Where the Light Falls

A fabulous book . Here's what I said for Arts hub  http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/writing-and-publishing/lynne-lancaster/where-the-light-falls-252137 http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/writing-and-publishing/lynne-lancaster/where-the-light-falls-252137http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/writing-and-publishing/lynne-lancaster/where-the-light-falls-252137

Life and art explosively collide in this magnificent, deeply moving novel.

 Where the Light Falls by Gretchen Shirm.

The author of this excellent book, Gretchen Shirm, is a writer and lawyer. She has been published in The Best Australian Stories, Art Monthly, Etchings, Wet Ink, Australian Book Review, The Saturday Paper and Southerly among others. In 2011 she was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelists for her collection, Having Cried Wolf.
Exquisitely and beautifully written in vivid, sparse prose, this is a book that entices you in. Written in the third person the book is all seen through the protagonist’s Andrew’s eyes.It is a small to medium sized book in thirty chapters of compelling writing. The book moves at a relatively slow pace but this helps increase the tension. Sometimes almost cinematically there are flashbacks – in some ways it reminds me perhaps of Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell (made into the film Lantana) .It isn’t a murder mystery as such, rather we follow a middle aged artist trying to find himself and discover what happened to his previous girlfriend.
Andrew Spruce, a photographer compelled by 'the honesty in broken things', now living in Berlin, returns to Sydney when he learns that his former girlfriend Kirsten has disappeared near Lake George. When he returns to Sydney, Kirsten’s body has still not yet been found. He extends his visit to investigate her shadowy past, putting his current relationship with Dominique, a dancer in Berlin, at risk for reasons he hardly comprehends. While in Sydney he meets and befriends a damaged young girl Phoebe and her mother Pippa – he knows Phoebe will be a startling, captivating subject for his new series of photos. As he struggles to comprehend his motivations, Andrew realises that photography has become an obsession based on his need to hold on to the things he has lost in his life – His father especially. Andrew re-evaluates his art and why he has become a photographer. The book is all about light, about ‘the photographer’s eye’ and capturing light – how Andrew as a photographer sees everything as light – we learn why he became a photographer and what he regards as the essence of photography. The Meaning of Life and Art and why people become artists is also discussed. Also how we perceive the world and how we hope other see us; for example Andrew’s various subjects and his tentative relationship with Pippa and Phoebe.
The mystery of Kirsten’s death and the rather unsatisfactory conclusion by the coroner are important as they also lead to Andrew redefining his relationship with his mother and also Dominique in Berlin. Andrew's father died suddenly, and Andrew never knew why – he finally learns the truth about his father’s death when he was eleven.
Andrew tracks down Kirsten's mother, her stepfather and her sister in an attempt to find out why Kirsten chose to disappear into the icy depths of Lake George, her car left abandoned by the shore. The funeral without a body answers no questions, leaving the mourners trapped in a permanent unanswered state of limbo and grief. It’s also a book about damage, especially that which is quietly hidden from others.
Finally Andrew has to choose – will he acknowledge and return to his current personal and professional life – Dom in Berlin and a major exhibition in London – or will he let himself to be drawn back into his previous world with Kirsten even though she is no longer around? The question of what happened to Kirsten, and the hints of something mysterious with the stepfather, keep us turning the pages until the conclusion.
There are superb, striking descriptions of Sydney that capture it brilliantly. There are also terrific descriptions of Canberra, the mysterious Lake George as well as London and Berlin. While somewhat bleak and melancholy at times, the characters are finely written and distinctively created, firmly visible against the unfolding dramas. Andrew’s best friend Stewart is delightfully depicted as are Andrew’s mother and Phoebe and Pippa. The complexity and frailty of human relationships is very well written too.
Life and art explosively collide in this magnificent, deeply moving novel.
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Where The Light Falls by Gretchen Shirm

Category: Literary fiction
ISBN: 9781760113650
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: July 2016
Page Extent: 320
Format: Book
Subject: Literary fiction

The Windy Season

A compelling read .http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/writing-and-publishing/lynne-lancaster/the-windy-season-252163  

Mysteries abound in a bleak country town.

