Jacques Brel is alive and well and Living in Paris, Gate Theatre, Dublin

Jacques Brel is alive and well and Living in Paris, Gate Theatre, Dublin

On Monday 30^th January last I had a very entertaining, engaging and uplifting theatre experience at The Gate Theatre’s production of “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” at The Gate Theatre Dublin.

This very entertaining, different and uplifting musical revue appears to be set in an abandoned dilapidated Parisian Saloon which in turn is the Gate’s auditorium extended onto the stage and then ravaged. It is an appropriate and appealing design solution an a setting that provides a comfortable environment for Brel’s gritty songs

The production was directed by Alan Stanford, Set and Costumes Designed by Alyson Cummins, Lighting Design by James McConnell, Hair and Make-up Design Anne Dunne, Musical Director Cathal Synnott.

Aylson Cummins presents the performance space as a derelict, once grand interior echoing the interior structure and style of auditorium. The plasterwork on the frieze is broken and soiled, plaster has fallen off the walls and ceiling, in fact the centre of the ceiling is missing, the void rimmed with the remains of broken ceiling laths which act as gobos, making moody, atmospheric streaked patterns of light on the walls. Some of the wall masonry is exposed through fallen plaster, dust detritus abandoned fixtures and fittings dress the edges and corners. In the midst of all this there are musical instruments, an upright piano, a drum kit, guitars, a double bass, tables and chairs.

I found the corners where the structural plains of the set converged lightly empty and may have benefited from some vertical dressings such as lengths of salvaged floor boards, stored curtain poles, a wooden window cleaners ladder.

The cast drift into the space as if they are a commune of squatters or a group of friends with common, shared purpose. They are of the 1940s in appearance and attire. The performers warm up, tune up into a roller coaster evening of music and song.  

The overall collaboration between Set, Costume, Lighting Design, Hair and Makeup and the robust, emotive, gritty performances by the cast, supported by the quartet gives for a very immersive, enjoyable and uplifting evening.

Costume Design was effective in giving the characters a credible appearance/sense of period and place. At times the costumes were used as action props, enabled the performers to change in and out of characters in a smooth choreographed way.

James Mc Connell,s Lighting Design in sync with Alan Stanford’s Direction, the wonderful, energetic performances from Risteárd Cooper, Karen Mc Cartney, Stephanie Mc Keon and  Rory Nolan combined with Cathal Synnott’s Musical Direction made for some modest surprise dramatic moments. There were also moments when, in my opinion, when the business directions detracted from the performance and from the singing of Brel’s works.

The Team

Alan Stanford,                         http://www.gatetheatre.ie/section/JaneEyre2010AlanStanford

Director:                                  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822157/

           

Alyson Cummins,                    https://alysoncummins.com/

Set & Costume Design:           http://stageandscreendesignireland.ie/designers/alyson-cummins/

James McConnell,                  http://www.gatetheatre.ie/section/JaneEyre2010JamesMcConnell

Lighting Designer:                   http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=2068

Anne Dunne,

Hair & Make-Up Designer:      http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0242818/

Cathal Synnott,             http://archive.dublintheatrefestival.com/artists/display.asp?m=&artistID=212

Musical Director:                     http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=19811

Gate Theatre:                          http://www.gatetheatre.ie/

                                               

See also: Photos by Pat Redmond at:

http://www.gatetheatre.ie/x/Image/JacquesBrelisAliveandWellandLivinginParis2016/photogallery/3_Jacques_Brel_is_Alive_and_Well_and_Living_in_Paris.jpg

http://www.gatetheatre.ie/x/Image/JacquesBrelisAliveandWellandLivinginParis2016/photogallery/2_Jacques_Brel_is_Alive_and_Well_and_Living_in_Paris.jpg

Sweeny Todd at The Theatre on the Bay, Camps Bay, Cape Town RSA

Sweeny Todd at The Theatre on the Bay, Camps Bay, Cape Town RSA

On Friday 11^th of March last I attended an edgy, gripping performance of “Sweeny Todd” at The Theatre on the Bay, at Camps Bay, Cape Town, RSA. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Produced by Pieter. Directed by Steven Stead, Set Designed by Greg King of the award-winning ‘KickstArt team. Costume Design by Neil Stuart Harris, Lighting Design by Tina Le Roux, Hair & Wigs by Jan and Mik'hail of Headmasters

This edgy, unsettling musical, melodrama is set in a visually pleasing and satisfying yet technically complex stage set exuding the hidden stage craft skills and experience of the scenographer Greg King. Anticipation stirs as the house lights darken and the characters emerge through the brightening misty gloom, revealing a small, theatrical presentation/performance space with a backing shadow screen through which the demonic, deranged and threatening Sweeney Todd slashes his entrance.

