Dark Angels

_{(This is a brief review of the play Dark Angels starring Katie Underwood, currently playing at Ondergrounds Bar in Melbourne, Australia.  The play finishes on 19/8, so if you are not in Melbourne, or unlikely to see the show, or just don't care, feel free to ignore this journal entry!!)}

Last night (Sat 4/8) myself and a few friends went along to see Katie Underwood in Dark Angels, a play described as "a murder mystery / comedy musical which is set in a Strip Come Fetish Club" according to the website.  We had no expectations going in, we'd not read anything or heard anything, and although it was apparently advertised in a stack of places, I did not even know it was on (it was one of my friends who alerted me to it!!).

I'll keep this short (ha!), since I personally hate long-winded and waffly reviews and don't think I should inflict them on others (ha again!!).  So here's the bullet-point summary of my personal take on the show:

Plot
It was a fairly simple plot, accurately described here.  To be honest, I think I even missed some of it, the pace was pretty fast and some plot lines were shut down pretty quickly.  But it moved along, and was entertaining.

The Venue and Stage
Ondergrounds is a bar/club basement on Russell Street, just near the corner of Flinders Lane.  Very small stage, not many options for changes of set, but it was easy to see and hear.  No allocated seating, everyone just sat around long tables.  Bar at the back was well-stocked (Mmmm, Jägermeister, tasty...)

The Costumes
While the show was funny and entertaining, for me the costumes were the highlight, simply brilliant.  According to the credits, Marquis De Sade was involved, although there is a mention of Tristan Seebohm (Frockhard) in the show flyer.  I'm becoming more and more interested in burlesque/cabaret/fetish clothing and costumes and the show did not let me down.  

Highlights were pretty much all of the corsets (especially Katie Underwood in a red set comprising corset, open-fronted skirt and thigh-high red-leather boots - sounds a bit over the top but it looked amazing), and Mame's Starlett's always looked great in every scene.  The male costumes were also great - there was lots of leather, PVC, sequins, all in great colours - again, it sounds over the top but one of the girls in our group who is not in any way into burlesque/cabaret/fetish even commented that the costumes were fantastic.  Too bad my camera would have been hard to sneak in, I'd have loved to have taken shots of the show!!

Snap poll awards from our group on the night
Award - Best Actor</a>
Katie Underwood (playing Mame) - she sings, dances, acts, can deliver a joke, has excellent facial expressions and body language, she did the part proud.

Honourable mentions to Detective Brown (John King) who did an amazing job while wearing assless leather pants(!) and Peter (Adam Ford) who did a great job as the fetish clubs MC/ringmaster

Award - Best Supporting
A tie between Diedre (Sarah Hamilton) who did a wonderful job supporting Katie's character (understudy/lover/friend/etc), and Detective Junior Christine Dixon (Cath Jamison) who played an amazing sidekick to Detective Brown (so many one-liners had us in tears, and I think we only had a tiny taste of her magical talents).

Honourable mention has to go to Erin Walsh and Kelly Ann James/Doll (Mame's Starletts), who quickly became favourites with our group, doing a wonderful job with their parts and keeping us all entertained and smiling.  We were all looking forward to seeing what they would do in each scene, they were both great!!

Best Quote
"I like horses but I don't sleep with them - still, we've all made mistakes before..." - Detective Brown (played by John King)

Best screw-up
This was a tough call, we couldn't decide if it was a deliberate spot of comedy or if it actually went wrong, but it can help if your gun-shot sound effects actually match the motion of shooting the gun.  If it was a deliberate mis-time, then it was brilliance, we were in tears!!

Conclusion
Quite an entertaining show, we all enjoyed it, and there was something in it for everyone.  It could have benefited with a bigger stage, more lighting control and some set changes, but the show worked quite well in the space they had.

As an audience member I was very pleased with the show and liked it immensely.  As a photographer, it was the kind of show (and the kind of cast and costumes) that I really would like to shoot.  In the unlikely even that any of the cast read this, well done!!!  And if you need ever need a photographer for anything, it would be my pleasure!!

Featured Deviants

Ben has some great lighting, check out the spider shots!!

Very interesting perspective on nudes, love so many of Matthew's shots

YouTube Silliness

Videos that have been testing my sanity, and/or keeping me amused!!
The new iPhone, will it blend? - www.youtube.com/user/Blendtec - watch them all!!
How to Kill a Mockingbird Book Review - www.stanford.edu/~scodary/tkam… - Oldie but a goodie
Stick figures on Crack 3 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyKWWL… - Madness
Charlie the Unicorn - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0S… - WTFOMGROFL!!! Not right...

Wikipedia Rabbit Hole

I'm addicted to Wikipedia, there are soooo many interesting distractions to get caught up in at 2am...
Need a new religion? Try this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_S…
Want to do your head in? This tinyurl.com/ywftfu might help!!

Projects and other things

Photography Challenge 2007, check it out - projectjp.deviantart.com/journ…
lightandshadow Triptych Competition - lightandshadow.deviantart.com/…

Clubs

Stamps

<img src="fc03.deviantart.com/fs10/i/200…" width="99" height="56" / alt="Powered by Canon"> <img src="fc01.deviantart.com/fs7/f/2006…" fc01.deviantart.com/fs7/f/2006…" width="99" height="56" alt="DA policy on Nudity" /> <img src="fc01.deviantart.com/fs11/i/200…" width="99" height="56" / alt="Be seen...">