Tag Archives: NIDA

First Do No Harm

3 Jul

I’m standing in the dark, outside Café Kooks.

It’s intermission of Grace Malouf’s play First Do No Harm and I’m thinking I’ve just witnessed an absolutely brilliant first act.

Directed by Charley Allanah and Malouf, the performances are magnificent; nuanced and genuine. Kate Bookallil, Richard Hilliar, Josh Merten, Shan-Ree Tan and Barry French are a dream ensemble.

And the script is superb.

I’d give my right arm to have written that first act.

But that’s an old-fashioned expression.

The world moves on.

And it’s the examination of this phenomenon of change which makes Malouf’s play so exciting.

It centres on the ethics of a surgical procedure for Alexei, a young Olympic hopeful (played by Merten with utter believability.)

We witness a hilarious and provocative discussion between two medical experts (Bookallil & Tan) asking whether their profession leads ethical change or if they simply follow society?

The tacit assumption is that ethics do, indeed, develop.

It’s a phenomenon exemplified over the last 60 years, as the rights of previously marginalised groups have been increasingly acknowledged. But only Innocence will assume that change in societal values is always for the better. In the same six decades, I’ve seen the 1960’s and 70’s dream of social equality sidelined by the 80’s fixation on gaudy, material success. And more recently – and with horror – I’ve witnessed the valorisation of anger, coupled with the deeply unhelpful assertion that rage alone signifies a genuine commitment to justice.

It could all leave you with the soul-disturbing sense that our ethical values are merely arbitrary, like fashion. And, seriously, who can care that much about fashion?

Alexei succinctly expresses the issue of arbitrariness, bitterly complaining that a perception is dismissed as a delusion when held by only a few people but, when held by everyone, is readily embraced as reality.

I think it’s because the play approaches this frightening aspect of our ethical lives so entertainingly, so boldly, that I fell in love with its first act.

It’s a hard act to follow.

Perhaps a falling off is inevitable, if you value the first act as I do: as an extraordinarily powerful representation of one of the great tensions running through the human experience. We want to live for our morals – not by them, but for them – yet one of those moral values – our dedication to Truth – threatens to strip us of the certainty that helps us to live for any of them. For a serious person, that’s a frightening tension to confront. (But more on that later.)

So, the second act. It has one scene that seems unstageable. It also privileges shouting and anger. Perhaps a richer choice might have been to present a little more honest bewilderment.

Having set up the ethical issue – can Alexei have a particular body modifying surgery? – the playwright seems understandably reluctant to give a simplistic answer. Instead focus moves to other ethical decisions made by the surrounding characters. It feels somewhat diluting (akin to adding scenes to Macbeth in which Macduff and Lady Macduff argue about who has dedicated more time to the rearing of their children.)

But, I acknowledge that what I’m calling dilution (admittedly, in this case, dilution with acid) is actually the creation of multiple complex characters – and that too reflects crucial aspects of our ethical experience.

Firstly, few moral decisions are made in social isolation; our decisions impact others, and will be judged by others.

And Secondly, every individual’s moral life is of equal importance (regardless of passing fashions.)

And Thirdly, that frightening tension I refer to above can probably only be faced by embracing a compassionate humility – and, in terms of drama, that required courage and openness is perhaps best epitomised in the creation of such fully fleshed-out characters as this production offers.   

First Do No Harm is thrilling, vital theatre.

Paul Gilchrist

First Do No Harm by Grace Malouf

Presented by NIDA in association with bAKEHOUSE theatre and Talia M-K

At KXT on Broadway until July 4

kingsxtheatre.com

Image by Laura Elaine

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Everyone Knows I’m a Pervert

16 Jun

You might argue this is a prime example of the Theatre of Audacity.  You could argue it asks to be valued because it surprises and shocks. It has us say of the actors I can’t believe you stood in front of people and did that! (I’m contrasting it to the Theatre of Authenticity, which asks to be valued because of its veracity and honesty. It has us say of the actors You made me believe that was true.)

Everyone Knows I’m a Pervert by Taylor Fernandez playfully tells the story of Chastity, who accidently shares a saucy email with all her contacts. I wasn’t sure why this was such a problem, since Chastity also writes an erotic blog called The Vaginal Chronicles. (I’m guessing the Chronicles are anonymous – but the pace is so intense and the exuberance so stupefying, I think I missed that point of exposition.)

The show is certainly fast and furious, and ninety minutes long. (In the style of much of the humour, I can suggest it needs a good edit … a good, long, HARD edit.)

Directed by Beatrice Blackwell, the cast (Jenny Guigayoma, Jade Fuda & Jake Walker) totally commit to high-energy performances.  

In suggesting the show’s audacity, rather than its authenticity, I have a few caveats.

