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Bumming With Jane
Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; B Sharp
Charles Bukowski’s poem
Bumming With Jane provides a rich source of inspiration for Tahli Corin’s play
of the same name. The play examines the life of Patrick (Tahki Saul) and Jane (Sophie
Cook), a Sydney couple who are months behind on the rent, living on a diet of canned beans
and red wine and taking it in turns to hold down a job. Their creative adventures and
optimism in the face of their impending eviction by landlady Bev (Gertraud Ingeborg)
seamlessly expand upon the bohemian spirit of the poem.
Full Review
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A Suicide For Winter
North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne; The Tiger
Lillies
If I have bar for measuring great
cabaret, it’s The Tiger Lillies. If I have a bar for measuring great comedy, it’s
The Tiger Lillies. The inspired punk cabaret of A
Suicide for Winter continues to defy genre, as it draws new comers into the (alleged)
Tiger Lillies cult.
Full Review
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Altar Boyz
Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne; Ovations Live
High on parody and huge on energy,
Altar Boyz is a superb spoof of a Christian boy band that is full of super-tight
choreography, crystal clear harmonies and jam-packed with laughs.
Full Review
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Attempts On Her Life
Space Theatre, Adelaide; State Theatre Company Of
South Australia
Subtitled 17 scenarios for the
theatre, Martin Crimp’s Attempts On Her Life deconstructs the identity of an
individual who maybe a dead child, a suicidal artist, an international terrorist in a
performance that asks more questions than it answers.
Full Review
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First Man Standing
Trades Hall, Melbourne; Rob Quantock
1968 was a year of change, protest
and assassination. Nixon was elected, Hussein came into power and someone left the cake
out in the rain in ‘McArthur Park’. Back in Melbourne, a young architecture
student took some jokes to the review stage, and he hasn’t left yet.
Full Review
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The Burlesque Hour
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne; The House Of
Finucane & Smith
The Burlesque Hour is a full
banquet of clever parody, hyperbole and good old fashion subversion; all dished up with a
side serving of soup and strawberries, literally.
Full Review
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The 39 Steps
Sydney Opera House, Sydney; Fiery Angel, Tinterbox,
Andrew Kay & Associates
When an attractive secret agent is
killed in a bored poncy Englishman’s apartment, what’s a man to do except go on
a countryside chase to find out the secret behind her death?
Full Review
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Tell Me On A Sunday
Glen Street Theatre, Sydney; Kookaburra
It is light and fluffy with no
real theatrical grunt, but if presented well, Tell Me On A Sunday is a musical
that can be both engaging and entertaining.
Full Review
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Gallipoli
Sydney Theatre, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
The Gallipoli Campaign is often
spoken of in hallowed tones as a turning point in Australian history – the moment
that Australia first proved itself as a nation on the international stage. Nigel
Jamieson’s stage production of Gallipoli brings a healthy dose of reality to
the Anzac myth, while acknowledging the massive sacrifices that colonial forces made in
this fabled military expedition, which was doomed from the start.
Full Review
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Alex And Eve
Factory Theatre, Sydney; Bulldog Theatre
Plays about Australian
contemporary multicultural issues are few and far between. Many of them struggle to
combine comedy with social commentary and end up alienating the audience, creating a
performance that no one relates to. Alex And Eve, however, manages to strike
exactly the right balance, and leaves the audience entertained as well as pondering.
Full Review
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Arabian Night
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Bob Presents / Griffin
Theatre Company
Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Arabian
Night is an odd little play. It promises to be something quite special, but somehow
never manages to rise above the level of whimsy. Given the history of engagement between
Turkish and German cultures I was expecting Schimmelpfennig to have something interesting
to say about the intermingling of cultures in his homeland. What he actually produces is a
collection of odd little fantasies and some slight meditations on intimacy and loneliness.
Full Review
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Fake Porno
The Red Rollerdoor, Melbourne; RideOn Theatre, LUPA
Art
It’s a thrilling thing to
walk into a performance space and immediately get the feeling that what you’re about
to see is something uniquely different.
Full Review
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Blue/Orange
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide; State Theatre Company
Of South Australia
Winner of an Olivier Award for
best play, Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange challenges the assumptions about
‘normality’ while examining the unspoken politics of institutions.
Full Review
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Borrowed Time
Bakehouse Theatre, Adelaide; Professional
Collective
There is something special about a
premiere of a new work by Stephen House. Having penned around 16 plays, each is eagerly
anticipated, reflecting a social commentary of life.
Full Review
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Our Country's Good
Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney; The Group Theatre
Performances about convicts can be
a bit hit-and-miss. Some are particularly moving and, if well-executed, engaging. Others
tend to seem like a high-school drama class in silly wigs and breeches. Our Country's
Good was, unfortunately, towards the latter end of the scale.
Full Review
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Reefer Madness
Cleveland Street Theatre, Sydney; Squabbalogic
It's 8pm on a rainy winter night
in Sydney. Do you know where your children are? Hopefully they're at the Cleveland Street
Theatre watching Reefer Madness because, to put it simply, it's hilarious and
highly entertaining.
Full Review
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The Age Of Consent
Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney; Bareboards Productions
As much as theatre is pure
entertainment, I absolutely love when a show throws on stage characters, words and ideas
that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Theatre that is about risk, theatre that
doesn’t take the safe option, theatre that inspires debate, praise and censure
Full Review
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Scorched
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney; Company B
Scorched is an intense
experience, laden as it is with bits of just about every genre you can think of –
tragedy, comedy, horror, domestic drama, heroic quest, military epic – and symbolism.
