Andrew Fuhrmann's review:
"PART 1
No Show, by Richard Pettifer (excp. Megan Twycross)
@ La Mama
Wed. 9 Feb. 2011 to Sun. 13 Feb. 2011
however close our touch
or intimate our speech,
silences, spaces reach
most deep, and will not close.
– “Space Between”, Judith Wright
Well, what started as a quick review to get me back into the blogging habit somehow ballooned into something quite else. So, I might break this one down into two separate posts. The second should follow tomorrow.
No Show is an absorbing one man piece from director Richard Pettifer in which he ruminates, reminisces and in an important emotional sense dramatises upon the cancellation of Smudged, a play by Megan Twycross that he directed in a preview run late last year and which had been booked for a full run at La Mama before, so to speak, it “fell over and couldn’t get up” some few weeks ago. Brief scenes of Smudged are interpolated through the progress of No Show with Richard performing all various characters.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Alison Croggon's Review
Alison Croggon gives a brief but lovely review on Theatrenotes.
"Richard Pettifer's No-Show (sadly, closed after a short season at La Mama) is at the other end of the theatrical spectrum. As Pettifer explains in his program, it came about because he "had a show fall over a few weeks ago" and made this show to replace it. The no show was a play called Smudged by Megan Twycross, which made a brief appearance at the Brisbane Festival before foundering on the rocks of theatrical difference.
Out of this catastrophe, Pettifer makes a poignant work of anti-theatre. As with all anti-theatre, the focus is on the immediate presence of the performer and the audience as the bedrock of theatrical experience. He is, as it were, surrounded by the rags of the absent show: the set is four chairs labelled with the names of the absent performers, and during the course of the 50 minutes he dons one costume after another, explaining what each character was meant to do. It's irresistibly reminiscent of Forced Entertainment's Spectacular, which I saw in 2009, but with this difference: where Spectacular left me with an empty sense that I'd been had, this show takes off the aesthetic protection and exposes something real and human about the risk that is theatre.
"Richard Pettifer's No-Show (sadly, closed after a short season at La Mama) is at the other end of the theatrical spectrum. As Pettifer explains in his program, it came about because he "had a show fall over a few weeks ago" and made this show to replace it. The no show was a play called Smudged by Megan Twycross, which made a brief appearance at the Brisbane Festival before foundering on the rocks of theatrical difference.
Out of this catastrophe, Pettifer makes a poignant work of anti-theatre. As with all anti-theatre, the focus is on the immediate presence of the performer and the audience as the bedrock of theatrical experience. He is, as it were, surrounded by the rags of the absent show: the set is four chairs labelled with the names of the absent performers, and during the course of the 50 minutes he dons one costume after another, explaining what each character was meant to do. It's irresistibly reminiscent of Forced Entertainment's Spectacular, which I saw in 2009, but with this difference: where Spectacular left me with an empty sense that I'd been had, this show takes off the aesthetic protection and exposes something real and human about the risk that is theatre.
Friday, February 11, 2011
OMG I TOTES GOT REVIEWD
I have got some lavish e-press from Jana Perkovic at her great website guerilla semiotics
"If Invisible Atom is a finely crafted and balanced dish, akin to Fincher’s The Social Network, Richard Pettifer’s NO-SHOW, on the other hand, is a delicately woven wonder, very similar to what Spalding Gray achieves with a glass of water and some notebooks. Pettifer has so little to start with („I have no show“ is what he first says, and he is being entirely honest) that Invisible Atom, with its tight script and obvious months of development starts looking like a bloated whale in comparison, but the two one-man shows have a great deal in common nonetheless. They both spin a story almost without theatre: a little bit of light, a little bit of sound, some words. But where Invisible Atom tends towards Hollywood almost against its better judgement, instinctively – and this is fine, if you’ve read my rambling preamble – Pettifer turns the other way, towards a deconstructive anti-theatre, and tells a story without even perhaps knowing that that’s what he’s doing.
"If Invisible Atom is a finely crafted and balanced dish, akin to Fincher’s The Social Network, Richard Pettifer’s NO-SHOW, on the other hand, is a delicately woven wonder, very similar to what Spalding Gray achieves with a glass of water and some notebooks. Pettifer has so little to start with („I have no show“ is what he first says, and he is being entirely honest) that Invisible Atom, with its tight script and obvious months of development starts looking like a bloated whale in comparison, but the two one-man shows have a great deal in common nonetheless. They both spin a story almost without theatre: a little bit of light, a little bit of sound, some words. But where Invisible Atom tends towards Hollywood almost against its better judgement, instinctively – and this is fine, if you’ve read my rambling preamble – Pettifer turns the other way, towards a deconstructive anti-theatre, and tells a story without even perhaps knowing that that’s what he’s doing.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
enjoyment
Okay well last night's show went really well so now I don't know what to do.
I was talking to the Germans living in my apartment last night and one of them said it was good people enjoyed it and I replied, in a sort of elitist patronising way that I kind of hate, sometimes you don't want people to like the show. That's for Music Theatre. There are other objectives, like learning, or depth of human thought, that won't make you a hero in their heads immediately but maybe later when they are thinking of the show they will see it as a turning point for something.
I was talking to the Germans living in my apartment last night and one of them said it was good people enjoyed it and I replied, in a sort of elitist patronising way that I kind of hate, sometimes you don't want people to like the show. That's for Music Theatre. There are other objectives, like learning, or depth of human thought, that won't make you a hero in their heads immediately but maybe later when they are thinking of the show they will see it as a turning point for something.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Avoiding the Blog
I have been avoiding posting on the blog anything but trivial photos. Perhaps I am afraid I will lie on it. Everything has become more difficult since this show became a one man show.
I am nervous about tonight. I honestly don't know how the performance will go, how to perform, I'm not 100% certain of my lines and my direction, and I hope I will be brave enough or I fear the results.
I know certain things about my performance tonight. I will lose my way at some point. At some point the reality of what I'm doing will become overwhelming and my brain will seize up. I will stumble over lines. I will probably perform whole sections badly.
All of this is consequence for my decision to go on stage.If these events do not occur, I am not telling the truth.
I am nervous about tonight. I honestly don't know how the performance will go, how to perform, I'm not 100% certain of my lines and my direction, and I hope I will be brave enough or I fear the results.
I know certain things about my performance tonight. I will lose my way at some point. At some point the reality of what I'm doing will become overwhelming and my brain will seize up. I will stumble over lines. I will probably perform whole sections badly.
All of this is consequence for my decision to go on stage.If these events do not occur, I am not telling the truth.
Monday, February 7, 2011
The 'Lycra Shoot'
Because I am doing a solo show, I have to sell myself.
Warning: The below photos may cause offence.
Warning: The below photos may cause offence.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
walk a mile in someone else's shoes
As part of the show I have to wear the costumes that the other guys wore in Smudged.
The one in Laura's leotard is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen... Jim Carryesque is probably being kind to me I think. And also trying to fit into Julia's costume is going to be an adventure in itself.
The one in Laura's leotard is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen... Jim Carryesque is probably being kind to me I think. And also trying to fit into Julia's costume is going to be an adventure in itself.
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