Pepi's Symposium: 2013

19 October 2013

Vivien Leigh's SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

Heart Beast Vicious Theatre Ensemble

http://www.heartbeast.com.au/

Friday the 18th October I attended opening night of the latest bold vision presented by Heart Beast Vicious Theatre Ensemble.

“A naughty, wicked comedy about sarcasm, sex, salacious gossip, glamour, gaiety and pineapples.”

A massive evening in a small space made large by the stunning costuming and the brilliant acting. A large cast of 14 actors is some feat for a theatre in the round and stretching wickedly for two and a half hours.

Full set of Scandal Photos by Gerry Nicholls Photography

https://www.facebook.com/gerrynichollsphotography

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In 1770, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s restoration comedy 'School for Scandal' was huge hit on the London stage and is often called called the best comedy ever written. In 1948 Vivien Leigh and her husband, Sir Laurence Olivier, toured Australia with the Old Vic theatre from London. When they arrived in Brisbane they were welcomed at the airport with a pineapple which looms large throughout and after. As part of the tour they performed ‘School for Scandal’ at the glamorous His Majesty’sTheatre in Queen Street. This is a sad tale when our government demolished the grand old theatre, home of so many historic performances and oh so many memories of my early theatre, musical and opera evenings. Setting the workshopped comic masterpiece during this 1948 visit Heart Beast integrate the off stage antics of the touring actors with the masterpiece play. The scandal of Sheridan's story is related to the rumoured scandal of the unfortunate Vivian herself who is said to have had a dalliance, in every port , which was well known to her equally suspect husband Larry.

Alphabetically the cast were_ George Arkinstall, Tara Barraza, David Bentley, Brian Bolton, Samantha Cable, Warwick Comber, Adrienne Costello, Karen Dinsdale, Patrick Dwyer, Andrew Lowe, Hamish Nicholson, Sherri Smith, Greg Stone and Joe Tiernan.

The talent on display on stage and behind the scenes is a reward that we are expecting in our city where creativity is blossoming. Some actors like George Aekinstall are new to the ensemble and have that glow of enthusiasm that indicates so much is expected in the future. Others like David Bentley (The Cherry Orchard) who is a seasoned member and always bring a much praised individuality to his roles. It was also great to see the hugely talented Andrew Lowe again after a very fine performance in Frankenstein with Fractal Theatre that I saw earlier this year. So many stood out and it was nice to be given the opportunity to congratulate many of them personally after the show. I always seem to have a drink in hand in photos but it is such occasions that are my only opportunities to partake of alcohol. I swear.

Director: Adrienne Costello. Designer: Michael Beh. Production and Stage Manager: Jacqueline Kerr. Wardrobe Coordinator and Principle Costume Construction: Orla Mahony. Co-costume Designer/Garment Production Manager: Chasca Relia-Connell. Dramaturg: Annette Alexander. Lighting Designer: Jason Harding and Rory Fitzpatrick. Pianist: Marjorie Warry. Publicity: Raw Publicity/sTAMp Marketing. Marketing Coordinator: Samantha Cable.

24 September 2013

Riverstage Opera

The Brisbane Festival 2013
Verdi in the Park

Saturday 21st September.

On the bank of the Brisbane River, in the Botanical Gardens and under the stars thousands were treated to a glorious evening of music by The Queensland Opera and The Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Above is the stage in front of thousands on the grass up the slopes but unfortunately there where several annoying kids right at the front of the stage who yelled, ran and danced around while the singers were trying to create moods and beautiful music. A family evening to me is one where children are given the chance to experience something new not be let run wild to distract both performers and audience. The professional singers and musicians soldiered on but it must have been difficult.

Celebrating of the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, renowned soprano Cheryl Barker and fabulous young tenor Kang Wang, Emily Burke, Douglas McNicol, David Hibbard and the famously mighty Opera Queensland Chorus gave a passionate concert performance conducted by Simon Kenway.

Watch out World

Kang Wang is on the way!

Tenor Kang Wang whom I saw last year at the Queensland Conservatorium in The Rake's Progress was born in Harbin, China to parents who are both opera singers. As a student at The Conservatorium he worked under Mr Joseph Ward OBE and was the "People's Choice" of the Dame Joan Sutherland National Vocal Award 2010 and one of the five finalists of the Australian Singing Competition 2010. A favourite amongst Brisbane audiences and me for his leading roles in several operas at the Conservatorium. This youthful tenor was the star of the evening. Set against a bunch of professional and seasoned singers Kang as usual drew the attention and huge reaction of the audience.

He is due to launch a huge career like so many that have graduated from the Concervatorium here. It has an unusually high rate of world stars emerging from its stages under the guidance if some of the phenomenal teaching staff over the years like Lisa Gasteen, Margreta Elkins, Donald Smith, Janet Delpratt.

