Fugitive Methane emissions from mines - US experience

Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases has increasingly been detected in larger volumes in many countries than would be considered to be the normal background level, based on progressive leaching from the ground and from under the sea floor. From where is it originating and in what quantities and levels ?  Part of the answer lies in research undertaken in Los Angeles and with the recent incident in the Aliso Canyon in California.

Methane is the main component of natural gas and is abundant across the planet hence mining and storage could be the most likely culprits for the increase of this gas. In a study published this year, more than a third of  Los Angeles methane emissions were from an unidentified sources and were classified as fugitive fossil emissions. Identification and tracking of 213 methane hotspots in the Los Angeles Basin revealed that 75% were of fossil origin, 20% were biogenic and 5% of indeterminate source.

The Aliso Canyon incident arose when residents in nearby towns reported smelling gas and Southern California Gas Company launched an investigation discovering a leak coming from a natural gas storage facility that had started its life almost 70 years ago as an oil well. By the time the leak was plugged, 107,000 tons of methane and 8,000 tons of ethane had been released into the atmosphere - the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from half a million cars over 16 weeks.  There are literally hundreds of similar sites including disused or abandoned mines and oil wells across not only the United States but Russia as well.

Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Season - Cyrano de Bergerac - Review

Cyrano de Bergerac - Richard Roxburgh

As the 2014 Sydney Theatre Company season draws to a close, it seems very appropriate that Edmond Rostand's, Cyrano de Bergerac concludes the year on a high point. This version of the play is an adaptation by Andrew Upton of the original tragicomic work by Rostand and mercifully the adjustment of dialogue does not transpose all of the script into lazy 20th Century colloquialism. There are, however the odd moments in scenes where the modern English usage is cringe worthy but these are few and far between.

Rostand's play is focused on Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a nobleman serving as a soldier and commander in the French Army. He is a man of many talents  being a gifted duelist, swordsman, poet and musician but he has considerable self doubt due to having an extremely large nose. His romantic interest is his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual heiress,  Roxane, whom he has known since childhood. Unaware of his affections, Roxane has become interested in the handsome yet stupid young nobleman, Christian de Neuvillete who has enlisted as a cadet in de Bergerac's regiment. It is from this point that a grand deception takes places for the handsome Christian does not possess the written poetic and oratory skills to win Roxane's heart yet Cyrano does not believe that Roxane could love as ugly a man as believes himself to be. He thus concludes an arrangement to provide Christian with the letters and poems to win Roxane's heart reasoning that at least if she does not love him, then she will love his words spoken by Christian.

Richard Roxburgh more than ably handles the role of Cyrano de Bergerac conveying the perfect measure of the character's emotional, if somewhat, contradictory expressions of self loathing, bravado, angst and poetical romanticism. He is supported by a competent cast with Eryn Jean Norvill as Roxane, Yalin Ozucelik as Le Bret, Josh McConville as De Guiche, David Whitney as Ragueneau, Julia Zemiro as Roxane's nurse and veteran Australian actor, Bruce Spence appears as the drunkard Ligniere. Set design by STC's Alice Babidge is functional, imaginative and gives maximum focus in the performance  space to the actors. This is a professional and entertaining production to end the season.

Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Season - Theatre Review - Switzerland

L to R Eamon Farren and Sarah Peirse - Switzerland

In association with the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, STC have included the premiere of a one act, two actor play 'Switzerland" in their 2014 season. Written by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith as a commissioned work for Geffen, the play explores the fictional last days of the master crime writing novelist, Patricia Highsmith, as she spends her final hours at her home in Switzerland confronted by a mysterious protagonist claiming to be an agent for her publisher. Highsmith had enjoyed considerable success with her books, short stories and cinematic adaptations including the series with the character Tom Ripley (the best known title being The Talented Mr Ripley) but she was renowned for her macabre sense of humour, a fascination for psychological disorders and being in some respects just plain mean.

Murray-Smith has provided a superb script, building an original thriller with a disarming simplicity in the first few scenes but escalating the action with calculated contests of words and wits between the two protagonists to a final conclusion - worthy of the intellect and reputation of Highsmith herself. Sarah Peirse expertly portrays Patricia Highsmith in form and character while Eamon Farren deftly moves from being the mysterious visitor to later revealing he is actually her principal fictional character. Although American, Highsmith spent most of her life in Europe and considered Switzerland as her home, dying from cancer in 1995. Her literary archives are held in Bern.
 

