An Elephant In The Room

July 13th 2010

ONLINE - Article: Cheryl Balfour [Whitlesea Leader]

From taxi to trouper in Mill Park

A 58-YEAR-OLD taxi driver with a gift of the gab has made his acting debut in a new stage play by Robert Gough.

Tom Henderson, an Indian-born cab driver from Mill Park, said it was his natural gift for storytelling that landed him one of the lead roles in the black comedy An Elephant in The Room.

"Everyone that knows me thinks I'm crazy for doing this," Mr Henderson laughed.

"But I'm not the type to keep quiet, I believe in trying anything and making the most of it."

Mr Henderson has been a full-time cabbie for 12 years and a grandfather for a few months, but he admitted he had not ruled out a change of career.

"I love the way humour works in this country, you knock the hell out of someone and based on how they take it, you either befriend them or avoid them," he said.

"I came right into my own when I first came to Australia because I could give it back."

Mr Henderson doesn't try and hide his jovial personality from his patrons either, with many reporting the best cab ride ever to their driver.

"I love to have fun with people, one guy wanted me to take him to the MCG and I said, 'what's that?'," he said.

"After he got over the shock and realised I was joking, we both had a good laugh."

Robert Gough, the writer and director of An Elephant in the Room, said Mr Henderson was the standout of 15 Indian actors who auditioned for the part.

“Tom was such a great public speaker and a great storyteller,” he said.

“He has a great presence, which is very important and he's an actor I have a lot of faith in, someone I’ll always keep in mind.”

An Elephant in the Room is about secret ideals and ambitions.

Indian elephant fables provide a subliminal chorus to this slightly surreal fable, Gough’s intriguing reflection on our contemporary world is upbeat and compelling.

An Elephant In The Room

July 9th 2010

ONLINE - Review: Liza Dezfouli [Australianstage.com]

Wally is a fridge salesman. We think he is one thing, a loud wisecracking ex-pat American, but soon it becomes apparent that there is more to him - he is an erudite eccentric, given life by the ebullient performance of Bill Ten Eyck. Ten Ayck's acting is the best thing about this show - just as well since he holds the stage for most of the play. Sadly, he is not matched by the rest of the cast.

There are several problems with this piece. One is that there are gratuitous elements. The early appearance of the tradesman seems solely to let us know the play is set in Australia, a clunky device when this information could be imparted so much more economically in one of Wally's numerous phone calls. Having so much narrative in the form of phone conversations makes for a thud, thudding rhythm to the first half.

The little bits of 'elephant lore', although appealing, do not add anything to our understanding of the story or the characters, nor does the inclusion of some footage of Charlie Chaplin. They comprise an exercise in whimsy. Nice, but why? In fact the sense at the end of the play was Nice but Why? It doesn't hang together. The premise seems to be how two would-be artists compromise between 'art and avarice,' an over-simplification to begin with and perhaps therein lies the problem. Would it be better if the play just focused on story, didn't try to be deep, and let the themes emerge if they may? More fun is the skullduggery and how Wally deals with it – here, and with the development of Wally's character, the playwright is clearly most engaged.

The character of Lucy is boring, and the character of her brother unnecessary. There is nothing new here about the conflict between the needs to pay the bills and also engage with one's art practice – there are many interesting potentials for a story around a young actress's individual struggle to survive, but Lucy comes across as an undeserving sook and her character’s lines are woefully predictable. She’s wooden; not a real individual. The scene between her and Wally is the least satisfying part of the play and there's nothing to justify a romantic attachment between them, thereby undermining the finale. I also wanted to know why Wally’s script just happened to be sitting on his kitchen table … we don’t see him engaged with it prior to the moment when Lucy asks to see it. We don’t get a sense of his need to be a writer and the news that Wally was actually a playwright isn’t foreshadowed by his often too-obvious imparting of historical tidbits; however interesting this information may be, it needs to spring more naturally from his conversations.

However, after the interval there are fun and gunshots and mayhem. The whole thing ramps up, the action takes a welcome and robust break from phone conversations and delivers some good surprises with nicely underplayed cops and villains. The audience is rooting for Wally, in the American sense of the word, and we want to see him succeed – this is where the playwright/director plays to his strengths.

As a whole An Elephant in the Room is entertaining and fun, and Wally is an adorable and believable creation. While the play overall needs dramaturgical attention, there is definite potential here.

www.australianstage.com.au/

An Elephant In The Room

June 27th 2010

ONLINE - Article: [Indian Voice] - Local News

Indian born makes his theatrical debut in Australia

Indian-born THOMAS LEWIS HENDERSON,  a popular taxi driver and storyteller in Melbourne, makes his theatrical debut in Robert Gough's new stage play, An Elephant in the Room.  It's an amazing story: FROM JHANSI TO MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, TO THE STAGE AT THEATRE WORKS, ST KILDA!!!

RETURNING to the stage after more than 40 years, THOMAS HENDERSON, who cites Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as one of his favourite plays, makes his Australian theatrical debut in AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!

Tom was born in 1952 in the town of Jhansi (in central northern India), and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1988.  He is currently self-employed in the taxi business and is a well-known identity in that industry.

