29th March 2014 - 7:00 pm
The Imperial Hotel
This was the fourth of five preview shows of Steele Saunders’ show “Rosebud”.
It was a short, yet long, and emotional journey through Rosebud (the town) and through Steele’s last weekend there.
It was a bold choice, I think for Steele to go with the story that he tells and end it the way he does. Although the one of the big ends is more like a large chapter end to the story rather than and abrupt end.
The final ending, which is more like an epilogue is funny, although I suspected it was coming and involves the digital projector that was on throughout the show. It was showing a landscape of Rosebud pier when we came in, but was white throughout Steele’s standup giving him a little more lighting on stage.
I enjoy humorous narratives, and like to see comedians that tell stories of standup rather than straight jokes.
So, that this was a narrative with comedy was always going to appeal to me.
Rosebud is also a town I know.
I recognised the locations and character-type of people that Steele mentions in his show.
I’ve known in my teens people like that.
I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula, so knew of many (generally) of those sorts of people.
Steele’s show was very much something that reminded me of my teens, of the things I experienced, both directly and mostly indirectly. Of those collective experiences that you have between the shared stories and idle chatter of teens in those final years of school.
“Rosebud”, is as Steele summarises at the start is of the last weekend in Rosebud before he departed the town for Melbourne. What happened over that weekend and the various characters of the town of Rosebud that he knew and encountered during those 48 or so hours.
“Rosebud” is a show that anyone who’s grown up in anywhere except probably the inner city can identify with. I say probably, I don’t know about the inner city, but there are some unique perspectives of isolation that work well if you understand the size of suburbs and smaller towns which doesn’t really work from an inner city perspective as well.
Interestingly while the pier was mentioned there wasn’t much made of the fact Rosebud is a beachside town.
As Steele finished his show I was left wanting to see more of him. To hear more of his story.
He paints a quite vivid story of some characters, many of whom I was left wanting to know more of. He touches on some of these characters – these people and their lives following the events in this story. But I am also eager to hear more of Steele Saunders’ story, after “Rosebud” after he escaped the town that’s before the much nicer Sorrento, but further down the Peninsula than Frankston.
Pacing wise of his narrative, his story through Rosebud on those final nights there everything was told in a vivid rich detail.
At one point it was almost as though I could smell the piss slowly dribbling past me, sweeping a bull ant away in the long beer-y stream.
There was a point, of cold revelation that was something of a blast of cold air to the room, it was a shock in his story, and, I think its revelation will get better as Steele plays his show and refines the narrative of “Rosebud”.
He did refer to how in previous shows it didn’t exactly create a humour-filled atmosphere in the room. But it is part of the narrative that he is telling in “Rosebud”. That he decided to keep it in and to continue after that is a brave and bold choice. I’m not sure if it would have been possible to construct a narrative to navigate around this revelation and portion of the story, certainly not in a way that would enable him to continue his story and reveal other humorous elements that were a direct result of this. But it is still a bold choice to tell the audience what happened. The only thing was, there was little space and time to completely process what was told. The pacing of his revelation and then continuation with his show wasn’t the exclamation mark it could have been.
It’s possible this point wasn’t meant to be anything, but it is there as a bold point to the story. But I don’t think it should be the point of the show, which is perhaps why it isn’t an exclamation mark in the story, but rather just a signpost with some flowers stuck in it.
“Rosebud” felt a little bit like the first novella of Steele Saunders’ life. Not quite a novel, not quite a short story. Too rich with setting and characters for a simple short story, though not quite long enough, narratively speaking to be an epic novel.
But I am looking forward to the future. I feel like I’ve seen bits and pieces of episodes IV, V and VI of Steele’s life via I Love Green Guide Letters and via his chat with Justin Hamilton on Can You Take This Photo Please? and now I’ve seen the prequel to episode I. The rest isn’t missing, but it’s waiting to be coaxed out from under the bed so you can sit down, enjoy a packet of chips and experience the rest of the story.
