Newtown Honey

Review

2007-07-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

This review is by Alison Croggon, as part of the double bill China Incident / Newtown Honey show at La Mama.

Alison Croggon is a writer who lives in Melbourne, Australia.

This review appeared on Tuesday July 10 2007, on Alison’s site; www.theatrenotes.blogspot.com which primarily deals with all independant theatre reviewing and discussion.

Alison Croggon presently is the Melbourne theatre reviewer for The Australian and irregularly reviews books for ABC Radio National's The Book Show..

Please note this is the Newtown Honey excerpt. For full review pls. log on to www.theatrenotes.blogspot.com

Marty Denniss' Newtown Honey is a complete change of pace. Denniss's first play, it premiered in Sydney a decade ago with the same lead actress, which perhaps explains something about the commitment and depth of the performances. It's a passionate, surprising work, given a sparely imaginative production by Beng Oh, which demands (and rewards) close attention.

Maddy (Lauren Clair) and Loos (Curtis Fernandez) are lovers, caught in a relationship of almost claustrophobic intimacy in which they have insulated themselves against a world they do not understand, and which does not understand them. From the moment Loos appears, frightened and panting, on stage, we know that something is wrong; and the play follows their attempts to remember their pasts in order to remake the present, as they weave together their mutual stories in an attempt to find a truth that you sense is already lost to them.

Despite obvious differences, this play reminds me irresistibly of Kroetz's bleakly beautiful two-hander Michi's Blood, about another outsider couple withdrawn from the world, their future symbolised by a pregnancy. Both plays contemplate the nature of love in ways that would not be recognised by Hallmark; and, as has been said of Kroetz's work, Denniss's play gives you the sense that you are witnessing "a crack-up at the edge of truth".

Where Denniss differs markedly from Kroetz is in the richness of his language; where Kroetz's doomed lovers speak a blasted, impoverished vernacular that leaves his characters lost in the gaps between their experience and what is expressible, Maddy and Loos have invented a private language that articulates their despair and love with a tough, ragged beauty. At moment it segues into moments of pure poetry (and sometimes even verse - Denniss is not afraid of rhyming); but this is a poetry of the theatre, meant to be enacted through bodies, and it is never mere lyrical decoration.

Beng Oh - whose direction I've encountered once before, in the bizarre but effective Shakespearean play The Nero Conspiracy - gives this play an intelligently simple production that permits its theatricality full flower. All the action takes place on a thin strip of carpet at the far end of the tiny La Mama stage, creating a necessary alienating space between the performers and the actors. The action is abstracted - when Loos lights candles, for example, Fernandez simply draws them on the wall - which focuses the attention where it ought to be, on the script and the performers.

At times the density of the language left me uncertain what was happening, and I think it would take a second viewing to be clear about the details. But for me, that didn't matter; I was riveted by the intensity and truthfulness of this production, and the complexities that were woven and unwoven before my eyes. Clair and Fernandez give extraordinarily generous and sure performances, creating the discomfort that comes of witnessing the unspeakably intimate moments between human beings. Newtown Honey seems to me to be theatre of an unusual integrity: not perfect, perhaps, but most certainly exactly what it is, which is not nearly as common as it sounds.

< The Transformation... >

2007-07-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Newtown Honey
La Mama, Melbourne, until July 15, 2007

Review by Wendy Cavenett

I believe that truth has only one face:
that of a violent contradiction
— Georges Bataille

Drifting in the magic haze of dusk, Newtown Honey unfolds quickly. There’s Maddy, (Lauren Clair), shapely, back to the audience, scrawling on the wall. People are still talking, taking their seats… but soon there is quiet; their focus is on her. She freezes. Suddenly Loos (Curtis Fernandez) enters, puffing, panicked; too distressed to speak. His body shudders with every heaving breath. There is so much energy in this intimate La Mama space that the audience cannot help but be drawn into this strange, doomed world; a world that is visually stark but distinct, and alluring too.

And then the lovers speak in ways that capture their precious existence; a fantasy, a dream spoken in dialogue that augurs some dire event that could destroy all they have created. In fact, there is a knowingness that what is being seen is the last of what they have shared… their memories recounted just for us; a keyhole peek into the mind-space of two fringe-dwellers who want the truth as much as they despise it. Their insights powered by the sheer terror of what is about to be lost. The hard eroticism, the tenderness; the unexpected humour that belies the grief that creeps ever so quietly beneath all that is shown, bristles within the flux of unwanted change.

What seemed unfamiliar is suddenly known to us. And it is known quite intimately… and uncomfortably too. After all, who hasn’t questioned their own life choices? Who hasn’t wondered how identity is formed and ultimately shaped by the decisions we make… the reality we choose to believe in? And most importantly, who hasn’t secretly wondered about that other life we chose not to live? For Loos and Maddy, understanding these self-possessing truths with all their wonders and consequences is a volatile and compelling revelation.

