Reviews

2.20AM

By Rebecca Lister. Ad Astra, Brisbane. 13 to 28 November 2020

I didn’t expect to enjoy a short play that deals with suicide as its central subject. But Ad Astra co-founder and director Jacqueline Kerr presents the Brisbane premiere of Rebecca Lister’s 2.20AM as a warm and humour-filled story about the resilience of friendship and human connections. The title relates to the time that one character wakes up every morning to run the gauntlet of emotions and questions that she manages to supress during the daylight hours.

Love, Loss and What I Wore

By Nora and Delia Ephron. Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman. Centenary Players. Director: Rhyll Bucknell. Chelmer Community Centre, Chelmer, Qld. 7-28 Nov 2020

Love, Loss and What I Wore is an amusing look at women and their matters of the heart, their wardrobes, and their accessories. Based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, Nora and Delia Ephron sourced additional stories from friends, including Rosie O’Donnell, and have added them to this chick-flick/chick-lit collection of monologues. The authors know something about this audience with Nora having written, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle, and with Delia, You’ve Got Mail.

Motherhood the Musical

By Sue Fabisch. Murray Music and Drama. Directed by Tammy Peckover. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. Nov 13-28, 2020

Murray Music and Drama’s Motherhood the Musical is another ‘replacement show’, as in the wake of Covid, the decision was made to downsize from a planned production of Happy Days to this fun, easy to stage four hander.

Old Love

By Norm Foster. Directed by Vanessa Jensen. Melville Theatre, Stock Rd, Palmyra, WA. Nov 19 - Dec 5, 2020

Usually when you see a show that feels very tight, very polished and beautifully finished, it is the result of a year or more’s planning by the director and many months of thought and preparation by the production team prior to rehearsal. Old Love feels like that - but it was in fact a very late replacement in the season, replacing not one, but two alternative productions slated for this season.

Beethoven’s Emperor

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat, Op.73 Emperor. Respighi: Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma). Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Johannes Fritzsch. Piano: Daniel de Borah. Concert Hall, QPAC, 20-21 Nov 2020 & Live streamed to Empire Theatre, Toowoomba 21 Nov 2020.

The year 2020 was supposed to be a 250th celebration worldwide of the work of Ludwig van Beethoven, but of course due to Covid most of the celebratory concerts were closed down. Whilst Queensland Symphony Orchestra had either cancelled or rescheduled most things this year, they still kept in place Beethoven’s Emperor as the last of their Maestro Series concerts, except replacing Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov with local virtuoso Daniel de Borah.

Bernie Dieter’s Berlin Underground

A secret location at Crown Perth. Nov 17-Dec 19, 2020

Bernie Dieter’s Berlin Underground has taken over a secret location at Crown Perth, to present a sexy, debauched kabarett, with great singing, amazing circus and a load of comedy.

A Bird’s Eye View of a Banquet in Brunswick

Gumboot Theatre in association with Brunswick Neighbourhood House. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 12 - 29 November 2020.

This theatrical piece employs the figure of the Kingfisher, a local Brunswick bird, as a way of looking at the wonderful kaleidoscope of culture in the area. A variety of individuals are conjured up who talk about their community bonds and how they are created through supportive and endearing exchanges around food, family and friends. 

Shadow Piece (Alt. Shadow Love)

Devised by Antoinette Tracey and September Barker. Outside Eye by Emma Hooppell. Melbourne Fringe Festival, 12 - 29 November 2020.

This short film is an exquisite exercise in the exploration of sound, movement, the body, cinema and urban space. The performance sits in a somewhat liminal space between film and theatre. Yet, it is another great example of how the current COVID constraints can actually produce new modes of artistic expression.

The Biscuit Readings

Performed by ‘Betty Bircher and Bert Bircher’ (Penelope Bartlau & Jason Lehane). Barking Spider Visual Theatre. Digital Fringe. Melbourne Fringe Festival. 18-19, 25-26 November 2020

‘Nothing defines a person more than their natural biscuit alignment’ – or so claims Betty and probably, if less dogmatically, the more stolid Bert Bircher too.  So, what is your biscuit?  Tim Tam?  Iced VoVo?  Ginger Snap?  How about a Florentine?  That’d be something.  To get an interactive reading from Betty and Bert, you’ll need to log on with Zoom, with a microphone, a camera and, all importantly, your face completely visible – so Betty and Bert can read you.  It only takes fifteen minutes, but you will

The Holidays

By David Megarrity. Queensland Theatre. Direction: Bridget Boyle. Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane. 14 Nov – 12 Dec 2020

Artistic Director Lee Lewis, and the Queensland Minister for the Arts, Leanne Enoch, reopened the Bille Brown Theatre last night with a bottle of champagne. And what better way to welcome audiences back to the theatre after Covid lockdown than a glass of bubbly. With restrictions now lifted in Queensland, theatres are now able to offer 100% capacity.

It wasn’t 100% last night, but close to it for the world premiere of David Megarrity’s 2018 Queensland Premiere’s Drama Award winning play, The Holidays.

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