Melbourne's
theatrical pulse is best read with reference to the standard of
its local productions, staged throughout the year at the Fairfax,
the Playbox, the Malthouse, La Mama and the numerous small theatres
and studios studded throughout the city and its suburbs. The recently
created Wax Studio, housed in a warehouse/theatre in Albert Street,
East Richmond, is typical of this latter group. Founded in 1996,
by the late Paul Wishart, who was well known to Malthouse patrons
and who died tragically in May 1997, Wax serves as a meeting
house for artists and artisans of all persuasions, providing them
with an opportunity to test their creativity within a supportive
community group with a varying range of expertise and talent to
bring to bear in judgment. Following Wishart's death, the concept
was held together and cleverly developed by a group of troupers, Pieta Collard, Robert Corner, Eric Baines, Julian Firminger
and Peter Leiss
Apart from poetry readings, play readings, benefit nights and acting
classes, Wax also offers assistance to budding theatrical directors.
It actively encourages local playwrights and aspiring directors
to submit their proposals to the discipline of a reading, held each
Sunday evening, and is constantly looking for local drama to produce.
The studio provides, in the words of a publicity blurb, 'an affordable
space ... where like-minded people share and assist in each other's
creations.'
In addition to its encouragement of raw talent, Wax has ventured
into production with a Pinter Double Bill, The Dumb Waiter and The
Lover. The Dumb Waiter, one of Pinter's earliest plays, is a beautifully
structured play, which makes considerable demands upon its two-man
cast. One is on stage for the duration of the play; the other leaves
spasmodically only to return very quickly. It is an intense play,
focusing on two hit-men, visiting Birmingham on a contract and the
audience is caught up with them as, with their very different
psychological profiles, they psyche themselves up for their unsavory
task. The sparse, dingy hotel room in which they wait, is well presented
here, with visual plumbing and an air of decay
Peter Leiss' Ben, who spends much of the play reclined on a bed,
is close to impeccable. He utilizes the dramatic impact of the cross-room
glance with menacing power and his nervous energy which we might
think difficult to express on a bed, is well expended here. His
criminal spiv reading of the part seems to come right out of London's
Hackney where Pinter grew up and where there must have been Bens
in abundance in the 50s. Of particular note is Leiss' management
of the ambivalence Pinter builds into the part. Even after the play,
we cannot be sure whether Ben had any advance knowledge of the way
events would unfold. This is a compelling performance by a very
talented actor
Ben's bete noir is Gus, played by Robert Corner; a very nervous
Gus -with very good reason as it turns out. On opening night, one
sensed that Comer's stage movements were a little uneven but one
would have hesitated to tell him so for fear that he might have
over-corrected when it was only the slightest tightening that seemed
required. And yet, by the third night, everything was under control
and the movements were locked, almost regimentally, into Gus' nervous
disposition. Corner explained in a private conversation following
the curtain that he deliberately set out to vary his performance
each night in an effort to explore fully the dimensions of the character.
For The Dumb Waiter to work as theatre, there must be a real symbiosis
between the two actors who perform it. Leiss and Corner have this
to a remarkable degree and whether their alter egos are trying to
support each other in their uneasy waiting or tearing at each other
in frustration, they are held together in a powerful dance of death.
One hopes to see more of these two working together. The Pinter
double runs for three weeks. If, at the end of that time it is folded
up and put away into cupboards and drawers, it will be a considerable
loss to many theatergoers. One hopes that it can move to a more
central Melbourne location with a capacity for a large audience
and indeed, that a local sponsor can be found who will take it to
Sydney to give our neighbours a clear indication that theatre in
Melbourne is alive and well.
robert corner and peter leiss
the dumb waiter
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