He is perfectly cast as THE INDIAN STORYTELLER who will provide the subliminal chorus to this modern day fable.

www.indianvoice.com.au

Blood

June 30th 2010

ONLINE - Review: Geoffrey Williams [StageWhispers.com.au]

Trust and honesty, like truth, are devilishly slippery touchstones in the theatre, and if this ambitious Vicious Fish Theatre production didn't quite manage to raise the stakes high enough on opening night, there is little doubt it could. And if it does, it will be something to behold. Watching it tentatively unfold on opening night, it was obvious that the company had the permission to fearlessly explore within Mr Gooding's beautifully crafted direction, but – with a few notable exceptions – the cast remained almost uniformly apprehensive and tentative in a piece that demands the exact opposite: a primal scream of fever-pitched fear so real you can taste it.

Belbel's searing, unsentimental play about the circumstances and consequences of a politically-motivated kidnapping, is an absolute ripper – efficient, perfectly structured, bitingly succinct and powered by flashes of brilliant observational satire. And in a week where we had our own particular brand of political blood-letting, Blood's quintessential theme of unwavering belief in one's right to self-determined rule over others in any given dominion, appeared to not have originated in Spain at all – but just a few hundred kilometers north in our own national capital.

Janine Watson, as the kidnapped wife of a Jon Peck's politician, delivered a beautifully complex and committed performance, while Peck, too, was excellent in his dual roles of a hapless policeman and the morally-bankrupt politician. Theatre Works's notoriously cruel acoustics took much of Kassandra Whitson's big monologue moment prisoner, but her performance as the politician's mistress and a pregnant policewoman revealed the essence of a really outstanding performance. Alison Adriano, Chloé Boreham and James Tresise all seemed a little unsure and ill-at-ease – with choices, voices and character seeming to almost evaporate within the huge, stark and demanding space.

Rose Connors-Dance's superb lighting design made much of the distracting and unnecessary set redundant. (I actually still don't understand why this show had a set.) Connors-Dance's obvious understanding and appreciation for the definitive power of shadows and darkness was risky, but flawlessly realised – supporting and, in fact, defining the space perfectly. 'Because of Ghosts' contributed some disappointingly fleeting moments of intriguing musical soundscape that seemed to exist almost to have lit the flame under the entire performance. That it didn't quite take on this particular occasion takes little away from the fact that Vicious Fish are an independent company to watch out for. And if everyone has resolved to accept their entire share of responsibility for what could be a rivetting performance of a fantastic play, it would qualify as the show to see.

Blood by Sergi Belbel.
English language translation by Marion Peter Holt.
Directed by Scott Gooding.
A Vicious Fish Theatre production at Theatre Works

Photographed by Paul Dunn. 

www.stagewhispers.com.au

Blood

June 30th 2010

ONLINE - Review: Liza Dezfouli [Australianstage.com]

Why would you want to see a play about something as repellent as torture? Because Blood explores the subject in a comical but never farcical way. And fear not, the violence occurs off-stage.

Blood, by Spanish writer Sergi Belbel, is a skilled presentation of a situation that is gruelling yet the experience of seeing the play is not gruelling, it's entertaining. Not that Blood trivialises its subject matter, far from it; it manages to make a theatrical experience accessible yet still ask the large, serious questions about being human and being a member of society. The play leads audience members to face up to any distancing that can happen within ourselves while observing characters isolated from their humanity yet who are also completely believable. No one is a monster, not even the disturbingly young dissidents who carry out the monstrous acts. Blood makes you aware of how any one of us can be adept at turning a blind eye to injustice or acting purely from intellect rather than from compassion. But the play doesn't judge. Blood is an extraordinary example of playwriting, the sort of thing which is often attempted but seldom works so well. It is classically theatrical in its structure and in this production the direction by Scott Gooding allows it to deliver on symbolic and visceral levels. There are some moments of fascinating wit, especially in the park bench scene. Most of the dialogue is clever yet not  witty for the sake of it. Lesser writers rely on shock or horror or grit to stand in for depth, whereas this piece gives you an exquisitely ironic but wholly engaged perspective on a reprehensible set of crimes.

The comedy comes from the characters' recognisable self centredness. They exhibit banal, selfish, ignoble but understandable responses to crises. Only here the stakes are immense. The actors absolutely have to believe what they're up to in a play like this; fortunately this cast does. Janine Watson playing the Politician's Wife excels as the victim who refuses to be one, honestly voicing her reactions and thoughts while maintaining her dignity throughout. The other characters are not, but occasionally nearly, satirised; all are extreme in their own way. The matter of The Child being punished for the impulse to act out of emotion not principle gives real pause for thought. The scene where The Mistress confronts The Politician stays with you; surreal yet believable. In fact the production as a whole stays with you, which tells you how good it is.

www.australianstage.com.au

Blood

June 25th 2010

ONLINE - Review: Anne-Marie Peard  [AussieThearte.com]

Sergei Belbel's Blood asks what are the limits of a common morality and tests them with exposure to torture. It's an uncomfortable night in the theatre that leaves its audience shellshocked.