Lots and lots of symbolism. The sheer weight of these various elements threatens to drown
the play, but this production is saved by outstanding performances and some excellent
design.
Full Review
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Blackbird
Beckett Theatre, Melbourne; Melbourne Theatre
Company
Melbourne Theatre Company’s
interpretation of David Harrower’s Blackbird is a rare bird indeed, not
least because the play’s confronting central theme is pedophilia.
Full Review
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All My Sleep And Waking
La Mama, Melbourne; Soulart
All My Sleep And Waking is the
sort of production that theatre goers hope to see, but don’t always experience.
Fluent and sharp, with authentically uproarious moments, this play deconstructs the family
dynamics surrounding a dying father and candidly explores the landscapes and legacy of
memory.
Full Review
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Holiday
Tower Theatre, Melbourne; CUB Malthouse and Ranters
Theatre
Holiday is a meditative
exploration of a world separated from the responsibility and routine of day-to-day life.
It’s more weekend beach house than five star resort, but who doesn’t love a few
days at the beach.
Full Review
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Bite Me Harder
The Arts Centre, Melbourne; Yana Alana And The
Paranas With The Town Bikes
Yana Alana is a feisty,
short-fused, has a penchant for the c-word, and a narcissistic personality disorder. But
let’s hope she’s not booking in for therapy any time soon because her
egocentricities and schlock poetry make Bite Me Harder a riotous night.
Full Review
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Follies
State Theatre, Melbourne; The Production Company
There are so many star turns by
legendary Australian performers in the Production Company’s staging of
Sondheim’s Follies that sometimes it’s hard know where to look.
Full Review
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Closer
Brightspace, Melbourne; TaDaa Productions
Enough with the foreplay, all
ready! Closer is the provocative and
award-winning play by Patrick Marber, that charts the intertwined lives, relationships and
sexual entanglements of four characters over a four and a half years. TaDaa Productions
have produced a slick and safe interpretation of this play that shadows the popular and
successful 2004 film version.
Full Review
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Wicked
Regent Theatre, Melbourne; The Gordon/Frost
Organisation, Universal Pictures
Musical theatre is often looked at
as a ferocious and entertaining beast without a heart; a genre that provides plenty of
flamboyant singing and dancing but very little substance. Every now and again, however, a
show comes along that embodies the spirit, emotion and class that musical theatre holds in
its overall promise, and Wicked is such a show.
Full Review
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Manna
Wharf 2, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
Not so much a play as a
performance piece, Manna, the latest offering from the Sydney Theatre
Company’s ‘experimental’ arm, Wharf2Loud, is part soundscape, part opera,
and all aural adventure.
Full Review
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The Thing About Men
Theatreworks, Melbourne; Magnormos Prompt Musicals
Musicals as fresh and cleverly
written as The Thing About Men are few and far between making the Australian
premiere well worth a ticket.
Full Review
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Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
Beckett Theatre, Melbourne; Malthouse Theatre
Between the Devil and the Deep
Blue Sea is a cabaret treat from UK
company 1927. Part homage, part satire and all
passion, 1927 have mixed their favourite genres to create something irresistible.
Full Review
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Don't Say The Words
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Griffin Theatre
Company
Watching Don't Say The Words,
I was assailed by a growing feeling of déjà vu. There was something oddly familiar about
it all – the retelling of classical mythology in a contemporary setting, nasty
violent things happening in a grotty bathroom, impromptu renditions of pop
classics…then it hit me. It was Barrie Kosky's The Lost Echo all over again!
Full Review
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Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me
The Butterfly Club, Melbourne; The Butterfly Club
In Melbourne briefly before
heading off to Edinburgh in August, Brisbane’s sassiest songstress Melissa Western
was in fine form, and fine voice.
Full Review
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Ball Game
Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney; Darlinghurst Theatre
Co, Sauna Productions and Inc Studios
Alan Ball is a name that deserves
respect. His writing work with American Beauty and Six Feet Under is to
be applauded, and he is better than most at looking at dysfunctional societies.
Full Review
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Waiting For Godot
Cromwell Street Theatre, Melbourne; Cracked Actors
I enjoyed this Waiting For Godot like a young bottle of red.
It’s still a bit rough, but the skill of its making is evident and its richness and
complexity will come with exposure and time.
Full Review
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Spilt Milk
Melbourne Schools Show - Various Venues
Westside Circus’s Spilt Milk is a vibrant and poignant piece of
performance art touring to regional Victorian schools. Although created for 9 to 15 year
olds, the themes are universal and as an adult I was captivated by this piece that
transcends age and genre with its powerful storytelling.
Full Review
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Poster Girl
Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney; Gemeinschaft Dogs
In our contemporary world where
Paris Hilton types stagger around on legs so thin they could snap, doped up to the
eyeballs with money to burn and put on pedestals the world over, it’s no wonder
Australian playwright Van Badham has taken on the juicy subject matter. After five years
of overseas playwriting success, Badham is back with the premiere of her latest work, Poster
Girl, directed by James Beach. Our heroine (and I use the term loosely) Mindy Xyloine
is kidnapped, blindfolded and, forced to eat lentils. Inspired by Patty Hearst’s
kidnapping in the 1970’s by the Symbionese Liberation Army, Poster Girl is a
black comedy charting how one so-called airhead works the media and wields her
sugar-coated power. Badham injects her trademark wicked humour into the world of a
celebrity who is famous for nothing in particular, then dumped into the role of a
modern-day revolutionary.
