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Adelaide Fringe 2007 Fern Hill
First 2007 Fringe award What I Heard About Iraq, directed by Martha Lott and performed by Holden Street Theatres, in association with America's Paul Lucas Productions, has been a hit with critics and audiences. The work, adapted by Simon Levy from an article by Eliot Weinberger in the London Review of Books, received a five-star review from The Advertiser. Five actors Nick Ely, Renato Mussolino, Tamara Lee, Nathan Porteus and newcomer Jada Alberts report from diverse perspectives. They reiterate "I heard" as they deliver facts and figures, views and biases in direct quotes from politicians, soldiers and civilians. The Advertiser theatre critic Samela Harris said the play was "fast, fiery, pithy and drenched in ferocious irony an up-to-date litany of the spurious justifications the world has endured about the war on Iraq". What I Heard About Iraq is at Holden Street Theatres until March 31. Numbers down but stellar performances turn up heat With more than 50 listings, the theatre program is only about half the size of the 2006 festival and there have been some late scratchings. Many are school and amateur productions, and there is an abundance of one-person shows, as though too many years of economic rationalism have reduced the performing arts to individual contractors. But there are also some exceptional offerings to be found. British director and performer Guy Masterson, returning with Under Milk Wood, has added another Dylan Thomas vehicle based on Fern Hill, the Welsh poet's finely wrought hymn to childhood. Masterson chooses well. There is the Auden-like political poem The Hand That Signed the Paper and the rages against mortality: the rambunctious Lament and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. But it is the prose works, written and performed by Thomas as BBC radio broadcasts, that provide the ballast. Masterson is good on the lilting Welsh, as his wicked impersonations of Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins attest, but he wisely understates the rolling vowels with the gently funny A Visit to Grandpa's. A Child's Christmas in Wales, spared the author's excesses, is revealed anew as a monologue of distinction. Few have heard of Tom Crean, the Antarctic explorer, which is why actor and writer Aidan Dooley's first-rate show about the Irish lad who found himself in pioneering expeditions led by Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton is such a revelation. Dressed in authentic-looking period polar gear, Dooley recounts exploits of danger and endurance that almost defy belief. But this splendidly crafted script is all nuance and subtext. Rather than a ripping yarn of empire, it looks beneath the legend. Dooley, with a disarmingly direct performance that never misses a beat, describes those quiet forms of courage that are most eloquent. You will go to the end of the earth to find theatre this rewarding. The facts also matter in What I Heard About Iraq, written by Simon Levy and based on an article by Eliot Weinberger. The Holden Street Theatres complex is a hub for the festival again this year and owner Martha Lott directs this production featuring five actors, video screens and a tonne of information. Taking a leaf from the Depression era Federal Theatre Project's Living Newspaper productions in the US during the 1930s, this is theatre that tells us not only the news fit to print but also takes from journals of record. It is a chronology of events in Iraq from the first Gulf War in 1991 to the day of performance. Each actor begins: "I heard ..." and proceeds to quote politicians, commentators and everyday citizens caught in the chaos. There are droll impersonations and grimly funny ironies, but the strong effect of all these hearsays is to remind us that the real enemy of spin is sequential thought. The Black Lung Theatre, working in a derelict shopfront next to a strip club in Adelaide's Hindley Street, is a Melbourne collective producing a self-devised season including the nasty-noir Rubeville, Thomas Henning's deconstructed tale of pros and cons, and Kissy Kissy. Directed by Daniel Koerner and featuring Mark Winter and Sarah-Jane St Clair, Kissy Kissy describes the go-to-woe of a love affair with comedy, karaoke, banality and a freshness that is attracting full houses and reminding us that companies such as Black Lung breathe new life into the Fringe Festival with theatre this rough andready. What I Heard About Iraq The most disturbing thing about 'What I Heard About Iraq' is that the actual dialogue is not fiction, but each line delivered uses public statements made mostly through the press by many world leaders, key military figures, serving soldiers and everyday Iraqi civilians; all simply prefaced here by, "I've heard..." Five straight faced actors take their place alongside televisions, which together with a large screen above display disturbing images of the current war and archive footage of speeches from those who led us there. Below, the floor is a giant collage of newspaper clippings that tell of the ongoing travesty. One by one the incredibly strong cast repeat verbatim, and often in character voices the words ignorantly spun by Bush, Rice, Howard, Blair, Powell and Rumsfeld among others. Starting from 9/11, the production moves in loosely chronological order to highlight how dishonestly the war was waged, and of how much deeper the whole deception has become over time by taking in the continual escalating costs; both economically and in casualties. It's the local civilian voices and eyewitness accounts that resonate the greatest, for us much as we can all nervously laugh at the incompetence of those in power, it's the reality of those suffering in the name of lies, greed and blatant rhetoric that becomes the clear message long after today's propaganda soaked mainstream reports are forgotten. Extremely sobering, and not to be missed. Shows to see tonight * Project X , Umbrella Revolution tent, 7.15pm. Brisbane's Raw Dance Company fuses funky tap with hip-hop moves. LUNATICS have taken over the asylum at this year's Adelaide Fringe - before the event even officially gets under way. In their own words AN AMERICAN director has been giving touches of authenticity to Holden Street Theatre's Fringe production of the confronting American political play What I Heard About Iraq. Take a bow Martha ...our overall Light Year Award for the performing arts goes to Martha Lott, actor, producer and theatrical facillitator exemplary. The creative force behind the Holden Street Theatres at Hindmarsh, her Director's Choice season - this year comprising the excelent Mr Bailey's Minder and Bash, in which Lott co-starred - is pretty much the last precious jewel shining out from the stripped-back crown of South Australian independent theatre. Director's Choice, which she started in 2005, has swiftly earned a reputation for showcasing the work of the best independent directors. Lott's formidable blend of creative vision, astute balancing of competing artistic and business priorities, and sophisticated understanding of the shared passions of atists and audiences, mark her as a significant guiding light for South Australian independent theatre as it faces an uncertain future. The Advertiser "MEANWHILE, there's word that Holden Street Theatres has a massive line-up for the new annual Fringe next year - four internationals (from Japan, Germany, Portugal and Spain), two from interstate (Victoria and ACT) and two local companies. Many of these visiting companies will be using South Australians on stage and offf. Bravo, we say." "TALKING of which, venue manager and award-winning actor Martha Lott is rumoured to be venturing into directing - a play called What I Heard About Iraq, by Simon Levy. Watch this space."
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