Reviews

The White Mouse

By Peter Maddern. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021. Star Theatres, Hilton. Feb 26 - Mar 14, 2021.

With Anzac Day rapidly approaching, The White Mouse is an important reminder that while we remember all who fought in conflicts, there are heroes that have been ‘hidden’ or forgotten over the years.

Small Metal Objects

Back to Back Theatre for The Adelaide Festival 2021. Moseley Square, Glenelg. Mar 2 – 8, 2021

Back to Back Theatre have presented this award-winning production at major festivals nationally and internationally since its 2005 premiere.

Director Bruce Gladwin with co-devisors/performers Simon Laherty, Sonia Teuben, Genevieve Morris and Jim Russell have created a work that is both humble and thematically complex. 

The City

Sydney Opera House. Feb 25 & 26, 2021

The city woke up with an array of characters bursting into life, including Lex Marinos rolling out from under a table. That same table and a handful of chairs were the extent of the scenery and they were artfully reimagined as a bed, a landscape garden, a fire wall, a boat ....  even protection from low-flying birds. Lexie Dent, playing a young lover, was on stage for what seemed like five minutes before her feet even touched the ground.  Her fellow actors skillfully kept putting chairs in her path to step on as if she was floating on air on her way to her paramour, play

FANGIRLS

Book, music and lyrics by Yve Blake. Adelaide Festival of Arts 2021. Ridley Pavilion. Feb 27 – Mar 14, 2021

It’s refreshing to be able to attend the theatre amidst a global pandemic, even more so to be able to attend a relatively new Australian musical, showcasing the talents of some of our country's most gifted rising stars.

Peter Goers in Joyful Strains

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021. Holden Street Theatres. Feb 20 – Mar 21, 2021.

Peter Goers OAM has been gracing us with his presence on several mediums for over 40 years. Starting out in theatre as a youngster, he studied at Flinders University, before migrating to writing reviews for The Advertiser and in later years filling the airwaves at ABC radio with his unique style of banter.

Beside

By WA Youth Theatre. Directed by James Berlyn. Peninsula Farm, Baigup/Maylands WA. Feb 24- Mar 6, 2020

Beside is the first Perth Festival commission for WA Youth Theatre in the company’s 40-year history. A site-specific production, it asks audiences to consider what it means to be beside a “river of change”, which runs beside one of WA’s oldest farm-houses, on land that has “an unbroken 65,000 year cultural history”. One of the first Perth Festival productions to sell out, this is a dynamic and fascinating work that intrigues and leaves you thinking.

Guttered

Restless Dance Theatre. Adelaide Festival 2021. Norwood Kingpin Bowl. 26 February - 14 March, 2021

Director Michelle Ryan writes: ‘safety nets, however well intended, can often do more harm than good’.

This is a premise which is deeply interwoven through Restless Dance Theatre’s latest offering, Guttered, at Norwood Kingpin Bowl.

Chess The Musical

Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaes. Book and Lyrics by Tim Rice. Very Popular Theatre Company Directed by Erin James

A year after it was called off at the eleventh hour due to the pandemic, this spectacular concert edition of the musical burst onto the stage of Newcastle’s beautiful Civic Theatre.

A large chorus of singers were located at the back of the stage, the orchestra was front and centre, whilst the actors weaved in and out of the players, sometimes on a raised platform, at other times in front of them.

Giant flags of the Soviet Union and United States were unfurled when appropriate, and impressive AV, featuring images and chess graphics adorned either side of the stage.

Nella

By Julia Mayer. Adelaide Fringe: World Premiere. Tirkanthi at Payinthi, Prospect Library. 24 Feb - 7 March, 2021

Presented and written by Julia Mayer, Nella is a ‘pastranomic delight.’ This 60 minute debut show from actor and comedienne Mayer is a deeply personal story about migration, and the building of generations, family stories and traditions. It is the true story of Mayer’s Nona’s life, a woman who at 19 left her small northern Italian village, eventually becoming a lauded chef at the Norwood Hotel.

The Pulse

Presented by Gravity and Other Myths and Aurora. Adelaide Festival 2021. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2021

A bare stage is illuminated by stark white lights that point directly down through the haze. First a few people, dressed in shades of grey, walk quickly in straight lines, turning sharply, never once touching another. Then the stage is filled with grey men and women, moving around one another to the background of rising voices – choral and chatter.

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