Visually stunning and musically rich, this critically acclaimed production had audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane standing and cheering at every performance. Peter Shaffer's thrilling, and often wickedly funny play, is a wonderfully dark fantasy about music, genius, jealousy, madness and murder. Featuring Andrew McFarlane as Salieri and a supporting cast of some of Queensland's most impressive talent, Amadeus is one of the greatest plays of the modern canon - a drama of immense emotional power and lyrical beauty.
"Brilliant theatre ....(the cast) shine!" The Courier Mail
Posted by Shanna Provost from Farrer on 24/08/2009 at 08:37 PM in Art & Entertainment / Canberra
Actor Andrew McFarlane is best known by Boomers as Australias best loved son as John Sullivan in the 70s classic television series The Sullivans and by babies as a Playschool presenter.
Younger generations will have grown up with him in Neighbours, Home and Away, Water Rats, All Saints, Murder Call, Heartbreak High, Flying Doctors, Rafferty's Rules and Patrol Boat (in fact, is there an Australian television drama that McFarlane hasnt been in?). His most recent notable portrayal was of Donald Mackay in Underbelly: Tale of Two Cities, and his film and theatre credits are as long as your arm. McFarlane has been around the blockand back again.
His 2007 performance as the beleaguered George in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? brought him acclaim, and no doubt his current theatrical foray in English author Paul Shaffers masterpiece Amadeus will reap similar praise.
Shaffers Amadeus has been described as a wickedly funny, dark fantasy about music, genius, jealousy, madness and murder. Its appeal will run broader than opera buffs, although the score will set operatic hearts racing.
Amadeus won a Best Play Tony Award in 1981 and was popularised by a film adaptation in 1984, which won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Set amidst the opulence and splendour of 18th century Vienna, Amadeus tells of the bitter jealousy of the Italian court composer Antonio Salieri towards the brilliantly talented up-and-coming Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who has just settled in Vienna to seek his fortune.
Salieri sees the young Mozart as a serious rival to his position and sets about plotting his downfall. He resorts to trickery, deceit and lies and through a campaign of suppression, brings Mozart to a state of poverty and ill health. Mozart dies and Salieri is haunted by his own conscience, claiming to have murdered Mozart. Salieris torture doesnt end therebut youll have to see the play to find out.
Shaffer used the conflict between the Old Guard and the new whirlwind of energy to vitalise his play, says McFarlane.
It is operatic, which reflects the battle between the Boy Genius and the mediocre Salieri who, despite being reverent to his craft, will never be more than pedestrian in his composing, he says. He recognises the genius of Mozart and is incensed by the young mans complete disregard for his God-given gift.
The themes in Shaffers script are palatable for todays audiences.
If Mozart were to be incarnated in this day and age, he would be likened to a rock star, with all the consequent bad behaviour that can bring. He certainly set a cat amongst the pigeons amongst the 18th Century court.
McFarlane will be joined by Steven Tandy and a supporting cast of some of Queenslands most impressive talent, including rising actor Dash Kruck as Mozart, and Kerith Atkinson as his long-suffering wife Constanze. It is directed by Sydney-based Tama Matheson, who is currently working with Gail Edwards on Manon Lescaut for Opera Australia.
McFarlane says he jumped at the Salieri role.
My most recent work was playing a Noosa property developer in a David Williamson play, so it was quite a leap to this huge, grand, complex, drama. But its the kind of thing that actors jump at because we all like challenges and to be pushed into areas we can explore, he says.
McFarlane is well aware of the gravity of playing such a monumental role. The American actor F. Murray Abraham won an Oscar for his turn in the film version.
Theres no doubt that this kind of role draws attention. That can frighten an actor off because if it has been done well by someone else, that [performance] can be stamped on the public psyche. But no one shies away from playing Hamlet, and I think its the role that stays alive, not the particular performers interpretation of it.
-----Fürchte nicht das Ende der Welt----- ----in Australien ist es bereits morgen---
Re: Theatre Play: Amadeus
There is an interview on page 3 of this brochure:
http://fr.calameo.com/read/000005357fe95e1e29e84
Re: Theatre Play: Amadeus
he loooooooooooves bushwalks. that's so funny :) It's almost like you can hear him say that.
It's a real nice interview
Re: Theatre Play: Amadeus
I really liked it, too! But it makes me also very sad, that I can't see this play. This really would be a role I would looooove to see him in!
Re: Theatre Play: Amadeus
I would loooooooooove to see any play he's in.... but I wouldn't mind seeing him as Salieri. He should play more 'bad guys' He would be good for such a role. Nobody expects good old (old :P) Andrew McFarlane to be a bad guy, but he does have the looks for it.
Re: Theatre Play: Amadeus
The Playhouse Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th September, 7.45pm
Fast on the heels of Mozarts concerto comes the famous play about his life and death, or murder. For two nights only Peter Shaffers Amadeus comes to Canberra with openly gay actor Andrew McFarlane in the role of the vengeful, jealous Salieri. Hes joined by a supporting cast of some of Queenslands most impressive talent, including charismatic rising actor Dash Kruck as the cheeky genius Mozart, and the captivating Kerith Atkinson as his long-suffering wife Constanze.
McFarlane recently played murdered anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in the TV series Underbelly 2. Its fantastic to get an actor of McFarlanes calibre, as in many ways it is Salieris play, showing his descent into madness and the revenge that is the plays focus.
