tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post740787801301481723..comments2024-01-20T16:46:43.636+11:00Comments on Kevin Jackson's Theatre Diary: The Taming Of The ShrewGeorge Khuthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220918958933755405noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-33581281124962988472009-11-21T13:47:26.634+11:002009-11-21T13:47:26.634+11:00Dear Scott,
Thanks for your note. I totally appre...Dear Scott,<br /><br />Thanks for your note. I totally appreciate your work and contribution to the work. I was not suggesting that the work you do was not both valuable and necessary and heartily agree that it ought to be part of the permanent creative team of any professional company. As should be, I agree with you, a vocal coach.<br /><br />My observation was probably a budgetary one: for if the Bell Company are not able to have both a PHYSICAL and VOCAL coach as part of the professional team, my observation of what I think is a problem with the work I have seen this year, the voice/speech work, is the urgent necessity for that vocal coach, and that it ought to be a priority, especially considering the density and level of difficulty of the regular texts that the company works with. (Perhaps if it was the other way round I might be calling for a Physical coach.)<br /><br />Essentially, when one looks at the support creatives of the Festival Companies (Eg. The St Petersburg Company, Theatre Complicite, Schaubuhne Berlin etc.), when visiting and impressing, it is remarkable to see the number of both physical and vocal coaches that are contributing to the work of the Director and Actors!!!! Certainly those companies appear to reach a place of clarity and style with their acting and story telling that set a bench mark of excellence.<br /><br />If our companies are to move forward in their artistry, this is where the craftsmanship of the artists needs to be professionally supported. It,of course, is a cost. Maybe Scott, some of the Olympic Funding, under present government examination, could be diverted to the ARTS!!!?????? Thanks for your contribution.<br /><br />Kevin J.Kevin Jacksonhttp://www.kjtheatrereviews.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-66334290151633695692009-11-19T12:02:33.136+11:002009-11-19T12:02:33.136+11:00Dear Kevin,
Recently, I have been reading your bl...Dear Kevin, <br />Recently, I have been reading your blog and I have found your entries to be honest and thoughtful. At times I agree and at other times, I disagree, but I love that about theatre. <br />However, I wanted to share a thought: I, and a large number of my peers and colleagues, have been responsible for the changing face of Fight Direction in this country for the last twelve years through our work with the Society of Australian Fight Directors inc (SAFDi) and the greater entertainment industry and acting institutions at large. <br />In the past (and in some cases still today) our industry has had poor quality and very unsafe work practices with regards to fights, fight moments and/or slapstick. We (the SAFDi) have worked hard to educate the industry to understand the roles and responsibilities of a correctly qualified Fight Director. If cast and creatives on productions are left to fend for themselves, then the likelihood is that someone will sustain an injury.<br />In your blog entry about The Taming Of The Shrew, you wrote:<br />“If I were in the Bell Company, I might suggest that the need for a permanent Vocal Coach would supersede the need for a Fight Director, credited in almost every production of the Bell Company”<br />I might suggest that we (as an industry) encourage companies to understand the need for all roles, thus creating more employment for artists across all spectrums, rather than cutting certain roles and in the end, compromising art and safety.<br />My role as a Fight Director on set and in the rehearsal room goes way above and beyond what appears on the stage. Mostly, my work is (and should be) invisible - as should the work of all creatives and artists be invisible, in my opinion - all that should be heard and seen is the story ... buts that’s another blog!<br />Cheers <br /><br />Scott Witt MFA <br />www.combatcircus.com <br /><br />For more in about SAFDi – www.safdi.org.auAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-71639381615171512772009-11-16T15:08:01.317+11:002009-11-16T15:08:01.317+11:00Dear Kevin,
I have high regard for your brilliance...Dear Kevin,<br />I have high regard for your brilliance as a teacher, director, actor and critic. I have enjoyed your on stage work since “The Norman Conquests” and there have been several productions you directed at the New and at NIDA which I consider myself very fortunate to have attended.<br />However, I - and I seem to be in a very small group with this opinion, joined by Diana Simmonds on her Stage Noise site and Jason Blake in the Herald - strongly disagree with your views regarding the BSC staging of "..Shrew".<br />I totally agree that the company desperately needs a resident voice and text coach. Its best productions have hugely benefited from input from fine specialists such as Bill Pepper and Rowena Balos.<br />But I do believe that this interpretation of this most problematic text represents some of the finest direction and ensemble work in the company's history. For me - and I did see it at the start of its long tour - it's the best BSC production I've attended since "Trolius and Cressida", which also polarized opinions.