Maddy: …Let’s keep these lights here. The whippy flames, breaking up the walls, you can hear them crack the image up, letting the night air bleed in. Let’s enjoy the suffocation you know? The invisible air. Before all this stuff happens. Before they come.

Adding to the depth of Newtown Honey’s linguistic power is the relationship between the actors, the director, Beng Oh, and writer, Marty Denniss (Erskineville Kings, The Duck Shooter). Clair and Fernandez are married and expecting their second child. Their first was born shortly after Oh directed them back in 2005 in Peter Handke’s brilliantly confrontational, Self-Accusation, a sizzling one-off performance that marked the beginning of their new life as parents. Both are also close friends with Oh and Denniss, and it is possibly this unique personal and professional dynamic that infuses Newtown Honey with an extraordinary sense of raw honesty and insight.

“It’s different than any other process I’ve embarked upon,” Oh says. “I have friendships with Lauren and Curtis, and they have a relationship as actors and as husband and wife, so normal boundaries are blurred... They created this work in the rhythm of their daily life, and by them not trying to separate themselves out of it meant they got much closer to the heart of the play.”

Written by Denniss more than 10 years ago, Newtown Honey was first performed in Sydney in 1997, also starring Clair as Maddy, who reprises her role 700 kilometres from where the play was originally set—the strangely offbeat inner Sydney suburb of Newtown. Clair, a formidable theatre, television (White Collar Blue, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Stingers), and film (Erskineville Kings) actor, is currently filming the hotly-anticipated mini-series, Underbelly, based on Melbourne’s criminal underworld. It is due to be screened in 2008. In Newtown Honey, she presents a most convincing and exacting portrayal of Denniss’s Maddy; the feisty dreamergirl-drop-out who seems destined to slip away from Loos despite her desperation to be with him. In fact, Denniss’s vision is so haunted by possibilities that Maddy could very well be an apparition as much as she could be a real-life woman trying to sustain her dream life with her dream lover.

Fernandez, best known for his role as host of the children’s cartoon show, The Big Breakfast, is also a visual artist and an accomplished actor for both theatre and television (Neighbours, The Book Place). As Loos, he jumps between cool reason and frantic hope, his enclosed and claustrophobic self desperate not to imagine his world without Maddy; without the shared history that has held his sanity together for so long. Intense, edgy, and revealing, Fernandez’s performance retains the delicious, loaded ironies Denniss so skilfully wrote into the work.

Loos: …Hot fairy tongues whipped inside my stomach and shook and cut the lining like they were chasing a thousand sharp pieces of glass, trying to get out at the one spot. I felt this lush squeezing juice build, boil and melt the glass until it popped bubbled and washed the walls of… walls of everything I was and then burst and shoot this bolt, halving me… never before and never again.

“Marty’s words are slightly abstracted because he’s trying to get to the heart of a moment,” Oh says. And it is that moment, nestled at the very core of Newtown Honey, which ultimately reassembles reality from Maddy and Loo’s questionable co-dependency.

Writes Denniss: “So here is a thought or a dream or a play about two people who have made decisions to live a life that rejects the constructs and morals and values of a society or a community. They live in a small area - they have each other and their shared history that now has to be... possibly re-designed... re-constructed... in order to see, hear, smell, and touch again and go on surviving with this orchestrated memory.”

The staging of Newtown Honey is both stark and unobstructed, opting for minimal props and costuming, with Oh choosing to enhance Denniss’s use of symbolism and representation with almost surreal results. With Maddy and Loo’s obsession with light and therefore, lit candles, the decision to direct Loos scrawling their larger-than-life outlines with white chalk on the dark back wall as he frantically speaks of decisions that must be made, reveals the primitive emotional and psychological aspects of the play. The visual becomes subliminal; the language code of light, the love and hope Maddy and Loos desperately wish to retain.

Oh, a lover of opera, of Homer’s Odyssey; of more “non-narrative or fractured narrative texts”, has directed a diverse range of productions, including new Australian plays, comedies, opera, and experimental works; plays by Handke, Heiner Müller, Gertrude Stein and Arthur Schnitzler. He attaches importance to ideas, to concepts that hijack the brain’s pre-conceived notions of perception, of truth and reality. He understands the incredible power of evoking the past, of language as history and insight, and this is especially true with Newtown Honey.

Denniss, a writer and director of short films and plays, is probably best known for his 1999 feature film, Erskineville Kings, which he wrote and starred in alongside Hugh Jackman and Clair. His most recent play, Lion, Pig, Lion, will premiere at the State Theatre of South Australia in August, 2007. His passion for writing (think Roland Barthes’s dictum, the utopia of language), is reflected in his unique grasp of timeless themes, namely loss, love and tragedy; and the beguiling world of consciousness too. Unlocking his language was crucial for Oh; the strain of fantasy pushing against the realism that lays at the heart of Denniss’s work a true gem when finally uncovered. The strange sense of Hitchcockean suspense a masterful undercurrent that offers little release for the audience, or for the quest for truth amidst the pain of loss.

