Reviews

The Events

By David Greig. Upstairs, Belvoir Street Theatre. May 12 – June 12, 2016.

The Events draws on that horrific killing of 69 young Norwegians on an island by a lone gunman, but Scottish writer David Greig speaks to other similar events. It’s a seemingly random, reflective play of short vignettes around the furious quest to understand by a priest who, locked in the music room, survived a school yard massacre. 

Singin’ In The Rain

Music and lyrics by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Directed by Jonathan Church. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne – Opening Night May 14, 2016, then touring to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Boy, didn’t it rain…and didn’t we love it! There’s so much water on stage in the classic title number, that it might have been a Melbourne weather report, instead of the opening night of a much-loved musical. What it absolutely isn’t is the iconic 1952 Movie Musical, and that is both a good and a bad thing.

My Name is Asher Lev

By Aaron Posner. Adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok. Moira Blumenthal Productions and Encounters@Shalom. Eternity Theatre. May 8 – 29, 2016.

“You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews”goes the song in the musical Spamalot. This month the same applies in Sydney.

The harbour city has more Jewish flavours than a buffet at a Bar Mitzvah  - hosting Fiddler on the Roof, Bad Jews, Disgraced and My Name is Asher Lev.

The (latter) play based on Chaim Potok’s novel, takes us into the world of Hasidic Judaism.  

The Shoe-Horn Sonata

By John Misto. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Director: Jim Dixon. May 14 – June 4, 2016

The horrors of war are the basis of this poignant tale: two women – one English and one Australian retell their experiences as Japanese Prisoners of War.

Aussie Eve Wheeler and Pom Marie Dixon are being interviewed, 50 years after the cessation of hostilities, for a TV documentary. The interviewer, Barry Gibson, is unseen throughout the proceedings and the scene switches between the TV studio and the ladies’ hotel room.

In Search of Owen Roe

Written and performed by Vanessa O’Neill. La Mama, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton. 11-28 May, 2016

The infinite talent of Vanessa O’Neill is the cohesive force behind this production. This is an extremely personal piece of theatre that allows the performer to share the stories and colourful ancestral figures that both inhabit and haunt O’Neill. Her performance often invokes the spectral presence of her predecessors and her natural affinity with these fascinating personas is uncovered via diligent archival research and anecdotal information. The staging is evocative and atmospheric, conveying all the cultural richness of the project.

As We Forgive

By Tom Holloway. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. May 11 – 21, 2016

Premiered by Tasmanian Performs three years ago, these three beautiful, revelatory monologues by Tom Holloway are welcome visitors to Sydney’s space for new Australian playwriting. It’s madness that such hits in one state rarely cross the border to another.

In these vicious times of shrinking budgets, perhaps this one is on the road because it’s only one actor, a cello and a few chairs.

Straight White Men

By Young Jean Lee. Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts Centre, Fairfax. 6 May to 18 June 2016.

Young Jean Lee is an acclaimed and respected dramatist in New York City.  Each of her varied productions, which she directs herself, are, apparently, edgy, iconoclastic, experimental, provocative, confrontational and excitedly anticipated across the US.  She receives such accolades as ‘ever audacious’ and ‘the most adventurous downtown [but certainly not mainstream] playwright of her generation’.

Are You Being Served?

By Jeremy Lloyd & David Croft. Director: Alex Lanham. Arts Theatre Production. Brisbane Arts Theatre. 20 April – 4 June 2016

Are You Being Served? belongs to another era. One of the most beloved British TV sitcoms, which ran from 1972 until 1985, it pushed the envelope of the time by trading on risqué visual gags, innuendo laced dialogue, and under-grad humour. Mrs Slocombe’s constant references to her “pussy,” and Mr Humphries “I’m free” became popular catch-phrases of the period.

Habeas Corpus

By Alan Bennett. Directed by Scott Hunt. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. 13 - 28 May 2016

Habeas Corpus, written by Alan Bennett, performed by Hobart Repertory Theatre Society, is an example of Nominative Determinism - the hypothesis that a person's name may have a significant role in determining key aspects of job, profession or even character.

Daffodils

By Rochelle Bright. Bullet Heart Club. Lennox Theatre, Riverside Parramatta. May 12 – 14, 2016.

Daffodils wasinspired by a true love story that began in 1964 in New Zealand.

Told through the music that tracked a meeting, a courtship, a marriage, a family and, unfortunately, a divorce, it has all the pace and pizzazz of modern musical theatre without the usual trappings.

Sometimes funny, sometimes a little bit sad, often loud, but never slow, Daffodils has been selected to feature at the prestigious Traverse Theatre in the upcoming Edinburgh Festival Fringe – an honour that has not been afforded a NZ company since 1999.

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