The Anzac Letters
Sun, 10 Feb 2002, 11:10 amtomasford5 posts in thread
The Anzac Letters
Sun, 10 Feb 2002, 11:10 amTHE ANZAC LETTERS
Written and performed by Peter Chaly
Directed by Loise Chapman
Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge, Saturday 9 Feb, 6pm.
After paying our $16/$12 to get in, the idea of seeing a play entitled "The Anzac Letters" seemed somewhat daunting. "Oh dear, what have we done", we muttered to ourselves. This was chiefly because despite the fact that the Gallipolli conflict makes a wonderful dramatic situation, it's one that many of us feel all to familiar with already, and the idea of watching yet another preachy play attempt to shake that feeling of over-familiarity started to make us feel a little woozy.
Thank [insert chosen deity of worship here... if you don't have one, just use a four letter word] then that this play didn't preach too much at us then. Instead, it contrasted the events of WWI with those of some modern events like the LA riots and the Sydney Olympics and even chucked in a bit of the Russian side of WWII in there for good measure. This definately made me feel a lot more able to relate to the piece and in turn made me have that dreaded "yes, it really was horrible" moment that good war stories can get away with. The fact that it was so modern shouldn't have been left a suprise though: like Black Swan's "One Destiny" the poster played on the historical event and didn't make it seem very accessible to modern audiences.
Unfortunately, the play's point and good (and some really great) bits were obscured by the fact that the play was over-size. A lot of the stuff in it seemed to warrant a bit of a chop around the edges. I also prefered the scenes set in modern times to the letters from the field. Especially well written and performed were the LA Riot scenes, the cycling bit of the olympics and a scene on the battlefield where his friend is killed. These, along with a quite a few other bits were absolutely dynamite.
It was a pity that there was so much bulk around this and that some of the bits were really really really confusing. The WWI and the WWII characters got mixed up in both my and my girlfriend's minds by the end of it, especially when the WWI character died and the WWII one was on the edge of death. The suicide (I won't say whose) was, I thought, completely unmotivated in the script - possilby it was there to show a parallel to the sense of loss in war, but that'd already been done through the WWII character. These additional bits really obscured the play's meaning and I'd love to see a version of this show edited to razor-sharpness, because it was so frustrating to see the potential there but not being fully realised.
Just as a side note, there was some spillover from some electronic music being performed on the Purgatory stage that really suited some of the bits in the show - I actually thought it was part of the show (there were speakers at the back of the stage). I think if intentionally putting it into some of the bits pf the show (big war attack scenes, LA riots etc), it would definately add to the feeling of tension and anticipation. Nice poundy untz untz stuff... it really worked.
Despite all this, "The Anzac Letters" really does contain some wonderful moments and Peter does put in a good performance. It manages to get you involved in subject matter that would have most actor/writers drowning out of their depth. If you're going to Perth anyway it's a nice way to spend the early evening before grabbing some din dins. While it won't absolutely blow you away, it doesn't blow either and it certainly deserves to get an audience.
Written and performed by Peter Chaly
Directed by Loise Chapman
Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge, Saturday 9 Feb, 6pm.
After paying our $16/$12 to get in, the idea of seeing a play entitled "The Anzac Letters" seemed somewhat daunting. "Oh dear, what have we done", we muttered to ourselves. This was chiefly because despite the fact that the Gallipolli conflict makes a wonderful dramatic situation, it's one that many of us feel all to familiar with already, and the idea of watching yet another preachy play attempt to shake that feeling of over-familiarity started to make us feel a little woozy.
Thank [insert chosen deity of worship here... if you don't have one, just use a four letter word] then that this play didn't preach too much at us then. Instead, it contrasted the events of WWI with those of some modern events like the LA riots and the Sydney Olympics and even chucked in a bit of the Russian side of WWII in there for good measure. This definately made me feel a lot more able to relate to the piece and in turn made me have that dreaded "yes, it really was horrible" moment that good war stories can get away with. The fact that it was so modern shouldn't have been left a suprise though: like Black Swan's "One Destiny" the poster played on the historical event and didn't make it seem very accessible to modern audiences.
Unfortunately, the play's point and good (and some really great) bits were obscured by the fact that the play was over-size. A lot of the stuff in it seemed to warrant a bit of a chop around the edges. I also prefered the scenes set in modern times to the letters from the field. Especially well written and performed were the LA Riot scenes, the cycling bit of the olympics and a scene on the battlefield where his friend is killed. These, along with a quite a few other bits were absolutely dynamite.
It was a pity that there was so much bulk around this and that some of the bits were really really really confusing. The WWI and the WWII characters got mixed up in both my and my girlfriend's minds by the end of it, especially when the WWI character died and the WWII one was on the edge of death. The suicide (I won't say whose) was, I thought, completely unmotivated in the script - possilby it was there to show a parallel to the sense of loss in war, but that'd already been done through the WWII character. These additional bits really obscured the play's meaning and I'd love to see a version of this show edited to razor-sharpness, because it was so frustrating to see the potential there but not being fully realised.
Just as a side note, there was some spillover from some electronic music being performed on the Purgatory stage that really suited some of the bits in the show - I actually thought it was part of the show (there were speakers at the back of the stage). I think if intentionally putting it into some of the bits pf the show (big war attack scenes, LA riots etc), it would definately add to the feeling of tension and anticipation. Nice poundy untz untz stuff... it really worked.
Despite all this, "The Anzac Letters" really does contain some wonderful moments and Peter does put in a good performance. It manages to get you involved in subject matter that would have most actor/writers drowning out of their depth. If you're going to Perth anyway it's a nice way to spend the early evening before grabbing some din dins. While it won't absolutely blow you away, it doesn't blow either and it certainly deserves to get an audience.
RE: The Anzac Letters
Wed, 13 Feb 2002, 09:15 pmThis one really did blow me away!
Such a sensitive and dramatic portrayal of a variety of characters all performed by an outstanding actor. Definitely much more than the advertising suggests and worth checking out for the laughs as much as for the poetic script and acting.
Such a sensitive and dramatic portrayal of a variety of characters all performed by an outstanding actor. Definitely much more than the advertising suggests and worth checking out for the laughs as much as for the poetic script and acting.