Full Review
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Lovebites
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Whitebox
People will automatically compare
James Millar and Peter Rutherford's LoveBites with their successful, landmark
debut with The Hatpin earlier this year, but this latest work from the duo is far
from a follow-up.
Full Review
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You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
Cromwell Road Theatre, Melbourne; Melbourne
Musicals
Seemingly simple in structure and
subject matter, this musical based on Charles M Schultz’ much-loved comic strip Peanuts,
is actually a deceptively challenging piece of theatre.
Full Review
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The Rules Of April
Newtown Theatre, Sydney; Tunks Productions
It’s already his third play
this year, and Wayne Tunks is back in his favourite writer/producer/performer
triple-hander role with The Rules Of April, which premiered Thursday at Newtown
Theatre. Back to his rom-com roots, Tunks’ latest play follows three sisters and
their trials and tribulations in the face of love. Armed with manically feuding parents
and plenty a love catastrophe to go around, the girls have to find their own way around
the rocky path of the heart.
Full Review
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Altar Boyz
Seymour Centre, Sydney; Ovations Live
Boy Bands and Christian rock are
big business, as illustrated by the popular success of Altar Boyz. Having done
well off-Broadway in the last few years, it’s been imported to Australia with few
changes.
Full Review
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Miss Julie
Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre; Vanilla
Productions
Strindberg's Miss Julie
is one of those classics that distils the most potent human vices into one heady
concoction. When the misplaced lust of a count's daughter meets with the unbridled
ambition of Daddy's footman, brittle class structures come crashing down around their ears
with terrible consequences. Director Vladislavs Nastavshevs chooses to illustrate this
through simple but elegant production design. Unfortunately this distracts him from the
actual performance.
Full Review
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The Chaser's Age Of Terror Variety Hour
The Athenaeum, Melbourne;
I have to admire a group who
finish their show by telling the assembled crowd that they’re the worst audience
they’ve ever seen; then create an instant standing ovation by using one of the most
overused jokes in Australian comedy. The Chaser team are having a break from the telly and
touring with The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety
Hour.
Full Review
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The Great
Wharf 1, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
Tony McNamara’s latest
offering isn’t so much an accurate retelling of the story of Catherine the Great as
it is a fun romp with characters that happen to have similar names and backgrounds to
historical people. The bare factual bones are there; a young naïve noblewoman marries a
breathtakingly immature monarch, does a bit of book-learnin’ and after a successful
coup drags Russia kicking and screaming into the Age of Enlightenment. McNamara plays fast
and loose with the facts, fleshing them out with a fanciful and somewhat bawdy tale that
is immensely entertaining from start to finish.
Full Review
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The Real Inspector Hound
New Theatre, Sydney; New Theatre
Following its well-received
production of Angels In America, New Theatre have gone to the other end of the
theatrical spectrum with Tom Stoppard’s classic whodunnit farce, The Real
Inspector Hound.
Full Review
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How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found
Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre,
Melbourne; Hoy Polloy
Melbourne independent
theatre company Hoy Polloy presents the Australian premiere of How To Disappear
Completely And Never Be Found at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick. The company is
dedicated to producing theatre that will ‘resonate, challenge and entertain
audiences’. With this mission statement at its helm it has produced a play worthy of
a premiere in this country.
Full Review
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Stoning Mary
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Griffin Theatre
Company
Sydney audiences watching Stoning
Mary will most likely find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Debbie Tucker
Green’s writing is punchy and sparse, negotiating confrontingly raw human issues in a
confined, tightly woven narrative.
Full Review
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Mum's The Word 2: Teenagers
Theatre Royal, Sydney; Dainty Consolidated
Entertainment, newtheatricals, Burberry Productions
When the musical Menopause
became a smash hit, it was no real surprise given its specific target market and the
play-for-laughs format that was implemented by its creators.
Full Review
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Les Miserables
Scott Theatre, Adelaide; Gilbert & Sullivan
Society
Do You Hear the People Sing? You
certainly do in this new production of Boublil and Schonberg’s modern classic, Les
Miserables, currently being presented in Adelaide by the Gilbert and Sullivan
Society.
Full Review
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My Fair Lady
State Theatre, Melbourne; Opera Australia
The musical My Fair Lady
may seem anachronistic in these post-Cinderella, post-Diana times. However, get past the
syrupy romantic songs, and you will discover a very witty and surprisingly substantial
play about class and gender politics.
Full Review
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Through The Looking Glass
Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne; Malthouse Theatre &
Victorian Opera
Through the Looking Glass is the first
collaboration between Malthouse Theatre and Victorian Opera. The 2008 Malthouse season
continues to surprise and delight with this astonishing new opera.
Full Review
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Death Of A Salesman
Seymour Centre, Sydney; Ensemble Theatre Company
Death Of A Salesman. That
iconic, Arthur Miller masterpiece we often first meet as students, thumbed through and
decades old. At least that was my first memory of the play. My first meeting was not well
received – I watched the film version in which Dustin Hoffman played a weedy, whiny
Willy Loman. It wasn’t until years later that I heard the old recording with Lee J.
