Reviews

Martin Brock – Probably the Coolest, Funniest and Most Magical Magic Show in Town!

Australian Premiere. Fringe World. The Enchanted Ballroom at FANTASIA, Perth Town Hall, Perth. 10 February, 2024.

Extended for three more nights - prepare to be spellbound by young, Danish illusionist Martin Brock during the Perth Fringe World.

His magic is sophisticated enough for adults but will also appeal to children who might not understand the jokes but be dazzled by the disappearing and reappearing cards and martini glasses.

Right from the start, Martin Brock is teasing and entertaining his audience, even when he’s not on stage.

Low Level Panic

By Clare McIntyre. HER Productions in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co. Director: Maike Strichow. KXT on Broadway. 7-17 Feb, 2024.

Since its inception in 2021, HER Productions has become a small ‘tour de force’ on the theatre scene in Newcastle.  Low Level Panic is their first venture onto the bigger Sydney stage.  What better way to do so than with the team at bAKEHOUSE, whose business is “supporting independent theatre, diverse work and new and emerging artists.” And what better theatre to perform a play set in a bathroom than the intimate traverse stage of KXT on Broadway!

Homos, or Everyone in America

By Jordan Seavey. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. Feb 6 – Mar 9, 2024

Jordan Seavey’s play follows the tender and fiercely argumentative relationship of two gay twenty-somethings living in Manhattan.  His interesting storytelling leaps through scenes, long, short, sometimes repeated, and not always chronological.

While this fractures that familiar arc of a relationship story, and sharpens our listening, we do learn this intense five year bond began talkatively in a wine bar and ended in tears on a  subway, just before gay marriage equality arrived in America.

Wundig Wer Wilera

By Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse. West Australian Opera / Perth Festival. His Majesty’s Theatre. Opening Night Perth Festival, Friday 9 February 2024.

Official opening night event of the Perth Festival, Wundig Wer Wilera, is a real crowd-pleaser.

The traditional Noongar legend of young lovers – Wundig (Jarred Wall), a young man from the Hills and Wilera (Jess Hitchcock), a young girl of the Grass people, both in the York area of Western Australia, are betrothed to others but after a chance meeting by the river, find themselves in love.

The couple’s chemistry is perfectly embodied by the voices of Jarred Wall and Jess Hitchcock, blending harmoniously in their duets.

Elvis: A Musical Revolution

By Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti. Directed by Alister Smith. State Theatre, Sydney. February 4 – March 9, 2024

Only six months after this high-energy production opened with full bells and whistles at the State Theatre it’s back again, still loud and brash, a few minutes shorter and soon to be followed by a national tour to Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.

Produced in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, it’s hardly judgemental about the career of our hero, but nevertheless takes a look at how Elvis endured a ‘psychological crisis’ that lead to the famous 1968 TV Special and a certain maturity.

Theodora in Concert

By George Frideric Handel and Thomas Morrell. Opera Australia and Pinchgut Opera. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. 8-9 February, 2024

Handel’s dramatic oratorio Theodora was first performed in Covent Garden in 1750. It is in English, set to the libretto by Thomas Morell. It is said that Handel considered it his best work, though history would seem to favour Messiah. It is Handel’s only tragic oratorio and the only one written in English.

Set in Rome, in the 4th century AD, it tells the story of the Christian martyr Theodora who refuses to pay homage to the Roman god, Venus, and is executed with her Roman lover Didymus, who has secretly converted to Christianity.

Last Cab to Darwin

By Reg Cribb. Hobart Repertory Theatre Company. Shauna-Lee Ward (Director). Carolyn Whamond (designer). Louise Stubs (lighting design). The Playhouse Hobart. 7-17 February 2024

Last Cab to Darwin is a play about death (and life) the personal (and the political) an individual (and a country). Cribb’s script is redolent with poetry and metaphor.

Jersey Boys

Prospero Arts Concert Series. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 8 - 11 February 2024

Image above (from L to R) Connor Crawford, (Tommy DeVito) Jack Saunders (Bob Gaudio), Josh Mulheran (Frankie Valli) and Glaston Toft (Nick Massi). Photographer: Joel Devereux

La Nonna’s Saucy Sauce Day

Created & performed by Samuel Dariol and Anna Cerreto. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 7 – 11 February 2024

It’s the traditional day to make passata – chopping, crushing, bottling the summer’s best tomatoes – juicy, rich – but gotta be cheap.  Two nonnas – played by sparky, vivacious Anna Cerreto and pernickety, dour Samuel Dariol (in drag) - prepare for the big day… But, oh, no, they don’t have enough tomatoes! 

MENwhoDANCE ‘Alpha’

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. Star Theatre One at Star Theatres, Hilton; Feb 6 & Feb 20 – Mar 3, 2024; Port Lincoln, Feb 8; Whyalla, Feb 9; Port Pyrie, Feb 10; Renmark, Feb 14; Mt Gambier, Feb 16.

The title of this production is MENwhoDANCE ‘Alpha’. However, it is so much more than that. The boys don’t just dance, they sing and most of all they entertain!

The men in question, Charlie, Calin, Bailey, Willian, Rhys and Dhuruva individually have their own styles but mould them into a tight unit which is like a union of Human Nature and Manpower, they are the boy band of dance groups.

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