Reviews

Kronos: Five Decades

With special guest Mahsa Vahdat for Adelaide Festival. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. 13 March 2023

The first time I saw Kronos (I believe it was the 1992 Festival) I was awestruck by not only their playing but their attention to visual artistry.  They were the first string quartet I had seen who employed lighting in creative ways.  At that performance they played Steve Reich’s “Different Trains” as well as a Sculthorpe piece and I was transformed by the experience, totally immersed in a different reality for those few hours.

Clannad in concert: In a Lifetime

Final farewell world tour. Canberra Theatre, 12 March 2023, and touring.

Legendary Irish electric celtic quartet Clannad’s final farewell tour, In a Lifetime, which began in March 2020, was soon interrupted, first by COVID-19 restrictions, and again when co-founding band member Noel Duggan, while out to dinner, collapsed and died suddenly of a heart attack in mid October 2022.

Tracker

Australian Dance Theatre in association with ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. Adelaide Festival. Odeon Theatre, Norwood, South Australia. 10 March — 18 March 2023

Warning: Contains mention of deceased Aboriginal people.

Bernhardt/Hamlet

By Theresa Rebeck. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank, The Sumner. 4 March – 15 April, 2023

We plunge straight into the story: Sarah Bernhardt (Kate Mulvany) is rehearsing Shakespeare’s Hamlet ­– and the text is annoying her.  Too much ‘poetry’.  Why is Hamlet so passive?  Why doesn’t he do something?  Her colleague Constant Coquelin (Marco Chiappi) disagrees; he’s played the role four times, knows it backwards and loves the poetry.  In fact, all Sarah’s male admirers – her (current) lover, Edmond Rostand (Charles Wu), designer and artist Mucha (Tim Walter), theatre critic Louis (John Le

Behind Closed Doors

By Janet Shaw. Murray Music and Drama Club. Directed by Tammy Peckover. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. March 10-17, 2023

While Behind Closed Doors would never be described as a “fun” show, this moving play, thoughtfully directed and well-performed makes for fulfilling and entertaining viewing.

The subject matter may have diminished the size of the matinee audience, which is a shame as this production would not disappoint. As this show deals with domestic violence, the club has taken the step of providing support in the form of Ovis Community Services workers in the foyer to help anyone for whom the story raises concerns.

The Gov Sunday Sessions

Adelaide Fringe. Presented by Comedy Inc. Front Bar at The Guv. March 12th 2023

Veterans of 22 Fringe seasons, Comedy Inc brought 90 minutes of polished professional stand-up comedy to arguably Adelaide’s most beloved live performance pub venue with its latest Gov Sunday Session. The performance space is cosy, with different sorts of seating for about 80 people, who also had access to the pub’s beautiful old bar facilities. Staff were warm and welcoming and the raised stage, and professional sound and lighting rig meant that the audience could easily see, hear and enjoy the event.

Anything Goes

Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Book: Timothy Crouse and John Weidman based on the original by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse. Phoenix Ensemble, Beenleigh, Qld. Mar 3 – 25, 2023.

Anything Goes achieves a rare kind of alchemy by succeeding at everything it turns its hand to.

It’s a sterling effort in song, dance, staging, acting and storytelling, and it keeps the pace throughout. Tonally, it tightropes between farce and sentimentality deftly. The romance doesn’t veer toward schmaltzy, the comedy never towards cringe.

A Double Bill

By William Zappa and Zavier Wileman. Wanneroo Repertory. Directed by Tim Riessen and Zavier Wileman. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo, WA. Mar 9-18, 2023

You would be hard pressed to find two more different one act plays than those in Wanneroo Repertory’s A Double Bill, currently playing at the Limelight Theatre. The Greening of Grace is a family drama, set in contemporary Australia which deals with huge issues. 150 Years of Roman History in 30 Minutes is the World Premiere of a locally written comedy, and set in Ancient Rome.

No Exit

By Jean-Paul Sarte and Paul Bowles. Kalamunda Dramatic Society. Directed by Virginia Moore Price. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda WA. Mar 10-25, 2023

Kalamunda Dramatic Society’s No Exit is an expertly directed and superbly performed production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist drama, and one of the best productions to come out of KADS in the last decade.

Wolf Play

By Hansol Jung. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. 4 March – 2 April 2023

Wolf Play is about a Wolf at the centre of a family drama – a catalyst who brings to the surface all the flaws and troubles of flawed and troubled people.  He is a wolf, played by Yuchen Wang; a lone wolf - who speaks, who howls, who tells of wolf lore and of wolf needs – and he is also a six-year-old boy, sold on the internet to a new family, represented by a puppet.  If all that sounds confusing, it is not confusing on stage in this intricate and gripping play about the need for connection.

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