Year of the Rooster at fortyfivedownstairs; Mary Motorhead/Trade at Malthouse Theatre

THEATRE
Year of the Rooster ★★★★
fortyfivebelow, until March 22

Independent artist collective Spinning Plates Co made a splash with what became known as The Beast Trilogy. The company began with a scathing adaptation of Dostoevsky’s bureaucratic satire. Crocodile (2023) and continued with a bouffon-style interpretation of the absurd theater classic, Rhino (2024). Now the last part, Olivia Dufault’s Year of the Roosterperforming in a cockfight of epic proportions.

You read that right. A game about cockfighting. Protagonist Gil (Jessica Stanley) is an unlikable drudge who works at an Oklahoma McDonald’s. He still lives with his disabled mother (Natasha Herbert) and is regularly emasculated by a girl boss manager (AYA) who is obsessed with Disney cosplay. So far so subtle.

But Gil has a strange plan to switch from omega to alpha male. He raises a monster rooster named Odysseus Rex (Zachary Pidd), who is stuffed with roids, fed chicken parts and turned into steaks with daily training.

Odysseus is a killing machine. Will this be enough to defeat the reigning champion, a blind cock assassin raised by despicable cockfighting manager Dickie Thimble (James Cerché)? So will Gil finally get respect if he has the biggest dick in town?

The play may technically reference Homer’s epic, but this satire of hypermasculinity and McMisery in contemporary America is more ridiculous than sublime.

Director Alexandra Aldrich explodes the action with grotesque gender caricatures and Dann Barber outrageous costumes, the show struts and struts with vicious glee at the camp dismantling of the misleading manospherics that underpin Trump 2.0.

It’s closer to the subversive comedy of disgust in Taylor Mac’s film. whereasor even Russian futurist opera Victory over the SunMore than anything in Homer. The only thing legendary here is the level of comedy achieved by the cast.

The performances reveal the dehumanizing power of patriarchy with painful glee: Pidd plays a tortured killer hen in a muscle suit, armed with Rambo knives, as if it were the role of a lifetime.

Stanley wins as the hapless, faux-heroic loser at the center of the play, and Cerché is abysmally perfect as the slimy misogynist antagonist, complete with gold teeth, black cowboy hat, and a giant rhinestone-studded piece. And both AYA and Natasha Herbert enjoy debunking toxic views of femininity.

A chicken sex scene featuring AYA as a hormone-fueled, hyper-feminine specimen raised on a McDonald’s farm is a gender parody so absurd it turns out it’s impossible for anyone in the room to keep a serious facial expression.

It’s an unforgettable piece of theater and the wild, utterly stylish conclusion to a rightly acclaimed project. I can’t wait to find out what this company does next.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

MUSIC
Sergej Krylov x Konstantin Shamray ★★★★
Live Broadcast at Toorak Synagogue on 10 March

Melbourne has some magnificent domes, particularly the Exhibition Building and the State Library.
but being under the large dome of the Toorak Synagogue proved to be a sympathetic acoustic venue
Where to experience Russian-Italian violinist Sergej Krylov and Australian-based Russian violinist
pianist Konstantin Shamray in a program of French favorites.

After a short Bach prelude, the duo got down to business with the Introduction and Rondo.
Capriccioso by Saint-Saëns. After presenting his honed technical knowledge
In the introduction, Krylov underlined the capricious nature of the main theme with masterful lightness.
Sounds like a cut passage from a work by Bizet Carmen. This is not as fanciful as Bizet
in fact he arranged Saint-Saëns’ original orchestral accompaniment for piano.

A modernist sensibility was dominant in Ravel’s two works in the 1920s. Violin Sonata No. 2
It was completed in 1927 at the height of the jazz age. Central blues under Krylov’s hands
The movement presented a somewhat risky proposition; idiomatic inflection of pitch beckons
smoky conversations. In foreign movements, Krylov and Shamray developed a persuasive approach.
synergy; their exchanges blend well with the sparse textures of the clearing.
The perpetual motion finale became a musical dynamo.

Tzigane, made in 1924, was another ideal vehicle for Krylov, with its imaginative gypsy flavor.
allowing sparkling technical fireworks to illuminate the music.

Shamray in César Franck’s much-loved but perhaps over-played Violin Sonata in A major.
The lead singer of the first movement impressively uses the huge piano piece to create a powerful structure
and convincing highs. Krylov’s solo interventions in the second movement
The silvery tone of the 1710 Stradivari soars. Overexcitement defeated him in the final
where the forced pace means some key dramatic moments pass. Even if,
This pleasant night under the dome ended with enthusiasm.
Reviewed by Tony Way

OPERA
Mary Motorhead/Trade ★★★★
Malthouse Theatre, until March 13

The morning of the Australian premiere Mary Motorhead/TradOpera singers around the world woke up to an unexpected diss from one of Hollywood’s biggest names.

In a conversation with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, Timothée Chalamet said, “He said he doesn’t want to work on a ballet or an opera where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive even though no one cares anymore.'” Watch out for horned helmets; opera singers and ensembles emerged swinging. Thousands of posts and videos flooded social media Houses filled with protests condemning Chalamet’s comments are shown.

This Irish double bill from composer Emma O’Halloran is as far away from the powdered wigs and screaming sopranos of Chalamet’s dreams as it gets.

engine head It’s a 30-minute, one-woman show set in Mountjoy Prison, which Dubliners derisively call “Joy”. Here we hear the sad story of a young woman about how she stabbed her boyfriend in the head. Trade It focuses on the commercial relationship between the Old Man and the Young Man, who meet for sex in a run-down hotel room. Both operas were originally performed by the composer’s uncle, Mark O’Halloran.

Between the subject matter, the intimacy of the performers, and the amplified chamber music ensemble (electronics included), the intensity never lets up. There is no attempt at levity, with each character going through a deeply disturbing past and reaching the peak of explosive anger or acute pain.

The Australian Contemporary Opera Company has assembled a trio of all-Australian singers for each of these extremely difficult, Irish-accented roles. It was a difficult word to understand, with its distinctive wide and thin vowels, and was generally inconsistent.

Emily Edmonds helms the role of the deranged Mary. The climactic moment, when she screams that she’s “cut him in half,” is viscerally felt. Despite Mary’s implacable anger, Edmonds’ beautiful, shapely and colorful mezzo still shined through the wild outbursts.

Tenor Callum McGing as the Young Man has a lot of one-liners, but makes the most of the brilliant countertenor-like quality he has when he gets the opportunity. His insecurity and resentment were completely believable.

Veteran baritone Christopher Hillier gives the performance of his career as the Old Man. This is a singer with supreme command of her voice; sometimes cold and dark, then at others it evokes a bright melancholy or hopeless fragility. The scene unfolds in an extremely unnerving way; When it was finally over, Hillier was visibly exhausted. It was tiring just watching.

Irish conductor Elaine Kelly has premiered these works on three continents, and her expert hand seamlessly weaves techno with chamber music orchestration, including saxophone and electric guitar. O’Halloran’s score is a coup for contemporary opera.

Mozart might not be for our aforementioned motor-mouthed actor, maybe someone can convince him to give it a try Mary Motorhead in its place.
Reviewed by Bridget Davies

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