Reviews

Summer of the 17th Doll.

By Ray Lawler. Stirling Players. Directed by Tim Riessen. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo, WA. Nov 26 - Dec 11, 2021

To usher in the start of Summer, Stirling Players presents Ray Lawler’s Australian classic, Summer of the 17th Doll.

A famous story of cane cutters staying in Melbourne for the lay-off, a well decorated set, constructed by Pauline Gibb, with decor by Janet and Tom Brandwood and costumes by Merri Ford and cast, transport us back to around 1955. The titular dolls have been very prettily created by Fran Gordon. The show features an effective lighting design from John Woolrych.

Moulin Rouge The Musical.

Book by John Logan. Presented by Carmen Pavlovic, Gerry & Val Ryan and Global Creatures. Regent Theatre, 191 Collins St, Melbourne. 27 November 2021 - 29 April 2022.

Truth, beauty, freedom and love are the mantras of the characters in the original film and each of these elements is echoed in the stage version. The show is incredibly truthful in its adaptation of the spirit of film by replicating and enhancing its colour and vibrancy. The transition to the stage is truly remarkable and demonstrates an enormous commitment to the beauty that runs through the story and its setting. The staging is nothing short of breathtaking.

Beauty and the Beast

By Ben Crocker. Tea Tree Players Theatre. Surrey Downs, SA. Nov 26 – Dec 11, 2021

As Michael Bublé says, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and no Christmas is complete without a pantomime. Tea Tree Players have been carrying on this tradition for many years, fostering young talent and showcasing a lot of grown-ups as well!

Sprout

By Jessica Bellamy. 7th Floor Theatre. The Williams Hall, Princes Hill, Vic. Nov 17 – 27, 2021

Lockdown was hard and the future was grim for new theatre company 7th Floor Theatre, founded in 2019, yet they continued their work with play reads via Zoom, and along the way they bumped into the dystopian futuristic award-winning play Sprout, written by Jessica Bellamy in 2011.

Archimedes War

By Melissa Reeves and directed by Susie Dee. Darebin Arts Speakeasy. Northcote Town Hall. 23 November – 2 December 2021

Arki (Harry Musgrove) is 15, addicted to single shooter video games, and in trouble.

The Boomkak Panto

By Virginia Gay. Directed by Richard Carroll and Virginia Gay. Belvoir. Nov 20 - Dec 23, 2021

Australia doesn’t really get pantomime. The Christmas tradition which the poms go berserk over, gets lost in the translation when summer is too hot and sticky to lure parents to make their children spend time indoors, when they could be by the pool.

The idea behind this production was a good one.  A  little country town,  which has a tomato sauce factory,   (in homage to the Belvoir Theatre’s own origins)  has to put on a panto to save itself from a big bad developer.

The Lovely Bones

By Bryony Lavery. Adapted from the novel by Alice Sebold. Directed by Deborah Mulhall. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. 23 November – 18 December, 2021

The Lovely Bones traces the aftermath of the rape and murder of a teenage girl as she looks down from a sort of ‘halfway house’ to heaven. She sees her family’s grief and disbelief at her disappearance at the fact that her body has never been found. She feels the frustration of not being able to tell them that her father is on the right track when he suspects old Mr Harvey, who builds doll’s houses and monuments to his dead wife and hides “trophies” of other murders in a hidden casket.

Musica Viva

Sofia Troncoso, Patrick Nolan and Alex Raineri. Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. 24 November 2021

This Musica Viva programme should have been titled 'Proustian Paris: A Salon with Marcel' – as most of the chosen pieces are from the writer's revolutionary turn-of-the-century period that includes the Belle Epoch. And the represented composers are those whose works Proust would have been familiar with; some more intimately connected with his life, such as Reynaldo Hahn, the Venezuelan composer who lived in Paris and became Proust's lover. Appropriately the two artists met at a Parisian Salon.

The Bleeding Tree

By Angus Cerini. Directed by Ian Michael. The Blue Room Studio, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. Nov 23 – Dec 11, 2021

The Blue Room’s The Bleeding Tree, set in an isolated Australian town, is an hour-long tale about the ultimate revenge. Featuring a cast of three First Nations women, it tells of a mother and daughters who despatch the abusive man of the house, then need to deal with the consequences.

Dracula

Ballet based on the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. Queensland Ballet & West Australian Ballet. Choreographer: Krzysztof Pastor. Composer: Wojciech Kilar. Libretto: Pawel Chynowski. Musical Arrangers: Michael Brett & Joshua Davis. Camerata Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Nigel Gaynor. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 24 Nov – 4 Dec 2021.

Will we ever get over our fascination with Transylvania’s most famous citizen? Since Englishman Bram Stoker first penned it in 1897, his epistolary novel Dracula has had countless reincarnations for the stage, film and television. This ballet version re-imagines the character as a ‘romantic villain’, a reinterpretation that was first used in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

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