 The Windy Season by Sam Carmody via Allen & Unwin.
'There are things out there worse than sharks'. Sparse and bleak at times, this is evocatively written and quite austere and dramatic .This is Sam Carmody’s debut novel and extremely impressive. Powerfully written, fresh and sharp and at times it feels ominous yet desolate and one of the two main central mysteries is never really resolved.
Most of the story is about Paul searching for his brother Elliot and how he moves to the WA country town of Stark and works as a crayfisher like his brother. For Paul, the novel's young protagonist, Stark is where his older brother, Elliot, was last seen before he went missing. Now two months after they have received the news, Paul is disturbed by his parents' apparent lethargy (his father discusses the loss: 'the tone that someone used when musing on some minor complication, as if he were talking about the printer in his study running out of ink') and dissatisfied with the police's quite laid-back attitude so Paul moves to Stark to find out what actually occurred.
Was Elliot (and/or Elliot’s girlfriend Tess) involved with drug running? The story is told through Paul’s eyes and is interwoven with the story of Troy (known as The Swiss) and ‘The President’ head of a bikie gang/drug cartel. The twp are traversing the outback towards WA and The Swiss is obtaining an education in violence on the way.
Stark, a small fishing town on the West Australian coast, has become a magnet for a particular sort of person. Stark is described as a ‘destination for sad cases‘ by one character and another calls it a place mistaken for 'the edge of the world. Everyone has got some issues here. Not that it's a retreat or anything. There's no healing. It's more a containment kind of thing.'
Paul ends up working on the same crayfishing boat as Elliot, run by their troubled cousin Jake, he rents a room from a fellow deckhand, Michael, and unearths what snippets he can from eavesdropping on the circumspect fishermen at the tavern. Paul soon learns how many chances there are to get lost in those many thousands of kilometres of lonely coastline. His tactics cause the locals great unease, especially at first.
What becomes obvious to Paul as he settles into the town is the variety of ways in which his brother could have been hurt. Stark thrums with the undercurrent of violence. Boats are pounded by big seas to remind people of the delicacy of the men aboard them, sharks are an ominous and resented presence looming around the town and on land there's the barely hidden methamphetamine trade that runs through the community, destroying its core. Stark’s precarious social and economic balance is ready to be shattered. Nothing, as Elliot had previously warned Paul, is quite what it seems.
Carmody renders the underlying malice in Stark excellently and the cast of rather misfit residents – bar tender Jule , larrikin but hardworking Jungle, emaciated meth addict Roo Do and, newly arrived cop Freda are all viewed and created vividly. There is also Michael, a philosophizing German backpacking tourist who is an escapee from an Oxford education.  His awkward, intense relationship with Polish backpacker, Kasia, temporary barmaid at the local, reveals quite a lot about Paul's lack of experience in matters of the heart, and the lost way in which he wanders about the world without his brother to guide him.  Through the book’s journey we see how Paul is forced to define himself and discover find out what kind of man he is – not an easy journey for him to make. There are also Paul’s parents and his rather brusque and brisk Aunt Ruth.
Carmody writes in a bleak, gritty rather fierce style at times and has a great ear for dialogue. Paul is a fully developed and original character. Carmody's wonderful descriptions of the atmosphere on the boats at sea reveals the length of time he spent on crayfishing boats researching for his book. When on land, the sections describing the fishermen's drinking sessions at the local tavern are equally subtly depicted. Carmody’s writing is innately evocative in its setting of place, making us vividly feel Paul’s seasickness and the roll and crash of the crayfish deck, the delights of snorkeling or the grisly but fascinating sight of white sharks feasting on the decaying carcass of a bloated humpback whale all drawing on Carmody’s experience and love of the sea as a keen swimmer and surfer.
A striking Australian narrative set in a place surrounded by a harsh and unforgiving sea, where disturbing and mysterious influences uncover hidden secrets in the lives of the residents of the rather uncongenial town.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The Windy Season by Sam Carmody

Category: Literary fiction
ISBN: 9781760111564
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: August 2016
Page Extent: 344
Format: Paperback - C format
Subject: Literary fiction
RRP AUD $29.99​

Family Skeleton

A most intriguing book
http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/writing-and-publishing/lynne-lancaster/family-skeleton-252153 

Lynne Lancaster

Mysterious and intriguing; hidden family secrets are revealed.

