Reviews

Kimberly Akimbo

Score by Jeanine Tesori. Lyrics and book by David Lindsay-Abaire. State Theatre Company South Australia and Melbourne Theatre Company in association with Wagnan Productions Sarah Rohrsheim. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, Jul 8-19, 2025 and Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse, Jul 26 – Aug 13, 2025.

Welcome to New Jersey 1999 and the life and times of an eccentric, somewhat unpredictable collection of characters who endure a few surprising plot detours (no spoilers here though).  With a phenomenal cast commanding the stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre and a dream crew fashioning the magic behind the scenes, opening night attendees were passionate in their appreciation of this production.

All The World's A Stage.

Shepherd's Purse Theatre Company. Directed by Solar Chapel. Flutterbies Cafe and Environs, Tyalgum NSW. July 10th -12th 2025.

I have written and raved about the Shepherd's Purse Theatre Company before; in many ways they defy description. They are situated in the vibrant arts hub town of Tyalgum, just 20 minutes out of Murwillumbah in the Tweed Valley, on the far north coast of NSW. Their cast consists of professional actors from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and a remarkable array of local residents. What they have delivered over the last few years would stand proudly on any professional theatre stage in any capital city.

My Cousin Frank

Written and told by Rhoda Roberts AO. Arts Centre Melbourne. July 9 to 12, 2025 and Hot House Theatre, Albury Wodonga from August 13.

Attending as a reviewer, a critic of the theatre, at this show is somehow an inaccurate power dynamic. For me to sit in the audience preferencing my critical eye over my felt sense would be wrong. It is NAIDOC week, a time of opening up to the experiences of existing on unceded Aboriginal land. Where the urgency of storytelling is so strong that the audience must stop thinking and start feeling. The need to share in community and be listened to is an archetypal human process.

Echo: Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen

By Nassim Soleimanpour. Directed by Omar Elerian. Merlyn Theatre Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank, Melbourne. 14 - 19 July 2025.

Nassim Soleimanpour is an unusual writer who is renowned for scripting text for unrehearsed performance. Echo is a deeply personal account of his own migration journey, which is fraught with the trauma of separation, the emotional tug of war between cultures, and the desperate desire to see peace and tranquillity in his homeland. The script is unrehearsed and deliberately unprepared, and a performer is invited to deliver his often-poetic prose and the experience of transporting the self into new geographical and psychological spaces.

Chicago - Teen Edition

By Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse and John Kander. Bel Canto Performing Arts. Directed by Blake Jenkins. The Old Mill Theatre, South Perth WA. Jul 11-19, 2025

Bel Canto Performing Arts presents Chicago Teen Edition at the Old Mill Theatre featuring a cast of teens, aged 15 to 21, with only two cast members over 18. Slightly shorter than the traditional version, this version omits the songs “Class” and “A Bit of Good” as well as some of the more overt sexual references, but otherwise packs as much punch as the adult version.

STILL

Late works by Samuel Beckett. Adapted for the stage by Robert Meldrum and Richard Murphet. Victorian Theatre Company and Theatre Works. Explosives Factory, Inkerman Street, St Kilda. 10 July – 26 July 2025

‘Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood,’ wrote T S Eliot.  Whether these ‘late works’ by Samuel Beckett are ‘poetry’ or not, in this show his texts communicate emotionally – even viscerally - before we understand them rationally.  They leave behind an emotional residue; there is no narrative thread (until perhaps the last piece), there is no context.

Sincere Apologies

By Dan Koop, Jamie Lewis & David Williams. Based on an original concept by Roslyn Oades & David Williams. An Alternative Facts production. Bondi Festival. Seagull Room, Bondi Pavilion. July 10 – 12, 2025.

Imagine a theatrical production where the words are all sourced from dozens of different people, and the performers are all members of the audience?

It sounds like a recipe for a very problematic piece of theatre – but instead it was lyrical and moving.

Entering the Seagull Room of the Bondi Pavilion, around 80 chairs were lined up in a circle around a box containing 50 envelopes. Microphones were spread around the audience.

Numbered from 1 to 50 the envelopes were handed to audience members. It soon dawned on me that we were the only actors on the stage.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Adapted for the stage by Rona Munro. Directed by Kathleen Del Casale. The Limelight Theatre, Civic Drive, Wanneroo, WA. Jul 10 - 25, 2025

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein doesn’t just attach the author’s name as a way to differentiate it from other adaptations of this classic horror tale. Featuring Mary as the lead character, the play explores Mary’s struggles with writing the horror, her relationship to the characters and her emotions as the story progresses.

Ravel & Falla

Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. July 12, 2025

No wonder French composers kept writing great impressionist works inspired by their neighbour.

The Pirate Queen

Book: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Richard Maltby Jr. Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics: Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby Jr. and John Dempsey. MLOC Productions Inc. Frankston Arts Centre, Melbourne. July 11 – 19,

The Australian premiere of The Pirate Queen musical has docked in Melbourne with grandeur, heart, and a fiercely talented creative team. This is a coup for MLOC as part of their 80th year celebrations, performing this largely unknown but equally exciting musical from the composers that gave us Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, and the producers of the phenomenon that is Riverdance.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.