Reviews

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. Filmed live at Doc X, in London. Sharmill Films. CinemaCloudWorks. In selected Australian cinemas from May 3, 2024.

To the average cinemagoer Ralph Fiennes will forever be Voldemort from the Harry Potter series, but he is so much more!

It was Ralph Fiennes’s mother who introduced him to his acting career. He was 8 or 9, lying atop the bunk bed he shared with his younger brother Magnus, when he asked her to tell him a story. The tale she chose was Hamlet.

The Almighty Sometimes

By Kendall Feaver. Cairns Little Theatre. Directed by Matt O’Connor. April 19-May 4, 2024

This is a timely new Australian play centred on mental health.

The central character is Anna, an eighteen year-old who has been on medication since as long as she can remember. The play opens with Anna, appearing quite normal, establishing a relationship with Oliver, a male friend. In the background is Anna’s protective mother Renee who encourages the relationship. However, Anna decides not to take her medication anymore and discovers that as a child she had a promising writing talent, a talent that seems to have been suffocated by medication.

You’re Being Dramatic

Written & directed by Zadie Kennedy McCracken. Theatre Works Explosives Factory. 24 April – 4 May 2024

The title, You’re Being Dramatic, sounds like a put-down, as in ‘now you’re being dramatic…’  As in, ‘Now you’re getting emotional, calm down, don’t make a scene.’  That inhibition, that fear of conflict, is the crux of Zadie Kennedy McCracken’s play.  Sometimes it might be best to be ‘dramatic’ - or not and live to regret it.

Evil Dead the Musical

By George Reinblatt, Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris, and Rob Daleman. Wanneroo Repertory. Directed by Kieran Ridgway. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo, WA. April 26-May 11, 2024

The Australian Premiere of Evil Dead the Musical is a schlocky, blood-filled parody of the Evil Dead series and horror movies in general. Self-aware, and not taking itself very seriously, it is well-directed with high production values and a talented cast and crew.

Straight White Male

Norm & Ahmed by Alex Buzo, followed by Radha & Ryan by Nick Parsons. Directed by Nick Parsons. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 23 April – 5 May 2024

Alex Buzo’s very controversial – and prosecuted for ‘obscenity’ – two-hander Norm & Ahmed dates back to 1968.  Writer and director Nick Parsons thought to revive it and play it alongside a long-considered piece of his own: Radha & Ryan.  The aim being to compare and contrast two eras and the sorts of Australian prejudice and attendant violence – then and now.  Both plays are set at bus shelters, late at night and both involve chance encounters.

We Will Rock You

By Queen and Ben Elton. Bankstown Theatre Company. Bryan Brown Theatre. Apr 26 – May 5, 2024

“We Will Rock You” was one of Queen’s most famous songs and a beloved moment where the crowd joins to pulse to that oh-so-familiar rhythm. It has also been picked up at numerous sports events, which is fitting. The song was reportedly inspired by a crowd singing a footy chant.

Evita

By Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Stirling Players. Directed by Jane Sherwood. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo, WA. Apr 26 - May 11, 2024

Stirling Players’ Evita’s reputation has proceeded it, with the production completely sold out prior to opening night. A quality production with a stunning lead performance, it was very well received by its Opening Night audience.

Things I Know To Be True

By Andrew Bovell. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 19 April – 4 May 2024

At the beginning, Rosie (Eva Rees), youngest of the Price family children, backpacking in Europe, tells us that after her heart was broken, she tried to make a list of all the things she knew to be true… but she found in the end that it was a very short list.  This is beautiful writing from Andrew Bovell.  The speech – plus Rees’ sweet sincerity - gives us Rosie and her demolished innocence, and makes us care for her, and it states a key theme of this moving 2016 play about ‘ordinary people’. 

Do You Mind?

Written and Performed by Shay Debney. Presented by Rachael Adamson and RaCreate. Directed by Julia Robertson. The Old Fitz Theatre, Sydney. 23 – 27 April, 2024

The smallish (16) audience enters the Old Fitz theatre via the stage, on which sits a box about 3’x2’x3’. The play begins when the lid flies open and out pops Melbourne writer and performer Shay Debney, in a blue jumpsuit, bearded, intent and full of questions.

He talks very fast and the few questions are for his audience. Well, more than a few actually. He’s got an inexhaustible flow of mainly unanswerable questions – 294 noted at one point – and many, many more after that.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare. Presented by Bell Shakespeare. Directed by Peter Evans. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank. 25 April - 11 May 2024.

As one of Shakespeare’s light-hearted comedies with many fantastical aspects, this text is not normally associated with being edgy and somewhat dark in its nature. This production takes some licence with the casting and sequencing of events and creates a very moody piece without losing any of the impish humour. In fact, this highlights the contrast between the eerie ethereal creatures that inhabit the wooded space and the other spheres represented in the play. The magic of the forest creatures is created more through subversion and daring than stardust.

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