Influence

David Williamson is a very professional writer. Noosa Arts Theatre has the best all round standard of the community theatres on the Sunshine Coast. Sam Coward is probably the best working director of community theatre on the Sunshine Coast. This play was always going to work once this triumvirate was connected. It was a great night out at the theatre and so much more rewarding - on so many levels – than the usual stale stodgy porridge dolloped up on the average coastal stage.

The play revolves around the failings, foibles, whims and single bed / double standards of Shock Jock Ziggy Blasko and his totally dysfunctional family. In fact the Blasko's are like the Bliss family but with acid glands. The family consist of a self-obsessed wife who is attempting a come-back as a ballerina, a father who moves in with a lot more than just clothes as his baggage, a bi-polar daughter and a sister who is still a social crusader. Of course this human collective maelstrom is completely what a court-of-public-appeal- judge-jury-and-executioner DJ like Ziggy Blasko deserves. He manipulates the dumbed down masses to accept his opinions so they don't have to formulate their own. A "Mussie bashing" rant on his show one day becomes the catalyst for his personal house of cards to come crashing down. But then again ... does it?

Sam Coward had a very clear and concise idea of how this play should be performed. The seven cast members were 100% in tune with this vision. They were motivated, focussed and properly stretched. Correct casting plus shared vision - the art of directing is this in a nutshell. He chose Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt (the alienation technique) as his style of performance. Dysfunctional equals alienation - therefore alienation equals dysfunctional. Each family member was anchored down to their power position on the stage. From these positions (some flat, some on different levels), they vocally drove this show out to the audience - without ever making eye contact with each other. A great bit of theatrical smoke and mirrors. Around these rocks flowed the natural characters of Zehra and Tony (Sharon Grimely and Stephen Moore). They were licensed to interact and make eye contact. So? Did this technique work? It worked well for most of the show. It worked brilliantly for some parts of the show. It mesmerised the audience for other parts of the show - but ... I just felt it needed to break out from this technique in some of the climaxes. It gave itself nowhere to go. It was constant, consistent and good but I just felt it didn't quite have the legs for an entire two acts. The script was not written for this style - it was screaming out in some parts for interaction - even brief interaction. However, having said that, this production stayed true and constant to itself.

Technically it was very polished. The radio segments were very professionally recorded. I loved the use of light - or lack of light should I say. This was a production from the top shelf. But to me the outstanding part of the evening was the ensemble work of the cast, tight and committed. They have raised the performance bar of Sunshine Coast community theatre.

Simon Denver

Image: (Left to right) Sharon Grimley as Zerhra, Xanthe Coward as Carmela Blasko, Joe Jurrisevic as Marko Blasko, Mark Darin (Sitting) as Ziggi Blasko, Summer Bowen as Vivienne Blasko & Jodie Bushby as Connie Blasko.

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