<br />I believe that Marion Potts' interpretation was an exceedingly thoughtful and carefully executed re-examination of the text. I do think that one needed to really examine many choices she made. Yes, the set for the first half was incredibly cluttered as characters navigated around numerous obstacles. I don't think that Petruchio's home was "Stepford Wives": it was Fellini-esque, with all the associated sexism. To me the clock stuck at one time, along with the two potential brides being confined to sleep wear until they were allowed to don wedding dresses, was powerful symbolism. And I thought the choice of Petruchio’s wedding outfit, like the decision to use an all female cast, was absolutely inspired.<br />I saw the acclaimed and nationally televised Old Tote production to which you refer - which starred John Bell and Anna Volska and relocated the action to Federation Australia - and believe it was similarly of its time, but enforced the Elizabethan beliefs of the text. This production, however, made the audience question if and how we have moved on as a society. Like a good staging of early Williamson, it forced one to simultaneously laugh and cringe. (And judging by the hair styles, velvet jackets and song choices I think it was set in the early '80s - when a "Don's Party" type mentality still ran rife).<br />If nothing else, I believe that this production displayed a level of intelligence in its direction which has been greatly lacking in much of the company's other works (eg. Gertrude dressed as Tina Turner in the '90 "Hamlet", the "Ran"-like "Richard III", the recent “MacBeth”). It also highlighted the comic brilliance of some of the country's best actresses - especially Madames Cronin, Downing, Gore and Farr. And for the record, I do not think you will ever "reek of old angry man"!<br />All the very best,<br />Rowan Greaves.ziggysawdusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07524873450857244626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-18968324984647188112009-11-09T19:40:02.423+11:002009-11-09T19:40:02.423+11:00It is one thing to disagree with Kevin, as I do so...It is one thing to disagree with Kevin, as I do sometimes, but to be abusive with out even leaving your name 'reeks of cowardice'. At least Kevin puts his name to his opinion.<br />Johann Walraven.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09585084527227939734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-9942318886022613182009-11-04T14:45:00.709+11:002009-11-04T14:45:00.709+11:00dear kevin
THANKYOU for speaking out about this a...dear kevin<br /><br />THANKYOU for speaking out about this aweful production, the moronic marketing blurbs and bad voice work on Sydney stages. I think you are very generous in your praise of some events and equally scathing about those things you don't like. Again, thanks for your informed opinions.... I have a sense of your taste and I equally read to learn and listen to (sometimes) alternat points of view. I also enjoyed Richard at CarriageWorks very much - a joy to see such great and inventive enesemble work too I remember. If only the company of women in the Shrew were equally blessed! Cherry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-27730899676317753322009-11-02T17:56:01.911+11:002009-11-02T17:56:01.911+11:00Hi Anonymous,
If you look back at my recent revi...Hi Anonymous, <br /><br />If you look back at my recent reviews, you will find MISSING THE BUS TO DAVID JONES; SILVER; GOD OF CARNAGE; THE ACO CONCERT; THE BOUGAINVILLE PHOTOPLAY PROJECT; REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT; in fact six of the eight reviews for October were more than a happy experience for me. I enjoy the theatre very much, just not indiscriminately. I also value the craft and the art of it. I go, if you read any of the above reviews, and have been taken "to new worlds" (Jose Rivera, God of Carnage) and continually hear, and importantly appreciate, "interesting unique voices" (Matthew Whittet, Carlos Gomes, etc). I do hope when I am in that nursing home, however angry I may be, and however angry I have made you, that you will have the generosity to forgive me and take me out to the theatre that you so obviously enjoy as well. (Although you have not said so – within your sympathy for my age and temper.) If you have seen MISSING THE BUS TO DAVID JONES (a fearful vision of a new world for someone my age, as you suggest) you may recall how much I would be grateful. I have ‘theatre utopias’ open for me on a regular basis (see above reviews) and when the work deserves a response that urges me to "stand up and clap when the curtain falls." I do. Six out of eight reviews, favourably enjoyed – I reckon that is a pretty unusual average. (Check the New York Times for their critics averages.)<br /><br />By the way what did you enjoy about THE TAMING OF THE SHREW as obviously my response has pushed some buttons that you found either odd or confronting?<br /><br />Kevin J.Kevin Jacksonhttp://www.kjtheatrereviews.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-61648200448043569042009-11-02T16:10:32.289+11:002009-11-02T16:10:32.289+11:00After reading over many of your reviews Kevin, wha...After reading over many of your reviews Kevin, what becomes abundantly clear is that you just don't enjoy theater any more. You can no longer be taken into new worlds, or hear interesting, unique voices. Your blogs reek of "old, angry man in a nursing home." I for one, feel sorry for you Kevin. Perhaps one day your theater utopia will unfold for you and heaven forbid you may even stand up and clap when the curtain falls.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com