A magical production with mesmerising performances by an all South African cast led by Jonathan Roxmouth as Sweeney Todd and Charon Williams-Ross as Mrs Lovett. Running at Theatre on the Bay, Camps Bay, Cape Town till Saturday April 9^th 2016

Scenographer Greg King fills the performance space with a multitude of cameo performance spaces in his stylised Dickensian/Victorian London-esque multi-tiered and multifaceted set.

The access to and from the multiple embedded performance spaces enhances the (at times) very fast energetic pace of the performance/performers. Access between the stage level spaces is via doors and archways and access between the higher level performance spaces is via steps and catwalks amid chimney stacks and pots, with the exception of the 1^st floor “Barbers Shop” which can also be exited via a chute to the Pie making facility in the basement.

The timely lit performance areas within the space and the smooth queuing of the performers bring the audience effortlessly from setting to setting and from time to time.

The first floor “Barbers Shop” performance area doubles as a roof top with the ceiling roof piece over the Barbers Shop folding down over the barber shop’s props and dressings and becoming a sky-light on a roof top.

Through the deftly re-setting of props, dressings and cast, augmented with nifty lighting by Lighting Designer Tina Le Roux, the ground floor, centre stage “Mrs Lovett’s Pie Shop” changes from interior to exterior to street area. 

A very satisfying design solution not only visually pleasing to the eye but it also charges the emotions of fear and dread. The engineering of this complex set is unobtrusive, it works smoothly and enables and enhances the energetic performance of the cast and is very sympathetic to the ambiance of the drama.

The backing of black drapes and partially lit back scenic elements of the upstage gave a subdued warm, menace to the space. This restrained lighting effect assisted in keeping the observer’s attention on the performers.

 

Neil Stuart Harris’s Costume Design was effective in giving the period/fantasy characters an imaginative, enhanced credibility and an appearance or sense of being in a deprived, foggy Dickensian London borough.

Tina Le Roux’s Lighting Design was subtle and sensitive in conveying changes of location, time and bringing emphasis to dramatic moments.

When appropriate it added to the sense of danger, menace and horror to the, at times, dramatically claustrophobic setting in which this period fantasy, edgy, unsettling musical drama unfolds.

The programme was good value at ZAR 30 (€1.70) apart from information on Theatre on the Bay, Pieter Toerien Productions, biographies on the all South African cast and crew it contained some nice production photos

Programmes that provide useful content such as the Director’s view on the play and/or comments and sketches by the designers giving insight into some of the thought process behind the concept development are to be encouraged. Such input from the Director and the Designers is of immense value to students of Design for Stage and Screen, Performance, Design for Performance and when provided is to be welcomed.

Pieter Toerien:            https://www.pietertoerien.co.za/

Steven Stead:             http://www.kickstarttheatre.co.za/about-us/

Greg King:                   http://www.kickstarttheatre.co.za/about-us/

Neil Stuart Harris:

            https://www.google.ie/search?q=Neil+Stuart+Harris+costume&biw=1920&bih=1093&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj64JCMis_LAhXFhA8KHYcyCiMQsAQIQw&dpr=1

Tina Le Roux:              http://www.sneddontheatre.co.za/tina-le-roux.html

KickstArt Theatre:       http://www.kickstarttheatre.co.za/about-us/

Theatre on The Bay:   https://www.facebook.com/TheatreOnTheBay/

See also:                     https://twitter.com/TheatreOnTheBay

Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards: And the nominees are . . .

 

Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards: And the nominees are . . .

After a year of theatre, hundreds of shows and days of deliberation, here are the Design nominees for the 2015 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards

Best Scenography (Set design)

Sarah Bacon: For the Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre production of The Shadow of a Gunman, by Seán O’Casey

Aedín Cosgrove: For the Abbey Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare

Francis O’Connor: For the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Ciaran O’Melia: For the Gate Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Best costume design

Sarah Bacon: For the Abbey and Lyric production of Seán O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman

Catherine Fay: For the Gate Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Monica Frawley: For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats

Doreen McKenna and Francis O’Connor: For the Druid and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, by Mark O’Rowe

Best lighting design

Aedín Cosgrove: For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sarah Jane Shiels: For the Brokentalkers and Junk Ensemble production of It Folds, and Anu Productions’ Pals: The Irish at Gallipoli

Adam Silverman: For Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera’s The Last Hotel, by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh

Sinéad Wallace: For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Sophocles’ Oedipus, in a new version by Wayne Jordan

Scenographer Joe Vanek's informative and well illustrated publication 'Irish Theartrescapes' & short exhibition

Theatre Costume's designed by Joe Vanek. A neat, informative three day exhibition (closes 217th Nov) at Cross Gallery, Francis Street, Dublin 8. See a good, broad selection of his costume drawings and browse through the display copy of his splendid book 'Irish Theatrescapes' Joe must be congratulated on his vision and tenacity in producing this informative tome.

