The Book of Death - the story of life
Fri, 10 Aug 2012, 10:47 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
The Book of Death - the story of life
Fri, 10 Aug 2012, 10:47 am‘Book of Death (a story of life)’, written by WA’s talented Joe Lui, is the latest work from the multi-award winning theatre group, Renegade. One of last year’s most popular shows was their highly controversial ‘Laryngectomy’. Lui has never pulled his punches, but takes care not to serve up his offerings as coarse or blatant, thoughtless productions. Joe is a perfectionist, demanding the best from the whole team. His lighting, sound, acting and movement are always carefully considered.
This 70-minute, sensitive and perceptive joint production from The Blue Room Theatre and Renegade Productions, is being presented in the Blue Room Theatre Studio, in the James Street Cultural Centre, Northbridge nightly at 8.30 pm until Saturday 25th August.
A young, dishevelled woman (Moana Lutton) dressed in a Spanish dance styled dress, wakes and staggers through the scarlet-lit room and onto a small nightclub stage. Moving towards the microphone, she starts to sing, but her voice is so weak that she can only raise a gasp. At first, you think that her makeup looks Gothic, but it is now obvious that her black eyes are in fact due to her severe ill health.
In a dreamlike sequence, the girl is approached by a Triceratops, with a clock dial carved into its neck frill, and by the Stag of Death. They are both clutching gift boxes for this ailing woman. One box contains something to help her breathing, the other the ‘fruit of life’. However, as she eats of this fruit, her emphysema and anaphylaxis become worse.
The scene changes to the sparse flat of a typical young couple. You can sense that they are very much in love, but are also either depressed with their financially poor existence, or bored with the tedium of their life together. Thankfully, they realise there a much deeper problem and that a drastic change is called for.
Back on the podium, the singer bravely bursts into song before again gasping for air. Finally, in a scene like Dennis Hopper’s from ‘Blue Velvet’, she alternates between ecstasy and approaching death.
In the couple’s flat, the man (Paul Grabovac) has one idea to arouse their love, and his loving wife (Ella Hetherington) has another, more novel way. However, they both sense that there is a more deeply seated problem, so decide to bare their souls, reveal their innermost hang-ups and confide their most private and personal feelings. This revelation is a very sad and moving passage.
This is a totally new type of production from Joe Lui. Gone is the purging of anger and declaration of aggravations, here we have a genuinely moving and tender love story. The intimate scenes, despite having prolonged male and female nudity, could certainly not be considered lewd. They were an intensely poignant and integral part of the actors’ intimate, true-life stories, with bold revelations of their genuine, deepest concerns.
So often, writers who direct their own plays will only see the story in their mind, foolishly filling in the gaps, poor pace and fluffs from their memory, and therefore assume that everything is going well. Even though multi-talented and fully capable, Joe is still willing to listen to advice from his cast, and willing to take on the aid of a couple of dramaturges - Katya Shevtsov and Alexa Taylor - who have both done a wonderful job.
The pounding original music was composed by Joe Lui, with scholarship winning, WAAPA graduate, Moana Lutton writing the songs – try to listen to the lyrics – clever and just the right genre for the play.
The set, designed by Sara Nives Chirichilli, ranged from the warmth of the singer’s stage, where the vocalist felt secure and happy; to the stark almost clinical design of the couple’s flat, where the drab partners are dressed in dark grey and black, being surrounded by cold stainless steel. Sara also made the superb creatures’ heads.
The lighting is magnificent, with Lui’s myriad of carefully positioned lights, carefully picking out the area he wants you to see. The whole production has been produced and stage managed by Matthew Marino.
This is a beautifully constructed and well-written play, with a huge amount of symbolism that will probably catch up with the audience days later. I am sure that the nudity would be the least of the actors’ worries, in view of the personal disclosures that they went on to make.
This is a small theatre of about 65 seats and so is guaranteed to be booked out quickly. Do not miss this top quality, deeply moving play from a courageous cast who have bravely gone well outside their comfort zones. Could this be the Peoples’ Choice Award for this year? Excellent.
