Bard stages decadent, vicious play

THIS spring, performing arts company the Bard in Buninyong is moving away from Shakespeare to perform an Australian children’s classic, and an adaption of an eighteenth-century French novel.

A small cast of six actors are bringing an open-air version of Norman Lindsay’s The Magic Pudding to the Buninyong Gift House Garden across five performances this Saturday 28 October.

Then, between Friday 3 and Sunday 12 November, Melissa Lawrence and Scott Jackson will embody Marquise de Merteuil and Viscount de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons: Duets at the Old Buninyong Brewery.

“Dangerous Liaisons is based on a series of letters,” artistic director Susan Pilbeam said.

“This is a completely new telling of the story, which is very famous, and was made into a film starring John Malkovich and Glenn Close.

“Actors love to play these characters because they behave very badly, and they look beautiful.

“It’s a decadent world, full of entitled people who are wealthy and bored, and nobody is immune to their viciousness.”

The Marquise de Merteuil is one of the earliest women in literature to be empowered, written in 1782, and Lawrence said she is enjoying bringing the character to life, who is still relevant in 2023.

“It’s so extravagant, but the text still translates to modern day,” she said.

“At the time there was a strict idea about women, and the Marquise is the opposite of that, purposefully making herself completely different.

“She refuses to me a meek, polite woman, and it’s really fun to play that strong, bold, independent character in a historical context where she was pushing the boundaries a lot.”

Dangerous Liaisons is Jackson’s first show with the company, and he said he’s loved the way the script has been adapted.

“In rehearsals, Melissa and I have been playing and using our impulses to try things that are fresh,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun to play those really quick emotional changes.”

Baroque music, performed live by Lyndon and Miriam Kriss on cello and guitar, will accompany the play.

Pilbeam said the Old Buninyong Brewery is a great venue for an historic theatre piece, taking audiences to another era with its heritage character.

“We’re all pretty excited,” she said. “Acoustically, it’s fabulous, and the actors can enjoy intimate performing.

“The audience will be sitting on couches and things right on the stage, hearing and seeing everything with a glass of wine and chocolates.”

Matinees of Dangerous Liaisons: Duets will be staged each Sunday, with evening performances on the Fridays and Saturdays.

Fifteen minutes of live music will be performed before the play, with complimentary wine and cheese, and from an hour before the show, audience members can picnic in the Old Brewery garden.

The Old Buninyong Brewery is at 107 Yuille St, Buninyong, and tickets and show times for Dangerous Liaisons can be found at bit.ly/3FATz0p.

The Buninyong Gift House Garden is at 408 Warrenheip Street, Buninyong, and tickets and show times for The Magic Pudding: First Slice can be found at trybooking.com/CMHRC.

Tickets can also be purchased at the gate by cash or card.