of the New World, the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow returned to Sunday night Adelaide to bring worms visible and invisible from his garden of unearthly delights. Too big for Heaven this time, Jim packed us into the Old Lion for the gawp of our lives. Looking around we looked normal enough. People …
Continue Reading Back to top1994
Van Gogh:
His Sources, Genius and Influence
National Gallery of Victoria
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
It is not only in Aprill with his shoures soote. Even on the twelfth day of Christmas are folk likely to climb on night buses and goon on pilgrimages. But sacred journeys have always been a bit of a punt. Will the weather hold and the travel be safe ? Will the pitch be in good order after the Madonna concert ? Will the …
Continue Reading Back to top