cultural_philistine
HAL_9000Review of Mongrels (Actors College of Theatre & Television)
September 24th 2007 07:37
Mongrels, by Nick Enright, in a production by the graduating class of the Actors College of Theatre and Television, has just finished its run in Surry Hills.
Cultural_philistine extracted some thoughts from HAL_9000.
What did you make of the theatre firstly?
It's an interesting space. At the beginning I thought it was too large, but then it sort of worked later on in the play.
Impressions of the play. What did you think?
I thought in the first part the male actors were much better than the female actors. However, the female actors improved in the second act. And, I mean, I almost felt that the play was cast for the main lead, who was Patrick Connolly. And that the others were ring-ins.
I quite liked the redhead (Verity Baker), and not just because she's a redhead.
Yeah right.
In fact, I don't know if the red was real or not. You thought she was "indicating"?
Yes. I didn't like her at the start. I felt it was very forced, artificial.
I thought she was quite lively to watch. As opposed to some of the others, who were just standing there.
Well, I felt irritated.
You sound irritated now. So you thought none of them held a candle to the main actor?
The male actor who played the gay playwright (Matt Butcher), he was good, and even the other male actor (Brad Channer), he was also very good, especially when he played the prison inmate. I mean, that was award-winning stuff.
I don't know about "award-winning". I liked the little laugh he inserted in his character.
Oh, it was the full... the physical life of the prison inmate was fantastic. The female actors grated on me. They were just... they just passed.
Are you being harsh just because you know that it's a student production?
No, because the male actors did not act as though it was a student production. They were... you know, STC-standard.
Really? That's quite a high compliment.
But the other three, no.
Well, either it's a compliment, or it's an insult to the STC. But either way... Would you have any criticisms of their performances?
Look, the only criticisms would be perhaps about fine-tuning, but on the whole, no. No, I thought their performances were good, and they were alive for me, whereas the three female characters were not alive for me, it was very forced.
I think we also disagree about the play itself. You actually didn't like the script very much?
It was making out that it was this great expose of the [theatre] industry, and... I mean, I didn't think it was that ground-breaking.
I kind of liked the "behind-the-scenes" stuff.
You see, that's my problem. I just didn't know how behind-the-scenes it all was.
You thought it was all bullshit?
Well give me an example of a prison inmate who's been let out early because he's a playwright.
It didn't give you an insight into a whole world?
No... I didn't really feel... I didn't feel I've learned anything ground-breaking, no.
It didn't engage your interest, attention?
Look, when the male actors were on stage it was entertaining. I don't know, it just didn't sort of... I don't know, it just wasn't one of the best scripts I've come across or it didn't come across that way when acted.
But you can't put your finger exactly on why. On what it should have been that it wasn't.
Maybe there were parts when it could have been tighter. I don't know... It just... It just didn't work entirely for me.
I suppose the second act was a bit broad-brush. It skipped over a lot of events and time periods in one go. The next mundane thing to talk about is set and production values. Any comments there?
Look, that was clever, especially the...
It was? There wasn't much to it.
I mean, the clever use of curtain rods and the upstairs/downstairs part of the stage and the foreground/hinterground, and the police car siren, that was very good.
Yeah, I liked the siren.
And the way that they sat in the audience to actually create the effect of sitting in the audience watching a rehearsal, that was clever.
You didn't think it gave you a behind-the-scenes look into actors rehearsals or anything?
Frankly, no.
So you didn't like it very much at all.
I thought it was a bit of a...
You were going to say "wank", weren't you? Okay, how old do you think the main actor was?
Um, fifty-five.
So he's got some excuse for being so good.
Actually, generally the older actors are better than the younger actors. And in this play particularly it really showed.
How old do you think the younger actors were?
Um, twenty-one. Maybe. Twenty-five.
They'd been going through three years of hard-time acting training. You don't think it shows?
Look, they've got the basics down. It's just parts of it were forced.
Would you go back to that theatre again?
I don't know.
Mongrels was playing at the Cleveland St Theatre of the Actors College of Theatre & Television from Thursday 13 to Sunday 23 September 2007.
Written by Nick Enright.
Director -- Maeliosa Stafford
Set and lighting design -- Tony Youlden
Sound co-ordinator -- Brad Channer
Edmund Burke / Dingo -- Patrick Connolly
Vincent O'Hara -- Matt Butcher
Craig / Ross / Guard -- Brad Channer
Elaine -- Verity Baker
Lydia / Joey -- Chloe Schwank
Dulcie / Hazel / Nurse -- Victoria Moss
-- The director's notes comment: "It has been a slightly surreal experience at times... Working in a rehearsal room that deals with life in the rehearsal room... We have been in the hall of mirrors looking at ourselves from odd angles and at some very unflattering reflections."
-- The website originally commented: "Inspired by the lives of two of Australia’s most influential playwrights of the 1970s, Jim McNeil and Peter Kenna, Mongrels is the play which addresses the difficulties and complexities of the creative artist in life and in art."
