Reviews

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.  

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

By William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin. Murray Music and Drama. Directed by Lori Anders. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. Nov 10 - 25, 2023

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been one of the more popular shows of recent years, but this fun musical comedy is still managing to attract a healthy audience. Murray Music and Drama’s current production seems to have found some points of difference, meaning even those who have seen the show multiple times could find something new.

The Memory Palaces

By WAAPA Third Year Performance Making Students. Directed by Michael Barlow (with Assistant Director Anja Starkiss). The Ellie Eaton Theatre, Claremont Showgrounds, WA. Nov 10-11, 2023

The Memory Palaces is the latest production in an annual collaboration between Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and WAAPA - a partnership that began in 2015. WAAPA’s final year Performance Making Students celebrate their graduating performance using puppetry.

A highly visual new piece of theatre, it has been inspired by “ancient methods of recall that have left traces on cultures around the ground”.

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare. EGL353 Acting and Producing for the Stage. Directed by Dr. Alys Daroy, Dr. Sarah Courtis and Dr. Stephen Platt. Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University, WA. Nov 9-11, 2023

William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is presented by EGL353 Acting and Producing for the Stage as part of their coursework. Playing for a short season, in Murdoch’s lovely Nexus Theatre, it is a chance for students to showcase what they have learnt. 

In this course students both produce and perform in the show, undertaking backstage and on-stage roles. Students make and source materials for set design, music, costumes, props, programs as well as managing publicity, stage management and all other areas of production.

Face to Face

By Emily Wells. Clancestry Festival 2023. Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 8 to 12 November 2023

Playwright Emily Wells is a graduate of the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts and holds a Bachelor of Entertainment Industries from the Queensland University of Technology. Her experience as a producer and collaborator with First Nations creatives across Australia means she certainly knows how to tell a story and entertain an audience. Face to Face is her debut play.

Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot

By David Williamson. Directed by Geoff Brittain. St Jude’s Players, Brighton, SA. November 9-18, 2023.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

I’m very glad I had the opportunity to walk into this ‘gin joint’. The play, Scarlett O’ Hara at the Crimson Parrot at St Jude’s is very deserving of full audiences as it is nostalgic and funny. Geoff Brittain has again assembled an excellent cast and tells the story with empathy and great humour.

The Normal Heart

By Larry Kramer. GRADS - The Graduate Dramatic Society. Directed by Barry Park. The Actors’ Hub, Kensington St, East Perth, WA. Nov 2-18, 2023

In November and December, most community and professional theatres are delivering fun shows, with multiple Shakespearian comedies, bright musicals, farces and pantomimes on offer. GRADS - The Graduate Dramatic Society have clearly decided to go in another direction, with the current production, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, set in the early years of the AIDS crises.

Oil

By Ella Hickson. Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf 1 Theatre. Nov 4 – Dec 16, 2023

Oil is an enthralling theatrical leap through the story of black gold, from freezing dark poverty in the 1800’s without it, our imperial desperation to plunder it, the Middle Eastern power games to keep it, and then back to the cold without it in 2050. And that’s Ground Zero.

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