Click here for more info on the book

http://www.books.ie/irish-theatrescapes-new-irish-plays-adapted-european-plays-and-irish-classics

By the Bog of Cats at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin

By the Bog of Cats at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin

On Wednesday 19th of August last I attended an edgy, gripping performance of “By the Bog of Cats” at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The production was written by Marina Carr. Directed by Selina Cartmell, Set Designed and Costume Design by Monica Frawley, Lighting Design by Sinead Wallace, Hair and Make-up Design by Val Sherlock.

This edgy, humorous, unfolding tragic and unsettling drama is set in a symbolic, bleak, isolated, scoop of dry bog-land; a spacious, mysterious place of old secrets, some dark, one, very dark. Anticipation stirs as a character approaches a door on the back of an old caravan sunken, half submerged in a bog-hole. The stage darkens and the character’s exploring view of the caravan interior is projected onto a large background cyclorama, the view finally settling on the image of a child who is now in person the sole occupant of the stage.

Scenographer Monica Frawley presents the performance space as a low two level isolated almost featureless pock marked dry hollow in what can be imagined as a larger bleaker, sparsely populated landscape. The irregular textured oval shaped floor level area is backed on three sides (upstage, stage left and right) by a higher level which curves down stage on stage left and right; with on/off egress up stage left and right. The two levels access each other via a connecting curved ramp from upstage centre to half way down stage left. There is down stage on/off wings egress from the down stage half of the oval shaped floor level which protrudes over the stage apron into the front of the auditorium.

The irregular textured surfaces disguise some foot and hand holds on the stage right sloping wall between the two levels. It also accommodates an old caravan sunken, half submerged in a bog-hole which in turn does sink into the bog. The same bog hole area doubles for the burial of the dead Black Swan. Another part of the floor accommodates a more sinister bog hole. (See the show).

The synchronised choreographed appearances of characters with the subtly lit performance areas within the space and the smooth queuing of the performers bring the audience effortlessly from setting to setting and from time to time.

The centre stage left performance space is anchored by a small broken ridge of raised rock which is visually pleasing in the near emptiness of the space and low broken small ridge is used to good effect by the characters.

The later wedding scene is augmented by sufficient well-chosen props and dressings to set the occasion and to give the characters what they require to enact the scene.

The set presentation is visually pleasing, appropriate to the script and in conjunction with the lighting design, costume design, hair and makeup conjures an enhancing visual ambience populated by the mesmerising characters of the writer’s imagination. The scenic elements are robust; appear economically effective and are supportive of the whole performance. The limited use of the backing projection screen for projected images gives a subdued starkness to the space. This assists in confining the observer’s attention on the performers, an effect which is supported by Lighting Designer, Sinead Wallace’s lighting.

Monica also designed the costumes which were effective in giving most of the characters a credible appearance/sense of being in/from a confused contemporary rural society and to some others a larger than life, mystical, otherworldliness, dream like presence to their character.

As the drama unfolds the encroaching mental and physical deterioration of Hester Swane was convincingly supported by her changing, deteriorating attire and appearance.

The Lighting Design was subtle and sensitive in conveying changes of location, time and bringing emphasis to dramatic moments.

Overall a contained, dramatically open, uncluttered setting in which this edgy, unsettling and at times very humorous, subliminal Greek tragedy unfolds.

The programme at €5.00 contains information on The Abbey Theatre, an informative précis by Mary O’Malley on writer, play and meaning, Biographies on the cast and crew and listings of friends and advertisers.

Programmes that provide content such as the Director’s view on the play and/or comments and sketches by the designers giving insight into some of the thought process behind the concept development are to be encouraged. Such input from the Director and the Designers is of immense value to students of Design for Stage and Screen, Performance, Design for Performance and when provided is to be welcomed. The Abbey Theatre on-line resource does show images by Ross Kavanagh of the set, stage and characters at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153083826495642.1073741895.97959920641&type=3&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BTBOCReviewe-card&utm_content=version_A

Marina Carr:                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Carr

                                    http://www.irishwriters-online.com/carr-marina/

Selina Cartmell            http://unitedagents.co.uk/selina-cartmell

Monica Frawley:          http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=2306

                                    https://www.facebook.com/monica.frawley.3

Sinead Wallace           http://design.irishtheatreinstitute.ie/designers/sinead-wallace/

Val Sherlock:               http://design.irishtheatreinstitute.ie/designers/val-sherlock/

                                                                       

Abbey Theatre:           http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/

For designers see:      http://design.irishtheatreinstitute.ie/