Cultural_philistine extracted some thoughts from HAL_9000.
~~~
What did you make of the theatre firstly?
It's an interesting space. At the beginning I thought it was too large, but then it sort of worked later on in the play.
Impressions of the play. What did you think?
I thought in the first part the male actors were much better than the female actors. However, the female actors improved in the second act. And, I mean, I almost felt that the play was cast for the main lead, who was Patrick Connolly. And that the others were ring-ins.
I quite liked the redhead (Verity Baker), and not just because she's a redhead.
Yeah right.
In fact, I don't know if the red was real or not. You thought she was "indicating"?
Yes. I didn't like her at the start. I felt it was very forced, artificial.
I thought she was quite lively to watch. As opposed to some of the others, who were just standing there.
Well, I felt irritated.
You sound irritated now. So you thought none of them held a candle to the main actor?
The male actor who played the gay playwright (Matt Butcher), he was good, and even the other male actor (Brad Channer), he was also very good, especially when he played the prison inmate. I mean, that was award-winning stuff.
I don't know about "award-winning". I liked the little laugh he inserted in his character.
Oh, it was the full... the physical life of the prison inmate was fantastic. The female actors grated on me. They were just... they just passed.
Are you being harsh just because you know that it's a student production?
No, because the male actors did not act as though it was a student production. They were... you know, STC-standard.
Really? That's quite a high compliment.
But the other three, no.
Well, either it's a compliment, or it's an insult to the STC. But either way... Would you have any criticisms of their performances?
Look, the only criticisms would be perhaps about fine-tuning, but on the whole, no. No, I thought their performances were good, and they were alive for me, whereas the three female characters were not alive for me, it was very forced.
I think we also disagree about the play itself. You actually didn't like the script very much?
It was making out that it was this great expose of the [theatre] industry, and... I mean, I didn't think it was that ground-breaking.
I kind of liked the "behind-the-scenes" stuff.
You see, that's my problem. I just didn't know how behind-the-scenes it all was.
You thought it was all bullshit?
Well give me an example of a prison inmate who's been let out early because he's a playwright.
It didn't give you an insight into a whole world?
No... I didn't really feel... I didn't feel I've learned anything ground-breaking, no.
It didn't engage your interest, attention?
Look, when the male actors were on stage it was entertaining. I don't know, it just didn't sort of... I don't know, it just wasn't one of the best scripts I've come across or it didn't come across that way when acted.
But you can't put your finger exactly on why. On what it should have been that it wasn't.
Maybe there were parts when it could have been tighter. I don't know... It just... It just didn't work entirely for me.
I suppose the second act was a bit broad-brush. It skipped over a lot of events and time periods in one go. The next mundane thing to talk about is set and production values. Any comments there?
Look, that was clever, especially the...
It was? There wasn't much to it.
I mean, the clever use of curtain rods and the upstairs/downstairs part of the stage and the foreground/hinterground, and the police car siren, that was very good.
Yeah, I liked the siren.
And the way that they sat in the audience to actually create the effect of sitting in the audience watching a rehearsal, that was clever.
You didn't think it gave you a behind-the-scenes look into actors rehearsals or anything?
Frankly, no.
So you didn't like it very much at all.
I thought it was a bit of a...
You were going to say "wank", weren't you? Okay, how old do you think the main actor was?
Um, fifty-five.
So he's got some excuse for being so good.
Actually, generally the older actors are better than the younger actors. And in this play particularly it really showed.
How old do you think the younger actors were?
Um, twenty-one. Maybe. Twenty-five.
They'd been going through three years of hard-time acting training. You don't think it shows?
Look, they've got the basics down. It's just parts of it were forced.
Would you go back to that theatre again?
I don't know.
~~~
Mongrels was playing at the Cleveland St Theatre of the Actors College of Theatre & Television from Thursday 13 to Sunday 23 September 2007.
~~~
Written by Nick Enright.
Director -- Maeliosa Stafford
Set and lighting design -- Tony Youlden
Sound co-ordinator -- Brad Channer
Edmund Burke / Dingo -- Patrick Connolly
Vincent O'Hara -- Matt Butcher
Craig / Ross / Guard -- Brad Channer
Elaine -- Verity Baker
Lydia / Joey -- Chloe Schwank
Dulcie / Hazel / Nurse -- Victoria Moss
~~~
-- The director's notes comment: "It has been a slightly surreal experience at times... Working in a rehearsal room that deals with life in the rehearsal room... We have been in the hall of mirrors looking at ourselves from odd angles and at some very unflattering reflections."
-- The website originally commented: "Inspired by the lives of two of Australia’s most influential playwrights of the 1970s, Jim McNeil and Peter Kenna, Mongrels is the play which addresses the difficulties and complexities of the creative artist in life and in art."
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