Cobb, the original Loman that the true wealth of the work rang true to me. His lumbering,
burdened yet stubbornly hopeful portrayal, cemented Loman as one of the greatest tragic
heroes theatre has ever seen. Fortunately, in the Ensemble’s latest staging of the
classic, Sean Taylor takes on the role with ease and stoic, tragic dignity.
Full Review
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The Arrival
Fairfax Studio, Melbourne; Spare Parts Puppet
Theatre
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre began developing their adaptation of Sean
Tan’s The Arrival at the same time as Tan
was finishing his award-winning graphic novel of the same name. This parallel production
is mesmerising and beautiful. The complexity of the book is simplified, but it stays true
to Tan’s remarkable story about immigration.
Full Review
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48 Hour Play Generator
BMW Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne; The
Emerging Writers Festival
Take four emerging playwrights and
four famous paintings. Leave them alone for 48 hours and see what happens. Welcome to the
second 48 Hour Play Generator, the closing event
of Melbourne’s Emerging Writer’s Festival.
Full Review
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Shedding
La Mama at the Carlton Courthouse,
Melbourne; La Mama
Shedding
is a self-assured and indomitable play that traverses the shadier parts of the human
condition with wit and frankness.
Full Review
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QED
Ensemble Theatre, Sydney; Ensemble Theatre Company
Richard Feynman, as he is
presented in QED, seemed like such a strange amalgam of different passions that I
felt compelled to do a bit of research to see how much was true. As far as 5 minutes worth
of Googling tells me, he was every bit as remarkable as playwright Peter Parnell makes him
out to be.
Full Review
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Defiance
Q Station, Sydney; Carlton Lamb Productions
Sydney’s old Quarantine
Station has been reincarnated as Q Station, with the high-tech Defiance as its
centrepiece. Billed as an immersive theatrical experience, Defiance tells the
story of erstwhile inmates, and questions how we would handle a pandemic in the future.
Full Review
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Colder
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Pussycatomoko, Griffin
Theatre Company
In a city of over five million
people, would you notice if one person disappeared?
Full Review
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An Evening With Lorna Luft
Fairfax Studio, The Arts Centre, Melbourne;
Showtune Productions
Melbourne didn’t see Lorna Luft’s multimedia show Songs My Mother Taught Me. Instead, we were
treated to the much more intimate An Evening with
Lorna Luft. This gave us the opportunity to see Luft for herself, without immediate
association with well-known members of her family.
Full Review
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Two Weddings And A Lawyer
TAP Gallery, Sydney; Splash Productions
Jimmy Gabriel is a lawyer with a
problem. In fact, a couple of them. He has just proposed to the devout,
bible-verse-spouting Wendy, although isn’t sure she is the one for him. His Swedish
flatemate Inga needs him to pretend to be her fiancee so she can extend her visa –
and yes, she is gorgeous. A snaky lady from the Department of Immigration keeps knocking
on his door and to top it all off, his overbearing neighbour will not leave him alone. Two
Weddings And A Lawyer, the latest play from real-life lawyer Tony Laumberg follows
Jimmy as he navigates this precarious path and realises you cannot please everyone in this
world.
Full Review
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The Girl From The West Of The City
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith;
Catalyst Theatre Productions
There's a pretty simple key to
making a murder mystery style play a success: keep the audience guessing. Any play
involving the hunt for a killer will live or die on whether or not the audience picks the
culprit in the first minute of the piece, half way through or remains in the dark until
the concluding stages, with the rest of the play's elements very much playing second
fiddle.
Full Review
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The Soldier's Tale
Sacred Heart Chapel, Melbourne; The Hayloft Project
#3
The ambience is everything in this
production. We warm ourselves on red wine in the courtyard foyer, as we wait to be
welcomed inside the chapel itself. As an audience we seek permission to enter the space,
hope to be taken somewhere new and seek refuge in a tale from the past. The scene is set
for an historic look at the beginnings of modernism and Faust’s ageless story.
Full Review
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Busting Out
Factory Theatre, Sydney; Cracker Comedy Festival
When told I was seeing Busting
Out, I thought I would be watching either a live performance of Prison Break,
or a flashy comedy about breasts. Thank goodness it was the latter.
Full Review
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Arabella
Arts Centre, Melbourne; Opera Australia
Opera Australia’s new
production of Arabella is a veritable feast for
serious opera goers. Strauss’s sumptuous score is matched by bravura performances
from the principals, and a glorious design compliments John Cox’s meticulous
direction.
Full Review
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Romeo And Juliet
Auspicious Arts Incubator, Melbourne; Eagles Nest
Theatre
Eagles Nest Theatre is a tenacious
independent company committed to bringing classic and new work to schools and regional
audiences.
Full Review
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The Good German
Seymour Centre, Sydney; Black Pearl Theatre Company
The Good German –
it’s a popular title, but the only thing that David Wiltse’s play shares with
the movie of the same name is, well, the title. Wiltse’s good German is an academic,
Karl Vogel (Ivar Kants), who has been guilted by his wife into sheltering an unfortunate
Jewish man (Mark Lee) during WWII.
Full Review
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Cellblock Booty
Collingwood Underground Arts Park, Melbourne;
Sisters Grimm
The breadth of the offence in
Sisters Grimm’s Cellblock Beauty is
something to behold. Sexism, racism, homophobia and blasphemy are rampant, in a work that
entertains though sheer exploitation.
