Reviews

A successful directorial debut for Kayti Murphy, as she steers this beloved Western Australian play to a successful production at Melville Theatre, with obvious passion and drive.

A rather dark story, director and cast manage to find moments of light, in a production that showcases some strong performances. The audience do find that they need to listen carefully, as voices can be a little soft or “filmic”, especially when competing with the air conditioning. A challenge, as it is often a very reflective show.

‘Quite spectacular’ would be the summation of Le Aerial.

Suitable for young and old, this show is a beautiful piece of circus theatre. Young acrobats with rippling muscles and taut bodies fly gracefully and powerfully high in the air, performing death-defying feats.

Harold Pinter’s plays are multi-faceted; his characters multi-dimensional. Getting inside them, even before putting them on the stage, requires insightful study of the script and the complexities and tensions it reveals between the characters. Director and cast need to work closely together in this process, melding ideas that arise with the director’s vision – and the original intention of the playwright.

Mopoke Theatre’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca (1900), with Italian libretti by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, is an absolutely charming and engaging new production, continuing Mopoke’s particular theatre aesthetic of performing opera in the most unlikely but accessible places.

For the 1hr and 40 minute edited and adapted version of this great romantic and tragic opera, they are performing in the Clayton Wesley Uniting Church, and very effectively too.