29th May 2012

Ozfrank has widened the range of DVDs that are for sale at . Some are new titles and others are updated.
Salome: First produced in 1997, it has appeared in Brisbane, Adelaide and Japan.The shot footage has finally been edited, and here is the precis that appears at the beginning:

SALOME


THIS IS THE RECORD OF JACQUI CARROLL’S REDUCTION OF OSCAR WILDE’S STEAMY BIBLICAL MASTERPIECE, SALOME, FIRST PRODUCED BY OZFRANK IN BRISBANE IN 1997.

OSCAR BECAME FAMOUS FOR HIS LIGHT AND BRIGHT COMEDIES OF MANNERS, USING HIS MORDANT WIT TO BRILLIANT EFFECT. SALOME HAS A DARKER HEART AND MIGHT BE CALLED A TRAGEDY OF MANNERS.

THE PLAY ARTICULATES THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF UNRESTRAINED PASSIONS. IT WAS WRITTEN BEFORE WILDE’S OWN TRAGIC DOWNFALL, AND PREFIGURES IT, ESPECIALLY IF ONE CONSIDERS THAT ALL THE CHARACTERS A PLAYWRIGHT WRITES ARE THE VARIOUS STRANDS OF HIS OWN PSYCHE.

OCCURRING OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL HOURS IN HEROD’S PALACE, IT IS ALSO PLACED AT THE JUNCTURE BETWEEN THE OLD ROMAN PAGAN WORLD AND THE NEW CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

IN THIS VERSION, THE DIRECTOR JACQUI CARROLL COMPRESSES THE ACTION TO 75 MINUTES, CONCENTRATING ON THE FOUR MAIN PARTS.
SHE USES THREE CHORUS TO ENCAPSULATE THE SUBSIDIARY CHARACTERS OF THE SYRIAN, SERVANTS, EXECUTIONER AND THE JEWS.
THEY COMMENT ON THE ACTION AND PORTRAY THE OFFSTAGE EVENTS AS SYMBOLIC ABSTRACTIONS.
THE SET FORGOES ATTEMPTS AT ‘REALISTIC’ ROMAN RELICS, INSTEAD CREATING AN ABSTRACT ‘WHITE ROOM’.
THE COSTUMES DO NOT ATTEMPT HISTORICAL ACCURACY, BUT CLOTHE THE ACTORS IN GARMENTS THAT REFLECT THE MELODRAMATIC NATURE OF THE STORY.

OSCAR USED THE MOON AS THE CENTRAL IMAGE THAT REFLECTS THE COMPOUND EMOTIONS THAT INFLUENCE MEN AND WOMEN. ITS OMINOUS SHIFTING PHASES ARE THE VISUAL METAPHORS FOR THE DARK SUBCONSCIOUS FORCES THAT SWAMP HERODS HOUSEHOLD.

THE PLAY FOCUSES ON THE FATAL CONVERGENCE OF FOUR OVERWHELMING OBSESSIONS:
INFATUATION,
DOMINATION,
SUPERSTITION,
FANATICISM.
THE STORY CENTRES AROUND FOUR REAL HISTORICAL CHARACTERS
HEROD ANTIPAS (GOVERNOR OF JUDAEA IN THE TIME OF CHRIST),
HERODIAS: HEROD’S WIFE,
SALOME: HEROD’S STEP DAUGHTER
JOHN THE BAPTIST (THE PROPHET WHO PREDICTED AND THEN ORDAINED JESUS CHRIST).



HEROD IS A WILY OPERATOR WITH A LOLITA COMPLEX, AND HAS THE HOTS FOR SALOME BIGTIME (INFATUATION).
HERODIAS IS PRETTY MUCH PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE, TAUNTED IN NUMEROUS WAYS BY THE OTHER THREE, BUT IS THE ONLY ONE WHO SURVIVES INTACT.
SALOME IS A FOXY PIECE OF WORK, WONT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, AND ENJOYS GOADING HEROD BY MANIPULATING HIS DESIRE FOR HER (DOMINATION).
JOHN THE BAPTIST HAS BEEN IMPRISONED BY HEROD FOR PERSISTENTLY SAYING NASTY APOCALYPTIC THINGS ABOUT HIS WIFE (AND NEARLY ANYONE ELSE WHO COMES WITHIN EYE AND EARSHOT!). BUT HEROD IS LOATHE TO KILL HIM, BECAUSE HE SUSPECTS THAT JB MIGHT HAVE A HOTLINE TO THE NEW GOD (SUPERSTITION). JB WAS A SUPER HARD CORE RELIGIOUS CASE, THE LAST OF THE OLD TESTAMENT FIRE AND BRIMSTONE SCHOOL (FANATICISM). HE WAS TOUGH ENOUGH TO SURVIVE A FEW YEARS IN HEROD’S DUNGEON, BUT CAME UNDONE BECAUSE HE REFUSED TO HUMOUR DANGEROUS JAILBAIT.

