Reviews

This World Premiere adaptation of AB Facey’s A Fortunate Life by Jenny Davis and Stuart Halusz by Theatre 180 and Cinemastage Productions is a new concept - immersive live theatre in a cinema, where a high quality live production is played against a filmed background. 

Beautifully adapted by Jenny Davis and Stuart Halusz, this small cast retelling of A Fortunate Life fittingly makes its debut in Midland, the Perth suburb where author Albert Barnett Facey’s story came to an end. 

Clara is delightful.  Elena Mazzon is beguiling as Clara Schmann nee Wieck who lived from 1819 to 1896.  Mazzon spellbinds her audience in an unassuming yet totally centred manner.  She talks to us as Clara, imbuing her story, with an enchanting sense of wit and irony. 

There is a reason why Penny Ashton’s 70 -minute show is an award-winning romp through the rigidity, mores and strictures that society demanded during the 1800’s Regency period.  There are 33 quotes of Austen’s and the music, with aptly penned new lyrics, is ‘borrowed’ from the music of the period (but is much more fun this time). This show is impeccably penned, cleverly weaving in biting modern references with characters who are unashamedly created in the likeness of Jane Austen’s heroes and heroines. They include Mr.

Never knowing quite what to expect, one climbs the many external stairs to the Old 505 with something like grim uncertainty. But this is a good’un, a well-directed cast of four, burrowing deep into a story that’s set in 1942 New York. The sparse audience are wrapt as happy-go-lucky Elaine from Australia, becomes ever-deeper involved in the life of Simone, a tortured French philosopher stranded by the war and desperate to get back into the action.