Reviews

The Maids

By Jean Genet, translated by Benedict Andrews and Andrew Upton. Presented by Famous Last Words. Goodwood Theatre and Studios. 3-13 April 2024

‘Mistress is kind,’ says Claire, though her sister Solange isn’t so sure. The two siblings are maids under a powerful woman who keeps them in line with fear and faux friendliness. Whilst their mistress is out, the two maids play with her clothes and make-up, acting out extreme versions of their interactions – their sadomasochism building them both to a sexual frenzy.

Mel & Sam - The Platonic Human Centipede

Written & performed by Mel O’Brien & Samantha Andrew. Music & Lyrics by Mel O’Brien & Samantha Andrew. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Toff in Town, Melbourne CBD. 28 March – 14 April 2024

Mel and Sam’s stock in trade is satire - a kind of cheeky, cheerful frontal assault mockery of institutions, the phoney and the fashionable, sacred cows, and the just plain ridiculous.  Mostly that’s via their songs – sometimes riffing off songs we all know, or more often their own fast-moving patter songs with lots of puns, internal rhymes, and shock (‘Did they just say that??’) lyrics. 

Cabaretica April 2024: Miscellanea

Curated by Isabel Knight La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton Victoria. Friday 8 April 2024.

La Mama Cabaretica is a quarterly cabaret offering curated by theatre actor, singer, producer and theatre maker Isabel Knight. The show aims to showcase emerging and local cabaret talent and this year offered debut and return performances as part of the program. Knight also acts as the host or MC of the event and creates a very vibrant and energetic atmosphere. She provides raucous encouragement and support for the daring and often very contrasting acts included in this show.

Musica April 2024: Amos Roach

La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton. Performance and Livestream April 1, 2024

Amos Roach generously shared his strong cultural identity as a proud Djab Wurrung/Gunditj Mara and Ngarrindjeri man through music, song and dance. Amos issued a warm invitation to explore and engage with ancient songlines and connections to Country. He moved through his opening dance, the songs of his parents, Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach, his own compositions and his extraordinary Yidaki (Digeridoo) playing with a serious joy.

Thalia Joan - That’ll Do: The Glamour Of Giving Up

Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The Dove Club. Level 2/322 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. March 27 – April 14, 2024

Thalia Joan bursts into the room with a megaphone, in a clinging, glamorous evening dress and comfy shoes and launches into her self-deprecating, ironic, carefully observed, and utterly relatable 45 minutes of sharing about her life. While many topics are touched on, growing up with a mother and grandmother, work and issues with a boss, ex-boyfriends and the differences in generations; the core of the show is her response to an internet quiz the algorithm sent her to identify whether she is giving up.

The Rocky Horror Show

Book, Music, Lyrics Richard O’Brien. Rocky Horror Company. Director Christopher Luscombe. Theatre Royal, Sydney. Opening Night: April 3, 2024

Richard O’Brien calls his creation “a celebration of wonderful rainbow joy and toe-tapping happiness” – but he knows it’s really much more than that. It’s brazen and boisterous; cheeky and colourful; loud and lively! And though I was probably one of the oldest people in the audience at last night’s opening performance, I was just as hyped as any of the other excited Sydney siders who packed the Theatre Royal to celebrate fifty years of The Rocky Horror Show.

Elvis – A Musical Revolution

Book by Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti. Presented by David Venn Enterprises. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, 3-28 April 2024 (and then to Perth and Gold Coast)

In 1968, Elvis-mania was fading fast – teenagers screamed instead at the Beatles, the radio stations blasted Dylan and the Stones, rather than Presley. Exhausted from a schedule of acting in one cookie-cutter movie after another, Elvis was depressed and most thought that was how he would fade away from the music industry. Instead, he worked around his hardline manager, ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker and rewrote a Christmas TV special to relaunch his career.

Hannah Gadsby - Woof!

Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Playhouse, Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank, Melbourne. 28 March - 20 April 2024.

Hannah Gadsby deals with anxiety in an amusing and endearing manner in this show. Gadsby’s acquaintance with this emotion is legendary and they demonstrate that comedy is a powerful weapon against it. Gadsby has a whole range of new worries that plague their vibrant and sharp mind. This show has a very stream of consciousness style, expressing a very calm and often bemused outlook to current global and personal woes.

Cloud Nine

By Caryl Churchill. Theatre Guild Student Society (TGSS). Little Theatre, Adelaide. April 3-6th 2024.

Cloud Nine is a play by Caryl Churchill who is arguably the most successful and best-known socialist-feminist playwright to have emerged from Second Wave feminism. Premiering in 1979, it deals with almost every contentious, debated or regretted issue in human existence, and thus, is complex and challenging for any company to perform. Set in two acts, the first is set in colonial times. The second act is firmly in 1980. It is about relationships between women and men, men and men, women and women.

Blackbird

By David Harrower. Solus Productions. Holden Street Theatres, SA. April 2nd – 13th, 2024

Scottish playwright David Harrower’s traumatic tale Blackbird premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, before moving onto London’s West End in 2006. A story of forbidden love and obsession; it poses more questions than it answers, which makes it all the more compelling.

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