Monday, September 04, 2006

The Cyber Dreaded One

Holy crappola. Check out The Dreaded One's new dreads. She has cyber-dreads. The cyber ones are like little tiny Slinkies, and some are highly UV reactive. We were in the theatre the other night and in one scene the lights went all UV to reveal some writing on the wall, and The Dreaded One's hair just kinda went whoomph and lit up in the dark like it had been plugged in. Pretty damn funny.

Unlike the play. Here's my Drum Media review:

The Future Planners

Weird one. Wanted to like it, concept was kinda cool, but for me it just didn’t work. Guess I’ve just blown any reason you might have for wanting to read on. But just in case you’re interested, here’s this...

Plot: Bonnie has had apocalyptic visions and has chosen Greg to cohabit her post-apocalyptic bunker. They eat tinned peaches and play games and remember the past. Greg isn’t all that happy about the situation and eventually leaves.

Sounds straightforward enough and there’s a universe of possibilities to explore, but it just didn’t have that secret ingredient that pulled it all together. Granted, in the end we’re not entirely sure if the whole thing is real or imagined, but along the way it all seemed a little contrived and it’s difficult to pinpoint just why this is.

The acting was not overly engaging. It rarely escaped me that I was watching actors performing on stage. Clearly they have trained but seem yet to relax and really flesh out their characters and really be in the moment, to use a dicky phrase. They are not awful, they just didn’t seem to fit as snugly into their characters as they should have. Part of the problem here could be that writer/director/ star Stephanie Ward should perhaps think about relinquishing some control. It’s a bloody ambitious project to write, direct and star in your own work, and you’ve got to be some kind of genius or split personality to pull it off.

But the acting wasn’t the only problem. The writing itself didn’t feel quite there. Again there was a sense of This Is Theatre. It felt a little self-conscious and had far too many attempts at humour that just fell flat. The characters play games to pass the time away and I wasn’t the only one who cringed when Bonnie lost the vowel game and had to do The Thing. Just. Not. Funny.

It’s a story about obsessive love, it’s two people in a room; those two ingredients are all that is required for great theatre, and although this is not great, it’s not so bad that I wouldn’t happily choose it over a night in front of the telly.

Q

17 comments:

Lola Lopez said...

My favourite sweaty perv,
I know I've been slack on the blogging front- I promise I will write more knowing that I at least have an audience of one... the evil trolls at work have blocked my blog access so the only thing I can do is leave you messages..
I promise I'll get on my home PC tonight and write something which I hope will be of merit...
The Milonguita xx

Lee Bemrose said...

Hoorah!

Hang on - you can't access your blog but you can access others? That's a problem I had last week or the week before. Changing the template seemed to fix it. Not sure if it's the same thing or not, but it sounds the same.

Lola Lopez said...

Hey I did blog something.. don't understand why it worked.. just glad it did. I will blog more-just for you!

Lee Bemrose said...

Forget all that tempplate crap then. I dunno what it all means.

And yeah, read your post. Funny. Also sat in the shop writing a response to it about a guy called Dick* who talks dirty to his monkey whilst spanking it. Not something I've done before.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

First things first...how does the Dreaded One wash her hair? Is it hair that's been dyed, or is it wool? [Just had to ask, Quick.]

Speaking of 'plays'...the best dialogue I listened to one night was real life...boyfriend's old parents discussing where they'd bury the old man if he died first. It was so good I wrote it down verbatim.

Lola Lopez said...

Hey someone hasn't blogged in a couple of days... what's going on?

Lee Bemrose said...

Hello MM. In answer to your Marvin Gaye themed question, someone's just worked a couple of 12 hour shifts working for the most petty minded muthafucka you could imagine. Lost my zen, had to crash tackle it, bitch slap it and tell it to do its thing because I will go insane without my chill and my zen. I am zen again, but that fruity loop is still more petty than Tom. I gotta get outta that place, if it's the last thing I ever dooo... People can be so tedious, and there's just no need.

GG - she washes it just like a regular person. It just takes a little longer to dry. The wooly ones are acrylic or something, and the cyber UV reactive ones are metallic looking plastic. Gonna seee if I can get a pic in the UV lights at the shop.

Would like to read that dialogue sometime. Is it on your blog?

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

No, it's not on my blog, it was written [in my hand written book] when I was in Oz.

Lola Lopez said...

Okay Quickster,
You are forgiven. And people do suck... to quote the late, great Bill Hicks "We're just a virus with shoes.."

Lee Bemrose said...

Can't believe I haven't seen Bill Hicks. Virus with shoes is perfect comedy.

Lola Lopez said...

Mr Lee get thee to JB Hi Fi and buy his DVD's... or go to the comedy section of CD's and purchase Rant In E Minor, Relentless,Dangerous and Arizona Bay. Flying Saucer Tour is okay but lame compared to Rant and Arizona in my book. You'll be poor on the monetary front but richer in a better sense.. SQUEEGEE YOUR THIRD EYE!!!

Lee Bemrose said...

Just bravd the pouring rain to rent his DVD. Someone else has it. One copy only.

Instead I am going to watch Milla Jovovich (yum) in something called Ultraviolet. Colour and movement. Not-thinking time.

Lola Lopez said...

Milla hey? Aren't all those Loreal ad's enough for you honey?
Pity you couldn't get your hands on Bill.. perhaps they can reserve it for you?

Lee Bemrose said...

Ask them to reserve it? Who the fuck is that organised?

It is on my To Do list. You like Eddy Izzard, so you obviously have good taste in comedy.

Lola Lopez said...

YOU will become that organised or you will miss out!
Go on, ring and ask them if it's in and if it is, get 'em to hold it for you!
You'll love yourself for it...

Lee Bemrose said...

I think you have no idea of how hopelessly disorganised I can be.

Buddokay. If I have the foreplanning (is that even a word) to think about what kind of DVD I feel like watching on a particular night in the near future and that is that one, I shall call them and ask them to put it aside for me. Okay?

Lola Lopez said...

If you look the word 'disorganised' in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of me...