Melbourne Fringe: 400 Columns, Trades Hall

The Age's resident dag Danny Katz is one of the funniest men in print. His weekly columns mix nerdy Jewish humour, a deceptively good understanding of the power of language, savage self-deprecation and a damn good understanding on what makes people laugh. To translate these columns - 400 Columns, that is - into a stage play was always going to be a difficult task, primarily because so much of the humour comes from who the columnist is and the egocentric nature of the stuff that he writes. If it was to be anyone else writing it, they'd be dismissed as a nutter, but because it's Katz it is instead considered schoolboy charm.

CONTINUES IN COMMENTS

Comments

Ari Sharp said…
The folks at the SideStreet Players have taken on the challenge, and are highly successful at the task. A cast of six try to capture the essence of Katz as they read, act, sing, dance and live his columns. The production takes a while to warm up at first, and begins with a slow, measured opening that sees a few of the columns being read (albeit with plenty of enthusiasm) by the cast members. As the hour progresses, however, the production becomes much more intricate and the columns really come to life.

In appreciating the show, it helps to have some previous exposure to Katz's odd-ball writing. The cast struggle at times to convey the world view that Katz seems to hold, and understanding this world view transforms the cast of 6 from being mad-cap lunatics to theatrical geniuses. Those new to his work would struggle to fully comprehend what they were seeing.

The space the piece is being performed at, in the Victorian Trades Hall, is ideal for the performance. At some previous point in history, the room was no doubt a meeting place for workers, or activists, or Communists (that point in history may well have been last Thursday, given the eclectic bunch in Trades Hall). During the performance, though, it is cosy and intimate, and allows the audience to get up close and personal with the performers. During the more energetic parts, you can't help but get in the spirit of it.

Without giving it away, the climax at the end truly is a show-stopper. Rarely has a play managed to engage all five senses, but 400 columns manages to do that. With a bit of luck and by sitting in the right seat, you will taste, smell, hear, see and feel some aspect on the closing sequence, and it's not always plesant! A fun end to a fun show.
30 September 2004 at 02:49
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thanks for all the fish

After 13 years with Blogspot, I've shifted blogging platform. So (drumroll, please), you can find my new blog here . Ari on the Web will stay online, so you can scroll through the archives for all sorts of embarrassing tidbits. To make it easier to find some of my writing on particular themes, I've grouped some pieces together under a few labels: Cancer Fatherhood Indonesia travels North Korea travels United States travels Undergraduate days   So as they say here in my new home of Japan, so long, and thanks for the all the fish.
Read more

Welcome to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

North Korea is a place that is shrouded in mystery and conjecture, much of it of its own creation. For so long it has chosen to close itself off from the rest of the world that little information flows in or out of the place. In the absense of hard facts, rumour and speculation run rife. I plead guilty as one who has engaged in plenty of rumour-mongering in the past (and, let's be honest, will probably try my hand at it in the future), but to really come to grips with the place it is necessary to see it first hand. Much of the speculation is not meant in a harsh, negative way - although there are elements of that - but is instead meant in the same way that people watch the bearded lady at the circus. Curious, but not necessarily critical. Perhaps they could but those on the number plates - DPRK: The Bearded Lady of Asia. Since there are so few who have seen the place but so many who speculate, I think it is worth publishing a few thoughts after my trip. It's important
Read more

Can conspicuous consumption save the news business?

Image
It’s a dire time for the news industry. Readers are flooding to social media for content, advertisers are moving with them and costs are being cut at a brutal rate in a desperate bid to meet falling revenue. It is increasingly clear that business models that depend on amassing large audiences in order to provide a forum for advertising will always struggle against the “niche of one” audience that social media platforms can provide for advertisers. There’s been lots of talk lately about ways to fund public interest journalism. One idea is to tax the online aggregators – Facebook and Google, primarily – that sell advertising against the news content of others to support news organisations. Another is to make news subscriptions or donations to its producers tax deductible.  Both ideas are worth considering, but they do not abrogate the need for news organisations to seek better ways to draw revenue from consumers.  (It is alarming that discussion of efforts to build a
Read more