HAMLET
Schaubühne Berlin brought their incredibly innovative production of Hamlet, directed by Thomas Ostermeier, to the Sydney Theatre, and I loved it. With a stage filled with dirt, six actors playing all the parts, and constant destruction of the fourth wall, this audacious adaptation of my favourite Shakespeare play was one of the best I've seen. The fact that it was in German with English surtitles barely registered with me, as I know the text so well, but I did have to read the English when they went wildly off-script and incorporated modern song lyrics and language. One of my favourite aspects was the backdrop of floor-to ceiling chains, upon which was projected footage from a handheld camera brandished by Hamlet. This played with our modern notions of celebrity and personal intrusion of the media. My favourite moment was when Hamlet delivered a line and the audience tittered -- he then turned to us and said in English 'That's not funny in German', and then turned back and carried on. What a wonderful reminder that not only were we watching artifice, but that we were collectively responding in a different way to the German audiences that preceeded us. Brilliant stuff.
THE MANGANIYAR SEDUCTION
43 Rajasthani musicians in boxes, building their hymns to a crescendo, lifted the roof off the theatre and was the unexpected hot ticket of the festival. This incredible show united us all, regardless of our cultural heritage, in appreciation of the power of music and the human singing voice. As each 'box' was opened revealing another musician and the songs built in volume and power, the audience were infected by the joy of the performers and marvelled at their skills. It's apparently touring to the Roundhouse in London so I urge you all to get a ticket.
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR
This contemporary adaptation of Luigi Pirondello's shocking 1921 play was a bit of a mind-fuck, and completely polarised the audience. I fell into the 'loved it' camp, as it brazenly played with notions of truth and reality, and brought up issues that many of my friends who work in documentary and reality TV grapple with.
BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY, BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEY BEARS
These guys were awesome! They filled Martin Place with funk and soul on Festival First Night. The whole of Sydney turned into one big party for First Night, and my friends and I danced in Martin Place all evening.
GRIZZLY BEAR
City Recital Hall in Angel Place has been the location for some of my most revelatory Festival experiences in the past few years: The National in 2008, Bon Iver in 2009, and I was hoping Grizzly Bear would be my 2010 epiphany. They were indeed awesome, they filled the concert hall with their harmonies and eclectic selection of instruments. But there was no intimate banter between songs (I think they found the venue a little formal and were intimidated) so it fell a little short of my past experiences. Still great though.
PARTY
It was great having the Brits at the Seymour -- Party was a little play fresh from Edinburgh, a pleasant comedy which played with British politics and the politically-minded. Well-acted and sharply-scripted, it was like a slice of the UK in Sydney.
BALE DE RUA
Almost-naked Brazilians doing street dance on the Opera House stage: yes please! Bale de Rua was high energy, but unfortunately the audience weren't, and it was a little disappointing. Still lots of eye candy made it worth it.
A R RAHMAN
I ventured out West to Parramatta Park to see Bollywood legend A R Rahman (who composed the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack) play a one-off free gig. The atmosphere was electric -- I was very much in the minority as a white face in the crowd! But me and my friends took a picnic, braved the drizzle and loved the show. His message was one of peace (there have been a number of attacks against Indian students in Melbourne recently which have dominated the headlines) and his words were moving and should be listened to!
THE BOOKS
A weird Canadian duo who played The Spiegeltent and had backing videos which were even weirder than their music! Not sure about these guys.
GISELLE
Okay this troupe were weird, a mixture of Europeans telling a modern-day version of Giselle which included line dancing, and the best on-stage sex scene I've ever seen.
ISY SUTTIE
Another short British show from Edinburgh, Isy Suttie (from Peep Show) told her tale through song and despite too many British references going over the heads of most of the audience, endeared herself to us all.
ROGUE'S GALLERY
Sea-shanties on the steps of the Opera House near to where some of the first convicts and sailors landed in Australia sounds like a great idea, but in reality it was a shambles, not helped by the weather, and the inebriation of the performers. There were some highlights -- Sarah Blasko, Marry Watterson and Irish Camille, and surprisingly Peter Garrett injected much-needed energy into the proceedings. But Marianne Faithfull was a train wreck and people were leaving in their droves. What a shame!
OPERA IN THE PARK
Leonard Bernstein's Candide (well, a watered-down version) for free in the Domain -- really just an excuse to have a picnic and listed to some free opera. My favourite song was the one about Syphilis.
HAPPY AS LARRY
I'm not usually a fan of contemporary dance but this was awesome. Happiness -- what is it? For a couple of hours I witnessed it on the Everest stage in the shape of these wonderful dancers.
GIRL TALK
I've never seen the Enmore so buzzing, the whole place was bouncing with energy when I turned up to see Girl Talk: an American guy who creates mash-up music which is basically a 'lawsuit waiting to happen'. I loved it so much I ended up staying out dancing until 3am, what a buzz! My favourite part was when a bunch of balloons were released over the crowd, and when they popped they showered us with little pieces of coloured tissue paper, which promptly stuck to everyone as we were all drenched in sweat. Nice.
DIRTY THREE
The next night at the Enmore there was a completely different vibe, but just as wonderful. Those crazy guys from the Dirty Three entertained us.
HUGH HUGHES
Hugh Hughes is a Welshman who told a lovely tale of friendship and changing your perspective that lingered with me for days. What a sweetie.
So that was January! Unsurprisingly I overdid it a little and have spent the first couple of weeks of February sick with a virus! Oops. Seems I haven't quite learned how to survive festivals intact.
cx
