Week #19 : 'Tame' by Declan Greene

2012 and 2013 saw the Education department at the Malthouse Theatre create The Suitcase Series for Year Nine and Ten Victorian students with the script Tame.  
Students from all around Victoria have the opportunity in Term 3 to workshop a play commissioned specifically for the Malthouse Prompt series and then attend the theatre and perform sections of the script to other school students; as well as seeing a performance of the same script by the resident actors of the company.

'Tame' - Matlhouse Theatre Actors Production

The script was written by Declan Greene, who also wrote Pompeii, L.A and Moth.  He is the creator of “gay D.I.Y drag-theatre” group ‘Sisters Grimm who won a place in MTC’s inaugural Neon Season (2013) with the group devised project – The Sovereign Wife.

His work Tame is an episodic piece of non-naturalism theatre that explores one family’s predicament and behavioural response to climate change - ‘a slow motion catastrophe’ as described by David Suzuki.

Tame is described on the Malthouse Theatre website –

‘It all starts around the kitchen table.  A visitor from the wild visits and eats more than KFC.  An ungrateful young upstart fights nature with nurture.  And finally, apathy and disorganisation brew discord and then disaster.

Tame presents vignettes of an everyday modern family who seem to be ‘happy camping’ whilst the world changes catastrophically outside.’

And described by Declan Greene himself:

‘Now its eaten the family dog…. Will apathy, disorganisation or their new visitor (a bear?) ever allow this family to leave the house again?’

2013 was the last time that this will be performed at the Malthouse Theatre, as they have commissioned a different script, however still centered around the theme of climate change and in a non-naturalistic style, for 2014 (and possibly 2015).
I have taken a personal interest into this script as I am going to be attending the 2014 Suitcase Series with my own students and I am interested in the way that this process works.  I will be trialing out the Tame script with my first semester students and then work-shopping the new script for performance in Term 3 next year..... 
Wish me luck!!!  It's certainly going to be a bumpy ride!!

Week #18 : 'Falling Petals' by Ben Ellis

I have very much delayed in putting up this post because I am not sure how to start with this play.

Written by Ben Ellis, an (Melbourne – Gippsland) Australian born playwright who has written a few plays, most notably for ‘Falling Petals’ (2002) and ‘Post Felicity’ (2001).  His plays seem to centre on home-life in regional areas in Melbourne and dealing with the locality and small township relationships.
His play ‘Blindingly Obvious Facts’ about American peace activist Rachel Corrie was highly noted in the Melbourne ‘Short and Sweet’ play competition in 2007, featuring in the top 30.

‘Falling Petals’ was first performed at Playbox Theatre (now the Malthouse Theatre) opening on 2nd July, 2003 in Melbourne Victoria.  It won the Wal Cherry Play of the Year in 2002.

The premise of the play is in a town called Hollow in regional Victoria which is in rapid decline socially and economically.  Three teenagers are looking forward to their end of year VCE exams and planning their escape to University in Melbourne.  

The play starts with the death of a young boy from a mysterious disease.  Dubbed the ‘Hollow Syndrome’, the town soon becomes over run with the disease eradicating all the children and teenagers. 

Most of the action takes place near a cherry blossom tree on the outskirts of town.  As Phil, Tania and Sally study under the tree, they watch the petals fall and designate each petal to the other children who slowly die in the town.

Phil Moss is the most dedicated to gaining an entrance score to study in Melbourne; Sally Woods is not as intelligent, but loves hanging around Phil; and Tania, Phil’s love interest is of near intelligence to Phil, but not as dedicated to study as he is.

Another female and male actor play multiple roles as other adults in the town. 

MALE	FEMALE
Dr Franz	Ms Golden – a reporter
Mr Syme – Careers teacher at the local high school	Mrs Woods – Sally’s mum
Mr Mulvaney – the president of the Chamber of Commerce	Gayle Moss – Phil’s dad
John Moss – Phil’s dad	Ms Lawrence – Vice Principal
Mr Worboys – Teacher at high school	Marg Bennett – a psychologist
Jonsey – Border Patrol

 

As ‘Hollow Syndrome’ takes hold over the children in the town, the adults take severe measures to not let the disease spread, they shut down the school taking away the opportunity for Phil, Sally and Tania to complete their VCE.  Sally’s mum takes her own steps and kicks her out of the home.

As you can tell, tragedy ensues and Sally (living outside near the cherry blossom tree) contracts ‘Hollow Syndrome’, Phil becomes blindly incensed in breaking the containment lines around the town and to complete his VCE.  Tania follows Phil along like a blind little puppy and tried to make his wish come true by sexually controlling him to help her study.

Unfortunately this play is hardly produced since its creation. 

The Production Company, a cross-cultural relationship company between the US and Australia (produced in America) performed this as part of their season on The Australia Project.

5 Pound Repertoire Company in Richmond performed this play as part of their repertory season in November/Decemberof 2012.

Apart from these two productions, there is little else about this play to be located on the internet.

I will leave this here, as this post  is 3 weeks late and I have a lot to catch up on!