Vulnerable, mysterious; unexpected moments of lucidity, of violence and possibility, Newtown Honey transcends time and place in a way all good writing, acting and directing should. Clair and Fernandez once again ignite the stage with a rare and focussed intensity that should not be missed.

Trust me, original Australian theatre is very much alive.
And thank goodness for that!

Note from the Author

2007-06-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

by Marty Denniss

I wrote NH when I lived in an area of Sydney that had many youngish people that were transient and lost. It felt like they and myself rationalized world politics and social commentary with a naivety of an excited and childless sub-editor. I was shocked at the constant energy they had for what they would never describe as.... but is quiet obviously hate mongering. It all smelt like the www.generation rejectionist bullshit that also dressed for the part. They wore costumes you could only get from the endless crap on-line sites from numerous left and right wing web-sites. These sites had or have this speak..... that was this constantly repeated and chanted dribble from the lonely and left-overs of old political movements - lobby groups - corporate religions and........god have mercy on us alll.....media groups. These youngish people with their instant lives were very disinterested in going into any depth to explore why things happened and the history of how things got done. It seemed they waited for the local paper or lecturer or television to design neat stories for them to consume - repeat at cafes. They would buy the appropriate t-shirt to match this stand they took - they would draw representative quips on their bodies. This is how they empower themselves or believe they do. There’s nothing new in that. So here is a thought or a dream or a play about two people who have made decisions to live a life that rejects the constructs and morals and values of a society or a community. They live in a small area - they have each other and their shared history that now has to be ....... possibly re-designed.....re-constructed...... in order to see, hear, smell, and touch again and go on surviving with this orchestrated memory. Together in this examination they realize how we all may be connected with basic services and needs and dependency on a system that does not and can not discriminate. It is in this mapping of their own simple ways of living do they finally understand the righteous stand they took may have an irreversible and devastating effect.

Marty Denniss started writing and directing short films and plays in 1995 and was awarded third place in Tropfest in1997 for his film “Levi Fly”. He went on to write the feature film “Erskineville Kings”, based on one of his plays. His play “The Duck Shooter” was performed in a co-production between Brink and the State Theatre of South Australia in the State Theatre’s 2004 season. He then developed, with the State Theatre of South Australia, his play “Lion, Pig, Lion” for its world premiere in August, in the companies’ 2007 season. “Newtown Honey” was first performed in 1997

Newtown Honey plays @ La Mama. July 04 - 15
Bookings now open 03 9347 6142

visuals www.myspace.com/newtownhoney

< All In The Family >

2007-06-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Las Minas, 1656 Diego Vela`quez

This article appered on Arts Hub Australia on Tuesday June 5 2007
by Curtis for Curly projekts

Rewind 3 years, a good full 3 years. I was at a crossroads in my life. (How noir!) We – my wife, Lauren and I- had moved to Melbourne, my mother was dying, we had no artistic contacts (including local representation) no friends, nor day job prospects. It was, now looking back a really bleak time. We found a shoebox in St. Kilda that had a hot water service with the capacity of 5 litres max. Lauren, myself and the cockroaches all flocked to that hot water service for heat. I found a menial sales job (hard stress on mean) in a store in the same business where interstate I was managing. My new boss was 21, spent her time preening / squeezing zits and telling me off for being competent.

I nursed my mother (and father who could not cope with the situation of impending death) and dealt with being in a place we vowed never to be. Add to all this our Art, was gone.
No contacts, no shows. We had not given up but after 10 years establishing a network it felt like we had to begin again.

Consciously for years, together Lauren and I had held off the actuality of having a family, so we could pursue the Art until we deemed we were established and safe. Now here in this foreign city we were back to the drawing board. Ironically 3 years later, we have a small family, a tot (pictured) and an embryo gestating in my wife (also sort of pictured). It all started when we literally said ‘to hell with it.’ We wanted our Art and we wanted a Life. Why not strive for the art AND strive for the family? We had nothing to lose.

After conception it all snowballed. I was involved with Channel10, Short and Sweet festival and the VCA director’s season. In which my wife whilst pregnant shifted scenery. During this time Lauren filmed a commercial and a guest spot. Later that year at La Mama in a self produced show, (9 months pregnant) we gave our final curtain call and promptly made an exit stage left to the Royal Women’s Hospital where our daughter was delivered. It could be said that we are crazy. I write you this as I am amazed and flabbergasted at how possible it all was. As actors, theatre and Art makers we can forget how strong, flexible and persistent we are, usually in spite of seemingly on-going rejection and neurosis.

