Turned on to the Vibrator Play

On a whim today, I went along to the matinee of "In the next room, or the Vibrator Play" at the New Theatre in Sydney. The play, witten in 2009 by Sarah Ruhl was surprisingly thought provoking, as well as very amusing. It is set in victorian era USA. A progressive physician is using the newly invented electric vibrator to treat nervous conditions, while failing to pay attention to his young wife. This allows for some humour about the effect the treatment has, as well as more serious issues of the effects of the narrow lives women were forced to lead. The play runs until Saturday 17 May at the New Theatre, Newtown, Sydney.

The set design by Tom Baderman is lavish, unlike the usual New Theatre austerity. There were some fun effects, with the lights dimming each time the industrial strength vibrator was switched on. Costumes were also lavish, but had to be practical, with several of the cast shedding their outer garments on stage. 

Sarah Greenwood stood out in a uniformly good cast. Her american accent was unobtrusive, reminding me of a young Meg Ryan, in one of her quirky rom com roles. 

The play seemed to be descending into farce, with people popping in through different doors, catching the characters in compromising positions, but that passed. Also the playwright tried perhaps a little too hard to cram too many social issues into the script. However, this can be treated as simply entertainment, or you can try to catch all the references. 

Some elements of the play are stranger than fiction, such as mention of Edison electrocuting assorted animals, to try to discredit his rival Tesla's ACS current electric system. 

More help points for Sydney Central Station?

"This is to suggest installing more help points in Sydney Central Station. Last week I was descending on an escalator from platform 21, when I saw someone fall backwards on the up escalator. They were being dragged up feet first, with arms flailing, as they attempted to get up. I was worried they may be injured, so ran down and pressed the emergency stop button. I looked around but could see no staff, nor an emergency help button. Two other members of the public (more spritely than me) ran up the escalator and helped the person to their feet. However, they were obviously injured, so I called Triple-0 on my phone and asked for an ambulance. As I was describing the injuries to the emergency operator, two station staff arrived, summoned by another bystander, who had finally found a help point. I handed my phone to the senior staff member, and after they talked to the ambulance center, returned it to me and I left the station." Sent to Transport for NSW, 19 April 2025

Apart from being unable to find any way to summon station staff, I had difficulty describing where I was, being underground away from streets. So I have now installed the Emergency+ app from the emergency services. This includes what3words, which uses 3 words to identify every 3 square meters of the planet. 

Shakespeare in a Loop

New Theatre' last performance of Shakespeare in Love, yesterday was life imitating art imitating life. One plot twist hinges on a character losing their voice and having someone step in. But at the start we were told someone really had lost their voice and the director was stepping in. They did an admirable job.

Some of the best laughs were when the sound system made strange noises and the cast breached the fourth wall to make quips about it. With the scripted chaos of a play within a play, at times it was had to tell was the play and what wasn't. The set was spinning as was my head. But the cast carried on to the end, which as I tell my students, is all you can aim for in any performance. 

PS: New Theatre, you have a ground loop in your sound system.

Off the Record at New Theater Sydney

Enjoyed last night's performance of "Off the Record", by Chris Aronsten. This is a play of the MeToo era, & is topical with the BBC engulfed in another sex scandal. It took some work to understand how the play's disparate themes were being stitched together, but that was rewarding. I did not understand some of the English references, such as describing residential areas with numeric codes. As usual with New Theater, David Marshall-Martin's set design was minimal, but expressive. Suzanne James steals the show as the conspiracy theory loving whistle-blower, and reminding me of some of my New Theater going friends.

Live Your Life, But Take Precautions

Over Christmas, I left Canberra for a holiday in Queensland, but never got there. The Queensland boarders were closed due to COVID-19, so I stayed in Sydney. Then the Canberra boarder closed and I could not go home. But then, if you have to be stuck somewhere, Sydney is a nice place to be. ;-)

From Sydney, I could still work online, with the help of a mattress (my next webinar for Canada is 11am, Wednesday, all welcome). My doctor faxed scrips for essential medicines to a Sydney pharmacy (there is still a use for fax).