‘Book of Death (a story of life)’, written by WA’s talented Joe Lui, is the latest work from the multi-award winning theatre group, Renegade. One of last year’s most popular shows was their highly controversial ‘Laryngectomy’. Lui has never pulled his punches, but takes care not to serve up his offerings as coarse or blatant, thoughtless productions. Joe is a perfectionist, demanding the best from the whole team. His lighting, sound, acting and movement are always carefully considered.
This 70-minute, sensitive and perceptive joint production from The Blue Room Theatre and Renegade Productions, is being presented in the Blue Room Theatre Studio, in the James Street Cultural Centre, Northbridge nightly at 8.30 pm until Saturday 25th August.
A young, dishevelled woman (Moana Lutton) dressed in a Spanish dance styled dress, wakes and staggers through the scarlet-lit room and onto a small nightclub stage. Moving towards the microphone, she starts to sing, but her voice is so weak that she can only raise a gasp. At first, you think that her makeup looks Gothic, but it is now obvious that her black eyes are in fact due to her severe ill health.
In a dreamlike sequence, the girl is approached by a Triceratops, with a clock dial carved into its neck frill, and by the Stag of Death. They are both clutching gift boxes for this ailing woman. One box contains something to help her breathing, the other the ‘fruit of life’. However, as she eats of this fruit, her emphysema and anaphylaxis become worse.
The scene changes to the sparse flat of a typical young couple. You can sense that they are very much in love, but are also either depressed with their financially poor existence, or bored with the tedium of their life together. Thankfully, they realise there a much deeper problem and that a drastic change is called for.
Back on the podium, the singer bravely bursts into song before again gasping for air. Finally, in a scene like Dennis Hopper’s from ‘Blue Velvet’, she alternates between ecstasy and approaching death.
In the couple’s flat, the man (Paul Grabovac) has one idea to arouse their love, and his loving wife (Ella Hetherington) has another, more novel way. However, they both sense that there is a more deeply seated problem, so decide to bare their souls, reveal their innermost hang-ups and confide their most private and personal feelings. This revelation is a very sad and moving passage.
This is a totally new type of production from Joe Lui. Gone is the purging of anger and declaration of aggravations, here we have a genuinely moving and tender love story. The intimate scenes, despite having prolonged male and female nudity, could certainly not be considered lewd. They were an intensely poignant and integral part of the actors’ intimate, true-life stories, with bold revelations of their genuine, deepest concerns.
So often, writers who direct their own plays will only see the story in their mind, foolishly filling in the gaps, poor pace and fluffs from their memory, and therefore assume that everything is going well. Even though multi-talented and fully capable, Joe is still willing to listen to advice from his cast, and willing to take on the aid of a couple of dramaturges - Katya Shevtsov and Alexa Taylor - who have both done a wonderful job.
The pounding original music was composed by Joe Lui, with scholarship winning, WAAPA graduate, Moana Lutton writing the songs – try to listen to the lyrics – clever and just the right genre for the play.
The set, designed by Sara Nives Chirichilli, ranged from the warmth of the singer’s stage, where the vocalist felt secure and happy; to the stark almost clinical design of the couple’s flat, where the drab partners are dressed in dark grey and black, being surrounded by cold stainless steel. Sara also made the superb creatures’ heads.
The lighting is magnificent, with Lui’s myriad of carefully positioned lights, carefully picking out the area he wants you to see. The whole production has been produced and stage managed by Matthew Marino.
This is a beautifully constructed and well-written play, with a huge amount of symbolism that will probably catch up with the audience days later. I am sure that the nudity would be the least of the actors’ worries, in view of the personal disclosures that they went on to make.
This is a small theatre of about 65 seats and so is guaranteed to be booked out quickly. Do not miss this top quality, deeply moving play from a courageous cast who have bravely gone well outside their comfort zones. Could this be the Peoples’ Choice Award for this year? Excellent.