And we are doing it again, Lauren knocked up and all, in July when we present for your enjoyment, Newtown Honey. As it turns out the family is my greatest network, not only providing the production and playing aspects, but also our daughter’s Godfather is the playwright. Marty Denniss. He wrote the AFI nominated Erskineville Kings, and notably for the Adelaide State Company: The Duck Shooter and Lion Pig Lion. The director is Beng Oh whom we have worked with as individuals and together before on various projects. (Including stocking our freezer with meals when our daughter was born- as we are lousy cooks)

Even if tomorrow I had millions of dollars I would still use my family to create. Ok, John Malkovich could assistant direct and David Mamet could dramaturge. Cate Blanchett and Matt Damon could understudy.

The point is my family including the foetus are the art, seemingly summoning from the gods work. Granted not all of its paid, but it is expression and an opportunity to work the creative muscle. The body of work we produce reflects us. It is neither cutting edge nor radical. It is honest, simple and true, to that end pursuant of our dreams, our foremost goal. Take for example our Article site. It deals weekly with the process of production, theatre, parenting and all things Art, (details below), linked with a corresponding myspace site. These sites are used to broaden the creative development and promote an electronic energy that moves beyond the performance. It is experimental and an alternative way to pursue our show.

In choosing Newtown Honey which deals with the impending birth of a family and death of a way of life, the young couple are on the cusp of something new, all spoken through poetry in the tradition of the beat movement. It celebrates to me, the present stage in my family’s artistic journey, from nothing to something. And again with this play our life changes together.

Newtown Honey plays @ La Mama. July 04 - 15
Bookings now open 03 9347 6142

ARTicle site http://www.newtownhoney.blogspot.com

visuals www.myspace.com/newtownhoney

Lauren Clair and Curtis Fernandez are both actors who have worked in theatre, film and television. Curtis was once host of Channel Seven’s “The Big Breakfast”, early in the morning, entertaining kids, while Lauren appeared later in the evening on shows such as “Stingers” and “Blue Heelers”, causing a range of trouble from insurance fraud, to drug manufacture and distribution. They both have a penchant for, and have worked on many a Shakespeare with “Grin and Tonic”, such as “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Troilus and Cressida” and both strive together to continue finding meaningful ways, not only to represent themselves as artists, but more importantly, to tell a story to their audience.

MORE ARTicles ? blogs......... SCrOLL dOwN.............

< Romeo Must Die >

2007-06-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

But soft,

What light through yonder window breaks?

by Curly

a curly production

My vaulting ambition has vaulted o’er itself and has broken its back. It’s true, this 33 year old wants to play Romeo badly. Realistically it’s possible, but most likely highly improbable. Hell. Hell and high water. Be still my beating heart, or is it bleeding?
Just quietly, ( not so secret men’s business ) a lot of my male acting friends when drunk, hold their breath and wish to play Hamlet. Personally my secret wishes for Hamlet are that he slip by that gravesite and pulls a hammy. That’s right death by a tight tendon. Sounds good. The point is well, we all seemingly have a part we would die to play or commit dubious actions to play. I would consider a solarium if there was a black Romeo on offer. For me it’s Romeo, you Hamlet.

My friends genuinely love Hamlet, they have a thorough insight into the play but we are too old. We are closer to nervous breakdowns trying to work out how to entertain our off spring in the mornings rather than being cast as nubile satyrs. Surfing on virtual data, I see my reflection in the monitor. My hair is greying, ( note to self, buy dye: Romeo No Grey . ) My knees crack a little, ( scaling Capulet wall – small problem ) and most nights I am tired by 9! ( How will I meet Juliet at the masque party? Convince Capulet to make it a luncheon ) Easy, Peasey Japanesey. Sorted! Problem – credibility.

Many plays do have actors playing youngin’s mostly all successfully however for my money I’m always aware of the actors craft in these roles as opposed to seeing a character, regardless of talent. Even though this may be intentional, I still can not shake the oddity of it. It is just personal taste. I also prefer red to white wine, chocolate to strawberry and ice cream to frozen yoghurt. Just taste.

So many of us have these burning desires that need to be satiated of characters we want to play. We know the text, often can glean new insights to impress at parties, and have a love for the story. Importantly we decided on these roles early on.

When I first decided I’d be the definitive Romeo my brain was not fully developed. Honest and true. New studies as written by Kathleen McAuliffe for Discover Magazine show that the adolescent brain, ( up to early 20’s ) is not fully mature. They are wired to take risks. Neurotransmitters are drastically changing in quantity and type, forming an appetite for experimentation and risk taking. It’s only around our early 30’s we think less singularly and more conceptually. The classic mature brain takes flight. Here is the concept and check list.