In Sydney, I decided to avoid indoor venues. It became a challenge to find somewhere to shop and be entertained without an enclosed air-conditioned space and within walking distance. When mandatory mask wearing was introduced for Sydney, this was in some ways a relief. I did try going to a concert once, but an hour in a mask, even with an intermission outside, was not a pleasant experience.

Last week the Canberra boarder opened, and I was able to return. This was an anti-climax: I was expecting someone in a hazmat suit to stick something up my nose, but there was no border checkpoint. What I did find confronting was going to a shopping center. As I entered there were people with no masks. I found this shocking and a little frightening. I wanted to shout "What are you doing, don't you know we are in a pandemic!" and run from the building. But I calmed down, and did my shopping.

Usually I would have lunch in the center, but could not face spending any longer in a enclosed space with hundreds of people. So I dined on the top level of the car-park, at a  food van. It was a bright sunny pleasant day. 

I went home in a better frame of mind, thinking my fears irrational and expecting they would have receded after a few days. This would be similar to 18 January 2003, when at the same shopping center car-park, I was confronted by smoke from a firestorm destroying part of Canberra.

However, the next morning, it was reported there were COVID-19 viral fragments detected in Belconnen wastewater. My fears were not entirely irrational after all.

There is a need to get on with life, but also take precautions.

Making Sense of Tragedy Through Art

Sydney Art Exchange Have a Mask 23 January 2020

Arriving at Articulate project space, in Leichhardt Sydney yesterday for ELECTIVE AFFINITIES was more than a little confronting. We were offered respirators to wear in the art gallery, by very serious people in while overalls. While this brought Coronavirus to mind, it was part of an performance piece about the recent bush-fires. We were asked to wear the respirators for as long as we felt comfortable, then hang them on one of the hooks in the gallery. This was a thought provoking, and unsettling experience, like all good art.

Grapes of Wrath in the Pacific

On Friday I attended a performance of The Grapes of Wrath at the New Theatre, Sydney. This play is adapted by Frank Galati from John Steinbeck’s novel. As someone in the row behind me kept loudly telling their companion: this play is relentlessly depressing. 

This is a relatively straightforward adaption of the book, about  tenant farmers driven from the US Midwest by drought and economic depression. The promised land of California, proved not to be paradise with labor contractors conspiring with authorities to exploit itinerant workers.

While well directed, acted and with imaginative set design, I wondered how relevant this story of exploitation in the USA was to Australia today.  Then I recalled an Australian politician saying that pacific islanders should not complain about being driven from their land by rising sea levels, as they could always get work picking fruit in Australia.

Steam Punk Pygmalion New Theater Sydney

Saturday night I attended "Pygmalion", at the New Theater, Newtown,  Sydney. This is not My Fair Lady, and is more Weill than Lerner and Low, set in a smoggy, dangerous, grimy London.

Much was made in the promotion of this show about it being set Steampunk style. The costumes are striking, with characters adorned with assorted old odd items. Some characters reminded me a little too much of "The Doctor's Wife" episode of Dr Who. But it is worth seeing this show just for the costumes. Hopefully they will be preserved.

However, the upper-class characters were still allowed to look suitably fashionable. But, what stuck me more was how tall they looked. I spent the first thirty minutes trying to work out if it was some trick of false perspective in the set design, if the cast were on stilts, or they were just very, very, tall. After that I gave up wondering, and just enjoyed the show.

The elaborate costumes, and a few pieces of furniture, contrasted with a muted abstract set. The New Theatre doesn't have the space, or budget, for elaborate set changes, but I would have liked a little more detail and color on stage. Also I have seen a little too much of the same steel mesh ramp in New Theatre productions.

For me Mr Doolittle stole the show, with a menace underling his friendly cockney banter. Clara and Freddy were suitably upper class twitish.

The lead performances were good. However, Pickering seemed to be being played by someone channeling Kenneth Branagh, with too many flicks of the mop of hair. Eliza's flinching whenever Pickering touched her was very effective, as was her girlish glee at chocolates, contrasted with a later steely determination.

The play retains its relevance as social commentary. Especially in the middle of an election, where both our major parties are offering handouts to the middle class, but next to nothing for those on Newstart allowance, treatment of the "undeserving poor" is unfortunately very relevant.

