Reviews

Aida returns to Sydney Opera House, three years after its first run, with all production bells and whistles in place: all those massive LED panels that waltz about the stage, joining up to form giant tableaux of snakes writhing, storms, sunsets, galloping horses and naked women on guard duty. 

This past year or more has played havoc with theatre companies, both professional and community. Many companies have gone to the wall financially after the long period of no income at all. As a result, most companies have clearly evaluated the demographic of their audience and have played safe. There’s a plethora of feel-good comedies and whodunnit’s around - easy entertainment as sustenance after a long famine. Gold Coast Little Theatre, long known for its diversity, is the exception rather than the rule.

Set in the offices of the all-female Clearday cosmetics start-up in Singapore, White Pearl is the finely crafted dark comedy that our stages have been craving. Based on an absurd situation of a real-life racist cosmetics ad that went viral in 2016, the background provides playwright Anchuli Felicia King with a checkerboard on which to place some hilarious characters to comment on gender and corporate powerplay politics. It's a corporate playground where women are just as capable of losing their emotional intelligence when tempted by the lure of cash.

Warning! There’s a triple-threat explosion happening on stage at the Gold Coast’s  HOTA theatre and it’s burning with energy, enthusiasm and excellence. Forget about the book – it’s pretty forgettable, with a cliched boy loses girl, meets another girl, can’t have her … well, you’ve seen it many times before. As for the music, and lyrics, they’re suitably “pop-py” and sometimes witty. If you’ve seen the movie you know exactly what to expect.