What’s a confirmed felinophile doing at an evening of monologues by dogs? … Being thoroughly entertained!
Ballarat National Theatre April show is an animal lover’s delight, whatever their preference for four footed friends. C.J. Johnson’s ‘The Dog Logs’ first premiered at La Mama in 2001, making this year its 25th anniversary.
Through a series of monologues ranging from the hilarious to the heartbreaking, we are given a delightful and moving insight into our canine friends. Director Gin O’Brien was most fortunate to have a cast of seven talented actors who portrayed 15 sassy, soulful and lively dogs and she guided them well. Her inspired design for staging worked very well to create just the most appropriate place for each of the monologues and to allow suitable movement as required. The Mechanics Institute Hall has a stage at one end but rather than limit the action to that, the audience were sat in two rows facing each other with a performing space in between and a portable stage opposite the main stage; this allowed for the “dogs” to do what dogs do – run, chase and be themselves etc.
A touch of costume to indicate the nature of the dog was well coordinated by Janette Wotherspoon. There was not a credit for lighting or sound design but these elements adeptly did what they needed to, particularly the lighting which covered the multiple performing spaces. The images projected onto a screen on the main stage indicated the dogs but sometimes were washed out by the lighting. Tech operators, Lumi Garraway and Craig Redden, did well keeping pace with this frantic production.
The show was opened by MC, Ethan McCart, whose deft patter kept the audience in line and introduced us to the various dogs. First, we met a Jack Russell called Jack (of course!), energetically played by Patrick Warfe. Patrick conveyed the typically irrepressible, manic nature of this breed with great vitality and enthusiasm whether chasing after a cat, humping, or bouncing around determined to have everyone’s attention. There was a little loss of diction and clarity in his second appearance which meant some of the dialogue was lost but still a fun interpretation.
Grant Johnson gave incredible, entertaining and unique performances as five varied and diverse pups, from Borys the tenacious rottweiler who realises that his innately destructive nature will be his undoing; Samson the elderly labrador who still has an eye for the ladies; the cheeky dingo Mungo with the telling line “Yes, I did it”; Blackie the mongrel, and the pompous, stylish Afghan stud, Alfred. The interaction between Alfred and his female equivalent, Tallulah, who is less than impressed with Alfred’s advances, was wonderful with Laura Farrow portraying this role. Laura’s moving performance, though, as the golden retriever, Maddie, who relates her “coming of age” story and meeting Bean Bean in the park and the subsequent outcome was beautifully delivered and captured every single ounce of emotion.
Jessica Hillman showed her talents as the OTT chihuahua, Peppa; the active kelpie, Sparky who rounded up sheep, swam in the water, and rolled in the sheep s**t, and excelled as the tapdancing, characteristically “look at moi” toy poodle, Polly, in her pink tulle skirt. We saw the focus and commitment of Sherlock, the Customs beagle, through Josh Shuttleworth’s engrossing portrayal, with NZ accent. Josh also brought Scarface the Pit Bull to life. He also accompanied, on guitar, the closing song “I’m a Puppy” performed by all the cast.
Completing the cast was Lily Smith who showed us the determined, if misguided, greyhound Savoir Faire who was convinced that she would finally get the elusive rabbit she’d been chasing! This sequence was cleverly staged with Savoir Faire and her fellow competitors using the whole of the audience area to enact their “race”.
With a beautiful mix of stories across all emotions, this is a very engaging production, and you’d be “barking mad” to miss it!
