Heady brews at the Malthouse

Published on November 3, 2007

Melbourne Festival

My third day at the Melbourne International Arts Festival took me away from the Arts Centre into a more residential area in the south of the city in search of the CUB Malthouse, a theatre complex which was, as the name suggests, a brewery in a former incarnation.

The featured ale that evening was a new work by one of the world's most critically acclaimed directors, Peter Brook.

In "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead", a South African desperately needs to feed his family. Yet restrictions on travel for blacks mean he can't be employed in the city without an identity book. While out with his new friend Buntu, he comes across a corpse and steals his identity in order to survive.

"You must understand one thing. We own nothing except ourselves. This world and its laws allow us nothing except ourselves. There is nothing we can leave behind when we die, except the memories of ourselves," are examples of the play's memorable lines.

Credibly portraying many characters in this periodically comical and thoroughly moving play about Apartheid were the cast of two, the strongly built Habib Dembele from the Republic of Mali, and slim Pitcho Womba Konga from Congo. They needed nothing more complicated than simple costumes, and props on an otherwise huge, almost empty stage.

This South African theatre classic written by Athol Fugard was performed in its French translation with English surtitles. Not a French-speaker myself, I tended to focus more on the actors' facial and vocal expressions as well as their physical movements - the universal language of theatre.

After all, the legendary director and the world-renowned playwright subtly withdrew their authorial presence and gave the stage to the two skilful actors to shine and to communicate with the audience.

"Siswe" finished a few minutes before 8pm and initially I thought my theatre-going evening had ended there. I had been told that Dood Paard's "medEia", which started at 8:15pm at the Beckett Theatre, 20 metres away under the same roof, was completely sold out.

Curiosity may have killed many cats, but it has never harmed a middle-aged theatregoer. I went straight to the Malthouse's box office, and was able to secure a rush ticket for A$20 (Bt600) to sit in the front row.

A showcase of acting talent without any overshadowing by stage visuals was also the mark of this contemporary rendition of the Greek classic "Medea".

Like Fugard's "Siswe", written during improvisations with his original cast 25 years ago, "medEia" was born as a collaboration between Dood Paard and his two actors and one actress during rehearsals. Little wonder then that the Melbourne festival curator suggested the audience watch these two plays back-to-back.

Barefooted with painted toenails and dressed in plain clothes, the trio - who faced the audience most of the time yet never failed to communicate with one another - behaved like the thespians and choruses of ancient Greek theatre. They took turns narrating, and morphed into different characters for scenes of dialogue delivered effortlessly, naturally and sincerely in their "Euro-English".

A little research reveals that Euripides's original version of "Medea" drew on an older myth in order to communicate certain themes to his audience two and a half millennia ago - its plot was not the whole story of Medea, but one of the most crucial days in her life. The Dutch group attempted to tell more background story and to ask more questions. And for this reviewer, the themes of love and exile were most dominant here, rather than the revenge that dominates the Greek play.

In one scene, an actor tried to explain what was happening between Jason and Medea: "Love is the most beautiful of all emotions." He then replaced "beautiful" with "terrible", "direct", "horrible", before running out of alternatives, he simply used "emotional" - cue laughter from the audience. In between scenes, slide projections of amateurish tourist snaps of destinations around the world were projected on the paper screens, which were torn down later as the performers moved further downstage.

The last line of the play was, "For those of you who ever doubt me, f**k you," which was followed by black-out in the auditorium, and an audience not shocked but loudly applauding. We were left in the dark as to which character - Jason or Medea - had uttered the exit line but by then we had no doubt as to the creativity and boldness of this Dutch ensemble.

On the Festival's website, any drama teacher, myself included, can download, for free, these two plays' "Education Resource Packs". These highly informative yet easy-to-comprehend guides and notes, filled with suggested classroom activities based on the plays' themes, enhanced many young theatre-goers' understanding and appreciation. Without a doubt, their experience of these plays would have begun long before the house lights dimmed and the actors entered the stage. And for many others, it didn't end when the curtain came down either.

This kind of educational programme not only helps to sell more student group tickets, but also proves that theatre is not simply part of the entertainment industry. Even commercial theatre now adopts the practice - Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "The Woman in White" had a similar resource.

The writer can be contacted at Pawit.M@chula.ac.th.

Pawit Mahasarinand

 The Nation