Reviews

ButohBAR Out of Order

Co-created by Yumi Umiumare & ButohOUT! Ensemble. Industrial School, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford. 15-19 November 2023.

As an avant-garde and experimental Japanese theatre tradition, Butoh exhibits a great deal of post-war and postmodern dystopian anxieties. ButohBAR visits some very dark psychological places and spaces and this is where the anti-aesthetics is particularly at work in this production. The stage, set and costume design deliver the characteristic anguish of this radically challenging form of theatre. The clash of colours, styles, movement and textures is striking and sometimes jarring.

The Master & Margarita

Adapted and directed by Eamon Flack, from the book by Mikhail Bulgakov. Belvoir St Theatre. Nov 11 to Dec 10, 2023

‘Twould be wonderful if Mikhail Bulgakov could be spirited into the Belvoir St Theatre to the see what Eamon Flack, his cast, and a host of creatives have made of his book The Master and Margarita. He’d see all his characters – the Devil, his assistant, a naked witch, a huge black, talking cat with a liking for vodka, an assassin, a poet, a writer, Christ and Pontius Pilate – corralled together in a riotous romp that’s mad and magical – and as mischievous as Bulgakov meant it to be!

Wildschut & Brauss

Musica Viva Australia. Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide. November 15, 2023. Touring.

Musica Viva Australia are to be commended for importing artists of the calibre of violinist Noa Wildschut and pianist Elisabeth Brauss. Direct from the concert halls of Europe, they present a program, Wildschut & Brauss that has something for everyone, young or old, a music buff or a novice.

Welcome To Your New Life

By Anna Goldsworthy. State Theatre Company South Australia. Directed by Shannon Rush. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. 10-25 November, 2023.

”Why have we kept doing this?” Anna, the anguished mother in labour cries. The audience, likewise, ponders the same question. Childbirth and motherhood can be such a traumatic assault on the senses and yet, we go back for more.

The Wharf Revue: Pride in Prejudice

By Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe. Soft Tread Productions. Director Andrew Worboys. Seymour Centre. 8 November - 17 December, 2023 and touring.

Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe are looking back on another year with their usual perspicacious percipience, pertinent parodies and just a little poignant plaintiveness! They satirise prominent politicians with punchy pride, bi-partisan prejudice and intense irreverent irony. And if you find that little lot of alliteration laborious imagine writing a whole sketch of it! In fact, imagine planning a program of sketches satirising people and politics – and performing them perfectly!  

Ok! Ok! I’ll stop!

A Murder Is Announced

By Agatha Christie, adapted by Leslie Durbon. New Farm Nash Theatre, Qld. Directed by Sharon White. Nov 10 – Dec 2, 2023.

The action takes place in the village of Chipping Cleghorn in Miss Blacklock’s house, Little Paddocks, which seems innocent of any dangers until an article appears in the local paper to say a murder was to take place that Friday 13th at 6.30pm at her house.

Is it real?

Who is to be murdered?

Metaverse of Magic

JONES Theatrical Group. Sydney Coliseum Theatre from 7 November 2023, Canberra Theatre Centre from 22 November 2023 & QPAC Concert Hall from 4 January 2024

The Metaverse of Magic is an extraordinary experience that seamlessly blends illusion, spectacle, and storytelling along with interactive audience gameplay. 

Brought to life by a remarkable cast of performers, it is fronted by Lenox (Ash Hodgkinson, AKA Ash Magic), who leads the audience into the mystical Metaverse. Along with his AI sidekick Digi (Erin Bruce), both he and the audience must complete a series of tasks to level up in a magical playground. 

Song Circle

Clancestry Festival 2023. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 11 November 2023

Imagine sitting around a campfire with some of Australia’s best singer-songwriters! That was QPAC’s Song Circle, a passion project for Troy Cassar-Daly, featuring Shane Howard (Goanna), Dan Sultan, Neil Murray (Warumpi Band) and Sara Storer. The 3-hour gig included a warm and welcoming opening set with Jem Cassar-Daly, her keys and a bunch of original songs. The evening drew together a key theme that, despite the vastness of the Australian landscape (a reality these travelling musicians know only too well) it is the stories and songs that draw us all together.

‘night Mother

By Marsha Norman. Holden Street Theatre Company Inc. Holden Street Theatres: The Studio. November 7-25, 2023

When I started directing plays, a very wise and experienced director shared some sage advice saying, “The secret is to cast well” and this magic formula stands out in American playwright Marsha Norman’s ‘night Mother currently on at Holden Street. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, and is, in this production a fine example of perfect casting.

The Dream / Marguerite & Armand

The Australian Ballet. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House / Tubowgule. Nov 10 – 25, 2023

Amy Harris exquisitely dances the role of the fragile courtesan in Marguerite & Armand but leaves the Australian Ballet this month after 22 years. This short ballet was made famous by the ice-and-fire partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev; it was choreographed for them in 1963 by Britain’s Sir Frederick Ashton – no wonder principal dancers left the work alone for years.  

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