Are we alone in the universe?

A wall of transparent plastic looms in the horizon transforming the State Theatre into a quarantine zone. The stage is dotted with balloons of black and white of varying sizes.  Circular and suspended in the air like satellite balloons whilst others are scattered on the ground like peculiar objects, rocks from another planet.   A dull blue light reflects off the black balloons forming opaque alien heads with luminescent eyes.

Alienation is fascinating theatre from the Perth Theatre Company drawn from the curious stories of Australians who claim to have been abducted.  Writer Lachlan Philpott has cleverly entwined real life interviews into witty and convincing dialogue.  Directed by Melissa Cantwell, Alienation stars Luke Hewitt, Naomi Hanbury, Robert Jago and Natalie Holwood.  Firstly introducing themselves to the audience as their true selves, then slipping into the guise of an abductee or non-believer.  All four actors gave charismatic performances seamlessly switching between the actor and the character.

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Holfold plays affable Katherine an odd girl with frightened eyes. She shares her first encounter at an abductee help group.  She is only a child, money in hand on the way to the shop for paddle-pops.  Something draws her down an overgrown lane into a yard.  She walks towards the beautiful caged peacocks, their tails glimmering like gems.  Her eyes grow wider as she recalls the birds gurgling as a small otherworldly being appears.  The peacocks stir, feathers moving and he is talking to her, his lips don’t move, yet she can hear his voice.  Katherine looks up to the audience with those sad eyes and asks ‘I am nothing special. I am not pretty. Why would they choose me?’.  You soften, your heart goes out and you ask could this be real?

Then there is the story of Will.  An accountant played by Jago, just a normal guy on his way to his niece’s birthday.  It is a long drive to his sister’s house.  Time ticks on and Will doesn’t arrive.  His phone is off and night falls into morning. Will is stunned the last hours a complete blank.  He then exists in a trance like state left wondering ‘where did that time go?’.  Nothing makes sense until he remembers.  Driving down the highway, the music stopping and that bright white light.   Will attends the help group to find answers. 

Katherine befriends Will, easing him out his shell in a heartwarming manner.  Will is unsure and untrusting whilst Katherine is hilariously persistent, almost borderline stalking him.   This refreshing dance of playful cat and timid mouse with a romance bubbling underneath makes Alienation utterly human.

The story of Brian, played by Hewitt, was disturbing yet truly thought provoking.  Brian is a typical bloke with a stereotypical bogan girlfriend played by Hanbury.  They are doing well, working in a remote area making good money.  Brian wakes up, watch missing with his wrist searing in pain.  He is bewildered and in shock and then he remembers.  He shares this horrifying news with his loved one.  She laughs in his face and brushes it off.  You don’t really blame her as you think how you would handle such news?  

A series of haunting events unfold, as Brian starts to go mad, a static sound taunting him.  Hard screeches of metal punctuate scenes as their relationship is torn apart by his obsession with the supernatural. He is petrified, anger fuelled by the planted seed of paranoia. You can imagine how this would drive someone over the edge with Brian literally frothing from the mouth at breaking point.

Alienation is the journey of what happens after the spaceship.   When all you are left with is the truth as you know it, that is, if you want to remember.  Whether you are a believer or a skeptic or just a little unsure this production will get you thinking, ‘are we alone in the universe?’.  A touching and comic performance of how we adapt during life’s most earth shaking moments.

Alienation is showing as part of the Winter Arts Festival at the State Theatre Centre until 13 July 2013. 

I Want You

I Want You is the sequel to the teen smash Three Meters Above the Skye based on the novel of the same name by Federico Moccia. Its predecessor followed the story of charismatic bad boy biker Hache played by Spanish dreamboat Mario Casas.

A typical love story: handsome Hache meets rich girl called Babi (Maria Valverde).  He is from the wrong side of the tracks but with his charm and good looks he starts to win her over.  The beautiful Babi falls in love with bad boy, much to the dismay of her affluent parents.  She sees his soft side, they lock eyes, make out and declare their undying and eternal love.  Then the movie climaxes ending in tragedy, complete with screams, sobbing and motor bikes. Babi and Hache are no more.  He then flees London after the dramatic death of his best friend.