Firstly, the show presents a poetic (by which I mean life-affirming) Truth. But more on that later.

Secondly, very few of the sexual acts mentioned by the characters are perversions. They’re not uncommon acts, and they’re certainly not taboo. What is in our society? There’s only the illegal. (I think one such act was mentioned.)

Perversion is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and I guess that’s the point: Chastity suffers guilt about things she really shouldn’t. To compensate for this guilt, she wades in even deeper, like Macbeth when he says “I am in blood stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er” – except for the fact Shakespeare’s tragic hero goes on to actually do things. Chastity just talks about doing things.

And, thirdly, the way she speaks about these acts is revealing. Chastity talks of sex as merely mechanical pleasure. The utter absence of intimacy is tragic, and this sadness is the truth of the piece; the pity, the poetry.

Paul Gilchrist

Everyone Knows I’m a Pervert by Taylor Fernandez

Presented by NIDA in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co.

At KXT until 20 June

kingsxtheatre.com

Image by Laura Elaine

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Cadaver Synod

3 Jun

Written by Ruby Blinkhorn, this is bold, exhilarating storytelling. 

It’s set in the Vatican of the 9th Century CE, it’s inspired by historical events, and it’s original Australian work!

Thank God for the refreshingly cosmopolitan audacity of this creative team.

(By the way, a good historical drama is almost enough to make you believe in God. The soul-enriching assumption that an audience will connect with characters who don’t live in the contemporary world is akin to the belief that all humankind is a single family, the members of which are to be both loved and pitied – a sentiment beautifully expressed in the well-known religious phrase We are all Children of God.)    

Not that this production asks you to believe in God. (But more on that later.)

Pope Stephen is being pressured by more worldly authorities to condemn the corruption of his predecessor, Formosus. The exact details of the demanded condemnation are nothing but shocking: Formosus must be exhumed and his corpse put on trial. Understandably, Stephen is somewhat reluctant.

It’s a universal tale: Can evil be resisted? (Nb the passive voice. But more on that later.)

The piece is replete with the anachronisms endemic to the genre. Some are historical, made for the sake of simplicity (like the positing of a King of Italy or the poverty-stricken-but-still-literate orphan.) Others are linguistic (phrases like OK, We’re good? and Let’s wrap this up) employed to narrow the gap inherent in the sharing of a story set in a foreign country over a millennium ago. Other anachronisms playfully generate recognitional humour (like the sense that the discussions in the 9th Century Vatican were uncannily like modern corporate meetings.)

There’s plenty of laughs. Much of them come from delightful reversals of expectations as the supposed holy men indulge in language and behaviour that doesn’t match the moniker. Occasionally the piece threatens to diminish into farce (or even satire – more on that soon) but there’s a serious story here, and Blinkhorn brings it home powerfully.

Under the direction of Mathew Lee, the cast give captivating performances. As Stephen, Nat Jobe offers a riveting portrait of moral determination, lamb-like gentleness and naive idealism, presenting this fraught mix so that his emotional suffering becomes utterly convincing. As young Gabriel, Leon Walshe gives us an innocence so complete it’s frighteningly oblivious to danger, and all the more heartbreaking for that. As the Machiavellian John, Luke Fewster is all smooth talking smarm and ominous machinations. Yasna Delo as Lucia, voice for the worldly authorities (and for herself), is suitably waspish. Diego Retamales’ Brother Abraham is a terrific comic addition, all huffs and puffs that leave him hilariously unaware of the stakes. As senior cleric Paul, Mark Langham provides both wry humour and vital gravitas; it’s a performance that helps lift the piece to grandeur.

The end of the story is perhaps too quick, and the steps in Stephen’s final journey too close together, but enormous, crucial questions are raised.

Stephen’s spiritual experience is framed entirely in terms of Faith. And it’s Faith in the way Modernity conceives it: as an unwavering loyalty to an unverifiable vision of Life. I suggested the piece was in danger of slipping into satire, and Stephen’s response to the suffering of the aforementioned orphan is a prime example. He doesn’t seem to be much of a doer. But Paul, one of his brothers in Christ, denounces him very clearly and passionately for this very fault.

It’s worth noting that when Jesus of Nazareth was asked to sum up the law and the prophets he reportedly focussed, not on Faith, but on Love. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

And Love is not some fuzzy feeling – and it’s certainly not a belief. Love is a doing. Stephen seems to have tragically forgotten this.

In the context of the culture wars of contemporary society, this thrilling piece reminds us we must not privilege attitude over action.

Paul Gilchrist

Cadaver Synod by Ruby Blinkhorn

presented by NIDA in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co

at KXT on Broadway, until 6 June

kingsxtheatre.com

Image by Robert Catto

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