Reviews

SUGAR

Paper Haus Theatre Co. Fringe World (WA). The Black Flamingo at the Pleasure Garden, Russell Square, Northbridge. Jan 27 - Feb 4, 2018

SUGAR is a very pink, very sweet, celebration of a performance, which beneath its sugary surface deals with important issues of anxiety, self esteem and the pressures faced by young women.

Central character Sugar (a picture perfect and delightful Claire Thomas), is feeling rejected, anxious and alone after a really disastrous party. She turns to the internet for help and finds “The Fixits”, a latter-day Spice Girls on steroids, who promise that they can fix any problem.

Completely Improvised Potter

Soothplayers. Fringe World. The Palace Society at Ibis Palace, Ibis Hotel, Perth. Jan 27 - Feb 4, 2018

Completely Improvised Potter promises what every Potter fan desperately craves - another year at Hogwarts with a new book that has never really existed.

Melbourne based improvisation company, Soothplayers, who are also presenting Completely Improvised Shakespeare at Fringe World, ask patrons to write down the name of the Harry Potter book that they have always wanted. These are placed into a large Goblet (of not much fire), and a selection is drawn.

The Obscure Tour

Pedroland. The Navy Club, Fremantle WA and surrounding area. Jan 27 - Feb 15, 2018

A few years ago I was discussing the television show Amazing Race in theatrical company, and it was noted that the Amazing Race was extremely popular amongst “theatre people”. Various theories were tossed around as to the reason for the correlation. Based on that discussion, I might suggest that readers of Stage Whispers are very likely to love The Obscure Tour.

Dragged

Written & Produced by Andy Aisbett. For midsumma festival. La Mama Courthouse, Carlton VIC. 25 January to 4 February 2017

‘Stella’ (Samuel Thompson) is a drag artist – gorgeous, sexy but dissolute, unreliable and self-pitying.  She’s taking a break and a half bottle of Scotch between sets at a drag show venue, and thinking back over her past.  How did she get here?  She remains on stage throughout, mostly in postures of abject defeat, as we go back into that past: so she’s a framing device and occasional Narrator.

Strangers in Between

By Tommy Murphy. Directed by Daniel Lammin, produced by Cameron Lukey and Andy Johnston. fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 24 January - 11 February 2018.

The timing of this production provides the opportunity to reflect on the recent passing of same-sex marriage legislation in Australia. The play was first staged in 2005 and was an immediate hit for its raw yet tender examination of homosexuality. Only the absence of technology gives away its age. This revival highlights how the themes remain just as hard-hitting today.

Wild Bore

Sydney Festival. Carriageworks. January 24 - 28, 2018

Three female, boundary-bulldozing cabaret performers put their arses on the line with this spirited show attacking critics of their other shows.    

Zoe Coombs Marr, Ursula Martinez and Adrienne Truscott quote back these hyperbolic negativities through their three articulate arses, propped up on a table of mics as in a panel discussion – of arseholes.

We Were There

Devised & directed by Dirk Hault. Tilted Projects. Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran VIC. 23 January - 4 February 2018

Four engaging, talented actors tell stories of the experience of women and AIDS - from before the condition even had a name, let alone any treatment.  They tell of bafflement and fear, of ignorance, misdiagnosis, prejudice, rejection (including by families), misinformation, euphemisms, evasions, physical and mental suffering, and shame.  But there is also resilience, kindness, love, acceptance, unstinting efforts to find a cure – or at least amelioration – and the formation of support groups and communities of sufferers and carers. 

Mother

By Daniel Keene. A Belvoir and If Theatre Production. Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. Director: Matt Scholten. 25 January - 11 February 2018

She’s a lonely figure on stage as the audience assemble. Surrounded by leaves, rubbish, the left-over detritus of a Melbourne suburban corner, the woman is damaged and shaky, with matted hair and outfit of a beggar. Birds squawk. The audience chatter, are indifferent to her. A full 20 minutes goes by as she potters about, grunting, talking to herself. 

Sorting Out Rachel

By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Nadia Tass. 19 January - 17 March 2018

According to the Ensemble’s program, David Williamson has written ‘more than fifty-three produced plays’, though whether the current one is No. 54 is unclear. At any rate it’s a hell of a lot and, with an apparent lock on the Ensemble’s prime-time, two-month slot every year, who knows the number that the 75-year-old playwright will eventually reach.

When I Awoke

Writer, Composer & Director James Christensen. The Butterfly Club, Carson Place, Melbourne CBD. 23 - 28 January 2018

A woman paces restlessly in her luxury London apartment.  Her life and career are in ruins, her relationships smashed and lost.  But what ‘wakes’ her is that her formerly estranged sister has sent her a one-way plane ticket ‘home’.  What is ‘home’?  As a home town, it is Mossman in far north Queensland.  The Woman confides in us – rather than thinking aloud.  She reluctantly visits her past: remembering that ‘home’ was a place of heat, abandonment, silence, boredom and mediocrity.

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