Our critics deliver verdicts on the latest shows around town.
After a triumphant debut at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in England and seasons at the Adelaide Festival, New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Munich Opera Festival, Brett Dean’sFor four centuries, Hamlet has been staged, translated, reimagined and bowdlerised. In this incarnation, librettist Matthew Jocelyn mines the text to create a new quintessence of Shakespeare’s play.
Conductor Tim Anderson is the linchpin, landing sounds arriving from every direction like a sonic air traffic controller. One duet is for John who has cerebral palsy and auditions Jess to be his new carer. Meanwhile, Eddie turns up unexpectedly as the fill-in carer for his ex-wife Ani , who’s become a quadriplegic since their separation. Both duets are played out in the rough and tumble of New Jersey, a place they fill to overflowing with their assorted flawed attempts at being human.
Majok writes the best dialogue since Edward Albee. Often it jolts between subjects; sometimes it stalls completely or accelerates wildly; sometimes the big stuff is left unsaid, and often characters talk over one another, not wanting to hear a word. It’s not that it isn’t catchy; rather that the hooks are in booming rhythm backed by a monotone, spoken vocal. And so it doesn’t matter that the lyrics – seemingly a recitation of her luggage packing list – on openerfor the encores – and, thrillingly, it is stronger and more vital with a live band.
The former YouTuber opened the show in Sydney with his trademark dark humour. “I would like to report that I did meet a koala and now I have chlamydia,” he declared before diving intotour was mostly a no-frills show with simple projections and straightforward choreography. But Gray’s theatrical movements, his image and spontaneity kicked in at the right times to galvanise the performance.
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