 Family Skeleton by Carmel Bird, photograph via UWA Publishing.
You can’t dig a grave without disturbing the smooth surface of the ground. Hot off the press, Family Skeleton is Carmel Bird’s ninth novel (Altogether she has written roughly thirty books).
Family Skeleton examines the history of a family that has for generations been engaged in the dark business of death – running a funeral home. The book opens in the skeleton’s voice and we meet Margaret, the family matriarch, widow of Edmund Rice O’Day of the exclusive O’Day Funerals, inside her posh, elegant Toorak mansion, secretly spying on her family in the garden. Everyone, including Margaret herself, is oblivious to the secrets that threaten to be uncovered by a visiting American relative, Doria Fogelsong, a historian and researcher who seeks to examine the O’Day’s family history.
We learn of various family scandals – including an explosive family secret that rocks Margaret’s world, revealing that the beloved idol of her father had clay feet and Doria must never know. An accident happens to Doria – is Margaret guilty? Is Doria after Margaret’s money? Is Doria blackmailing Margaret? How far will Margaret go in order to bury the truth?
The book jumps fluidly and clearly between the Skeleton as narrator and Margaret’s hidden, unpublished journal.The Skeleton has a rather sarcastic, ironic, jovial tone at times and Margaret’s quite revealing journal is also catty in her comments about her family in parts. There are comments about the two parts of the O’Day family and how they live in different suburbs (Toorak and Eltham and the great divide between them). We also learn of the secret history of Edmund and Margaret’s sister Cecilia – Sissy.There is also the quite sad story behind a historic quilt that Doria brings and presents to a museum in Tasmania.
Another theme throughout is the fragile delicate beauty of butterflies and their symbolism in Margaret’s world. Also interweaving throughout is the importance of the name of Ophelia and how this relates to the family and the hidden secrets. The family’s Catholicism is also important.
Perhaps somewhat quirky and subversive, Family Skeleton has a very contemporary feel and is set in a not-too-distant future where funeral plots are able to be customised in a way that somehow feels awkwardly conventional. If you enjoy books by Margaret Atwood, Kate Grenville and Thomas Keneally you will probably like this. Bird is a writer fully in control of her writers and character’s voice – Family Skeleton jumps, fluid dips sprinkled with sharp comments and ironies. The rather breathless ending is perhaps a trifle rushed but that is personal taste. Family Skeleton is a densely detailed depiction of both the process of forging personal and family identity and the art of deconstructing these .
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Family Skeleton by Carmel Bird
UWA Publishing 
AUTHOR: Carmel Bird
PUBLICATION DATE: September 2016
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 250 pages
SIZE: 234 (h) x 153 (w) mm
ISBN: 9781742588902
RIGHTS: World rights
CATEGORY: Carmel Bird, Fiction​