Given I had not seen the first film I found the plot just a little hard to follow.  I said to my friend it was some strange cross between Romeo & Juliet, The Fast & the Furious and Centre Stage. 

I Want You follows troubled Hache who returns to Barcelona after two years in London.  He dreams to rekindle the flame with his ex love Babi.  A mystery girl, the independent and vivacious Gin (Clara Lago), enters his life and for the first time in a long time, those puppy dog eyes return.   Hache struggles to be true to his new love when Babi reappears into his life.  Temptation is too strong and he leaves Gin when she needs him most.  There are tears, his world crumbles and the movie again climaxes with a motorbike race. Thankfully this time, there is a happily ever after.

I Want You is the perfect unrequited love story for a teenage audience or those seeking to relive those years of romance and rebellion during the Spanish Film Festival.

 

Fin

When it comes to suspenseful films, I will find any excuse to leave the room.  I will iron your tea towels, darn your socks or polish every single piece of cutlery, one by one.  As soon as I draw in that short breath, pulse quickening, I will do any level of the mundane to take me away from that screen.  I would prefer to half watch, my mind wandering to a safer place. 

When the Spanish Film Festival season was released I excitedly selected a few films at random.  The End or 'Fin' to our Spanish speaking amigos, was at the top of that hastily chosen list.  I prefer to think of myself as a happy endings kind of girl.  I am particularly pathetic during thrillers, forever squirming at the unknown.  I simply hate being in suspense.

When the film synopsis reads that you will be 'glued to your seat right up until its last haunting moments' you know you are going to love it or hate it.  So I enlisted my friend Shanon; the suspense junkie.  I knew she would be keen to get her fix and wouldn't mind holding my hand.

The End tells the story of a group of old friends celebrating a 20 year reunion in a secluded mountain cabin.  It is a time to reminisce, drinking and telling stories around the bonfire.  They group catch up on lost moments and some they would rather forget.   A series of unexplained events occur, and it all gets a little eerie.  I won't give too much away!

The End is a movie that will keep you glued to the screen whether petrified or enthralled.  Definitely a film to watch this season so head down to Cinema Paradiso on Saturday, 22 June for it's final viewing. 

 

Great White

Da dummm. Imagine you are a young man frolicking with your girlfriend in the ocean one afternoon. You fight, she bites you and in a huff  swims to shore, retreating to the safety of the sand. It is cold, its bleak, some would even call it shark weather.  A drop of blood hits the water and a young girl appears from the darkness below.  She rises and says with a predatory glare ‘I am going to eat you’.  

Great White is a terrifying new play directed by Will O'Mahony bearing the tag line ‘ocean stillness dinner’.  A lot less Jaws, and a lot more thought provoking than its title may suggest.  Great White invites you into the Blue Room Theatre where the stage is a sea of balloons and blow-ups. 

A journey into an ocean of love, fear and life grasping with remorse and lost opportunities.  We follow Ben and not one but two Laurens as they struggle with the tick of time, themselves and each other.  What does it mean to be great?  And what is greatness after all.  Great White makes us stop and think, are you great or are you just dinner?  

The local cast of Adriane Daff, Mikala Westall and Will O’Mahony all gave an outstanding performance taking you from laughter to despair.   Definitely not the kind of carnage you expected.  

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Great White will be the show this season that you will wish you had seen. This superb production is showing in the intimate surrounds of The Blue Room Theatre until29 June. This work was made pozible by a wonderful bunch of people who pledged their support.  Pozible is an awesome platform for crowdfunding creative projects such as this.   

‘GREAT WHITE started with a scribble and has grown into something with teeth’ Will O’Mahony.

WINTERING

Wintering is a work by award winning choreographer and dance artist, Aimee Smith. This production was inspired by an artist led voyage through the archipelago of Svalbard. A works touched by many talents from our little city.

The State Theatre Centre is such a beautiful installation providing the perfect setting for Wintering. The front rows of seats perched almost on stage, lending intimacy between the show and its audience.

Opening with footage showing the rawness and purity of the Arctic. Reminding us that this vast expanse of endless ice holds untold stories and beauty. Other worldly sounds accompany the opening visuals. Throwing shadows and grey over the landscape, a blanket of darkness almost plaguing the screen. I could not help but be in awe of this landscape, majestic but so fragile.