Theatre Review - Travelling North - Sydney Theatre Company 2014 Season

Bryan Brown and Alison Whyte - Travelling North

Travelling North is one of the older plays by David Williamson being first performed in 1979. The Sydney Theatre Company has brought it back for the 2014 season but with something of a listless, airless atmosphere, much like the Queensland tropics where much of the action is set. The story is centred on Frank (a retired engineer) and Frances, who are in a later life relationship, and decide to relocate to sunny, laid back Queensland from chilly Melbourne. The children from their previous marriages have long grown up and established their own families but retain ties to their parents. In the case of Frances' two daughters, Helen and Sophie, they are resentful of their mother's move away which they portray as Frank's manipulation rather than a sensible decision by Frances. The change in lifestyle, pace and climate for Frank and Frances is brought to an end by the discovery of Frank's failing heart condition which necessitates a re-evaluation of their lives, relationship and commitment.

Bryan Brown and Alison Whyte are cast as Frank and Frances respectively with Harriet Dyer and Sara West providing a strong portrayal of Frances' two truculent and possessive daughters, Helen and Sophie. Alison Whyte who had to replace Greta Sccachi at short notice is extremely effective as the free-spirited Frances. The play is curiously lacking in several elements - Bryan Brown as Frank is simply playing Bryan Brown and his delivery of Williamson lines from the script lacks vigour. The set design is so minimalist that it is little more than two-level decking for the first Act with the addition of a chair for the second Act. The resulting expansive space is poorly used with any advantage lost. The period wardrobe of the actors is well researched (stubbies, sandals with socks) but is the only bright part of an unenterprising production.

Theatre Review - Vere - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 Season

The cast of Vere onstage - Paul Blackwell as Vere (sitting, centre)

'Vere" written by John Doyle is a play of consummate comedy including bawdy school boy toilet humour, critical if somewhat obvious social observation but tinged with pathos and sadness. The theme of Doyle's play is dementia particularly its impact on the person facing this devastating mental  deterioration as well as those who care for that person. A mix of other themes including the science versus religion debate are weaved into the texture of the script for this two Act play with effective absurdist and comedic effect. 

Vere is a physicist and passionate advocate for a "theory of everything" to unify the known phenomena of the universe into a seamless whole. As an associate of Peter Higgs, he has been invited to participate in the proof of the Higgs boson at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland in only a month’s time. It will be the crowning summit of his life in all ways personally and professionally. Alas medical tests have revealed Vere is suffering from early onset dementia with rapid deterioriation and he has only weeks, not months left. Act I is set in the University as Vere bids goodbye to the Vice Chancellor and his colleagues whilst hiding his dark diagnosis whilst Act II finds Vere living with his adult son's family as his condition worsens. 

Paul Blackwell commandingly holds centre stage as Vere with Geoff Morrell as the Vice Chancellor and later the pompous Reverend Roger. Rebecca Massey appears as both Vere's academic colleague and as the churchman's bi-polar but cheerfully ignorant wife. Matilda Bailey, Matthew Gregan, Ksenja Logos and Yalin Ozucelik (playing Vere's son) provide the strong supporting cast.

Doyle himself is well known to Australian audiences with an impressive list of credits to his name in theatre, film and television both as writer and as a performer. Overseas he is better known for his role as one of the Roy & H G duo of social and sports commentators.

Theatre Review - Waiting For Godot - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 Season

Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving - Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play “Waiting for Godot” has often been credited as one of the most influential English language plays of the 20^th Century with a litany of interpretations on  meaning and intent whether religious, existential or autobiographical.

The play in two Acts is focussed on two characters, Gogo and Didi (abbreviated from Estragon and Vladimir in the original Beckett version), who wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot. The tedium and monotony of their wait is interrupted for awhile by the arrival of two other protagonists - Lucky, a baggage-burdened, nearly-silent slave who has a rope tied around his neck and his aggressive and pompous master, Pozzo. The entire content of the play is actually the musings and discourse between these characters and little else.

Adapted by Andrew Upton for the Sydney Theatre Company’s 2013 season, the most tangible value of the play are the performances of Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh as the two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon. Upton has made changes to the dialogue and placed the two act play in an urban setting of an alleyway rather than Beckett’s original setting in the countryside. The STC production also identifies the two main characters as tramps or down-and-outs whereas Beckett himself never provided such a biographical description.

Essentially this is a play about nothing much at all as the two main characters debate issues of little actual philosophical or existential consequence in a haphazard sometimes circular manner without resolution or insight. Beckett’s ultimate absurdist achievement has been to have critics and audiences debate and ponder this work whereas in fact, ‘the emperor has no clothes’.

Theatre Review - Mrs Warren's Profession - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 Season

Helen Thomson as Mrs Warren

The Sydney Theatre Company have returned with an additional series of performances of George Bernard Shaw's 'Mrs Warren's Profession'  following the season sell-out earlier this year. The play received rapturous reviews and accolades but what was all the fuss about ?

