Reviews

Jali

By Oliver Twist. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. March 16 – 27, 2021

Young Oliver Twist is a very accomplished jali, or as they mean in West Africa, historian or storyteller. 

Alone on Griffin’s suitably intimate and newly reopened stage, Twist shares his confronting refugee journey from Rwanda through war and hardship – before landing in Sydney as a stand-up comedian.

Chicago

Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb Book: Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Campbelltown Theatre Group Inc. Director: Kirsten Jowsey, Musical Director: Laura Glynn, Choreographer: Brendan Cascarino Town Hall Theatre. March 12 – 27, 2021.

Campbelltown Theatre Group’s Chicago is a skillfully polished brilliant production that cleverly evokes the style of the late ‘90s professional revival. Permeating this show is a lively pace, dark humour, and sassiness (not the negative-meaning “sass”).

For those unfamiliar with the 90s revival, that was the version which went for the sparse stage and with black being the dominant colour for costumes and set, the “much shorter skirts” being the basic style. Angela Cascarino’s costumes and set brilliantly achieve their goal.

Jersey Boys

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Directed by Kylie Tillack. North Queensland Opera and Musical Theatre (NQOMT). Civic Theatre, Townsville. March 17 – 27, 2021.

MANY a community theatre company would have shuddered when even considering a production of Jersey Boys because it represents three golden challenges: plot, staging and casting. However, against all odds Townsville’s NQOMT production met these challenges with more than equanimity in its first post-COVID foray.

Murder off a Duck's Back

Presented by Scratch Arts. Adelaide Fringe 2021 (World Premiere). The Garage International @ Adelaide Town Hall. Mar 16-20, 2021

Operating since 2015, Scratch Arts presents itself as Melbourne’s primary contemporary and ‘queer’ production house. Known for workshopping theatre, Murder Off a Duck’s Back presents rather like a sixty-minute workshop piece, and on opening night, it was obvious that the four, multi-character players were still polishing this piece. As they promise, this is a piece for absurdist fans, for absurd it is, right down to the very stylised clown make-up, and the leading ‘lady’ having a beard and moustache.

My Name is Gulpilil

Directed by Molly Reynolds, produced by Peter Djigirr and Rolf de Heer. Adelaide Festival 2021. Festival Theatre. Mar 12, 2021.

My Name is Gulpilil is a truly extraordinary experience and achievement. In classical terms it is a ‘contemplation’ – a mediation about an action that is yet to happen; in this case the death of one of Australia’s greatest Indigenous actors, David Gulpilil.

Jersey Boys

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Redcliffe Musical Theatre. Directed by Thomas Armstrong-Robley. Redcliffe Performing Arts Centre. March 12 – 21, 2021.

Suddenly songs such as “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, Walk Like A Man” and many others have a different depth to them after watching this very good production of Jersey Boys. This is the complex story of one of the best known and successful bands of the 1960s from their rise from obscurity to fame and fortune and of falls from those heights. After many name changes and failures, things changed when teenager Frankie Castelluccio joined the group and was trained by one of the band.

Call of the Malleefowl

By Charlie Kay, presented by Bluestocking Theatre Co. Adelaide Fringe 2021. Bakehouse Theatre. Mar 15 – 20, 2021

This first play from newly formed Bluestocking Theatre gives highlight to queer stories and disabilities in theatre, with a focus on leading roles for women. The play is a mystery, with Evelyn (Millie Montgomery), a young Autistic woman, being interviewed about a suspicious death by a therapist, Dr. Fields (Allison Scharber).

A Child of Our Time

By Michael Tippett. Adelaide Festival 2021. Festival Theatre. Mar 14, 2021

Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time reminds us that even out of times of tragedy can come hope. This oratorio was Tippett's artistic and emotional reaction to the events that led to the 'Kristallnacht' pogrom of November 1938.

Debora Krizak - Ssh There’s A Lady On Stage

Adelaide Fringe 2021 (South Australian Premiere). The Queens. Mar 14-20, 2021

Proudly local, Elizabeth born, Debora Krizak is one of Australia's most critically acclaimed entertainers. Accompanied by a four-piece band, led by renowned music teacher and performer Darren Mapes, Krizak shares her musical favourites from shows such as A Chorus Line, where she professionally performed the role of Sheila Bryant, Cabaret and Sweet Charity. Krizak looks two million dollars; clad in a fitted blue and silver, side split evening gown. She struts and sashays, rhinestones catching the light, feeding the glamour factor.

An Ideal Husband

By Oscar Wilde. Villanova Players. Director: Matthew Hobbs. Ron Hurley Theatre, Seven Hills, Qld. 6-21 March 2021

Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy brings a multitude of laughs in Matthew Hobbs’ well-directed Villanova Players production. This oft revived, ever-topical play touches on themes that never go out of fashion - insider trading, honor, corruption and a money-mad society. Add in blackmail, affairs of the heart, and a good dose of Wildean wit and this Edwardian romp is as up-to-date as yesterday.

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