The concept – Curtis Fernandez to play Romeo

Checklist

1. Dye Hair
2. Wear knee support
3. Take caffeine
4. Think like a junky

Right that’s relatively easy and with a little help from a pharmacy it’s all very possible. Please pass the text!

Now reconcile that with the ever widening bottom line that realistically I will not play Romeo. I’m too mature. My brain’s too developed.
And that’s cool.
And with this understanding many expectations of what I believed I wanted to do with my craft go too. My thoughts get a thorough pruning. New roles and parts which I never considered or thought possible, ( such as Loos in Newtown Honey ) are here. Romeo for me is the symbol of the actor I wished to be. As an artist it is very dangerous relying on a symbol of who you want to be. Letting go of Romeo I’m discovering the artist that I am, and you know what? I like him. And that desire for Romeo has been replaced with gratitude and excitement for what I’ve got.

Newtown Honey is coming to get you!

* * *
Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

Tickets through La Mama on (03) 9347 6142.

Bookings now OPEN

myspace buzz

Life On The Fringe

2007-05-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

Life on The Fringe by Lauren Clair

I had a family member who at one point referred to my husband and I as “poor actors”. A term I wasn’t fond of and eventually corrected. Still there is a close friend who frequently uses the phrase “struggling artists”, also warranting a correction. Yet both titles are in place for a reason and the misconception begs an explanation.

Needless to say my family is neither poor nor struggling. However the course of our everyday is of some curiosity even to us and I would like to use this opportunity to open a kind of discourse on the topic.

It has been asked what compels an artist to remain in their field against all obstacles, or what attracts us to such a career in the first place. What truly intrigues me is how the artists go about it? I assume that the majority of us are in pursuit of a similar goal, but how do we go about it?
In my case, my day involves a work schedule which begins around 5am, when I begin work in a call centre. Having completed my shift at around midday I go on to the range of activity necessary to uphold my work as a performer, such as auditions or preparing for auditions, writing, preparing a media release for my current production, learning lines, and many many more. I then exercise by bike riding or walking with my daughter who at this point is awake after her nap, then choose an activity that may interest her, be it the park, reading or drawing. Cook dinner for the daughter, clean the house, bathe her, read to her some more, put her to bed, then go on write, learn lines, prepare character, work on media design, search for further opportunities, etc, finally go to sleep and do it all again the next day. On the two days I have off with my husband Curtis, we rehearse our show Newtown Honey and attend to any task which requires both of our attention at once. My husband leaves for work shortly after I arrive home during the day and generally I am asleep by the time he has finished his shift, so those two days together can be of vital importance just to have a conversation! We have almost completely obliterated any social life outside of the arts, and tend to maintain friendships by working with those people. Our families complain of our being merely absent members. But still we are not only compelled, but so utterly gratified by the fact that we can still operate as artists, even with jobs, with a family and with careers that are not at present flourishing, that we feel we must continue. And all in the hope that one day we may attain the seemingly unattainable – One Job! Or even many jobs one after the other. But at times all at once can be draining, at the expense of the art.

We are not poor, and haven’t been since first entering the industry and blowing the pay cheque from my first advertisement in a week. We do not struggle, apart from the occasional inability to stay awake.

What I wonder is, how do others do it? What kind of time do they keep? What kind of jobs do they have? Are they poor, struggling, surviving or prospering? What is the ultimate goal of the lifestyle they lead? Or any further insight or contribution. If only just to correct those who call us poor or struggling.

* * *
Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

jump to the buzz

< illuminate my soul >

2007-05-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sex at Work

hyperlink inc.
for Newtown Honey

Mr. Grant Denyer, our beloved blondie, ex weatherman - now reality host has declared a sentence of interest here in Melbourne. After partying till 4am at a television industry awards night, Grant was required to begin rehearsals / shoot the next day for his new show. His call time he claimed was 6am. Tight, potentially illegal turnaround, but obviously he is aware of this and has planned his night accordingly or so it would seem. Appearing on morning radio Nova the following day he bemoaned in his morning chat the tirings of his previous working day claiming, "... it was a big ol day….. I feel like I’ve just had sex with a black man." As flattering and funny as this is intended, the joke is a tad sticky and has left a stain.

My impression is that young Grant’s metaphor is for exhaustion, from a gruelling day after a late night on 2hrs sleep. What was unclear is how he felt about having to work under the guise of the comment. I don’t mean Grant any ill will, he has apologised, and everyone makes mistakes publicly and personally but what is it about race and sexual comments that fuel us so? Proverbially he says he is ‘shagged’- through the use of reinforcement of a stereotype whilst representing a network on a public radio station at morning peak time. Is he claiming he was “forced” to work, and therefore sex with the black man was not consensual or was it consensual exhaustion? Was the metaphor deemed positive or negative? Was it a pleasured exhaustion or a degrading exhaustion? The metaphor of choice and the reasoning behind it is not clear. Black has a coloured history in this country and regardless of Grant’s sexual orientation or sexual experiences, the intention seems not nasty; however what makes it, in his own words a “wobbly joke” is it undeniably carries race and sexual overtones reinforcing stereotypical beliefs and therein lays the heart of the joke...

