::: Theatrepeople / Reviews :::

25/08/09 10:16 PM

Quartet: The Razor

Presented by: A Is For Atlas Venue: J Studios, North Fitzroy Reviewer: Kim Edwards Date Reviewed: Thursday 13 th August 2009 This was certainly a challenging review to be given as my Theatre People debut, and I was actually grateful for my background in classical music and literature! Theatre company A is for Atlas aims for “inter-artform exploration”, so their latest production Quartet: The Razor combines a short play based on Dangerous Liaisons with classical music by a young contemporary Melbourne composer. The clash of eras, styles and genres is appropriately disconcerting, although not all the innovative decisions made for this production are entirely successful. The text is a translation of the German play Quartet by post-modernist Heiner Muller. This in turn is based on the novel by Laclos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. This current production then punctuates the piece with contemporary classical music by Annie Hsieh written in pseudo-homage to composer Haydn. The overall title thus refers both to the play, and to the ‘story’ in director Xan Colman’s notes that Haydn sold his best quartet for a pair of razors. How are you keeping up so far? What’s happening here is a negotiation between the modern and the classic, between music and theatre, between fiction and fact, and between pairs and quartets. The story takes the two main characters from Dangerous Liaisons and has them play out some of their most successful and despicable seductions, whereupon they swap roles and gender to fit the scenario. I feel because the play itself is so dense and poetic in language, some program or advertising assistance for the general audience in picking apart these complications would have enhanced their response to the piece. Comic lines thus passed without reaction (as the audience seemed unsure whether they were allowed to laugh), the play ended in temporary silence (as we hesitated over when to clap), and Muller’s fragmentary plot (without some knowledge of Laclos) is very obtuse. That said, there are some very beautiful and clever features of Quartet: The Razor. The stage design by Grant Cooper is, simply, stunning – the audience sits above and looks down through the ‘roof’ of the open drawing room. It gives a wonderful sense of voyeurism, and is an absorbing and dramatic use of the space. The washedout set with its decaying roses, multiple mirrors and furniture half-embedded into the walls is both claustrophobic and quite beautiful. I question the often distracting use of multimedia with screens also set in the walls: I see they were meant to represent other facets of the characters or hanging paintings or to fill in visual blind spots for some audience members, but I felt some adroit blocking would have overcome these concerns instead. Suze Smith’s lighting design was generally subtle and effective, despite some jarringly melodramatic cues at times: I particularly loved the lights set in cupboards and drawers that illuminated key moments. I was really charmed too, with the frayed and layered elegance of Julie Renton’s costuming that so cleverly disguised and unveiled the characters, and visually showed their similarities and contrasts in fabrics and colours. In a dense play reveling in the complexities of death, decay, lust, bitterness and languor, Xan Colman shows himself to be a sensitive and knowing director. The scene choreographed as a dance without music was absorbing and sensual, and his penchant for striking imagery and dramatic use of that fascinating performance space were impressive. Although I admired the decision to use original music for the piece, Hsieh’s work did not always feel grand or elegant enough to support situation or character, and despite the fact discord and the discordant were thematic, the harsh and clashing sounds became very repetitive. The exception was the more melodic and emotional closing music, which brings us to the beauty of the finale and the problem with the text itself. The story fails to return to the two core characters who have held the vignettes together – this really problematises the impact of the final visual and possible (im)moral statement of the play. Nonetheless, the staging and execution of the close was striking, and leads me to the artistry of the two performers. Felicity Steel as Meuteuil gave a powerful and organic performance. Her transitions between characters were carefully and convincingly wrought, and some of my favourite moments in the play were during her depiction of the ruthless ladies’ man Valmont. Andrew Grey as Valmont proper offered a more obviously constructed and theatrical physicality to his characters, and he appeared less comfortable and controlled in assuming the cross-gendered roles. Nonetheless, in an intense 75-minute two-hander production, the sophisticated interplay between the two actors was both compelling and unsettling to watch. (As a small aside however, their post-applause exit through the closet in a door-less set was less than atmospheric!) Take a coat and a cushion to this production: the foyer is outside and the seats are not comfortable. However, despite some small tiresome discords for this reviewer that were ultimately in production choices rather than music or script, Quartet: The Razor is intelligent if rather inaccessible theatre, and is performed and staged with aplomb. A For Atlas presents Quartet: The Razor from Wed 12- Sat 29 Aug at J-Studios, Nth Fitzroy. Tickets: Easytix on 9639 0096 or www.easytix.com.au

http://theatrepeople.com.au/review_articles/2009/august/review_Aisfor%20atlas_quartet.htm

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::: Theatrepeople / Reviews :::

25/08/09 10:16 PM

Reviewer Kim Edwards has a PhD in English literature and teaches at Monash University. She co-ordinates the Creating Solo Cabaret course at The Butterfly Club, and is a freelance director, dramaturg, writer and performer. Back To Reviews

http://theatrepeople.com.au/review_articles/2009/august/review_Aisfor%20atlas_quartet.htm

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