Leaves at KXT

LEAVES is a play by Irish writer, Lucy Caldwell, written in 2007, and it was her debut play, written as part of a residency at the National Theatre Studio .This quietly intense ,melancholy and compelling play grabs us and forces us to listen. With its Irish gift of the blarney it is at times lyrically moving at others quite emotionally tense.
In Caldwell’s play a family is preparing for the return of their eldest daughter, Lori (Harriet Gordon-Anderson), from a recovery clinic after an attempted suicide.  Her parents, David (Simon Lyndon), and Phyllis (Amanda Stephens-Lee) are still trying to get their heads around about what happened. Her two younger siblings, Clover (Bobbie-Jean Henning) and Poppy (Poppy Lynch) each respond to the situation differently and are struggling to find their way in  which they will respond  when she does arrive.The play is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and in the times of its major political unrest (The Troubles) and deals with the after effects and consequences on the psyche of those caught-up in a world at war with itself. The play is not about the actual horrors of specific events in The Troubles but rather as Rachel Chant in her director’s notes in the program says , “this isn’t a play about suicide…” or “…about the bombs or shootings…” but about “our capacity for hope.”
It is also about love and support of family and the power of words and what is left (un)said. The intensity and intricacy of family relationships is explored minutely and passionately. As in many books and movies, a lot happens in the early hours of the morning when people can’t sleep.
LEAVES is finely acted by a strong cast who give beautifully nuanced performances.
Lori, the troubled eldest daughter who we meet at the beginning of the second act, is given a tensely fragile performance by Harriet Gordon-Anderson. Lori, having been shattered by events, demands to know if there is any point in the future and eventually reaches out to hope and a fresh start on life.
As Clover, the middle sister, Bobbie-Jean Henning is delightful and dynamic, caring yet feisty and a touch rebellious. Poppy Lynch as youngest sister Poppy is terrific as a twelve year old, justat that difficult age of just turning adolescent, still childlike and naive in some ways and tired of always being the youngest and smallest and missing out on things.
As the mother Phylis Amanda Stephens- Lee is superb. She is stressed ,concerned and uncertain how to deal with things and determined to keep family together. A show highlight is an extremely moving monologue she delivers about how much she loves her daughters.
Simon Linden as David the father is gruff and taciturn , struggling to put into words what he wants to say and rather lost as to how to deal with what is happening .He is also great on the guitar leading the family in sing a long.
Leaves are scattered everywhere, falling out of books, blown on an Autumn wind, (ashes of fragile yet hopeful memory?!). The set otherwise consists of a large table and several clusters and boxes of assorted books with a hanging set of light globes on one wall.
The soundscape by Nate Edmundson is haunting, and the lighting design by Sian James-Holland wonderfully complements the action.
This was a gripping, compelling production.
Some Company, in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co, presents LEAVES, by Lucy Caldwell at the Kings Cross Theatre until July 23.
Running time allow 150 minutes including one interval.