Full Review
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Ollie And The Minotaur
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne; floogle, 9minds
Ollie And The Minotaur is as
good as theatre gets. Intricately crafted writing, powerful direction and remarkable
performances prove that the fourth wall and naturalism is still a force to be reckoned
with.
Full Review
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The Serpent's Teeth
Drama Theatre, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
Australian playwright Daniel
Keene, has a wealth of credits already to his name, although most Australian theatregoers
are not familiar with his work. Although he has had productions staged in Australia, most
notably The Night Watchman for Griffin in 2007, Keene’s writing has found more
success in Europe than at home. Audiences in France and Berlin especially rave when a new Keene
play hits their stages. For the Sydney Theatre Company, Keene’s latest work The
Serpent’s Teeth hits Australian stages in two parts; Citizens and Soliders.
Full Review
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Venus & Adonis
Beckett Theatre, Melbourne; Malthouse Theatre
Company, Bell Shakespeare
“She’s love, she loves,
and yet she is not loved.” When Shakespeare wrote his poetic interpretation of the Venus & Adonis myth, he knew that thousands of
years had not changed the dilemma of being a woman who loves. Malthouse Theatre and Bell
Shakespeare continue to explore the nature of this myth in an original, complex and
resonating production.
Full Review
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Angels In America
New Theatre, Sydney; New Theatre
A Mormon couple struggling to come
to grips with their sexless marriage and life in a fast-paced city where nice guys finish
last, a gay couple coming to terms with the harsh reality of HIV/AIDS and a tough-talking
lawyer who is willing to bend the rules if the price is right. Angels in America follows the stories of a series
of seemingly unrelated characters as they are thrown together by circumstances out of
their control, and their lives become intertwined.
Full Review
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James Lee
AB Hotel, Sydney; Cabaret @ Moskaba
Sometimes, the best cabaret songs
aren't cabaret songs at all.
Full Review
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Carmen
Arts Centre, Melbourne; Opera Australia
Opera Australia opens its Autumn
Season in Melbourne with a new production of the crowd pleaser Carmen, and the Melbourne debut of mezzo Pamela
Helen Stephen in the title role. Though visually and musically appealing, this production
lacks the crucial emotional impact.
Full Review
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The Female Of The Species
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide; State Theatre Company
of South Australia
Drawing inspiration from an
incident where Germaine Greer was taken hostage in her English home, Joanna
Murray-Smith’s The Female of the Species is a farcical exposition of
feminism in the twenty-first century.
Full Review
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Oasis, Oasis
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne;
Some people can chose the right
words, then put them in an order that makes your insides stir. Adam Cass writes
beautifully. And he understands how to use beautifully arranged words to create engaging
and moving theatre. Oasis, Oasis is his most
recent work. This production deserves to be seen and loved.
Full Review
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The 39 Steps
The Playhouse, Melbourne; Melbourne Theatre Company
MTC’s production of The 39 Steps is satire, mixed with slapstick and
a dash of irony - all blended in one hilarious spoof.
Full Review
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Paris
Laycock Street Theatre, Gosford; David Spicer
Productions
Ancient Greek mythology, while
timelessly fascinating, is not always accessible to a modern audience, but as director
Stuart Smith shows in the latest production of Paris, when combined with a rock
soundtrack, tasteful design and an enthusiastic cast, the epic narrative of the ten-year
Trojan War proves almost irresistible - engaging and exciting the audience throughout, and
leaving heaving chests and racing hearts as it draws to its tragic conclusion.
Full Review
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Keating!
Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide; Company B
Over the last couple of years,
much has been written about Casey Bennetto’s Keating!, a musical parody on
the reign and fall of one of Australia’s enigmatic Prime Ministers: Paul Keating.
This week, Adelaide once again got to relive what all the hype is all about. And
justifiably so!
Full Review
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Antigone
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney; Company B
Walking into Belvoir Upstairs
theatre on Wednesday night, I was haunted by some childhood memories. Firstly of school
assemblies and dancing competitions in the local community hall, secondly of the dull
fluorescent lights in my old orthodontist. This was because walking into the theatre that
is literally what lies before the audience. A community hall - complete with parquetry
floors, water stained ceiling, bulky air-conditioning ducts, fire extinguishers and green
exit signs – has taken up residence at Belvoir. Once I had gotten over my surprise at
this fact, I had to do another double take. This was the set for Antigone,
Sophocles’ ancient tragedy, apparently. Immediately I knew Director Chris Kohn was
determined to take the text into the realms of the contemporary and I was intrigued. This
new Antigone, with a 90 minute re-energised script from Seamus Heaney, is
definitely a fresh take, yet far from a successful venture.
Full Review
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My Year Without Sex
Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne; Melbourne
International Comedy Festival
There is a lot to admire about My Year Without Sex. There’s
a lot to enjoy as well, but it doesn’t come together as an engaging story.
Full Review
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Moving Target (Sydney Season)
The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Sydney; Malthouse
Theatre, Sydney Opera House
There are sections of Moving
Target that will delight and intrigue audiences. The result of a collaboration
between Australian director Benedict Andrews and German playwright Marius von Mayenburg, Moving
Target is a mix of drama, movement and sound that is both astounding and frustrating.
