Reviews

The Lehman Trilogy

Written by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power and directed by multi-award-winning director, Sam Mendes. The National Theatre and Neal Street Productions. Trafalgar Entertainment. Theatre Royal, Sydney. February 21 – March 24, 2024

This triumphant theatrical saga about three Bavarian brothers immigrating to America in the 1840s and from a fabric shop in Alabama building a global investment bank has had a long gestation.  

Originally a three act Italian play, adapted by British playwright Ben Power and directed for London’s National Theatre by Sam Mendes in 2018, applauded and translated around the world, this finely tuned epic is performed by just three remarkable actors. 

The Threepenny Opera

Based on John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. By Bertolt Brecht (text) and Kurt Weill (music), in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann. Adelaide Festival 2024. Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide. March 6 – 10, 2024

 

Shine My Light

Written and performed by Taku Mbudzi. Consulting director Akwasi Osei-Tutu. La Mama HQ, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton Vic. 6-10 March 2024.

Taku Mbudzi is a talented storyteller whose work successfully transposes across platforms; podcasts, filmmaking and stand-up comedy are among them. In this show Mbudzi takes a very personal approach and considers her achievements as an African woman trying to make her way in the world.

She has many intriguing and engaging anecdotes related to her African heritage and settling in Australia. Many of the stories have universal appeal; the pressure to get married, dealing with expectations of family members and getting ahead in the working world as a woman of colour.

Private View

Adelaide Festival. Restless Dance Theatre. Odeon Theatre, Norwood. 29 Feb - 9 Mar 2024

I have had the privilege of enjoying three Restless Dance Theatre shows in the last few years – each with a distinct style and innovative use of location and space, and each delivering a strong, lingering message.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Playhouse, Sydney Opera House. 2 - 30 March 2024.

Shakespeare’s magical comedy here opens darkly on a ruined wall of old planks and openings, fronted by a clutter of upturned tables and chairs.  No colour or fairy lights in sight.

Indeed, this foreboding atmosphere suits the cruelty at stake in Athens as Theseus orders that Hermia (Ahunim Abebe) must face execution if she doesn’t obey her father and marry Demetrius (Mike Howlett).  Hermia however longs for Lysander (Laurence Young), while her old schoolmate Helena (Isabel Burton) adores the unyielding Demetrius.

I Hide In Bathrooms

Astrid Pill and Collaborators. Vitalstatistix, Waterside Workers Hall, Port Adelaide. Tue 5 Mar- Sat 16 Mar, 2024

Astrid Pill and collaborators have delivered a multifaceted hybrid solo work for the Adelaide Festival, part theatre, part performance art, part installation.  Within this creative construct, Pill’s exquisite stage presence and ethereal, nuanced, multidisciplinary performance is something to behold.

The Wharf Revue: Pride in Prejudice

Created by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 5 to 9 March, 2024

There are so many laughs in The Wharf Revue: Pride in Prejudice that I want to see it again immediately! This show is so much more than know-it-all political satire: it is cleverly constructed and thoughtfully scripted; it provides much-needed comic relief through an overview of crazy current events that will make you think while you are crying with laughter! Key to the success of the 20-something-year-old revue is the astuteness and craft of its creators, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott, and the experience that the performers bring to their sharp material.

Le Freak!

Presented by Heartfelt Havoc. Adelaide Fringe: The Lark at Gluttony. 5-10 March 2024

This award-winning absurdist circus might have a style that’s influenced by the 1970s but its messages are very much 2020s.

At this year’s Fringe there is a lot of circus masquerading as burlesque that pulls its stockings onto the legs of cabaret, but there’s nothing else with the satirical bite of Le Freak! It does more than poke fun at the hypocrisies of capitalism – pink-washing, government agencies, corporate control – it even has a dig at the festivals that host the group.

Me, My Cult and I

Adelaide Fringe: presented by Colin Ebsworth, Jack & Jill’s Basement Bar. 5-16 March 2024

Raised in a cult, Colin’s parents were matched in a mass wedding in Madison Square Garden in the 1980s by a charismatic Korean who said he was the returning messiah.

Ebsworth offers a prologue on how this isn’t going to be a laugh-out-loud show that pokes fun at the Unification Church cult, but as his quick-witted storytelling unfolds with history, hard-hitting emotion, and comedy, I can’t think that anyone would be upset, even if they wanted wall to wall chuckling.

Adore Handel’s Little Black Book

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024. Adore Handel. Dom Polski Dwa at Dom Polski, Adelaide Mar 4 to Mar 10

Adore Handel’s Little Black Book is a one performer show that transports us back to 18th Century Europe and the sexual exploits of Adore Handel (alias Luke Bell), some successful, some not, all delivered with tongue in cheek and song.

Adore Handel is a real housewife of the 18th century telling tales of rubbing shoulders with Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi and is a time travelling pansexual fashionista with a quick wit and a baritone voice to die for!

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