Please see under Salome in repertoire for more information and a pic

31st May 2012

The next newie is Heavy Metal Hamlet, which is a piece made in 1997, an dperformed in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Shizuoka , Japan. When the footage was being collated and edited, the darkness necessitated a certain amount of subtitling, so it wa sdecided to crank up the vernacular in keeping with the look and sound. as such its a pretty good bet for showing to young AccaDacca fans who might then hook into Shakespeare at a stretch.

HEAVY METAL HAMLET
A surreal hard rock pantomime, with real time vernacular subtitles and annotations for those unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s ancient lingo.
Director Jacqui Carroll has transplonked William’s classic text into the bedroom of a 70’s wannabe rockster, whose disaffected egotism is a good match for the more trad Prince of Denmark.
Hamlet’s predicament, as written by WS, has echoes in the disconnection of the modern male youth, caught between child and adulthood, trying to define himself as different from his father/family, but with insufficient life experience with which to brand his name tag.
The modern Goth texture of this work was stimulated by the observation that Hamlet’s situation spans the centuries until and beyond the present.
The Prince’s inability to avenge his Father’s murder meant that he never resurrected his family’s honour, and this talks the same talk as for a gormless stripling, seemingly suffocated by society, who is searching for his own honour.
Like her other mod classics, writer Jacqui Carroll has reduced the story to its main elements, excising the subsidiary roles of Horatio, Rosencrantz and Gildernstern, et al. In the interests of simplicity and cohesion their words are spoken by the castle crew chorus.
The metal castlecage stands for the cluttered cave of his mind, and the fragmented riffs are the sonic evidence of his driving dissatisfaction, with their noisy self importance and impotent anarchy.

9th June

The next new DVD is Midsummer Night's Romeos, first developed as a billingual co-production with the Japan Performing Arts Foundation in Toga mura, Toyama prefecture, Japan in 2003. it was then revsied and performed in the Brisbane Powerhouse in 2004.
The DVD has been for sale for a few years, but recently it has been re-edited and a new visual aid track has been added which contains the subtitles and a commentary.

Midsummer Night’s Romeos, as the title suggests, is a joining of two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. In order to distract the Midsummer Night’s demigods from their troubled relationship, the mischievous fairy Puck takes it upon herself to show them that, despite their high ranking, they should have the sense to be thankful for their good fortune.
She commands three Romeos and three Juliets to perform a masque, re-enacting their legendary brief and spectacular romance. Puck, assisted by her servant Peaseblossom, morphs into the Moon and Cupid, prodding, teasing and cajoling the young lovers throughout their beautiful and doomed trajectory.
From the first infatuated glance, to the final tragic demise, the young lovers interact with histrionic intensity to reveal the full range of ebbs and flows, the highs and lows of first young love. The masque reminds us all of those early impetuous passions that usually attenuate to less dramatic denouements, and reaffirms the old adage: To be old and wise, first you have to be young, stupid and lucky!

20th June

Rashomon

Originally presented at the Brisbane Festival 2004, the first DVD was a very simple one wide shot affair. Recently it was upgraded with closeups and cutaways, plus a commentary that reads like a court reportage.
This accentuates trial of truth nature of the production. And the introduction now reads like this:

You are the final judge!

Being the account of the trial of Career Criminal Tajomaru, for the murder of a Samurai and the rape of his wife.

The trial's purpose is to determine the exact nature of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a dead body in a forest clearing on the road to Yamashina near Tokyo in 1894

The suspect is known brigand Tajomaru, who is suspected of perpetrating a long and extensive list of anti-social crimes, both violent and sexual in nature.

The trial, for which you the viewer are in the position of Judge, consists of the testimonies of 6 witnesses, including the three protagonists.

