August 13, 2.30pm. Cost: $10, free for Malthouse Theatre subscribers
Bookings highly recommended: Box Office (03) 9685 5111
And while we're on things Malthouse, Chris Boyd has a radically different response to Not Like Beckett, demonstrating that beautiful ability of theatre to polarise audiences:
For the first time in my life, I climbed over people to get out of a theatre. Climbed? I almost fell over people to get out.Me, I went again last night (I was being Peter Clarke, who was unable to host the Time To Talk session because of family problems) and was able to review my response - it still works for me, especially when - say, 15 minutes in - it ceases to be a homage to our Sam. Chris, I think you missed the good bits...
Hmmm...I haven't seen Beckett yet, but I read the script a while back and was bowled over. Can see how both your reaction and Chris' are quite possible, and could probably comfortably co-exist. Which is partially why I was so impressed by the piece, which is so far from the grating literalism of so much new Australian theatre.
ReplyDeleteQuite, Born Dancin' - I usually take it as a good sign when a work provokes such differing responses!
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, at the last edit, before hitting the publish button, I deleted a remark about Dykstra looking like a rabbit in the headlights. A bit cruel, I thought. But he looked rattled at the performance I saw.
ReplyDeleteThere was only one person laughing in the entire theatre -- a persistent chuckler who found the lighting changes amusing -- and everyone else was nonplussed.
At the very least, Alison, we can agree on this: The slightest doubt, the smallest hesitation, and the entire performance would collapse into embarrassment...
It did.
P.S. I hope I can make it to your Sunday session. I've just written a piece for the Fin Review about "relative dimension in space"... about the sculptures of James Angus, not Doctor Who! He's the dude who put a full-blown hot air balloon inside a sail of the Opera House... upside down.