REVIEW | The Great Man
March 9th 2000 01:20
Sydney Theatre Company & Anderson Consulting
present the World Premiere of
THE GREAT MAN
by David Williamson.
Cast: Genevieve Picot, Toby Schmitz, Gary Day, Max Cullen, Shirley, Cameron, Vivienne Walshe, Martin Vaughan. Director: Robyn Nevin Designer: Genevieve Blanchett
The production opened at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House on 9th March, 2000. I saw it 21st March, so it's had a few days to settle in. I worried at times if the actors were all on top of their lines, or was it still being reworked, tweaked here and there... no, it must have been deliberate.
It was the endless drinking of whiskey or vodka or whatever other alcohol the characters could grab. The set was sort of a house that was an Australian flag with no color, just black and white with a bar. When references are drawn to David Williamson's earlier play Don's Party in relation to The Great Man you can rest assured the equivalent amount of grog is guzzled here, the only real difference is it's more expensive plonk and no dancing.
Max Cullen excels as the drunk never was (discovered or good) so can't be a has-been painter Terry. He reminded me of so many old hippy journo's and there was more than a touch of Don (Henderson) in him (from Don's Party), he is a right old bastard of a character with a piss weakened heart of coal. Very unaware. Alcoholic, rolls ciggie's on the floor with Adam the youngest son.
Toby Schmitz as Adam was angry agitated fascinated intoxicated, did really well. His comic timing and ensemble playing added a very smart young feel to the plays overall journey. At times he seemed like a vaudeville of poses, but the character Adam isn't a happy lad to start with, he has tried all his life to achieve on behalf of his (now dead) father. He quietly rolls another ciggie at times listening to his dad's first wife and other old associates as they out his mother Fleur as a queer girl in the 70's, bisexual and into sexual play.
Genevieve Picot had probably the most difficult role to play with Fleur. Her love, trust, respect and memory of the late husband is shattered through the course of this, what Williamson calls radical naturalism journey. Her past catches up with her in front of her young boy-man-aged son who has scored high on his Higher School Certificate marks, but feels a failure. The corpse's first wife Eileen played by Shirley Cameron is a brittle character clasping her drink and perching herself here and there like an old Magpie. Her claws grating down the blackboard are not exactly Jenny from Don's Party, but she could almost be if she weren't such a battler. She speaks quite a lot of sense, calls a spade a spade hen pecks at the drop of a hat, spits a bit of poison. I couldn't help but think of a view of a distorted Hazel Hawke, perhaps the most obvious divorced politicians wife, but she's certainly not 'our' Hazel, more of a Noelene really, still lovable to a point.
The corpse, sorry, great man, is of course a dead politician, one whom has been a friend to all and real cool Labor Party dude. He leaves behind him three sons, two of whom don't bother to come along to this sordid 'family in death' get together at Fleur's place where she has requested the few people who will speak at his funeral tomorrow go through the notes as it were so everything is nice for the cameras.
Two of this family in death are Rhys a politician about to challenge the current party leader and Tegan a young journalist ready to smash through the glass ceiling played by Gary Day and Vivienne Walshe. Both are awful people each in their own special way. Williamson has a good ear for a drunk Australian. Tegan struck me as being a very cool role to play, Walshe brought a slick sharp quality to her, another cold heart where ambition is the driving force, Better to eat than be eaten she says as she exits. I imagine this must be a great inner power trip to play for a young actor and Walshe certainly held her mettle.
Interesting story. Clever and made me laugh. I've never been so driven by party politics to fully understand the finer details, but I do remember the 1970's as a time of much community activity. For me The Great Man seems to be Williamson's way of saying history is corrupt, morality is corrupt, everything is corrupt; yet in all of it Fleur wants to be pure. She is an honorable woman if not a little anal with her son, so in many ways it's her relationship with him that is ultimately most important to watch.
Martin Vaughan, a wonderful older actor plays a chirpy corrupt old bugger called Dick who arrives with the final blow of indignity for Fleur's shrinking spirit. There's money left by the corpse and it makes all the difference to the poor people, but ruffles the hell out of Fleur
because it is corrupt money.
I found a lot to enjoy in the play, it will last the distance as an interesting story with some funny moments. I think this production may be a little sharper than it seems, I'm not used to polite people consuming so much alcohol in such a short space of time, and there's another key inside of Williamson's world - inside those empty bottles - not to suggest he as a writer drinks too much, not at all - but to point out his situational plays that involve Aussie drinking are many. It may frustrate you if you don't know a great deal about Australian politics here and there but the program notes are adequate enough to fill you in on things.
I doubt the most important thing in the play is the party political ranting, like '"Don's Party" it's about a group of people who are only doing what they are doing because they hope to get something out of it for themselves.