Sport for Jove Three Sisters

A most glorious production : My thoughts for the Guide  http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/sport-for-jove-presents-the-three-sisters-reginald-theatre-seymour-centre/  
While long, this is a tremendous production, more faithful to Chekhov in spirit than recent revivals seen in Sydney. The play features a new translation by Karen Vickery that makes the play seem fresh and relevant. One picks up the plays’ similarities to other Chekhov works in particular The Cherry Orchard.
Director Kevin Jackson and his wonderful cast have caught the Russian melancholy and ennui perfectly. The production is magnificently performed. There is a huge cast  -fourteen of the cast in credited roles and six others as servants/military /singers.- all of whom give fine, inspired performances.
With wonderful designs by Georgia Hopkins the first act sees a cluttered, crowded set of tables overflowing with books, well used worn chairs, rugs, a piano, a niche with an icon all evoking provincial Russia circa 1900. When we move into the second half, and the characters become increasingly unhappy with their lives, the stage space as defined by the rugs is halved; indicating that the action takes place in the smaller, upstairs parlour, and also reflectively surrounding the actors with empty, black space (and ominous fire-lit warmth ). For the final scenes, the carpets are rolled up and the furniture hidden under dust sheets, replaced with white wicker garden furniture, and lush green pot plants, which signify indicate the new beginnings planned. Emma Vine’s costumes are superb as is Martin Kinnane’s lighting design.
The Prozorov sisters and their friends are frozen and trapped by passivity. Full of bored restlessness they enthusiastically spout wondrous passages about the need to work and be busy but do nothing much really. They fail to achieve their hopes and dreams.
There is very little privacy in their crowded house. The three sisters are Irina, Masha and Olga, who we observe over a period of five years. Stuck in provincial Perm, they all desperately want to return to Moscow , yearning to return to a life nostalgically remembered. Yet that life is now a fragile chimera and impossible to recreate so they are doomed to disappointment. As well, the play examines the accepted inequalities of Russian society of that time .Jackson illustrates the gulf between the ruling class and the serfs by the unspoken barrier between the two and the physical marginalization of the servant class as we see how Ferapont (John Grinston ) and Anfisa ( Lyn Pierse ) are treated .
In some ways the characters are perhaps similar to those of Jane Austen’s characters in Bath – with all the military around. The depressed sisters anxiously live for the possibility of escaping their deadly dull lives via the officers – through evening entertainment and talk, marriage, or flirtation – and a vicarious entree into a far worldlier life .It is also interesting to see how especially in Act 1 there are overlapping voices and all the characters are given great definition throughout it is as if one has used a time machine and is eavesdropping …
The three sisters are excellently played by Zoe Jensen ( Irina – blonde, blue eyed and charming), Paige Gardiner ( Masha – the middle sister who is the artist of the family) and Janine Watson (Olga , the eldest sister, a school teacher who eventually becomes headmistress ). The three convincingly portray a very loving, sisterly bond as well as showing their individual qualities.
Their brother Andrey (Tom Campbell) has dreams of becoming a professor in Moscow but his rather unfortunate marriage and heavy debts prevent this. By the end of the play he has disintegrated into a shell like, defeated husk of his former self.
As Natasha, their spiteful, controlling, scheming sister in law (Andrey’s wife ) Lauren Richardson darkly glitters. Pompous , bombastic high school teacher Kulyghin , Masha’s husband , irritatingly spouts Latin and was jovially played by Kenneth Moraleda. His character becomes more and more sympathetic as he becomes aware of as well as accepting of Masha’s infidelity.
Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin , commander of the artillery battery, a thoughtful philosopher who has an affair with Masha was brilliantly played by charismatic Justin Stewart-Cotta . Baron Tuzenbach , in love with Irina , was played by dashingly handsome Graeme McRae . Anti hero and social misfit philosopher Captain Solony, melancholic and OCD afflicted, was captivatingly played by Dorje Swallow.  Noel Hodda gave a fine, sensitive performance as the alcoholic, avuncular Chebutykin, the garrison doctor.
A very compelling and intense production that was poignant, rich and, at times, funny.
Running time allow 3 and a half hours including one interval.
Sport for Jove’s revival of THE THREE SISTERS, directed by Kevin Jackson, is playing at the Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre until August 13.

Willoughby Symphony Destiny

My thoughts for the Guide :http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/willoughby-symphony-orchestras-concert-destiny-the-concourse/
The first piece in this wonderful program was Matthew Hindson’s short , shimmering and witty Boom Box (1999) which featured among other things extremely energetic and enthusiastic drum playing and a siren like sound from the glittering strings. It was originally written for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s education concerts.
The main bulk of the first half was the Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op 47 featuring guest artist Harry Bennetts who has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as a 2015 Emerging Artist and is currently at the Australian National Academy of Music under Dr Robin Wilson .He has just won a place in the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy under a new ANAM International partnership Programme and will begin a two year residency with the orchestra in September. He was introduced by Dr Milton and his impassioned ,elegant playing dazzled and transported .
The first movement opened very softly then Bennetts on his violin sparkled and sang in a dialogue with the emphatic orchestra. In the extended virtuoso cadenza at times the violin darted like a butterfly at others it swirled passionately with gypsy-like rhythms. The orchestra was thunderous , then withdrew for a soft , floating violin passage backed by the pulsating orchestra .In the second movement there were woodwinds and stormy strings and in the third there were an under-layer of strings yet again for Bennett’s fiery violin solo that dazzled.
There was well deserved thunderous applause .
After interval was the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64.in four movements. It was a lush, rich , Romantically flavoured and many layered performance. In the first movement the woodwind state the theme and rich strings take it and develop it and it is passed to various sections of the orchestra. There are some hints of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music especially Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. There is a short oboe solo and a crashing wave of sound at one point.Ominous drums bring the movement to a tense conclusion. The second movement begins with soft , shimmering , yearning strings, there is a horn solo and the orchestra reminds us at one point that Tchaikovsky also wrote the towering 1812 Overture .Pizzicato strings are contrasted with a giant twirling tone and there is a dramatic section similar to the Caraboose leitmotif in Sleeping Beauty.
The third movement begins with waltz-like strings .There is a sense that the Orchestra is tense and nervously tumbling – yet the scurrying strings turn lush and Romantic. There is a military band sound that takes us to the crashing finale of the movement.The fourth and final movement opens with rich strident strings , horns and rolling drums interrupt – blisteringly fast strings cut across them in a tearing hurry. There is another waltz like theme stated , the orchestra goes full throttle and we are breathlessly taken to the fast imposing end with the horns and woodwind. All stylishly played with precision ,clarity and great excitement.
The audience was very delighted.
Running time 2 hours.
Destiny by the Willoughby Symphony was at the Concourse Chatswood 30 & 21 July 2016
Hindson Boom Box (1999)
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op 47
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64