Due to the complexity of the case, and the lack of third person eye witnesses, the justice department is allowing evidence from the realm beyond the physical world - the special judiciary testimony of the deceased.

As well, you will be provided with daily court reportage by three colourful forensic cleaning ladies, who surprisingly are qualified existential philosophers. They provide commentary of a vulgar and sarcastic nature. This provides balance and humour that cuts across the prevarications and duplicity to be found in the legal travails that surround such charged events as murder and rape.

This documentary is an account of the court proceedings, interspersed with the dramatic re-enactment by members of the Ozfrank company under the direction of Jacqui Carroll

At the end of proceedings you will be expected to consider a short verdict based on your findings, so please pay attention...

5th July

VooDoo Macbeth

Jacqui Carroll directed Voodoo Macbeth in 2007 as a ritual, after reading of Orson Welles’ famous thirties Afro-American version. She was struck by the pan cultural parallels between voodoo practice and Shakespeare’s witches, and was intrigued by the prospect of blending them.
In this Shakespeare horrow show, she has turned the original play inside out. Instead of being the protagonists in real time, the Macbeths’ are Zombies, conscious, but with no free will.
They are puppets, completely in the power of the slaves, who play the parts of the witches. Their corrupted souls have been sucked away while they are asleep, and they are forced to relive the history of their own wicked actions.
Nearly all the dialogue is spoken by the slaves, savagely mocking the Macbeth’s wicked achievements.
Somewhere on a plantation in Haiti, in the dead of night, six slaves begin a voodoo ceremony in revenge for the cruel treatment of the day. In a reversal of daily authority the slaves summon the dark powers of the night and the Macbeth’s zombie souls are called to answer.
Voomac has recently been re-edited with the addition of another track which contains the subtitles and a commentary explaining the aesthetic choices Jacqui made.

The Macbeth 99 Project
Previews of Ozfrank's new film of Macbeth will take place at the Auditorium at the old Southbank TAFE, Clearview Cres. Morningside Friday July 20 and Sunday July 29 at 7pm..
Reservations (07) 3391 0396

NEXT 3 DAY WORKSHOP
Friday August 3, Saturday August 4 & Sunday August 6. All sessions start at 6pm.
Reservations 3391 0396 or

Other Up Coming Events

monthly Intensive - Join Us!

Ozfrank offers regular monthly intensives for all current trainees, students of theatre and dance, theatre professionals wanting to gain further skills and all others interested in East/West fusion theatre practice. N.B. Any of you who are interested in being considered for participation in Ozfrank productions in the future should plan to attend every monthly intensive to gain the necessary physical and vocal skills. After you have gained the requisite skills you will be invited to participate in regular company training and rehearsals and to play a part in future productions. Looking forward to seeing you at the next Intensive......

Any enquiries phone: 3391 0396 or 0450163504 or 0405 74 0103 or Email OzFrank

'A Devil Pokes the Actor'

John's second book: 'A Devil Pokes the Actor' has just been published and is available, either from this site (email Info@ozfrank.com), or on Amazon Books. This is the second book about actor training by John Nobbs. The first, Frankly Acting, outlined the early development of the Frank Suzuki Actor Knowhow (FSAK), as a western variant and translation of the classic Suzuki Actor Training Method (SATM). This devil's logbook is a series of 25 provocations that poke further and deeper into the alchemical triggers and mechanisms that inform the one true actor training system originally devised by Tadashi Suzuki. Interspersed throughout the 25 provocations are revelations by some of the many actors that have used the FSPA to develop their acting spirit. Tadashi Suzuki, the inventor of the SATM, has stated that he believes that the training is not just for the actor's craft, but that it should be a creative tool for making the art itself. The FSPA follows on the traces of that purpose, and this book outlines its importance as the creative onestop shop of Ozfrank Theatre Matrix. It includes examples, with photographs, that illustrate how Ozfrank director Jacqui Carroll uses the FSAK to impel her productions. www.ozfrank.com ‘The space became alive and active. I felt the floor underneath my feet, and also felt it supporting me. A well of seemingly contradictory emotions swelled up inside of me as I opened up to myself. For the first time I felt myself alive and fully present.” Andrew Lazarow, Satori Group, during the FSAK Seattle Intensive 2008.….Andrew quoted in John Nobbs’ most recent book: A Devil pokes the actor