tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post1886391914042360126..comments2024-02-18T19:36:43.844+11:00Comments on theatre notes: Review: The Season at SarsaparillaAlison Croggonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-55735866683923905312008-02-18T20:49:00.000+11:002008-02-18T20:49:00.000+11:00Maybe you were the other person who enjoyed Midsum...Maybe you were the other person who enjoyed Midsummer Night's Dream, Enthusiast? I thought it rather beautiful - problems, yes, but so much to enjoy... but I seemed to be a little solitary in that.<BR/><BR/>I think you're correct about the 12 actors, it restricts the formal possibilities. I suppose everyone has to get a go?Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-72360493205910683982008-02-18T12:27:00.000+11:002008-02-18T12:27:00.000+11:00Alison you are right to point out the absurdity of...Alison you are right to point out the absurdity of comparing a new experiment like the AC (new in the sense no one else has attempted a resident ensemble here in a long time) to the much older, well established and very well funded European companies. I think perhaps if you had seen more than a couple of their productions, however, you might not be quite so quick to dismiss them as ordinary. You Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-20911434762780306812008-02-17T18:45:00.000+11:002008-02-17T18:45:00.000+11:00how individuals might (intentionally or otherwise)...<B>how individuals might (intentionally or otherwise) support and perpetuate a dominant system. </B><BR/><BR/>Ben, I think this question is important, crucial even. It pertains to what all of us do; me too. (Eg: Can I keep weaving a tightrope between msm demands and my own desires, or is something going to fall into the abyss? Well, we'll see...) <BR/><BR/>I hate the term "mainstream", it's so Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-56850154685264737622008-02-17T17:27:00.000+11:002008-02-17T17:27:00.000+11:00fair points all. just to be clear, my mentioning t...fair points all. <BR/><BR/>just to be clear, my mentioning the '3 tickets for $180' was not meant as a comparison to melbourne prices (i'm certainly not about to rush to the mtc's defence! perish the thought...). it just literally struck me as my first impression of the stc website, flashin' and all as it was.<BR/><BR/>enthusiast, i share some of your sympathy for the difficult balancing act Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00119074859765429301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-69597955182377151772008-02-17T12:25:00.000+11:002008-02-17T12:25:00.000+11:00PS Forgive my Sunday morning maths - $180 divided ...PS Forgive my Sunday morning maths - $180 divided by 3 is $60. About the same as here. Tho I'm still surprised by the Gallipolli prices.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-8099513154555470822008-02-17T12:05:00.000+11:002008-02-17T12:05:00.000+11:00I'm with Enthusiast here, though I see Ben's point...I'm with Enthusiast here, though I see Ben's point too - but is the Actors Company really seen as a new or radical model? Surely it's a rather older idea? The hype that surrounds it is of a piece with the scandal mongering and schadenfreude that it also attracts, both different sides of the same impatient coin and no measure, either positive or negative, of actual achievement. I think a more Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-10333128842241430852008-02-17T11:20:00.000+11:002008-02-17T11:20:00.000+11:00Fair comment, Ben about ticket prices. I have no d...Fair comment, Ben about ticket prices. I have no doubt that they are the bane of every artistic director's life. I understand the STC tried a 20/20 system for "Blackbird", 20 seats for each performance sold at the last minute for $20, but who know if that will prove viable in the long run. It's a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they don't scenario--on the one hand ridiculed for attracting big Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-33735213001837725112008-02-17T02:11:00.000+11:002008-02-17T02:11:00.000+11:00i have no truck with the 'AC takes away jobs from ...i have no truck with the 'AC takes away jobs from other actors' argument, or the more general anti-Sydney / anti-Nevin sniping. but nor do i think Nevinish is the saving grace of the australian theatrical landscape.<BR/><BR/>i personally don't feel the animosity towards it that some seem to - i've appreciated the work i've seen them do, certainly above and beyond anything produced on the mtc Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00119074859765429301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-57758854073920458072008-02-16T19:10:00.000+11:002008-02-16T19:10:00.000+11:00Absolutely correct, Enthusiast. Those two have bee...Absolutely correct, Enthusiast. Those two have been wonderful to watch in every AC production I've seen. <BR/><BR/>I still don't understand why people are so sanguine about the ensemble: it seems crazy to me. If it ceases to exist after 2009, I will be very sorry: and I don't even live in Sydney.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-6316778012283085032008-02-16T18:42:00.000+11:002008-02-16T18:42:00.000+11:00Something Ben quite correctly identifies is Amber ...Something Ben quite correctly identifies is Amber McMahon's beautiful performance. Indeed, perhaps the greatest pleasure of attending all the Actor's Company productions, regardless of whether they fully succeeded or not, has been witnessing the flowering of one or two extraordinary performers. Amber being one and Hayley McElleney (sp?) the other. Whereas actors such as Pamela Rabe, John Gaden Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-5675821746397507762008-02-11T09:20:00.000+11:002008-02-11T09:20:00.000+11:00Lovely response, Ben. Thanks so much. I believe - ...Lovely response, Ben. Thanks so much. I believe - anecdotally - that the show has been playing to sold-out houses, which is very encouraging (especially in the light of Eldorado, which I still find depressingly mystifying - one of the best shows in the past couple of years, imho). The empty seats would have been because they're not selling much of the circle, due to sight lines.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-57569932598886548422008-02-11T03:57:00.000+11:002008-02-11T03:57:00.000+11:00i saw the show this week, from the circle (with ab...i saw the show this week, from the circle (with about 3 others - it reminded me of the inexplicably poor houses for 'Eldorado'. i thought the show as selling well here?). <BR/><BR/>your comments on the 'screen' experience at the opera house are particularly interesting. i agree with chris that the production pointed up the desperate inadequacies of the playhouse, right down to the awful brass Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-23277911064726971752008-01-17T08:41:00.000+11:002008-01-17T08:41:00.000+11:00I think we're almost on the same page here, Chris!...I think we're almost on the same page here, Chris! Yes, I saw the Sydney show later in the season, with a very enthusiastic audience. Actually, I think this time I saw the flaws in the play itself more clearly, perhaps a consequence of seeing it twice, but also, I think, a result of the production's clarity. Roy Child's effusions, in particular, seemed a little creaky. Still loved it tho.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-53562389884634965802008-01-17T03:02:00.000+11:002008-01-17T03:02:00.000+11:00Perhaps inevitably, I wasn't as bowled over by the...Perhaps inevitably, I wasn't as bowled over by the production second time around. I can't tell you how thrilling -- even a bit shocking -- that Sydney opening was... (I believe. Alison, you went to a performance a week or two into the run?) <BR/><BR/>Having said that, I feel like I <I>got</I> the play -- or, rather, got Benedict Andrews' gloss of the play -- in a way that I didn't last year.Chris Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18215203610745043810noreply@blogger.com