Full Review
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Guys And Dolls
Princess Theatre, Melbourne; Ambassador Theatre
Group, Dennis Smith, Marriner Theatres, Tulchin/Bartner Productions
I never thought I would be so
grateful for the presence of Marina Prior on stage, but thank God the producers were wise
enough to include her in this “star cast” production of Guys And Dolls.
Her impeccable performance as Miss Adelaide saves what would otherwise be a good but as of
yet, not quite good enough re-creation of the Olivier Award winning West End Production.
Full Review
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The Best Of Edinburgh Festival
RMIT Capitol Theatre, Melbourne; Mary Tobin
Presents
The Best Of The Edinburgh Fest
is four hot courses of new talent from an event more famous than the city. I went with an
unrequited sense of nostalgia, hoping to recreate that feeling of being ‘in the
know’.
Full Review
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Burnt Piano
Ensemble Theatre, Sydney; Ensemble Theatre Company
“One was saved and the other
damned”. This biblical thought, reiterated in Waiting for Godot, forms much of the basis of the
Ensemble theatre’s production of Burnt Piano.
Full Review
---
Men, Love And The Monkeyboy
Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney; Shaman Productions
Humans and apes. Long before
scientific studies proved our shared DNA, it was very clear that simply in our behaviours
we are scarily similar. Australian playwright Caleb Lewis takes the links one step further
and explores concepts of masculinity and male relationships through the eyes of a young
primatologist, looking at the male members of his family. On one level, Men Love and
the Monkeyboy, is what you would expect – a comedy about the apish qualities of
men and their need to compete, aggravate, play around and fight over females. This is
entertaining enough, yet it is where the play travels, into darker, more psychologically
layered territory, that it really shines.
Full Review
---
The Year Of Magical Thinking
Wharf One, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
When something has the word
Magical in the title, it must have fairy-tale implications, right? This is far from the
case in The Year Of Magical Thinking. As playwright Joan Didion explains, magical
thinking is a psychological process that helps her get through the hellish experience of
losing both husband and daughter within a short period.
Full Review
---
The Ballad Of Roger and Grace
Bosco Theatre, Melbourne; Melbourne International
Comedy Festival
The sublime to the ridiculous is a
cliché I’d prefer to avoid, but 24 hours at the Melbourne International Comedy
Festival took me to such extremes. I
experienced the most perfect, poignant and beautiful and the most dull, ignorant and
offensive.
Full Review
---
Reuben Krum's Naughty Show
Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne; Melbourne
International Comedy Festival
I like my singers vocally strong,
my boys pretty, my humour black, my content complex and my cabaret obscene. Reuben
Krum’s Naughty Show ticked my boxes – and made me laugh ‘til it hurt.
Full Review
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Kill The Wolf
The Arts Centre, Melbourne; 9minds
9minds is one of the many fabulous
independent theatre companies hidden in Melbourne. Kill the Wolf is a script that deserves to be seen
and admired. I wish more people had the chance.
Full Review
---
Short, Sweet & Song
Seymour Centre Downstairs
Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
Maz Dixon checks out all the fun of Short, Sweet & Song.
Full Review
---
Ha Ha Yum
Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne; Melbourne
International Comedy Festival
Mauve Higgins is a lovely Irish girl with a dry, sarcastic wit and a unique
understated manner. Quirky and fun, her new comedy show is a recipe for a good laugh.
Full Review
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Laughapoolooza
Umbrella Revolution, Federation Square, Melbourne;
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Laughapoolooza is a showcase
of musical comedians (or comical musicians) appearing at the Melbourne International
Comedy Festival. In its fourth year, the likes of the wonderful Tim Minchin, Tripod and
Sista She have appeared. This year’s “best of” aren’t quite of that
standard, but still worthy of a chuckle or two.
Full Review
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Arj Barker: New & Improved
Forum Theatre, Melbourne; Melbourne International
Comedy Festival
Arjy Bargy, you are one funny man!
Full Review
---
Ha Ha Yum
Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne; Melbourne
International Comedy Festival
Mauve Higgins is a lovely Irish
girl with a dry, sarcastic wit and a unique understated manner. Quirky and fun, her new
comedy show is a recipe for a good laugh.
Full Review
---
Get Next To You
Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne; Melbourne Comedy
Festival
Summer has finally been pushed
aside by Autumn and by the opening night of the International Comedy Festival. The buzz
from the crowd on the steps of Melbourne’s Town Hall suggests we’re finally
waking from our extended siesta as we welcome back the spruikers and the blackboard with a
new list of shows. My first punt was on Stephen Amos who’s made Melbourne an annual
event.
Full Review
---
Holding The Man
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse, Melbourne; Melbourne
Theatre Company
Holding the Man has been
leaving audience members in floods of tears since its first production in 2006 by Griffin.
Return seasons and new venues have let many more join in the cathartic weeping. MTC have
brought it to Melbourne.
Full Review
---
The Kid
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Griffin Theatre
Company
Michael Gow’s piece of
Australian gothica, circa 1983, doesn’t feel like it’s aged a bit. There’s
something about dying country towns, teenage delinquency and religious bigotry that
infuses The Kid with a sense of timelessness.
