Assange no match for Gaga

IMAGINED meetings between historical figures and imagined details of actual meetings have fuelled memorable plays in recent years.

Jennifer Reed is stunning as Lady Gaga in Gaga v Assange.

IMAGINED meetings between historical figures and imagined details of actual meetings have fuelled memorable plays in recent years.

The October 2012 meeting between Lady Gaga and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is especially intriguing.

Gaga dropped in at the Ecuadorian embassy in London's Knightsbridge between launching her fragrance at Harrods and receiving a peace prize in Reykjavik. But no details of their meeting have leaked.

Though it hinges on the scandalous premise that one has given the other a sexually transmitted infection at an earlier meeting, Gaga v Assange is (marginally) more interested in the compatibility of their respective brands than cheap jokes.

Writer-composer William Hannagan has certainly done his homework. At its best, Gaga v Assange is a brilliant musical fantasia with imaginative and original songs like genetically modified Lady Gaga anthems.

The sustained references to the Orpheus story are effective, with Gaga's dancers doubling as the Furies. Gaga emerges as an equivocal character who would rather support Adrian Lamo, the whistleblower's whistleblower, than Bradley Manning. Jennifer Reed is stunning - charismatic and wonderfully three-dimensional - as Gaga. Beside her, the Assange character is dry and stiff.

Gaga v Assange needs another incarnation. The balance between the excellent music and the flatlining banter is out of whack, and the project would benefit from clearer vision and fresher direction. But if the baby is premature, it certainly kicks and screams.

Gaga v Assange. Presented by KIN Collaborative Inc and Somewhat Proper. Second Story, Collingwood, Victoria, January 16. Tickets: $35. Duration: 2hr, including interval. Until January 25, then Adelaide, March 5-15.