Bernard Shaw's play is centred on the relationship between Vivie Warren (Lizzie Schebesta) a young, fiercely independent minded 19th Century bluestocking woman working her way to a successful career and her mother, Kitty Warren (Helen Thomson) who has bankrolled her daughter's expensive education via her unorthodox profession. Vivie's world and perceptions are turned upside down when she discovers her mother is a brothel owner and operator across Europe. Their relationship breaks down as the strong-minded daughter is quite unforgiving of her mother's commercial activities. Add to the mix a collection of various male bon vivants with class and privilege perspectives and the scene is set for the collapse of Vivie and Kitty's relationship. The play has an expert cast most notably with Lizze Schebesta and Helen Thomson however even with Bernard Shaw's sharp wit, the play has dated in its social observations (it was written in 1893), customs and practice. It could well be that a competently written play staged by STC has become such a novelty following flat seasons and financial loss-making years that its a stand-out.

Theatre Review - One Man, Two Guvnors - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 Season

Owain Arthur and Edward Bennett on stage

As part of the Sydney Theatre Company's 2013 season, the National Theatre of Great Britain staged  'One Man, Two Guvnors' with the original British cast from London's West End. The play written by Richard Bean is partly based on the 18th Century Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Gondoli. The play's story is cented on a knockabout servant and dogsbody character Francis who, always looking for an opportunity finds himself with two masters, one of whom is really a woman pretending to be her murdered brother, with the other master being her lover, who happens to be the murderer.  The Goldoni plot has been readapted to be 1960s Brighton in England and features a mix of British humour and slapstick recognisable from the antics in Fawlty Towers, Monty Python and Benny Hill.  Owain Arthur's command of the stage and ad libbing as the character of Francis provides the almost seamless continuity whilst Rosie Wyatt and Edward Bennett as the two Guvnors provide contrasts as well as foils for their servant. The performance in two parts is punctuated with musical mood accompaniment and a well selected period repertoire by the young band, The Craze. 

Theatre Review - Fury - Sydney Theatre Company 2013 season

Harry Greenwood and Sarah Peirse on stage

Playwright Joanna Murray-Smith's new commissioned work for the Sydney Theatre Company is impressive, however there is a feel to this play that perhaps further polishing of the script would not go amiss.The story is focussed on the characters of Alice (a medical scientist and humanitarian award recipient), Patrick (a successful if slow producing novelist) and their son Joe who is still at high school. Alice and Patrick's comfortable, inner-city, politically-correct, safe, intelligensia focussed existence is thrown into turmoil when Joe is accused of graffitiing a mosque. Concurrently a young student journalist, Rebecca is also seeking to interview Alice regarding her humanitarian award and yet there is something more to many of Rebecca's questions. In the ensuing controversy, some of the secret personal history of Alice and Patrick during their younger protest years is thrown into sharp relief with uncomfortable questions arising as to their own motives, beliefs and most tellingly, methods. The script masterfully provides contrasts between Joe and his parents, between Patrick and Alice versus the parents of another boy (also accused of being involved in the mosque incident) and with the student journalist Rebecca. Sarah Peirse (as Alice), Robert Menzies (as Patrick), and Harry Greenwood (as Joe) provide a solid base for the central family characters with an element of latte-sipping, Chardonnay-quaffing for the parents. Set design is minimalist white and sheer. The only weakness of this one-act play is potential over emphasis and repetition in the monologues of the central characters. Meanings are captured effectively across the script and require little further elucidation.

Theatre Review - Dance Better at Parties - Sydney Theatre Company - 2013 Season

Elizabeth Nabben and Steve Rodgers - Dance Better at Parties

Dancemaker Gideon Obarzanek's first foray into text-based theatre is a modest, relatively simple yet impressive effort with his one act work 'Dance Better at Parties' for the Sydney Theatre Company. The play has only two actors and runs for only around an hour and fifteen minures yet it is a far better production than many of STC's longer plays over recent years. The story is focussed on Dave, a middle aged man overtaken with grief through the loss of his wife in a car accident. On a whim he signs up for a ten week set of dance classes in order to be less awkward and more confident when he goes out to parties and social gatherings (at least that's his explanation). Under the expert guidance of his lithe, patient dance instructor Rachel, slowly the ungainly Dave gains confidence with the rumba, tango, slow step and other ballroom dances. Steve Rodgers as 'Dave' is exceptional being in part, funny, heartbreaking and yet dignified as he persists with mastering the dance routines. Elizabeth Nabben appearing as 'Rachel' is very convincing portraying the dance instructor, handling often sensitive nuances with tact and delicacy.  This is a touching play without excessive and unnecessary emotional devices and delivers its story within a well structured, well-paced format.    

