Reviews

One Man, Two Guvnors

Written by Richard Bean. Directed by Chris Baldock. Heidelberg Theatre Company, Rosanna. Nov 18 – Dec 3, 2016

Multi award winning Director Chris Baldock has been an integral part of both Independent and Community Theatre circles in Melbourne for many years. His own  company, Mockingbird Theatre, was responsible for some of the most exciting theatre in Australia over a number of years and productions, breaking conventions and raising standards in confronting plays that deserved to be seen. Some of my favourite nights of theatre in the past five years have been spent admiring Baldock’s work and incredible casting.

The Addams Family

Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Directed by Ryan S. McNally. Musical Direction by Krispin Maesalu. Phoenix Theatre, Hamilton Hill, WA. 24 Nov - 10 Dec 2016

Phoenix Theatre’s The Addams Family is an immersive experience - from a heavily and impressively decorated foyer, to a playing area that extends through the auditorium.

Phoenix Theatre has a notoriously small stage, and this production accommodated its cast of 25 by extending the playing space, via catwalks, forming a ‘pit’ to house the strong 13 piece orchestra.

The music was very precise and the sound levels of the band were well controlled - although it was difficult to hear individual solo lines within the big production numbers.

Blitz!

By Lionel Bart and Joan Maitland. Directed by Alan Brock, Musical Direction by Lyn Brown. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo, WA. Nov 24 - Dec 10, 2016

Blitz!, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart and book by Lionel Bart and Joan Maitland, is set during the London Blitz of World War II, A nostalgic; historic musical, it is rarely performed, despite running for over a year on the West End.

Reefer Madness

Book, Music and lyrics by Dan Studney and Kevin Murphy. RL Productions. Directed by Stephen Wheat. Chapel off Chapel. 25th November – 4th December, 2016

Reefer Madness may not be the best musical ever written, but it is quite possibly the funniest. Inspired by the deathly serious, church backed, film of 1936 on the perils of Marijuana, it’s a marvellous satirical melange…or perhaps a blancmange: guaranteed to send you right round the twist into lunacy! (The drug and the show.)

No Sex Please We’re British

By Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot. Noarlunga Theatre Company. 25 November - 4 December, 2016

The purpose of farcical comedy is to evoke laughter and Noarlunga Theatre Company’s latest offering does just that. At the helm is first time director Linda Lawson. No stranger to the stage, Lawson does a fine job to keep this fast-paced show rolling along.

Rough Crossing

By Tom Stoppard. Lyrics & Music: Andre Previn. Musical Director: Mark Connors. Directors: Fiona Kennedy, Jane Sizer. Villanova Players. F.T. Barell Auditorium, Yeronga. 18 Nov – 4 Dec 2016

The best things about Villanova Players’ Rough Crossing were the musical numbers. Performed either by piano or to a synth backing they captured the period and brought life to this dull, inconsequential play by Tom Stoppard.

Noises Off!

By Michael Frayn. Wyong Drama Group. Directed by Pam Campbell. Set Design: Daryl Kirkness. Art House Theatre Wyong, November 18-26, 2016

[Cue Etta James] At last, WDG has finally opened their first show at the new Art House! Noises Off was actually originally slated to be staged as the new facility's curtain raiser in May this year (and indeed, rehearsals commenced in March) but due to a delay in the building's completion, the production had to be pushed back six months. While this may have been inconvenient, it certainly didn't hurt to have the audience's anticipation heightened from a publicity perspective.

What’s Yours Is Mine

Devised & performed by Simone French, Tom Halls & Hayden Burke. Directed by Yvonne Virsik. Hotel Now. Poppy Seed Theatre Festival. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne CBD. 22 November – 4 December 2016.

Here is an ambitious show, jam-packed to bursting with satirical ideas about Australia, about land and ownership, about racism, Pauline Hansen, plastic, consumerism, sexism… 

Extremities

By William Mastrosimone. Mystique Productions and Tony Knight Acting. Directed by Tony Knight. Produced by Rachel Wegener. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 23-26 November, 2016.

A man (Adam Tuominen as Raul) has arrived, unknown and uninvited, at the home that a woman (Rachel Wegener as Marjorie) shares with two female housemates (Nikki Elli Souvertjis as Terry, and Stefanie Rossi as Patricia), both of whom happen to be out…The man gradually turns threatening, with the woman doing her best to avert what she surely fears could happen – but when it does happen, the results will surprise you, and the moral dilemma that is generated brings home to us the awful truth about the violent nature of man and the legacy it sets in motion…Would we all be wil

Spiegel’esque - A Theatrical Cabaret Sensation

Presented by Vass Entertainment and Kermond Creative. Italian Forum Piazza, Leichhardt. November 25, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

This production might just be the theatrical incarnation of the proverb that good things come in small packages.

Squeezing into the gorgeous antique Spiegel Zelt, that we were told narrowly missed being pulverized by a bomb during World War Two, the expectation was for a small cast performing a cosy night of cabaret.

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