For some reason our celebrities are celebrated when they emerge scathed, fallen or criminal. Rehab is the new black: and Ben Cousins is wearing a tux, Paris Hilton has scored a goal landing in gaol and Axel Whitehead’s flash and simulation: frenzy on the net…. need we say more?

Any of us however uttering these ‘wobbly’ words or a similar remark in a work environment would have a cause for concern. As a personality of a network you are considered “working” whether it be 6am shooting your show, 4am at the Logies representing your network or the following morning on a national radio waves. (Axel quickly ‘resigned’ 3 days after exposing himself.) Axel and recently Grant are potentially more a case of bad judgement and possibly the rush of a moment. Giving them both the benefit of the doubt, we ask ourselves is the rest of us subject to the same laws of leniency? Could you in your workplace make a racial or sexual joke to colleagues (or strangers?) Friends and allies are a different matter. In a traditional work environment this would not be kosher. We now have to sign anti- discriminatory forms and participate in the anti- discriminatory e-learns. We sometimes have to think twice about phrasing to colleagues and co-workers. The underlying concept being not to show prejudice or to distinguish between and that is what this comment does it distinguish between.

Let me reiterate, I honestly believe the point was unintentional however the joke was intentional. It was a joke, thought and delivered. Even though the delivery was not delivered. So, if there are different courses for different horses as theatre practioners what are the social implications of that? In our new era of carbon trading and cooking shows, a time when Australia is showing its true liberal heart, Ben, Axel, Paris and Grant’s deed(s) ironically represent how fortunate most of us are. True I would love to live in a time where all education is free, where IR laws are different, and where cyclists are respected on the roads. We live in a time where we have time to judge our celebrities. Time to formulate and take a stance and for our opinion to be counted within our world. In my small world I can take my daughter to a park by the sea, where I have access to fresh produce and clean water. Where I can with like minded others gather and combine on projects. There is much socially implied in this world where Art is televised and celebrities celebrated for their bleakness and where our freedom is never questioned. In a time when we can have anything we want, be anything we want, have everything cleaned up: click and touch anything, is there a point to Art? Could Art be solely entertainment and is that so bad? Is it necessary to illuminate souls? When confronted by issues are we responsible to at least acknowledge it (Grant’s public comment) or do we let it slide? After all it’s an honest mistake?

The question of responsibility and seriousness as public artistic figures and art practioners is important. We do need to take a stand by not compromising our ethics yes, and expression should not be confined and if we believe in statements as the one aired on Nova, that’s fine but it must be calculated and not randomly thrown in without thought. In a time when losers of televised competitions are as famous as the winners, do we now relax our artistic duties and let it all hang out? What is the responsibility as an artist in a time when the product is less relevant than the person celebrated behind it? Are our functions changing as artists? It would seem so. Paris’ antics are her product and therefore it is Art that she drives without a licence. Pete Doherty’s (Kate Moss’ partner) antics are more famous than his music. After all there is always rehab.

It is a thirsty time for us humans all seemingly wishing to drink from the well of importance. Politically we could be more conscious of our function as public figures in our society thereby potentially being more aware and therefore provocative, but perhaps that is the conservative artist. Or shall we follow the lead from our celebrities with a touch of Grant, Ben, Paris, Pete and Axel in our heart? That is lauded. The only problem being that the bed I make and lie in, preferably has no wet patch.

* * *
Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

Tickets through La Mama on (03) 9347 6142.

la mama bookings

jump to the buzz

sodium pentothal and skinning cats

2007-04-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

by curly
hyperlink INC .

