Reviews

Singing Swallows

By Romi Kupfer. Theatre Works (Vic). Jun 23 – Jul 4, 2021

Stories are created to entertain and are used to explain and illustrate abstract ideas or concepts in a way that makes them attainable. Singing Swallows, created and performed by Romi Kupfer, is a wonderful new storytelling theatrical experience about young Holocaust survivors; its aim is to prick ears and spark imagination not just for the young, but for everyone.

Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age

Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Festival Theatre, June 26, 2021. Touring: Brisbane, June 30; Gold Coast, July 4; Perth, July 9; Melbourne, July 10.

Alan Cumming is not acting his age… and he is proud of it.

This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival has been treated to the imagination and brilliance of Alan Cumming as Artistic Director. During the Festival we have seen glimpses of his creativity and daring through the choices he has made for the programme, and delightfully, his show Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age was another chance to experience the eclectic talent that is this man.

Quartet

By Ronald Harwood. Villanova Players. Ron Hurley Theatre, Seven Hill, Qld. 26 June – 11 July 2021

Quartet has become a popular title on the amateur circuit. Its gold-class pedigree includes a West End season in 1999, and a film which starred Maggie Smith, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtney and Bill Connelly. It’s another in a series of plays and movies for an older audience like Ladies In Lavender, and it fits the bill nicely.

Iphigenia in Splott

By Gary Owen. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, East St Kilda. 19 June – 18 July 2021

What Iphigenia in Splott does is tell a gripping story – with a sting in the tail.  The story is all the more gripping in its telling here by Jessica Clarke.  Alone on stage for close to ninety minutes - and with a Welsh accent too - she gives us a brilliant performance, by turns precise, whimsical, childlike, shocking, and moving. 

Hear Me Roar - Unplugged

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2021. Dunstan Playhouse. June 25-26, 2021

Billed as ‘an uplifting concert experience celebrating the women whose music changed the world’, Hear Me Roar - Unplugged was certainly a satisfying balm for our post-Covid cultural appetites during the 2021 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, full of great songs and, for the most part, setting up a joyous dance party vibe.  I am still trying to work out just what the ‘unplugged’ refers to though, given the very much electrified technical set up.  The first iteration of this show, conceived and directed by Trevor Ashley, was shown at the Sydney Opera House

Epic Sounds

Barton: Apri Thatini Mu Murtu (To Sing and carry a coolaman on country together). Verdi: Overure to La Forza delDestino. Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E flat, Op. 82. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor; Benjamin Northey. Soloist: William Barton, didgeridoo. June 26, 2021

William Barton’s newest piece for didgeridoo and orchestra, Apri Thatini Mu Murtu (To sing and carry a coolamon on country together), was an outstanding example of sounds that could be achieved by this remarkable instrument. Barton, an award-winning musician, held the audience in thrall with this spiritual work which conjured up bush sounds, birds singing, wind whispering through trees, and late evening and early morning songlines.

RocKwiz Salutes Eurovision

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Festival Theatre. June 25, 2021

The masked audience roared as Brian Nankervis took to the stage to begin the proceedings, first with a quick-fire round of questions to six selected audience members, four of whom would become the panel for the remainder of the evening. They weren’t random: they knew their stuff, answering their questions rapidly, correctly – and often in full song or (River)dance. And so, with the remainder of the audience applauding loudly, Lynne, Con, Simone and Max were seated behind their RocKwiz desks.

Holding the Man

By Tommy Murphy. The Performing Arts Association of Notre Dame, Australia (PAANDA). Directed by Matthew L. Jones. University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA. June 22-Jul 3, 2021

Holding the Man is an award winning play, with accolades including the 2007 NSW Premier’s Literary Award and an AWGIE, but to my knowledge, this production by The Performing Arts Association of Notre Dame, Australia (PAANDA), is the first time this play has been performed in Western Australia. It is great to see this young, dynamic and talented young company continue to stretch their wings with good, modern Australian plays, which challenge both performers and audience, and have important things to say.

Cactus

By Madelaine Nunn. Directed by Katie Cawthorne. La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton. 23 June - 4 July, 2021.

Ayesha Harris-Westman (Abbie) and Lucy Rossen (PB) are best friends in their final year of high school facing some of the usual challenges presented to teenagers on the brink of adulthood. This story is much less conventional than expected and deals with much more than the usual plots that often characterise coming of age narratives.

Mamma Mia!

Music and Lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Matt Ward Entertainment. Directed by Tim Hill. Star Casino Gold Coast. Jun 19 – July 11, 2021.

For producer Matt Ward 2020 was an endless list of frustrations which saw him thwarted many times over, and saw his hard fought for production of Mamma Mia! shelved because of Covid 19. Finally, 12 months or so down the track, we can finally say…it was worth the wait.

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