A sole dancer appears. Slowly moving forward, then retreats, repeating again shrouded in darkness suggesting isolation, being cut off from the rest of the world. You can only imagine how alone you would feel. Hidden away in the vastness of this part of the Earth.
Another dancer joins the stage and the seasons of the Artic are embodied in the two dancers. Winter moves slowly, the dancers dreamlike and fluid. There was something so sad and touching about their movements. Winter seems to go on forever, the dancers mimicking each other yet seeming to move as one.

Then Summer arrives. The dancers quicken their pace, almost frolicking in a merrier tempo. Their bodies springing to life like flowers suddenly blooming, peering out from under a bed of snow. The ice melts away and sunshine floods in bringing life but yet for only a fleeting moment. An Arctic’s Summer is short, so brief. The dancers’ free limbs quickly snapping back into a frozen state. The wintering taking hold as their movements slow and sadden. They stiffen, the ice setting, Winter returning.

Wintering is beautiful and thoughtful, showing the fragility of such a powerful and primal landscape. I found it very humbling to be confronted with such raw emotions toward a part of the world I really know nothing about.

 

A winter of chocolate and wine

The comforting aroma of mulled wine lingered through the air at the launch of the Winter Arts Festival.  Those that followed their noses were led to the the stall of Sue Lewis.  Although serving delicious cups of unfreeze your fingers spiced mulled wine, Sue Lewis is best known as an artisan chocolatier.  With a focus on organic, seasonal produce and using ethical and only the purest of ingredients, each chocolate is lovingly handcrafted shining with its own character and flair.  From a cheeky salted caramel which bursts upon first bite to the delicate and dainty rose, and the opulent champagne truffles which sparkle.  You can taste's Sue's dedication, passion and pure love for chocolate in each ball of awesome. 

 In December, Sue opened up the doors of her intimate chocolate shop at 44 Derby Street, Subiaco.  You can find local producers like Sue Lewis at the Winter Supper Club on the last Friday of each month over the Festival.

Winter is coming!

For some Winter means retreating for the warmth indoors, curled up on the couch clutching an earthy glass of red in one hand, remote control in the other. For the more adventurous, the colder months bring a snowstorm of entertainment.   The Winter Arts Festival is coming!

The last Friday of the next three months, sees the Winter Supper Club emerge at the Perth Town Hall.  It will have you warming up your hands on a cup of mulled wine whilst wandering hungrily amongst the food stalls.  It is the perfect way to end your working week or to drop in for a pre-show nibble.

The last time I watched Driving Miss Daisy was long, long ago so I am certainly looking forward to this Pulitzer Prize winning play. Angela Lansbury, fondly remembered from Bedknobs & Broomsticks and Murder She Wrote, stars as Miss Daisy with James Earl Jones cast as her faithful driver.  After rave reviews of sold out east coast shows, tickets will sell out quicker than you can say Mufasa!

I am also looking forward to dance works Wintering inspired by the choreographer’s voyage to the Artic and G, a contemporary rendition of the heart wrenching Giselle. Always a sucker for tradition, the beautiful production of Swan Lake will also be worth a look.

The Festival also brings a plethora of theatre and poetry readings.  Alienation has been inspired by interviews with Australian’s who believe they have encountered creatures from outer space.  Who isn’t totally down for an ET moment?!  Softly stepping out of my comfort zone, I have decided that this year I am also delving into the world of poetry. The Night Jar ‘the space where we live out our dreams, filling it with dark secrets and desires’ looks rather intriguing and a good place to start.

On June 12 the Spanish Film Festival returns with eight delicious days of Spanish and Latin American films.   I plan on squeezing as many as I can, topped off with a generous flow of tapas and sangria. Then it is party time as the Revelation Film Festival turns sweet sixteen!  Returning to its spiritual home at Luna with an arsenal of independent films.  And finally, the movie I am most excited to see! Frodo & Co take a walk from the Shire and beyond with WASO. The epic film, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, will be enriched by the orchestral sounds of WASO.  Amazing!

The Winter Arts Festival needs your support, in the same way your chilly feet needs those socks.   So find yourself in a theatre, gallery or cinema this Winter and retreat where it will warm your heart.