As part of the Sydney Fringe Festival, a new play by Alexander Lee-Rekers is given a skilful production that is built on engaging lighting, sharp choreography and some richly satisfying performances.
In The Van de Maar Papers, the chorus trio play an important part in energising the action and commenting on its repercussions. The three actors, Alexander Packard, Rebecca Robertson and Emily Weir are crisply humorous in their articulation of the key themes in the play. Their opening number, choreographed to The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson (1950/1953), was a scene stealer, beautifully comic but also establishing that the play is about the ramifications of a manuscript - typed, translated, edited, shuffled and reordered. The play seems to riff on how such artefacts left behind by the dead can startle and engender comic complications for the living.
The ensemble of actors is generally strong with a standout performance by Marty O’Neill as the publisher Ron Huck. This was a finely nuanced portrayal of an imaginative huckster. The scene in the barbers was a tour de force of emotional reveal, comic, but also tinged with sadness and remembered fear. Writing and acting came together in a beautiful surge of the tragical-comical.
Lyn Lee as Christine, the Van de Maar widow, took a little while to establish herself as the forceful character she is, but she did gain our attention while the interplay between her and her nephew Frank was playful and believable – articulating some of the shared emotions they hold.
Julia Christensen as Sarah – the illustrator and publishing assistant to Ron Huck – made the character a force to be reckoned with: larger than life and a little inept, but sharply understanding of her own creatively and that of others. She has a voice that carries text beautifully.
Her love interest is Frank, the nephew, the outsider. As played by Cody Ross, this character is nicely observed, spinning interest out of his low-key nature, the passivity well balanced by the grit of wanting to escape the Van da Maar name, wealth and power. This was well plotted by the script and actor, but, unfortunately, the vocal projection deflated this well bedded understanding. We couldn’t hear the actor’s words.
This was compounded by the soundscape that underpinned most of the scenes. The actors had to work hard at times to escape its sonic pull. The strong voices of Sarah and Huck, could do it, but sometimes even the good diction flowing from Christine was subverted. For the Frank, this tapestry of sound was almost a calamity, disguising his softly uttered words.
No sound barrier could drown the comic excesses of the three chorus like characters (playing multiple roles within the play). They were thrilling, energised, full of brio, born of caricature but not unbelievable, edgy but also warmly comic. Their acting and choreography was finely balanced. The audience responded with delight.
The simple staging was beautifully lit, bathing the set in soft pink light, ensuring the costuming was vividly set.
The play’s episodic and filmic nature did at times tend to obscure the narrative. The esoteric and fantastical elements were sometimes fully charged, at other times a little too sketchy and pale. But this writer can hold our attention. The play has some wonderful comic touches. Huck’s monologue about his forced congress with the peacock was richly instantiated. The comic excess of the written pornography buried in the papers was droll and poetic, with just enough excess but not enough to be wince inducing.
The role of Christine is an interesting one and could take a variety of interpretations. This one was soft and velvety, with a hint of steel – and very subtly delivered. The resolution of the play with its layers of deceit was intellectually passable, but lacked vigour in a theatrical sense, as no one seemed to react against the false authorship of the Van de Maar papers.
The direction by Alexander Berlage was generally taut and the integration of design and costuming and lighting was worthy of an expensive profession production.
Congratulations to all the talent, young and old, on display.
An Assorted Few - Sydney Fringe Festival – Pact: Centre for Emerging Artists, Erskineville, Sydney - September 15, 2017
Gar Jones
In The Van de Maar Papers, the chorus trio play an important part in energising the action and commenting on its repercussions. The three actors, Alexander Packard, Rebecca Robertson and Emily Weir are crisply humorous in their articulation of the key themes in the play. Their opening number, choreographed to The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson (1950/1953), was a scene stealer, beautifully comic but also establishing that the play is about the ramifications of a manuscript - typed, translated, edited, shuffled and reordered. The play seems to riff on how such artefacts left behind by the dead can startle and engender comic complications for the living.
The ensemble of actors is generally strong with a standout performance by Marty O’Neill as the publisher Ron Huck. This was a finely nuanced portrayal of an imaginative huckster. The scene in the barbers was a tour de force of emotional reveal, comic, but also tinged with sadness and remembered fear. Writing and acting came together in a beautiful surge of the tragical-comical.
Lyn Lee as Christine, the Van de Maar widow, took a little while to establish herself as the forceful character she is, but she did gain our attention while the interplay between her and her nephew Frank was playful and believable – articulating some of the shared emotions they hold.
Julia Christensen as Sarah – the illustrator and publishing assistant to Ron Huck – made the character a force to be reckoned with: larger than life and a little inept, but sharply understanding of her own creatively and that of others. She has a voice that carries text beautifully.
Her love interest is Frank, the nephew, the outsider. As played by Cody Ross, this character is nicely observed, spinning interest out of his low-key nature, the passivity well balanced by the grit of wanting to escape the Van da Maar name, wealth and power. This was well plotted by the script and actor, but, unfortunately, the vocal projection deflated this well bedded understanding. We couldn’t hear the actor’s words.
This was compounded by the soundscape that underpinned most of the scenes. The actors had to work hard at times to escape its sonic pull. The strong voices of Sarah and Huck, could do it, but sometimes even the good diction flowing from Christine was subverted. For the Frank, this tapestry of sound was almost a calamity, disguising his softly uttered words.
No sound barrier could drown the comic excesses of the three chorus like characters (playing multiple roles within the play). They were thrilling, energised, full of brio, born of caricature but not unbelievable, edgy but also warmly comic. Their acting and choreography was finely balanced. The audience responded with delight.
The simple staging was beautifully lit, bathing the set in soft pink light, ensuring the costuming was vividly set.
The play’s episodic and filmic nature did at times tend to obscure the narrative. The esoteric and fantastical elements were sometimes fully charged, at other times a little too sketchy and pale. But this writer can hold our attention. The play has some wonderful comic touches. Huck’s monologue about his forced congress with the peacock was richly instantiated. The comic excess of the written pornography buried in the papers was droll and poetic, with just enough excess but not enough to be wince inducing.
The role of Christine is an interesting one and could take a variety of interpretations. This one was soft and velvety, with a hint of steel – and very subtly delivered. The resolution of the play with its layers of deceit was intellectually passable, but lacked vigour in a theatrical sense, as no one seemed to react against the false authorship of the Van de Maar papers.
The direction by Alexander Berlage was generally taut and the integration of design and costuming and lighting was worthy of an expensive profession production.
Congratulations to all the talent, young and old, on display.
An Assorted Few - Sydney Fringe Festival – Pact: Centre for Emerging Artists, Erskineville, Sydney - September 15, 2017
Gar Jones