Full Review
---
Moving Target
Beckett Theatre, CUB Malthouse, Melbourne;
Malthouse Theatre, Adelaide Bank Festival Of The Arts, Sydney Opera House
Last week I despaired at seeing
banality on Melbourne’s professional stages and began to wonder if I was being too
harsh. Last night I saw Moving Target at the
Malthouse. To Benedict Andrews and everyone
involved in the creation of this work – may I say thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you.
Full Review
---
When The Rain Stops Falling
Scott Theatre, Adelaide; Brinks Productions
Nearly four years in the making, When
the Rain Stops Falling is the highly anticipated production from Brink Productions
presented as part of the 2008 Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts.
Full Review
---
The Beauty Queen Of Leenane
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Wildfire
Theatre Company
Microwave porridge, stale biscuits
and one very ominous fire poker. These are just some of the common-place yet darkly
looming objects which make up the world of Mag and Maureen. Somewhere, high on a hill in
the small Irish town of Leenane, forty year old Maureen lives with her acerbic and
dependent mother Mag. We are trapped in the world that has trapped them for more than
twenty years together. Harsh and unrelenting, mother and daughter battle each other with
adapted thick skins which threaten to shut them off from the outside world for good.
Wildfire Theatre Company’s inaugural offering brings Martin McDonagh’s Irish
modern favourite The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, to the Seymour Downstairs with very
black laughs and plenty of Irish gravity.
Full Review
---
Shout! - The Legend Of The Wild One (Sydney season)
Lyric Theatre, Sydney; TML Enterprises
Biographical musicals are never an
easy task to create. Sure, the songs are in place and the general outline of a script is
there, but how do you fit one man's life story into two hours and still ensure it is
entertaining and vibrant?
Full Review
---
Tomfoolery
La Boheme, Adelaide; Loaded Productions
The songs of Tom Lehrer make
wonderful fodder for any cabaret performance due to the satirist’s acerbic wit,
delicious ironies and observations of our ordinary lives.
Full Review
---
Rock 'N' Roll
The Playhouse, The Arts Centre, Melbourne;
Melbourne Theatre Company
Tom Stoppard brilliantly uses the
potent, resonating, loud, angry symbolism of rock and roll throughout Rock
‘N’ Roll. Stoppard continues to write superb scripts; so why is the
MTC’s production about as rock ‘n’ roll as Nanna quietly humming The
Sound of Music as she has a luke warm cup of tea and a Milk Arrowroot?
Full Review
---
The Hatpin
Seymour Centre, Sydney; Neil Gooding Productions,
White Box
Let's get straight to the point:
The Hatpin is my kind of musical – gutsy, gritty, dark, funny, clever, rich in
history and thoroughly moving.
Full Review
---
Hamlet
Tower Theatre, Melbourne; Malthouse Theatre
Director Oscar Redding aptly says,
“If a play has continued to be extraordinary for four hundred years and you fuck it
up you only have yourself to blame”. So
Oscar, I guess I’m blaming you.
Full Review
---
Blowing Whistles
Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Focus
Theatre
When Blowing Whistles
opens with a slideshow of sexy young men and large penises to the soundtrack of
Cher’s ‘Believe’, you know that you are embarking upon a gay adventure.
However, while it initially appears as if it will be a smutty, salacious snapshot of
stereotypical gay culture, it proves to be much more.
Full Review
---
Tartuffe
Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne; Malthouse Theatre
The creatives and cast of
Malthouse Theatre’s Tartuffe seduce the
audience so convincingly that imperfections with the production become irrelevant.
Full Review
---
The Seed
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney; Company B
It’s the little play that
could. Kate Mulvany’s The Seed has graduated to the main stage at Belvoir
Street Theatre with flying colours. This significant new Australian work by a promising
young female writer is a story about three people, struggling to come to terms with the
past and desperately needing to embrace the present. It’s an incredible script,
detailed and lyrical, at times raw and earthy. It’s laugh out loud funny and
heartbreakingly sad. What gives The Seed its undeniable pulling power is Mulvany
herself – performing in the lead role, playing herself (Rose Maloney though, not Kate
Mulvany) this is her very own story, plucked fresh from old familial wounds. And the
unearthing of the story wasn’t easy.
Full Review
---
The Rocky Horror Show
Star Theatre, Sydney; Dainty Consolidated
Entertainment, Ambassador Theatre Group, NewTheatricals
The story is iconic, the
characters are legendary and the songs are etched in theatrical history, carrying across
generations and escaping the traditional 'showtune' mould to become numbers well
entrenched in popular culture. With those elements already on the table, how could you
really go wrong with The Rocky Horror Show?
Full Review
---
Motortown
SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney; Little Death
Productions
The flyer for Motortown
bears the warning that the play "contains very strong language and violent scenes
that may offend". It may come as a surprise, then, when the piece opens with people
waving sparklers and dancing to Britney Spears.
Full Review
---
The Vertical Hour
Drama Theatre, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company
When David Hare’s latest play The Vertical Hour premiered on
Broadway with Bill Nighy and Julianne Moore, directed by the legendary Sam Mendes, it
wasn’t widely embraced as up to his usual brilliance. Perhaps it was that the leads,
although incredible actors, were miscast as was debated by leading critics. In any case,
the latest production which premiered in the UK at the Royal Court Theatre only weeks ago,
has critics shifting their views to a more unanimous voice of gratification. Now the
Sydney Theatre Company is presenting the Brit-playwright’s work, which many hail as
Hare exploring the human psyche over his typical exploration of issues.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Wildcards Week 5
Seymour Centre Downstairs
Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
The final performance for Short & Sweet 2008.