Week #9 : 'The Prodigal Son' by Jack Hibberd

The Prodigal Son - A wayward son who squanders his inheritance, however he returns home to find that his father forgives him.  Luke 15:11-32

The parable of The Prodigal Son is reflected in the tale of Luke, Chapter 15, from the Bible. The characters in the parable are The Father, The Prodigal Son and The Elder Son.

The Father is a wealthy man with two sons - He is the reflection of divine love. Some say that the father is the representation of God, some prefer the suggestion that he is actually the symbol of Christ.

The Elder Son is a materialistic man whom desires no familial relationships. He is suggested to be the representation of The Pharisees who had religion and and righteousness in their heads, but not in their hearts. They did not believe in Christ nor forgiveness of sins.

The Prodigal Son is a young, wasteful and unmarried boy who is undisciplined in the ways of life. He is said to be the representation of a person living in rebellion without Christ in their life. The fable tells us that we sometimes need to hit rock-bottom before we can repent for our sins.

The basis of this parable from the Bible tells us that we, as the general human race, are wasteful and are too absorbed in our own wants, needs and desires to realise that we are living in sin. In this sinful life we hurt others around us, especially our fathers, and we need to repent and ask for forgiveness. In this, our fathers will always love us and grant us with patience, generosity and grace. All we need to do is awaken our hearts to the love of Christ and redeem ourselves in his eyes.

The premise of Hibberd's The Prodigal Son is in a similar vein of this Bible story, however modernised for a 90s post modern audience with the inclusion of a homosexual son, unforgiving parents and disconnected language. In Hibberd's version, we are witnessing the return of The Son to The Father and Mother (known only as Mr and Mrs in the playscript)

"The Son returns home 30 years after being rejected by his family on the suggestion that he is a homosexual. He returns home in the hope that he will be granted a reconciliation with his parents, only to be rejected again, specifically by a ruthless and monstrous mother." (Derived from Jack Hibberd's website)

In replacement of The Elder Son, Hibberd inserts the Mother character with all be same representations of this character - self righteous, pitiless and unforgiving.  The Father character is per the parable. He is loving and devoted parent. He cannot understand why his son has left nor why he has returned, he is only glad that he has come back and doesn't care for the why.

Mr:  I missed you, son. Dreadfully. Your absence has been like a hole in my -

Mrs:  Head

Mr:  Heart

On the other side The Mother is persistent in her unrelenting belligerent manner, trying to get her son to blame himself for leaving, forcing him to explain his return. She constantly berates The Prodigal Son and blames him for her ruined uterus, vagina and sagging breasts. She refuses his questions and his insistence on moving home again.

Mrs:  The room is frozen in time. And will remain unthawed.

Son:  Like your heart.

Mrs:  I never wanted you.

Son:  I gathered that. It is unusual for a mother to hang her son on a meat hook when he has been naughty.

                           

The play starts with only the sound of a metronome. A heart beat. It is suddenly stopped by The Father. The family continue to act as a normal family - the pouring and offering of coffee, the offering of cake - but in complete silence with frequent and highly specific pauses to create different tableaux.

In the finality of the situation, after The Prodigal Son is asked to leave the house, The Father begins the metronome again. The heartbeat continues.

The language in this play has a post-modern vibe to it. It is broken up into small tableaux with frequent silences and sometimes incomprehensible, and sometimes philosophical, dialogue and conversations.

Mrs:  Children. They suck you dry. They sup upon your very marrow. To them your blood is raspberry pop. They gnaw at your liver. Guzzle goblets of fluid, cerebrospinal and lymph. They eat your placenta. Buttocks subside and gravitate. Breasts become old knapsacks. Your navel fills up with gunk. Receptacles pucker. You feel like tripe.

(Pause)

Mr:  I could do with a snack.

The Prodigal Son was first produced for the Queensland Theatre Company in 1997 and Directed by Jennifer Flowers, as part of their short season.  It was first produced in script form alongside Barry Dickins play 'Insouciance' published by Playbox in 2001. Directed by Daniel Schussler (I think....) for Playbox (now The Malthouse) it opened in the Beckett Theatre in July 2001 for a short double bill season.

Unfortunately there are so little productions of this play that I cannot even search for reviews of productions or images from any shows apart from the Playbox season. (And even then, all I can find is reference to reviews written...  http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/11567) 

[FYI - I am on my iPad and it won't let me do anything fancy like imbed links and make the images all pretty 

and properly centred.]

This is a real shame as it is a brilliant play that deals with some meaty issues that are especially prevalent today with the debates on gay marriage. 

I for one would love any chance to see this play in action as Hibberd's plays always carry a sense of the public and private lives of dysfunctional families and the detachment and disillusionment of such in these familial structures.

Hibberd is such an Australian institution, being one of the founders of of the Melbourne Writers Theatre, which is still running today. He is noted for his playwriting, especially with his play 'Dimboola', which has been noted as one of the most produced Australian plays, even to this day (albeit in Amateur Theatre circles).

Next Week: 'A Comedy of Errors' by William Shakespeare