Twenty one arias, duets, quartets, choruses and orchestral pieces made up the two and three quarter hour evening. La Forza del destino - La Traviata - Unballo in maschera - Ernani - Rigoletto - Il travatore - Nabucco - Otello - Aida. It was a treat. Douglas Mc Nicol's 'Credo' from Verdi's Otello had me screaming Bravo this was exciting as I will see him sing Iago on stage in Otello next month. Also the the Quartet from Rigoletto has sung with such absolutely sublime perfection I found myself yelling yet again.

19 September 2013

Australian String Quartet

The Brisbane Festival 2013

Monday 17th September Qld Conservatorium Theatre.

Kristian Winther (violin) Stephen King (viola)

with Guest Artists Ioana Tache (violin) and Sharon Draper (cello)

Australian String Quartet with Andrew Ford

Mendelssohn / String Quartet in E minor op 44 no 2

Andrew Ford / String Quartet no 5 (new commission)

Arvo Pärt / Fratres
Debussy, String Quartet in G minor op 10
This is not the ASQ but a performance of the 'Arvo Part Fratres' arranged for String Quartet as we heard this week..

Another wonderful evening of great playing and another commissioned work (this time by Andrew Ford) which happily is a regular addition to ASQ concerts. My cousin also attended and now three of us are subscribing for the 2014 season.
The remarkable and absorbed Kristian Winther who is simply amazing to watch and to hear.

http://www.andrewford.net.au/

http://www.asq.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianStringQuartet

When Time Stops

The Brisbane Festival 2013

Saturday 14th September 2013 Playhouse Theatre QPAC.

A combined performance by two wonderful local groups Expressions Dance Company and The Camarata of St. John's chamber orchestra.

A new ballet by Natalie Weir with a new composition by the great Australian composer Iian Grandage who won two Helpmann awards this year.

This was an evening of the most professionally intricate movement and thrilling string work to spectacular music on a great set brilliantly lit. You could tell from the reviews and the cheering that everyone including myself was knocked out by the energy, the passion and the visual delight of 20 barefoot performers.

https://www.facebook.com/expressionsdancecompany

The dancers flexed, intertwined, leapt, rowed and embraced in this inspiration of death, drowning, survival and all that happens when time of life stops. The musicians were also part of the physical performance as they wove their way throughout the dancers and became part of the choreography itself. The performance of the 12 young string players was outstanding, emotional, spiritual and wrenching.

The larger ensemble of Camarata of St John's.

https://www.facebook.com/CamerataStJohns

One of the many glowing reviews This from The Brisbane Times.

When Time Stops was fantastic production to kick off Brisbane Festival. This original dance work from Expressions Dance Company was a stunning display of grace, strength and pure raw emotions.

The dancing took you through life's emotional journeys and managed to trap you back in the moment from the inescapable joy of your first kiss to the feeling of loss and grief in life. While nothing was said, the dancing and facial expressions of each performer was enough to elicit the desired reactions sought from the audience. This was confirmed after the lights came back on and I discovered a room filled with tears and strong applause.

The choreography was spectacular. The intricate lifts and positioning were timed perfectly. The slow motion pieces were so effortlessly displayed only then to take a sudden change to a hard and fast routine. The show demanded a lot from each of its dancers and it's safe to say they did not disappoint on delivering the goods.

The music was outstanding through and through. One thing that struck me was the clever use of bringing the musicians on and off the stage through the different sequences. This added further depth to the journey of emotions and it was a lovely way to allow the audience to appreciate their craft.

Ute Lemper

Awesome, Astounding, Legendary, Phenomenal, Powerful, Spellbinding.
BRAVA UTE !!!.
The Brisbane Festival 2013

Friday 13th September The Concert Hall QPAC

Beginning with an astounding 70 minute performance of her new album of her compositions for the love poems of revolutionary Pablo Neruda.

Following interval we were treated to some of the best of the best From Berlin To Broadway with songs by Kurt Weill. Marlene Dietrich, Edith Piaf, Chicago etc. -
Port of Amsterdam by Jacques Brel found me overcoming my recent reticence and screaming BRAVA! at the top of my lungs. This song has memories from numerous clips and performances. Once I saw Pete Seeger in concert and he finished his evening with the most ngripping and passionate performance of the Brel classic. He ended with a screaming "God Damm Amsterdam!" threw his guitar to the floor and walked off dramatically. Shit it was awesome.

After two and a quarter hours the final encore Milord found me the first to my feet yelling.

