A poke in the eye with a sharp telephone
Presented by: Mopoke Theatre Productions
Reviewed: Friday 18 July 2025
12 Years ago Nicholas Cannon created Mopoke Productions and has, since then, constantly striven to make opportunities for new and emerging artists. It is a courageous and rewarding journey that is hard work combined with new ideas and raw talent undertaken with drive, energy, a constant focus to attracting finance and support. It’s hard yakka! In the programme notes Cannon refers back to the first production of Mopoke which was a production of The Old Lady and the Thief and how revisiting it can show new and interesting ways to approach a piece of work. But more of that later.
The evening started with Menotti’s comic gem The Telephone. Menotti had an impish sense of humour combined with a stringent satirical eye and his wry observations of the vain attempt of Ben (Nicholas Cannon) to ask his girlfriend Lucy (Jessica Mills) a very important question is a genius idea. It is so revealing for an artist to have just a piano accompaniment and both Mills and Cannon were gifted the support of Musical Director Sachiko Hidaka. From the first note we could tell they were in safe hands.
Mills was an engaging and sometimes shrill version of the character whose obsession with her telephone should have told Ben from the start that any type of interference with Lucy’s instrument of choice would result with a very sore head from banging it up against the proverbial brick wall.
Menotti’s enduring humour drives the piece and there are many charming moments of helplessness from both of these talented artists, helplessness from Ben to get a word in before the phone rings and helplessness from Lucy to ignore the phone There were moments when the energy dropped but the piece never suffered from it and the resolution duet at the end was both surprising and endearing.
Macintyre Howie-Reeves’ direction could have done with an injection of forward moving energy ; there were moments where the action appeared to stop rather than pause. James Nicholson’s set and costumes were period perfect and added a great energy to the space. Tom Hannagan’s lighting turned the set into a magical play space in the middle of cold, dark opera studio.
The Old Lady and the Thief capitalised on the energy of the first half and from the moment Musical Director Penelope Cashman put her fingers to the keys, the sprightly and lively energy of Menotti’s cheeky piece of 20th century opera sparkled into life. This has a 4 voice ensemble to move the action and Cannon has cast this perfectly. Jessica Mills shows the full promise of her voice in this piece, it is sharp, clear and articulate. Her rendition of Steal Me, Sweet Thief is a stand out moment. Macintyre Howie-Reeves swaps his director role for the role of the thief, Bob. I could wish for a clearer voice production. His vibrato often masks his diction.
Rachel McCall is everybody’s nightmare neighbour and she does it great justice. She is nosey, arch, judgmental and plain nasty at times, and she does it with a relish that is very enjoyable to watch. Coupled for a lot of the time with Catriona Barr’s prissy and tight Miss Todd, these two give the piece just the energy it needs at the beginning to set the ball rolling downhill at a breakneck pace. Barr is an anchor for the piece and her secure and dominant presence fill the stage. The essence of Miss Todd really rules the roost.
Originally penned by Menotti as a radio piece, the work has a visual charm written into the music which allows the performance to pick you up and carry you along with it. Cannon’s direction makes use of every spare moment and the clever integration of the set as almost another character in the piece meant there was never a dull moment.
James Nicholson did another impressive job with the costumes as did Tom Hannigan with the lights.
The courage and energy needed to put together these two pieces of work with some new and emerging artists combined with a few seasoned professionals is filling a gap we have in our opera repertoire. More boutique opera from the pens of the like of Menotti should be being performed to give new and emerging artists the chance to try out new things and gives the audience a chance to see many things that are gathering dust in a cupboard.
Congratulations Mopoke. Your courage and bravery are rewarded.
Reviewed by Adrian Barnes
Venue: State Opera South Australia Studios (216 Marion Road, Netley)
Season: Friday 18 July at 7.30pm, Saturday 19 July at 7.30pm and Sunday 20 July at 2.30pm
Duration: 2hrs including a 20 minute interval.
Tickets: $30 – $60
Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1406510
