Review by Tony Campbell
GCLT’s penultimate production for 2023 provides local audiences with another opportunity to engage with our rich and complex Australian voice. First established at GCLT this year with Hunter Wall’s game-changing production of BLACKROCK, this stunning presentation of STILL STANDING serves to express another perspective of the vast Australian cultural experience.
In the same way that a curriculum vitae is maintained, I have always very enthusiastically kept a chronological record of my theatre viewing experiences (…the theatre programs and playbills are all filed in order!). Just as the act of working on a show might change you, I believe the act of viewing a show can also promote a deep transformational experience.
I first saw STILL STANDING in 2003 at La Boite. As an aspiring 15 year old student of the arts, I was creatively pulverised by this piece. I was being introduced to the notion of an actors’ process, and here on display was a company of actors and actor-musicians, all existing and breathing within the same space as they lived their way through this material without inhibition.
Playwrights Margery and Michael Forde had crafted a distinctly Queensland story. This viewing experience remains a core creative memory and artistic awakening for the possibilities of what meaningful theatre can look like.
For GCLT, Cilla Scott has delivered an immersive and passionately constructed shared theatre experience. An accomplished director and musician within our community, Scott has a deep reverence for the musical zeitgeist that underpins the work. Through her inherent skill of cultivating a strong sense of ensemble within her cast, we see a company of eight performer-musicians embody the grungy pub rock sound which characterised the ’80s.
As overheard from one audience member, “This feels like real life”. Thematically, this remark captures the heart and soul of this story. The narrative is a compelling meditation on the challenges of creative people. After 15 years apart, the Aussie pub band Gaffer reunite to open the old Reverb in Brisbane’s infamous Valley precinct. As these shared creative experiences are both equal parts lifelong and ephemeral, the play provides a fascinating insight, across a sound-check and a gig, into the evolved relationship between musicians Brenda, Nev and rock impresario Skeeter.
As Skeeter, George Pulley’s performance is an instinctive tour de force. His extroversion delivers a character which holds the audience in the palm of his hand. His Skeeter is appropriately messy and notably unkempt but also impeccably modulated by his desire to capture the magic of yesterday.
Rebecca Kenny-Sumiga brings a rich depth of insight into the mighty vocalist, Brenda. This actor had so clearly considered the history of this creatively vigorous musician. Every line, every monologue, every breath was so thoughtfully considered. And then, there was that voice. As the saying goes ‘we sing because we can’t speak anymore’, and Kenny-Sumiga’s voice truly transports you to another place; a place where nothing else matters except the force of these rock anthems.
Dean Bradley’s Nev was characterised by a nuanced sense of calm and stillness. His Nev was not only measured and specific, but bared a deep love for his music. These sounds were in his bones. Bradley’s on-stage chemistry with Kenny-Sumiga was both empowering and elegiac. Their characters represent a parable of two creative people whose paths cross for an altogether fleeting moment, but in that moment, deeply enrich each other’s lives. To see these characters reunited after such a long time apart is a beautiful gift, realised with such authenticity and pathos in this production.
This striking visual world of GCLT’s STILL STANDING is also superbly supported by the on-stage presence of the show’s musicians, Michelle Watkins on Keys/Vocals, Lawrie Esmond on Guitar/Keys (who lands a one-liner like no one else!), Jem Miles on Drums, Will David on Lead Guitar and Rodrigo Machado on Bass Guitar. These fine artists did more than just play the notes on the page, they were a vital part of the entire ensemble. They were sensational performers and shared this music from their soul.
The commitment from these performers, in conjunction with Cilla Scott’s creative leadership of the play, allowed the audience to bask in a vibrant immersive experience. As a venue, GCLT is a beautiful boutique space that affords such scope for fascinating design activation. From the wrist-band upon entry (affixed by the beloved Ann-Britt Riget), to the liquid-smokey haze with intoxicating lighting hues of reds, greens and blues, this was an absorbing communal experience.
But more than that, there was so much to glean from the unspoken moments of this production. Notably, the collective intake of breath from the entire company before each musical number. It reflected the reverence, discipline and ultimately the transformational impact of this music and this play.
As an audience, we were collectively breathing with you.
Tickets are available here.
Bravo Gold Coast 