Amadeus is directed by the gorgeous young Sydney-based director Tama Matheson, who is currently working for Opera Australia. Amadeus is on at The Playhouse Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th September, 7.45pm. Bookings: Canberra Ticketing 6275 2700 : http://www.playhousetheatre.com.au/
Sunday, September 20, 2009 Amadeus / 4MBS Classic / Theatre Royal Friday, September 18
The constant dilemma of fiction being mistaken for history (such as the heated discourse prompted by Kate Grenvilles The Secret River ), rears its head in the play of Amadeus by Peter Shaffer. This production by 4MBS Classic from Brisbane presents the story of the Italian composer Antonio Salieri as we meet him at the end of his life, confessing to killing the young composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Casual reading of the internet led me to numerous articles at pains to assure the reader that Mozart was NOT poisoned, but most likely died of rheumatic fever. Yet, if Shaffer had stuck to the dry facts, then the clever and engaging Amadeus may not have made it to the stage.
Amadeus is part mystery, part music history. It tells the age-old story of young talent trying to break through the wall of convention and vested interest to help culture evolve. The criticism leveled at Mozart by Emperor Joseph II for using too many notes is one of the very things that makes his music so profoundly thrilling. So many notes, and so expertly arranged, but it was not the done thing at the time, and not to be encouraged: as Shaffers character complains, There are only so many notes one can hear in the course of an evening!
Andrew McFarlane, as Salieri, carried the story with flair through his soliloquies, memories and conversations with the audience, a fair portion of which were delivered in Italian. McFarlane portrayed well the change in temperament from a largely good, but simple man to a bitter Machiavelli, plotting to ruin Mozart due to his envy of the young composers extraordinary musical gift.
Tama Mathesons neat set design, with banners of sheet music suspended, easily located us in Viennese drawing rooms, theatres and the aged Salieris bedroom. Actors rearranged props to change scenes, but managed to avoid the impression they were moonlighting as stage techs between their lines.
It seemed at times as if things were in a bit of a rush, with not enough time for the actors to pause at significant moments and lines, yet the humour was not lost in the pace. The production was badly let down by the fact that the music, a critical part of the play, was downright sloppy with end notes cut off and clunky finishes. Given that 4MBS is a Classical Radio station, it is hard to excuse this embarrassing glitch.
In Amadeus, Salieri despaired at his own self-professed mediocrity and that he was born a pair of ears and nothing more. Yet, where would a performer be without countless pairs of ears to listen and love the talents of those who can move us with their music. Hear hear for the ears of this world! May they continue to be many.
Director: Tama Matheson Cast: Andrew McFarlane, Dash Kruck, Kerith Atkinson, Nick Backstrom, Steven Tandy, Norman Doyle, Bruce Baddiley, Natasha Yantsch, Niki-J Witt. Posted by Stephenie Cahalan at 11:29 PM
Amadeus 4MBS / Theatre Royal / Hobart September 18, 2009
Peter Shaffers 1979 play offers a strange challenge: to tell a story of one art form through another. It is not a musical, it is a play; but music is at its core. Amadeus is an imaginatively speculative history of madness, creativity, jealousy, and sabotage. But beneath all these, it is also a narrative of music. Amadeus comes from the perspective of Antonio Salieri, a composer and contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Shaffers Salieri (played in this production by Andrew McFarlane) is incurably jealous of Mozarts youthful genius, and speaks directly to the audience during his own final hour, recounting and justifying his attempts to discredit and eventually annihilate Amadeus (Dash Kruck).
An interpretation of the play must somehow marry Mozarts music with Shaffers text. There are moments in 4MBSs production which manage this beautifully. A symbolic storm is born out of the swelling Kyrie Eleison, and Salieri suffers a Stendhal-syndrome-like response. This moment is a good example. But most of the time, I found myself yearning for more music. Snippets of pre-recorded Mozart are frequently dangled enticingly behind the dialogue, but then irritatingly and abruptly snatched away. Whether or not you are familiar with Mozarts works, it becomes increasingly difficult to engage with the desperate passion behind Salieris jealousy, when this jealousy is built on an intimate recognition of Mozarts creative brilliance. But without much Mozart in the soundscape, it is too easy to forget his extraordinary talent, and we are also left wanting for glimpses of Salieris own experience of the music.
The relationship between the composers is one of insincere patronage, as Salieris devious advice eventually drives the naive Mozart to destruction. The play is a study of one mans power to exploit anothers paranoias. An audience must feel moved by Salieris malicious actions, and struggle to forgive him. McFarlanes Salieri is human, bitter, and believable (with the exception of excessive directorial melodrama in several monologues). But Krucks Mozart is so puerile, so conceited, so crass, so frivolous that if he had squeakily tittered just once more, Id have been ready to jump up and save Salieri the trouble. The interpretation is clearly a considered creative decision, and Krucks energy and commitment are remarkable. Certainly, it presents a bravely imaginative insight into the flawed humanity behind the canonised glory of Mozarts creativity. However, it is hard work caring about this unlikeable character, which in turn strains Salieris protracted justification of his behaviour.
The supporting cast are unassuming and sound, but have little to do beyond providing a backdrop for Salieris self-flagellation and Mozarts persistent near-hysteria. Director Tama Mathesons unfussy set and lighting design are at their best when the hanging panels of a Mozart score are beautifully shadowed by Mozarts own hands as he conducts his work.
In the final scene, the Lacrimosa from Mozarts Requiem makes its predictable but welcome appearance. The movement, played in full, accompanies the silent action of the final moments, and Mozarts music is at last treated with some fervour. As the narrative journey concludes, the production does manage to move us. There is both humour and pathos here, and if the characters have not always been completely engaging, at least the energy and commitment of the company are rewarded.
I must confess, I find Shaffer almost unforgivably contemptible for closing a script with the line: mediocrity is everywhere: I absolve you... What production could ever stand up to such philosophical meta-censure?