Meow. There I was analysing the best way to begin skinning this beast when a blast from the past ignited in my brain to once again remind me of the sharp implement. Fast forward - back into time to drama school, to the height of my youth. A not so young actress in my class whom my inner critic believes to be a wonderful performer. Ready? I have cornered at a nightmarish actors’ party. I ply her with crisps and bourbon and she lets me in on one of her preliminary processes: the not so humble dictionary. This Cheshire cat would scour thoroughly through her script, word for word to find the true meanings, never assuming she knew a word. After this let down of information I tried to salvage what I could of the crisps and wrote off the bourbon as a business expense. She obviously had drunk too much of it – go through a whole script word for word? Is she crazy? That would take weeks!
Over the years I have been haunted by this incident (and the loss of bourbon) and have half heartedly from time to time attempted a bastardisation of this method to little success, usually just resulting in being able to add to trivia in the rehearsal room. However now, full of heart and the preverbial glass being half full, (the other half floating through my bloodstream) I utilize this method to the nth degree on our latest production, Newtown Honey to my great cerebral delight. Apparently there are many ways to skin a cat, potentially for actors it is through the paper cuts of a dictionary. I feel like my daughter with one of her new books, putting new images together with new meanings with no bias. I have just begun to discover new meanings of words I assumed were standard. Here are some new words to delight the upper cortex:
shipwreck, meaning destruction or ruin as opposed to pertaining to just a nautical vessel, the shipwreck of one’s hopes.
beached, without a job, without money.
The list goes on and on and gets particularly thrilling when dealing with words already known, as the dictionary in an efficient, succinct form:
always, all the time
genuine, natural, real and authentic
and, along with, as well as, and an additional consideration
What’s exciting to this little black duck is to discover that now I have a totally new comprehension and brightness for words. And with the aid of a dictionary I now can, and am about to discover life trapped within words, a sleeper cell if you will. Big deal? Yes for an actor it sure is. Truth is bandied about in acting circles a lot without perhaps a true definition.
My understanding of it is to play what is required in the moment of the given situation of the play as it pertains to you (the player.) Problem, what happens if I need to play a situation (truthfully of course) with which I have no experience of? For some of us, not all, this can prove to be hell.
Truth : that which is true
True : being in accordance to the actual state of things. Being or indicating the essential reality of something.
I consider myself highly trained but have found it difficult during plays to encapsulate a human who was a murderer, a poisonous half plant or some Tolkien king. The more fantastical. Yet even encapsulating a contemporary human can be equally arduous. Thus the referenced dictionary -the classic sodium pentothal (truth drug) has become my sacred scripture. A new way into understanding completely the thought. To get me closer to understanding an experience I have not had. To get an actor to be or indicate the essential reality is perhaps through a detailed understanding of different subtle meanings and connotations of words. It is a mammoth preparatory feat to plough through a script in this manner but also I suspect not that uncommon. It is a wonderful concept for performers as it strips our own initial colour attached to words and inspires the imagination and gives the brain something concrete to work on. Linking into ideas and different modes of thinking, even if what reads is standard meaning, however the playing and executing of these words (and performance) will be anything but standard. An exquisite slice of life with a healthy lashing of homonym honey.

jump to the buzz
www.myspace.com/newtownhoney

* * *

Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

Tickets through La Mama on (03) 9347 6142.

la mama bookings

Parsifal's Journey

2007-04-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

by hyperlink inc.

What is it about the pained male romantic lead that is so attractive? Think Paul Newman (Cat on a hot tin Roof), Marlon (Streetcar named Desire), Leo (the Departed), Brad Pitt (Thelma and Louise) Ralph Macchio (The Outsiders), the character of Romeo in Shakespeare just to name a few. Brooding in corners as our cinematic gods. The fact is these angst characters ars likeable……….dare I say adorable? Could it just be a body thing? They all seem to be fit. Is it a toughie thing? They all seem to have a “get fu#@ked” attitude, have tattoos, understand the dance of drink and have no problems with pain killers .............................. so .............. why………… are .................they……….so …………goddamn …………cool ?

As a male what is appealing in this day and age when labels like snags, metro sexual, pseudo sexual and blah blah blah ….. are thrown around easily, is seeing that masculinity has a human side. Ironic as that sounds. That it is ok to question emotional situations and it’s ok that some of us do find it hard to express ourselves. That it is ok to feel bad but still believe in good. We all can run from our fathers desperatley yet wish to be like him just the better upgraded version, to be a modern man. These pained men dealing with their fragility and vulnerability show strength in a time now where our roles are questioned; as father, brother, partner, citizen.

So why the fascination with this “angst pained male” archetype. Yes, we like the brooding, it’s sexy and tough, they are never short for company nor affection (no I’m not jealous!) They seem to be able to want to communicate but do it in a way that seems rebellious. Everything seems possible no matter what. To do things on their own terms. They feel bad but strive for good. We know the effect but how to play this core quality? We must first get to the root of the attractiveness. A mistake I made when initially fumbling around with the character in my next production, Newtown Honey, is thinking that this idea is solely for a good looking man. And one has the dilemma of being fairly average looking and yet thinks he must play spunk. However this attractivness is a by-product. The trick is an audience endow this quality to a character. It is we how revere these men. It is in fact a by product resulting from the action of the character. This is potentially for the first time they are asking for help and this is what is attractive. That’s why we love them. As humans when we are needed we feel attracted to that person in need whom becomes the object of attraction. So simply, if it ain’t broke who wants to fix it? But if it is broke quite a few of us are willing to give it try.

jump to the buzz
www.myspace.com/newtownhoney

* * *

Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

Tickets through La Mama on (03) 9347 6142.

Where the wild things are...............

