Rapt Animation

Concert performances of operatic works are really for the enthusiasts.  This was delightful music with some soaring passages, liquid melodies and arresting dynamics.  Often doleful and serious, absent were the sonorities of Tchaikovsky’s heart-tearing compositions and the playful invention of some of his ballet music.  This was a truly splendid performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra that showcased what a phenomenal depth of musical talent we have.  The soloists were dazzling, visiting concert master Daniel Dodds was commanding and all under the baton of maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy! I hadn’t heard this work before and I was enthralled.  By the end, though, the thespian in me wanted to see the drama played out on stage too.

Of all the wonderful events at GRAPHIC in November this year the one I got to was Lee Unkrich’s lively and very informative presentation of the development art and production methods of Pixar. He said he wanted to show things never presented before and he delivered on his promise! Two things stick in my memory: the meticulous splicing of the voice recordings to arrive at a single, very expressive delivery of a line of dialogue, and the breath-taking polish of some examples of Pixar’s leica reels.

By splicing words or parts of words together from 3 or more takes they imbue a line of dialogue with a painted emphasis and a rich subtleness of emotion that none of the original takes contain on their own. Brad Bird’s insistence that the camera tells the story was in awe-inspiring evidence in a clip from The Incredibles where Dash is pursued by the razor-copters through the jungle and over the water. A visual tour de force springing from a clear vision, it was composited in After Effects using its 3D space and showed what a powerful and versatile tool AE is in skilled hands.

A bold, fairly minimal setting – almost 2-dimensional, made me concentrate on the performances in this play which were intense and engaging. We might have been watching figures move about on a tapestry revealing the true depth of their inner world – exploring memories, fears, life and landscape. Moments of humour leavened and revitalised the drama. I particularly liked that the set featured a dimensional fracture that ran down the line of a gum tree – this allowed the ghost of Lu to pass into the here and now as Georgie reflected on their relationship and their connection with the land. They wore very similar flannelette shirts, Lu’s was a lighter, faded hue which was a great touch that helped underline the deep emotional bond between these two characters.

Bill Bailey is a funny man. And he does his homework. He knows exactly how to play an audience and involve them in his humour. He knows exactly where Lara Bingle sits in the Australian zeitgeist. His comedy bristles with a twinkling intelligence that creeps up and pokes you square in the ribs while you’re looking the other way. I caught his show “Qualmpeddler” in Sydney on 19 September. If you missed him do yourself a favour and see him next time he’s out here.

I’ll always barrack for excellence in writing and this is the writer’s night of nights. At Dalton House there were awards a-plenty and John Doyle kept the night just ahead of schedule, peppering the tempo with his own flavour of straight-faced wit. The animators’ table was great company and Richard Tulloch received the Children’s Theatre award for Snow on Mars!  He has applied his colossal talent across television, feature film, on stage (including musicals) and in over 80 books, greatly enriching the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people.  All power to you, Richard!

In early August I was lucky enough to be part of a mystery tour of Cockatoo Island with a celebrity guide thanks to Gaston Nyugen from the Art Gallery of NSW. Too many instalations left me speachless but I’ll try to impart some hint of the facination I felt when confronted by the luminescent, biomechanical sculpture by Philip Beesley. Hypnotic, chilling, fearfully absorbing, memories of a hospital refracted and clinical. The perfect finish to a highly stimulating experience. And our mystery tour guide? Celebrity chef Adam Lau. A thousand thank yous, Gaston!

Korngold’s opera directed by Bruce Beresford was a must see. Visually innovative use of projections played wonderfully with the ideas of dreaming and obsession. Staging and lighting were evocative with some strong diagonals and glancing light. Vocal performances were thrilling. The music was very exciting with many moments of Korngold’s signature melodic invention and harmonic progression – familiar from his scores for “Between Two Worlds” (1944) or “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938), for example.  I couldn’t help wanting the clarity and fidelity of the orchestra’s natural voices rather than a performance amplified from the Studio below (necessary because it was too big for the  orchestra pit.)  It was, however, a mighty performance by both Opera Australia and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra!

Got to the Fred Williams “Infinite Horizons” retrospective at the Australian National Gallery last year. Seeing so many of his works assembled in one place was truly breathtaking, multiplying the experience of mere reproductions one hundred fold. Genius.

I saw the wonderful Sydney Theatre Company production of Pinter’s play just recently – Gaden and Carroll attacked the text with ebullience and a half gallon of whisky.  Alcohol makes memory a stranger.   And we must with Pinter’s play, as his characters do with alcohol, give ourselves over to total immersion.  I seem to recall that Cate Blanchett played the drinks cabinet, but er… hmm… pass the port.

The directors’ audience with the delightful, animated Francis Veber as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival in August was a triumph for all of us lucky enough to attend.

He took us through practical considerations; a strong premise, pace, characters with comic charm, work hard on the plot, start rehearsals with a table read. We were all intrigued. I asked him if he’d ever had the opportunity to work with the French comedic legend Louis de Funès. Alas he had not.

Thanks to Screen Australia and a BIG congrats to Sue Maslin from RMIT for her vision and commitment to an inspired initiative!