Instantly on entering the Hayes Theatre there is a feast on offer for the eyes. Upon a wooden stage is a sideshow set up draped with fabrics featuring printed images from the life and times of Frida Kahlo along with Day of the Dead iconography. The proscenium is festooned in flowers and sitting on stage is a smaller replica of the set serving as a classic ofrenda – the traditional makeshift altar popular in Mexico during the All Souls Day festivities in late October each year.
The action quickly tells us where we are and that this Carmen is the love child of Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, exiled to Mexico and on the run from Stalin’s henchmen. Natalie Gamsu inhabits Carmen masterfully and is ably supported by accomplished musicians and actors Andrew Kroenert and Stephanie Jones. These three players act out Carmen’s life in pantomime style – the fanciful coupling of her parents, her mother’s tragic trolley car accident at a young age and that of Carmen’s intersex lovelife and philosophies. Performances are broadly rendered and peppered with tragi-comic songs. However the writing runs out of steam quite quickly. Gamsu is a huge talent but the choice to employ audience participation was at times awkward. Momentarily teasing the audience to elicit a response but then the performer instantly supplying the answer would have maintained the pace and enabled cleaner narrative. It is not till the very end that text, song and design truly merge as the darker elements in this show are much more successful than the comedy.
The aesthetics of the design by Dann Barber are lush and accurate, while Benjamin Brockman’s exquisite lighting lends a golden glow to the setting throughout the show. Shauna Lovisetto’s costuming is also spot on. Her fashioning of Ms Gamsu’s leather farthingale is directly linked to the corsetry worn by Frida in her daily life and often featured in her self portraits. The make-up is redolent of the sugar skulls of La Calavera Catrina and Ms Jones’ outfit conjures up La Llorona – the weeping woman ever present in the background during El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).
The show could have greater strength if writer Craig Harwood and director Shaun Ritchie had more seriously fleshed out Carmen’s world as a hermaphrodite. The songs by iOTA get better as the show progresses, and I never tire of Consuelo Velazquez’s Besame Mucho…. The lyrics are sublime “Kiss me a lot (passionately) as if tonight were the last time. Kiss me, as I am afraid I will lose you very soon.
This cabaret is a camp romp and as that it is clever and colourful. But like those Day of the Dead skeletons there is not enough meat on its bones.
Mark G Nagle – Theatre Now
Carmen Live or Dead
Written by Craig Harwood, Music and Lyrics by iOTA
28th Apr-6th May
Tues-Sat 7:30 pm
Sat 3:00 pm
Sun 1:00 pm & 6:00 pm
Venue: Hayes Theatre
Theatre Company:
Duration: Approx 75 minutes – no interval
Presented By Oriel Entertainment Group, Progeny Pictures & Orange Sky Creative in association with Hayes Theatre Co
Starring Natalie Gamsu
Executive Producer Elise McCann
Directed by Shaun Rennie
Musical Direction and Arrangements by Andrew Kroenert
Dramturg Natasha Sinha
Costume Design by Shauna Lovisetto
Featuring Stefanie Jones & Andrew Kroenert
CARMEN, LIVE OR DEAD is the fascinating and extraordinary story of Carmen Frida Leon Davidovich, The Love Child of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky. Carmen is complex. She is irreverent. She is salacious. She is bold. She is intersex. And it is the last day of her life.
Conceived by Craig Harwood and Natalie Gamsu, CARMEN is a fascinating, edgy and entertaining story of identity and survival. Starring one of Australia’s most diverse and exciting theatre and cabaret actors – Natalie Gamsu, and featuring original music by Aria nominated and Helpmann Award winning Actor, iOTA.
At the end of her life, Carmen takes us on a reflective journey of discovery – an orphan, a refugee, a hermaphrodite, a human.
CARMEN, LIVE OR DEAD celebrates difference, embracing the feminine and the masculine with joy and life. A story brimming with unyielding authenticity, humour and grace, CARMEN is a unique and gripping theatrical experience that is moving, entertaining and thoroughly liberating.
www.carmenliveordead.com
Ticket Prices
Price A Full Price $40.00
Price A Group 8+ $30.00
