Reviews

Not Another Indie Cabaret

Written & performed by Jessamae St James. Directed by Steven Gates. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne CBD. 20-25 September 2016

Jessamae St James, in a spangled frock and platforms, plays piano, kazoo, electric ukulele and some kind of weird electric keyboard on her knees.  She claims that she cannot play any of these instruments very well – but, hey, it’s cabaret – right?  - and a kind of rambling, confessional address is integral.  She also uses an electronic ‘effects station’ to make loops of her own voice.

Three Blind Mice

Isabella Yena, Ruby Johnston and Benjamin Nichol. Victorian College of the Arts. 28 Dodds Street. Production Coordinator David Harrod. Audio Designer Sidney Millar. Set Designer Joseph Noonan. 22- 25 September, 2016

Shaz (Ruby Johnston) suffers from agoraphobia, the fear of open or public places, and hasn’t left her house in five years. Her contact with the outside world is limited to what she sees on television, what is expounded by politically domineering neighbour Lorraine (Izabella Yena), and delivered by the worldly and desirable postie Johnno (Benjamin Nichol).

A Dingo Ate My Baby / Small Brown Supporting Role

By Louisa Wall / Nisha Joseph & Tenielle Thompson. Victorian College of the Arts. 28 Dodds Street. Production Coordinator David Harrod. Set and Costume Design Christiana Garvie. 22-25 September, 2016

This distinctly contrasting double-bill staged as part of Frisk, a festival of new performance works cocooned within Melbourne’s Fringe Festival, showcases some of the emerging talent of the VCA.

Young Frankenstein

Music and Lyrics: Mel Brooks, Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Miranda Musical Society. Co-Directors and Co-Choreographers: Lolly Butler and Gavin Leahy, recreating the original direction and choreography of Susan Stroman. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. September 21 – 25, 2016.

Miranda’s Young Frankenstein is as spectacular as it is fun. The cast gets all the vaudeville, innuendo, double entendre, single entendre, and slapstick (or should that be schlappshtick?) absolutely right.

The Record

600 Highwaymen. Created and Directed by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone. OzAsia Festival. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 21-24 September, 2016.

An ordinary girl in a private school uniform takes the stage. A cellist sits off to the side, ready to play, but he waits in silence – as do we, for a long, long time – while the girl poses inscrutably – and very slowly…as the tension threatens to morph into irritation.

The Paris Underground Cabaret

Aleksandar Vass and Vass Productions present a Madotti & Vegas production of Paris Underground. Alex Theatre St Kilda. Sept 21-24 2016

The Paris Underground Cabaret returns to Melbourne and the opening of the new season went off with quite a bang, I expected nothing less and received more, expectations exceeded. Treated to a feast of sophisticated performances, we had a taste of magic, circus, song, dance, burlesque, and if all this is not enough to satisfy, there was clever comedy to carry us gracefully through the show.  All this packaged into a seductive cabaret, a visual sensation that delighted the eye accompanied by the pleasure of French singing and music to be relished throughout.

The Great Gatsby

By F. Scott Fitzgerald, adapted by Simon Levy. Epicentre Theatre Company. Ku-ring-gai Town Hall. September 16 – October 8, 2016

Like the novel itself, this adaptation by Simon Levy relies heavily on the character of Nick Carraway to carry the story and connect the many scenes. It is basically true to the novel, moving between East and West Egg and The Valley of the Ashes in a host of small, filmic scenes that are probably more suited to a much larger stage.

PARLEY!

Written and performed by Rachael Besselink and Elena Larkin. Directed by Harley Hefford. Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Butterfly Club, Carson Place, Melbourne. 28 Sept - 2 Oct, 2016.

This is a charming theatrical venture that draws directly from the theatre of the absurd. PARLEY! especially looks to the work of Beckett in Waiting for Godot. Ant (Larkin) and Pea (Besselink) are two characters who are lost at sea and this functions as a metaphor for their existence. There is an instant quaintness about their appearance which is aided by a beautifully designed and very atmospheric set. The gentle rhythms of the dialogue convey warmth from the characters that is rather unexpected and uncharacteristic of the genre.

Salvation Amy

Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub - Lithuanian Club - South Melbourne, September 16 - 23, 2016

Drawn to Salvation Amy by what is written in the publicity blurb – I was not disappointed.  It has the potential to become a burly, bawdy, darkly funny and sating Cabaret offering.   However on opening night the early parts of Amy Bodossian’s performance lacked confidence and subtlety through, what I assume were, first night nerves mixed with a sense of panic. 

Hidden Sydney – The Glittering Mile

Live Ideas and Working Management with Art & About Sydney. Mansion Lane Kings Cross. September 16 - October 9, 2016

I was waiting next to the Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore to enter the ‘theatre’ when someone who resembled a vagrant started urinating into a gutter a few metres away.

The Lord Mayor was convinced he was an authentic drunk - up until we saw him again - playing the guitar inside.

This wasn’t the first or the last surprise of the evening. It appeared that even the most jaded theatre critic and opening night ‘luvee’ was entertained and fascinated by what was a lavish evening of immersive theatre.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.