Pygmalion is at the New Theater, Newtown, in Sydney, until 25 May. 

Once in Royal David’s City, New Theater

Michael Gow’s autobiographical play "Once in Royal David’s City" deals with the death of his mother.

The surreal elements of the play reminded me of Dennis Potter's, The Singing Detective for the BBC. Characters suddenly spotlighted burst into song*, or mimed to the sound of other actors. Characters explain to the audience what the next scene is, and interact with cast members sitting in the audience.

I am wary of any playwright getting autobiographical, and Gow is more self indulgent than most. However, this can be forgiven, due to the excellent performances in the New Theater production, particularly Alice Livingstone, as the dying mother.


* At one point the play gets a bit Reds. But a crowd spontaneously bursting into a revolutionary song is something I have seen happen in an Sydney Inner West pub. ;-)

August Osage County at the New Theater Newton Sydney

The play August: Osage County at the New Theater, Newton Sydney, last night was like many family gatherings you have been to, combined with The Big Chill. Adult children gather at the family home after many years, due to a family tragedy. They argue with each other, and their partners, over the same old things, with long buried secrets emerging. At more than three hours, with two intervals, this is a long play, but worth staying to the end.

The Australian cast did a good job with mid-western US accents. Alice Livingstone had fun with the role of slightly mad matriarch.


I did not understand why playwright Tracy Letts inserted a native American into the middle of this play.  Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou, gave a credible performance with little dialogue to work with, but passing comment on all happening around her through expression.

The set design by Sallyanne Facer was a little bare for a lived in family home. Also I found the red LED displays on the theater lighted overhead a little distracting.

Silent Disco Loud on Teen Angst

The play "Silent Disco" opened at the New Theater in Sydney on Saturday. Set in a typical Australian city suburban school, teenagers come to terms with relationships and a bleak future working at the local supermarket checkout. At the same time their teacher exhausted from caring about their charges reminisces over their teen years.

This performance suffered from a number of handicaps. The play, by Australian Lachlan Philpott, was first presented in 2011, but already sounds a little dated. References to iPods and SMS do not match contemporary teen language. The actors playing the teens are too old to be believable. A teenager having to go all the way to Kings Cross to buy drugs seems old fashioned.

Set designer Ester Karuso-Thurn has produced a suitably bleak representation of a school classroom (reminding me of a demountable I spent many hours in). Sound designer Jessica Dunn uses loud brash music for raging teens.

"Silent Disco" is at the New Theater, Newtown, Sydney until 14 April 2018.

Australia Day by Johathan Biggins at New Theatre Sydney

The play Australia Day by Johathan Biggins opened at the New Theatre in Sydney last night. This is a loving, humorous and at times bighting look at local politics. Anyone who has been on a committee to organize a community event will recognize the characters and situations.

Set in the scout hall of a fictional Australian inland town, the play tracks the progress of the committee organizing Australia Day celebrations. Along the way issues of race and identity, politics and corruption and explored. This is leavened with humor and the playwright's obvious affection for the characters.

David Marshall-Martin's set evokes the austere, slightly tattered atmosphere of an old scout hall, complete with photo of a very young Queen Elisabeth and slightly tatty flags.

Alice Livingstone was clearly enjoying herself as "Maree Bucknell", one of the quirkier characters of the committee. Louise Fisher's costume design for Amelia Robertson-Cuninghame, as a greens politician was a little too glamorous to be believable. But the way Amelia says "its nothing personal" while blackmailing a fellow politician was chillingly real. She would make an excellent addition to the cast of "House of Cards", now they have a vacancy.

At last nights performance I was a little in awe happening to sit next to a New York theater critic making notes in a battered spiral notebook. I was explaining for my amateur how in my blog reviews I try to find a popular work to relate the play to. The obvious film to equate "Australia Day" to is "Rats in the Ranks", Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly's fly-on-the-wall documentary of the 1994 Leichhardt Council Mayoral elections. But while covering many of the same themes, Australia Day is a lot more fun.

