Last Friday, irretrievably sealing her reputation as Frivolous Arts Wanker, Ms TN flew to Adelaide to see a movie. The idea was that I would have a leisurely and solitary dinner - one of life's more underrated pleasures - and then take in the arty fillum at the Adelaide Film Festival (to wit, Van Dieman's Land, which features some of Melbourne's premier theatrical talent) that was the excuse for my visit.
I was, naturally, the only person in Adelaide who didn't realise it was the opening night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. So much for my dinner plans, or for my status as arts pundit. It took me all night just to fight my way up Rundle St to the Palace Cinema. By the time I arrived, my sophisticated Melbourne persona had reverted to neolithic savagery and my elbows were behaving like the spikes on Boudicaa's chariot. It was tougher than the Boxing Day sales in Myers, and twice as crowded.
Perhaps this is why I have barely been able to write a sentence since I returned. There will be a detailed report on Van Dieman's Land once I manage to evolve my thoughts out of the Stone Age and into something resembling coherence; in the meantime, I'll leave you with my Australian review of the MTC's production of Moonlight and Magnolias, which is published in today's newspaper. A play by Ron Hutchinson directed by Bruce Beresford, it's a comic homage to classic Hollywood. It didn't quite hit the mark for me. Previewing the MTC's 2009 season late last year, I thought it smelt "a bit dodgy": and, you know, I was right.
Australian Stage has a sharply differing opinion online...horses for courses
ReplyDeleteDiffering views is what theatre is all about. Or at least, what a lot of the pleasure is afterwards.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOk ... Let's keep it civil guys, thanks.
ReplyDelete...for the record, the comment I removed was being uncivil to the first commenter, not to me...
ReplyDeleteThank you Alison for your courtesy. I really don't know why Mr/Ms Anonymous (and aren't they always?) felt the need for such a string of vitriol after my innocuous comment. I wonder if they would spray the same abuse at your colleague Katherine Lambert at the Sun Herald, who said almost exactly the same as Australian Stage?
ReplyDeleteWell, one would hope not. Perhaps they might gently take issue with her conclusions. Who knows? I've been disagreeing with my colleageus since I first took up this game, back in the dim mists of time. I'm not sure what it proves.
ReplyDeleteAbout as much as the audience on opening night, I guess: on one side of me there was a woman who laughed so loudly at any line with even the smallest smidgeon of humour that I began to wonder whether she was part of a claque, while on the other side I was just aware of an elderly man's yawns. And then the row of empty seats after interval.