Performance Review - Cirque du Soleil - 'Ovo'

Cirque du Soleil have again demonstrated how they are masters of circus performing arts with their latest performances of 'OVO' in Sydney Australia. Ovo meaning egg in Portugese is an insight into the world of insects which are represented in various guises such as grasshoppers, lady beatles, flies, fleas, spiders etc amongst the myriad of brightly coloured performers under Le Grand Chapiteau. With precision and awe-inspiring skills, acrobats, trapeze artists and jugglers again defy the laws of physics and gravity with sheer physical prowess and confidence. 

The lightening and stage atmosphere is complimented with a tailored music score from Cirque du soleil's musicians to match the tempo of the performances. Ovo is Cirque du Soleil's 25th show and adds to an impressive repertoire. Perhaps the only weakness with OVO compared to other Cirque du Soleil shows (such as Quidam and Varekai) is the lack of a linear storyline for the audience to travel along. Without a central storyline the show lacks a focus and narrative leaving a collection of impressive individual acts but without any reference point. Nonetheless the show remains an impressive feat in itself and entertainment at best-in-class.

Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco Review

Cirque du Soleil is a French Canadian performance company based in Montreal, Canada and have come to represent the contemporary circus of the modern era. Cirque du Soleil's various shows employ approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries with an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$810 million with permanent shows on offer in Las Vegas in the United States.

Saltimbanco, currently on tour in Australia is Cirque du Soleil’s oldest active major touring show and is being staged in major sporting arenas rather than under the Grande Chapiteau which is the trade mark Big Top of the company. Saltimbanco consists of a series of circus feats loosely connected by an abstract narrative with powerful use of a lead female singer and music accompaniment to form the links across the entire performance. As with all Cirque productions the costuming of the performers is colourful and lavish. The show’s running order was Adagio, Chinese poles, Clowning, Bicycle, Canes/Contortion, Juggling, Boleadoras, Russian Swing, Trapeze, Clowning, Hand to Hand, Bungee and a Finale. The extensive use of clown acts between major acrobatic performances allows rest for performers and a change of pace for the audience but watch out, as the clown acts are audience participatory and some lucky people usually find themselves on stage as a partner for the clowns. For Saltimbanco, an added technique involves using the spotlight across the audience to locate a lucky victim with whom the clown then engages with.

All performances are agile, polished and seamlessly delivered with flair, panache and style. The performers have an exceptional standards delivered with confidence and the air of complete mastery of their art. Saltimbanco is a mixture of interperative dance, artistic gymnastics, acrobatics, juggling and mime (being the main form of communication). As Saltimbanco is not a production with large complicated set design, the performers and musicians are fully exposed and visible to the audience which only underscores their skill and ability.  

Perhaps the only drawback for this show is that it is being staged in sports arenas and stadiums hence it lacks the atmosphere and connection of the Grande Chapiteau. The acoustics and spatial dimensions are quite different as stadiums are built for sporting events not performances of this medium. Being the oldest touring show, Saltimbanco also lacks the depth and diversity of imagery and sentiment that Cirque du Soleil's other Australian productions provided - Quidam, Varekai, Alegria in particular but less so with Dralion.  Nonetheless  it remains a show worth seeing and live performance is the most enjoyable with Cirque du Soleil.

Review - Circus Oz Steam Powered

Circus Oz is an Australian Circus troupe based in Melbourne and have an impressive 30 history of circus acts. In the current show, titled Steam Powered, led by their Ring mistress (also quasi diva vocalist) Boss Lady with the musically diverse Circus Oz band, an enthusiastic performance punch is delivered with Steam Powered's  mixture of acrobats and musicians.

With a vaudevillian appearance and a Victorian era industrial aesthetic setting the scene, Circus Oz is able to communicate various contemporary social and political messages in a subtle and not-so subtle manner.

Steam powered is a well-paced show cemented by the numerically small co-operative ensemble that has made Circus Oz so widely acclaimed. Characters such as Fantasia Fitness and Neville Neville Steam provide the light hearted comedy send-ups while acrobats perform often impossible feats of balance, concentration and strength such as balancing on top of a mountain of drums. How many people can you fit on a single bicycle circling around the stage in the Big Top ? Circus Oz can fit almost a dozen seemingly effortlessly.

Technical discipline, rigour and a easily conveyed pleasure of performance form the basis of Circus Oz. In many respects, although often overshadowed by the international Cirque du Soleil, Circus Oz is every bit as professional and talented.