After the Dance at the New Theater in Sydney

Last night I attended "After the Dance" by Terence Rattigan at the New Theater, Newtown in Sydney.  Set on the eve of World War II, the play depicts the end of an age of peace and prosperity with bright young things world weary.

Callum Alexander in early scenes seems to be channeling the young Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. John Cervenka's set is a little sparse for the era. One jarring point was walls which appeared to be finished as polished concrete. The Chesterfield sofa was the centerpiece for the characters to lounge. Costume Designer Brodie Simpson captures the elegance of the age, before wartime austerity.

This pay in one way looks dated with young men in tweed and oxbridge accents discussing love affairs while drinking gin and tonic.  In another way it is of today, with Australia on the brink of a war in North Asia, awash with alcohol and having binged on the proceeds of a mining boom on colonized land.

"After the Dance" by Terence Rattigan at the New Theater Newtown. until Sat 9 Sep

Fear in The Suburbs

You have only tonight left to catch the world premiere season of Phillip Kavanagh's play "Little Borders" tonight at Old 505 Theatre, Newtown, Sydney. This dark comedy has a main character "Steve" (BRANDON McCLELLAND) who looks disturbingly like a young Donald Trump. With his wife "Elle" ( LUCY GOLEBY) they feed off each other's middle class suburban fear of neighbors who don't look and talk like them.

The play won the 2011 Patrick White award and perhaps should get a political award as an allegory for the state of the western world. We have a world fearing the different, building walls, fearing those in our community and adopting violent solutions to what are social and economic problems. 

CHARLIE EDWARD DAVIS and JEREMY ALLEN's spare set helps set the brooding atmosphere. There are only two actors in this play, but the playwright paints such a vivid picture of other characters that at one point I was thinking how good their performances were (before realizing they were just word pictures).

505 Theatre is an intimate venue, but this play deserves a larger and longer outing.

The Clean House, Sarah Ruhl, New Theatre, Newtown, Sydney

On Sunday I attended the play The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl at the New Theatre in Newtown, Sydney. The play begins with someone telling a joke in Portuguese, a long joke. The person telling the joke is clearly enjoying it, but I don't speak Portuguese and so did not get it. The rest of the play was in English, mostly, which I do speak, but I still didn't get what this play was about.

Set mostly in a comfortable apartment of a professional American couple, the play's central character is a Portuguese speaking Brazilian maid, who like telling jokes more than cleaning. She becomes tied up the breakdown of the relationship of the couple. It all becomes a bit silly when one party goes off to Alaska to chop down a tree.

The mix of the surreal and the buttoned-up professionals did not work for me. The cast is clearly having fun, and Alice Livingstone in particular as a frumpy sister with an urge to break out and get a job. However, I don't find comedies about rich people with fantasies of having to work for a living that funny.

The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl is on at the New Theatre in Newtown, Sydney until 8 July 2017.

A Perilous World

New Theatre's production of "The Chapel Perilous" by Dorothy Hewett requires stamina from the audience but is rewarding. This autobiographical work looks at a brilliant but rebellious youth growing up in a world at war, at war with herself and the society which tries to constrain her.

Julia Christensen as Sally Banner is center stage for almost two hours, raging against the system. Brett Heath transforms from the hellfire spitting lascivious Cannon to Sally's father very convincingly (although I kept thinking he looked like Clive James, an Australian poet and atheist who fitted more comfortably in the system). 

Costume designer Courtney Westbrook has brought an understated wartime feel to the production.

The set is dominated by a large luminous chevron, which acts as the "Chapel" and at times apparently the entry to hell.

All the actors give an energetic performance, perhaps at times a little over energetic. At times is is disturbing, as the playwright intended. However, some parts have dated. A fantasy scene where the authority figures burst into song is a bit too "Singing Detective". The references to Le Morte d'Arthur
and The Iliad show the playwright showing off their classical education. Also Parry's Jerusalem seems to crop up in New Theatre productions.

The New Theatre is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. But perhaps it need to look to the future and contemporary issues, not just the last century. With the world perhaps on the brink of a third world war, starting in East Asia, there is scope for New Theatre to draw lessons from 85 years ago for today.

