Attention theatre lovers, music lovers and fun lovers! This marvellous play is for you. JOYFUL NOISE is about Handel’s time in London while writing the “Messiah’, the world’s most performed
oratorio. Handel is in debt. The king, a fellow German, won’t pay his bills. The Royal Bishop,
pompous and pretentious, desperately wants to ban Handel’s creation. The librettist is stridently protective of his part in the grand work and pesters Handel for changes a day before the London opening. Then there are the two sopranos who vie for the same part in the piece. One is a cockney-accented Drury Lane player, and the other is a despised Londoner who is unfairly accused of being a whore and forced to abandon her baby.
That’s quite a lot of intrigues! Yet local theatre company Joining the Dots has taken American
playwright Tim Slover’s 1998 gem and made it zing. Congratulations to director
Madeleine Stedman and to everyone involved in this, from the friendly front-of-house volunteers
passing around mulled wine to the brilliant acting of all in the cast.
Nicholas Papademetriou is Handel. His Handel was great– comically cute, expressive,
creative, frustrated and frustrating. Lloyd Allison-Young plays Handel’s valet and must keep the
old man from giving up composing and going back to Germany. Finally, Handel decides there are
too many Germans in Germany to return. Christopher Stollery plays King George II. He knows the
people love him because he doesn’t actually do anything. He is a perfect foil to Nicholas’ Handel.
The king is tall, handsome and sensible. Handel is short, cute and seemingly nonsensical when a
creative mood overtakes him. Matthew Abotomey plays Bishop Egerton perfectly pompously. So
perfectly you just know he is going to have a change of heart eventually. Mason Phoumirath plays
the librettist with wonderfully expressed objections to the Messiah. We suspect he, too, will change his mind on hearing the performance.
Now for the three women. Laila Chesterman plays Susannah, the unfairly despised soprano. Angela
Johnston plays Kitty, the soprano who wants Susannah’s role in the Oratorio. Each sings a short
piece for Handel to audition. Susannah’s voice convinces Handel she must be in the performance
and cares not a jot that the clergy despise her. Kitty, currently playing in Othello in Drury Lane, sings Desdemona’s death scene for Handel. It’s gloriously, purposefully, perfectly exaggerated. Alison Chambers plays Mary, Susannah’s protector and confidante. She is graceful, wise and determined to get the Messiah performed in London. Alison is a co-founder of Joining the Dots Theatre Company.
Production designer Mia MacCormick sourced the wonderful period dresses, hats, shoes,
coats and all the little bits and pieces that made it feel we were in London in 1743. Special mention to Charlotte Leamon, the sound designer. It would have diminished the play if too often or too much of the Messiah was included as part of the play. That didn’t happen. There are subtle slices of the music slipped in amongst the dialogue. As the tension builds to the end of the play, when the Messiah is to be performed, you might anticipate a full belting of “Hallelujah”. Thankfully that didn’t happen. Instead, there are subtle slices of the music echoing around the venue. A perfect ending.
This venue is impressive. The performance is at the Greek Theatre (also known as the Hellenic
Theatre) in the Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville. There is plenty of parking. The
theatre’s seats are really comfortable and the acoustics are good. So there can be no excuse for not going over to Marrickville to see this very fine production of a marvellous play.
There’s reams of information about the history of the creation of the Messiah on the Net. Apparently, Handel wrote it in 24 days.
Season closes: September 19
