4 reviews for Muse: The Director’s Cut

1. Rated 5 out of 5

   Brendan Clark – March 15, 2024

   ‘Exceptional’ that’s my one word review for SRT’s MUSE. I challenge anyone on the Coast or Brisbane who thinks they make good theatre to go along and have a look. Coz this is what good looks like. (Sam Coward)
   There are only two more shows this weekend for a brilliant piece of theatre that will have you belly laughing, deeply thinking, and wondering ‘did they just really say that?’. An intelligent and witty script, truthful and deep actors, all set in an intimate theatre that helps blur the lines between theatre and real life, exactly as the play intends. It’s raw and real.
   Go. Tonight or tomorrow. It’s worth it. (Mandy Dwyer)
   I for one found your play Muse to be extremely disturbing and upsetting. It aroused an array of emotions that consumed most of the following week with lack of sleep and analytical discussions with my wife. You are truly a magical playwright brought to life with powerful acting.
   Thank you.

2. Rated 5 out of 5

   Carl ‘Bill Collins’ Voller – March 15, 2024

   So hyper-glad that I attended the Black Box Theatre production of the play, Muse – featuring a brilliant cast, including the stellar acting performance of USC’s archetypal creative writing lecturer, Dr. Melanie ‘The Guru’ Myers. So wish I had written the brilliant meta-theatrical script – about a play within a play, which contains another play. As such, there were two directors within the audience; the ‘real’ one, quietly filming at the rear, and the ‘actor’ one, who intermittently startled us, springing forth with shouted instructions from within the darkness. The ‘meta’ brilliance did not end there: a most insightful and thought-provoking rendering of the traditional ‘love triangle’ had us quivering at our inherent human fallibility (not me – the other audience members); all from a masterful exposition of the underbelly of life’s carnal distractions and emotional frailties. Multi-talented MM had us tipping our seat-edges forward at ridiculous angles from a performance of such realism that even the most sinister of society’s serial cheaters (again – not me) would have found their thinking newly-aligned with the ‘wronged’ wife. But there was nothing that smelt of ‘stereotype’ within this quintessential character portrayal: a must for anyone with voyeuristic interest in the seedy dynamics of human relationship (that is ME – and you; come on). Hope this doesn’t sound like a review (certainly not a professional one, anyway) – I really just wanted to say that I enjoyed Muse very much.

3. Rated 5 out of 5

   Frank Wilkie – March 15, 2024

   MUSE by Simon Denver Nambour Black Box Theatre. Performed by Suncoast Repertory Theatre (SRT) Review by Frank Wilkie “At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art. Then life will find its very existence from the arts.” Fyodor Dostoevsky
   In the stripped-down, concrete heart of Nambour’s Black Box theatre, Simon Denver’s MUSE was always going to be about the play. And it was, in many surprising ways. It flickered to life by the light of a lantern as a renaissance painter nurses his consumptive lover into his studio, urging her not to die before he commits her to canvas. In a blinding flash, the characters time-travelled forward centuries, revealing contemporary, off-stage lives complete with fragile relationships and egos on the brink of imploding. To our horror and delight, they did. Spectacularly. A play within a play, within a play, within a play…. MUSE cleverly invoked the circular chant; Does art imitate life or vice versa? With a director alternatively praising, cajoling and deriding the actors, whether they be on set or in what we understood to be their personal lives, the audience was continually recalibrating. Those who see the theatre as a space for magic saw it put to good effect by someone who understands its potential. The casting was incisive and powerfully reinforced the “life or art?” dynamic that permeated the production. Brett Klease was the actors’ actor, Kris; a character whose every cell in his wiry frame yearns to perform. Melanie Myers, the wistful, melancholy academic and long-suffering wife to Kris. Howard Tampling was Julian, the gifted, tech-geek-man-child and confidante to older brother Kris. The finely tuned Adam Flower was the finicky director with a wicked eye for detail and opportunity and the versatile Rachel Fentiman appeared as the alluring, will o’ the wisp muse, Ngaire. While essentially the devastating and hilarious story of Kris reaping the whirlwind, MUSE saw all cast members perform their roles superbly and gifted them many moments to shine. The writing ensured all tastes were tickled, from the classic and poetic to the snappy and earthy with many laugh out loud moments and a story line that kept smashing along. The rehearsed reading a year ago created a stir and the full production, rightly hailed as a thought-provoking success, more than followed through on its promise.

4. Rated 5 out of 5

   Xanthe Coward – March 15, 2024

   MUSE is the best new Australian indie work we’ve seen this year. Written and directed on the Sunshine Coast by Simon Denver after XS Entertainment’s Sam Coward challenged the playwright at the poker table one night to write something new and irresistibly real, this darkly comical piece dives deeply and unapologetically into human nature, hook-ups, marriage, lies, loyalty and the world of live theatre, capturing our imaginations and clenching its fist around our hearts. Honest, unsettling and a catalyst for some of the most interesting conversations you’ll ever have with your lover, MUSE is the very best sort of provocative performing arts.
   While there are many works that explore the jealousy, resentment and resignation leading to the end – or not – of a relationship, MUSE differs from what we’ve seen before is that it’s violently articulate and neatly structured, offering a balanced view of the issues, inviting us to join these individuals on their journeys and at the same time, reflect on our own lives and loves.
   An unexpected theatrical device is cleverly incorporated to make us consider how much of what we tell ourselves and our partner is actually reality and how much is fantasy. So much of what might seem like a good idea at the time is complicated and also, outside of society’s norms.
   Denver’s text questions why we do what we do, juxtaposing human nature and free will against a traditional view of marriage and monogamous relationships. Set within a theatrical context, two weeks before a classic play goes up and the leading players become entangled in an illicit affair, MUSE avoids cliche and draws on truth. Denver is a keen study of human behaviour; in this work you’re sure to recognise aspects of yourself or someone you know.
   Refreshingly, Denver presents all sides of the story and also, fully drawn female characters – the actor-turned-academic wife, Jemma (Mel Myers) and the free-spirited leading lady, Ngaire (Rachel Fentiman) – rather than the token women we’re so used to seeing, still, on our stages and screens.
   While Jemma flails alone at home beneath a stack of undergraduate essays and an endless supply of red wine, her husband, Kris (Brett Klease), is enjoying post-rehearsal drinks with his free-spirited millennial leading lady, Ngaire. When things come to a head, Jemma confronts Kris and then Ngaire, and the terms of engagement are settled over a couple of unsettling scenes. Kris turns to his geeky gamer/coder brother, Julian (Howard Tampling), only to hear from him the voice of reason and the loyalty line he wishes he could tow too. Meanwhile, the director of the play within the play (Adam Flower), just wants to put on a good show.
   Sans production values (we know it’s been produced on the smell of an oily rag) the work speaks for itself. While there’s some effort to make in terms of taking it to the next level (some of the musical choices to bookend scenes are a little too obvious and a design aesthetic is less so), MUSE is the most intriguing and moving night at the theatre this year on the Sunshine Coast. SRT must be encouraged to seek further support for a return season next year, or a move sideways in the ecology, which will allow a broader audience to experience the beauty, tragedy, hope and truth of MUSE.