Reviews

Writer/director Noel O’Neill is best known for his slice-of-life domestic comedies, but his latest play, The Rugged Cross, is a highly dramatic work that may well be his best yet.

Set in a seaside Irish pub during Holy Week, the locals talk of a mysterious man who is stirring up trouble and which their organisation must stop. With strong parallels to the Easter story, this modern-day parable is moving, heartfelt and superbly acted.

Onto the stage walked Mrs Frolick (Julie Forsyth), the servant of the President and the First Lady, meticulously preparing the military uniform of the glorious leader, who  laughs and coughs ominously offstage in a bathtub.

In a stark and shiny room, the first couple were preparing to attend the funeral of the Colonel, who was freshly assassinated by an anarchist, who narrowly missed knocking off the leader of this unnamed country.

Bell Shakespeare dropped into Perth for a short season as part of the National Tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A clever, exceptionally sleek and dark production, it is well worth catching as the tour progresses.

In this text Joanna Murray-Smith weaves serious historical questions with conventional and unconventional notions of love and romance. It appears a tall feat, but this is achieved via an acute observation of the changing nature of intimacy and the way that emotional or psychological baggage can impact this. In doing so Murray-Smith raises some large moral questions that in the current geo-political climate render the play very poignant.