Full Review
---
Corpus Christi
New Theatre, Sydney; Showtune Productions
Set in the USA’s ‘Deep
South’ in the Texan town of Corpus Christi, this play navigates some of the
Bible’s most cherished stories, albeit appropriated into a modern context. As an
official Mardi Gras event, and in spite its biblical foundation, Corpus Christi also
explores contemporary issues, including homosexuality.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 5b
Newtown Theatre, Sydney;
Short & Sweet
The final week of the festival continues.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 5a
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
The final week of the festival begins.
Full Review
---
Silvertop Ash
Riverside Theatres, Sydney; Tunks Productions
Anyone who has followed the career
of Wayne Tunks knows what a fantastic playwright he can be at times, but they would also
be aware of his tendency to lose his way and produce a bad apple.
Full Review
---
The Busy World Is Hushed
Ensemble Theatre, Sydney; Ensemble Theatre Company
Hannah, a minister of the
Episcopal Church, exclaims that she wants her windows “free of stains”. She is
referring to the embellished stained glass windows in her study, although is making a
deeper reference to her own unique view of God.
Full Review
---
A Local Man
The Space Theatre, Adelaide; Keep Breathing
Productions & Tony Barry Enterprises.
Ben Chifley is considered to be
one of Australia’s best-loved Prime Ministers. His life story, from train driver to
Prime Minister, via the union movement is well documented. Featuring Tony Barry as
Chifley, Bob Ellis and Robin McLachlan's biographical monologue takes the audience on a
historical journey that remembers his childhood and his regrets and achievements as Prime
Minister.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Wildcards Week 4
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
We take a look at the Wildcards from week four of the Short & Sweet
festival.
Full Review
---
As You Like It
Sydney Opera House Playhouse, Sydney; Bell
Shakespeare
As You Like It is one of
Shakespeare’s classic love stories. You know, the timeless story of
Boy-Meets-Girl-Who-Pretends-To-Be-A-Boy-Pretending-To-Be-A-Girl. The story is convoluted,
the characters’ motivations questionable, their actions deeply ludicrous.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 4b
Newtown Theatre, Sydney;
Short & Sweet
Our coverage of Short & Sweet continues.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 4a
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
Joanna Erskine looks at Week four of the Short & Sweet festival.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Wildcards Week 3
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
We take a look at the Wildcards from week three of the Short & Sweet
festival.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 3b
Seymour Centre Downstairs
Theatre, Sydney; Short & Sweet
Our coverage of Short & Sweet 2008 continues.
Full Review
---
Hello Again
Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney; Darlinghurst Theatre
Company and Gaiety Theatre
How much sex is too much sex?
That's the question Hello Again essentially asks through its 80 minutes of
affairs, innuendo, liaisons and love, and the answer really does lie in the tastes of each
individual viewing what's happening on stage.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 3a
Seymour Centre Downstairs
Theatre, Sydney; Short & Sweet
Our coverage of Short & Sweet 2008 continues.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Wildcards Week 2
Seymour Centre Downstairs
Theatre, Sydney; Short & Sweet
Joanna Erskine takes a look at the Wildcards from week two of the Short &
Sweet festival.
Full Review
---
Cole's Girls
Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne;
Cole’s Girls is laugh
‘til it hurts stuff. Sometimes it hurts because it’s just so wrong, sometimes it
hurts because it’s little bit close to home and sometimes it hurts because you
haven’t had time to draw a breath between jokes. Satirical, crude and just damn
hilarious; these cheap drag scrags are as special as the Boxing Day sales with an
unlimited credit card.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 2b
Newtown Theatre, Sydney; Short & Sweet
Short & Sweet 2008 rolls on.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 2a
Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre, Sydney; Short
& Sweet
Short & Sweet at the Seymour!
Full Review
---
Angry Young Women In Low-Rise Jeans With High Class Issues
Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney; Stella Green
Productions
Given Angry Young Women In
Low-Rise Jeans With High Class Issues aims to explore the core differences between
men and women, the fact that it is written by a man opens up several possibilities and
pre-conceived notions. Firstly, there could be automatic frowning with the common catch
cry of “what would a man know about women’s issues”, and secondly, one
fears this could just be a 90 minute rant that paints men as the dominant sex and makes a
mockery of women.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet: Week 1a
Newtown Theatre, Sydney; Short & Sweet
We kick off our Short & Sweet coverage
Full Review
---
Ngapartji Ngapartji
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney; Big Hart, Company
B, Sydney Festival
Given the stunning national and
international line-up Fergus Linehan has produced for the 2008 Sydney Festival, it is a
great thing indeed to see so many Sydney-siders enjoying the arts en masse with such
enthusiasm. With the riotous success of Festival First Night, I was on a cultural high
when I entered the theatre for my first show of the year – Ngapartji Ngapartji –
and I was not disappointed. Not only is this a knock-out Australian work, it acknowledges
a higher purpose than to simply entertain, and pursues this goal with humour and
integrity.
Full Review
---
Shout! - The Legend Of The Wild One
State Theatre, The Arts Centre, Melbourne; TML
Enterprises
If this is down and dirty, sweaty
and sexy rock and roll, then I don’t know what all the fuss is about.
Full Review
---
Short & Sweet Melbourne: Week Three Wildcards |
