Reviews

Divercity

By Mariaa Randall. Dance Massive 2017. Arts House Melbourne. 22 – 26 March, 2017

A moving exploration of contemporary Aboriginal life, celebrating women and culture, this performance combined dance, language and visual art to share their stories.

To begin the show, Randall invites female-identifying audience members into the performance space. We learn some simple steps and words meaning “woman” in different Aboriginal languages. Moving, speaking together, a collective feeling of pride and empowerment fills the room.

Cockfight

By The Farm. Dance Massive 2017. Meat Market, Melbourne. 24 – 26 March 2017.

A combination of dialogue, dance and physical comedy, Cockfight is a highly amusing exploration of male competitiveness, created by Gold Coast-based artists’ collaboration The Farm and brought to Melbourne by Dance Massive 2017.

It took me a while to warm up to the concept. I questioned why the two characters, an older man and a younger man, were competing with each other. Eventually I gave into it as a humorous reflection of the absurdity of human behaviour.

 

That Face

By Polly Stenham. Directed by Sharon Greenock. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo, WA. March 17- April 1, 2017

The WA Premiere of Polly Stenham’s That Face is currently playing at Stirling Theatre. This fascinating, little-known play, which had a West End run, and was written when the author was just nineteen, features a strong cast.

Fifteen year old Mia is at boarding school and has her mother’s drugs. When she over-doses a younger student during a hazing, Mia is sent home pending expulsion. We find her mother and brother. He has left school to care for her as she is alcoholic and mentally unstable and their relationship is unhealthy on many levels.

The Tempest

By William Shakespeare. WAAPA 3rd Year Acting Students. Directed by Stuart Halusz. State Theatre Centre Courtyard, Perth, WA. 17-23 March, 2017

William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, playing outdoors at the State Theatre Centre of WA, was twice thwarted by real-life tempests - but managed to perform most evenings during its short run. Featuring a cast of WAAPA 3rd Year Acting Students, and designed, built and crewed by Production and Design Students, this free production was a wonderful outreach opportunity to find new audiences.

 

Trainspotting Live

Adapted by Harry Gibson. Directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher and Greg Esplin, presented by Andrew Kay and Associates – a Kings Head and In Your Face production. fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne. 22 March -13 April 2017.

In Your Face Theatre is an ensemble that truly lives up to its name. Trainspotting Live is an immersive theatrical experience like no other. Trainspotting has not only returned as a film sequel but also a live stage production. All the confronting elements of the original story are transformed into a highly visceral experience of the personal degradation related to a drug addicted existence. No audience member is spared direct and palpable contact with this frequently distasteful, yet mesmerising material.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Nate Butler's Studio. Directed by Nicholas Christo. Musical Direction Andrew Swan. Performed by Full-time Musical Theatre Students. Laycock Street Theatre. March 23-25, 2017

It's difficult to know where to start with this review. As a life-long fan of this 45 year old rock opera, I was literally jumping out of my skin when promotional videos of this production sprang up a couple of months ago, advertising that the roles of Jesus, Judas (et al) would be portrayed by females and Mary Magdalene by a male performer. Given this twist, it's almost unthinkable to remember that the original concept album and stage production garnered a wave of controversy for its presumed blasphemy.

The Homosexuals or ‘Faggots’

By Declan Greene. Griffin Theatre Company in association with Malthouse Theatre. SBW Stables Theatre. March 17 – April 29, 2017.

Two privileged white male gays are outraged when they see faggots listed in a pub menu.  Never mind it’s that old English dish of meatballs.  Set in their cramped if million door Darlinghurst flat, with a view of the Mardi Gras Parade tonight from their bathroom, Declan Greene’s furious farce is a very funny attack on PC preciousness around LGBTIQA identities. 

Raw

Queensland Ballet. Playhouse QPAC. March 17 – 25, 2017.

Engaging with a work of art like Raw cannot be done without the highest admiration for the depth of intimacy that Queensland Balletcreates in this trilogy of dance works. The works evoke the stories and emotions of the human experience – with each piece captivating the smallest of details and bringing them to life with an array of some of the world’s finest ballet performers.

Wicked

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. Based upon the novel by Gregory Maguire. Miranda Musical Society. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. March 22 – 26, 2017.

Wicked is renowned for lavish Broadway spectacle, so it’s pleasing that the huge challenge to pare the hit Broadway musical back for Sydney community theatre, especially in the notoriously challenging Sutherland Entertainment Centre, is in safe hands with Miranda’s scenic wizards Bob and Col Peet. They simplify the physical setting effectively, while atmospherics are achieved through lighting, LED, projection and animation in a symbiotic collaboration with Technology Director Chae Rogan (supported by Adam Ring and Robert Mason).

The Age of Bones

By Sandra Thibodeaux. Performing Lines/Teater Satu/Satu Bulan Theatre. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. March 22 – 25, 2017

The rhythms of the sea pervade this tender but critically astute denunciation of one of our Immigration Department’s most shameful decisions – the jailing of 60 or more young Indonesian boys for working on asylum seeker boats. Darwin based playwright and poet Sandra Thibodeaux identified with the pain their mothers must have felt, especially when she realised their mothers thought their boys had been lost at sea.

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