Reviews

The Mad Hatter’s tea party gets a gothic horror twist in the delightfully dark Wondered. Appearing at the back of a hyper-hip café in Brisbane’s West End for the Anywhere Theatre Festival, this creatively twisted tale is certainly no children’s story. The Mad Hatter is more like a psychotic hatter, putting Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Tweedles in terribly hot tea indeed.

What a laugh! What a hoot! What a play! Tugun’s current offering Don’t Dress for Dinner is a wonderful mix of humour, great performances and good direction.

Written by Marc Camoletti (he also wrote Boeing, Boeing), it is brim-full of comedy and slapstick, reminiscent of the good old days of farce. The scene is a refurbished barn conversion, two hours from Paris, with workable barn doors that seemed to be mastered by everyone except the home owner!

If you’ve ever been to a social gathering where you’ve felt a bit awkward or out of control, you’ll relate to The Dinner Party. The action takes place around a large table, commandeered by elegant hosts played brilliantly by Jake McLarnon and Lizzie Vilmanis.

Think Britain in the 1920s! Flappers and tappers! Gangsters and pranksters! Think colourful, busy beachside Brighton! That’s exactly where director Carol Dicker has taken this production of One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean’s madcap adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s eighteenth centurycommedia dell’arte play, Servant of Two Masters.