Written by Michael Wilmot. Tweed Theatre Company. Directed by Raelene Richards. 11th-26th June, 2021.
Community Theatre is the very heart of entertainment for so many Australians, but it can be a hit and miss affair. Not so with Tweed Heads Theatre Company, whose latest offering is an absolute gem of a production.
Canadian Michael Wilmot’s play is a sketchy, sometimes hilarious, pastiche of two men, retired from work, seeking a purpose for the years to come - is it to be wood-working classes or a Harley Davidson - or fifty secrets to great sex?
Written by Melanie Tait. Ensemble Theatre production. Directed by Priscilla Jackman. Canberra Playhouse. June 3 – 5, 2021
The Appleton Ladies Potato Race is a thoroughly enjoyable dip into the lives of women in a small country town, their hopes and their grievances. Change can be hard for many; these women are no different, yet they have big hearts that allow them to meet challenges and to open up to reconciling differences. The race, where participants carry a bag of spuds on their shoulders, is more than just a race: it is a potential scene of conflict between the sexes, the established community members and new members, and history and what we can make of the future.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. June 12-14, 2021
Robyn Archer graces the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2021 after having ‘icon status’ bestowed upon her worthy shoulders in 2016 as winner of the Cabaret Icon Award. This is only one of her many awards over a rich lifetime as singer, writer, artistic director, public advocate for the arts and venerated mentor, but certainly celebrates Archer’s pre-eminent position in the world of cabaret.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Dunstan Playhouse, June 11-13, 2021
Image (above): Poof! at Sydney Opera House - Photo by Victor Frankowski
Poof: used to show that something has happened suddenly or by magic (Cambridge dictionary), or, a homosexual, the poor man’s term for homosexual (Urban dictionary).
Two very different meanings explored using magic, song and stand-up comedy by James Galea in his cabaret show, Poof!:Secrets of a Magician.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Festival Theatre. June 11, 2021
Described by Artistic Director Alan Cumming as a ‘smorgasbord of talent’, the Cabaret Festival opening event, The Variety Gala, a world premiere, may be equally well described as a Forrest Gump glamorous ‘box of chocolates’, or the exciting array of Christmas parcels under the tree that we cannot wait to open and enjoy.
By Bess Wohl. Sydney Theatre Company. Director: Jessica Arthur. Roslyn Packer Theatre June 11 – July 3, 2021.
Winter may be the time to ‘hunker down’ but it’s also the time we need a bit of cheer, and Sydney Theatre Company brings that cheer in this production. Though set in contemporary America, the play has universal appeal, requiring very little modification to change it to an Australian setting. After all, Grand Horizons could be any retirement village in any relatively wealthy first world city – and Nancy and Bill French could be any retired couple. Perhaps.
By Joe Di Pietro and Jimmy Roberts. Pristine Productions. Directed by David Nelson and Jane Anderson. The Actors Hub, Kensington St, East Perth, WA. June 10-12, 2021
Pristine Productions’ I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is one of those unfortunate shows that has suffered two separate Covid delays - for different lockdowns. It is making up for this by presenting this great little show in two short seasons. This one, in conjunction with Playlovers, is playing in the cosy space at the Actors Hub, with a return season in August in its originally intended venue, Downstairs at the Maj.
Book, music & lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Director: Christopher Ashley. Musical Director: Luke Hunter. Musical Staging: Kelly Devine. Junkyard Productions & Rodney Rigby Production. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Opening Night – June 10, 2021
How hard it is to write about this wonderful production after so much has been said and written already – and everything you’ve heard or read is right! It is warm and poignant. It is fast and funny. It is both celebratory and commemorative. It is, indeed, what good verbatim theatre should be – real stories sensitively translated into a theatrical form that reminds us of the truths that need to be documented about humanity … at its worst, and its very best.
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Queensland Ballet. Choreographer: Greg Horsman. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor & Music Arranger: Nigel Gaynor. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 4-19 June 2021
So much has happened and changed in the world since the Queensland Ballet had their most successful season ever six years ago when they mounted Greg Horsman’s reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky’s old-fashioned and grand fairytale The Sleeping Beauty.
By Emily Sheehan. Presented by Regional Arts Victoria. Directed by Katie Cawthorne.Online rent on-demand. June 4-20, 2021
This is a finely crafted text that addresses coming of age issues from an insider perspective. Sheehan’s sharp and raw dialogue captures the snide belligerence that often characterises millennial teen speak. This is nicely contrasted with moments in the play that are more surreal. Here the text becomes rich and poetic, effectively taking the characters into mystical realms.