This production continues Scott Gooding and Vicious Fish Theatre's commitment to the works of Catalan playwright Sergi Belbel. Blood follows productions of Caresses and After The Rain. If reviews are to be believed, one was amazing and the other got a bit lost.

In Blood, a woman is kidnapped and told that over the next 40 hours she will lose a finger, an ear, a foot and her head unless her husband pays up. Her torturers try to ease her physical pain, but consider her life a necessary loss for their (unknown) cause. In a circular structure, filled with literal and metaphorical images of blood, we are taken from the torture room to the discoveries of her body parts, and returned to see the results.

Director Gooding quickly makes his audience uneasy with a flash of blinding light followed by a room that's uncomfortably dark, but light enough to see the what we don't want to see. The text describes the importance of a clean amputation, but the visceral reactions come from the sound of an electric saw and the fearless performance of Janine Watson.

The sickening anticipation of pain and fear created in the opening scene creates a physical reaction that draws the audience through to the conclusion, and the comedy that immediately follows offers some respite, but the relief is slightly frustrating.

Comedy isn't jokes and wit; it's how we get through every day. We laugh at ourselves and the world, so we can cope with the tedious and the unbearable. It's why we hear great jokes at funerals and why there's always some humour in great art. There is a lot of humour in Blood, but the laughs are sometimes misplaced and take us away from the story by reminding us that it's all a game of pretend, rather than giving us the breathing space to cope with the horror and the anticipation of the horror that's to come. This style of humour works best when we are laughing only to stop ourselves running or puking and the cast may need to tone down some of the comedy in order to make the laughs awkward and uncomfortable.

Watson, Alison Adriano, Chloé Boreham, Jon Peck, James Tresise and Kassandra Whitson are all strong performers who understand the nuances and guts of Blood, but they are not always compelling because they are bringing us the text and the plot, rather than letting us see the story about people discovering the unimaginable.

One of the strengths of the script is that is brings the hidden blood of the torture room to our everyday world, so that the pain and fear can't be ignored. As the audience know what's in the appendage-sized packages, the middle scenes have to be about the people who discover the packages. To sustain the gut-churning emotion of the opening, we have to care as much about every character as we do about the woman being tortured. Complete and complex people need to be on the stage, so that instead of asking why on earth the woman doesn't just walk away from the world's most annoying man, we're wanting two damaged souls to find love on that park bench and wondering how the discovery of an amputated finger is going to change their chances.

Theatre is moments of change. Each character is a different person at the end of their scene and showing more of that change, and more of light lightness before the dark, will bring the empathy and the closeness that will leave the audience unable to breathe.

The Blood text also suffers from a very literal English translation, to the point that words and phrases received giggles simply because they didn't sound right to the audience or feel right to the actors. Stage language by its nature is contrived and it's up to the actors to make it sound like it is the most natural and only logical way that people talk in this world. The language shouldn't get in the way of what the playwright and creators are saying.

Shows as unnerving as Blood need to settle and change as audiences react. Having survived its first week, the time to see Blood is this week; not only because the season ends, but because it will be so much closer to being something you're unlikely to forget.

AussieThearte.com.

Blood

June 21st, 2010

PRINT - Article : Scott Howard [Melbourne Weekly]

Blood, sweat and tears

An intriguing - and at times horrifying - play is coming to Theatre Works. By Scott Howard

Director Scott Gooding is no stranger to plays that evoke intense reactions. He is about to present the Australian premiere of Blood, a dark and sometimes violent play, at St Kilda's Theatre Works.

Written by Catalan-Spanish playwright Sergi Belbel, Blood is the story of a woman who is kidnapped by two young extremists and told that she will be subjected to a series of amputations over a period of 40 hours unless an unspecified ransom is paid by her politician husband. This is the third time Gooding has brought Belbel's work to the stage, having previously directed productions of Caressess and After the Rain.

"All his characters and all his scripts are surprising," Gooding says. Belbel has a way of making his characters talk that is both shocking and beautiful at the same time." The world Belbel creates in Blood is one of disconnection, violence and also humanity.

"The audience will feel empathy for all the characters. There are no heroes and no villains, just people trying to do the right thing." Gooding says Belbel works in a theatrical ambiguity. He never explains and allows the audience to make their own assumptions about aspects of the play. "None of the characters or places are named, there is nothing for an to lock on to, which also means that we have the freedom to set it in our world," he says.

There is a political and ideological subtext to the plot looking at the idea of "class", the gulf between rich and poor and what happens when ideology outweighs humanity. Ultimately, the question Blood grapples with is: does the end justifying the means, no matter what the cost to one's own humanity?

But the dark play also has lighter moments. "There's a bit of physical comedy, there's a lot of very clever wordplay, but also because the characters are not reacting how the audience would expect it becomes a laugh."

Gooding and producer Cathy Horsley (pictured) have assembled a "spunky" cast to bring Belbel's play to life and trust that their audience will take the leap of faith required to enter the sinister world of Blood.

A season of nine shows runs from June 24 to July 4 at Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda. For bookings and more information, visit theatreworks.org.au or call 9534 3388.