Birdland

Birdland is the final full scale production by this year’s graduating Acting students. Presented in the round, in the Edith Spiegeltent, where the audience are very close to the action, this is a very powerful piece, acted with intensity and impressively designed and created by Production and Design students.

Birdland is a look at how limitless money and supreme fame effect the central character, rockstar Paul. Reliant on an amazing central performance, this show delivers with an outstanding performance from Ben Chapple as Paul. A highly physical, emotionally engaging performance of a very unlikeable character, Ben Chapple pulls the audience in so much with his portrayal, that against our better judgement we care what happens to Paul, as his grip on reality disappears throughout the play. An enigma of a character, with a roller-coaster of an emotional journey, this is a top-notch individual performance, very well supported by his cohort.

Best friend and fellow band member Johnny is played with great depth by Bryn Chapman Parish, who establishes a very believable friendship, while Jenny, a Russian hotel worker thrust suddenly into the wild rock-star world, is played with a wonderful sense of discovery and beautifully readable facial expressions by Ruby Maishman. Hamish White was excellent as contemptuous manager David. Camila Ponte Alvarez is captivating as Marnie, whose death is a catalyst in the story.

The other roles are essentially cameos, who really only appear in a scene or two. The skill here is that the actors established clear, very distinct and fully fleshed characters, including some amazing accent work (under Dialect Coach Jean Goodwin), in a very short period of time. Lucinda Howes was a strong expat journalist; Saskia Archer and Jessica Veitch showed strong teamwork as sex workers Lucy and Madeline; Jonathan Lagudi played a very poignant scene as a Scottish fan; Kyle Barrett was impressive as a frustrated French journalist with some well underplayed humour; Mariama Whitton and Peter Thurnwald’s portrayal of bereaved parents was particularly moving; Lachlan Stevenson and Julie Kok worked nicely together as Martin and Claudie; Justin Bell delivered a very touching characterisation as Paul’s dad Alistair; Poppy Lynch was convincing as young fan Nicola, and Kyle Barrett and Kaya Jarrett were strong as detectives Richer and Evens.

Played almost without a set, Matthew Erren’s bold lighting design was essential in establishing location and mood. Modern costuming was effective, co-ordinated by designer Maeli Cherel. Rockstar sound was provided by a design by Heinrich Krause, supplemented with live music from Contemporary Music student Christian Meares on guitar and actress Poppy Lynch, pulling double duty on drums.

While not always the easiest show to watch, Birdland was a very moving, very impressive performance that shows that this class is ready to move out into the world. I look forward to seeing them on stages around Australia and beyond.

Kimberley Shaw

Photographer: Jon Green