Reviews

The Tap Pack

Directed by Nigel Turner-Caroll. The Star Theatre, Gold Coast. May11th, 2024

After more than a decade of writing about The Tap Pack – from their first performance at Chapel off Chapel in Melbourne – I am finally running out of superlatives for this fabulous throwback to another era of showbusiness, one which most of the audience have never seen live before.

Dogfight

Music and lyrics by Justin Paul and Ben Pasek. Book by Peter Duchan. Spotlight Theatrical Company. Directed by Josh McCann-Thomson. Clem Halpin Theatre Gold Coast. May 10 - June 1, 2024

In order to survive, community theatres must continuously stage productions which appeal to the largest possible demographic. Spotlight Theatre is no different to anyone else in this regard, as witnessed by the phenomenal success of their first production of the year The Sound of Music, which had a sold-out season plus extra performances.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical

By Stephan Elliot and Allan Scott. Stray Cats Theatre Company. Directed by Karen Francis. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. May 9-12, 2024

Priscilla Queen of the Desert presented by Stray Cats Theatre Company bussed into Mandurah Performing Arts Centre for a very short season. A bold, bright production with bucketloads of sparkle, it was clearly a success with its audiences.

Black Box

Book, music and lyrics by Paul Hodge. Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). 10-19 May 2024

Part stage musical, part radio play, part documentary, Black Box is a fascinating insight into one of Australia’s unsung heroes – David Warren, aviation safety pioneer as the inventor of the universally deployed Black Box flight recorder. It may seem an odd theme for a stage musical, but, it just works, thanks to a multi-talented team effort, featuring two stunning stars who guarantee sparkling entertainment from start to finish.

Jane Austen’s Emma

Adapted and directed by Simon James. CIty of Gosnells, Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, WA. May 3-11. 2024

Arena Theatre Productions’ season of Jane Austen’s Emma is an original adaptation that is faithful to the novel and true to its subtitle of being “a classic tale of love and life and love”. The first “big” production of this recreated company, it augers well for a bright future.

12 Angry Jurors

Adapted by Sherman L. Sergel from the original “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose. Directed by Catherine Radbourne. Sandgate Theatre. Playing May 3 – May 19, 2024.

This adaption of the well-known Twelve Angry Men has been brought to life at Sandgate Theatre using a very simple setting, as expected, with the audience semi in the round to bring them closer to the action. Never having served on any jury panel, I found this almost as much a learning exercise as an evening of entertainment. The twelve jurors have to determine if the person charged was guilty of murder. The audience members became very aware of the pressure on each member of the panel as it would in real life.

Potted Potter – The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody.

Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide. 10-12 May, 2024

To use a Harry Potter pun, this show is a HOOT!

None of Us

DUTI Dance Company. Director /Choreographer Mathew Mizyed. FORM Dance. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. 10-11 May, 2024

The sands of time sift gently and fluidly through this story in dance. Desert colours swirl as the dancers narrate in elegant movement a history that Mathew Mizyed has choreographed as a tribute his father’s homeland and the vast Wadi Rum desert.

In interpretative movements he suggests the long passage of time and the generations that have “walked the land before” – in good times and bad.

Cock

By Mike Bartlett. Boys Like Me Productions. Flightpath Theatre Marrickville. May 8 – 18, 2024

For those of us still workshopping it, there’s now a big alphabetical range from which to label your sexuality. You can identify yourself from the ever-expanding LGBTQQIP2SAA or, perhaps ideally, just sleep and love between the definitions, with whoever takes you.

The choice once seemed more limited – gay or straight – and is so in Mike Bartlett’s play from 2008, Cock, a witty title using a very icon of gay (male) identity.

Lung

By Kate Herbert. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 7 – 19 May 2024

In this thoroughly engaging story of a lung transplant, wry comedy mixes with fear and frustration.  Death hovers, but there’s still space for temper tantrums, marital discord, surprising and funny reactions, interfering if well-meaning parents, bickering, and of course cold or insouciant doctors and specialists. 

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