Reviews

A Southern Fairytale

By Ty Autry. Midsumma Festival. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne. Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2023

A Southern Fairytale is a beautifully conceived show written and starring Ty Autry in a one-hour revelatory monologue chronicled in six chapters, set-in modern-day Georgia, USA. Ty Autry plays Alex Belmont, who grew up in the Deep South, a challenging time for him, living in a small town with a church on every corner and Confederacy flags flying high, were denial and anti-gay sentiments were rife.

The Angel with Blue Eyes

By Freddie Fitzpatrick-Lubowitz. Midsumma Festival. La Mama HQ. 27 January – 4 February 2023

Kit (Bridget Morrison) has come out, to the horror and disgust of her fundamentalist Christian family.  Her father’s response was to beat her up and throw her out of the family home.  Her brother Peter (Ryan Tracey) not only did not defend her but wrote an open letter of disgust, denigrating her.  Her other brother, loving Dan (Charlie Boscolo), remains loyal to her, separating him from his brother.  And so, Kit’s family – albeit repressive and bigoted - has been rent asunder by Kit’s confession of her sexuality.  Worse, Kit now lives with Bi

Chef

By Sabrina Mahfouz. Virginia Plain with KXT bAKEHOUSE. Director Victor Kalka. KXT Kings Cross Hotel. 25 Jan- 4 Feb, 2023

In a very tight, very concentrated production, Alice Birbara reprises her 2022 performance of this searing, yet lyrical play by British-Egyptian poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz. The character Birbara plays is a convicted criminal in a women’s prison. Once a haute-cuisine chef, she has earned the privilege of running the prison kitchen. And that’s where we meet her – where she tells her story interspersed with graphic descriptions of the dishes she used to create.

Bat Out of Hell the Musical

Music, Book and Lyrics by Jim Steinman. Based on the Bat Out of Hell album by Meat Loaf. TEG Dainty. Qudos Bank Arena Sydney. January 27, 2023

True believers in the music of Meat Loaf got their money’s worth, enjoying the lightning bolts of beautiful singing and a terrific band.

However general theatre goers were left scratching their heads at some aspects of the production, which one audience member described to me as ‘high school standard.’

The leads curiously had hand-held microphones, and awkwardly mixed performing to a roving camera, and other times to each other. The camera angles during the dialogue were at times clunky and poorly lit.

Hubris & Humiliation

By Lewis Treston. Sydney Theatre Company / Sydney World Pride. Wharf 1 Theatre. January 20 – March 4, 2023

Playwright Lewis Treston was so curious about camp he studied it at the University of Queensland, along with how to give a queer reading to Jane Austin’s novels.  

He ended up with a PhD.  And a very funny, very camp, new play about a young Brisbane man leaving his bankrupt bogan family and coming to Sydney to find a wealthy husband. 

 

Homophonic!

Artistic Director, Miranda Hill. Midsumma Festival. La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton. 27 – 28 January 2023.

The return of Homophonic! in full swing is a sheer delight. The celebration and promotion of queer music and composers has been a long-time quest brought forward by Miranda Hill. The Consort of Melbourne, led by Steven Hodgson, work in collaboration with Hill to produce an outstanding program of original music and performances. The overall effect is a combination of the sweetest melodies, bright impish tunes as well as other more introverted and reflective pieces.

Last Kiss

By Graeme Quin. The Moonlight Aviators. Helen Kershaw (Choreography). Suze Quinn (Musical Direction). Kate Grieve (Costumes). Nick Courto (Musical Arrangement). The Theatre Royal Studio Theatre, Hobart. 25-28 January 2023

There was no programme for Last Kiss.

Love From a Stranger

By Agatha Christie, adapted by Frank Vosper. The Genesian Theatre, Sydney. Jan 14 – Feb 18, 2023.

First time director Tui Clark and her cast have handled Christie’s text with ease, adapting it to suit a modern stylised representation, set in 1920s London. 

Clark examines the domestic abuse between Bruce Lovell (Sam Walter) and his new bride Cecily (Emilia Kriketos) as he sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance and whisks her off to the country. Meanwhile, the audience pat themselves on the back for working out who the killer so obviously is … but is that a red herring? Has everyone remembered this is an Agatha Christie offering? 

Monty Python’s Spamalot

Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Perez and Eric Idle. Cairns Choral Society. January 20-28, 2023.

Based on the Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Spamalot the musical is an adventure like no other. Written by former Python Eric Idle, the musical comedy takes the audience on a ludicrous journey into darkest medieval England as King Arthur attempts to find the elusive Holy Grail. Through a montage of madcap scenes, King Arthur, assisted by the coconut-clapping Patsy, confronts and overcomes outrageous obstacles until he succeeds in his quest.

THRIVE: Queer Voices, Out Loud

Black Apple Theatre. Midsumma Festival. Bluestone Church Arts Space. January 24 to 28, 2023

THRIVE: Queer Voices, Out Loud is a vivid exploration of true stories from LGBTQIA+ community across rural Victoria, conceived and directed by Cheyney Caddy, co-founder and artistic director of Black Apple, a Castlemaine based theatre company.

A thoughtful and considered theatrical interpretation of interviews conducted by Caddy, who has meticulously carved out a historical and contemporary analysis of six colourful personalities across a generation, reflects on change within an evolving awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community in a contemporary setting.

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