convict's opera review

By Catherine Jones on Mar 11, 09 09:15 AM

CRUISE fans will know the measure of a good ship is found in its on-board facilities, fine dining and the standard of its entertainment.
Tell that to the occupants of the barky bound for Botany Bay and boasting rather less than the spa, wave pool and piano bar of your average pleasure palace on the seas.
Which just leaves the entertainment, in this case, a production of John Gay's 18th century smash hit The Beggar's Opera - presented by a rag tag of coin clippers, arsonists, political prisoners, poachers and prostitutes.

Gay's satirical poke at politics, poverty and injustice took the idea of grand Italian opera and made it accessible to the common man by using popular tunes they would recognise.
In this joint production between Sydney Theatre Company and Out of Joint, writer Stephen Jeffreys has reworked the premise to bring it not so much bang up-to-date but bang to rights with the action moving from the underbelly of London to the underbelly of the convict ship, and mixing traditional airs and ballads with the likes of Carly Simon's You're So Vain and The Clash's I Fought the Law.
Some of the tweaked tunes sit more comfortably than others, with a sweet Stand By Me from songbird Ali McGregor as Grace Madden/Polly Peachum, and an amusing, bastardised rendition of Mary Hopkin's Those Were The Days by Karina Fernandez as pamphleteer Phebe Groves.
There's an entertaining central casting of Brian Protheroe and an almost unrecognisable Catherine Russell as Mr and Mrs Peachum, and a poignant turn from Glenn Butcher as the show's director William, while the gathering of men in drag (deliberately carried off with varying degrees of success) proves a satisfyingly amusing tableau.
Velvet-swagged boxes on stage hold game audience members.
But there seems a lack of conviction from director Max Stafford-Clark on the level of their participation, leaving the interaction - amusing as it may be for those in the safety of the auditorium - sporadic and ultimately neither here or there.
While proceedings in the first half feel rather flat, the action is cranked up after the interval as the convicts edge closer to their final destination.
And while it's never the rollicking, riotous 'theatrical journey' it aspires to be, The Convict's Opera is an engaging slice of theatre.
7/10: courage of their convictions

PS - nice to see artistic director Gemma Bodinetz stepping on to the stage as one of the audience members in the boxes - even if her delivery of her only line was deemed in need of a second go!