David Paul Jobling
present the World Premiere of
THE GREAT MAN
by David Williamson.
Cast: Genevieve Picot, Toby Schmitz, Gary Day, Max Cullen, Shirley, Cameron, Vivienne Walshe, Martin Vaughan. Director: Robyn Nevin Designer: Genevieve Blanchett
The production opened at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House on 9th March, 2000. I saw it 21st March, so it's had a few days to settle in. I worried at times if the actors were all on top of their lines, or was it still being reworked, tweaked here and there... no, it must have been deliberate.
It was the endless drinking of whiskey or vodka or whatever other alcohol the characters could grab. The set was sort of a house that was an Australian flag with no color, just black and white with a bar. When references are drawn to David Williamson's earlier play Don's Party in relation to The Great Man you can rest assured the equivalent amount of grog is guzzled here, the only real difference is it's more expensive plonk and no dancing.
Max Cullen excels as the drunk never was (discovered or good) so can't be a has-been painter Terry. He reminded me of so many old hippy journo's and there was more than a touch of Don (Henderson) in him (from Don's Party), he is a right old bastard of a character with a piss weakened heart of coal. Very unaware. Alcoholic, rolls ciggie's on the floor with Adam the youngest son.
Toby Schmitz as Adam was angry agitated fascinated intoxicated, did really well. His comic timing and ensemble playing added a very smart young feel to the plays overall journey. At times he seemed like a vaudeville of poses, but the character Adam isn't a happy lad to start with, he has tried all his life to achieve on behalf of his (now dead) father. He quietly rolls another ciggie at times listening to his dad's first wife and other old associates as they out his mother Fleur as a queer girl in the 70's, bisexual and into sexual play.
Genevieve Picot had probably the most difficult role to play with Fleur. Her love, trust, respect and memory of the late husband is shattered through the course of this, what Williamson calls radical naturalism journey. Her past catches up with her in front of her young boy-man-aged son who has scored high on his Higher School Certificate marks, but feels a failure. The corpse's first wife Eileen played by Shirley Cameron is a brittle character clasping her drink and perching herself here and there like an old Magpie. Her claws grating down the blackboard are not exactly Jenny from Don's Party, but she could almost be if she weren't such a battler. She speaks quite a lot of sense, calls a spade a spade hen pecks at the drop of a hat, spits a bit of poison. I couldn't help but think of a view of a distorted Hazel Hawke, perhaps the most obvious divorced politicians wife, but she's certainly not 'our' Hazel, more of a Noelene really, still lovable to a point.
The corpse, sorry, great man, is of course a dead politician, one whom has been a friend to all and real cool Labor Party dude. He leaves behind him three sons, two of whom don't bother to come along to this sordid 'family in death' get together at Fleur's place where she has requested the few people who will speak at his funeral tomorrow go through the notes as it were so everything is nice for the cameras.
Two of this family in death are Rhys a politician about to challenge the current party leader and Tegan a young journalist ready to smash through the glass ceiling played by Gary Day and Vivienne Walshe. Both are awful people each in their own special way. Williamson has a good ear for a drunk Australian. Tegan struck me as being a very cool role to play, Walshe brought a slick sharp quality to her, another cold heart where ambition is the driving force, Better to eat than be eaten she says as she exits. I imagine this must be a great inner power trip to play for a young actor and Walshe certainly held her mettle.
Interesting story. Clever and made me laugh. I've never been so driven by party politics to fully understand the finer details, but I do remember the 1970's as a time of much community activity. For me The Great Man seems to be Williamson's way of saying history is corrupt, morality is corrupt, everything is corrupt; yet in all of it Fleur wants to be pure. She is an honorable woman if not a little anal with her son, so in many ways it's her relationship with him that is ultimately most important to watch.
Martin Vaughan, a wonderful older actor plays a chirpy corrupt old bugger called Dick who arrives with the final blow of indignity for Fleur's shrinking spirit. There's money left by the corpse and it makes all the difference to the poor people, but ruffles the hell out of Fleur
because it is corrupt money.
I found a lot to enjoy in the play, it will last the distance as an interesting story with some funny moments. I think this production may be a little sharper than it seems, I'm not used to polite people consuming so much alcohol in such a short space of time, and there's another key inside of Williamson's world - inside those empty bottles - not to suggest he as a writer drinks too much, not at all - but to point out his situational plays that involve Aussie drinking are many. It may frustrate you if you don't know a great deal about Australian politics here and there but the program notes are adequate enough to fill you in on things.
I doubt the most important thing in the play is the party political ranting, like '"Don's Party" it's about a group of people who are only doing what they are doing because they hope to get something out of it for themselves.
David Paul Jobling
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