2007-04-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

by Curly

Whilst rehearsing our latest project during the dead of night this autumn Melbourne, Australia- across our country my friend, whom we shall name X, out of the blue was being assaulted in Newtown, an inner Sydney suburb. He was hit twice, first by an angry fist and then by a sober concrete curb.

Hearing this striking news, my family raced to Sydney over the ensuing days whilst breaking our daughter in to the road trip phenomenon. After the initial shock of 12 hrs of roadhouse coffee, we saw X resembling an engorged clone unnaturally forced into sleep. Relief set in putting a true picture to those heavy words we received on the phone.

However this reconciliation of eye and mind was overtaken sharply with the incapacity of helplessness. As humans it would seem we have an innate core of good to help our fellow being, and this core was now wild. I was witness to this. All of us X’s friends, family, peers, colleagues, acquaintances (and even arch nemesis) were there grappling with this situation, of inner helplessness and we were all frustrated. In the true sense of the word – facing obstacles, unable to move. Frustrated at him being king hit, frustrated it was not prevented, frustrated at his brain for not healing instantly, or is it in fact most of us are unfamiliar with dealing with our inner wild thing regardless of our relationship? As opposed to the situation?

This play, ironically called Newtown Honey, calls for something similar. What if our true feelings or true relationship is revealed only when it is in crisis? And if that is so, is that fair? Do we really need to suffer for our art of relationship? Is this a true measure of love? Do these crises break open a new part of us that did not exist before or is it latent and this frustration is from foresight recognition?

Aristotle: “Man is the sum of all his actions”

X, is now better, slowly – I imagine this kind of damage takes several months to fully physically heal. My relationship with him is the same however I’m now more aware of it. My relationship with my wild thing is another story. This has not changed me outwardly or behaviourally rather a part of me is now, like my friend awake.

"Man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage to lose sight of the shore."

unknown

< Stars Together... >

2007-04-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

By Lauren Clair

STAR-crossed lovers? Romeo and Juliet? I think not. I like to think star aligned lovers, and in truth, probably closer to Laurel and Hardy.

Curtis Fernandez and myself, Lauren Clair, are a pair bound by marriage, by a one and a half year old child, and by a tradition of working in theatre together. And as for the stars, we were born at the same time!

Ponder this: In Abu Dhabi, in the northern hemisphere, at 9:20pm on October 16, 1973, little baby Curtis was born. Meanwhile, I was being thrust into the world in Melbourne, Australia, in the southern hemisphere, at 4:20am on October 17, 1973. Given the seven hour time difference between here and the Arabic Emirates, that would put us in a very interesting place where stars are concerned.

There are some cynics who may try to prove our understanding of timing wrong, but even if you did, the closeness of our mothers’ timing makes it eerily coincidental, wouldn’t you say? Now add to that our same choice of career, the fact that we met at all, that we also liked each other, and further – loved each other so much that we got married!

Yeah, we think it’s all pretty curious and intriguing too.

Now, Curtis and I are working on our (? Pick a number) play together. We have worked this way pretty consistently throughout our careers - can’t count how many times, but still enjoy it immensely. The production is called Newtown Honey and concerns a couple, in Newtown, Sydney, (if you haven’t guessed that part) who struggle to keep their world an insular one. The difference here being Curtis and I are inviting you in, rather than pushing you out, to bear witness to this relationship.

The author is acclaimed playwright (and a good friend of ours), Marty Denniss. If you’re not familiar with his work, you can rent Erskineville Kings on dvd, or come and see our show! And if you happen to be in Adelaide this August, you may also like to see his play, Lion, Pig, Lion, performed by the State Theatre of South Australia.

The director, Beng Oh, has worked on many a Gertrude Stein project, Grainfed projects, and quite a few with us. Fortunately for Curtis and I, he has boundless patience and endless sources of creativity - two attributes much needed when working with a couple, especially when the couple has such a strong common language of their own. I can admit to being the overbearing actress with a note for everyone else, and Beng maintains the tact and talent to forge past this in the politest possible way!

So why see this show? It's dynamic, the language and poetry moving and insightful, the performances, exciting and innovative. And the direction - challenging and profound, with Beng leading the audience into places they only inhabit in their subconscious.

And if these aren’t reasons enough for you, just ask yourself, Have you ever met two people born at exactly the same time before? Performing together?

I didn’t think so!

Anyway, please stay tuned... Marty, Beng, Curtis and I intend to reveal more and more about the creative process as each of us take this play and prepare it - and ourselves - for the stage.

To be continued...

jump to the buzz
www.myspace.com/newtownhoney

* * *

Curtis Fernandez and Lauren Clair can be seen in "Newtown Honey", by Marty Denniss, directed by Beng Oh, at La Mama, Melbourne, Australia, starting July 4th until July 15th 2007.

Tickets through La Mama on (03) 9347 6142.