Sydenham Station Creative Hub

Yesterday I attended a talk about the "Sydenham Station Creative Hub" at Batch Brewing Company. This is a proposal to form a creative precinct in the industrial area adjacent to Sydenham Railway Station, to the South West of Sydney's CBD. Council staff talked about the proposed precinct, followed by the brewers on the difficulties of starting a business, and a tasting of the brews.

Being initiated by local government, the Sydenham Creative Hub is essentially a land planning activity. It is proposed to keep the current general industrial zoning, while allowing restaurants, cafes, bars and businesses:

"... but only where the consent authority is satisfied that the business premises and/or office premises will be used for a creative purpose such as media, advertising, fine arts and craft, design film and television, music, publishing, performing arts, cultural heritage institutions or other related purposes...".

What seems to be lacking from the plan is any concept of how to attract or support businesses, apart from helping with planning approval. There do not appear to be any targets for the project attracting business. I suggest the project needs a plan, with a budget and a projection it will be revenue positive for the council within a realistic time-frame.

The Council might want to also involve some local business students in working on aspects of the project beyond zoning. Also a workshop to work out a better name than the "Sydenham Station Creative Hub" (or just drop "Station"). The Council might also catalog the vocational training available in the area: brewers and other creative need training and certification.

ps:  John Whelan, of the Inner West Council Economic Development Unit proved that this local council can, literally, organize a drinking session in a brewery. ;-)

New Theater Sydney 2017 Season

The New Theater, launched its 2017 season of plays last night, in Newtown, Sydney. Directors were on hand to discuss the works and call for actors to audition. My pick would be, best first: Birdland, The Little Dog Laughed, The Chapel Perilous,  The Clean House and Consensual. After the Dance and Australia Day I am not so sure about. Tickets now available.

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED

BY DOUGLAS CARTER BEANE
7 FEBRUARY – 4 MARCH
“I’m a lesbian, he’s a fag, we’re in show business, we’re a perfect couple”

CONSENSUAL

 BY EVAN PLACEY
14 MARCH – 15 APRIL
“Give the facts, show the photos, but don’t get too close unless you want your head blown off”

THE CHAPEL PERILOUS

 BY DOROTHY HEWETT
25 APRIL – 27 MAY
“We can go wrong in our minds, but what our blood feels and believes and says is always true”

THE CLEAN HOUSE

 BY SARAH RUHL
6 JUNE – 8 JULY
“Love isn’t clean. It’s dirty. Like a good joke”

AFTER THE DANCE

 BY TERENCE RATTIGAN
8 AUGUST – 9 SEPTEMBER
 “The awful thing is that we’re still running away”

BIRDLAND

 BY SIMON STEPHENS
3 OCTOBER – 4 NOVEMBER
 “All I wanted was to sing songs to people. I never wanted any of this”

AUSTRALIA DAY

 BY JONATHAN BIGGINS
14 NOVEMBER – 16 DECEMBER
 “You think we’re old fashioned, out of touch, that’s it’s all Captain Cook and flag tattoos”

Anecdotal History of Annandale

Marghanita da Cruz, author of the book series "Anecdotal History of Annandale", will chat about writing Sydney's history, 3pm Saturday 3 September 2016 at Tetch Gallery, 245 Parramatta Road, Annandale, Sydney, NSW.

House of Games at New Theater Sydney

The play "House of Games" is set in a Chicago poker club, where it is hard to know who is conning who. Set in the present day, Kate Shearer plays a therapist drawn into this seedy world to help one of her patents.

Kate Shearer makes a very believable Harvard trained therapist, who's frosty exterior begins to melt.  The rest of the cast struggle with their American accents, although they are playing con-artists, so are they acting at sounding fake?

Set Designer John Cervenka's poker club perhaps need some neon "Budweiser" signs and more clutter, whereas the therapist's office is suitably minimal. Costume Designer Deborah Mulhall succeeds with the look of Chicago high and low life. Playwright Richard Bean, provides some humor (especially at the expense of bankers), but they play has an untidy conclusion, with a new character and at the end.

"House of Games" is on at the New Theater, Newtown Sydney, until 10 September 2016 (my ticket was courtesy of the New Theater).