Conversations With A Fish
Writer and Director: Helah Milroy
27th Jan – 3rd Feb 2022
The Blue Room, Perth, WA
Images: Helah Milroy
Reviews:
Stage Whispers
https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/conversations-fish
Act II, Blackfish, features a man who has fallen in love with his goldfish and wishes to make her a mermaid queen. Strongly narrated by Joey Vale, it features an impressive silent performance from Jimi Fleming as Goldy. David Whyatt plays the Admiral, doing well considering that he was a last-minute replacement for an actor unexpectedly called interstate.
This is a show with great ideas and huge potential that doesn’t quite hit its strides. Perhaps it is the cast changes, the fact that it is a directing debut on an own work or unseen factors, but at times this feels quite undercooked. Having said that, it has great heart and soul, so the audience are willing to be forgiving. Allowing the audience to decide the end of each scene is a gem.
Perth Walkabout
https://www.perthwalkabout.com/arts-culture/conversations-with-a-fish-at-the-blue-room-theatre
Hats off to all the performers and the cellist on a very fun and entertaining night.
Special mention to The Admiral (David Whyatt) for getting up to speed with the play in a week. Wow!
Love the fish net stockings by the way !
And special mention to the cellist Camile Lalanne who came in at all the right moments with her dramatic chords.
Fourth Wall Media
https://fourthwallmedia.wordpress.com/2022/01/30/summer-nights-conversations-with-a-fish/
Each scenario is punctuated by the brilliant cello soundscape provided by Camile Lalanne whose instinctive strokes create a magical realism to the piece. The script is surreal and a little nightmarish and it gets worse as David Whyatt cavorts across the stage as the Admiral. Joey Vale narrates as a silenced Fleming becomes the goldfish mermaid of the Admiral’s dreams. It gets weird, and Whyatt’s balancing of creepy yet pitiful is brilliantly achieved. Milroy’s directing is nuanced and clever, taking a static and voiceless figure and giving them a voice via reminiscing. It’s a brilliant indictment on possession and submission, and it’s amazing how quickly an audience will vote for retribution.
Conversations with a Fish turns a bloody historical past and places it squarely at the feet of present day audiences. It holds them accountable for the actions of the past but, more importantly, offers them a chance to right the wrongs. Milroy offers redemption for all on both sides of history with this incredible first work.
ArtsHub
The soundscape, created by D’Abrande Ngoka and David Whyatt, assists with creating fish worlds within human realms, as do the quirky and creative costumes designed by Milroy.
The Narrator, Joey Vale, speaks as Goldy, commenting on the attention of Goldy’s owner; a repugnant Admiral played bravely by David Whyatt, who was a last-minute cast change. The Narrator reflects on the Admiral’s lecherous behaviour, sighing as she concedes, ‘a little fish like me should be happy to have a big man around’, though in despair, and desperate to escape the Admiral, adds, ‘But how can I leave? I was just a little fish’
As a theatrical work, the performance is meandering and musing; as a commentary, Conversations with a Fish is an invitation to consider our responsibilities for the choices we make as members of a shared society.
