Reviews

Swamp Juice

Bunk Puppets. Adelaide Fringe. Empire Theatre at The Royal Croquet Club. Mar 3 - 18, 2018

Swamp Juice is the story of a man who goes for a walk in a swamp and meets two snails, a bird and a snake. It is told using shadow puppets made from bits and pieces you might find in your recycling bin and toy box.

The magic lies in the fact that the audience sees the ordinary transformed into the extraordinary and can see how it is done. The light that produces the shadows, along with the stand that holds some of the props is as visible as the performance on the screen.

Sorry Wrong Number and Sunset Boulevard

Directed by Gary Klinger. New Farm Nash Theatre, Qld. February 23 - March 17,2018

Most people would, perhaps, remember both of these shows as films with famous stars but they were initially radio plays from the 1940’s and early 1950. Well this was a chance again to listen to radio plays with live actors reading their parts in front of us. Nash Theatre has perfected this presentation over the last few years.

The Hope Song

By Janet Brown. APA Ensemble (Victoria). Co-Directors & Co-Designers: Iris Walshe-Howling and Janine McKenzie. La Mama Courthouse. February 21 - February 25, 2018

'You name it, I've tried it,' says Dave (Simon Finch). 'But nothing works for me.'

People with mental health challenges often find that those challenges isolate them. In The Hope Song, the APA Ensemble has chosen to embrace people with mental health challenges and give a voice to the voiceless.

Janet Brown crafted this theatre piece from interviews she conducted in 2016 and 2017. Every word the actors speak were spoken by the seven people she interviewed.

Heathers: The Musical (High School Edition)

By Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy. Adelaide Fringe Festival. Creative Academy of Performing Arts. Goodwood Institute Theatre. 23-24 February 2018

Considering what is currently happening in the USA with another horrific mass shooting at a high school, this production of Heathers: The Musical is perhaps one of the most pertinent and confronting of the entire Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Get Sweaty with Cheryl and Chardee

Adelaide Fringe 2018. A Space Called Thelma, Rajopolis at Raj House. 21st February to 4th March 2018

Cheryl and Chardee met at dance class in their teens where they formed a strong bond over their mutual love for the much adored and sadly missed morning television show “Aerobics Oz Style”. From humble beginnings in Elizabeth Downs these two have forged a semi- professional fitness empire receiving testimonials from the rich and famous, including Oprah Winfrey no less.

Our Land People Stories

Bangarra Dance Theatre. Regional tour - Feb 9th-March 10th, 2018.

Evocative, challenging and often indescribably beautiful, Bangarra’s Our Land People Stories has lost none of its power since its debut in 2016. The collection of three works, from three different choreographers, range from political to spiritual – but always driven by the indigenous spirituality linked to Country and reverence for the land.

Aladdin

Music: Alan Menken. Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Tice, Chad Beguelin. Book: Chad Beguelin. Disney Theatrical Productions. Director/Choreographer: Casey Nicholaw Musical Director: Geoffrey Castles. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Opening Night: 24 February 2018

Aladdin has become known as the musical which gets a standing ovation in the middle of the first act. It did it when I saw it on Broadway, and it did it last night when it opened in Brisbane. “Friend Like Me” is the number and it’s performed in a glittering and sparkling Aladdin’s cave and with its pop-culture references and an incredible rousing tap finish, it literally stops the show. You couldn’t ask for a better example of Broadway brilliance.

The Nose

Music by Dimitri Shostakovich. Libretto by various, after the story by Nikolai Gogol. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. February 21 - March 3, 2018

Opera buffs have the opportunity to see the most extraordinary production of a contemporary work staged at a level of extravagance and wit utterly incongruous with the small number of performances in the season. Ex-pat Director Barrie Kosky, now resident artist leader of the Komische Oper Berlin, has managed to pull off a production that meshes  jokes about the Rooty Hill RSL with surreal scenes of dancing noses.

Lethal Indifference

By Anna Barnes. Sydney Theatre Company. Director: Jessica Arthur. Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney. 22 February - 10 March 2018.

In a grey-carpeted Melbourne flat on an upper floor, with rolling doors to a small balcony, sits a sweet, chatty, pregnant woman. With her distinctive New Zealand vowel sounds, Emily Barclay tells us how she moved from handing out Green how-to-vote cards at a council election to lucking a job as Media Adviser at a Family Violence Centre.

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

By Tom Stoppard. The Stirling Players (SA). Stirling Community Theatre. 23 February - 10 March, 2018

Tom Stoppard’s first major play and now a modern ‘classic’ of contemporary theatre Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966. Coincidentally, Adelaide’s Stirling Players’ excellent production of the play, while not part of Adelaide Fringe, runs in parallel with much of this year’s festival.

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