theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8370810%255E16947,00.html
www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/12/1073769486829.htmlBeware spoilers below
The Republic Of Myopia, STC
By John Shand
January 12, 2004
Book & lyrics by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott
Music by Phillip Scott. STC, Sydney Theatre, January 10.
The STC's artistic director, Robyn Nevin, took the stage at the end of The Republic of Myopia and explained that in planning the Sydney Theatre's opening she had particularly wanted to "celebrate the art of the actor".
Her celebration took the form of a 10-actor ensemble performing both Myopia and Harbour.
The quality of the ensemble's work was indeed the star of the two shows, and if Nevin wanted to prove something, it worked. In fact, she must have thought she was having a Christmas deja vu: not only an exceptional new theatre, but Premier Bob Carr's $2.5 million to fund a permanent ensemble. Bingo!
The writers of the productions had been obliged to collaborate to present the same number of roles of each gender in both pieces. Having served up social realism in Harbour, the actors were back three hours later to dish out slapstick, farce and satire, laced together into a musical.
Writers Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott - of Wharf Revue fame - take us off to the central European republic of Myopia, where everyone is pretty relaxed and comfortable. Until 1904. That's when the American ambassador (Genevieve Lemon) and her lackey, Oswald (Mitchell Butel), infest this Eden.
Power, greed and dodgy weapons of mass destruction are all unleashed - not to mention songs.
Every type of humour known and unknown to man is pressed into service, with many good, round laughs resulting. But there is a surprising absence of the keen wit one would have expected from these authors. Having opted for cartoon characters - other than perhaps the President (Peter Carroll) - and by not making any of them innately witty, the comedy came out being broad and low, yet seldom sharp. Perhaps it was blunted by the writers operating in a larger form than their usual revue and cabaret formats.
With no relief from the mania, Myopia feels like an elongated sketch with songs attached. The latter are clever, however, with words, music and performance melding brilliantly in Serenade (sung by Simon Gleeson as the gallant, bumbling Captain Von Reisenschein), Firconium (Forsythe as the exploited Dr Furtwangler), Energy (Lemon and Butel) and Isadora's Lament, superbly sung by Helen Dallimore as the scheming and frustrated wife of actor Maximillian Sault.
Sault is roped into masquerading as the President, and in playing both roles after an intense matinee as Sandy in Harbour, Carroll's stamina was as impressive as his comic sense was delicious.
His daughter, Tamsin Carroll, was also a delight in both productions, occasionally able to bring her splendid voice to bear as the love-lorn and lusting Olivia, and the redoubtable William Zappa played the dastardly Iago figure of Chancellor Schlitz to the hilt.
Mitchell Butel deserves special mention for his swing from the brooding Craig in Harbour to Oswald, the camp, conniving spy with no intelligence (and an hilarious turn as a Hispanic maid), while Melissa Jaffer and Christopher Pitman had minor roles after their substantial earlier efforts.
Director Jonathan Biggins keeps the action fast but it failed to disguise the fact that, despite some intricate plotting, the show needs constant laughs to stay afloat - hard to sustain over 2 hours (including interval).
Scott directs his little pit sextet from the piano, and they played the zany music with a flourish. The orchestrations of he and Michael Tyack are another star of the show, packing marvellous comic detail, which also tells us that both the sound design and the acoustic of the theatre were working admirably.
Choreographer Ross Coleman adds his own amusing touches, notably in the aforementioned Energy duet.
Stephen Curtis's sets and Jennie Tate's costumes amplify the cartoon mayhem, the former expertly serving the bedroom farce scene which, for all its predictability, was still funny. As is the show.
*****