From Wikipedia:- Born 4 July 1963 in Münster Germany, Ute Gertrude Lemper was raised in a Roman Catholic family. She joined the jazz-rock music group known as the Panama Drive Band at the age of 16. Later, she graduated from the Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna. Her diverse credits include musicals, such as her breakthrough role in the original Viennese cast of Cats, the title role in Peter Pan, a recreation of the Marlene Dietrich-created Lola in The Blue Angel, the original European Sally Bowles in a Paris production of Cabaret, and Velma Kelly in Chicago (Lemper has played the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago in both London and New York. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in London). She also dubbed the singing voices of Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame for German-speaking audiences. However The Little Mermaid was redubbed in 1998. A painter in the neoclassical style, Lemper's paintings have been showcased in numerous galleries. Lemper, a mother of four, resides on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan in New York City. She performs worldwide, recently in the Middle East. Her autobiography was published in Berlin in 1995. She has also authored several journal articles.

http://www.utelemper.com/

My collection of Ute Lemper CDs

Once before, quite some years ago I bought tickets to see Ute Lemper but was overcome with a powerful case of agoraphobia and could not go. I had to give away my tickets. So glad I finally made it.

The Wizard of Oz

The Brisbane Festival 2013

The Wizard of Oz
Some rave reviews which were universal across the country.

Saturday 7th September The Danger Ensemble at La Boite Theatre for Brisbane Festival 2013

The Danger Ensemble never fail to impress. To date I have seen their original productions 'I War' , 'Children of War' and 'Sons of Sin'. Always innovative and challenging and universally praised. I am lucky enough to have made numerous friends through their work, both cast and audience.

Their take on the Wizard of Oz references the film and the books, but they take us on a more disruptive and schizophrenic journey along the Yellow Brick Road where the ageing, chain smoking, heavy drinking Judy G or Judy Goddammit yearns to go over the rainbow and become the fantasy of Dorothy, but ends up as Toto. This is a taste of what this full evening brings.

Director - the intensely imaginative Steven Mitchell Wright

Devised by the cast but honed by Writer Maxine Mellor

CAST

Chris Beckey (I War)

Margi Brown Ash

Caroline Dunphy

Thomas Hutchins (Sons Of Sin, As You Like It)

Lucy-Ann Langkilde

Thomas Larkin (As You Like It.)

Polly Sara

Two stand out other participants were Dane Alexander who composed the music and sound design. Evocative, brilliant, compelling and another outstanding feature of the show. A name that has popped up over and over again in my recent visits to the theatre and across many many companies is lighting designer Ben Hughes. This young artist is a wizard, and lecturer and already gathering awards for his work.

Watch and listen.

29 August 2013

Meditation

Meditate on nature's endless cycle of creation and destruction.

Render and Thistle (2009) from Karl Cronin
Meditation is described as silencing the mind, removing extraneous thoughts and distractions so that concentration is increased and peace from the turmoil of a too busy world is achieved.
Here are thoughts and images of meditation and contemplation to soothe your soul perhaps relax you and direct you to paths of peace. Think and then stop.

Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.

Voltaire

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.

Confucius

Divinely bent to meditation;

And in no worldly suits would he be mov’d,

To draw him from his holy exercise.

William Shakespeare, Richard III Act 3, Scene 7

If you mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.

Shunryu Suzuki

Is this a half lotus position?

Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form.

Buddha

I just like the idea of always thinking of nice things and hence extract the essence of niceness. Put beauty in your mind, contemplate it's glory and let it wash all over you. You will be trance like and you will find peace. You will be happy if all is beauty. Sleep and bathe in what is simply and deeply beautiful.

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Many years ago I knew a beautiful person who had waist length hair and possessed a radiant face. Some years later he arrived on my doorstep as a Hare Krishna and still as androgynous as Krishna himself. He stayed a few days and was still mesmerisingly radiant as he meditated naked in my home.

Now relax and take time for the beauty of
The Great Bell Chant

The Great Bell Chant (The End of Suffering) from R Smittenaar on Vimeo.

04 August 2013

Barefoot Divas

AWESOME

Sisters, daughters, mothers goddesses. The Barefoot Divas are all these women. They have real lives and their desires, fears, compassion, love and fiery passion find their way into powerful songs leaving no man, woman or child unmoved. The awesomeness of their voice, message and stories is overwhelming and an evening no one should miss. I yelled, I cried, I applauded and I bought the CD's.

http://barefootdivas.com.au/

The Divas and band on stage.

https://www.facebook.com/BarefootDivas

Ursula Yovich lets it all fire and looking wonderful and me looking froglike. Her voice is so powerful when she wants to belt and the smoothest of beauty as she touches your heart. It is simply a remarkable voice. Starring here recently in Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children she was described as giving a powerhouse performance and it certainly was from my centre front row seat. Ursula is also an actress in Film (Baz Lurhmann's Australia) and Television and winner of numerous awards. She has also performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Queen Elizabeth Hall London. Check out all you need to know at
http://www.ursulayovich.com

The CD

Order Here -

http://www.jbhifionline.com.walk-a-mile-in-my-shoes

03 August 2013

Beauty in the Nude Photo

Goodness I have some good looking friends.

Below are some of the artists I adore and have had communication with on Facebook, be it either the photographer and or the model, artist, singer, acrobat, dancer, actor or boylesque performer. Some I love, some are virtual friends and all are quite brilliant. I at least have been following their work and career for some time.