Reviews

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare. Produced by Australian Shakespeare Company. Directed and adapted by Glenn Elston. Musical Direction by Paul Norton. Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne - Southern Cross Lawns, 100 Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne. 23 February - 17 March 2024.

Drawing on the musical allusions inherent in this play and expanding them to develop music, dancing and song gives this text an inspiring new interpretation. Pop and rock music is cleverly woven into the play and parts of the text are given musical adaptations. The characters are dressed like new romantic artists and pop culture is instantly and seamlessly married to historical Messina where the play is set. Soldiers are swapped for members of a band (Benedick and the Love Gods) and Beatrice (Anna Burgess) and Hero (Larissa Teale) headline their own group (The Babes of Disdain).

Plenty of Fish in the Sea

Presented by Sydney Fringe: Made in Sydney and Clockfire Theatre Company. Adelaide Fringe: The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum. 27 February to 3 March 2024

A nun who only speaks French, another woman who doesn’t speak at all, and an English-speaking man rescued from the surging seas. Communication between the three is piecemeal and misinterpreted, but eventually, the newcomer to the fishing village of Saint-Cotriade becomes a part of the team that during the day, fishes for their supper, and at night… well, that’s best left for the audience to discover.

Goodbye, Lindita

Adelaide Festival. Mario Banushi. The Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. Thurs 29 Feb - Sun 3 Mar 2024

Born in Albania in 1998, Mario Banushi is a director and actor and the creative force behind Goodbye, Lindita which premiered at the National Theatre of Greece in March 2023, the second work in a planned trilogy.  He moved to Greece at the age of six and went on to study drama at the Athens Conservatory.  Much of the heavy symbolism in this piece hails from the director’s cultural ties to the Balkan regions; indeed the work was inspired in part by the enduring image of Banushi’s stepmother surrounded by flowers upon her deathbed.

Baleen Moondjan

Directed by Stephen Page. Adelaide Festival: Glenelg (Pathawilyangga) Beach. 28 February – 2 March, 2024

‘Whale totem of mine, carry my spirit’ – the introduction to this wonderful performance that is Baleen Moondjan, on the sands of the beach, with the roar of the sea to our left, and the water threatening to lap over our blankets.

Grain in the Blood

By Rob Drummond. Presented by Virginia Plain, in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre. Direction and Set Design by Victor Kalka. At KXT, Broadway, Sydney. 23 February – 9 March, 2024

A thriller comes to Sydney’s Broadway. Usually thrillers belong to the cinema, but this one is definitely a theatrical event, with a moral dilemma in a creepy setting in a country far, far away. Where are we? What style of language am I hearing? We are definitely deep in the back-blocks but, with no program to aid me, I had no idea where. And when I obtained the brief program downloaded onto my phone, I still had no idea.

The Hate Race

By Maxine Beneba Clarke. Directed by Tariro Mavondo & Courtney Stewart. Beckett Theatre, The Malthouse. 113 Sturt St, Southbank, Melbourne. 27 February – 17 March 2024.

The Hate Race is a magnificent adaptation of Clarke’s memoir which charts her experience of growing up as an Australian of Afro-Caribbean descent. Her story chronicles her experience of otherness and provides a moving insight into the emotional turmoil caused by the daily episodes of discrimination. However, Clarke’s book is emphatic about rising above this through pride in your heritage. This show is much more than a mere adaptation of the novel. It is a clever, creative, and compelling reimagining of the story for the stage.

Paul Kelly Concert TIME

Concert Hall, Perth. Perth Festival. 27 February 2024.

“Time and tide wait for no man,” says the Chaucer quote.

 Paul Kelly has been exploring this theme on his latest album, TIME (2022) and touring a 2-hour concert version.

He has chosen songs from over 30 albums that remember old friends, “in the shadow of time”; celebrate lovers apart, “for whom time moves too slow” and of course “doing time”, perfectly captured in “How to Make Gravy”.

Blue

By Thomas Weatherall. A Belvoir St Theatre production, presented by State Theatre Company of South Australia and Celsius in association with Adelaide Festival. Scott Theatre, Adelaide. 23 February – 16 March 2024

Mark wants to be a writer – like his mum – and he spent his childhood reading books and writing alongside her. Now he’s moved out of the family home and into a share flat – and he’s still writing: letters to his mum, who eagerly writes back on distinctive yellow note paper.

The Lewis Trilogy

By Louis Nowra. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. February 9 – April 21, 2024

Image (above): Summer of the Aliens

After being scalped in a brutal boyhood accident, Louis Nowra could barely read until he was seventeen – his first book was Lolita – which is remarkable for one now surely Australia’s most prolific writer given his body of work across all forms.   

Image: Summer of the Aliens

7 Captiva Road

By Andrea Ciannavei. Anthropocene Play Company. Chapel off Chapel. 21 February to 3 March, 2024

She lay on her death bed; the Catholic matriarch of the household ruled her brood, and as one generation passes, old secrets are revealed, grievances tackled, and love reunited. 7 CAPTIVA ROAD was written in 2004, an Italian American playwright/screenwriter by Andrea Ciannavei, brought to the Melbourne stage by Bronwen Coleman, Artistic Director of Anthropocene Independent Theatre Company, and directed by Cathy Hunt.

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