It’s a tradition for the less inventive of my reviewing colleagues to play with the title of a show when they write it up.
A show called, say, Simply the Best will be responded to with the highly inventive quip this show is simply the best. Or admiration for a production of Twelfth Night might be expressed in the gushing creativity of I can’t wait for Thirteenth Night!
Formulaic wit is how mediocrity shields itself from the dangerous provocation of genius.
If I actually read theatre reviews, I’d be tallying how many times the reviewers fall into the formulaic with this production.
Terrence McNally’s Masterclass gives Lucia Mastrantone the opportunity to show what an extraordinary performer she is. (And so you can probably guess what the formulaic quip will be.)
Opera icon Maria Callas is offering instruction to young singers. Apart from the occasional psychological flashback to Callas’ troubled past (which I’m not sure are necessary), the play operates as a vignette, a character portrait of a legend.
Callas is presented as a diva. She is fussy, self-obsessed, inconsiderate and deeply, deeply serious about the art.
It’s hilarious and wonderfully stimulating.
Mastrantone is utterly brilliant. She catches the glorious humour in every nuance of the script. In even the simplest of pauses, in the stare that’s a fraction of a second too long, in the smile that flits across her face, she projects a woman of intense vivacity. It’s a performance of phenomenal attention to detail. But equally impressive is its remarkable openness to possibility: the fourth wall is firmly down, and Mastrantone as Callas responds with exhilarating ease to the wild unpredictability of the audience.
Director Liesel Badorrek gives her a terrific support cast. Callas famously lost her voice in later years, so Mastrantone is not called upon to sing, but the rest of the cast gives us a delicious taste of the operatic art form. Bridget Patterson is very funny as the nervous student whose lesson establishes just how challenging working with Callas will be – and later Patterson reveals an outstanding voice. Elisa Colla is hysterical as the student attempting to follow instructions beyond her understanding, but both her voice and her final response to the master are truly beautiful. Matthew Reardon as a cocky young tenor is enormous fun, a joy to both watch and hear. Maria Alfonsine’s work as piano accompanist (and musical director) is marvellous and she induces many a giggle as she deals with Callas’ obtusity. Damian de Boos-Smith is magnificent on the cello, and as the surly stage attendant not at all cowed by the diva.
The play ultimately poses some provocative questions. What makes an artist? What is art? What is it worth? What does it cost? Perhaps you shy away from such questions.
But priceless is an evening in the company of a woman whose genius provokes them.
It’s a masterclass in acting.
Paul Gilchrist
Masterclass by Terrence McNally
At Ensemble until 20 July
Image by Prudence Upton
Theatre Red 