Reviews

Worstward Ho

Written by Samuel Beckett, adapted for performance by Robert Meldrum & Richard Murphet. Victorian Theatre Company & Theatre Works. Theatre Works Explosives Factory, Inkerman Street, St Kilda. 24 May – 3 June 2023

Worstward Ho is not a play, it is ‘prose’ – that is, not written in 1981 as a play to be performed by an actor.  Robert Meldrum and Richard Murphet thought otherwise and over three years, they have been ‘decoding’ (Murphet’s term) it so as to render Beckett’s difficult text clear in performance – but without diminishing its difficulty.

The Suicide

By Nikolai Erdman. Red Phoenix Theatre. Holden Street Theatres, SA. May 25th to June 3rd, 2023.

 Whilst the date that The Suicide was written may be disputed, there is no doubt that it was banned by Stalin, and its author, Nikolai Erdman, certainly paid dearly for his craft by being sent to a Siberian work camp for 20 years. In fact, the play was first performed in Sweden in 1968. Ironically, it is now regarded as one of the finest plays to come out of Communist Russia.

The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race

By Melanie Tait. Tea Tree Players. Tea Tree Players Theatre, Cnr Yatala Vale Road and Hancock Road Surrey Downs, SA. May 24 – June 3, 2023

Tea Tree Players are known for their farces, so this year is an experiment to gauge audience reaction to other forms of theatre. Their first production was a fruity melodrama, now The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, a comedy with messages of equality and inclusivity. Later this year they will present the landmark Australian play Cosi, finishing up the year with A Vicar of Dibley Christmas - The Second Coming (plus a Youth Theatre production and a pantomime). The general public are certainly getting more than their money’s worth!

Sisterhood of the Travelling Lighter

By Courtney McManus and Hannah Quaden. Crash Theatre. Directed by Hannah Quaden and Ella Cooke. The Blue Room, Studio, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. May 16 - Jun 3, 2023

Sisterhood of the Travelling Lighter from Crash Theatre is a “celebration of the friendships that raise us”. Somewhat a “girl power” production with an all-female cast and production team, this somewhat tongue in cheek, magical little play is set on the university graduation day of a group of young women who have been friends since the first day of Year Seven.

That’s What She Said

By Josephine Gazard. Crisscross Productions. Director Suzanne Millar. The Vault at KXT on Broadway. 6 – 29 May, 2023

Though I couldn’t get to this production earlier in its run, it was one I was determined to see. There is no theatre more important than that which exposes wrong and inspires reaction.

The Wolves

By Sara Delappe. WAAPA Third Year Acting Students. Directed by Anna Houston. Enright Studio, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. May 18-20, 2023

WAAPA Third Year Acting Students have been split for the latest performance seasons. The women appear in this production of The Wolves, with their male classmates performing in brother production Fatherland. Directed with precision by Anna Houston, The Wolves follows a teenage girls’ indoor soccer team, over a six-week period.

Mr Bailey’s Minder

By Debra Oswald. The Guild Theatre, Rockdale. May 12 – June 10, 2023

Mr. Bailey’s minder – it’s a job no-one wants. Except Therese – desperately searching for something that will turn her life around, she needs to make it work, despite the odds.

Aging, once-famous painter Leo, now a spiteful, aging, self-destructive alcoholic, needs a full-time carer to remain in his eccentric home, decorated (if that’s the word for it) with his abstractions - yet he has driven away all previous comers, driving his daughter to distraction.

Fatherland

By Scott Graham, Karl Hyde and Simon Stephens. WAAPA Third Year Acting Students. Directed by Shane Anthony. Enright Studio, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. May 18-20, 2023

Fatherland is presented by the male WAAPA Third Year Acting Students and is designed, built and crewed by WAAPA Production and Design Students. Presented in tandem with the female students’ production of The Wolves, and played in the same venue, Fatherland is directed with style by Shane Anthony.

The Lighthouse Girl Saga

By Jenny Davis and Hellie Turner, based on the books by Dianne Wolfer. Theatre 180. Directed by Stuart Halusz. ACE Cinemas Midland, WA. May 19-28, 2023

Theatre 180’s The Lighthouse Girl Saga is told through their original concept CinemaStage, which pairs live acting on a temporary stage in a theatre, against a full cinematic backdrop, allowing the immediacy, intimacy, and intuition of live theatre to be paired with the intense imagery and high impact of cinema. The Lighthouse Girl Saga merges the four books of Dianne Wolfer’s Lighthouse Girl series - Lighthouse Girl.

Burrbgaja Yalirra 2

Presented by PICA and Marrugeku. Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. May 17-20, 2023

Burrbgaja Yalirra is Yawuru for “dancing forwards” and this production showcases artists who have performed in recent Marrugeku productions and allowed them to develop their own culturally informed contemporary dance works. There are three very different dance works on the program.

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