Presented by: Flinders University
Reviewed: 17 November, 2022
Most tertiary training courses use their graduate showcases as a sort of theatrical degustation menu, offering bite-sized performance pieces from both classical and contemporary plays as evidence of their graduating students’ versatility and acting range. Flinders University Drama Centre has chosen to display its latest crop of young actors in mentored self-devised and largely solo segments. The effect is much like viewing single jewels on a velvet tray – diverse and unique, each gemstone diffracting light in its own way.
From 1967, when Professor Wal Cherry was appointed to its Foundation Chair of Drama (the first appointment of its kind in Australia), Flinders University has had a remarkable Drama Centre, producing performance makers working world-wide. After The Great Review of 2020 (into Drama Production and Drama Critical Studies at Flinders University), much has changed up on the hill. This historical note highlights the significance of the current crop of graduating students: theirs is the final cohort to emerge from Flinders Drama with a four-year Honours-level degree jam-packed with both instruction and practical experience.
The Showcase programme consists of nine vignettes. Under the general theme of “coming-of-age” stories, each actor was mentored by either Emma Beech or Caleb Lewis to write and perform a fully-researched, highly personal response to the topic. Beech and Lewis, both alumni of Flinders, are experienced performance makers. The whole showcase is under the direction of Anthony Nicola.
A quick summary:
1. Swedes are too good for Starbucks – James Starbuck
In the style of a contemporary raconteur, Starbuck’s persona chats to us about his visits to Sweden, his Swedish girlfriend, and the Swedes’ caffeine dependency. He is disarmingly direct, and he embeds physical work within his narrative to startling effect. We learn a lot of funny things about those pragmatic Swedes.
2. Majka//Majka – Mili Damjanovic
Majka means “mother” in Serbian. Some of this segment is directed to the audience, while the remainder is a spirited dialogue between Damjanovic and her cigarette-smoking, over-excited, uber-protective Serbian mother. Damjanovic, interrogated forensically about her love-life and prospects for marriage and progeny, maintains a comedic touch throughout without minimising the sheer invasiveness and manic desperation of her mother.
3. Dude, I just got punched in the face – Jack Calver
After a few beers, and for no apparent reason, Jack has just been punched in the face at the pub. Although he confesses to being pissed and slightly concussed, he ruminates on manliness, the macho imperative, and his take on societal values. It’s wired, wide-ranging, articulate and rapid. And compulsively watchable.
4. French toast – Chrissy Miller
Sharp, bright and direct, Miller’s persona flicks effortlessly through quicksilver emotional changes as she considers dissatisfaction in relationships. She gives information (“You’re never blurry; you’re always in high-res”) and drops bombshells (“I don’t think I’m straight”) with equal aplomb. This was awash with articulate ideas and elegantly phrased.
5. Made in the image of God – Jack Calver & Zoe Jane Mills
The only two-hander in the show has Mills and Calver doing a comedic pas de deux on a sofa, with rapid-fire dialogue and plenty of visual gags. Their timing is particularly precise. The topic is foreplay and the anxieties that surround it.
6. They made me do it – Rhys Griffin
Wildly funny, in the doleful mould of Garrison Keilor, Griffin begins with a lost pen and progresses, via his grandparents, to crabs… and what makes a crab a crab. He reassures us that the loss of his pen is not subtextually representative of his anxieties. He wonders whether his eighth-part Jewishness contributes to the way he sees life. Both intellectual brilliance and charisma make his work intensely engaging.
7. Cold feet – Zoe Jane Mills
Mills creates a persona that gives a brightly detailed, confident account of her relationship with Jarrod. As with many domestic clashes it begins with a lack of milk for her CocoPops and ends with huge admissions on her part. “It scares me how genuine he is,” she shares with us. She speaks about not wanting to have children and admits that she is terrified by the concept of love. Mills builds emotional tension throughout the piece.
8. Cummunion – Ella Le Fournour
“I am hopeless when it comes to romance”, confesses Le Fournour, as she ponders the no man’s land which exists between sex and intimacy. Both intelligent and visceral, Le Fournour’s persona sparkles with disruptive energy. “I choose what happens here,” she declares, proceeding to her own Holy Communion of sorts.
9. Descent – Dion Lopresto
Marinated in Calabrian flavours, Lopresto’s character speaks from a church, at the baptism of one of his baby cousins. He riffs on the secure joys of both church and family rituals, whilst excusing himself from any religious commitment. He speaks lovingly with his nonna, although his Calabrese is poor to non-existent, as is her English. Lopresto is all about human warmth, communication, legacy and love.
The ninth graduating student of this group, Elvy-Lee Quici, could not participate in this presentation because she is currently starring in the State Theatre Company’s production of Single Asian Female as part of the OzAsia Festival. (And she’s doing brilliantly!)
With the excellent Christopher Hurrell now at its head and Renato Mussolino faithfully maintaining his broad-ranging input, Flinders Drama Centre remains a flagship actor training institution of which Adelaide should be immensely proud. Here are nine reasons.
Reviewed by: Pat H. Wilson
Venue: Adelaide Festival Centre Rehearsal Space
Season: Season Ended
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