By way of a manifesto; or theatre is not Olympic diving

9 Nov

Manifestos are written by revolutionaries as they wait for the next shipment of bullets. Oh, and by reviewers waiting for the next play. Not that this will be a manifesto. But, then, I’m not a reviewer.

Which in two sentences [sort of] sums up my attitude.

I’m not in the slightest interested in judging plays. I’m interested in responding to them. I intend to write about what plays make me feel and what they make me think. I don’t intend to label them as failures or successes. Other writers can do that. And they will. And I don’t think it’s enough.

I hope to encourage the appreciation of plays as what I believe they are – sharings of our visions of the world.  They are not tricks that are done either well or not. Theatre is not Olympic diving.

Of course, theatre can be done horribly. But I’m not going to write about that. It’s tempting to be all Oscar Wilde for a moment and say that task can be left in far less capable hands than mine. But, it’s actually just a choice.

Theatre is not space flight. When you get it wrong, no-one dies. We just don’t get to visit new worlds. [So I suppose it is like space flight.]

 Veronica Kaye

Theatre Red

Shopping Centres and Gutters

8 Nov

People go to the theatre for all sorts of reasons. For me, one of the greatest attractions is the insight it offers into how the world is viewed by others. If we’re asked our values we’re often lost for words. It’s hard to sum up our worldview in a few pithy sentences. It’s like asking a fish to describe the ocean. [Feel free to test the truth of this analogy.] But when we make theatre, we consciously -or unconsciously- create a picture of how we think the world is, or an intimation of how we think it should be.

Valentino Musico’s new play Shopping Centres and Gutters presents contemporary Sydney as a city soaked in class-consciousness. It’s not a piece of naturalism. The characters, who hail from both the eastern and western suburbs, are stereotypes. Or are they? That, for me, was the power of the piece. Musico’s play asks us to question whether we really are, or should be, defined by envy and shallowness.

The director, Ira Hal Seidenstein, draws engaging performances from his entire ensemble. The highlights are Aaron Di Pietro and Letitia Sutherland’s blistering satirical battles.

Reviews can be fascinating to read because, like plays, they’re a short cut to understanding the values of others. I can’t resist at this point referring to another reviewer’s response to Shopping Centres and Gutters. I call it a response, because as he admits, he didn’t write a review, having left at intermission. The reason given: “The Tap Gallery is a charming venue. However, it is not equipped to call itself a true theatre”. You could spend a long time thinking about what that last phrase means – and amuse yourself that it was elicited by a play about snobbery.

Veronica Kaye

Shopping Centres and Gutters

Until 19 Nov

TAP Gallery, Darlinghurst

http://tapgallery.org/category/shows/

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