Phyllis, although, can’t or is not going to change, and the present’s starkest dramatic distinction lies between untimely loss of life confronted with stoicism and elegance, and the residing loss of life of Phyllis’ loneliness. Maybe Thornton’s most interesting second comes when she strips the glamour away to ship a wordless tragic imaginative and prescient of a girl rising older, estranged from her grownup youngsters, nonetheless performing even when she’s alone.
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Director Lee Lewis attracts out performances that full one another, and the manufacturing design leavens and complicates the drama, time-travelling by means of many years from a ’70s homosexual disco to a hyper-real dementia ward. There’s even an over-the-top homage to cockroaches – a enjoyable flourish in a play that dwells on the thanklessness of mothering, and ends with a quiet assertion of the worth, impartial of gratitude or reward – of caring for an additional human being.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
MUSIC
ZÖJ – Give Water to Birds ★★★★★
Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Friday July 4
For greater than a decade, Gelareh Pour and Brian O’Dwyer have been immersed in an evolving musical dialog – one which displays their shared ardour for intercultural alternate and artistic communion.
With ZÖJ, that dialog has develop into an intimate dialogue between the pair, who’re companions in life in addition to music. Once they carry out collectively, O’Dwyer’s drumming and Pour’s singing and enjoying on kamancheh and qeychak (conventional Iranian string devices) assemble a fragile sound world that depends on belief, instinct and a deep mutual understanding.
For his or her new album, Give Water to Birds, the Ballarat-based couple opened the dialogue to a 3rd occasion: guitarist Brett Langsford, who’s accompanying ZÖJ on tour to launch the album. On the Recital Centre Salon final Friday, Langsford grew to become an integral a part of the dialog with out ever interrupting or disrupting its circulate. Certainly, the guitar typically set the scene for every bit – subtly and thoughtfully – with a drone-like hum, a shimmering looped motif or a slowly rolling sway.
Guitarist Brett Langsford (at far left) with ZOJ – Gelareh Pour and Brian O’Dwyer.Credit score: Chris Riordan
The album was fully improvised, so this efficiency used the recording as a template, whereas permitting loads of room for spontaneous interplay. Pour sat centre-stage, her eyes closed as she sang in Farsi, her voice tender as a whisper or swelling to develop into an impassioned invocation.
Her enjoying on kamancheh and qeychak emanated from the identical house, deep inside. The Iranian-born artist grew up steeped in classical Persian traditions, and her music faucets into one thing that feels each historic and common. We could not perceive the lyrics, however the feelings they convey are clear: craving, tenderness, grief, hope, love.
O’Dwyer’s hypnotic drumming was principally textural and colouristic slightly than rhythmically targeted. Typically his contributions had been so delicate as to be nearly subliminal: a faint padding of mallets; a rustle evoking a chicken fossicking amongst leaves; small balls rolled across the prime of the snare drum. Elsewhere, his sticks propelled a surge of momentum, with chiming guitar and swift bowing from Pour to create a rush of power.
Time appeared to face nonetheless, but the hour flew by, and we emerged as if from a dream, having now develop into a part of this persevering with dialog.
Reviewed by Jessica Nicholas
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