Rant Plug: Okay so I’ll get my shameless plugging out of the way first. Kelly and Bet’s PJ label is finaly available for purchase. If you’re into wearing Pjs I’d highly recommend these. Ethical. Organic. Yum. Go here:
http://www.thegrandsocial.com.au/alas okay. That’ll do. Now for some ranting…
Theatre Rant: I saw a little collection of short plays called Money Shots, at STC. Now it’s not every day I agree with Kevin Jackson, but, on this occasion, he took the words right out of my mouth (thankfully not while kissing me) (very sorry, something compelled me to pun Meatloaf… I couldn’t control myself.) His thoughts are here: http://kjtheatrereviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/money-shots.html It seems silly to rehash, hence why I thought I’d mostly just let him say it but, yeah. As he noted, Tahli Corin’s work (The Arcade) was hands down the best of the 5 and was performed well. I wouldn’t argue Corin is the first writer to tackle assault and abuse but she did so with great sensitivity, and, I thought, created really interesting characters in the situation. Her work made me really uncomfortable. I viscerally felt the awkwardness of being a courting teenager and thus the darkness of what was going on behind closed doors was extremely powerful and disturbing. Zindzi Okenyo and Tahki Saul’s work was awesome. They were spellbindingly kid like and brought the whole romance/fuckedupness at the arcade thing to life. I endured the rest of the stories, and really felt the sadness of this super underwhelming evening being the send off for The Residents kids. WTF? Mostly though, Tahli Corin is one to watch. Speaking of which, go see One For The Ugly Girls at 505. It’s super awesome. I saw it today, which is technically November so I’ll rant in my November rant, but, even sans rant, take my word for it, awesome. It is on till the 13th of November, and tix and info are here: www.novemberism.com In other news, It’s been eons since I saw something at The Stables, a very neat little intimate stage that I’m fond of cos it’s drenched in Sydney theatre history and sports its fair share of charm and magic. Anyway, I’ve just not been drawn to see anything there in a while but I broke my drought with This Years Ashes, cos I wanted to see my friend, Tony Llewelyn Jones, perform. A play about cricket is prolly an unlikely pick for a girl like Ridiculous but I more than enjoyed it nonetheless. The second half especially. I wept like crazy. It is about grief and loss and trust and, well, summer and listening to the Ashes with your dad on the wireless. It, like most of the plays that Griffin mounts, is drenched in Sydney-ness so you get this really trippy feeling of location. You feel like you’re inside the theatre and outside the theatre at the same time. It’s hard to describe. Anyway, it’s moving. It ends up being about love and finding your feet, and trust, again… an ending you smell coming but which is executed so much more skilfully than you suspect it will be, neatly evading soapyness and cliché. It runs till November 19th. Check it out. A fucking lovely night at the theatre.
I'm ranting in 2 parts cos I'm going away tomorrow and I want to sleep, not finish writing my October thoughts, but, as I've begun them I thought I should at least post half... the rest will arrive mid November, late and out-of-date as per usual. Stay tuned for more morsels of my lazy thoughts on art and theatre and flicks and life... October style...
Much love,
Ridiculous.