The Imperial Hotel
This was the fourth of five preview shows of Steele Saunders’ show “Rosebud”.
It was a short, yet long, and emotional journey through Rosebud (the town) and through Steele’s last weekend there.
It was a bold choice, I think for Steele to go with the story that he tells and end it the way he does. Although the one of the big ends is more like a large chapter end to the story rather than and abrupt end.
The final ending, which is more like an epilogue is funny, although I suspected it was coming and involves the digital projector that was on throughout the show. It was showing a landscape of Rosebud pier when we came in, but was white throughout Steele’s standup giving him a little more lighting on stage.
I enjoy humorous narratives, and like to see comedians that tell stories of standup rather than straight jokes.
So, that this was a narrative with comedy was always going to appeal to me.
Rosebud is also a town I know.
I recognised the locations and character-type of people that Steele mentions in his show.
I’ve known in my teens people like that.
I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula, so knew of many (generally) of those sorts of people.
Steele’s show was very much something that reminded me of my teens, of the things I experienced, both directly and mostly indirectly. Of those collective experiences that you have between the shared stories and idle chatter of teens in those final years of school.
“Rosebud”, is as Steele summarises at the start is of the last weekend in Rosebud before he departed the town for Melbourne. What happened over that weekend and the various characters of the town of Rosebud that he knew and encountered during those 48 or so hours.
“Rosebud” is a show that anyone who’s grown up in anywhere except probably the inner city can identify with. I say probably, I don’t know about the inner city, but there are some unique perspectives of isolation that work well if you understand the size of suburbs and smaller towns which doesn’t really work from an inner city perspective as well.
Interestingly while the pier was mentioned there wasn’t much made of the fact Rosebud is a beachside town.
As Steele finished his show I was left wanting to see more of him. To hear more of his story.
He paints a quite vivid story of some characters, many of whom I was left wanting to know more of. He touches on some of these characters – these people and their lives following the events in this story. But I am also eager to hear more of Steele Saunders’ story, after “Rosebud” after he escaped the town that’s before the much nicer Sorrento, but further down the Peninsula than Frankston.
Pacing wise of his narrative, his story through Rosebud on those final nights there everything was told in a vivid rich detail.
At one point it was almost as though I could smell the piss slowly dribbling past me, sweeping a bull ant away in the long beer-y stream.
There was a point, of cold revelation that was something of a blast of cold air to the room, it was a shock in his story, and, I think its revelation will get better as Steele plays his show and refines the narrative of “Rosebud”.
He did refer to how in previous shows it didn’t exactly create a humour-filled atmosphere in the room. But it is part of the narrative that he is telling in “Rosebud”. That he decided to keep it in and to continue after that is a brave and bold choice. I’m not sure if it would have been possible to construct a narrative to navigate around this revelation and portion of the story, certainly not in a way that would enable him to continue his story and reveal other humorous elements that were a direct result of this. But it is still a bold choice to tell the audience what happened. The only thing was, there was little space and time to completely process what was told. The pacing of his revelation and then continuation with his show wasn’t the exclamation mark it could have been.
It’s possible this point wasn’t meant to be anything, but it is there as a bold point to the story. But I don’t think it should be the point of the show, which is perhaps why it isn’t an exclamation mark in the story, but rather just a signpost with some flowers stuck in it.
“Rosebud” felt a little bit like the first novella of Steele Saunders’ life. Not quite a novel, not quite a short story. Too rich with setting and characters for a simple short story, though not quite long enough, narratively speaking to be an epic novel.
But I am looking forward to the future. I feel like I’ve seen bits and pieces of episodes IV, V and VI of Steele’s life via I Love Green Guide Letters and via his chat with Justin Hamilton on Can You Take This Photo Please? and now I’ve seen the prequel to episode I. The rest isn’t missing, but it’s waiting to be coaxed out from under the bed so you can sit down, enjoy a packet of chips and experience the rest of the story.