Wicked at Parramatta

This was magnificent ! My thoughts for Sydney Arts Guide : http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/packemin-productions-presents-wicked-riverside-theatres-parramatta/
Fellow Ozians! Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Riverside Parramatta , stampede the box office and book now if you haven’t already for this wonderful production by Packemin of WICKED. Lovingly , lavishly directed with a sure touch by Neil Gooding , Packemin have outdone themselves in this splendid version . ( Packemin have also previously performed a terrific version of the original The Wizard of OZ ).
Now regarded as a modern classic WICKED by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holman, based on the book by Gregory Maguire , tells the story behind the scenes of The Wizard of Oz and what really happened. Who is Elphaba , the ‘Wicked Witch of the West ‘ ? What is Glinda’s real name ? Who were the Tin Man , Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion?It is visually spectacular, with splendiferous ,striking costumes , magical lighting and sets . The stage curtain is a map of OZ and watch out for the dragon above.. Amy Campbell’s choreography is taut and precise , the huge ensemble swirling and moving as one in for example No One Mourns The Wicked . In style it is mostly showbiz/contemporary but there are also ballroom references ( shades of The King and I and other Broadway musicals).Timing and pacing throughout were splendid .At times the script is witty and ironic ( eg the duet for Elphaba and Galinda What is This Feeling ?)
Under Neil Gooding’s fine direction the very strong cast perform tremendously and the Orchestra as led by musical director Peter Hayward sparkled.
As Elphaba Ashleigh O’Brien was superb giving an extremely accomplished , very sympathetic and finely nuanced performance.The odd one out because of her colour she is only trying to do good and help people but with unfortunate results. She is in dazzling form and reveals a great range from the soft , questioning “I’m Not That Girl “ to the show stopping Defying Gravity that takes us to interval which is a mix of exuberant unexpected discovery and menace. In As Long As you Are Mine , her duet with Fiyero with her hair down she is like a mermaid.
Manon Gundersson- Briggs as Nessarose is also tremendous .We see her apparently gentle outward appearance , but discover she is somewhat bitter inside.
Tall ,blonde and handsome dashing Fiyero was marvelously played by Linden Furnell as a careless ,wealthy playboy who ends up questioning his life ( His Dancing Through Life brings the house down).
Glamourous Galinda , consciously decorative , was delightfully played by Mikayla Williams as a possibly somewhat dimwitted blonde bombshell ( or is she ? – think Legally Blonde ).In some sections her role is quite operatic and demanding and Williams handles it magnificently (eg the opening speech and the Evita-like Thank Goodness ).
The Wizard himself was charmingly played by Wayne Scott Kermond who has a most enjoyable time and conquers the audience.In Wonderful Kermond draws on vaudeville styles and has much fun. The scary ,scheming , manipulative side of his character is downplayed rather what is emphasized is his genteel ‘’niceness’’ and how he followed the way created and proposed by others .
Poor Boq, in love with Galinda ,was excellently played by Nicholas Richard.The scheming ,pompous Madame Morrible was delightfully ,vividly played by Monique Lewis Reynolds . As Doctor Dilllamond Jeremey Curtin gave an imposing performance , at first bursting with enthusiasm as a greatly inspiring lecturer then leading to a tragic end.
A glittering prodigious production that had the audience enthralled.
Running time 2 hours 45 minutes including one interval.
WICKED runs at the Riverside until August 13.